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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. ARTICLES IN FULL
B. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
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A. ARTICLES IN FULL
(Unless otherwise noted)
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1) Latest Release of Documents on N.S.A. Includes 2004 Ruling on Email Surveillance
By CHARLIE SAVAGE and JAMES RISEN
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration released hundreds of pages of newly declassified documents related to National Security Agency
surveillance late Monday, including an 87-page ruling in which the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court first approved a program to
systematically track Americans’ emails during the Bush administration.
“The raw volume of the proposed collection is enormous,” wrote Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who was then the chief judge on the secret surveillance court. The government censored the date of her ruling in the publicly released document, and many sections — including a description of what she had been told about terrorism threats — were heavily redacted.
The ruling was among a trove of documents that were declassified and made public by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, including those by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
Many of the documents have historic significance, showing how Bush administration surveillance programs that were initially conducted without court oversight and outside statutory authorization were brought under the authority of the surveillance court and subjected to oversight rules. The documents also included reports to Congress, training slides and regulations issued under President Obama.
The Bush administration temporarily shut down its bulk collection of email logs after Justice Department lawyers raised legal concerns in March 2004. Judge Kollar-Kotelly declared the collection lawful in July 2004, according to documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.
The email metadata — information like the identities of senders and recipients and the and the dates of messages, but not the content — was used in searches of unknown associates of terrorism suspects. The Obama administration has said it shut down the email metadata program in 2011 for “operational and resource” reasons.
Several other court documents released on Monday indicated that the program had difficulties with collecting Internet communications beyond the scope of what the court had authorized. Redactions made it difficult to understand the specifics of the problems, but an accompanying statement offered more details. At one point, it said, the government had shut down the program for several months “because of the significance and complexity of these incidents.”
The New York Times reported in 2009 that the N.S.A. had intercepted private email messages and phone calls of Americans on a scale that went beyond broad legal limits. A statement released on Monday said that an excess collection problem in 2009 was the result of “longstanding compliance issues associated with N.S.A.’s electronic communications and telephony bulk metadata collection programs” and that the N.S.A. “recognized that its compliance and oversight structure had not kept pace with its operational momentum.”
In a statement, James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said that with the new releases, nearly 2,000 pages about surveillance matters had been declassified since President Obama instructed him in June to “make public as much information as possible about certain sensitive programs while being mindful of the need to protect sensitive classified intelligence activities and national security.”
“Release of these documents reflects the executive branch’s continued commitment to making information about this intelligence collection program publicly available when appropriate and consistent with the national security of the United States,” he said.
The trove also included the Bush administration’s 2006 application for initial approval by the surveillance court to collect bulk logs of all domestic phone calls under a provision of the Patriot Act that allows the collection of business records deemed “relevant” to an investigation, another program it had previously undertaken unilaterally. The call record program is still active.
“Here, the government’s interest is the most compelling imaginable: the defense of the nation in wartime from attacks that may take thousands of lives,” said the Justice Department brief, which was signed by Alberto Gonzales, who was then attorney general. “On the other side of the ledger, the intrusion is minimal” into privacy concerns because the calling logs did not include any content of communications.
The documents show that as early as 2006, an inspector general review recommended tighter controls over the bulk telephone metadata program to reduce the risk that they would violate the limits on the collection of data. In 2009, the court would sharply rebuke the N.S.A. for violating its own procedures and misleading the nation’s intelligence court about how it used the telephone call logs.
Jameel Jaffer, a senior lawyer with the A.C.L.U., argued that the release of the documents demonstrated what he argued were structural problems with the surveillance court, which decides major issues.
“This is a reminder a lot of the most important and far-reaching decisions of the past decade were issued by this court, which meets in secret and hears only from the government and doesn’t publish its decisions,” Mr. Jaffer said.
The full scope and details of any revelations in the documents were not immediately clear because of the large volume of materials and the late hour at which they became available. It appeared likely to take days for journalists, privacy advocates and other close watchers of surveillance policy issues to finish scouring the trove.
“The raw volume of the proposed collection is enormous,” wrote Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who was then the chief judge on the secret surveillance court. The government censored the date of her ruling in the publicly released document, and many sections — including a description of what she had been told about terrorism threats — were heavily redacted.
The ruling was among a trove of documents that were declassified and made public by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits, including those by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Freedom Foundation.
Many of the documents have historic significance, showing how Bush administration surveillance programs that were initially conducted without court oversight and outside statutory authorization were brought under the authority of the surveillance court and subjected to oversight rules. The documents also included reports to Congress, training slides and regulations issued under President Obama.
The Bush administration temporarily shut down its bulk collection of email logs after Justice Department lawyers raised legal concerns in March 2004. Judge Kollar-Kotelly declared the collection lawful in July 2004, according to documents leaked by Edward J. Snowden, the former N.S.A. contractor.
The email metadata — information like the identities of senders and recipients and the and the dates of messages, but not the content — was used in searches of unknown associates of terrorism suspects. The Obama administration has said it shut down the email metadata program in 2011 for “operational and resource” reasons.
Several other court documents released on Monday indicated that the program had difficulties with collecting Internet communications beyond the scope of what the court had authorized. Redactions made it difficult to understand the specifics of the problems, but an accompanying statement offered more details. At one point, it said, the government had shut down the program for several months “because of the significance and complexity of these incidents.”
The New York Times reported in 2009 that the N.S.A. had intercepted private email messages and phone calls of Americans on a scale that went beyond broad legal limits. A statement released on Monday said that an excess collection problem in 2009 was the result of “longstanding compliance issues associated with N.S.A.’s electronic communications and telephony bulk metadata collection programs” and that the N.S.A. “recognized that its compliance and oversight structure had not kept pace with its operational momentum.”
In a statement, James R. Clapper Jr., the director of national intelligence, said that with the new releases, nearly 2,000 pages about surveillance matters had been declassified since President Obama instructed him in June to “make public as much information as possible about certain sensitive programs while being mindful of the need to protect sensitive classified intelligence activities and national security.”
“Release of these documents reflects the executive branch’s continued commitment to making information about this intelligence collection program publicly available when appropriate and consistent with the national security of the United States,” he said.
The trove also included the Bush administration’s 2006 application for initial approval by the surveillance court to collect bulk logs of all domestic phone calls under a provision of the Patriot Act that allows the collection of business records deemed “relevant” to an investigation, another program it had previously undertaken unilaterally. The call record program is still active.
“Here, the government’s interest is the most compelling imaginable: the defense of the nation in wartime from attacks that may take thousands of lives,” said the Justice Department brief, which was signed by Alberto Gonzales, who was then attorney general. “On the other side of the ledger, the intrusion is minimal” into privacy concerns because the calling logs did not include any content of communications.
The documents show that as early as 2006, an inspector general review recommended tighter controls over the bulk telephone metadata program to reduce the risk that they would violate the limits on the collection of data. In 2009, the court would sharply rebuke the N.S.A. for violating its own procedures and misleading the nation’s intelligence court about how it used the telephone call logs.
Jameel Jaffer, a senior lawyer with the A.C.L.U., argued that the release of the documents demonstrated what he argued were structural problems with the surveillance court, which decides major issues.
“This is a reminder a lot of the most important and far-reaching decisions of the past decade were issued by this court, which meets in secret and hears only from the government and doesn’t publish its decisions,” Mr. Jaffer said.
The full scope and details of any revelations in the documents were not immediately clear because of the large volume of materials and the late hour at which they became available. It appeared likely to take days for journalists, privacy advocates and other close watchers of surveillance policy issues to finish scouring the trove.
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2) Zimmerman Is Charged With Aggravated Assault
By ALAN BLINDER
ATLANTA — Barely four months after he was acquitted in the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager that spurred demonstrations across the country, George Zimmerman was arrested on Monday in Florida following a dispute with his girlfriend, the authorities said.
Mr. Zimmerman, 30, was charged with domestic aggravated assault, domestic battery and criminal mischief after he and his girlfriend, Samantha Scheibe, had an argument at their home in Apopka, northwest of Orlando, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Dennis Lemma of Seminole County. Ms. Scheibe told investigators that she had asked Mr. Zimmerman to leave the residence, and that he had begun packing his belongings, including two firearms, before growing agitated and turning violent.
Deputy Lemma said that Mr. Zimmerman had “broken a table and, at one point, pointed a long-barreled shotgun” at Ms. Scheibe, who said he had aimed at her for about a minute. Later in the altercation, the authorities said, Mr. Zimmerman forced Ms. Scheibe, who was uninjured, out of the home before obstructing a doorway with furniture.
“He just pushed me out of my house and locked me out,” Ms. Scheibe told a 911 dispatcher.
Law enforcement officials arrived soon after.
“The deputies were able to open the door and push away the furniture that was blocking the door, and confronted George Zimmerman as he sat there,” Deputy Lemma said during a news conference in Sanford, Fla. “At that time, he was unarmed.”
Mr. Zimmerman was being held without bond ahead of a court appearance on Tuesday, which officials said was typical in a domestic violence case.
In his own 911 call before the deputies entered the home, Mr. Zimmerman said that Ms. Scheibe was pregnant with his child and that he wanted “everyone to know the truth” about Monday’s episode.
“I never pulled a firearm. I never displayed it,” he said. “When I was packing it, I’m sure she saw it. I mean, we keep it next to the bed.”
He also said Ms. Scheibe was responsible for the broken table when she started “smashing stuff, taking stuff that belonged to me, throwing it outside, throwing it out of her room, throwing it all over the house.”
Deputy Lemma said Mr. Zimmerman was the subject of “administrative confinement,” a designation for prominent inmates who are housed alone and checked on hourly.
Mr. Zimmerman became a national figure after he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, 17, while working as a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford in February 2012. Mr. Martin’s death — and the initial absence of charges against Mr. Zimmerman — prompted outcry nationwide, and Mr. Zimmerman was ultimately charged with second-degree murder after Gov. Rick Scott asked a Jacksonville prosecutor to review the case. During Mr. Zimmerman’s trial, the authorities contended that he was a “wannabe cop” who had defied the instructions of an emergency dispatcher on the night of the shooting while he “profiled” Mr. Martin.
After his acquittal, Mr. Zimmerman remained in the news, public fodder because of his troubled personal life and his repeated encounters with law enforcement officials in Florida and elsewhere.
In September, the police in Lake Mary, Fla., investigated a dispute between Mr. Zimmerman and his estranged wife, Shellie Zimmerman, although he was not charged. Shortly before that episode, Ms. Zimmerman filed for divorce.
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3) Coldblooded Does Not Mean Stupid
By EMILY ANTHES
Humans have no exclusive claim on intelligence. Across the animal kingdom, all sorts of creatures have performed impressive intellectual feats. A bonobo named Kanzi uses an array of symbols to communicate with humans. Chaser the border collie knows the English words for more than 1,000 objects. Crows make sophisticated tools, elephants recognize themselves in the mirror, and dolphins have a rudimentary number sense.
And reptiles? Well, at least they have their looks.
In the plethora of research over the past few decades on the cognitive capabilities of various species, lizards, turtles and snakes have been left in the back of the class. Few scientists bothered to peer into the reptile mind, and those who did were largely unimpressed.
“Reptiles don’t really have great press,” said Gordon M. Burghardt, a comparative psychologist at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. “Certainly in the past, people didn’t really think too much of their intelligence. They were thought of as instinct machines.” But now that is beginning to change, thanks to a growing interest in “coldblooded cognition” and recent studies revealing that reptile brains are not as primitive as we imagined. The research could not only redeem reptiles but also shed new light on cognitive evolution.
Because reptiles, birds and mammals diverged so long ago, with a common ancestor that lived 280 million years ago, the emerging data suggest that certain sophisticated mental skills may be more ancient than had been assumed — or so adaptive that they evolved multiple times.
For evidence of reptilian intelligence, one need look no further than the maze, a time-honored laboratory test. Anna Wilkinson, a comparative psychologist at the University of Lincoln in England, tested a female red-footed tortoise named Moses in the radial arm maze, which has eight spokes radiating out from a central platform. Moses’ task was to “solve” the maze as efficiently as possible: to snatch a piece of strawberry from the end of each arm without returning to one she had already visited.
“That requires quite a memory load because you have to remember where you’ve been,” Dr. Wilkinson said.
Moses managed admirably, performing significantly better than if she had been choosing arms at random. Further investigation revealed that she was not using smell to find the treats. Instead, she seemed to be using external landmarks to navigate, just as mammals do.
Things became even more interesting when Dr. Wilkinson hung a black curtain around the maze, depriving Moses of the rich environmental cues that had surrounded her. The tortoise adopted a new navigational strategy, exploring the maze systematically by entering whatever arm was directly adjacent to the one she had just left. This approach is “an enormously great” way of solving the task, Dr. Wilkinson said, and a strategy rarely seen in mammals.
Navigational skills are important, but the research also hints at something even more impressive: behavioral flexibility, or the ability to alter one’s behavior as external circumstances change. This flexibility, which allows animals to take advantage of new environments or food sources, has been well documented in birds and primates, and scientists are now beginning to believe that it exists in reptiles, too.
Anole, a tropical lizard, have a very specific method of acquiring food, striking at moving prey from above. But Manuel S. Leal, a biologist at Duke University, created a situation in which this strategy simply would not work, hiding a tasty insect larva inside a small hole and covering the hole with a tightfitting blue cap.
Two of the six lizards he tested tried to extract the treat by attacking the blue disk from above, to no avail. But the other four puzzled out new approaches. Two lizards came at the disk sideways, using their mouths to bite and lift it, while the others used their snouts as levers to pry it off the baited well.
Then Dr. Leal increased the difficulty by hiding the larvae under a new cap, this one blue and yellow. He used the solid blue disk to cover an adjacent, empty well. In tests of four lizards, two recognized the switch and learned that getting the bait now required flipping the multicolored disk instead of the blue one.
Other studies have documented similar levels of flexibility and problem solving. Dr. Burghardt, for instance, presented monitor lizards with an utterly unfamiliar apparatus, a clear plastic tube with two hinged doors and several live mice inside. The lizards rapidly figured out how to rotate the tube and open the doors to capture the prey. “It really amazed us that they all solved the problem very quickly and then did much better the second time,” Dr. Burghardt said. “That’s a sign of real learning.”
So how did we miss this for so long? Scientists say that many early studies of reptile cognition, conducted in the 1950s and ’60s, had critical design flaws.
By using experiments originally designed for mammals, researchers may have been setting reptiles up for failure. For instance, scientists commonly use “aversive stimuli,” such as loud sounds and bright lights, to shape rodent behavior. But reptiles respond to many of these stimuli by freezing, thereby not performing.
Scientists may also have been asking reptiles to perform impossible tasks. Lizards do not use their legs to manipulate objects, Dr. Leal said, “so you cannot develop an experiment where you’re expecting them to unwrap a box, for example.”
What’s more, because they are coldblooded, reptiles are particularly sensitive to environmental conditions. Rats and mice can run a maze just fine in a 70-degree lab, but many reptilian species need a much warmer environment — with air temperatures in the mid-80s or 90s. “They seem to learn the quickest at body temperatures that are very uncomfortable for us,” Dr. Burghardt said.
Now that scientists have gotten better at designing experiments for reptiles, they are uncovering all kinds of surprising abilities. Some of the most intriguing work involves social learning. The conventional wisdom is that because reptiles are largely solitary, asocial creatures, they are incapable of learning through observation.
New research calls that assumption into question. In another study of red-footed tortoises, Dr. Wilkinson deposited a tortoise on one side of a wire fence and a piece of strawberry on the other, in sight but just out of reach. To get their snouts on the treat, the tortoises needed to take a long detour around the edge of the fence.
Not one tortoise figured this out on its own. (Unable to reach the reward, some of the animals simply decided to nap.) But when they watched a trained tortoise navigate around the fence, all the observers learned to follow suit.
Other studies of reptiles have turned up similar results, challenging the popular theory that social learning evolved as a byproduct of — and a special adaptation for — group living. Instead, Dr. Wilkinson said, social learning may be merely an outgrowth of an animal’s general ability to learn. The field of reptile cognition is in its infancy, but it already suggests that “intelligence” may be more widely distributed through the animal kingdom than had been imagined. As Dr. Burghardt put it, “People are starting to take some of the tests that were developed for the ‘smart’ animals and adapting them to use with other species, and finding that the ‘smart’ animals may not be so special.”
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4) Brooklyn Man, Imprisoned 24 Years, Is Acquitted on Murder Charge
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 18, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/19/nyregion/man-imprisoned-24-years-is-acquitted-on-murder-charge.html?ref=nyregion
A Brooklyn jury has acquitted a 58-year-old man who had been imprisoned for 24 years on a murder charge.
The man, Derrick Deacon, had been convicted in the 1989 shooting death
of Anthony Wynn during a robbery in a Flatbush apartment complex.
Mr. Deacon was granted a new trial in 2012 after someone cooperating
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation identified a different man as
the gunman and after a separate witness recanted.
On Monday, it took a jury just nine minutes to declare Mr. Deacon not guilty.
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5) Europeans Fault American Safety Effort in Bangladesh
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Tensions broke into the open on Monday involving two large groups of retailers — one overwhelmingly American, the other dominated by Europeans — that have formed to improve factory safety in Bangladesh.
An official from the European group voiced concern that the American retailers would piggyback at no cost on the efforts of the Europeans — which includes H&M, Carrefour and more than 100 other retailers — in financing safety upgrades at hundreds of factories.
The members of the European-led group, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, have made binding commitments to help pay for fire safety measures and building upgrades when shortcomings in safety are found in the more than 1,600 garment factories its members use in Bangladesh. While the American-dominated group, which has 26 members, including Walmart Stores, Target and Gap, has stopped short of making such a binding commitment, it has pledged to provide loans for the improvements.
Scott Nova, executive director of the Worker Rights Consortium, a labor rights group based in Washington that is a member of the Europe-led accord, said members had a “significant concern about a free-rider situation.”
Jeff R. Krilla, the president of the American-dominated group, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, said he was surprised by the criticism, noting that his alliance had agreed to make $100 million in low-cost loans available to Bangladesh factory owners to finance safety improvements.
