On March 21, the antiwar movement will return to Washington, DC for a massive rally against U.S. Wars
On January 10, UNAC joined many other major antiwar organizations at a meeting in Washington, DC where we planned for several days of action around the date of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is time that we are back in the streets in a big way. Please plan to join us, organize buses and car pools and save the date. For areas that are too far from Washington, DC, plan your own action in your area. End all Wars at Home and Abroad! Join us!
Here's the schedule so far:
Wednesday, March 18: Peace gathering and fellowship.
Thursday, March 19th: Lobbying on Capitol Hill, followed by a tour of the war machine: homes and offices of war criminals.
Friday, March 20th: Afternoon and evening teach-in: Ending Current Wars, Ending the Institution of War.
This event will examine ISIS and U.S. warmaking in Western Asia and elsewhere; the damage militarism does to the natural environment, economies, and civil rights; and how the war system can be replaced with a peace system.
Saturday, March 21st: Protest at the White House, followed by march.
To join the Facebook event for Spring Rising: https://www.facebook.com/events/430232700485435
For more information, click here:
http://nepajac.org/springrising.html
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Cancel the #DetroitWater Debt and Start Afresh
Sign the petition:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/cancel-the-detroitwater-debt-and-start-afresh
We call on the City of Detroit and the newly-formed
Great Lakes Water Authority to cancel the existing debts of Detroit
Water and Sewerage customers and start afresh with simple, affordable
rates: all customer past-due balances are wiped clean.
Last
year, Detroit made international headlines when tens of thousands of
residents lost their access to water through an aggressive shut-off
program by the water department.
The city
of Detroit has endured decades of economic turmoil, drastic depopulation
and repeated mismanagement. The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department
(DWSD) is over $5 billion in debt (over $4,500 per family in the
metro Detroit area).To compensate, they have increased rates over 119%
in the last decade.¹Residents who fall behind on their bills risk water
shutoff, and in 2014 that’s exactly what happened to tens of thousands
of Detroiters.
The shutoff program didn't work,
and the DWSD collected less than 3% of the over $100 million currently
owed.² A large number of the families who entered into payment plans
last year are now defaulting on them yet again because they lack
sufficient income.
In contrast, a voluntary
bond tender offer initiated during the shutoffs allowed the city to
renegotiate high interest rates on municipal water bonds and save over
$250 million in interest fees for the city.³
The
bond markets know that Detroit's water debt is junk and the city will
unlikely ever be able to pay the current interest rates, which is why
Default Trends proclaimed Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD)
its "Biggest Default of 2014".⁴
Corruption in
the DWSD has been rampant, with former Department head Victor Mercado
currently serving an 8-month federal corruption sentence for "conspiracy
to commit extortion" by padding department contracts and rigging bids
that netted his business associates millions. Although many of those
contracts are now being scrutinized by the city's legal team, Detroiters
are still paying dearly for the fraud of past leaders.
The
overbearing Detroit water debt has a human side, too: it has pushed
Detroit into an outright humanitarian crisis. Rates of infectious
disease and sickness are up dramatically, leading the National Nurses
union recently to declare a 'Public Health Emergency' in Detroit.⁵The
water department is significantly under-staffed and water infrastructure
is crumbling, leading to leaks that cost taxpayers tens of millions
annually. The department is unable to address these time-sensitive
issues due to lack of funding, as it currently spends 46% of its
operating revenue on debt service to banks - the largest line-item by
far in its budget.
We call on the City of
Detroit and the newly-formed Great Lakes Water Authority to cancel the
Detroit Water and Sewerage Department's existing debts and start afresh
with simple, affordable rates: all customer past-due balances are wiped
clean.
Detroit's existing
water/sewerage rate structure is highly-regressive and unaffordable for
too many families. We call on the city to implement the 2005 Water
Affordability Plan to ensure that no family pays more than the
EPA-recommended threshold for water, including "lifeline rates" for
essential quantities of drinking/bathing water.⁶
The
water department acknowledges that 90% of its operating costs are
fixed⁷, meaning they don't depend upon how much water is consumed by
users. Still, they charge usage-based rates that fluctuate dramatically
with weather (up to 18% decrease in usage) and with broader demographic
shifts in the region (2/3 of Detroit's population has left the city
since 1950). Creating a progressive rate structure based at least
partially upon a family's income - as is done with many public services
like streetlights, schools, libraries, etc - would more equitably
distribute the burden of operating a system relied upon by over 4
million people for essential drinking water.
The
Detroit Water Brigade has provided emergency relief and advocacy to
hundreds of families since June of 2014, including providing immediate
financial assistance to families currently without water.⁸We've seen
first-hand the disastrous effects of these harsh, debt-driven austerity
policies.
We pledge to escalate this
campaign in the coming months until we bring relief to the tens of
thousands of metro Detroit families living without water today and the
millions living precariously with unaffordable water rates.
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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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SHUT DOWN CREECH!
Mass Mobilization to Stop Drone Wars!
