Monday, May 27, 2019

BEATING WOMEN UP FOR DECLINING BIRTHS



Say you’re a store owner, and over some ten years you see a dwindling of customers; or say you’re the CEO of a mega corporation or chairman of a conglomerate and over a span of years you have fewer and fewer people to push your product onto.  Or  you’re the Secretary of the Armed Forces, and you have 39 football fields of parked bombers, and fewer and fewer recruits  to fly them. What then? What then in a Capitalist economy whose life blood is to keep growing? We’ll come back to that malaise. 

Americans have spent the last 40 years or so sinking into poverty. 15% of Americans now live below the poverty line. A big proportion is food insecure (that’s hungry for plain speakers), a large number of them children. For the past 20 years or so, the U.S. has doggedly refused to cope with its housing crisis.  With each passing year, increasing numbers of people—many living from pay check to paycheck—cannot cope any longer with rising landlord greed. And many college graduates, some in debt with anywhere from 50K to 150K in student loans, can’t find jobs, or are reduced to working for Capitalism’s  brand new sweetheart: the “gig” economy—no benefits, no pension, no holidays, no vacation, old age in a tent, and dumpster diving at the Safeway.



Economists call this state of affairs precarity. It means that many who are forced to live with mom and dad have little likelihood of finding professional success, or owning a house, the sort of prerequisite for marriage. It means that young folks of childbearing age are putting off having children, or not having any kids at all.






A declining birth rate



This past May 15, the Centers of Disease Control issued the latest birthrate figures in the United States.  In 2018, Americans gave birth to 3,788,235 babies, the fewest in 32 years, a replacement rate of 1.7, a state of affairs which has occurred every year for the past ten years.  For perspective, the birthrate is lower than in the years after the Great Depression. To maintain a steady population, a nation needs to maintain a replacement rate of about 2.1 or 2.1 babies over a woman’s reproductive years, the rate at which a generation can replace itself.  The long term impact of fewer babies is a nation that lacks sufficient workers to replace those who retire.



With the killing pace of American life, fewer couples have time for sex. And Climate Collapse has begun to play a role: sperm does not take well to heat, and many women are thinking twice about becoming pregnant. In the U.S. which, despite what genetics tells us, still loves ticking its racial category boxes, the trend of lower birthrates was found across all so-called “races,” including Asians, Hispanics, whites and blacks, with the highest impacts found among Asian, Native Americans, and Alaskan natives.






Professor Donna Strobino of Johns Hopkins opined “There’s no question that part of the explanation for that is economic. It’s very expensive to raise children these days—and part of it is social—all the changes in women’s roles.” But that’s not the whole story.



In Common Dreams, Ari Berman reports that, thanks to gerrimandering and voter suppression, white men rule in states such as Ohio, Alabama. which signed into law a bill making abortion punishable by up to 99 years in prison, Missouri and  omTexas, where a law threatening women who aborted or who attempted to abort with the death penalty went as far as committee hearings, and most recently in Gov. Kemp’s Georgia. You’ll remember that Gov. Kemp oversaw his own election to the detriment of his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams. On Kemp’s watch, from 2012 to 2016 Georgia purged 1.4 million people from the voter roles, put on hold the registrations of 53,000 people, 80% people of color, and closed 214 polling places in six years.



Georgia: protesters face state troopers

In Georgia, state representatives noted that, as they debated the law legalizing a six-week abortion ban, increased police presence was a decision that came from the state’s Republican leaders, to whom Georgia state troopers serve while working at the capitol. “You are in violation of 16-1-34-1, and you will be incarcerated if you do not disperse immediately,” a state trooper warned the group of oppositional legislators through a megaphone. And as the new law was being voted into law by the white men who dominate the state’s legislature, a massive police presence kept protesters in line by intimidating them, many of them women of color.



Anti-abortion laws bring about the abolishment of the 20th century. For example, according to Daily Kos, so called forced “birthers,” bowing to the 5 millennia-long view of women-as-chattel,  believe that, regardless of whether the fertilization is the result of rape, even by an immediate family member, the moment that a woman ends up with a fertilized egg inside her, she loses her personhood. There's a child, and a father, but no longer a human mother, no a person. Just a living incubator which can be forced by the state to give birth.