In a sharp exchange in a telephone conference call on worker safety in Bangladesh that was organized by the Boston Global Forum, a nonprofit research organization, Mr. Krilla said his group’s members were making a significant financial commitment to improving safety, including a total of $50 million over five years in contributions by retailers in the alliance. The two groups, founded after the Rana Plaza factory building collapsed last April, killing more than 1,100 workers, are just beginning factory inspections. Despite the friction, they have been working closely together to develop joint inspection standards on fire and building safety.
Srinivas B. Reddy, director of the International Labor Organization’s office in Bangladesh, described a change in attitude among Bangladesh factory owners who have frequently been criticized by the United States and other countries for shunning safety concerns and suppressing labor unions.
“The factory owners in Bangladesh have clearly realized that unless these issues are addressed in terms of improving safety and labor rights, the industry may land in crisis,” Mr. Reddy said.
That could lead to the loss of orders from Western companies. Bangladesh is the world’s second-largest garment exporting nation after China, exporting nearly $20 billion in apparel each year.
In the conference call, Mr. Nova, in a clear reference to the American-led alliance, said that members were concerned about “the tremendous lack of worker involvement” in some factory safety efforts.
The European-led accord has two giant union federations as members with tens of millions of members, IndustriALL and Uni Global. The American alliance does not have any formal union participation, but Mr. Krilla said his alliance expected to work closely with Bangladeshi unions.
In recent months, Walmart, H&M and other retailers have sponsored their own emergency safety inspections of factories, in part to prevent any new disasters before inspections called for in the groups’ accord begin at hundreds of factories.
Late Sunday, Walmart posted on its website the results of 75 inspections that it commissioned for factories it uses in Bangladesh.
Kevin Gardner, a Walmart spokesman, said the reports showed that many factories had “made real improvements that are making the supply chain safer for thousands of workers in Bangladesh.”
Mr. Gardner said that 34 of the 75 factories had moved from having a D or C rating to having an A or B rating.
“This is the first time a retailer has published results of factory audits on this scale,” Mr. Gardner said. “We believe transparency is vital to improve worker safety in Bangladesh.”
In a separate interview, Mr. Nova criticized Walmart’s inspection reports as inadequate.
“I expected to see much more substantive detail,” he said. “They really don’t point out specific or actual hazards.” He praised Walmart for disclosing the names of its factories, which many retailers refuse to do. “But in terms of public disclosure, it’s pretty useless,” he added. “There’s no way for workers at a factory to tell what specific hazards they face, whether it’s a lack of smokeproof enclosed staircases or something else.”
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6) Labor Panel Finds Illegal Punishments at Walmart
By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS
Walmart illegally disciplined and fired employees over strikes and protests, the National Labor Relations Board said on Monday.
In addition, the board’s general counsel said an inquiry found evidence that a Walmart spokesman, appearing on national television, had unlawfully threatened employees who were considering taking part in the protests.
While the board authorized the filing of a complaint asserting violations of workers’ rights, no complaint was filed on Monday. The board counsel’s office said it would give the parties a chance to reach a settlement.
Walmart denied the accusations, and it called the board’s steps “procedural.”
The board’s general counsel was investigating accusations made against Walmart stemming from protest activities planned last year for Black Friday, among others.
The scope of the accusations was wide, spanning activities in more than a dozen states, and according to the United Food and Commercial Workers union, it covered actions taken against about 100 Walmart employees.
“It’s a major case in terms of the number of stores,” said James J. Brudney, a professor at Fordham University Law School. “And it has a national scope in terms of unlawful threats and terminations.”
Last year, a union-backed group called Our Walmart organized protests at 1,000 Walmart stores in 46 states, a spokeswoman said. Thousands of people participated, demonstrating against retaliation against workers and in support of higher wages, although the company asserted that many were not employees.
In advance of that day of heavy discounts and widely publicized protests, David Tovar, a Walmart spokesman, said on CBS News, “If associates are scheduled to work on Black Friday, we expect them to show up and to do their job, and if they don’t, depending on the circumstances, there could be consequences.”
A news release distributed by the board counsel’s office said Mr. Tovar “threatened employees with reprisal” on two national television broadcasts. The general counsel also asserted that Walmart “unlawfully threatened,” disciplined or fired employees for engaging in strikes or protests in more than a dozen states, including California, Colorado, Texas and Massachusetts. The board also said that Walmart disciplined or fired employees for activities other than strikes in four states.
A union spokeswoman said that at least 43 workers were disciplined and at least 23 were fired.
Whether employees are unionized or not, federal law, under the National Labor Relations Act, protects certain activities, like protesting or organizing for better wages or working conditions.
In a statement, a Walmart spokesman strongly disagreed with the general counsel’s move.
“This is just a procedural step and we will pursue our options to defend the company because we believe our actions were legal and justified,” said Kory Lundberg, the spokesman.
“It’s important to note that there has not been one decision in the last five years by the N.L.R.B. or by a court finding that Walmart violated the National Labor Relations Act,” Mr. Lundberg said. “That is because we take our obligations under the act very seriously and we train our managers accordingly.”
In a conference call with reporters Monday about planning for another round of protests this year on Black Friday, during which the labor board’s complaint was first announced, several labor activists and union leaders celebrated the board’s decision, including Joseph Hansen, the president of the United Food and Commercial Workers.
“In this morning’s Cleveland Plain Dealer, a Walmart spokesman said the company had a very strong anti-retaliation policy,” Mr. Hansen said. “Yet today, the government confirmed it will prosecute Walmart for illegally firing and disciplining workers who just exercised their rights. Quite frankly, enough is enough.”
The article in The Plain Dealer was not primarily about retaliation, but about wages. The article described a holiday food drive at a Walmart in nearby Canton, Ohio, which included a sign that said, “Please donate food items here so associates in need can enjoy Thanksgiving Dinner.” The article went viral, and activists said it showed that Walmart employees were poorly paid.
Mr. Lundberg said the decision to host the drive was made at the store level to help employees in unexpected hardships, not chronically in need. He said that last year the drive benefited a woman who had stopped receiving child support payments.
In addition to the findings that are at issue between Walmart and the labor relations board, the general counsel’s office said it found no evidence to support other accusations made. Among these findings: the company did not interfere with workers’ right to strike by telling protesters to move off store property in Illinois and Texas, and stores in California and Washington did not illegally change work schedules or coerce employees in retaliation.
During this holiday season, Walmart has been active in a public-relations campaign, including TV ads, featuring the treatment of its workers. On Monday, Walmart said it promoted more than 350 employees during town hall meetings in Atlanta, Dallas and Phoenix.
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7)
In Places Like North St. Louis, Gunfire Still Rules the Night
November 19,
2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/us/in-neighborhoods-like-north-st-louis-gunfire-still-rules-the-night.html?hp
ST. LOUIS — The unmistakable pop of a gunshot ricocheted through the park in the humid air, and Montez Wayne could only hope that the bullet did not have his name on it. He sprang from his seat beneath a sprawling bald cypress, ready to make his move.
Was today the day?
He had seen it play out too many times before: the blast of gunfire, the blood, the body. In Mr. Wayne’s neighborhood and others on the North Side of St. Louis, drugs, poverty and struggle go hand in hand with gun violence. He barely knows his father. His mother died when he was 14, around the time he started selling drugs. His list of dead friends grows each year.
Mr. Wayne lives in a poor, mostly black community, where, as in similar neighborhoods across America, residents are fed up with persistent gun violence. Victims die one by one, or in clusters. In Chicago, 23 people were shot in a matter of hours in September, 13 of them in a park in a gang-related attack. Three died.
Last month in North St. Louis, a 16-year-old was fatally shot in a park as he was waiting for a school bus — a month after his friend was shot to death. And last week, a 17-year-old boy was shot in the face walking to his school bus stop on the city’s North Side. He survived.
Even as St. Louis and many other cities celebrate significant decreases in crime over the past two decades, concentrated pockets of violence remain, and sometimes grow, a cruel imbalance that criminologists and police departments nationwide are struggling to correct.
In the 27th Ward in North St. Louis, for example, there were 17 murders last year, up from five in 2009. This, even as homicides citywide have dropped nearly 60 percent (113 last year) since peaking at 267 two decades ago.
Mr. Wayne, 23, is hardly an innocent, with repeated arrests for drug possession or trafficking. He will not discuss whether he has ever killed anyone, but says there was a time when he used to arm himself with a gun and break into the homes of drug dealers to steal. He was a hard-core dealer and user, he said, before trying to straighten out. He still hangs out with a crew that calls itself the 20th Street Gang, part of a larger group called the Water Tower Mafia that pledges allegiance to the Crips.
His daily routine gives a glimpse of how life here can be marked by shockingly violent interludes on seemingly ordinary days. They come out of nowhere to disrupt a trip to school or the supermarket. “I done seen so many people die like, man, there have been times I just thought I was next,” he said.
‘A Never-Ending Cycle’
When people in crime-ridden communities hear public officials declare that their cities are safer, they snicker.
“There’s a sense of hopelessness on behalf of a lot of people,” said Prince Carter, whose brother, Garland, 52, was shot and killed in February in O’Fallon, another neighborhood on the city’s North Side.
The killing has rattled Mr. Carter, 49, who sells concessions at a market. He can barely stand to drive past the liquor store where he had to identify his brother’s bloodied body on a snowy afternoon. He now sleeps with a shotgun, avoids going out at night, constantly surveys his surroundings and is planning to leave St. Louis, where he has spent his entire life.
Mr. Wayne, too, is on constant alert. On that hot afternoon this summer when the gunshot rang out in the park, interrupting a conversation with this reporter, Mr. Wayne’s lips curled. He jumped up, twisted his shirtless torso and crouched like a sprinter awaiting a relay baton. But the tension quickly ebbed when he saw a smiling friend clutching a smoking pistol — he was just test firing the weapon into the grass.
“It’s scary, man,” Mr. Wayne said later. “Whoever tells you they ain’t scared of this life, they lying to you.”
What Mr. Wayne sees on these streets does not correspond with dropping crime statistics. “It ain’t getting better,” he said. “Beef ain’t going to ever stop because if you shoot him, his people going to come back and shoot one of your people. That’s a never-ending cycle.”
He almost saw his time come in August of last year.
After a night of clubbing, Mr. Wayne hopped into a gray Monte Carlo with two friends and his cousin, Darryl Haywood, who was driving. They pulled off the highway, slowing as they came to a yield sign and a cross street when a black Pontiac Grand Am pulled up on their left. They heard a series of loud pops, and glass started flying. “I’m hit,” Mr. Wayne thought, as he curled up in the back seat behind the driver. He implored his cousin, “Go! Go! Go!”
Mr. Haywood peeled right, up a hill, hung a wide left after two blocks and lost control of the car. It crashed into a brick church, coming to rest beneath an arched stained-glass window.
Mr. Haywood, 26, had been shot in the heart, lost consciousness and died, just shy of his college graduation and leaving behind a son and a pregnant girlfriend. A bullet grazed Mr. Wayne’s testicles, ripped through his right leg and clipped the right side of his rib cage. It was the first time he had been shot.
To this day, Mr. Wayne said he does not know who shot them or why. The police have not made an arrest.
Life in these neighborhoods can be dangerously random like that.
After his mother died nearly a decade ago, Mr. Wayne moved into a house with his younger brother and older sister. He contributed to expenses by working at Walmart and selling drugs, he said. He attended high school in Brentwood, a suburb, as part of a desegregation program, and was suspended for a year as a sophomore after he was caught with drugs for a second time. But he went to the district’s alternative school and graduated on time in 2009, just days before his daughter was born.
That same year, he was arrested on charges of drug trafficking and possession, which got him three years’ probation. Two years later, he was arrested again for drug possession as well as resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, and got three more years’ probation.
Mr. Wayne, who has a narrow, bony face and a noticeable gap between his front teeth, speaks in a drowsy monotone. He is taking a music production course sponsored by Nelly, a rapper from St. Louis, at Vatterott College.
One afternoon this summer, he dialed up the volume on the car stereo when his current favorite song, “Type of Way” by Rich Homie Quan, came on. Driving through the College Hill neighborhood, which has experienced spasms of violence this year, Mr. Wayne pointed to the south of Grand Avenue, a major thoroughfare, near 19th Street, saying they called that area The D.U.B. — Deadly Upon Birth. To the north, they call it John Murderville.
He pulled up to M and V Supermarket, a dingy corner store with a peach-colored facade, where people gather outside the front door beneath a sign warning that loitering could result in a $500 fine.
Neighborhood Roots
Inside the store, some smoked cigarettes next to a freezer with ice cream. While the store has an array of offerings — doo rags, false eye lashes, hair weave — most seem to come for the drinks or hot food: sandwiches, chicken wings or, Mr. Wayne’s favorite, Doritos covered in ground beef, cheese and sour cream.
In front of the store, with the sun beating down, Mr. Wayne’s younger brother and another man squared up against each other like boxers, but they were only play fighting. People bartered cigarettes and haggled over borrowing $5 here, $10 there.
But for all the chatter and horseplay, their eyes never veered too far from their surroundings. The group snapped to attention when a silver Pontiac with tinted windows that nobody recognized slowly rolled by and parked across the street.
“They better stop rolling before they get aired out,” said Mr. Wayne’s brother, who goes by the nickname Mal Mal.
A woman with long, blond braids smoking a cigarette moved from one side of the doorway to the other, out of the vehicle’s line of sight.
After a few minutes, the Pontiac pulled away. Everyone relaxed. For Mal Mal, that meant sitting on the pavement, next to the glass double-door entrance to the store. When a young woman walked in, he leaned back, trying to peek up her skirt.
Debra Gordon, who lives in a building next to the store, seemed to pop out of nowhere. The young woman is her niece.
“Don’t mess with my family,” she yelled at Mal Mal.
They call her Ms. Debra. At 45, she is considered the neighborhood mother. When she graces the corner, even the toughest of the lot tend to straighten up. Fights and hand-to-hand transactions cease. “Ms. Debra, what are you doing down here?” is a common refrain.
Her credibility is unchallenged as someone long familiar with the destruction of these streets. While one of her sons is scheduled to enter the police academy in January, another is serving a 12-year sentence for dealing drugs and other charges. She sees him in the faces of the young men trolling her block.
“I’ll call the police on you if you’re doing wrong,” she said. “But I’ll also take you to a job interview. I’ll drive you to school. I’ll give you my last dollar.”
Having lived on this block since the third grade, Ms. Gordon has seen a diverse middle-class neighborhood of white and black families transform into one of abandoned, overgrown lots and boarded-up houses. As in many downtrodden parts of St. Louis, the middle class fled for the suburbs, leaving behind those with less economic mobility and causing property values to drop, the education system to crumble and feeding a sense of desperation that leads people to sell drugs and steal.
“Most people in North St. Louis are law-abiding people,” said Shelia Pargo, 58, who lives and grew up in the O’Fallon neighborhood, which neighbors College Hill, and has worked as a community advocate. “The people who are breaking the laws are the squeakier wheels. They’re getting all the attention.”
In many inner-city crimes, it is difficult to get witnesses to come forward, and not simply because of a disdain for the police. Residents often fear that someone may come after them if they talk to the authorities.
Police departments across the nation are looking at crime on the micro level, homing in on specific streets and corners and on the time of day that criminal activity takes place, and flooding those zones with officers. The practice, known as hot spot policing, is expected to become the norm under the city’s new police chief, Sam Dotson, who took over this year.
Chief Dotson said that next February he planned to make permanent a pilot program in which officers are added to each police district, supplementing regular patrols. The additional officers will not answer radio calls, but instead focus exclusively on looking for guns, drug dealing and crimes in progress, Chief Dotson said.
“And that’s what we’re hoping will drive crime down,” he said.
The department also is working with the city prosecutor, or circuit attorney, Jennifer M. Joyce, on what they call the Neighborhood Ownership Model, in which residents police their own communities by doing things like asking judges to order that specific criminals be barred from coming into their neighborhoods and giving impact statements in court about how a defendant has hurt their neighborhood.
Strategies for Change
Some communities have begun their own initiatives. The 21st Ward was the first to install street surveillance cameras, spending $600,000 out of the ward’s capital improvement budget on 25 of them. A 46-inch flat-screen television in a community center shows footage from every camera, but no one currently monitors them full time. Shortly after they went up two years ago, one camera caught a drive-by shooting. The police caught the assailants a short time later, said Antonio French, the ward’s alderman.
“Most of the violent crime was occurring in the same areas,” concentrated around vacant buildings, Mr. French said, “where people felt free to openly sell drugs.”
He added, “By focusing our efforts and our surveillance cameras on those areas, that helped bring crime down tremendously.”
Mr. Wayne says he himself has put the brakes on his high-risk life. He no longer smokes marijuana, he said, and sells drugs only occasionally when he needs a couple of extra dollars. He also stopped carrying a gun, he said.
The change, he said, is in large part because of a bubbly, caramel-skinned 4-year-old with braids: his daughter, Jaylynn, who on this night is clutching a red fruit drink in a plastic bottle and tugging at his gray sweatpants as he sits on the porch of her mother’s townhome.
“I miss you,” he says. “Give me a kiss.”
They peck on the lips. He asks if she is ready for school. Later, she shows off a plastic toy car big enough for her to sit in and drive. She clings to him while he holds a cigarette in one hand and a soda in the other. When Mr. Wayne says he is leaving, she cries, wraps her arms around his neck and will not let go. He whispers that he will pick her up the next day and take her for ice cream.
As much as Mr. Wayne is intent on bettering his life for Jaylynn’s sake, the pull of the streets is strong.
After leaving her, he drives up a dead end street, where a couple of men from the neighborhood mill about. They tell him to stop the car and cut off the lights. Mr. Wayne hops out and chats for a few minutes with a man standing behind a white sedan.
They make an exchange. Mr. Wayne slips an anti-anxiety pill that he bought for $5 under his tongue as he walks back to the car, where he hands one to his brother. He pulls off and takes a swig of Pepsi, a soothing cocktail for another unpredictable St. Louis night.