A Convergence For Peace in the Nevada Desert
Join us March 4-6, 2015 at Creech Air Force Base, Indian Springs, Nevada, for a national mobilization of nonviolent resistance to shut down killer drone operations in Afghanistan, Pakistan,Yemen, Somalia, and everywhere. Sponsored by CODEPINK: Women for Peace, Nevada Desert Experience , Veterans For Peace, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and Voices for Creative Nonviolence. CODEPINK will also hold vigils daily on March 2nd and 3rd, prior to the official beginning of this Creech Convergence For Peace, and welcomes everyone to join them.
In 2005, Creech Air Force Base secretly became the first U.S. base in the country to carry out illegal, remotely controlled assassinations using the MQ-1 Predator drones, and in 2006, the more advanced Reaper drones were added to its arsenal. Creech drone personnel sit behind computers in the desert north of Las Vegas and kill "suspects" thousands of miles away. Recent independent research indicates that the identity of only one out of 28 victims of U.S. drone strikes is known beforehand. Though officials deny it, the majority of those killed by drones are civilians. In 2014, it was leaked that the CIA's criminal drone assassination program, officially a separate operation from the Air Force's, has been piloted all along by Creech's super-secret Squadron 17.
Since 2009 dozens of activists have been arrested for allegedly trespassing at Creech, in attempts to stop the indiscriminate killing and burning of innocent people by drones. At the trial of the "Creech 14," the first Americans prosecuted for trespass at a drone base, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark testified that "to have a baby burn to death because of a 'no trespass' sign would be poor public policy, to put it mildly." In a time of burning children, the "no trespass" signs attached to the fences that protect the crimes perpetrated with drones are not legitimate, and they do not command our obedience. After all, it is the U.S. military that is guilty of lethal trespassing.
The US drone program is rapidly proliferating as air bases are being converted to drone bases across the U.S. and abroad, but Creech remains the primary air base in U.S. state-sponsored global terrorism. Creech is where the killer drone program started--it is where we shall end it.
We must put an end to this desecration of our Mother Earth and all creatures who inhabit it.
We must put an end to the dehumanization of lives from Ferguson to Palestine to Pakistan.
We must close all foreign U.S. military bases. Money for human needs.
We must put an end to drone warfare, drone surveillance, and global militarization.
We must...
SHUT CREECH DOWN!
More details to come soon!
Sign up on facebook https://www.facebook.com/events/1525740921010540/?context=create&previousaction=create&source=49&sid_create=3742154553#
Or contact:
Toby Blomé of Code Pink, 510-215-5974 (h)
Brian Terrell of VCNV and NDE, 773-853-1886
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Justice for Rasmea: All out for March 12!
Letters for Leniency requested by Feb. 4.
On March 12, Rasmea is set to appear once again in the Detroit courtroom of Judge Gershwin Drain, this time for a sentencing hearing. We are seeking letters to the judge requesting leniency.
For this round of letters, we are NOT looking for a mountain of individual statements, but rather letters from prominent individuals who represent broader constituencies. We need you to work with leaders of faith-based, labor, and community organizations, as well as student governments, student organizations (national), prominent professors, and legislators in your area to draft and submit letters.
Below you will find an outline you can use to draft these letters, but it is important for the authors to write them in their own voices. Letters should be submitted by February 4 to justice4rasmea@uspcn.org.
Stay tuned! Keep sharing Rasmea’s story and organizing fundraisers. Watch for calls for your support as we prepare for sentencing and appeal. Our organizing is key to winning #Justice4Rasmea.
* * * SAMPLE LETTER TEMPLATE * * *
Honorable Judge Gershwin Drain,
I am writing to request leniency from you in the March 12 sentencing of Rasmea Odeh, who I know as .
-In November 2014, Rasmea was convicted of Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization. Compassion in her sentencing will serve justice in this case. She was detained for a month immediately following the verdict, including almost 3 weeks in solitary confinement, which was extremely difficult for her.
As a survivor of torture, engagement for the betterment of her community in Chicago is critical to her emotional health; the isolation she endured while incarcerated was a great hardship and may have retriggered her Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
-As a 67-year old woman, her health suffered under the cold, damp, and uncomfortable conditions in the St. Clair County Jail, as they surely would in any facility lacking medical services and accommodations to provide for senior citizens.
-If Rasmea loses her appeal, she will likely lose her citizenship and face deportation. This will end life as she knows it, cutting all her ties with family and community in Chicago. This punishment alone is so devastating, it should not be compounded by adding a prison term.
-Since there is a possibility of her conviction being overturned on appeal, keeping her out of prison would allow her to continue as a contributing and productive person, doing the work that is so critical to hundreds of immigrant and refugee women in Chicago’s Arab and Muslim community.
-Rasmea is an award-winning leader of Chicago’s immigrant community who has dedicated 50 years of her life to serving refugees wherever she has lived. In Chicago, she built the Arab Women’s Committee, with some 600 members. Because of Rasmea’s work, immigrant and refugee women who came to the US from countries facing war and political crises – like Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, Syria, and beyond – now have a place to seek support, gain empowerment and community, and call their home.
Respectfully yours,
follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend
Copyright © 2015 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights reserved.
Thanks for your ongoing interest in the fight against FBI repression of anti-war and international solidarity activists!
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
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Save the Date - UNAC National Conference, May 8 - 10, 2015
UNAC is the major national antiwar coalition in the U.S. today. The existence of a United National Antiwar Coalition is vital and we need your financial support to continue our work and to expand.