Following the 2009 murder of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller, in 2015, the pro-life harassment at abortion clinics has intensified. In 2018, patients seeking abortion care had to walk through 99,409 incidents of picketing, more than 4 times the 2015 number. NYC for Abortion Rights views clinic defense as a way of insuring abortion clinics safety, but of transforming the system altogether. It calls for rallies, marches, strikes, civil disobedience, confrontation, walk-outs and other forms of defiance.



Patient escorted past pro-lifers in Alabama

But the bill that got passed in Georgia will affect, not the rich who can afford to travel out of state, but the poor and vulnerable, those who need reproductive care the most, and who often put off obtaining prenatal care till the third trimester. And those women are predominantly black. Not only does the state of Georgia penalize women in general, but black women in particular.



Not the whole story



But two-bit politicians only think they make the rules. And agencies like Planned Parenthood, by campaigning for donations, undercuts the movement of popular resistance, such as that of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) that has the potential of expressing the will of the majority in more capable ways with more effective results. And their noise and fury notwithstanding, fundamentalists themselves are ”played” by  elites who have power to affect policy, and by such forces as steepening housing shortages, post-college debt, and the dearth of well-paying jobs, in short the economic pressures responsible for that “precarity” which makes for a non-sustainably low birthrate, and for the growing scarcity of replacement people who can consume all those products corporations need to push, and fly those bombers to sustain its main industry, and export: the U.S. war machine. Chris Hedges writes, “The ruling elites are acutely aware that the steadily declining American birthrate is the result of a de facto ‘birth strike’ by women who, unable to afford adequate health insurance and pay exorbitant medical bills [while being] denied access to paid parental leave, child care, and job protection, find it financially punitive to have children….If women refuse to produce children at levels desired by economic planners, then abortion and contraception will be banned or made difficult to obtain.”  



Why blame the legislatures of both parties for their inattention to the kinds of trifling economic details which spell out the immiseration of an entire country and result in unsustainable birth rates when women’s bodies can be bred—like those of farm animals—and much more easily targeted?




Tell the Supreme Court: Don’t overturn Roe vs. Wade. Don’t criminalize abortion at

Support National Women’s Law Center litigate  for women’s reproductive freedom at https://act.nwlc.org/onlineactions/qrFEUUvUN0mMNoyDYrNflA2?emci=c7731e41-d07c-e911-abc4-281878391efb&emdi=84c44d11-d57c-e911-abc4-281878391efb&ceid=792364contactdata=7Tu8RV6LeSoaUPlNdQ 75D7pcy3gqnjCiOxVknv3VWQSfpRk4EVT%2fwEyd3TYBLpX0WAwEi 1DHjzs%2fHUAG1s6e3FXYmmQSGImZps07O%2b3pERfRK 9qmJXVpn6 iUi4UWXO5wu%2fUGOHMB6xwpcAAhWxytiAnUfnKAcldQda
TSFOKEAtA%3d

Protecting women’s right to reproductive hearth care and abortion. Donate to Unfit to Serve at
https://secure.actblue.com/donate/unfit-to-serve-pac-1?refcode=em5-24-19

Re-wire news archives: setting the facts about reproductive rights: Donate at https://rewire.news/donation/?utm_source=email&utm_campaign=2019_online_giving

Sign to end wasteful military spending at

Tell Pelosi and Schumer: Stop war with Iran at


Foreign

French researchers come up with building a solar cell with perovskite converting carbon dioxide into energy-rich ethylene and ethanol at low cost, and with easily available materials.

Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif states he doesn’t think a war will break out in the region because Tehran does not want a conflict and no country has the “illusion it could confront Iran” (it’s not a country we’re worried about, it’s mental illness in the family).

Chavistas march in Caracas to mark Maduro’s re-election.

Venezuelan Press far more diversified than U.S. corporate press.

Although the governments of Turkey and Venezuela agree to sign a Protesting Power Agreement, the administration yields the embassy to Guaidó’s people.

80,000 Chileans march to legalize medical marijuana, regulate recreational use.

In protest over Yemen war, Italian unions refuse to load Saudi ship loaded with weapons that could be used to kill civilians and fuel world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

In Greece, workers self-manage production of enviro-friendly cleaning products at worker-occupied factory Vio.Me.

In Brazil, one million protest against education budget cuts and pension “reform.”

Discovery of humble succulent growing in only one area of South Africa’s Karoo prevents uranium mine from going in.

