SF Antiwar Protest on 12th Anniversary of U.S. Invasion of Iraq
Saturday, March 21, 12 noon, Powell and Market Streets
In solidarity with the “Spring Rising” protest at the White House on Mar. 21
Stop Pres. Obama’s proposed new 3-year AUMF – Authorization for Use of Military Force!
End U.S. War and Occupation in the Middle East and Central Asia – U.S. Out!
No to U.S. sanctions and intervention vs. Iran, Venezuela, Korea, Cuba, Mexico, Russia, Haiti and everywhere
Free Palestine – End U.S. Aid to Israel!
Fund People’s Needs, Not Endless War!
To Endorse or Volunteer reply to: answer@answersf.org
More info: 415-821-6545 or visit www.ANSWERsf.org.
ANSWER SF
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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Free Albert Woodfox!
End the Injustice. Don’t Oppose Bail for Albert Woodfox
Albert believes that he and fellow prisoners, Herman Wallace and Robert King, were placed in solitary confinement in retaliation for their activism and outspoken critique of injustice. All three men were members of the Black Panther Party and campaigned for better treatment, racial solidarity, and an end to the brutal sexual slavery in prison. Woodfox, Wallace and King came to be known as the Angola 3.
Albert Woodfox’s conviction has been overturned three times - most recently in 2013 on the basis of racial discrimination in the selection of a grand jury foreperson. In late 2014, an appeals court upheld the decision in Alberts favor, and on February 6, his lawyers filed for bail. After years of the State of Louisiana appealing decisions in Albert’s favor, It is critical that Governor Bobby Jindal show leadership, and ensure that Albert’s cruel and unjust isolation is not his legacy. April 2015 will mark 43 years since Woodfox was first placed solitary - for a crime he maintains that he didn't' commit, a claim that much of the available evidence supports. It is time for the State to let the wisdom of the courts stand and ensure his release.
Amnesty International
http://act.amnestyusa.org/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1839&ea.campaign.id=35593&ea.tracking.id=Country_USA~MessagingCategory_PrisonersandPeopleatRisk&ac=W1502EAIAR2&ea.url.id=359128&forwarded=true
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Rasmea Odeh sentenced to 18 months, but is coming home!
On Thursday, March 12, 2015 10:18 AM, Prisoner News wrote:
Over the objections of a prosecution team that called for 5-7 years in federal prison, a harsh sentence with terrorism enhancements, Judge Gershwin Drain sentenced Rasmea Odeh, Chicago’s 67-year-old Palestinian community leader, to 18 months for Unlawful Procurement of Naturalization, of which she was convicted last November.
Almost 200 of Rasmea’s supporters filled two courtrooms in the Detroit federal courthouse, and left disappointed but not defeated. “This is a blow, of course, but we have to remember that the government wanted the judge to lock Rasmea up for half a decade or more,” said Muhammad Sankari of the national Rasmea Defense Committee. “Judge Drain had to weigh the outpouring of support that Rasmea has inspired from across the country. We made it impossible for the judge to justify an extended prison term, and now, we will stand with her in the fight to appeal the conviction itself, to make sure she doesn’t serve one day of that prison sentence.”
The decision came after her attorneys argued that she not be imprisoned at all. Seventy important leaders of unions and community-based, faith-based, civil rights, and student organizations, as well as prominent academics and activists, wrote letters to the judge in the past few weeks, urging him to issue a sentence with no prison time beyond the month Rasmea served in a county jail following the November verdict. They cited her invaluable service as a community leader in Chicago, as well as concerns for her age, poor health, and chronic Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
One of the many letters of support came from Bishop Thomas J. Gumbleton of Detroit. He wrote, “I am asking for compassion in her sentencing. Rasmea has much to offer her community…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 refugee women.”
For their part, prosecutors called for Judge Drain to issue a sentence far beyond standard sentencing guidelines. While prosecutors had been barred from branding her a terrorist in front of the jury last year, today they were bound by no such court orders, asking that a terrorism enhancement be added to prolong her sentence.
Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression said, “The government showed their true colors today, making it clear this case was never about immigration, but rather, the political persecution of a Palestinian hero. What they didn’t bargain for is that Rasmea would defend herself, and that thousands would rally around her.”
During the trial last year, Rasmea was prevented from presenting evidence about the events that led to her conviction by an Israeli military tribunal 45 years ago. Judge Drain had ruled that the circumstances of conviction by Israel didn’t matter. “Not the illegal 1967 massacres and occupation - let alone the military ethnic cleansing of 750,000 Palestinians from the land and their homes when Palestine was partitioned in 1948 - not the midnight sweeps and kidnapping by the invading Army after the 1967 war, not the torture, not the kangaroo court and false confessions, not the prison time,” said her attorneys in filings to the court.