With U.S. wars today accelerating and expanding globally in various forms – from drone attacks on Yemen and Pakistan, never-ending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, support to neo-fascists in Ukraine, and proliferating Africom forces to threats of war for regime change in Syria – we have an obligation to do whatever is possible to educate the public and to take action to stop the carnage.
The wars abroad are connected to global warming with most wars fought over energy resources with the U.S. war machine as the largest polluter.
At home, we see hugely growing income inequality, a militarized and racist police force, mass incarceration of Blacks and Latinos, and a massive police state apparatus that includes global surveillance and laws to quell dissent.
In spite of the trillions spent by the U.S. corporate war government and its controlled media propaganda machine to keep us in check, the people are fighting back. We’ve been inspired and strengthened by the hundreds of thousands of new activists taking to the streets of this country to stop police brutality, to build Occupy encampments, to fight for decent wages, to demand full rights for immigrants, to win marriage equality, to end global warming, to demonstrate solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza, and to protest unending U.S. wars.
UNAC has played an active, often leadership role, in all of the antiwar and social justice movements of our time. While most activists are focused on their particular issues, the most vital role we can play is to connect the issues to their source. All of the injustices and crimes we protest, stem from the imperialist insatiable drive for expanding profit and control – and the U.S. is the largest imperialist power militarily and economically. When there should be plenty for all, only the obscenely wealthy benefit while the rest of the 99% struggle just to survive.
Some of our recent major accomplishments:
· Initiated protest against NATO and 15,000 marched in Chicago in 2012.
· Called for immediate actions against threats of war and coups directed at Libya, Iran, No. Korea, Africa, Latin America, Ukraine, and maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
· Organized a national tour for Afghan leader Malalai Joya.
· Sent representatives to international NATO protests and conferences.
· Serve on the Board of the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms to act against Islamophobia , racist attacks on Muslims, and attacks on our civil liberties.
· Participated in national efforts to organize anti-drone actions.
· Campaigned to defend victims of government repression who speak out and expose Washington’s crimes, including Rasmea Odeh, Mumia abu Jamal, Lynne Stewart, Chelsea Manning, and the Midwest activists targeted by the FBI.
· Produced national educational conference calls featuring experts on topics such as U.S. intervention in Africa, the destruction of Libya, the developing wars in Syria, and others.
· Built an antiwar contingent in the massive New York City Climate Change march and built Climate Change action in other cities around the country.
· Helped organize protests against Israel’s attack on Gaza
· Helped organize protests against the murder of Blacks by white police and the militarization of the police forces in the U.S.
UNAC has a history of bringing hundreds of activists together at large national conferences to learn about the issues of the day, to discuss the way forward and to vote on an Action Program for the coming period.
The UNAC conference next May will bring activists from all the movements in motion to cross-fertilize these struggles. We are particularly dedicated to bringing young activists together to support and learn from each other. For this, we need your help to offer subsidies to leaders from Ferguson, from the border wars in the southwest, from the Native Americans who are fighting against the pipelines ruining their lands, from the Students for Justice in Palestine, and many others.
Please give generously so that we can continue our work to bring harmony and justice to the peoples of this earth.
You can send a check to UNAC at PO Box 123, Delmar, NY 12054 or click the button below to contribute on-line with your credit or debit card.
https://www.unacpeace.org/
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On Behalf of Wadiya Jamal and
Mumia Abu-Jamal,
A Contribution Request
The message following is a forward from:
Rachel Wolkenstein
Sister, Advocate and Friend of the Extended Family
Samiya “Goldii” Abdullah, a daughter of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal died on December 17, 2014 after years of battle with breast cancer. Samiya would have been 37 this January 9 and is survived by two young daughters, Aiyanah and Aaiyah, affectionately known as Dolly and Puddy, ages eleven and four.
Samiya was a remarkable woman. She was accomplished as a musician, an activist and rapper on social justice, particularly in the struggle for Mumia’s freedom. She devoured books and education. During her long, often debilitating illness, Samiya finished her Masters Degree in School and Mental Health Counseling from the University of Pennsylvania with honors. She was dedicated to her young daughters and wanted them to grow up loving each other as much as she did her brothers and sisters. And she wanted her daughters to see Mumia (called “Pop Pop” by them) walk out of prison and home with their grandmother, Wadiya.
Samiya's active fight for Mumia's freedom, began at the young age of four. Mumia wrote about this in “The Visit” printed in Live from Death Row in 1994. This was recreated in the movie "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary."
"My father is still considered to be a dangerous individual … his mind is what they fear, there is over- whelming evidence that would exonerate him of his conviction.
"He is an innocent man and the commonwealth has always known this, but being too Black, too smart, and too strong … The government will silence anyone that possesses the power to open the minds of the people."
—Goldii
Samiya’s strength, character and spirit were nurtured by Wadiya and Mumia and are being passed on to her daughters.
On behalf of Wadiya Jamal and Mumia Abu-Jamal, this is a request for funds to assist Wadiya for care of her granddaughters, Dolly and Puddy.
A financial contribution of any amount will be greatly appreciated.