Domestic

Women’s reproductive right (abortion) defenders gather in Montgomery, Anniston, Huntsville and Birmingham to denounce “Alabama Human Life Protection Act,” HB314 which virtually outlaws terminations.

Thousands of people from all 50 states, D.C., and  Puerto Rico show up to defend Roe vs. Wade, #StoptheBans and stop attempts to punish people who need safe abortions.

Amid wave of GOP attacks on abortion, more state boycotts and nationwide protests planned.

Venezuelan Embassy Protectors and other groups to stage UN General Assembly protest.

Intent on leading political revolution, not just a campaign,  rallies support for McDonald’s strike.

Promising big change, Sanders and Barbara Lee introduce new financial transaction tax on Wall Street.

Amid declining real wages, strikes in U.S. escalate.

After years of organizing, People’s Lobby and Reclaim Chicago see wins in 2019 Chicago municipal elections as significant victories.

AOC ties concerns over unregulated facial recog technology to global rise of authoritarianism and fascism.

Sen. Kaine proposes amendment to prevent funding for any military action against Iran (except in self defense! or if Congress approves a separate war authorization.)

Kamala Harris announces equal pay plan that would fine companies paying women less.

Senate approves $19 billon for Puerto Rico and several states relief after #45 backs off from demand for border security funds.

DOJ antitrust attorneys said to recommend agency block T-Mobile/Sprint merger.

Lawyers, academics and activists publish open letter calling for release of New York political prisoner and only remaining Black Panther, Jalil Muntaqim, arrested 48 years ago when he was only 19.

Louisiana, So. Carolina, New York, N. Carolina and Missouri pass laws to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction to 18.

Teens rally in predominantly black Newark: “build up Kids, not prisons.”

First vote to shutter San Francisco’s Juvenile Hall passes unanimously.

Chicago’s Stop Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) won a major victory this month when the head of the local program profiling Muslims stepped down, with no current plans to replace him.

Sen. Wyden’s new proposal to protect the integrity (!) of U.S. elections, the Protecting American Votes and Elections Act of 2019, takes needed step forward by requiring a return to paper ballots.

Nevada Senate passes National Popular Vote hill, becoming 40th state chamber to do so. It goes to the governor for his signature.

#45 administration keeps losing environmental court cases.

Environmentalists and activists arrested for protesting around the Bayou Bridge pipeline have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a state law allowing law enforcement to charge protesters as felons liable for five years in prison if found on or even near Louisiana pipelines. 

SumOfUs appear at Pepsi and KFC shareholder meetings, deliver activist message to save forests and disappearing orangutans.

Indigenous and other climate activists disrupt Chase meeting in Chicago.

While media yawns, “Save our planet, save our future:” youth demand action with massive climate strikes worldwide.

In Greta Thunberg’s foot prints, Massimo Paciotto Biggers, coming on 16, is sole climate striker at Iowa City Public School.

In Jefferson County, W. Virginia, Rockwool Insulation resisters hold rally, vow to keep fighting toxic Danish factory

SB 307, saving California desert aquifer will be voted in on the assembly floor before legislative year ends mid September.

Beyond Nuclear’s Unsung Hero award honors Rose Gardner, anti-nuclear activist, leader and founding board member of the organization.

New Jersey Assembly approves Resolution A230 in support of U.S. accession to the Treaty on the prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Nuclear waste from San Onofre will get first dibs for relocation under new bill.

In fall return to campus, students plan raising nuclear weapon dangers.

District Judge Amit Mehta upholds House panel subpoena for #45 financial records.

In second setback for #45, Federal judge Eduardo Ramos rules Deutsche Bank and Capitol One may provide #45’s financial records to House Democratic lawmakers after administration tries to block the move.

The New York State Assembly will likely vote on the N.Y. TRUST act. which would allow the release of #45’s tax returns to Congress. Gov. Cuomo has indicated he’ll sign it into law.

Leaked IRS memo says Mnuchin must hand over #45 tax returns.

Deutsche Bank ordered to turn over information about #45’s business loans.

California Gov. Newsom grants pardons to two Cambodian fathers at risk of deportation.

House Judiciary Committee passes Dream and Promise Act of 2019, first time since 2013 that Dreamer legislation advances.

ACLU sues Border Patrol for killing Guatemalan Woman.