"Be strong whatever happens," Rasmea said before speaking to the judge, "I am strong."
After the sentencing, Rasmea was released on bond, as she sets out to appeal her conviction. Surprising many, the prosecution did not object, despite having pressed for her bond to be revoked after the guilty verdict. She credits the work of her supporters across the country for forcing the government’s hand.
Zena Ozeir of the Z Collective in Detroit said, “I have no doubt Rasmea’s freedom today is owed to the public outcry against her persecution. The government is still out to lock her up for years, but that is something they couldn’t win today. We have been with her at every hearing and trial date, we’ve held protests across the country, and flooded their phone lines and mail boxes, with people of conscience demanding an end to this prosecution, and an end to her unjust treatment in jail this fall. We will not stop until we win justice for Rasmea!”
After today’s hearing, Rasmea returns to Chicago, where she will continue her important community activism and work with her attorneys on an appeal of the verdict. If Odeh loses her case on appeal, she will have to serve the full sentence, and then lose her citizenship and be subject to immediate removal from the United States.
Rasmea Defense Committee
justice4rasmea.org
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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Open Letter to the People and Leaders of Iran from the People of the United States
Sign onto the letter at:
http://www.answercoalition.org/open_letter_to_the_people_of_iran?utm_campaign=open_letteriran&utm_medium=email&utm_source=answercoalition#sign
To the people and leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran:
It has come to our attention while observing the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States government that a group of 47 U.S. Senators are attempting, against the will of the majority of the American people, to sabotage any agreement due to their hope of creating additional conflict between our country and the people of Iran.
We would also like to bring to your attention that many people in the United States are aware that the United States government is in violation of a treaty approved by the Senate and signed into law. The treaty imposes an affirmative obligation on the United States and all other countries possessing nuclear weapons to act to diminish and eventually eliminate all of their existing nuclear weapons as a condition for relieving non-nuclear countries of the need to acquire such terrifying weapons. The official name of this treaty is the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons or NPT.
We also wanted to bring to your attention that under the U.S. Constitution, (Article 6, Clause 2), any treaty approved by the Senate and signed into law “shall be the supreme law of the land” in the United States.
Article VI of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty requires the United States as a nuclear power to: “pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a Treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control". (our emphasis)
We wanted to make sure that you were aware that the U.S. Constitution, recognizing the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as the supreme law of the land in the United States, requires government officials to carry out two specific tasks:
First, to eliminate the U.S. nuclear arsenal under its Treaty pledge of “general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control;”
And second, to “pursue negotiations in good faith” with other nations for the achievement of nuclear disarmament.
As things stand, the United States is in violation of this “supreme law of the land.”
The United States is not ridding itself of nuclear weapons. It possesses thousands of operational nuclear weapons that it is not destroying. In fact, it is in the process of improving their capability, deploying them on updated fighter aircraft, and other land-attack missiles, aircraft carriers and submarine platforms at the cost of hundreds of billions of dollars in new government funding.
The United States also provides more than $4 billion in military and economic aid to the state of Israel although Israel refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, or allow outside inspectors, and does not deny that it possesses a considerable arsenal of nuclear weapons. We are not aware of any call by U.S. officials insisting that Israel sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or begin liquidating its own nuclear arsenal.
We, the people of the United States, are also aware that Iran as a signatory to the same Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) has the absolute legal right, as do all signatory countries, to develop a nuclear capability for civilian energy purposes.
Article IV of the Treaty states: “Nothing in this Treaty shall be interpreted as affecting the inalienable right of all the Parties to the Treaty to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”
As a side note, we are also aware that when your country was ruled by a monarch installed in power in 1953 as a consequence of a CIA led-coup against the then constitutional government in Iran, the policy of the U.S. government was to encourage the development of an Iranian nuclear program.
We hope that this letter enriches your understanding that the spirit and content of the Open Letter by 47 Republican Senators does not conform with the views and desires of a broad section of public opinion inside the United States.
Their real aim in scuttling and sabotaging the current negotiations between the United States and Iran, perhaps unprecedented in the form they have chosen, is to create more conflict including the danger of military action against Iran.
Be assured that the last thing the American people want is war with or against Iran.