Please send checks or money orders, made payable to Wadiya Jamal:
Wadiya Jamal
P.O. Box 19404
Kingsessing Postal Station
Philadelphia, PA 19143-9998
In loving memory of Samiya and in tribute to her fierce fight for life,
Rachel Wolkenstein
Sister, Advocate and Friend of the Extended Family
Hear Mumia’s Words (and Song) played before the Janazah for Samiya on December 20, 2014: “Samiya Abdullah Makes Transition”:
http://prisonradio.org/sites/default/files/audio/uploads/SamiyaAbdullahMakesTransition12-19-2.mp3?download=1
This message has been sent to you by:
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 • Oakland CA • 510.763.2347
www.laboractionmumia.org
Donate Now
to fight the “gag” law!
go to:
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/protect-freedom-of-speech-keep-mumia-on-the-air
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Support Prison Radio
$35 is the yearly membership.
$50 will get you a beautiful tote bag (you can special order a yoga mat bag, just call us).
$100 will get the DVD "Mumia: Long Distance Revolutionary"
$300 will bring one essay to the airwaves.
$1000 (or $88.83 per month) will make you a member of our Prison Radio Freedom Circle. Take a moment and Support Prison Radio
Luchando por la justicia y la libertad,
Noelle Hanrahan, Director, Prison Radio
PRISON RADIO
P.O. Box 411074 San Francisco, CA 94141
www.prisonradio.org
info@prisonradio.org 415-706-5222
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Campaign to Free Lorenzo Johnson
Lorenzo Speaks Concerning Prosecution's Brief:
JANUARY 1, 2015—The prosecutor has run away from (almost) every issue raised in my PCRA by begging the Court to dismiss everything as “untimely”. When they don’t do this, they suggest that me and my lawyers were “defamatory” towards either my former prosecutor Christopher Abruzzo or Detective Kevin Duffin, in our claims they withheld, misused or hid evidence of my Innocence, in order to secure an unjust conviction in this case. If I charged, a year ago, that about a dozen AGs (attorneys general) were involved in circulating porno via their office computers, people would’ve laughed at me, and seen me as crazy.
But, guess what? During 2014, we learned that this was the truth. How can it be defamatory to speak the truth? Notice the OAG (Office of Attorney General), never said the obvious: That AG Abruzzo didn’t inform the Defense about the relationship between his Motive Witness and his head detective (Victoria Doubs and Det. Duffin); that Det. Duffin doesn’t deny Doubs was his god-sister, and that she lived in his family home, or that he assisted her whenever she got into trouble.
Why not? Because it is true. How can you defame someone who defames himself? Mr. Christopher Abruzzo, Esq., when a member of the higher ranks of the OAG, sent and/or received copious amounts of porno to other attorneys general and beyond. What does this say about his sense of judgment? He thought enough about his behavior to resign from his post in the Governor’s Cabinet. If he thought that his behavior was okay, he’d still be sitting in the Governor’s cabinet, right? The OAG cannot honestly oppose anything we’ve argued, but they try by seeking to get the Court to do their dirty work, how? By denying an Evidentiary Hearing to prove every point we’ve claimed.
The prosecution is trying desperately to avoid dealing with the substance of my claims in Com. v. Lorenzo Johnson. So, they slander my Legal Team and blame them for defaming the good AG’s and Cops involved with this case. They try to do what is undeniable, to deny that they hid evidence from the Defense for years. They blamed me for daring to protest the hidden evidence of their malfeasance and other acts to sabotage the defense. They claim that they had an “Open File” policy with my trial counsel. But “Open File” is more than letting an attorney read something in their office. If it’s a search for the truth it must include what is turned over to the attorney, for how do we really know what was shown to her?
They say it is inconceivable that an attorney would read a file, beginning on page nine (9), and not ask for the preceding eight (8) pages. Yet, it is conceivable if trial counsel was ineffective for not demanding the record of the first eight pages. Pages that identify the State’s only witness as a “SUSPECT” in the murder for which her client was charged! How could such an attorney fail to recognize the relevance of such an issue, barring their sheer Ineffectiveness and frankly, Incompetence.
By seeking to avoid an evidentiary hearing, the prosecution seeks to avoid evidence of their wrongdoing being made plain, for all to see. If they believe I’m wrong, why not prove it? They can’t. So they shout I filed my appeal untimely, as if there can ever justly be a rule that precludes an innocent from proving his innocence! Not to mention the fact that the prosecution has failed to even mention the positive finger prints that ay my trial they said none existed. Don’t try to hide it with a lame argument about time. When isn’t there a time for truth? The prosecution should be ashamed of itself for taking this road. It is unworthy of an office that claims to seek justice.
After the trial verdict The Patriot-News (March 18, 1997) reported, “Deputy Attorney General Christopher Abruzzo admitted there were some serious concerns about the strength of the evidence against Johnson and praised the jury for doing a thorough job.” I guess he forgot to mention all of the evidence he left out to show Innocence.
Now, more than ever, Lorenzo Johnson needs your support.
Publicize his case; bring it to your friends, clubs, religious
and social organizations.