Sen. Warren demands answers from Customer and Border Patrol Commissioner following death of yet another (the seventh) migrant child.

Asylum seeker, Aida (surname withheld) has been granted asylum, although the government still reserves the right to decide whether or not it will appeal her grant.

Opponents of oil and gas pipelines in three states file suit against new, anti-protest laws aimed at suppressing fossil fuel industry dissent.

Project Drawdown EcoChange results in over 41,000 meatless meals eaten, over 135,000 gallons of water saved, and reduction of over 345,000 lbs. of CO2.

Maryland bans polystyrene foam containers.

UC system bans glyphosate.

Atlanta creates first and nation’s largest food forest in Georgia.

After suffering financial ruin and multiple bankruptcies, Iowa farmers get off #45 train.

Jailed second time for refusing to sing to another Grand Jury, Chelsea Manning vows “I’d rather starve to death than change my position in this regard,” referring to naming Julian Assange.

Sunday, May 19, 2019

ONE BY LAND, TWO BY SEA: Half-Acts of War


This week, we have learned that if you don’t score the entire enchilada, one/half a coup is better than none. Thwarted by a full invasion of Maduro’s Venezuela, the administration ate half a crow and employed Mediaeval tactics by sending a battering ram to knock down the door of the Venezuelan Embassy, and arrest the four remaining embassy protection coalition members remaining, two of whom are valued and respected journalists, the third, an anthropology professor who happened to be in Honduras at the time of the Hillary-inspired coup, and witnessed its horrific results.

Peaceful protesters defend Venezuelan Embassy's sovereignty
A previous law and order visit had prompted the protectors to politely refuse to vacate four times!!!! although they assured the “law” (which had illegally broken in by sawing open the door chains) they would be glad to vacate once the State Department had issued a Protective Power Agreement, guaranteeing the neutrality, diplomatic status, and inviolability of all embassies world wide, and specifically those of the United States that, with this act of piracy, was declaring an act of war, and opening the doors to violations of U.S. Embassies worldwide.


But, although in 2003 #45 is reported to have declared that a U.S. President would invade Venezuela to get re-elected, this time the administration settled for a faux coup instead.

Not to worry. And never mind that Iran has demonstrably halted its nuclear weapons program. With John Bolton in charge, the U.S. had plenty of saber rattling left up its sleeve as a USS Abraham Lincoln strike group made for Iranian waters and the Gulf of Hormus.

There are still a few good reasons not to provoke war with Iran:
            Iran is nearly four times bigger than Iraq was.
            Iran’s population is nearly four times as large as Iraq’s at the start of Gulf II.
            The U.S. would need 2,141,900 troops to make a dent, but only 1,281.900 are either on active duty (making the rest of the world miserable) or in the reserves.
            Whereas Iraq turned to guerilla warfare which the U.S doesn’t know how to  defeat, in addition to   its over 500,000 active duty personnel, Iran can mobilize at least 1.5 million paramilitary forces.
            Iran is ruled by its Shite majority making up 90% of the population, which  would mount a massive struggle against any U.S. invaders.
            Iran’s neighbors, the Hazaras of Afghanistan and the Pakistanis (also Shites) would support Iran.
            No  Western Europe country would support a Trump invasion of Iran.

John Bolton is not paid to think, or to weigh consequences. And billionaire war profiteers are itching for more business. But the main over-arching reasons for this last-days-of-Empire’s tail-lashing is that at least three countries have now begun to deal in currencies other than the dollar in their trade agreements, among them China and Venezuela. And whereas Gaddafi could be lynched while Hillary gloated, China is not quite the same bug on the wall.

Despite #45's recent soft-pedalling for diplomacy (and deal-making) it looks like once again the U.S. is steaming full sails ahead for another quagmire, this time with Iran.

 

Before suggesting an action for this week, I want to share a bulletin that just came in this morning, presumably from #45 himself:
“I am pissed at The Mustache, aka John Bolton. For months he’s been telling me it would be easy to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro, but Maduro turned out to be a tough cookie and the Guaidó guy turned out to be a dud. The only coup Gauidó and The Mustache have actually pulled off is right here in D.C., where we sent in some cops to raid the Venezuelan Embassy and arrest four “I-don’t-like-war” protestors so we could hand the place over to the coup guys….