-- Add your name to these initial signers:
Ramsey Clark, former U.S. Attorney General • Cynthia McKinney, former Congresswoman • Brian Becker, ANSWER Coalition • Cindy Sheehan, peace activist • Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Executive Director, Partnership for Civil Justice Fund • Heidi Boghosian, Esq., Constitutional Rights attorney • James Lafferty, Executive Director, National Lawyers Guild Los Angeles • Debra Sweet, Director, World Can't Wait • Chuck Kauffman, National Co-Coordinator of Alliance for Global Justice • Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst • Eugene Puryear, Party for Socialism and Liberation • Juan Jose Gutierrez, Vamos Unidos, USA • Phil Wilayto, author and editor, Virginia Defenders Newspaper • Don DeBar, Host, CPR News • Arturo Garcia, Alliance Philippines • Radhika Miller, Attorney, Washington, D.C. • Rev. Claudia de la Cruz, Rebel Diaz Arts Collective (RDACBX) • Kim Ives, Haiti Liberte • Benjamin N. Dictor, Attorney, New York, NY • John Beacham, ANSWER Chicago • Phil Portluck, Voices4Justice72.com • Preston Wood, ANSWER - LA • Mike Prysner, March Forward! • Jeff Bigelow, labor organizer • Gloria La Riva, National Committee to Free the Cuban Five
Add your name to these initial signers:
http://www.answercoalition.org/open_letter_to_the_people_of_iran?utm_campaign=open_letteriran&utm_medium=email&utm_source=answercoalition#sign
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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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Oakland Action to End Solitary Confinement
Part of Statewide Coordinated Actions to End Solitary Confinement (SCATESC)
Monday March 23rd 2015 11:30am-1:30pm
Oakland’s SCATESC will start Monday, March 23rd, 2015 and happen on the 23rd of each month
*Same Location Monthly: Downtown Oakland 14th and Broadway*
Let's make a public show of our commitment to stop the torture!
Leafleting and speakers (you)
This fight is not over!
Cosponsors: California Families Against Solitary Confinement (CFASC); Peoples' Action for Rights and Community (PARC); Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity Coalition (PHSS); Project: Pollinate; Sin Barras.
PHSS and many other co-sponsors and endorsers are conducting actions statewide in CA, nationwide, and internationally. These actions coincides with 2013 proposals for action from Pelican Bay State Prison Hunger Strikers, which calls for “…designating a certain date each month as Prisoner Rights Day. … [when] supporters would gather … throughout California to expose CDCR’s actions and rally to support efforts to secure our rights.”
We choose the 23rd of each month for the 23 or more hours every day that people are kept alone in 7 by 11 foot concrete cells.
Endorsers: Ramona Africa and The MOVE Organization; Cabrillo College Justice League; Cafe Intifada; California Peace and Freedom Party; Communities Organized for Relational Power in Action (COPA) Restorative Justice Institutions; Darrell and Karen Darling; Family of Frank Alvarado Jr., killed by Salinas Police, July 10, 2014; Free Our Minds, Free Radio Santa Cruz; Rabbi Borukh Goldberg; Justice for Palestinians, San Jose; LA Laborfest; Dylcia Pagán, former Puerto Rican Political Prisoner held in US prison; Leonard Peltier Support Group Silicon Valley; Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC); South Bay Committee Against Political Repression (SBCAPR); Donna Wallach; Anti-Racist Action-LA
Questions or want to be added as co-sponsor or endorser? phssreachingout@gmail.com
http://prisonerhungerstrikesolidarity.wordpress.com
@CAHungerStrike
Find us on Facebook
Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity
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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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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 Network
Secretary of the Army John McHugh
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
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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B. ARTICLES IN FULL
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1) Alcohol or Marijuana? A Pediatrician Faces the Question
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2) Pardons Elude North Carolina Men Exonerated After Decades in Prison
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3) Man, 20, Is Arrested in the Shooting of 2 Officers in Ferguson
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4) A Police Gadget Tracks Phones? Shhh! It’s Secret
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5) Veteran San Francisco Cops Caught Exchanging Vile, Racist Texts
By Terrell Jermaine Starr
http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/veteran-san-francisco-cops-caught-exchanging-vile-racist-texts?akid=12896.229473.OpIyOa&rd=1&src=newsletter1033363&t=9
Four San Francisco police officers are being investigated for exchanging racist and homophobic texts, The San Francisco Chronicle reports.
The text messages, reportedly exchanged between former Sgt. Ian Furminger and current officers Michael Robison, Noel Schwab, Rain Daugherty and Michael Celis, came to light after the feds recently prosecuted and convicted Furminger on corruption charges.
All four officers have been reassigned to positions that require no contact with the public.
The messages were sent between October of 2011 and June of 2012. Here are some of the most vile texts, mainly initiated through Furminger, per a federal document made public Friday:
• “We got two blacks at my boys [sic] school and they are brother and sister! There cause dad works for the school district and I am watching them like hawks.”