Steven Yaccino contributed reporting from Chicago. Sheelagh McNeill contributed research.
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8)
Small Protest in Tahrir Square Restores Dissent to Cairo’s Heart
By KAREEM FAHIM
November 19, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/world/middleeast/small-protest-in-tahrir-square-restores-dissent-to-cairos-heart.html?ref=world
CAIRO — The protesters’ numbers were small, compared with the millions who have marched through Egypt’s streets in recent months. And at one point, a soccer game on television seemed more urgent than the chants.
Even so, a demonstration on Tuesday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square seemed to represent a breakthrough for young leftists and other revolutionary activists who have struggled to find their voice since the military ousted President Mohamed Morsi in July, splitting the country into polarized, feuding camps.
Galvanized by anger and marching under the banners of slain comrades on Tuesday, the activists tried to offer an alternative in Egypt’s sclerotic political scene. As they have in the past, the activists condemned Mr. Morsi’s Islamist movement, the Muslim Brotherhood. But now, just as vigorously, they denounced the military and its leader, Gen. Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi, brazenly defying Egypt’s ultranationalist mood.
The protests seemed to temporarily restore Tahrir Square as a sanctuary for dissent after the many pro-military rallies in the square that followed Mr. Morsi’s fall, a change that seemed to stun some of the military’s fans.
With arguments, and then rocks, activists clashed with some of General Sisi’s supporters on the edge of the square. Other protesters defaced a memorial that had been erected by the military-led government the day before, seeing it as an insidious attempt to appropriate the memory of their struggle.
Hundreds of demonstrators chanted: “Down with military rule.”
By late Tuesday, security forces had regained control of the square and state news media reported that one person had died and another 17 were injured.
The protest, by a few thousand people, was a break from Egypt’s exhausting routine, dominated by the quarrel between its most powerful political actors. Since July, the security services have worked to dismantle the Brotherhood, detaining thousands of its members and killing hundreds of Mr. Morsi’s supporters in a brutal crackdown. The Islamists have continued their protests, vowing to settle for nothing less than the reversal of the military takeover.
As the military and the Islamists have cast themselves as protectors of Egypt’s revolution, activists who participated in the uprising against the former president, Hosni Mubarak, in 2011 have struggled to find their place.
The military-backed government gave them an opportunity on Monday, when officials dedicated the foundation of a monument to slain protesters. Activists were appalled by the government’s attempt at solidarity with people killed by the state’s own security services. They were also angered by the timing: the dedication coincided with the anniversary of antigovernment clashes in 2011 and 2012 that left at least 48 protesters dead.
After the ministers left, protesters set about destroying the monument. By Tuesday evening, it had been chipped and chiseled, scarred with slogans and turned into a platform for a coffin constructed by the protesters. One person mocked the cost. “A million pounds, and the people need one pound,” they wrote.
Mayy El Sheikh contributed reporting.
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9)
Night Falls, and 5Pointz, a Graffiti Mecca, Is Whited Out in Queens
November 19, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/nyregion/5pointz-a-graffiti-mecca-in-queens-is-wiped-clean-overnight.html?ref=nyregion
Graffiti is often denounced as vandalism, but the deliriously festooned, sprawling warehouses at the western edge of Queens rose far above that. Blanketed with giddy images, drawing street artists from around the world, 5Pointz was a decades-old legal haven considered both a “United Nations of Graffiti” and a semi-rebellious statement in a city some feel is growing too antiseptic. “Save 5Pointz,” the infamous British street artist Banksy urged in his final message to New Yorkers, after he wrapped his monthlong spree clandestinely decorating the city’s streets in October.
But early Tuesday, under the cover of night, painters quietly blanketed much of the walls of 5Pointz with whitewash, erasing the work of hundreds and seemingly putting the final nail in the long battle between the building’s owners, who plan to erect luxury apartments, and the artists who fought to save it.
“This is the biggest rag and disrespect in the history of graffiti,” said a teary-eyed Marie Cecile Flaguel, a spokeswoman for the group behind 5Pointz, which sprang like a rainbow from the gray sidewalks near Jackson Avenue in Long Island City. “He’s painted over the work of at least 1,500 artists.”
The owner of the buildings, Jerry Wolkoff, however, said painting over the artwork was the humane thing to do. A recent order by a federal judge allows him to move forward with his plans to demolish the buildings by year’s end, and, he said, watching the art-covered walls be pulled down piece by piece would be “torture.”
He also wanted to avoid a confrontation, adding that there would be a 60-foot-high wall near the new towers where graffiti painters can work again.
“I am telling you, I did not like what they did — I loved what they did,” said Mr. Wolkoff, who bought the buildings in 1971 and plans to build high-rise towers in their stead. “I cried this morning, I swear to you.”
Yet many supporters of 5Pointz, which became so well established that tourists flocked to it by the busload, saw the clandestine erasing as a cruel, vindictive move.
“The fact that they destroyed the art before they razed the building, it’s a really big slap in the face,” said Eric Felisbret, an expert on street art and the author of “Graffiti New York.” “So many people put so much passion and energy into it.”
Though there are other spots in New York City where graffiti artists could legally work, Mr. Felisbret said, “There’s nothing that was as large and that big of a draw internationally” as 5Pointz.
Forty years ago, after buying the buildings, which were mostly abandoned at the time, Mr. Wolkoff leased the space to a company that made record player accessories, then eight-track tapes and then CD covers before moving out in the early 1990s.
Casting about for new tenants, Mr. Wolkoff rented studios to artists for a few hundred dollars a month. Around that time he was also approached by a man who removed graffiti from buildings around the city, and wanted to know if the painters could use Mr. Wolkoff’s walls as canvases. Liking their work, Mr. Wolkoff gave them more and more space. In 2002, a graffiti artist named Meres One took the endeavor over, becoming its curator and christening it 5Pointz.
Five stories high, the buildings occupied most of a city block, a playful, wacky visual counterpoint to the solemn low-slung MoMA PS 1 site across the street. The canary yellow walls were covered with constantly changing artwork — Brobdingnagian bubble letters, colorful cartoons and meticulously wrought images created by painters from France, Italy, Japan and beyond. Stepping into 5Pointz’s interior courtyard was like plunging into a lurid fever dream.
Though street art is meant to be temporary, 5Pointz became known as a graffiti museum. And the medium itself, once considered a symbol of urban unraveling, became a sought after gallery-worthy commodity, with work from street artists like Banksy commanding millions of dollars. Which is one of the reasons the whitewashing of 5Pointz’s walls was greeted with such vociferous dismay. “What?! What did they do?!” cried a tour guide named Hans Von Rittern, as he raced out of a tour bus early Tuesday, his arms wide, his face crumpling as soon as he caught sight of Ms. Flaguel. They embraced tightly and wept.
Mr. Von Rittern regularly brought busloads of Europeans to the site, which he considered the crowning glory of his tour of boroughs outside Manhattan. “I don’t understand. How can you erase 12 years of history?” he said. “It’s cruel.”
But Mr. Wolkoff said that graffiti was ephemeral, and that there would be plenty of space for artists’ work around his new buildings. He decided to erect high-rise towers after the real estate market began heating up — Long Island City has sprouted many new residential towers with glass and steel replacing the brick and mortar that once dominated the working-class neighborhood. The 5Pointz artists and supporters had been scrambling to get landmark status, but were turned down by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in August because the buildings lacked architectural distinction and the artwork was less than 30 years old. In October, the City Council approved Mr. Wolkoff’s plan, and this month a federal judge ruled against the 5Pointz group, saying that he could not stop the buildings’ demolition.
Mr. Wolkoff said he decided that painting over the art at night without fanfare or notice was the kindest way to end an era. He estimated that demolition would take three to four months and would be agonizing to watch if the artwork remained, and also said he wanted to avoid trouble. “I had nothing but admiration” for the artists, he said. “The last thing I want is for any of them to get arrested.”
But in quarters near and far, 5Pointz’s artists and admirers reeled in shock. They gathered in the chill of Tuesday morning, quiet and dismayed, and planned a candlelight vigil for the evening.
One street artist, who would give his name only as Just, had at least two works painted over. He spent hours early Tuesday gazing at the whitewashed buildings, leaning against a red-brick wall across the street. Then he bought himself a tall glass of beer, which he sipped slowly from a brown paper bag. “Heartbreaking,” he said. “This is not just about graffiti — it’s about the unity of people who met here from all over the world.” He paused and took a drink. “That’s what really hurts.”
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10)
G’Day From Bushwick
November 19, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/realestate/commercial/brooklyn-homes-draw-australian-investors.html?adxnnl=1&ref=business&adxnnlx=1384962854-ifViuyfP5lAuEoM0/QTf0w
Standing in the
dining room of the early 1900s-era brick rowhouse, deep in the Bushwick section
of Brooklyn with not a frozen yogurt shop or Starbucks to be found, Alan Dixon,
an investor from Australia, struggled to tally the houses he had bought in the
area over the last year.
“What, 70? 72?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in question at a group of investors, contractors and designers standing nearby. A dozen construction workers scurried around, fastening plasterboard to walls and laying tile on floors, readying the four-bedroom house that the group purchased in June for $635,000 for leasing in less than two weeks’ time for as much as $5,490 a month.
Finally, someone locates the number on a piece of paper — 70, later corrected to 71. “That sounds right. Something like that,” Mr. Dixon said with a laugh, tugging on the cuff of the pink shirt he wore under his gray suit jacket.
It’s easy to understand why it might be difficult for Mr. Dixon to keep track. In just two years, the investment fund he oversees for Australian investors and retirees has purchased more than 538 homes, townhouses and brownstones from Jersey City to Queens and Brooklyn.
Mr. Dixon and his investments in New York area residential real estate are a microcosm of a much bigger trend sweeping the country.
A handful of large private equity and real estate investment firms, including the Blackstone Group and Colony Capital, have bought billions of dollars’ worth of single-family homes in some of the areas most affected by the housing collapse.
The goal for these Wall Street investors is not to buy and flip the properties for a quick profit à la real estate bubble of the early 2000s. Instead, they are hunting for steady, dividend-like returns they believe can be earned by renting out the homes.
Where these investors see opportunity, however, their critics see opportunists. They say these types of investors, be they giants like Blackstone or smaller firms like Mr. Dixon’s, often come in waving wads of cash and crowd out first-time home buyers.
Executives at the big firms defend the purchases, saying they prefer to buy dozens or even hundreds of homes in a single swoop at bank auctions where few first-time homeowners can participate because often payment must be in cash. Furthermore, they say they are gobbling up overhanging home inventories in crucial markets, supporting and even increasing overall home prices in these areas.
Those arguments may hold up in places like Phoenix or Las Vegas, which were overbuilt during the boom and struggled when the housing market collapsed. But prices have soared in parts of the market that weathered the housing storm, like Brooklyn, increasingly frustrating the dreams of first-time home buyers, analysts say.
The median price of a home in Brooklyn climbed nearly 12 percent in just the past year to hit a 10-year record, according to a recent report released by the real estate brokerage firm Douglas Elliman. Prices for highly desirable one-family brownstones in Brooklyn have leapt almost 40 percent in the last year to a median price of $1.6 million.
Some real estate agents say investors, more often than not, have been at the forefront of buying activity.
“I’d say by the spring, maybe 70 percent of the sales we were seeing were to hedge funds, investors and others taking advantage of what was happening in Brooklyn,” said Stephanie O’Brien, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman in Brooklyn. “Only about 30 percent were actual end users or first-time buyers.”
The higher prices have changed the character and makeup of neighborhoods, often pushing more lower- and middle-income families farther east in the borough. “What’s happening is good, because it increases real estate values, but on the other hand people who have been living in these neighborhoods and hoping to one day buy or rent a larger apartment are getting priced out,” said Ron Schweiger, the Brooklyn borough historian.
Mr. Dixon brushes aside assertions that his group’s investments have thwarted individual home buyers.
He said many of the brownstones and other homes his group had purchased were vacant or single-room occupancy housing, requiring extensive repairs or remodeling as well as successful navigation of the city’s labyrinth of agencies to obtain the necessary certificates and permits. He said his competition for homes tended to be small developers and construction firms interested in fixing up the homes and reselling them quickly for a profit.
And Brooklyn real estate agents say Mr. Dixon’s group has been beaten out for properties by homeowners coming to the table with cash.
“I don’t see them as competition to the home buyer because they generally don’t bid as high as somebody who is going to be an end user of the home,” said Deborah Rieders, a real estate agent with Corcoran in Brooklyn. “They’ve lost out on a lot of my listings because they were outbid by other buyers.”
Mr. Dixon entered the New York property market through Dixon Advisory, a Canberra-based wealth advisory firm founded by his father, Daryl Dixon, a prominent Australian economist and investment consultant.
During his travels to the United States in 2008 and 2009, Alan Dixon and others at the firm noted the steep decline in housing prices, wondering if there was an opportunity to pick up good homes at distressed prices in the New York area. In 2011, Dixon Advisory held an initial public offering for the US Masters Residential Property Fund, a property trust that trades on the Australian Securities Exchange.
With an initial pool of 70 million Australian dollars raised from investors (the group now controls 380 million dollars from more than 3,700 Australians), Mr. Dixon and his team bought their first homes in Hudson County, N.J., in 2011. They moved into Brooklyn about a year ago.
While his fund has sold a few properties already, Mr. Dixon says the general idea is to hold onto the properties, deriving steady income from rents. Mr. Dixon says that in the early years, as the fund invests in homes, renovates them and rents them, he expects returns could average about 5 percent each year. But as property values and rents increase, he estimates those returns could climb to 12 to 18 percent annually. If the homes are held for five years or longer, the income for the Australian investors will be taxed at a rate that Mr. Dixon says equals about 7.5 percent.
Like the bigger funds, Mr. Dixon and his team are betting that housing prices have stabilized. But his group also believes another demographic shift is occurring, of families coming back to cities and looking for bigger homes.
If Mr. Dixon has a regret, it is not moving faster, especially in Brooklyn, where prices quickly began to climb. His group has been essentially priced out of well-established neighborhoods like Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights.
Furthermore, some of the hottest areas of Brooklyn are seeing a wave of construction and conversions on the horizon to meet increased rental demands. Real estate agents say an estimated 2,700 rentals are expected to hit the Williamsburg market over the next six months, which they say could depress rents.
That has pushed Mr. Dixon and his group farther afield in Brooklyn, where they are buying up dilapidated brownstones like one on MacDonough Street in Stuyvesant Heights.
Gingerly stepping over holes in the floorboards while ducking under exposed electrical wiring dangling from the ceiling, Mr. Dixon points to a threadbare carpet on the floor when asked for the source of the dank smell filling the home. In an upstairs bedroom, a steady flow of rainwater from the ceiling — much of the roof had to be removed because of asbestos — drips down an interior wall.
Mr. Dixon’s firm purchased the home early this year for $539,000. Plans for expansion will push it 12 feet into the backyard, with an outdoor deck on top of the extension. He hopes to have it fixed up in time to rent next summer.
Driving between homes, Mr. Dixon hardly paused when asked what he and his partners could get wrong. “Crime,” he quickly answered, before rattling off statistics that he says show New York’s crime rate is low — relatively speaking.
“Right now, these neighborhoods are benefiting from the low crime rate,” Mr. Dixon said. “But that is something we could get wrong if it went the other way.”
“What, 70? 72?” he asked, raising his eyebrows in question at a group of investors, contractors and designers standing nearby. A dozen construction workers scurried around, fastening plasterboard to walls and laying tile on floors, readying the four-bedroom house that the group purchased in June for $635,000 for leasing in less than two weeks’ time for as much as $5,490 a month.
Finally, someone locates the number on a piece of paper — 70, later corrected to 71. “That sounds right. Something like that,” Mr. Dixon said with a laugh, tugging on the cuff of the pink shirt he wore under his gray suit jacket.
It’s easy to understand why it might be difficult for Mr. Dixon to keep track. In just two years, the investment fund he oversees for Australian investors and retirees has purchased more than 538 homes, townhouses and brownstones from Jersey City to Queens and Brooklyn.
Mr. Dixon and his investments in New York area residential real estate are a microcosm of a much bigger trend sweeping the country.
A handful of large private equity and real estate investment firms, including the Blackstone Group and Colony Capital, have bought billions of dollars’ worth of single-family homes in some of the areas most affected by the housing collapse.
The goal for these Wall Street investors is not to buy and flip the properties for a quick profit à la real estate bubble of the early 2000s. Instead, they are hunting for steady, dividend-like returns they believe can be earned by renting out the homes.
Where these investors see opportunity, however, their critics see opportunists. They say these types of investors, be they giants like Blackstone or smaller firms like Mr. Dixon’s, often come in waving wads of cash and crowd out first-time home buyers.
Executives at the big firms defend the purchases, saying they prefer to buy dozens or even hundreds of homes in a single swoop at bank auctions where few first-time homeowners can participate because often payment must be in cash. Furthermore, they say they are gobbling up overhanging home inventories in crucial markets, supporting and even increasing overall home prices in these areas.
Those arguments may hold up in places like Phoenix or Las Vegas, which were overbuilt during the boom and struggled when the housing market collapsed. But prices have soared in parts of the market that weathered the housing storm, like Brooklyn, increasingly frustrating the dreams of first-time home buyers, analysts say.
The median price of a home in Brooklyn climbed nearly 12 percent in just the past year to hit a 10-year record, according to a recent report released by the real estate brokerage firm Douglas Elliman. Prices for highly desirable one-family brownstones in Brooklyn have leapt almost 40 percent in the last year to a median price of $1.6 million.
Some real estate agents say investors, more often than not, have been at the forefront of buying activity.
“I’d say by the spring, maybe 70 percent of the sales we were seeing were to hedge funds, investors and others taking advantage of what was happening in Brooklyn,” said Stephanie O’Brien, a real estate broker with Douglas Elliman in Brooklyn. “Only about 30 percent were actual end users or first-time buyers.”