SIGN LORENZO JOHNSON'S FREEDOM PETITION
http://www.freelorenzojohnson.org/sign-the-petition.html
CONTRIBUTE TO LORENZO'S CAMPAIGN FOR FREEDOM!
http://www.freelorenzojohnson.org/how-can-i-help.html
Write: Lorenzo Johnson
DF 1036
SCI Mahanoy
301 Morea Rd.
Frackville, PA 17932
Email: Lorenzo Johnson through JPAY.com code:
Lorenzo Johnson DF 1036 PA DOC
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Click HERE to view in browser
http://www.iacenter.org/prisoners/freepinkney-1-28-15/
Join the Fight to Free Rev. Pinkney!
On December 15, 2014 the Rev. Edward Pinkney of Benton Harbor, Michigan was thrown into prison for 2.5 to 10 years. This 66-year-old leading African American activist was tried and convicted in front of an all-white jury and racist white judge and prosecutor for supposedly altering 5 dates on a recall petition against the mayor of Benton Harbor.
The prosecutor, with the judge’s approval, repeatedly told the jury “you don’t need evidence to convict Mr. Pinkney.” And ABSOLUTELY NO EVIDENCE WAS EVER PRESENTED THAT TIED REV. PINKNEY TO THE ‘ALTERED’ PETITIONS. Rev. Pinkney was immediately led away in handcuffs and thrown into Jackson Prison.
This is an outrageous charge. It is an outrageous conviction. It is an even more outrageous sentence! It must be appealed.
With your help supporters need to raise $20,000 for Rev. Pinkney’s appeal.
Checks can be made out to BANCO (Black Autonomy Network Community Organization). This is the organization founded by Rev. Pinkney. Mail them to: Mrs. Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union Street, Benton Harbor, MI 49022.
Donations can be accepted on-line at bhbanco.org – press the donate button.
For information on the decade long campaign to destroy Rev. Pinkney go to bhbanco.org and workers.org(search “Pinkney”).
We urge your support to the efforts to Free Rev. Pinkney!Ramsey Clark – Former U.S. attorney general,
Cynthia McKinney – Former member of U.S. Congress,
Lynne Stewart – Former political prisoner and human rights attorney
Ralph Poynter – New Abolitionist Movement,
Abayomi Azikiwe – Editor, Pan-African News Wire<
Larry Holmes – Peoples Power Assembly,
David Sole – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice
Sara Flounders – International Action Center
MESSAGE FROM REV. PINKNEY
I am now in Marquette prison over 15 hours from wife and family, sitting in prison for a crime that was never committed. Judge Schrock and Mike Sepic both admitted there was no evidence against me but now I sit in prison facing 30 months. Schrock actually stated that he wanted to make an example out of me. (to scare Benton Harbor residents even more...) ONLY IN AMERICA. I now have an army to help fight Berrien County. When I arrived at Jackson state prison on Dec. 15, I met several hundred people from Detroit, Flint, Kalamazoo, and Grand Rapids. Some people recognized me. There was an outstanding amount of support given by the prison inmates. When I was transported to Marquette Prison it took 2 days. The prisoners knew who I was. One of the guards looked me up on the internet and said, "who would believe Berrien County is this racist."
New Court Date on 4 Motions for Rev. Pinkney
TUES, FEB. 24 1pm Berrien County Court
Background to Campaign to free Rev. Pinkney
Michigan political prisoner the Rev. Edward Pinkney is a victim of racist injustice. He was sentenced to 30 months to 10 years for supposedly changing the dates on 5 signatures on a petition to recall Benton Harbor Mayor James Hightower.
No material or circumstantial evidence was presented at the trial that would implicate Pinkney in the purported5 felonies. Many believe that Pinkney, a Berrien County activist and leader of the Black Autonomy Network Community Organization (BANCO), is being punished by local authorities for opposing the corporate plans of Whirlpool Corp, headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
In 2012, Pinkney and BANCO led an “Occupy the PGA [Professional Golfers’ Association of America]” demonstration against a world-renowned golf tournament held at the newly created Jack Nicklaus Signature Golf Course on the shoreline of Lake Michigan. The course was carved out of Jean Klock Park, which had been donated to the city of Benton Harbor decades ago.
Berrien County officials were determined to defeat the recall campaign against Mayor Hightower, who opposed a program that would have taxed local corporations in order to create jobs and improve conditions in Benton Harbor, a majority African-American municipality. Like other Michigan cities, it has been devastated by widespread poverty and unemployment.
The Benton Harbor corporate power structure has used similar fraudulent charges to stop past efforts to recall or vote out of office the racist white officials, from mayor, judges, prosecutors in a majority Black city. Rev Pinkney who always quotes scripture, as many Christian ministers do, was even convicted for quoting scripture in a newspaper column. This outrageous conviction was overturned on appeal. We must do this again!
To sign the petition in support of the Rev. Edward Pinkney, log on to: tinyurl.com/ps4lwyn.
Contributions for Rev. Pinkney’s defense can be sent to BANCO at Mrs Dorothy Pinkney, 1940 Union St., Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Or you can donate on-line at bhbanco.org.
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COURAGE TO RESIST
http://couragetoresist.org/
New Action- write letters to DoD officials requesting clemency for Chelsea!
November 24, 2014 by the Chelsea Manning Support NetworkPresident Obama has delegated review of Chelsea Manning’s clemency appeal to individuals within the Department of Defense.
Please write them to express your support for heroic WikiLeaks’ whistle-blower former US Army intelligence analyst PFC Chelsea Manning’s release from military prison.