• In response to a text asking “Do you celebrate quanza [sic] at your school?” Furminger wrote: “Yeah we burn the cross on the field! Then we celebrate Whitemas.”
• “Its [sic] worth every penny to live here [Walnut Creek] away from the savages.”
• “Those guys are pretty stupid! Ask some dumb ass questions you would expect from a black rookie! Sorry if they are your buddies!”
• “The buffalo soldier was why the Indians Wouldnt [sic] shoot the niggers that found for the confederate They [sic] thought they were sacred buffalo and not human.”
• “Gunther Furminger was a famous slave auctioneer.”
• “My wife has 2 friends over that don’t know each other the cool one says to me get me a drink nigger not knowing the other is married to one just happened right now LMFAO.”
• “White power.”
• In response to a text saying “Niggers should be spayed,” Furminger wrote “I saw one an hour ago with 4 kids.”
• “I am leaving it like it is, painting KKK on the sides and calling it a day!”
• “Cross burning lowers blood pressure! I did the test myself!”
• In response to a text saying “All niggers must fucking hang,” Furminger wrote “Ask my 6 year old what he thinks about Obama.”
• In response to a text saying “Just boarded train at Mission/16th,” Furminger wrote “Ok, just watch out for BM’s” [black males].
• “I hate to tell you this but my wife friend [sic] is over with their kids and her husband is black! If [sic] is an Attorney but should I be worried?” Furminger’s friend, an SFPD officer, responded: “Get ur pocket gun. Keep it available in case the monkey returns to his roots. Its [sic] not against the law to put an animal down.” Furminger responded, “Well said!”
• In response to a text from another SFPD officer regarding the promotion of a black officer to sergeant, Furminger wrote: “Fuckin nigger.”
What is especially disturbing about the text messages is that all four officers have at least 10 years on the force; some work in very specialized units in the SFPD. Robison, who has 23 years of service, was assigned to the Special Victims Unit before being transferred to the Mounted Unit.
Celis, a 16-year vet, was charged with four counts of misconduct, in 2004, for flashing his badge and trying to bribe his way into his estranged wife’s hotel room. In 2009, Schwab was seen on video threatening to break a skateboarder's arm “like a twig” if he resisted arrest. It is not clear if he faced disciplinary charges in connection to the threats he made. As for, Daugherty, a 15 year veteran, his attorney says her client is sorry for his “impulsive and insensitive” texts.
The revelation of the racist texts may very well explain why black people in San Francisco are arrested at disproportionately high rates compared with white residents. According to statistics from the California Department of Corrections, black Americans are seven times more likely to be arrested, despite making up just 6 percent of the city’s population.
San Francisco police Chief Greg Suhr said that he could not confirm the identities of the officers connected to the texts but is ready to fire them.
“You cannot unring the bell on these text messages — anybody who has sent these text messages should not be a police officer,” Suhr said. “Ian Furminger should never have been a police officer; he’s a disgrace. These other officers have disgraced the department as well.”
Public Defender Jeff Adachi says the officers’ identities must be made public because their testimony in prior cases must be scrutinized.
“We have a right to this information. It may affect both current and past cases,” he said. “This is hugely problematic — if these officers were involved in active investigations in the last 2½ years, it is relevant and must be disclosed.”
Terrell Jermaine Starr is a senior editor at AlterNet. Follow him on Twitter @Russian_Starr.
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6) A More Public Option for Investigating Shootings by Police Officers
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7) Louisiana Parish Fights Plan to Burn Tons of Propellant No One Wants
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8) Protesters and Police Clash Near E.C.B.’s New Headquarters
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/19/business/european-central-bank-protests-frankfurt.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
FRANKFURT — Protesters set cars on fire and clashed with police officers on Wednesday morning as they marched toward the European Central Bank’s new headquarters in a demonstration against European austerity programs and capitalism.
The rally, organized by a group called Blockupy and German workers’ unions, drew thousands of people as the central bank inaugurated its new tower. Blockupy is a left-wing alliance of dozens of activist groups from across Europe. Its members include the second-largest German labor union, Ver.di, and Syriza, the Greek political party that is now leading the government in Athens.
The European Central Bank is one of debt-burdened Greece’s main creditors, and it is part of the so-called troika of international organizations that are supervising the Greek bailout program that the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is trying to renegotiate. The two other creditor groups are the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, which along with the central bank are widely blamed for imposing austerity budgets on countries that have required bailouts.