The higher prices have changed the character and makeup of neighborhoods, often pushing more lower- and middle-income families farther east in the borough. “What’s happening is good, because it increases real estate values, but on the other hand people who have been living in these neighborhoods and hoping to one day buy or rent a larger apartment are getting priced out,” said Ron Schweiger, the Brooklyn borough historian.
Mr. Dixon brushes aside assertions that his group’s investments have thwarted individual home buyers.
He said many of the brownstones and other homes his group had purchased were vacant or single-room occupancy housing, requiring extensive repairs or remodeling as well as successful navigation of the city’s labyrinth of agencies to obtain the necessary certificates and permits. He said his competition for homes tended to be small developers and construction firms interested in fixing up the homes and reselling them quickly for a profit.
And Brooklyn real estate agents say Mr. Dixon’s group has been beaten out for properties by homeowners coming to the table with cash.
“I don’t see them as competition to the home buyer because they generally don’t bid as high as somebody who is going to be an end user of the home,” said Deborah Rieders, a real estate agent with Corcoran in Brooklyn. “They’ve lost out on a lot of my listings because they were outbid by other buyers.”
Mr. Dixon entered the New York property market through Dixon Advisory, a Canberra-based wealth advisory firm founded by his father, Daryl Dixon, a prominent Australian economist and investment consultant.
During his travels to the United States in 2008 and 2009, Alan Dixon and others at the firm noted the steep decline in housing prices, wondering if there was an opportunity to pick up good homes at distressed prices in the New York area. In 2011, Dixon Advisory held an initial public offering for the US Masters Residential Property Fund, a property trust that trades on the Australian Securities Exchange.
With an initial pool of 70 million Australian dollars raised from investors (the group now controls 380 million dollars from more than 3,700 Australians), Mr. Dixon and his team bought their first homes in Hudson County, N.J., in 2011. They moved into Brooklyn about a year ago.
While his fund has sold a few properties already, Mr. Dixon says the general idea is to hold onto the properties, deriving steady income from rents. Mr. Dixon says that in the early years, as the fund invests in homes, renovates them and rents them, he expects returns could average about 5 percent each year. But as property values and rents increase, he estimates those returns could climb to 12 to 18 percent annually. If the homes are held for five years or longer, the income for the Australian investors will be taxed at a rate that Mr. Dixon says equals about 7.5 percent.
Like the bigger funds, Mr. Dixon and his team are betting that housing prices have stabilized. But his group also believes another demographic shift is occurring, of families coming back to cities and looking for bigger homes.
If Mr. Dixon has a regret, it is not moving faster, especially in Brooklyn, where prices quickly began to climb. His group has been essentially priced out of well-established neighborhoods like Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights.
Furthermore, some of the hottest areas of Brooklyn are seeing a wave of construction and conversions on the horizon to meet increased rental demands. Real estate agents say an estimated 2,700 rentals are expected to hit the Williamsburg market over the next six months, which they say could depress rents.
That has pushed Mr. Dixon and his group farther afield in Brooklyn, where they are buying up dilapidated brownstones like one on MacDonough Street in Stuyvesant Heights.
Gingerly stepping over holes in the floorboards while ducking under exposed electrical wiring dangling from the ceiling, Mr. Dixon points to a threadbare carpet on the floor when asked for the source of the dank smell filling the home. In an upstairs bedroom, a steady flow of rainwater from the ceiling — much of the roof had to be removed because of asbestos — drips down an interior wall.
Mr. Dixon’s firm purchased the home early this year for $539,000. Plans for expansion will push it 12 feet into the backyard, with an outdoor deck on top of the extension. He hopes to have it fixed up in time to rent next summer.
Driving between homes, Mr. Dixon hardly paused when asked what he and his partners could get wrong. “Crime,” he quickly answered, before rattling off statistics that he says show New York’s crime rate is low — relatively speaking.
“Right now, these neighborhoods are benefiting from the low crime rate,” Mr. Dixon said. “But that is something we could get wrong if it went the other way.”
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11)
Doctors Say Heart Drug Raised Risk of an Attack
November 19, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/20/business/doctors-say-heart-drug-raised-risk-of-an-attack.html?ref=business
Cardiologists have
accused a small drug company of withholding data from a clinical trial showing
that the company’s drug, meant to reduce the risk of heart attacks, increased
the risk instead.
The cardiologists said that the company, Anthera Pharmaceuticals, did not turn over data to academic investigators, as it was required to do, for more than a year.
“Despite a contract that required transfer to the academic authors, the company stonewalled every attempt to acquire the data,” Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in an email on Tuesday.
Dr. Nissen was the senior author of a report on the data that was published online Monday by The Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Dallas. In unveiling the results there, the lead investigator, Dr. Stephen Nicholls, publicly admonished the company.
Dr. Colin Hislop, the chief medical officer at Anthera, denied the accusations, saying it simply took time to gather and organize the data. “I don’t think the timeline was particularly protracted, nor were we being difficult,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Studies and lawsuits have shown that many clinical trial results, particularly negative ones, are not published. Critics say that hampers medical practice and violates an obligation to patients, who try experimental treatments in part to advance knowledge.
“We think that when you enter into a clinical trial, and we enter into contracts with our patients, there’s an obligation that we are going to do the right thing,” said Dr. Nicholls, a cardiologist at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide.
The Phase 3 trial involved 5,145 patients in various countries with acute coronary syndrome, a sudden blockage of blood flow to heart muscles. It tested whether the drug varespladib could reduce the risk of heart attacks, stroke, death and chest pains requiring hospitalization.
The trial was terminated early by the safety monitoring committee in March 2012. The company announced that the committee had determined that there was no chance the drug would succeed in the trial.
The results show that patients who got the drug actually had a higher risk of cardiovascular problems, mainly heart attacks, than those who received a placebo.
Dr. Nicholls said in an interview that Anthera continually promised to provide the complete data but did not. Finally, the company told him this spring that it had given the drug back to Eli Lilly, the original developer of the drug. The investigators were then able to get the data almost immediately from Lilly, he said.
Dr. Nicholls said that Anthera was also supposed to ensure that all patients were surveyed six months after the trial ended to see if they were still alive. But that data was collected for only 31 percent of the patients, making it impossible to clearly determine if the drug had increased the risk of death, he said.
Dr. Hislop of Anthera said the organization hired by the company to oversee the trial had tried vigorously to get that data. But some investigators, who were the ones who knew the patients’ identities, did not cooperate.
He said that because of the need to collect the six-month follow-up data, the study database was kept open until early this year. That was just before the company gave back the drug to Lilly.
Anthera, based in Hayward, Calif., was founded in 2004 and does not yet have a drug on the market. It is testing a treatment for lupus.
The cardiologists said that the company, Anthera Pharmaceuticals, did not turn over data to academic investigators, as it was required to do, for more than a year.
“Despite a contract that required transfer to the academic authors, the company stonewalled every attempt to acquire the data,” Dr. Steven Nissen, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in an email on Tuesday.
Dr. Nissen was the senior author of a report on the data that was published online Monday by The Journal of the American Medical Association and presented at the annual meeting of the American Heart Association in Dallas. In unveiling the results there, the lead investigator, Dr. Stephen Nicholls, publicly admonished the company.
Dr. Colin Hislop, the chief medical officer at Anthera, denied the accusations, saying it simply took time to gather and organize the data. “I don’t think the timeline was particularly protracted, nor were we being difficult,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Studies and lawsuits have shown that many clinical trial results, particularly negative ones, are not published. Critics say that hampers medical practice and violates an obligation to patients, who try experimental treatments in part to advance knowledge.
“We think that when you enter into a clinical trial, and we enter into contracts with our patients, there’s an obligation that we are going to do the right thing,” said Dr. Nicholls, a cardiologist at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide.
The Phase 3 trial involved 5,145 patients in various countries with acute coronary syndrome, a sudden blockage of blood flow to heart muscles. It tested whether the drug varespladib could reduce the risk of heart attacks, stroke, death and chest pains requiring hospitalization.
The trial was terminated early by the safety monitoring committee in March 2012. The company announced that the committee had determined that there was no chance the drug would succeed in the trial.
The results show that patients who got the drug actually had a higher risk of cardiovascular problems, mainly heart attacks, than those who received a placebo.
Dr. Nicholls said in an interview that Anthera continually promised to provide the complete data but did not. Finally, the company told him this spring that it had given the drug back to Eli Lilly, the original developer of the drug. The investigators were then able to get the data almost immediately from Lilly, he said.
Dr. Nicholls said that Anthera was also supposed to ensure that all patients were surveyed six months after the trial ended to see if they were still alive. But that data was collected for only 31 percent of the patients, making it impossible to clearly determine if the drug had increased the risk of death, he said.
Dr. Hislop of Anthera said the organization hired by the company to oversee the trial had tried vigorously to get that data. But some investigators, who were the ones who knew the patients’ identities, did not cooperate.
He said that because of the need to collect the six-month follow-up data, the study database was kept open until early this year. That was just before the company gave back the drug to Lilly.
Anthera, based in Hayward, Calif., was founded in 2004 and does not yet have a drug on the market. It is testing a treatment for lupus.
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12) Reconciling a Sport’s Violent Appeal as a Fighter Lies in a Coma
By GREG BISHOP
Three men sat inside a Manhattan diner. Their fighter, the Russian heavyweight Magomed Abdusalamov, remained in a medically induced coma at Roosevelt Hospital, across the street.
“One week ago, the doctors say he has 100 percent chance to die,” his manager, Boris Grinberg, said 10 days after Abdusalamov entered the ring. Since then, his condition has improved, and there is talk of bringing him out of the coma, his representatives said.
Abdusalamov fought Mike Perez at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 2. He expected a tough bout, perhaps even a bloody one, the kind of televised fight that could propel him to greater heights.
The fight lasted 10 rounds, and Abdusalamov took the worst of the exchanges. Blood dripped from his nose and from cuts above his left eyelid. He fought most of the match with a broken hand. He kept asking his team, in Russian, how his face looked.
His promoter, Sampson Lewkowicz, said in the diner that he considered trying to stop the fight in the eighth round. Security stopped him.
After the fight, sportswriters and promoters gathered at a nearby bar and recounted the match. I was among them. The consensus: great, action-packed fight.
At around the same time, Abdusalamov left the arena and vomited on the curb. A cab dropped Abdusalamov at the hospital. Doctors asked his brother to sign off on surgery. Abdusalamov, they said, had a half-hour to live.
A brain scan showed swelling and a blood clot. Doctors induced a coma and removed a portion of his skull. While in the coma, Abdusalamov had a stroke.
His family set up in the intensive-care unit, where they have remained since. His brother slept on two chairs pushed together in a corner. His wife flew up from Florida with their three daughters, ages 8, 4 and 11 months. “Da-Da,” the youngest kept saying.
Abdusalamov’s manager described him as a quiet man, “always thinking about his future, about his goals.” He added, “He is dying to be champion of the world.”
During the fight, I sat 10 feet from the boxers, in the first row of the news media section. I saw Abdusalamov’s face, swollen and disfigured. What a warrior, I thought. What a fight.
In the weeks since, I have wrestled with questions over why we cover this brutal sport, in which so many combatants end up dead or neurologically impaired.
Bernard Hopkins, a former boxer known as The Executioner, talked it over with me. He discussed the opportunities boxing offered, the prospect for the kind of fortune and fame that he had enjoyed. He elaborated on the risks involved, and gladiatorial sacrifice made for the entertainment of others. He could not explain to an outsider why boxers box, or why a Russian heavyweight lay unconscious in a Manhattan hospital. But he tried.
Hopkins remembered visiting a fellow boxer, Leavander Johnson, as he lay in a coma after emergency brain surgery after a title fight gone wrong. Hopkins stood on one side of the bed. Oscar De La Hoya, a man Hopkins once leveled with a devastating body blow, stood on the other. They prayed, and when they lifted their heads, their eyes met.
“Man,” Hopkins said he told De La Hoya, “see what we put our bodies through.”
Johnson died, and yet neither man considered retirement. Hopkins, 48, fought last month.
Boxing, Hopkins says, saved his life.
“I don’t expect you to understand,” he said. “I mean, how many people go to work and say, literally say, ‘I might die tonight.’ But that’s boxing. Whenever there’s a fight, there’s a possibility of death.”
Hopkins could not explain why boxers box, but since they do, he wants to help.
He tells fighters to take out insurance, above what promoters are required to by commissions, which varies from state to state. He says that networks and promoters should take 3 percent of the gross revenue for televised and pay-per-view events and start a fund for boxers who incur severe injuries or worse.
“I may have an eighth-grade education, but I’m around more lawyers, more Harvard and Yale guys in boxing that never take a punch and make plenty of money,” he said. “I can’t understand that.”
Hopkins says that the culture of boxing has grown even coarser in recent years, celebrating savage blood baths over technical skill. He described the mind-set as, “if you don’t duck, you might get back on TV, you might get a bigger fight, and we’ll enhance your purse.”
He added, “The great Sugar Ray Robinson, the greatest fighter that ever wore gloves, would be seen as boring today in the mentality of the string pullers.”
Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini knows what it is like to kill a man in the ring.
In 1982, outside Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, he fought a South Korean named Duk-koo Kim on network television. The action was fast, the blows numerous and fierce.
Kim died days later, and Mancini became depressed. He continued to box and made peace with what happened, but people frequently ask him how it felt to bludgeon a man to death in the ring. He never wanted that moment to define him.
“Look, nobody comes away unscathed,” Mancini said. “It’s just to what extent.”
Boxers die — not as often as they used to, thanks to more stringent safety regulations and medical supervision, and shorter careers and fewer rounds. But they die nonetheless.
More than 230 boxers died in the 1920s, and 103 died in the 2000s, according to Joseph Svinth’s 2011 study in the Journal of Combative Sport’s Manuel Velazquez Collection. Six boxers died in 2010 and three in 2011, the study said. Since the 1890s, some 1,865 boxers have died — more than half in the United States, according to the study.
Joyce Carol Oates once described boxing as a metaphor for life, with its “beauty, vulnerability, despair, incalculable and often self-destructive courage.”
Those involved — promoters, managers, trainers, television executives — must ignore or rationalize or reconcile the conflict between the beauty and the violence. They point to other dangerous pursuits, to football and hockey and auto racing.
Such arguments circle around an unassailable truth. Violence is not simply a part of boxing, it is the best part, the most visceral part, the backbone of the sport. It is what people pay to see.
Part of the reason I watch boxing is for the excitement that accompanies the violence. But it is less about blood lust than about willpower. About enduring.
Boxing is unlike any other sport in that way. It is more individualized than football: two people with nowhere to go. Spectators cannot understand what that feels like, but when they watch they can at least attempt to.
I have covered sports all over the world, and I always say the best, most electrifying 30 seconds are right before a big prizefight. The Super Bowl feels like a game. A boxing match feels like something more.
At the diner, members of Abdusalamov’s team were careful about what they said.
They still did not understand why Abdusalamov did not leave the Garden in an ambulance. Grinberg, his manager, blamed the New York State Athletic Commission in an interview with New York magazine. (The commission did not respond to requests for comment.)
Lewkowicz, the promoter, said a doctor told him that if Abdusalamov had arrived at a hospital an hour earlier he would have had a far greater chance “to survive and have a good life.”
Nevertheless, they shrugged off talk of cracking down on boxing.
“This sport is from the time of the Greeks,” Lewkowicz said. “It will never die.”
Grinberg added that he enjoyed watching New York’s local newscasts. “Every day, somebody shoot, somebody kill,” he said in his Russian accent. “What, we have to close New York maybe? It’s life.”
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13) United States Can Spy on Britons Despite Pact, N.S.A. Memo Says
By JAMES GLANZ
The National Security Agency is authorized to spy on the citizens of America’s closest allies, including Britain, even though those English-speaking countries have long had an official non-spying pact, according to a newly disclosed memorandum.
The classified N.S.A. document, which appears to be a draft and is dated January 2005, states that under specific circumstances, the American intelligence agency may spy on citizens of Britain without that country’s consent or knowledge. The memo, provided by the former N.S.A. contractor Edward J. Snowden, is labeled secret and “NOFORN,” indicating that it may not be shared with any foreign country.
In recent months, the N.S.A.’s activities have stoked anger across the world after leaked documents have exposed American spying on political and economic partners like Germany and France, as well as various foreign leaders. But until now, there has been almost nothing disclosed about spying among the “Five Eyes” countries — the United States and its close intelligence partners Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The N.S.A. declined to respond to questions on whether the draft became official policy and whether spying on Britain without its consent had ever taken place.
But portions of the document appear to indicate that, whether by formal agreement or simply longstanding practice, both Britain and the United States believed that in extraordinary circumstances, one country might feel compelled to spy on citizens of the other.
In a reference to an intelligence-sharing compact struck in March 1946, the memo said the two nations had agreed “that both governments will not target each other’s citizens/persons.”
That agreement, however, came with a caveat that “when it is in the best interest of each nation,” unilateral spying by one nation on the other could take place, the memo says. It goes on to expand that mandate to allow spying by the United States on any of the Five Eyes countries.
The memo was provided by Mr. Snowden to The Guardian, which shared it with The New York Times. The N.S.A. also declined to say whether the memorandum merely codified longstanding American practice or was breaking new ground.
“NSA works with a number of partners and allies in meeting its foreign-intelligence mission goals, and in every case those operations comply with U.S. law and with the applicable laws under which those partners and allies operate,” the agency said in a written reply to questions.
One former senior intelligence official said he had been unaware there were any exceptions to the policy of the five nations sharing intelligence information with each other, but said he would be surprised if the United States chose to spy on its closest allies very frequently.
“They would do this unilaterally so rarely and in such extraordinary circumstances because they would be so concerned about hurting the relationship,” said the former official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity. “My bet is that they wouldn’t go to that well very often.”
The memo contains several protocols on who should be alerted, and under what circumstances, when spying must take place on other Five Eyes countries — also referred to as “Second Party” countries.
One paragraph, marked secret, appears to suggest that the preferred option is to gain permission from the country whose citizens are to be spied upon. But the very next paragraph, marked secret and NOFORN, indicates that the N.S.A. can go it alone if permission is not forthcoming — or if United States chooses not to ask.