“The Mustache is not just gunning for war in Venezuela; he seems to be working over time to push me into a war with Iran. He’s talking nonsense about sending 120,000 troops to the Middle East! Is he crazy? After all I’ve said about getting us out of stupid wars? I know my buddies in the Middle East—Brass Balls Bibi and Prince Bone Saw Bin Salman—would like me to bomb. bomb, bomb, but my generals tell me that would be a VERY BAD idea….”

 

Code Pink gets it. and you get it. And firing John Bolton is not such a bad idea. After all, he can grill hamburgers on that mustache at McDonald’s if he needs a job.




Tell #45 to fire John Bolton at

Please sign No War with Iran at
https://petitions.moveon.org/sign/stop-war-with-iran-1?akid=234198.25649514.ATMwqs&rd=1&source=mo&t=7

Please urge Harris, Klobuchar, and Gillibrand to lead Congress in stopping unconstitutional war in Iran and Venezuela at

Block Trumps’ War at
https://commondefense.us/end-the-forever-war/?akid=316.124525.alsqa4&rd=1&source=em20190515&t=2

J Street asks you to contact your representative to back the Unconstitutional War with Iran Act today.


1000 persons protest 5 G in Bern.

Citing ongoing legal challenges, TC Energy (Transcanada) announces they are delaying construction on Keystone XL.

French public sector workers strike against Macron govt. attacks.

Russia urges U.S. to abandon ‘irresponsible' plan to topple Maduro.

In West Java, Indonesia, deadly landslide inspires Indonesian farmers to reforest

Starting May 14, Indian jute mill workers to go on strike demanding immediate settlement of pay arrears.

Belgium ready to suspend arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Hoping to avoid further escalation, EU supports Iran nuclear deal.

Spain pulls ship from Abraham Lincoln Strike Group steaming toward the Middle East.

Journalist John Pilger reports that the ex-head of the Swedish bar Assn. has condemned Assange’s treatment at the Ecuadorian Embassy as deplorable, and injurious of both mental and physical health for years to come.

Mass mobilizations protest Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s fifth term bid.

Swiss tennis champ Roger Federer gives $13.5 million to open 91 schools in Africa.

Declaring postwar order passé. Merkel says it's time to stand up to the U.S.

Macron declares U.S. tech industry regulations are no longer subject to democratic checks and balances.

Taiwan becomes first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

Canadian Museum for Human Rights declares that it recognizes colonial experience from first contact to present as genocide.

Domestic

Declaring that their prosecution would take time away from preparing cases of child sexual abuse, judge dismisses charges against the 15 arrestees protesting the launching of the LBJ at the Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Bath Ironworks protester declares: If we love our children, if we love the miracle of life, and all our fellow species—we must make the connection between our gigantic military and the climate crisis.

Calling executive tone deaf, South Carolina regulators slap down Duke Energy rate increase.

Oregon teachers walk out, forcing 600 school to close.

#Free Black Mamas bails block mothers from jail for Mother’s Day.

Lawsuit by 44 states accuses Big Parma of ‘multi-year conspiracy’ to hike drug prices by over 1000%.

San Francisco first U.S. city to ban facial recognition.

Obama-appointed judge orders Florida to provide Spanish-language ballots for Puerto Ricans by 2020 “election”.

Free Press report and FOIA docs expose #45 FCC’s neglect toward Puerto Rico.

Colluding with EPA, Monsanto unable to prove Roundup does not cause cancer unsealed court docs reveal.

Jury orders Monsanto to pay record $2 billion to couple in Roundup cancer trial.

Citing Mnuchin’s unwillingness to comply, House Dems subpoena #45 tax returns.

Texas Senate magnanimously passes bill to stop shacking pregnant inmates, and to provide free menstrual products daily.

Lawsuit targets #45 administration renewal of Oregon Ranchers’ grazing permit.

Common Cause files petition to deny proposed Apollo-Cox-Northwest broadcasting merger.

Common Cause Indiana files challenge to Indiana’s unconstitutional absentee ballot signature match rejections.

New York State govt. issues policy to restrict authority of ICE in state courts.

N.Y. Mayor de Blasio declares opposition to the Williams fracked gas pipelines.

The closure of Plains All American Pipeline’s coastal California oil pipeline after it ruptured fur years ago saves 27 million tons of carbon pollution in California.