A recent posting on Blockupy’s website predicted that thousands would attend, “to blockade and demonstrate, and to say: ‘There’s nothing to celebrate in your handling of the crisis.’ ”
The exact number of demonstrators was difficult to determine because the protesters moved around the city in groups and were prevented by the police from banding together outside the central bank tower. The demonstration was set to last through the evening, with busloads of marchers joining throughout the day.
Since 2012, activists have occasionally handed out leaflets in front of the central bank’s headquarters, but there had been little organized protest in Frankfurt until Wednesday.
As a group of roughly 400 demonstrators tried to cross a bridge over the Main River and head toward the tower, they were blocked by the police. Smaller groups burned cars, furniture, trash and bikes nearby. Dozens of police officers in riot gear guarded an area around the European Central Bank.
Employees of the central bank began moving into the new headquarters, which cost 1.2 billion euros, or about $1.27 billion, near the end of last year. Located away from downtown Frankfurt on a parklike site overlooking the Main River, the roughly 600-foot-high tinted-glass tower is a more potent symbol of central bank power than the generic gray high-rise in central Frankfurt that it previously occupied.
The inauguration ceremony on Wednesday was scaled back in response to the protests. In addition, some European Central Bank employees were encouraged to work from home on Wednesday, though a central bank spokesman said that the institution was “fully operational.”
Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, acknowledged in a speech inaugurating the headquarters that European unity was being strained and that “people are going through very difficult times.”
As a European Union institution “that has played a central role throughout the crisis, the E.C.B. has become a focal point for those frustrated with this situation,” Mr. Draghi said in prepared remarks. “This may not be a fair charge – our action has been aimed precisely at cushioning the shocks suffered by the economy. But as the central bank of the whole euro area, we must listen very carefully to what all our citizens are saying.”
Many businesses near the headquarters shut their doors, and residents watched the action on the street from their windows, coffee and cameras in hand.
A woman from Denmark who would give her name only as Sara said she arrived on an overnight bus with about 80 others to show her disdain for the way the capitalist system enriches some but impoverishes others.
“I believe in fighting against the system,” she said, taking a break in a bakery after having inhaled tear gas that was apparently released by officers after a group of demonstrators set fire to a police car. “It won’t change if you don’t do something. I am here for solidarity.”
At the police barricades, isolated demonstrators were along a line with signs bearing slogans like “ECB = Monetary Fascism.” On the ground, someone wrote in blue chalk on the street, “Your house is built on corpses.”
A representative from the Committee for Civil Rights and Democracy, Martin Singe, who was attending the demonstrations as an observer, said that protesters were supposed to be allowed closer to the central bank tower but were stopped prematurely, limiting the impact of pictures and television segments from the march.
Mr. Singe also said that Frankfurt did not allow demonstrators access to public space for organizing before the march. “It appears the police were expecting violence and therefore may have induced it,” he said.
The European Central Bank drew smaller, orderly protests when it met in Nicosia, Cyprus, on March 5. The demonstrators were mostly Cypriots who objected to what they said was the central bank’s focus on helping banks rather than eurozone citizens.
The previous European Central Bank building was the focal point of protests beginning in October 2011 as part of the global Occupy movement. Protesters objected to what they said was the central bank’s distance from democratic processes and its role in the center of the global financial system.
An encampment with an estimated 60 to 100 protesters persisted in a grassy area below the previous headquarters building until the police cleared it in August 2012, after complaints that it had become infested with rats and housed more homeless people than protesters.
The eviction took place without any major incidents. The German police have experience in dealing with protesters of every political stripe, and they are skilled at containing violence and avoiding physical confrontation.
Sven Giegold, a member of the Greens in the European Parliament who speaks for the party on monetary policy issues, said he supported the protests and would attend. But, in a statement, he questioned whether the European Central Bank was the right site for the protests.
“The main responsibility for the unsocial and economically counterproductive euro policy of the troika is located in the capitals of the eurozone,” Mr. Giegold said.
“Berlin, Paris, Rome and Athens would be the correct addresses for the demonstrations,” Mr. Giegold said. He gave the central bank credit for rescuing the eurozone from bad decision making by European political leaders.
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9) Missouri Executes Killer Who Had Brain Injury
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10) Taxes Take Away, but Also Give Back, Mostly to the Very Rich
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11) Netanyahu’s Win Is Good for Palestine
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12) In Wisconsin, a Trial Run for a New Law
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13) Target Plans to Raise Pay to at Least $9 an Hour
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14) The Case for Free-Range Parenting
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15) Black Man’s Body Found Hanging From Tree in Mississippi
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16) Florida: Life Sentences for Juveniles Thrown Out
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17) In Eric Garner Case, Judge Rules Against Releasing Grand Jury Evidence
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