“When sharing the planned targeting information with a Second Party would be contrary to U.S. interests, or when the Second Party declines a collaboration proposal, the proposed targeting must be presented to the Signals Intelligence Director for approval with justification for the criticality of the proposed collection,” the passage explains.
It goes on to say that if that spying is approved, the information it gleans “must be maintained in NOFORN channels” — i.e., never shared with the spied-upon country.
A footnote goes further, suggesting that if a Five Eyes citizen is outside of his or her own country, the limits are lifted. In that case, the memo says, “there may be no restrictions associated with that collection” outside of basic N.S.A. rules on avoiding spying on innocent Americans and similar guidelines.
The memo does not detail how much, if at all, these orders differ from existing practice among the spying partners. Even the memo’s purpose is classified secret and NOFORN: “This management directive establishes United States Signals Intelligence System (USSS) policy and procedures related to the targeting of Second Party Persons.”
From the start, the document raises the intriguing question of whether American and British spy agencies have been loosening the rules established in the nonspying compact of 1946. After referring to the compact, the memo contains a passage stating that “this agreement has evolved” to include the understanding that Britain and the United States would not spy on each other.
But in the next two sentences, the memo asserts that the countries “reserved the right” to spy on each other “when it is in the best interest of each nation.”
Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting.
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14) Raw Sewage and Anger Flood Gaza’s Streets as Electricity Runs Low
By FARES AKRAM and JODI RUDOREN
GAZA CITY — Raw sewage has flooded streets in a southern Gaza City neighborhood in recent days, threatening a health disaster, after a shortage of electricity and cheap diesel fuel from Egypt led the Hamas government to shut down Gaza’s lone power plant, causing a pump station to flood.
Three more sewage stations in Gaza City and 10 others elsewhere in the Gaza Strip are close to overflowing, sanitation officials here said, and 3.5 million cubic feet of raw sewage is seeping into the Mediterranean Sea daily. The sanitation department may soon no longer be able to pump drinking water to Gaza homes.
“Any day that passes without a solution has disastrous effects,” Farid Ashour, director of sanitation at the Gaza Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, said Tuesday in an interview. “We haven’t faced a situation as dangerous as this time.”
The sewage crisis is the most acute of an array of problems since the Islamist Hamas movement that governs Gaza shut down the power plant on Nov. 1. Four months earlier Egypt’s new military-backed government closed the smuggling tunnels that were used to transport around one million liters (about 260,000 gallons) of diesel here each day.
Hamas has refused to import Israeli diesel because of taxes imposed by the Palestinian Authority.
Having gotten used to years of scheduled blackouts, generally eight hours without electricity two of every three days, Gaza’s 1.7 million residents are now facing daily power failures of 12 or even 18 hours.
Businesses have cut back production, hospitals are rationing electricity to keep dialysis and cardiac support systems running, students are doing Internet research in the middle of the night and battery sales are brisk. Everywhere, the drone of generators mixes with the odor of kerosene lamps.
Nema Hamad, who is 64 and has sleep apnea, struggles to keep from suffocating. Some nights, her sons run improvised lines from neighbors who have electricity to keep Ms. Hamad’s airway pressure mask working. Three times, they paid $100 for Ms. Hamad to sleep in a private hospital. Once, she woke up gasping for air when the electricity went off unexpectedly and ran into the street, desperately looking for oxygen.
“This is not a life,” Ms. Hamad said as she sat on a mattress in dim candlelight. “Sometimes, I fear that it might be the last time I sleep.”
The electricity shortage comes a year after eight days of intense cross-border violence that killed 167 Palestinians and six Israelis, and it is a profound sign of how Gaza’s situation has shifted since then. The past 12 months have been the quietest in a decade in terms of fire exchanged with Israel, though Israel’s air force struck a weapons facility and two tunnels on Tuesday night after reports of rocket fire near Gaza’s border earlier in the day. Israel has also eased some of its restrictions on the strip, but political changes in Egypt have left a siege of another sort.
The number of trucks bringing goods, including fuel, into Gaza from Israel has increased 18 percent since the ouster in July of President Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, according to Gisha, an Israeli group that advocates freedom of movement.
The number of Palestinians allowed to leave Gaza through Israel’s Erez crossing is up nearly 30 percent since July, Gisha records show, while exits through Egypt’s Rafah crossing — which has lately been closed as often as not — in October were a third of what they had been in January.
Closing the tunnels has left thousands of construction workers without work and other residents frustrated over scarce supplies and rising prices for groceries and electronics, cars and other consumer products. But the idling of the power plant, which by week’s end will have lasted longer than the record 21-day closing in 2008, has hit many people hard.
Gaza requires 400 megawatts of electricity daily to keep the lights on full time, according to the Hamas-run power authority. For decades, it has bought 120 megawatts from Israel through direct cables. During the yearlong presidency of Mr. Morsi, whose Muslim Brotherhood spawned Hamas, Gaza received 30 megawatts directly from Egypt and enough diesel via the tunnels to provide 85 megawatts through its power plant.
The plant, which opened in 2002, could produce up to 140 megawatts daily before Israel bombed it after the 2006 kidnapping of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. It was idle for seven months then and has never returned to full capacity. But Hamas officials say the overall electricity shortage has worsened from about 40 percent before Mr. Morsi was ousted to 65 percent now, and will rise further as winter sets in.
“You’re asking me why? Ask the world why instead,” Mayor Rafiq Mekki of Gaza City said as he toured sewage-filled streets around the flooded Zeitoun pumping station. “We are under siege, and ask the world which besieges us this question. We called on all international organizations to intervene, but no one cares so far.”
Ihab Bessisso, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, said it had rescinded a longstanding tax exemption on fuel for Gaza because it was unfair to West Bank residents.
Hamas has since refused the $1.62 per liter price, insisting on paying no more than 79 cents per liter, Mr. Bessisso said. Instead, it closed the plant.
So Omar al-Khouli has cut in half the bread he makes at his bakery here, running a generator when the power goes out only to finish the batch in the oven. He plans to start closing the shop on mornings when there is no electricity.
“I blame Israel, the Ramallah government and Hamas for the crisis,” said Mr. Khouli, referring to the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority. “They should work together and find a solution for this because it’s the people who are paying the price.”
Some people have bought expensive Chinese-made inverters that provide enough current to light a lamp or two and recharge cellphones.
Yasmeen Ayyoub, a psychology student at Gaza’s Islamic University, said that when power is out during the day, she is forced to study from midnight to 6 a.m. “at the expense of my sleeping hours.”
And in the Sabra neighborhood, near the Zeitoun pumping station, which has flooded three times since Sunday, the stench of sewage hung over the pools of standing water in the streets. Mosquitoes abounded, and residents said their children were vomiting and had diarrhea.
“Every day, we call the electricity company and they say, ‘It’s not our responsibility,’ ” complained Thabet Khatab, 56, a grocer, who was busy piling dirt in front of his house to prevent sewage from seeping inside a second time. “We call the municipality, but they say, ‘Bring diesel for us so we can run the generator in the pumping station.’ ”
Mr. Khatab’s neighbor Nahla Quzat, a mother of eight, said, “They say there is no diesel for the generator, but the government’s cars don’t seem to be suffering from a lack of diesel.”
Fares Akram reported from Gaza City, and Jodi Rudoren from Jerusalem.
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15) Drone Strike Reported Outside Pakistan’s Tribal Region
By ISMAIL KHAN
November 21, 2013
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/22/world/asia/drone-strike-reported-outside-pakistans-tribal-region.html?ref=world
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Missiles believed to have been fired by an American drone struck an Islamic seminary in the northeastern Hangu district on Thursday, the first strike of its kind outside Pakistan’s volatile tribal regions. The attack killed six people and wounded five, according to a senior Pakistani security official.
The attack came as Pakistani officials and politicians from across the political spectrum have intensified criticism of the American drone attacks, particularly after a strike killed Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, on Nov. 1.
In the latest attack, the drone fired missiles into the seminary at around 4:30 a.m. near the border with Afghanistan, Iftikhar Ahmad, a local police officer, said in a telephone interview.
“The bodies have been mutilated and burned beyond recognition,” he said. “We are investigating the matter.”
A senior government official in Peshawar said the seminary belonged to Qari Noor Mohammad, who was affiliated with the militant Haqqani network.
“The seminary had links with the Haqqani network,” the official said on the condition of anonymity.
The Haqqani network, which operates on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, is believed to be one of the most lethal elements of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. Earlier this month, unidentified gunmen killed Nasiruddin Haqqani, a son of the group’s founder, the Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, in an Islamabad suburb.
Another security official said that four of those killed were Afghan militants belonging to the Haqqani network. The two others killed in the strike were students at the seminary, which was in a small Afghan refugee camp in Tandora.
Local officials said that drones had been flying over the area since Monday.
“Four Afghan militant commanders were killed in the attack,” the security official said, requesting that he not be named because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.
Among those killed was Ahmad Jan, a senior Haqqani network leader who also looked after finances for the group, the security official said.
The drone strike Thursday happened a day after Sartaj Aziz, the national security adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, told a Senate foreign affairs committee in Islamabad that the United States had assured Pakistan that it would halt such strikes during negotiations with Pakistani militants.
Mr. Aziz did not give any time frame as to when the proposed peace talks with Pakistani militants in the tribal region would begin. Earlier talks broke off following the strike that killed Mr. Mehsud.
The Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, which rules governs Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province in a coalition with a rightist partner, Jamaat-e-Islami, had already called for a protest Saturday to pressure Mr. Sharif to halt NATO supplies destined for Afghanistan to get the United States to stop drone strikes.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday afternoon, Imran Khan, the former cricket star and politician, sharply criticized both the United States and the Pakistani government.
Mr. Khan said his political party would stage a mass protest in Peshawar, the provincial capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, against American drone strikes and reiterated his vow to block NATO supplies. “I urge all people to gather in Peshawar on Saturday and show that we are honorable people,” he said.
Mr. Khan accused Mr. Sharif’s government of duplicity and failing to persuade the Americans to halt drone strikes. “The government says one thing to the Americans and another to its own people,” Mr. Khan said.
Ismail Khan reported from Peshawar, Pakistan. Salman Masood and Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud contributed reporting from Islamabad.
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16) Bus Stoppage Said to Target Rikers Inmate
By RUSS BUETTNER
When an apparent job action by city correction workers stranded dozens of city correction buses at Rikers Island this week, hundreds of inmates failed to make their scheduled court appearances — including one man of particular interest.
The man, Dapree Peterson, was scheduled to testify on Monday at a trial in State Supreme Court in the Bronx against two correction officers who are accused of beating him and trying to cover it up in an official report.
The bus stoppage was attributed to a sudden onset of bus safety issues, but it was widely assumed throughout the city’s criminal justice system that the union representing correction officers was expressing its anger at the prosecution of the two officers, Kevin Gilkes and Louis Pinto Jr.
That Mr. Peterson was among the inmates delayed would seem to strengthen that interpretation.
Mr. Peterson’s absence raised enough concern that officials from the city Department of Investigation, which conducted the inquiry into Officers Gilkes and Pinto, contacted the city Correction Department to ascertain his whereabouts. Once Mr. Peterson was found, the Investigation Department asked that he be placed in enhanced security, which includes video monitoring, according to people briefed on his custody situation.
The trial of the two officers continued on Tuesday with no further witnesses called, but the judge in the case, George R. Villegas, deliberately kept the courtroom open until Mr. Peterson was finally produced Tuesday afternoon, apparently out of concern for Mr. Peterson.
“I was told the judge did not want to adjourn until he saw the witness,” Steven Reed, a spokesman for the Bronx district attorney’s office, said.
Mr. Peterson was transferred Tuesday evening to the Manhattan Detention Complex, next to State Supreme Court in Lower Manhattan, where he is scheduled for an appearance in an unrelated robbery case on Thursday. It is not standard procedure for the Correction Department to move inmates in before the morning of their court dates.
The next time Mr. Peterson appears in court, it will not be through the usual bus routes handled by correction officers. A person briefed on his situation said there was now an alternative plan to transport him.
Given that the bus problem interfered with Mr. Peterson’s scheduled testimony, the Legal Aid Society is investigating the situation, including an allegation by others that a shutdown may have been orchestrated to interfere with the trial, said Steven Banks, the chief attorney for Legal Aid.
“We are concerned that the Department of Correction has so little ability to maintain its own operations on Rikers Island to the detriment of all our clients who did not have their day in court this week,” Mr. Banks said.
The slowdown in delivering inmates to court continued through Tuesday morning, but appeared to return to normal levels on Wednesday, said David Bookstaver, a spokesman for the state court system. “This obviously had an impact on the hundreds of cases,” he added.
The city’s correction commissioner, Dora B. Schriro, declined to say whether it was under investigation as a possible work action.
Norman Seabrook, the head of the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association, also declined to comment.
The trial of Officers Gilkes and Pinto was scheduled to conclude this week, but has now been adjourned until Dec. 5 to allow the judge time to decide on a motion filed by prosecutors seeking to limit the nature of questions defense lawyers can ask Mr. Peterson, Mr. Reed said.
Officers Pinot and Gilkes claimed that on Dec. 3, 2011, Mr. Peterson stepped toward Mr. Gilkes in an aggressive manner, resulting in Mr. Gilkes’s defending himself and both officers’ guiding the inmate to the floor. But a security videotape showed Mr. Gilkes slamming Mr. Peterson into a wall and hitting him as Mr. Pinto watched.
Mr. Gilkes faces a misdemeanor assault charge, and both he and Mr. Pinto face charges of official misconduct and filing false records. The top charges they face carry a maximum prison sentence of four years.
Mr. Peterson was arrested on June 1 and charged along with another man in a knife-point robbery in the Rector Street subway station early that morning. He had been convicted of a misdemeanor assault charge in 2012, according to court records.
Jim Dwyer contributed reporting.
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17) Major Retailers Agree to Inspection Standards in Bangladesh
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
Two groups of retailers — one dominated by American companies, the other by European brands — announced on Wednesday that they had agreed on joint inspection standards for thousands of garment factories in Bangladesh as part of their effort to improve workplace safety there.
The American-led group, the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, comprises 26 retailers, and the European-dominated group, the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh, with more than 100 members, said that the new agreement was considerably tougher than the previous standards used by many individual retailers and by the Bangladeshi government.
“I think it’s great — we had very productive meetings,” said Brad Loewen, the chief safety inspector for the accord, whose members include H&M, Marks & Spencer and Carrefour. “These standards are very robust, but also reasonable and will make a big difference in the safety of garment factories in Bangladesh.”
The Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and the International Labor Organization participated in the talks to develop the new standards and they, too, agreed on them.
Mr. Loewen said the new standards required sprinkler systems in all garment buildings at least 28 meters, or 92 feet, tall — essentially seven or eight stories. He said the standards required fire doors between exit stairways and the production and storage areas. In addition, the requirements for fire alarms will be far more uniform and stringent.
Jeffrey Krilla, the president of the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which includes Walmart, Gap, Kohl’s and Target, praised the new standards, saying they were based largely on a proposal his alliance put forward.
“Having harmonized standards is very important,” he said. “The standards we’ve reached are above the national building and safety standards that Bangladesh has.”
The two groups were formed after the Rana Plaza factory building collapse on April 24, in which more than 1,100 workers died. After that disaster, labor and consumer groups and many political leaders put intense pressure on European and American retailers to do more to assure factory safety in Bangladesh.
The members of the European-dominated accord have released the names of more than 1,600 Bangladeshi apparel factories that its members use; the American-led alliance has disclosed the names of 686 factories there.
The two sides say there is overlap of at least 300 factories used by their members. Officials involved in the talks said it would be maddening for Bangladeshi factory owners if they had to deal with two different standards for fire and building safety.
“We feel this will raise the bar,” Mr. Krilla said.
The two groups of retailers have said that their safety experts will do thorough inspections of all their factories by next summer.
“We’ll focus much more on getting it right than on quantity,” Mr. Loewen said.
On Monday tensions emerged between the two groups. An official from one of the accord’s members voiced fears that the European-led group’s binding commitment to help pay for needed safety upgrades would enable American retailers to avoid helping pay for improvements.
Mr. Krilla said freeloading was out of the question, noting that the alliance’s members planned to provide up to $100 million in low-cost loans to help Bangladesh factory owners finance safety improvements when violations are found.
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18) Developing Nations Stage Protest at Climate Talks
By DAVID JOLLY
WARSAW — The United Nations climate talks here are bogging down over the old divide between rich and poor nations on the question of who should pay when climate-related disaster strikes, with developing nations staging a symbolic walkout early Wednesday in protest at what they consider inadequate financial support from wealthy countries.
The new catchphrase is “loss and damage,” shorthand for the fight over financing for the costs of rising seas, powerful storms and persistent drought. And the issue of whether the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change should be modified to require rich nations to bear the cost of disasters exacerbated by global warming is threatening to torpedo the Warsaw talks, which are meant to prepare a global climate agreement to be signed in 2015.
“Talk to someone who’s just lost their livelihood two times in the last five years, lost their cow” for reasons related to climate change, said Harjeet Singh, the international coordinator for the advocacy group ActionAid. “There has to be a system in place to help that poor woman.”
In the early hours of Wednesday, Mr. Singh said, the refusal of developed nations to consider seriously the creation of a new mechanism prompted a group of developing countries known as the Group of 77 and China to walk out of the talks, sending “a very strong message that they can’t go home from Warsaw without a loss-and-damage mechanism.”
Developed nations fear footing the bill for potentially unlimited future liability, and agreed only reluctantly to add loss and damage to the Warsaw agenda at the end of last year’s climate conference in Doha, Qatar.
The issue was given new momentum in recent days by the typhoon that battered the Philippines, though it could be years before scientists are able to conclude whether the giant storm’s extreme force can be traced to global warming.
“This is the issue that almost crashed the Doha talks,” said Alden Meyer, the director of policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. “And here we are going into the last days of Warsaw, and the small island states and the less-developed countries are seeing signs that they’re not going to come out of this with what was agreed last year.”