It is important that each of these authorities realize the wide support that Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning enjoys worldwide. They need to be reminded that millions understand that Manning is a political prisoner, imprisoned for following her conscience. While it is highly unlikely that any of these individuals would independently move to release Manning, a reduction in Manning’s outrageous 35-year prison sentence is a possibility at this stage.
Take action TODAY – Write letters supporting Chelsea’s clemency petition to the following DoD authorities:
Secretary of the Army John McHugh
101 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-0101
Washington, DC 20310-0101
The Judge Advocate General
2200 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-2200
2200 Army Pentagon
Washington, DC 20310-2200
Army Clemency and Parole Board
251 18th St, Suite 385
Arlington, VA 22202-3532
251 18th St, Suite 385
Arlington, VA 22202-3532
Directorate of Inmate Administration
Attn: Boards Branch
U.S. Disciplinary Barracks
1301 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304
Suggestions for letters send to DoD officials:Attn: Boards Branch
U.S. Disciplinary Barracks
1301 N. Warehouse Road
Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-2304
- The letter should focus on your support for Chelsea Manning, and especially why you believe justice will be served if Chelsea Manning’s sentence is reduced. The letter should NOT be anti-military as this will be unlikely to help
- A suggested message: “Chelsea Manning has been punished enough for violating military regulations in the course of being true to her conscience. I urge you to use your authorityto reduce Pvt. Manning’s sentence to time served.” Beyond that general message, feel free to personalize the details as to why you believe Chelsea deserves clemency.
- Consider composing your letter on personalized letterhead -you can create this yourself (here are templates and some tips for doing that).
- A comment on this post will NOT be seen by DoD authorities–please send your letters to the addresses above
Help us continue to cover 100% of Chelsea’s legal fees at this critical stage!
Courage to Resist
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Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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B. ARTICLES IN FULL
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1) Chief: Officers Told Teens to Get Out of Car Before Shooting
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2) Long Lines and Low Odds for New York’s Subsidized Housing Lotteries
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3) George Zimmerman Assault Case Dropped; Ex-Girlfriend Recants
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4) Man’s Decades-Old Burglary Conviction Is Vacated in Brooklyn
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5) Sick Rationale Allows Texas to Execute Another Mentally Disabled Man
January 30, 2015
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/sick-rationale-allows-texas-execute-another-mentally-disabled-man?akid=12743.229473.8Lg6-p&rd=1&src=newsletter1031195&t=5
Texas has executed another intellectually disabled man under a twisted and unique legal standard that attributed the man’s violent behavior solely to personality disorder, allowing the death penalty, while ignoring his mental retardation—which would have jailed him for life.
Robert Ladd, a 57-year-old African American whose IQ was measured as 67 as a teenager and reaffirmed during the 19 years he was held on death row, was executed Thursday in Huntsville, Texas, after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to intervene.
The execution of Ladd, who was convicted of capital murder in 1997 while working at a community mental health center/mental retardation center, appears to violate two previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings on executing the deeply disturbed and puts a spotlight on Texas’ notoriously unscientific practice of ignoring clinically diagnosed disabilities.
“Texas aggressively pursued Mr. Ladd’s execution, despite the fact that our constitution categorically prohibits the use of capital punishment against persons with intellectual disability,” said Ladd's attorney, Brian Stull, of the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project. “Mr. Ladd, whose IQ was 67, was executed because Texas uses idiosyncratic standards, based on stereotypes rather than science, to determine intellectual disability. His death is yet another example of how capital punishment routinely defies the rule of law and human decency.”
The death penalty, used in 34 states, is one of the most abhorrent features of the criminal justice system. But the way Texas administers the ultimate punishment against mentally disabled people is a profound human rights violation as well as a frightening abuse of state power, flouting national medical norms and U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings.
Tragedy From Beginning To End
Robert Ladd was born on March 19, 1957, to a mother who drank “a half-pint of whiskey at least six days a week” during the pregnancy, the ACLU’s Supreme Court appeal said, noting that Ladd was born underweight and a likely victim of fetal alcohol syndrome, which can cause severe mental disabilities. He “struggled” to take care of himself as a child, and after many signs of developmental disabilities the state took custody of him and sent him to a “Training School for Boys.” There, a staff psychiatrist found his IQ was 67 at age 13.
Numerous medical reports from state case workers during that period and later refer to Ladd as “rather obviously retarded,” the ACLU noted. By age 19, he was functioning at a fourth-grade level. When he was 21, “Ladd was convicted of murdering a young woman and her two children and setting fire to their home,” the ACLU said, noting that he served 16 years of a 40-year sentence before being released under state supervision.
Ladd worked at the Andrews Center, a state-run program for the mentally ill, where he was treated as a mentally retarded client and paid less than minimum wage. Ladd’s case manager said that he was a “high-level mentally retarded consumer,” meaning he was capable of tasks other clients were not. In 1996, he killed a woman “who worked at Andrews, during the commission of burglary, robbery, sexual assault and arson,” the ACLU brief noted.
Ladd was sentenced to death in August 1997 and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the conviction and the sentence. But in 2002, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Atkins v. Virginia that executing intellectually disabled people—whose IQ was under “approximately 70”—violates the Eighth Amendment of U.S. Constitution which bars cruel and unusual punishment. But the high court said the states could devise standards for what constitutes mental retardation (a term still used by the courts, while clinicians tend to say "intellectually disabled"). Texas’ response to that opening was to develop standards allowing it to override mental retardation diagnoses by saying the behavior that prompts people like Ladd to commit terrible crimes is due to “personality disorder.”
Lane Florsheim, writing last May for the New Republic,explained how Texas used that wiggle room to find a way to execute the mentally ill:
“A number of states have established their own definitions, so that prisoners who test as intellectually disabled in one state could be eligible for execution in another. Texas, for example, uses a set of guidelines known as the Briseño factors, which consider whether people who knew the individual as a child think he was intellectually disabled and “act in accordance with that determination”; whether the individual carried out formulated plans or conducted himself impulsively; whether the individual can lie effectively; and whether his offense required forethought, planning, and complex execution, among other considerations. The Briseño factors, which were written by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, ask Texas citizens to compare the inmate to the character of Lennie from Of Mice and Men. “Most Texas citizens might agree that Steinbeck’s Lennie should, by virtue of his lack of reasoning ability and adaptive skills, be exempt [from execution],” they read. By implication, an individual who seems less impaired than the fictional character would not be exempt. The Briseño factors are not recognized by a single clinical or scientific body.”
In 2014, the U.S. Supreme Court issued another decision, Hall v. Florida, again ruling that states could not execute mentally retarded individuals, because “the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution forbid the execution of persons with intellectual disability.” However, back in Texas, despite efforts by Ladd’s attorneys to convert his death sentence to life in jail, the state kept arguing that Ladd wasn’t mentally retarded when he killed Vicki Garner in 1996, but was acting from other personality disorders that took precedent under the Briseño standards.
“In addition to satisfying the traditional definition of intellectual disability by showing significant sub-average functioning and adaptive deficits before age 18, Texas petitionners [like Ladd] must prove that their adaptive deficits are the result of intellectual disability alone, and not a personality disorder,” the ACLU explained to the U.S. Supreme Court, in its brief that did not stop the execution.
“The core of this approach asks non-scientific questions,” the ACLU said, saying “it lacks any basis in professional, medical, or scientific standards concerning intellectual disability… The [Texas] Court [of Criminal Appeals] went on to cite not science, but John Steinbeck’s character Lennie as an example of someone who citizens of Texas ‘might’ deem qualified for the exemption.”
Beyond the absurdity of creating a life-or-death standard drawn from a fictional character in a 1937 novel, the ACLU also noted what any social worker with mentally ill clients would say: there often is no clear line between mental disabilities and personality disorders.
“The science debunks Briseño’s central premise—the sorting of those with intellectual disability from those with personality disorders,” the ACLU wrote. “It is clinically inappropriate to conclude that the presence of diagnostic criteria for anti-social personality disorder rule out a diagnosis of intellectual disability… Instead of science and medicine, it is this subjective view that ostensibly reflects the consensus of the State’s citizenry that controls [death penalty law] in Texas.”
The Supreme Court did not intervene in the ACLU’s final appeal.
Ladd’s execution on Thursday is not the only recent case of a deeply mentally ill person executed in Texas. In 2012, Marvin Wilson, a convicted murderer with an IQ of 61 who “sucked his thumb into adulthood,” was executed after the high court did not act.
Murder, under any circumstances, is abhorrent. Ladd’s crimes were loathsome, but that does not mean the government needs to take an eye for an eye in an era where there is mass incarceration and a mentally disabled man could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
“We are eager for a court to address the fact that Texas’ unscientific standards can’t be reconciled with the Supreme Court’s decision in Hall v. Florida, mandating that states must use universal medical diagnostic practices rather than inaccurate and self-invented methods for determining intellectual disability,” the ACLU’s Stull said in a statement. “However, no future ruling can undo the unconscionable fact that tonight Texas ended the life of an intellectually disabled man.”
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6) Retroactively Authorizing War
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7) Bangladesh: Factory Fire Kills at Least 13 People in the Capital
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8) A Future Segregated by Science?
By
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9) French Police Arrest 8-Year-Old Muslim Boy on Ridiculous Charges Of Supporting Terrorism
January 29, 2015
http://www.alternet.org/world/french-police-arrest-8-year-old-muslim-boy-ridiculous-charges-supporting-terrorism?akid=12744.229473.NsAF6Z&rd=1&src=newsletter1031225&t=21
As part of a wider crackdown against the perceived threat of terrorism, French authorities are imposing various anti-radicalization programs focused on its Muslim population. In Nice St. Augustine, this campaign has netted an eight-year-old child on ludicrous charges that he supports terrorists.
The boy, Ahmed, was arrested on January 8, a day after the Charlie Hedbo attacks. His teacher reportedly asked him if he was Charlie, and when he refused, the director of the school filed a complaint with the police accusing him of supporting terrorism. He was also reportedly denied an insulin shot (he is diabetic).
The child admitted to saying he was “with the terrorists and against the caricatures,” but it's unlikely that a young child would truly understand the implications of such a statement.