A Western diplomat who was at the talks said that it was an exaggeration to characterize the break in negotiations on Wednesday morning — which took place after 4 a.m., when delegates were exhausted from a long day — as “a walkout.” While the talks did end in discord, the diplomat said, speaking on the condition of anonymity, everyone agreed to leave together with expectations that talks would resume later.
They did pick up later, and Todd D. Stern, the United States climate delegate, expressed confidence during a news conference that the conflict would not cause the discussions to fail.
“I don’t see this negotiation blowing up,” Mr. Stern said. “I think we will find a resolution.”
Mr. Stern noted that the United States and many other developed countries supported the idea of including loss and damage “broadly under the pillar of adaptation”; that is, under one of the existing categories for aid under the framework treaty.
Negotiators from developing countries are calling for a new mechanism to be established, because they lack the resources to respond to disasters that scientists predict will become more severe and more frequent as the atmosphere heats up.
Saleemul Huq, a climate policy fellow at the International Institute for Environment and Development in London, which supports projects on climate change and energy for poor countries, said the process, already troubled by disputes over emissions reductions, could break down without a deal for new financing.
“Unless a loss-and-damage mechanism is actually agreed,” he said, “we don’t see how the negotiations can continue.”
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B. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND
ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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U.S. Court of Appeals Rules Against Lorenzo Johnson’s
New Legal Challenge to His Frame-up Conviction!
Demand the PA Attorney General Dismiss the Charges!
Free Lorenzo Johnson, Now!
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit denied Lorenzo Johnson’s motion to file a Second Habeas Corpus Petition. The order contained the outrageous declaration that Johnson hadn’t made a “prima facie case” that he had new evidence of his innocence. This not only puts a legal obstacle in Johnson’s path as his fight for freedom makes its way (again) through the state and federal courts—but it undermines the newly filed Pennsylvania state appeal that is pending in the Court of Common Pleas.
Stripped of “legalese,” the court’s October 15, 2013 order says Johnson’s new evidence was not brought into court soon enough—although it was the prosecution and police who withheld evidence and coerced witnesses into lying or not coming forward with the truth! This, despite over fifteen years and rounds of legal battles to uncover the evidence of government misconduct. This is a set-back for Lorenzo Johnson’s renewed fight for his freedom, but Johnson is even more determined as his PA state court appeal continues.
Increased public support and protest is needed. The fight for Lorenzo Johnson’s freedom is not only a fight for this courageous man and family. The fight for Lorenzo Johnson is also a fight for all the innocent others who have been framed and are sitting in the slow death of prison. The PA Attorney General is directly pursuing the charges against Lorenzo, despite the evidence of his innocence and the corruption of the police. Free Lorenzo Johnson, Now!
—Rachel Wolkenstein, Esq.
October 25, 2013
For more on the federal court and PA state court legal filings.
Hear Mumia’s latest commentary, “Cat Cries”
Go to: www.FreeLorenzoJohnson.org for more information, to sign the petition, and how to help.
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PUSH CHELSEA'S JAILERS TO RESPECT HER IDENTITY
Call and write Ft Leavenworth today and tell them to honor Manning's wishes around her name and gender:
Chelsea's supporters were awarded the title “absolutely fabulous overall contingent” at the San Francisco Pride Parade
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Call: (913) 758-3600
Write to:
Col. Sioban Ledwith, Commander
U.S. Detention Barracks
1301 N Warehouse Rd
Ft. Leavenworth KS 66027
Private Manning has been an icon both for the government transparency movement and LGBTQ activists because of her fearlessness and acts of conscience. Now, as she begins serving her sentence, Chelsea has asked for help with legal appeals, family visits, education, and support for undergoing gender transition. The latter is a decision she’s made following years of experiencing gender dysphoria and examining her options. At a difficult time in her life, she joined the military out of hope–the hope that she could use her service to save lives, and also the hope that it would help to suppress her feelings of gender dysphoria. But after serving time in Iraq, Private Manning realized what mattered to her most was the truth, personal as well as political, even when it proved challenging.
Now she wants the Fort Leavenworth military prison to allow her access to hormone replacement therapy which she has offered to pay for herself, as she pursues the process to have her name legally changed to ‘Chelsea Elizabeth Manning.’
To encourage the prison to honor her transgender identity, we’re calling on progressive supporters and allies to contact Fort Leavenworth officials demanding they acknowledge her requested name change immediately. Currently, prison officials are not required to respect Chelsea’s identity, and can even refuse to deliver mail addressed to the name ‘Chelsea Manning.’ However, it’s within prison administrators’ power to begin using the name ‘Chelsea Manning’ now, in advance of the legal name change which will most likely be approved sometime next year. It’s also up to these officials to approve Private Manning’s request for hormone therapy.
Call: (913) 758-3600
Write to:
Col. Sioban Ledwith, Commander
U.S. Detention Barracks
1301 N Warehouse Rd
Ft. Leavenworth KS 66027
Tell them: “Transgender rights are human rights! Respect Private Manning’s identity by acknowledging the name ‘Chelsea Manning’ whenever possible, including in mail addressed to her, and by allowing her access to appropriate medical treatment for gender dysphoria, including hormone replacement therapy (HRT).”
While openly transgender individuals are allowed to serve in many other militaries around the world, the US military continues to deny their existence. Now, by speaking up for Chelsea’s right to treatment, you can support one brave whistleblower in her personal struggle, and help set an important benchmark for the rights of transgender individuals everywhere. (Remember that letters written with focus and a respectful tone are more likely to be effective.) Feel free to copy this sample letter.
Earlier this year, the Private Manning Support Network won the title of most “absolutely fabulous overall contingent” at the San Francisco Pride Parade, the largest celebration of its kind for LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) people nationwide. Over one thousand people marched for Private Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning in that parade, to show LGBTQ community pride for the Iraq War’s most well-known whistleblower.
Help us continue to cover 100%
of Pvt. Manning's legal fees! Donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38591
Help us continue to cover 100%
of Pvt. Manning's legal fees! Donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38591
COURAGE TO RESIST
http://couragetoresist.org
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Please sign the NEW petition for Lynne Stewart.
Your signature will send a letter to Bureau of Prisons Director Samuels and to Attorney General Holder requesting that they expedite Lynne Stewart’s current application for compassionate release. The NEW petition is at https://www.change.org/petitions/new-petition-to-free-lynne-stewart-support-compassionate-release
Your signature will send a letter to Bureau of Prisons Director Samuels and to Attorney General Holder requesting that they expedite Lynne Stewart’s current application for compassionate release. The NEW petition is at https://www.change.org/petitions/new-petition-to-free-lynne-stewart-support-compassionate-release
Free Lynne Stewart: Support Compassionate Release
http://www.change.org/petitions/free-lynne-stewart-support-compassionate-release
Renowned defense
attorney Lynne Stewart, unjustly charged and convicted for the “crime”
of providing her client with a fearless defense, is dying of cancer
while imprisoned in the Federal Medical Center, Carswell, Texas.
Your action now can lead to her freedom so that she
may live out her remaining days with the comfort and joy of her family
and those closest to her, including her devoted husband Ralph Poynter,
many children, grandchildren, a great grandchild and lifelong friends.
The conservative medical prognosis by the
oncologist contracted by the prison is that Lynne Stewart has but
16-months to live. Breast cancer, in remission prior to her
imprisonment, reached Stage Four more than a year ago, emerging in her
lymph nodes, shoulder, bones and lungs.
Despite repeated courses of chemotherapy, cancer
advances in her lungs, resistant to treatment. Compounding her dire
condition, Lynne Stewart’s white blood cell count dropped so low that
she has been isolated in a prison hospital room since April 2013 to
reduce risk of generalized infection.
Under the 1984 Sentencing Act, upon a prisoner’s
request, the Bureau of Prisons can file a motion with the Court to
reduce sentences “for extraordinary and compelling reasons,” life
threatening illness foremost among these.
Lynne Stewart’s recent re-application for
compassionate release meets all the criteria specified in guidelines
issued by the Bureau of Prisons in August 2013.
These “new guidelines” followed a searing report
and testimony before Congress by the Department of Justice’s Inspector
General Michael Horowitz. His findings corroborated a definitive report
by Human Rights Watch. Inspector General Horowitz excoriated the Federal
Bureau of Prisons for the restrictive crippling of the compassionate
release program. In a 20-year period, the Bureau had released a scant
492 persons – an average of 24 a year out of a population that exceeds
220,000.
Over 30,000 people of conscience from all walks of
life in the United States and internationally took action to free Lynne
Stewart following her first application for compassionate release in
April of this year.
Among those who raised their voices are former
Attorney General Ramsey Clark – who was co-counsel in the case that led
to Lynne Stewart’s imprisonment, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former
President of the United Nations General Assembly, Father Miguel D’Escoto
Brockmann, Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Ed Asner,
Daniel Berrigan, Liz McAllister Berrigan, Richard Falk, Daniel Ellsberg,
Noam Chomsky, Cornell West, Dick Gregory, Alice Walker and Bianca
Jagger.
They along with thousands of individuals and
organizations, such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, the
National Lawyers Guild and Lawyers Rights Watch Canada, directed
letters, phone calls and public declarations to the Federal Bureau of
Prisons Director Charles E. Samuels, Jr. and to Attorney General Eric H.
Holder, Jr.
Dick Gregory has refused all solid food since April
4 and his remarkable moral witness will not end until Lynne Stewart is
released.
We call upon all to amplify this outpouring of
support. We ask all within our reach to convey to Bureau of Prisons
Director Samuels his obligation to approve Lynne Stewart’s application
and instruct the federal attorney to file the requisite motion for Lynne
Stewart’s compassionate release.
Please sign this new petition and
reach out to others to sign. The letter below will be sent on your
behalf via email to Charles E. Samuels, Jr., Director of the Federal
Bureau of Prisons and to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. Telephone
calls also can be made to the Bureau of Prisons:
(202) 307-3250/3262.
http://www.change.org/petitions/free-lynne-stewart-support-compassionate-release
Write to Lynne Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart #53504-054Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127
or via:
www.lynnestewart.org
What you can do:
Demand Compassionate Release for Lynne Now!
Write and call:
President Obama
The White House
Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500
(202) 456-1111
Attorney General Eric Holder
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20530-0001
(202) 353-1555
Charles E. Samuels, Jr.
Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons
320 First Street, NW
Washington, DC 20534
(202) 307-3250/3262
Write to Lynne Stewart:
Lynne Stewart #53504-054
Unit 2N, Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127
Write to Lynne Stewart Defense Committee at:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information: 718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
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Kimberly Rivera
Imprisoned pregnant resister seeks early release for birth
495 supporters from around the world write letters in support of clemency applicationBy James Branum and Courage to Resist. November 4, 2013
Fort Carson, Colorado – Imprisoned war resister PFC Kimberly Rivera has submitted a clemency application seeking a reduction by 45 days in the 10 month prison sentence she received for seeking asylum in Canada rather return to her unit in Iraq.
The request for clemency was based on humanitarian reasons due to pregnancy. Unless clemency is granted, Private First Class Kimberly Rivera will be forced to give birth in prison and then immediately relinquish custody of her son while she continues to serve the remainder of her sentence.
Unfortunately military regulations provide no provisions for her to be able to breastfeed her infant son while she is in prison.
Fort Carson Senior Commander Brigadier General Michael A. Bills will be making a decision on PFC Rivera’s clemency request in the coming weeks.
PFC Rivera’s case made international news when she was the first female US soldier in the current era to flee to Canada for reasons of conscience. After a protracted struggle through the Canadian legal system, she was deported back to the United States in September 2012. She was then immediately arrested and sent back to the Army to stand trial.
In an interview with Courage to Resist on the eve of her court-martial,
Rivera said, “When I saw the little girl [in Iraq] shaking in fear, in
fear of me, because of my uniform, I couldn’t fathom what she had been
through and all I saw was my little girl and I just wanted to hold her
and comfort her. But I knew I couldn’t. It broke my heart. I am against
hurting anyone… I would harm myself first. I felt this also made me a
liability to my unit and I could not let me be a reason for anyone to be
harmed—so I left... Even though I did not fill out the official
application to obtain conscientious objector status, I consider myself a
conscientious objector to all war.”On April 29, 2013, PFC Rivera pled to charges of desertion. She was sentenced by the military judge to fourteen months in prison, loss of rank and pay, and a dishonorable discharge; thanks to a pre-trial agreement her sentence was reduced to an actual sentence to ten months of confinement and a bad-conduct discharge.
Kimberly Rivera has been recognized by Amnesty International as a “prisoner of conscience.” She is the mother of four children, ages 11, 9, 4 and 2.
Kimberly Rivera’s request for clemency was accompanied by 495 letters of support, written by family members, friends, as well as members of Amnesty International from 19 countries.
“We have many organizations to thank for the outpouring of support for Kimberly Rivera, including Amnesty International, Courage to Resist, the War Resisters Support Campaign of Canada, Veterans for Peace and Coffee Strong,” said James M. Branum, civilian defense attorney for PFC Rivera. “We also want to recognize the tireless efforts of local supporters in Colorado Springs and San Diego who have taken the time to visit Kim in prison as well as to provide important support to Kim’s family in her absence.”
While the official clemency request is now complete, supporters of PFC Rivera are still encouraged to continue to speak out on her behalf. Letters in support of PFC Rivera’s clemency request can be sent directly to:
Brigadier General Michael A. Bills
c/o Fort Carson Public Affairs Office
1626 Ellis Street
Suite 200, Building 1118
Fort Carson, CO 80913
(fax: 1-719-526-1021)
Supporters are also encouraged to sign an online petition posted at:c/o Fort Carson Public Affairs Office
1626 Ellis Street
Suite 200, Building 1118
Fort Carson, CO 80913
(fax: 1-719-526-1021)
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/752/756/678/free-a-pregnant-war-resister/
Photos: Top-Kimberly with husband Mario
during her court martial. Middle-Kimberly in Canada prior to being
deported. Bottom-Courage to Resist rallies outside Canadian Consulate,
San Francisco CA, prior to Kimberly's forced return.
Initial press release
by The Center for Conscience in Action, an Oklahoma City-based
organization dedicated to the intersection of peace, conscience and
direct action. CCA’s Legal Support Project provides low and no cost
legal representation to military service members seeking discharge on
the grounds of conscience.For more information or to schedule an interview about this subject, please contact James M. Branum, lead defense counsel for PFC Rivera, at 405-494-0562 or girightslawyer(at)gmail(dot)com. Consolidated Brig Miramar generally forbids inmates from doing interviews with the press, but you are welcome to see if an exception can be made by contacting the Brig Public Affairs office at 858-577-7071.
Additional case updates will be posted at couragetoresist.org and freekimberlyrivera.org.
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SAVE CCSF!
Two campaigns that need funds – Please donate!
Cartoon by Anthonty Mata for CCSF Guardsman
DOE CAMPAIGN
We are working to ensure that the ACCJC’s authority is not renewed by the Department of Education this December when they are up for their 5-year renewal. Our campaign made it possible for over 50 Third Party Comments to be sent to the DOE re: the ACCJC. Our next step in this campaign is to send a delegation from CCSF to Washington, D.C. to give oral comments at the hearing on December 12th. We expect to have an array of forces aligned on the other side who have much more money and resources than we do.
So please support this effort to get ACCJC authority revoked!
LEGAL CAMPAIGN
Save CCSF members have been meeting with Attorney Dan Siegel since last May to explore legal avenues to fight the ACCJC. After much consideration, and consultation with AFT 2121’s attorney as well as the SF City Attorney’s office, Dan has come up with a legal strategy that is complimentary to what is already being pursued. In fact, AFT 2121’s attorney is encouraging us to go forward.
The total costs of pursuing this (depositions, etc.) will be substantially more than $15,000. However, Dan is willing to do it for a fixed fee of $15,000. He will not expect a retainer, i.e. payment in advance, but we should start payments ASAP. If we win the ACCJC will have to pay our costs.
PLEASE HELP BOTH OF THESE IMPORTANT EFFORTS!
Checks can be made out to Save CCSF Coalition with “legal” in the memo line and sent to:
Save CCSF Coalition
2132 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA 94705
Or you may donate online: http://www.gofundme.com/4841ns2132 Prince St.
Berkeley, CA 94705
http://www.saveccsf.org/
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16 Years in Solitary Confinement Is Like a "Living Tomb"
American Civil Liberties Union petition to end long-term solitary confinement:
California Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard: We stand with the prisoners on hunger strike. We urge you to comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 recommendations regarding an end to long-term solitary confinement.
Sign the petition:
https://www.aclu.org/secure/ca-hunger-strike?emsrc=Nat_Appeal_AutologinEnabled&emissue=criminal_justice&emtype=petition&ms=eml_130719_acluaction_cahungerstrike&af=k%2FxKX1cIRdoonPVmvnAfAit8jzOCulLOnCX4AAFljff%2B%2BVOdOHNe6CKwl7glWQSjSakzXt53zF%2FodPf00T3rRHlglO3tjEA6DcMSLJRlTbfVBHAizX6uOxoSy5%2FbP93EBFj5xi6Lwm3RWHjmDOZDARHLBSl1rqTr07kLhONZrnU1UIIgPs0P%2FXQ%2BJL3reyE8%2BoiI1nlfPZPBVhbfYxUzMQ%3D%3D&etname=130719+CA+prisoners+hunger+strike&etjid=946739
In California, hundreds of prisoners have been held in solitary for more than a decade – some for infractions as trivial as reading Machiavelli's "The Prince."
Gabriel Reyes describes the pain of being isolated for at least 22 hours a day for the last 16 years:
“Unless you have lived it, you cannot imagine what it feels like to be by yourself, between four cold walls, with little concept of time…. It is a living tomb …’ I have not been allowed physical contact with any of my loved ones since 1995…I feel helpless and hopeless. In short, I am being psychologically tortured.”
That’s why over 30,000 prisoners in California began a hunger strike – the biggest the state has ever seen. They’re refusing food to protest prisoners being held for decades in solitary and to push for other changes to improve their basic conditions.
California Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard has tried to dismiss the strikers and refuses to negotiate, but the media pressure is building through the strike. If tens of thousands of us take action, we can help keep this issue in the spotlight so that Secretary Beard can’t ignore the inhumane treatment of prisoners.
Sign the petition urging Corrections Secretary Beard to end the use of long-term solitary confinement.
Solitary is such an extreme form of punishment that a United Nations torture rapporteur called for an international ban on the practice except in rare occasions. Here’s why:
The majority of the 80,000 people held in solitary in this country are severely mentally ill or because of a minor infraction (it’s a myth that it’s only for violent prisoners)
Even for people with stable mental health, solitary causes severe psychological reactions, often leading people to attempt suicide
It jeopardizes public safety because prisoners held in solitary have a harder time reintegrating into society.
And to add insult to injury, the hunger strikers are now facing retaliation – their lawyers are being restricted from visiting and the strikers are being punished. But the media continues to write about the hunger strike and we can help keep the pressure on Secretary Beard by signing this petition.
Sign the petition urging Corrections Secretary Beard to end the use of long-term solitary confinement.
Our criminal justice system should keep communities safe and treat people fairly. The use of solitary confinement undermines both of these goals – but little by little, we can help put a stop to such cruelty.
Thank you,
Anthony for the ACLU Action team
P.S. The hunger strikers have developed five core demands to address their basic conditions, the main one being an end to long-term solitary confinement. They are:
-End group punishment – prisoners say that officials often punish groups to address individual rule violations
-Abolish the debriefing policy, which is often demanded in return for better food or release from solitary
-End long-term solitary confinement
-Provide adequate and nutritious food
-Expand or provide constructive programming and privileges for indefinite SHU inmates
Sources
“Solitary - and anger - in California's prisons.” Los Angeles Times July 13, 2013
“Pelican Bay Prison Hunger-Strikers' Stories: Gabriel Reyes.” TruthOut July 9, 2013
“Solitary confinement should be banned in most cases, UN expert says.” UN News October 18, 2011
"Stop Solitary - Two Pager" ACLU.org
What you Didn't know about NYPD's Stop and Frisk program !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rfJHx0Gj6ys#at=990
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Egypt: The Next President -- a little Egyptian boy speaks his remarkable mind!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeDm2PrNV1I
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Wealth Inequality in America
[This is a must see to believe video...bw]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=QPKKQnijnsM
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Read the transcription of hero Bradley Manning's 35-page statement explaining why he leaked "state secrets" to WikiLeaks.
March 1, 2013
Alternet
The statement was read by Pfc. Bradley Manning at a providence inquiry for his formal plea of guilty to one specification as charged and nine specifications for lesser included offenses. He pled not guilty to 12 other specifications. This rush transcript was taken by journalist Alexa O'Brien at Thursday's pretrial hearing and first appeared on Salon.com.
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/bradley-mannings-surprising-statement-court-details-why-he-made-his-historic?akid=10129.229473.UZvQfK&rd=1&src=newsletter802922&t=7
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Call for a Compassionate Release for Lynne Stewart:
Attorney General Eric Holder: 202-514-2001
White House President Obama: 202-456-1414
Bureau of Prisons Director Charles Samuels: 202-307-3198 ext 3
Urgent: Please sign the petition for compassionate release for Lynne Stewart
http://www.change.org/petitions/petition-to-free-lynne-stewart-save-her-life-release-her-now-2
For more information, go to http://www.lynnestewart.org
Write to Lynne Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart #53504-054
??Federal Medical Center, Carswell
PO Box 27137
Fort Worth, TX 76127
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You Have the Right to Remain Silent: NLG Guide to Law Enforcement Encounters
Posted 1 day ago on July 27, 2012, 10:28 p.m. EST by OccupyWallSt
Occupy Wall Street is a nonviolent movement for social and economic justice, but in recent days disturbing reports have emerged of Occupy-affiliated activists being targeted by US law enforcement, including agents from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security. To help ensure Occupiers and allied activists know their rights when encountering law enforcement, we are publishing in full the National Lawyers Guild's booklet: You Have the Right to Remain Silent. The NLG provides invaluable support to the Occupy movement and other activists – please click here to support the NLG.
We strongly encourage all Occupiers to read and share the information provided below. We also recommend you enter the NLG's national hotline number (888-654-3265) into your cellphone (if you have one) and keep a copy handy. This information is not a substitute for legal advice. You should contact the NLG or a criminal defense attorney immediately if you have been visited by the FBI or other law enforcement officials. You should also alert your relatives, friends, co-workers and others so that they will be prepared if they are contacted as well.
You Have the Right to Remain Silent: A Know Your Rights Guide for Law Enforcement Encounters
What Rights Do I Have?
Whether or not you're a citizen, you have rights under the United States Constitution. The Fifth Amendment gives every person the right to remain silent: not to answer questions asked by a police officer or government agent. The Fourth Amendment restricts the government's power to enter and search your home or workplace, although there are many exceptions and new laws have expanded the government's power to conduct surveillance. The First Amendment protects your right to speak freely and to advocate for social change. However, if you are a non-citizen, the Department of Homeland Security may target you based on your political activities.
Standing Up For Free Speech
The government's crusade against politically-active individuals is intended to disrupt and suppress the exercise of time-honored free speech activities, such as boycotts, protests, grassroots organizing and solidarity work. Remember that you have the right to stand up to the intimidation tactics of FBI agents and other law enforcement officials who, with political motives, are targeting organizing and free speech activities. Informed resistance to these tactics and steadfast defense of your and others' rights can bring positive results. Each person who takes a courageous stand makes future resistance to government oppression easier for all. The National Lawyers Guild has a long tradition of standing up to government repression. The organization itself was labeled a "subversive" group during the McCarthy Era and was subject to FBI surveillance and infiltration for many years. Guild attorneys have defended FBI-targeted members of the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement, and the Puerto Rican independence movement. The NLG exposed FBI surveillance, infiltration and disruption tactics that were detailed during the 1975-76 COINTELPRO hearings. In 1989 the NLG prevailed in a lawsuit on behalf of several activist organizations, including the Guild, that forced the FBI to expose the extent to which it had been spying on activist movements. Under the settlement, the FBI turned over roughly 400,000 pages of its files on the Guild, which are now available at the Tamiment Library at New York University.
What if FBI Agents or Police Contact Me?
What if an agent or police officer comes to the door?
Do not invite the agents or police into your home. Do not answer any questions. Tell the agent that you do not wish to talk with him or her. You can state that your lawyer will contact them on your behalf. You can do this by stepping outside and pulling the door behind you so that the interior of your home or office is not visible, getting their contact information or business cards and then returning inside. They should cease questioning after this. If the agent or officer gives a reason for contacting you, take notes and give the information to your attorney. Anything you say, no matter how seemingly harmless or insignificant, may be used against you or others in the future. Lying to or misleading a federal agent is a crime. The more you speak, the more opportunity for federal law enforcement to find something you said (even if not intentionally) false and assert that you lied to a federal officer.
Do I have to answer questions?
You have the constitutional right to remain silent. It is not a crime to refuse to answer questions. You do not have to talk to anyone, even if you have been arrested or are in jail. You should affirmatively and unambiguously state that you wish to remain silent and that you wish to consult an attorney. Once you make the request to speak to a lawyer, do not say anything else. The Supreme Court recently ruled that answering law enforcement questions may be taken as a waiver of your right to remain silent, so it is important that you assert your rights and maintain them. Only a judge can order you to answer questions. There is one exception: some states have "stop and identify" statutes which require you to provide identity information or your name if you have been detained on reasonable suspicion that you may have committed a crime. A lawyer in your state can advise you of the status of these requirements where you reside.
Do I have to give my name?
As above, in some states you can be detained or arrested for merely refusing to give your name. And in any state, police do not always follow the law, and refusing to give your name may make them suspicious or more hostile and lead to your arrest, even without just cause, so use your judgment. Giving a false name could in some circumstances be a crime.
Do I need a lawyer?
You have the right to talk to a lawyer before you decide whether to answer questions from law enforcement. It is a good idea to talk to a lawyer if you are considering answering any questions. You have the right to have a lawyer present during any interview. The lawyer's job is to protect your rights. Once you tell the agent that you want to talk to a lawyer, he or she should stop trying to question you and should make any further contact through your lawyer. If you do not have a lawyer, you can still tell the officer you want to speak to one before answering questions. Remember to get the name, agency and telephone number of any investigator who visits you, and give that information to your lawyer. The government does not have to provide you with a free lawyer unless you are charged with a crime, but the NLG or another organization may be able to help you find a lawyer for free or at a reduced rate.
If I refuse to answer questions or say I want a lawyer, won't it seem like I have something to hide?
Anything you say to law enforcement can be used against you and others. You can never tell how a seemingly harmless bit of information might be used or manipulated to hurt you or someone else. That is why the right not to talk is a fundamental right under the Constitution. Keep in mind that although law enforcement agents are allowed to lie to you, lying to a government agent is a crime. Remaining silent is not. The safest things to say are "I am going to remain silent," "I want to speak to my lawyer," and "I do not consent to a search." It is a common practice for law enforcement agents to try to get you to waive your rights by telling you that if you have nothing to hide you would talk or that talking would "just clear things up." The fact is, if they are questioning you, they are looking to incriminate you or someone you may know, or they are engaged in political intelligence gathering. You should feel comfortable standing firm in protection and defense of your rights and refusing to answer questions.
Can agents search my home or office?
You do not have to let police or agents into your home or office unless they have and produce a valid search warrant. A search warrant is a written court order that allows the police to conduct a specified search. Interfering with a warrantless search probably will not stop it and you might get arrested. But you should say "I do not consent to a search," and call a criminal defense lawyer or the NLG. You should be aware that a roommate or guest can legally consent to a search of your house if the police believe that person has the authority to give consent, and your employer can consent to a search of your workspace without your permission.
What if agents have a search warrant?
If you are present when agents come for the search, you can ask to see the warrant. The warrant must specify in detail the places to be searched and the people or things to be taken away. Tell the agents you do not consent to the search so that they cannot go beyond what the warrant authorizes. Ask if you are allowed to watch the search; if you are allowed to, you should. Take notes, including names, badge numbers, what agency each officer is from, where they searched and what they took. If others are present, have them act as witnesses to watch carefully what is happening. If the agents ask you to give them documents, your computer, or anything else, look to see if the item is listed in the warrant. If it is not, do not consent to them taking it without talking to a lawyer. You do not have to answer questions. Talk to a lawyer first. (Note: If agents present an arrest warrant, they may only perform a cursory visual search of the premises to see if the person named in the arrest warrant is present.)
Do I have to answer questions if I have been arrested?
No. If you are arrested, you do not have to answer any questions. You should affirmatively and unambiguously state that you wish to assert your right to remain silent. Ask for a lawyer right away. Do not say anything else. Repeat to every officer who tries to talk to or question you that you wish to remain silent and that you wish to speak to a lawyer. You should always talk to a lawyer before you decide to answer any questions.
What if I speak to government agents anyway?
Even if you have already answered some questions, you can refuse to answer other questions until you have a lawyer. If you find yourself talking, stop. Assert that you wish to remain silent and that you wish to speak to a lawyer.
What if the police stop me on the street?
Ask if you are free to go. If the answer is yes, consider just walking away. If the police say you are not under arrest, but are not free to go, then you are being detained. The police can pat down the outside of your clothing if they have reason to suspect you might be armed and dangerous. If they search any more than this, say clearly, "I do not consent to a search." They may keep searching anyway. If this happens, do not resist because you can be charged with assault or resisting arrest. You do not have to answer any questions. You do not have to open bags or any closed container. Tell the officers you do not consent to a search of your bags or other property.
What if police or agents stop me in my car?
Keep your hands where the police can see them. If you are driving a vehicle, you must show your license, registration and, in some states, proof of insurance. You do not have to consent to a search. But the police may have legal grounds to search your car anyway. Clearly state that you do not consent. Officers may separate passengers and drivers from each other to question them, but no one has to answer any questions.
What if I am treated badly by the police or the FBI?
Write down the officer's badge number, name or other identifying information. You have a right to ask the officer for this information. Try to find witnesses and their names and phone numbers. If you are injured, seek medical attention and take pictures of the injuries as soon as you can. Call a lawyer as soon as possible.
What if the police or FBI threaten me with a grand jury subpoena if I don't answer their questions?
A grand jury subpoena is a written order for you to go to court and testify about information you may have. It is common for the FBI to threaten you with a subpoena to get you to talk to them. If they are going to subpoena you, they will do so anyway. You should not volunteer to speak just because you are threatened with a subpoena. You should consult a lawyer.
What if I receive a grand jury subpoena?
Grand jury proceedings are not the same as testifying at an open court trial. You are not allowed to have a lawyer present (although one may wait in the hallway and you may ask to consult with him or her after each question) and you may be asked to answer questions about your activities and associations. Because of the witness's limited rights in this situation, the government has frequently used grand jury subpoenas to gather information about activists and political organizations. It is common for the FBI to threaten activists with a subpoena in order to elicit information about their political views and activities and those of their associates. There are legal grounds for stopping ("quashing") subpoenas, and receiving one does not necessarily mean that you are suspected of a crime. If you do receive a subpoena, call the NLG National Hotline at 888-NLG-ECOL (888-654-3265) or call a criminal defense attorney immediately.
The government regularly uses grand jury subpoena power to investigate and seek evidence related to politically-active individuals and social movements. This practice is aimed at prosecuting activists and, through intimidation and disruption, discouraging continued activism.
Federal grand jury subpoenas are served in person. If you receive one, it is critically important that you retain the services of an attorney, preferably one who understands your goals and, if applicable, understands the nature of your political work, and has experience with these issues. Most lawyers are trained to provide the best legal defense for their client, often at the expense of others. Beware lawyers who summarily advise you to cooperate with grand juries, testify against friends, or cut off contact with your friends and political activists. Cooperation usually leads to others being subpoenaed and investigated. You also run the risk of being charged with perjury, a felony, should you omit any pertinent information or should there be inconsistencies in your testimony.
Frequently prosecutors will offer "use immunity," meaning that the prosecutor is prohibited from using your testimony or any leads from it to bring charges against you. If a subsequent prosecution is brought, the prosecutor bears the burden of proving that all of its evidence was obtained independent of the immunized testimony. You should be aware, however, that they will use anything you say to manipulate associates into sharing more information about you by suggesting that you have betrayed confidences.
In front of a grand jury you can "take the Fifth" (exercise your right to remain silent). However, the prosecutor may impose immunity on you, which strips you of Fifth Amendment protection and subjects you to the possibility of being cited for contempt and jailed if you refuse to answer further. In front of a grand jury you have no Sixth Amendment right to counsel, although you can consult with a lawyer outside the grand jury room after each question.
What if I don't cooperate with the grand jury?
If you receive a grand jury subpoena and elect to not cooperate, you may be held in civil contempt. There is a chance that you may be jailed or imprisoned for the length of the grand jury in an effort to coerce you to cooperate. Regular grand juries sit for a basic term of 18 months, which can be extended up to a total of 24 months. It is lawful to hold you in order to coerce your cooperation, but unlawful to hold you as a means of punishment. In rare instances you may face criminal contempt charges.
What If I Am Not a Citizen and the DHS Contacts Me?
The Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is now part of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and has been renamed and reorganized into: 1. The Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS); 2. The Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP); and 3. The Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). All three bureaus will be referred to as DHS for the purposes of this pamphlet.
? Assert your rights. If you do not demand your rights or if you sign papers waiving your rights, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may deport you before you see a lawyer or an immigration judge. Never sign anything without reading, understanding and knowing the consequences of signing it.
? Talk to a lawyer. If possible, carry with you the name and telephone number of an immigration lawyer who will take your calls. The immigration laws are hard to understand and there have been many recent changes. DHS will not explain your options to you. As soon as you encounter a DHS agent, call your attorney. If you can't do it right away, keep trying. Always talk to an immigration lawyer before leaving the U.S. Even some legal permanent residents can be barred from returning.
Based on today's laws, regulations and DHS guidelines, non-citizens usually have the following rights, no matter what their immigration status. This information may change, so it is important to contact a lawyer. The following rights apply to non-citizens who are inside the U.S. Non-citizens at the border who are trying to enter the U.S. do not have all the same rights.
Do I have the right to talk to a lawyer before answering any DHS questions or signing any DHS papers?
Yes. You have the right to call a lawyer or your family if you are detained, and you have the right to be visited by a lawyer in detention. You have the right to have your attorney with you at any hearing before an immigration judge. You do not have the right to a government-appointed attorney for immigration proceedings, but if you have been arrested, immigration officials must show you a list of free or low cost legal service providers.
Should I carry my green card or other immigration papers with me?
If you have documents authorizing you to stay in the U.S., you must carry them with you. Presenting false or expired papers to DHS may lead to deportation or criminal prosecution. An unexpired green card, I-94, Employment Authorization Card, Border Crossing Card or other papers that prove you are in legal status will satisfy this requirement. If you do not carry these papers with you, you could be charged with a crime. Always keep a copy of your immigration papers with a trusted family member or friend who can fax them to you, if need be. Check with your immigration lawyer about your specific case.
Am I required to talk to government officers about my immigration history?
If you are undocumented, out of status, a legal permanent resident (green card holder), or a citizen, you do not have to answer any questions about your immigration history. (You may want to consider giving your name; see above for more information about this.) If you are not in any of these categories, and you are being questioned by a DHS or FBI agent, then you may create problems with your immigration status if you refuse to provide information requested by the agent. If you have a lawyer, you can tell the agent that your lawyer will answer questions on your behalf. If answering questions could lead the agent to information that connects you with criminal activity, you should consider refusing to talk to the agent at all.
If I am arrested for immigration violations, do I have the right to a hearing before an immigration judge to defend myself against deportation charges?
Yes. In most cases only an immigration judge can order you deported. But if you waive your rights or take "voluntary departure," agreeing to leave the country, you could be deported without a hearing. If you have criminal convictions, were arrested at the border, came to the U.S. through the visa waiver program or have been ordered deported in the past, you could be deported without a hearing. Contact a lawyer immediately to see if there is any relief for you.
Can I call my consulate if I am arrested?