As part of a wider crackdown against the perceived threat of terrorism, French authorities are imposing various anti-radicalization programs focused on its Muslim population. In Nice St. Augustine, this campaign has netted an eight-year-old child on ludicrous charges that he supports terrorists.
The boy, Ahmed, was arrested on January 8, a day after the Charlie Hedbo attacks. His teacher reportedly asked him if he was Charlie, and when he refused, the director of the school filed a complaint with the police accusing him of supporting terrorism. He was also reportedly denied an insulin shot (he is diabetic).
The child admitted to saying he was “with the terrorists and against the caricatures,” but it's unlikely that a young child would truly understand the implications of such a statement.
The parents of the child plan to take action against school officials.
France has now arrested over 50 people for social media posts it deemed supportive of terrorism. French authorities have also launched a bizarre campaign to encourage French citizens to report radicalization using telltale signs such as “a sudden change in eating habits” or a sudden disinterest in sports.
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10) In Program to Spur Affordable Housing, $100 Million Penthouse Gets 95% Tax Cut
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11) Video Analysis Suggests Egyptian Officer Shot Protester, Rights Group Says
By
A detailed forensic analysis of video recorded in Cairo on Jan. 24 strongly suggests that an Egyptian police officer fired the shotgun pellets that killed her, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Sunday.
The rights group’s investigation of the fatal shooting of Shaimaa al-Sabbagh, 32, compared the testimony of four witnesses with evidence from video and photographs recorded before, during and after the Egyptian police used force to disperse a small group of socialist activists who were marching to Tahrir Square with flowers. The march, on Jan. 24, was in memory of more than 800 protesters killed in the 2011 uprising that began with antipolice street protests that Jan. 25, national Police Day in Egypt.
According to the Human Rights Watch analysis, an examination of video posted online by the Egyptian newspaper Youm El Sabea shows Ms. Sabbagh crumpling to the pavement a split second after a masked officer fired a rifle in her direction from close range.
The very public and well-documented killing of Ms. Sabbagh, in a busy section of downtown Cairo on a Saturday afternoon, outraged Egyptians who had taken to the streets four years earlier to protest police impunity. Efforts by the Interior Ministry to pin the blame for her killing first on an unseen Islamist gunman — who would have had to fire into a street crowded with police officers without attracting attention — and then on an elderly activist standing near her as she was shot only added to the uproar.
Human Rights Watch noted that video and photographs showed that when the masked officer fired, he was standing next to a uniformed police brigadier general who was pointing at the protesters.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the former military chief who took power after deposing Mohamed Morsi, the president elected after the revolution, offered his first public comment on the killing on Sunday, The Associated Press reported. After offering his condolences to Ms. Sabbagh's family, Mr. Sisi said that one “individual’s mistake should not be used to undermine an entire institution,” in an apparent reference to the nation’s police force.
According to local news media reports, in his remarks to a gathering of police and army commanders, religious leaders and politicians, the president also urged Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim to reveal “the truth behind” the protester’s death.
While Ms. Sabbagh, who left behind a young son, was relatively unknown in life, outrage over her death — and the arresting image of a colleague trying to save her — has made her into an icon of resistance to the authorities.
Last week, when female activists gathered at the site of her death to protest the shooting, they were met by counterdemonstrators chanting in favor of the police and the president.
After the female activists reportedly dispersed of their own accord, a man believed to be a plainclothes officer was photographed removing flowers left on the sidewalk where Ms. Sabbagh was shot.
Against this backdrop, Ms. Sabbagh’s husband released a video tribute in which he said his wife had been motivated by her love of Egypt to continue pressing for the original aims of the 2011 revolution: “bread, freedom and social justice.” Ms. Sabbagh and her colleagues were chanting for those things when their demonstration was attacked by the police.
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12) Obama Has Little to Say to the Poor
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13) Closing Education Gap Will Lift Economy, a Study Finds
"The average income of the bottom 20 percent of households sank by more than 8 percent from 1973 to 2103, while the inflation-adjusted incomes of the top 20 percent grew by about 60 percent, according to the report. The top 5 percent enjoyed an 80 percent jump. ... Only one in 20 Americans age 25 to 34 surpassed the educational level of their parents, for example. For the 20 richest member nations, that average was one in four."
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14) Bratton Says Terrorism and Protests Will Be Handled by Separate Police Units
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15) Coming to Mourn Tahrir Square’s Dead, and Joining Them Instead
Killing of Shaimaa el-Sabbagh in Cairo Angers Egyptians
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16) Leading Egypt Activist Among 230 Sentenced to Life
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17) U.N. Names U.S. Judge to Lead War Crimes Inquiry Into 2014 Gaza Conflict
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18) When Company Is Fined, Taxpayers Often Share Bill
"The rating agency Standard & Poor’s, which was accused of helping to cause the financial crisis with its inflated assessments of mortgage investments, is eligible to deduct half of the $1.37 billion settlement...The result would be a roughly $245 million reduction in its tax bill, the research group calculated. ...At least 80 percent of the more than $42 billion that BP has paid out because of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion that killed 11 people and spewed oil into the Gulf of Mexico qualifies for a tax deduction...That approach may not, however, appeal to victims, whose punitive damage awards are taxed as regular income, as opposed to some other types of awards."
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19) Man Jailed in ’92 Killings and Later Cleared Sues New York City
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