Yes. Non-citizens arrested in the U.S. have the right to call their consulate or to have the police tell the consulate of your arrest. The police must let your consulate visit or speak with you if consular officials decide to do so. Your consulate might help you find a lawyer or offer other help. You also have the right to refuse help from your consulate.
What happens if I give up my right to a hearing or leave the U.S. before the hearing is over?
You could lose your eligibility for certain immigration benefits, and you could be barred from returning to the U.S. for a number of years. You should always talk to an immigration lawyer before you decide to give up your right to a hearing.
What should I do if I want to contact DHS?
Always talk to a lawyer before contacting DHS, even on the phone. Many DHS officers view "enforcement" as their primary job and will not explain all of your options to you.
What Are My Rights at Airports?
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is illegal for law enforcement to perform any stops, searches, detentions or removals based solely on your race, national origin, religion, sex or ethnicity.
If I am entering the U.S. with valid travel papers can a U.S. customs agent stop and search me?
Yes. Customs agents have the right to stop, detain and search every person and item.
Can my bags or I be searched after going through metal detectors with no problem or after security sees that my bags do not contain a weapon?
Yes. Even if the initial screen of your bags reveals nothing suspicious, the screeners have the authority to conduct a further search of you or your bags.
If I am on an airplane, can an airline employee interrogate me or ask me to get off the plane?
The pilot of an airplane has the right to refuse to fly a passenger if he or she believes the passenger is a threat to the safety of the flight. The pilot's decision must be reasonable and based on observations of you, not stereotypes.
What If I Am Under 18?
Do I have to answer questions?
No. Minors too have the right to remain silent. You cannot be arrested for refusing to talk to the police, probation officers, or school officials, except in some states you may have to give your name if you have been detained.
What if I am detained?
If you are detained at a community detention facility or Juvenile Hall, you normally must be released to a parent or guardian. If charges are filed against you, in most states you are entitled to counsel (just like an adult) at no cost.
Do I have the right to express political views at school?
Public school students generally have a First Amendment right to politically organize at school by passing out leaflets, holding meetings, etc., as long as those activities are not disruptive and do not violate legitimate school rules. You may not be singled out based on your politics, ethnicity or religion.
Can my backpack or locker be searched?
School officials can search students' backpacks and lockers without a warrant if they reasonably suspect that you are involved in criminal activity or carrying drugs or weapons. Do not consent to the police or school officials searching your property, but do not physically resist or you may face criminal charges.
Disclaimer
This booklet is not a substitute for legal advice. You should contact an attorney if you have been visited by the FBI or other law enforcement officials. You should also alert your relatives, friends, co-workers and others so that they will be prepared if they are contacted as well.
NLG National Hotline for Activists Contacted by the FBI
888-NLG-ECOL
(888-654-3265)
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Free Mumia NOW!
Prisonradio.org
Write to Mumia:
Mumia Abu-Jamal AM 8335
SCI Mahanoy
301 Morea Road
Frackville, PA 17932
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Rachel Wolkenstein
August 21, 2011 (917) 689-4009
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL ILLEGALLY SENTENCED TO
LIFE IMPRISONMENT WITHOUT PAROLE!
FREE MUMIA NOW!
www.FreeMumia.com
http://blacktalkradionetwork.com/profiles/blogs/mumia-is-formally-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-w-out-hearing-he-s
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"A Child's View from Gaza: Palestinian Children's Art and the Fight Against
Censorship" book
https://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=25
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Justice for Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace: Decades of isolation in Louisiana
state prisons must end
Take Action -- Sign Petition Here:
http://www.amnesty.org/en/appeals-for-action/justice-for-albert-woodfox-and-herm\
an-wallace
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WITNESS GAZA
http://www.witnessgaza.com/
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Write to Bradley
http://bradleymanning.org/donate
View the new 90 second "I am Bradley Manning" video:
I am Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-P3OXML00s
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
"A Fort Leavenworth mailing address has been released for Bradley Manning:
Bradley Manning 89289
830 Sabalu Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027
The receptionist at the military barracks confirmed that if someone sends
Bradley Manning a letter to that address, it will be delivered to him."
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/update-42811
This is also a Facebook event
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=207100509321891#!/event.php?eid=2071005093\
21891
Courage to Resist needs your support
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning
has been defending and supporting our Constitution." --Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon
Papers whistle-blower
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly
becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to
make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might also be interested in
supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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The Battle Is Still On To
FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL!
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 • Oakland CA 94610
www.laboractionmumia.org
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT! FREE KEVIN COOPER!
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's
death row!
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&\
b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15084
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa25910.pdf
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's
work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown
on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l
Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected
over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial
support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html
and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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D. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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Exceptional art from the streets of Oakland:
Oakland Street Dancing
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NYC RESTAURANT WORKERS DANCE & SING FOR A WAGE HIKE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_s8e1R6rG8&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
On Gun Control, Martin Luther King, the Deacons of Defense and the history of Black Liberation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzYKisvBN1o&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Fukushima Never Again
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU-Z4VLDGxU
"Fukushima, Never Again" tells the story of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdowns in north east Japan in March of 2011 and exposes the cover-up by Tepco and the Japanese government.
This is the first film that interviews the Mothers Of Fukushima, nuclear power experts and trade unionists who are fighting for justice and the protection of the children and the people of Japan and the world. The residents and citizens were forced to buy their own geiger counters and radiation dosimeters in order to test their communities to find out if they were in danger.
The government said contaminated soil in children's school grounds was safe and then
when the people found out it was contaminated and removed the top soil, the government and TEPCO refused to remove it from the school grounds.
It also relays how the nuclear energy program for "peaceful atoms" was brought to Japan under the auspices of the US military occupation and also the criminal cover-up of the safety dangers of the plant by TEPCO and GE management which built the plant in Fukushima. It also interviews Kei Sugaoka, the GE nulcear plant inspector from the bay area who exposed cover-ups in the safety at the Fukushima plant and was retaliated against by GE. This documentary allows the voices of the people and workers to speak out about the reality of the disaster and what this means not only for the people of Japan but the people of the world as the US government and nuclear industry continue to push for more new plants and government subsidies. This film breaks
the information blockade story line of the corporate media in Japan, the US and around the world that Fukushima is over.
Production Of Labor Video Project
P.O. Box 720027
San Francisco, CA 94172
www.laborvideo.org
lvpsf@laborvideo.org
For information on obtaining the video go to:
www.fukushimaneveragain.com
(415)282-1908
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1000 year of war through the world
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NiG8neU4_bs&feature=share
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Anatomy of a Massacre - Afganistan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6BnRc11aug&feature=player_embedded
Afghans accuse multiple soldiers of pre-meditated murder
To see more go to http://www.youtube.com/user/journeymanpictures
Follow us on Facebook (http://goo.gl/YRw42) or Twitter
(http://www.twitter.com/journeymanvod)
The recent massacre of 17 civilians by a rogue US soldier has been shrouded in
mystery. But through unprecedented access to those involved, this report
confronts the accusations that Bales didn't act alone.
"They came into my room and they killed my family". Stories like this are common
amongst the survivors in Aklozai and Najiban. As are the shocking accusations
that Sergeant Bales was not acting alone. Even President Karzai has announced
"one man can not do that". Chief investigator, General Karimi, is suspicious
that despite being fully armed, Bales freely left his base without raising
alarm. "How come he leaves at night and nobody is aware? Every time we have
weapon accountability and personal accountability." These are just a few of the
questions the American army and government are yet to answer. One thing however
is very clear, the massacre has unleashed a wave of grief and outrage which
means relations in Kandahar will be tense for years to come: "If I could lay my
hands on those infidels, I would rip them apart with my bare hands."
A Film By SBS
Distributed By Journeyman Pictures
April 2012
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Photo of George Zimmerman, in 2005 photo, left, and in a more recent photo.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/02/us/the-events-leading-to-the-sooti\
ng-of-trayvon-martin.html?hp
SPD Security Cams.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WWDNbQUgm4&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Kids being put on buses and transported from school to "alternate locations" in
Terror Drills
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFia_w8adWQ
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Private prisons,
a recession resistant investment opportunity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIGLDOxx9Vg
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Attack Dogs used on a High School Walkout in MD, Four Students Charged With
"Thought Crimes"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wafMaML17w
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Common forms of misconduct by Law Enforcement Officials and Prosecutors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViSpM4K276w&feature=related
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Organizing and Instigating: OCCUPY - Ronnie Goodman
http://arthazelwood.com/instigator/occupy/occupy-birth-video.html
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Rep News 12: Yes We Kony
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68GbzIkYdc8
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
The New Black by The Mavrix - Official Music Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4rLfja8488
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Japan One Year Later
http://www.onlineschools.org/japan-one-year-later/
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
The CIA's Heart Attack Gun
http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/assassination-studies/the-cias-heart-attack-g\
un-.html
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
The Invisible American Workforce
http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/5/new_expos_tracks_alec_private_prison
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Labor Beat: NATO vs The 1st Amendment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbQxnb4so3U
For more detailed information, send us a request at mail@laborbeat.org.
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
The Battle of Oakland
by brandon jourdan plus
http://vimeo.com/36256273
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Officers Pulled Off Street After Tape of Beating Surfaces
By ANDY NEWMAN
February 1, 2012, 10:56 am
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/01/officers-pulled-off-street-after-ta\
pe-of-beating-surfaces/?ref=nyregion
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This is excellent! Michelle Alexander pulls no punches!
Michelle Alexander, Author of The New Jim Crow, speaks about the political
strategy
behind the War on Drugs and its connection to the mass incarceration of Black
and Brown people in the United States.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P75cbEdNo2U&feature=player_embedded
If you think Bill Clinton was "the first black President" you need to watch this
video and see how much damage his administration caused for the black community
as a result of his get tough attitude on crime that appealed to white swing
voters.
This speech took place at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem on January 12,
2012.
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FREE BRADLEY MANNING
http://www.bradleymanning.org/news/national-call-in-for-bradley
I received the following reply from the White House November 18, 2011 regarding
the Bradley Manning petition I signed:
"Why We Can't Comment on Bradley Manning
"Thank you for signing the petition 'Free PFC Bradley Manning, the accused
WikiLeaks whistleblower.' We appreciate your participation in the We the People
platform on WhiteHouse.gov.
The We the People Terms of Participation explain that 'the White House may
decline to address certain procurement, law enforcement, adjudicatory, or
similar matters properly within the jurisdiction of federal departments or
agencies, federal courts, or state and local government.' The military justice
system is charged with enforcing the Uniform Code of
Military Justice. Accordingly, the White House declines to comment on the
specific case raised in this petition...
That's funny! I guess Obama didn't get this memo. Here's what Obama said about
Bradley:
BRADLEY MANNING "BROKE THE LAW" SAYS OBAMA!
"He broke the law!" says Obama about Bradley Manning who has yet to even be
charged, let alone, gone to trial and found guilty. How horrendous is it for the
President to declare someone guilty before going to trial or being charged with
a crime! Justice in the U.S.A.!
Obama on FREE BRADLEY MANNING protest... San Francisco, CA. April 21, 2011-
Presidential remarks on interrupt/interaction/performance art happening at
fundraiser. Logan Price queries Barack after org. FRESH JUICE PARTY political
action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0&feature=youtu.be
Release Bradley Manning
Almost Gone (The Ballad Of Bradley Manning)
Written by Graham Nash and James Raymond (son of David Crosby)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAYG7yJpBbQ&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
School police increasingly arresting American students?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zl-efNBvjUU&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
FYI:
Nuclear Detonation Timeline "1945-1998"
The 2053 nuclear tests and explosions that took place between 1945 and 1998 are
plotted visually and audibly on a world map.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9lquok4Pdk&feature=share&mid=5408
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
We Are the 99 Percent
We are the 99 percent. We are getting kicked out of our homes. We are forced to
choose between groceries and rent. We are denied quality medical care. We are
suffering from environmental pollution. We are working long hours for little pay
and no rights, if we're working at all. We are getting nothing while the other 1
percent is getting everything. We are the 99 percent.
Brought to you by the people who occupy wall street. Why will YOU occupy?
OccupyWallSt.org
Occupytogether.org
wearethe99percentuk.tumblr.com
http://wearethe99percent.tumblr.com/
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
We Are The People Who Will Save Our Schools
YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFAOJsBxAxY
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
In honor of the 75th Anniversary of the 44-Day Flint Michigan sit-down strike at
GM that began December 30, 1936:
According to Michael Moore, (Although he has done some good things, this clip
isn't one of them) in this clip from his film, "Capitalism a Love Story," it was
Roosevelt who saved the day!):
"After a bloody battle one evening, the Governor of Michigan, with the support
of the President of the United States, Franklin Roosevelt, sent in the National
Guard. But the guns and the soldiers weren't used on the workers; they were
pointed at the police and the hired goons warning them to leave these workers
alone. For Mr. Roosevelt believed that the men inside had a right to a redress
of their grievances." -Michael Moore's 'Capitalism: A Love Story'
- Flint Sit-Down Strike http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8x1_q9wg58
But those cannons were not aimed at the goons and cops! They were aimed straight
at the factory filled with strikers! Watch what REALLY happened and how the
strike was really won!
'With babies & banners' -- 75 years since the 44-day Flint sit-down strike
http://links.org.au/node/2681
--Inspiring
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
HALLELUJAH CORPORATIONS (revised edition).mov
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ws0WSNRpy3g
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
ONE OF THE GREATEST POSTS ON YOUTUBE SO FAR!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8C-qIgbP9o&feature=share&mid=552
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
ILWU Local 10 Longshore Workers Speak-Out At Oakland Port Shutdown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JUpBpZYwms
Uploaded by laborvideo on Dec 13, 2011
ILWU Local 10 longshore workers speak out during a blockade of the Port of
Oakland called for by Occupy Oakland. Anthony Levieges and Clarence Thomas rank
and file members of the union. The action took place on December 12, 2011 and
the interview took place at Pier 30 on the Oakland docks.
For more information on the ILWU Local 21 Longview EGT struggle go to
http://www.facebook.com/groups/256313837734192/
For further info on the action and the press conferernce go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jz3fE-Vhrw8&feature=youtu.be
Production of Labor Video Project www.laborvideo.org
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
UC Davis Police Violence Adds Fuel to Fire
By Scott Galindez, Reader Supported News
19 November 11
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/275-42/8485-uc-davis-police-violence-add\
s-fuel-to-fire
UC Davis Protestors Pepper Sprayed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AdDLhPwpp4&feature=player_embedded
Police PEPPER SPRAY UC Davis STUDENT PROTESTERS!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wuWEx6Cfn-I&feature=player_embedded
Police pepper spraying and arresting students at UC Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmJmmnMkuEM&feature=player_embedded
*---------*
UC Davis Chancellor Katehi walks to her car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=CZ0t9ez_EGI#!
Occupy Seattle - 84 Year Old Woman Dorli Rainey Pepper Sprayed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTIyE_JlJzw&feature=related
*---------*
THE BEST VIDEO ON "OCCUPY THE WORLD"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S880UldxB1o
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Shot by police with rubber bullet at Occupy Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0pX9LeE-g8&feature=player_embedded
*---------*
Copwatch@Occupy Oakland: Beware of Police Infiltrators and Provocateurs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrvMzqopHH0
*---------*
Occupy Oakland 11-2 Strike: Police Tear Gas, Black Bloc, War in the Streets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Tu_D8SFYck&feature=player_embedded
*----*
Quebec police admitted that, in 2007, thugs carrying rocks to a peaceful protest
were actually undercover Quebec police officers:
POLICE STATE Criminal Cops EXPOSED As Agent Provocateurs @ SPP Protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoiisMMCFT0&feature=player_embedded
*----*
Quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&feature=player_embedded
G20: Epic Undercover Police Fail
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrJ7aU-n1L8&feature=player_embedded
*----*
WHAT HAPPENED IN OAKLAND TUESDAY NIGHT, OCTOBER 25:
Occupy Oakland Protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlPs-REyl-0&feature=player_embedded
Cops make mass arrests at occupy Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R27kD2_7PwU&feature=player_embedded
Raw Video: Protesters Clash With Oakland Police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CpO-lJr2BQY&feature=player_embedded
Occupy Oakland - Flashbangs USED on protesters OPD LIES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqNOPZLw03Q&feature=player_embedded
KTVU TV Video of Police violence
http://www.ktvu.com/video/29587714/index.html
Marine Vet wounded, tear gas & flash-bang grenades thrown in downtown
Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMUgPTCgwcQ&feature=player_embedded
Tear Gas billowing through 14th & Broadway in Downtown Oakland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OU4Y0pwJtWE&feature=player_embedded
Arrests at Occupy Atlanta -- This is what a police state looks like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YStWz6jbeZA&feature=player_embedded
*---------*
Labor Beat: Hey You Billionaire, Pay Your Fair Share
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY8isD33f-I
*---------*
Voices of Occupy Boston 2011 - Kwame Somburu (Paul Boutelle) Part I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DA48gmfGB6U&feature=youtu.be
Voices of Occupy Boston 2011 - Kwame Somburu (Paul Boutelle) Part II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjKZpOk7TyM&feature=related
*---------*
#Occupy Wall Street In Washington Square: Mohammed Ezzeldin, former occupier of
Egypt's Tahrir Square Speaks at Washington Square!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziodsFWEb5Y&feature=player_embedded
*---------*
#OccupyTheHood, Occupy Wall Street
By adele pham
http://vimeo.com/30146870
*---------*
Live arrest at brooklyn bridge #occupywallstreet by We are Change
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yULSI-31Pto&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
FREE THE CUBAN FIVE!
http://www.thecuban5.org/wordpress/index.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmS4kHC_OlY&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
One World One Revolution -- MUST SEE VIDEO -- Powerful and beautiful...bw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE3R1BQrYCw&feature=player_embedded
"When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty." Thomas Jefferson
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Japan: angry Fukushima citizens confront government (video)
Posted by Xeni Jardin on Monday, Jul 25th at 11:36am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVuGwc9dlhQ&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand
Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse
Sharkey, Vice
President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
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