If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decides to snap shut loopholes that analysts say create financial incentives to build too many new pipelines in the U.S., a little-noticed announcement by the commission could have an outsized impact on the oil and gas pipeline industries.

AOC slams middle-of-the-road approaches on climate change.

This week ACLU announces efforts to aid Gaza’s elderly, end child detention and stop drone warfare.

Lawsuit challenges administration’s approval of massive Utah oil shale development.

National Lawyers Guild condemns Secret Service (SS) complicity in violence against U.S. peace activists.

After he advises Don Jr. to refuse congressional subpoena, #LindseyGrahamResign goes viral.

As executives make millions off IPO, Uber drivers strike.

While Americans have waited to years for Congress to do its job, arrests end Impeach #45 sit-in within two minutes.

In a huge victory, U.S. District Court supports a commonsense reading of Constitution, ruling that lawsuit against #45 can move forward.

People-led presidential candidate forums planned in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada. (What a concept!)

House Science Committee approves Rep. Bonamici’s COAST Research Act, and Vice-Chair Pingree’s Ocean Acidification Act which allows investigation of coast communities vulnerable to ocean acidification and plans to take such assessments into account.

City of Berkeley plans to encourage retiring bosses to sell their businesses to their workers, forming worker cooperatives.

New Mexico and Delaware sign on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC),  making whoever wins the popular vote the winner of the Electoral College.

Maine, Minnesota, Nevada and Oregon are taking action on the NPVIC with a good chance to seeing it pass into law.

Permit by permit, communities are fighting 5 G wireless internet technology with help from the California Supreme Court.

5 G [protests span from Albany to Europe to Russia.

Maine on track to ensure more equitable abortion access with new insurance rules.

Patriotic millionaires join advocates, students in support of N.J. millionaire’s tax.

Debate still rages in Ohio and Illinois, but Maine and Pennsylvania shut down old nukes.

Department of Energy gets nailed at Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant Public Health Forum.

Even GOP voters applaud AOC and Sanders for taking loan-shark lenders on.

Washington Governor Inslee expands plan to combat climate collapse with renewable energy.

Washington State becomes first to adopt social insurance program for long-term care benefits.

Sanders letter pressures Delta to end its “demeaning” anti-union campaign.

House passes Equality Act, ensuring sexual orientation and gender identity are covered under federal civil rights laws.

Facebook busts Israeli campaign to disrupt elections in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Pro-environment House members defy #45 by introducing a budget restoring funding for environmental programs at EPA and Interior.


Philanthropy in U. S.

“Resolutionaries” slash $434 million in patients’ medical debt.

John Oliver buys of $15 million in medical debt, paying off debts of 9,000 people in hardship.

Judge allows New Orleans students to walk on graduation day, despite the school’s violating the students’ due process.


Saturday, May 11, 2019

ONE IF BY LAND, TWO IF BY SEA

Activists continue defending the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington D.C. against the opposition’s mob and the U.S. administration’s coup attempt. Today one activist messages from D.C.: “Our people in the Embassy are carrying on with strong commitment and determination.”  And they have to:  the Secret Service has cut off mail deliveries, and both water and electricity have been cut off, probably on orders from the White House—this despite both accounts being currently paid up by legitimate Embassy personnel,.  Read more at : https://www.mintpressnews.com/mintpress-grazyone-journalists-endure-us-govt-blackout-and-siege-at-venezuelan-embassy-in-dc/258347/

Civil Justice Fund lawyer, Mara Verheydden-Hilliard addressed these words to the Secret Service:
There has been no action that has divested [the Embassy Protection Collective] of the right to be inside the embassy or lawful process that could authorize removal.
Instead you are authorizing a vigilante group to attack the peace activists inside.
You must take action immediately to cease this assault, and ensure that there is no violence against the persons inside. They are in grave danger from the mob you have facilitated and authorized to besiege the embassy.
You are responsible for any acts of violence that will be committed against these peace activists inside the embassy.

Opposition protesters (Ambrose Bierce for violent mobs aided and abetted by the Secret “Service” and the D.C. “police”) have been variously reported drilling holes into the Embassy building (protected under the Vienna Convention of 1961 according diplomatic immunity to Embassies throughout the world); blockading the main entrance and attempting to break down the door, damaging the garage door; attacking and blocking outside supporters from delivering food, and sanitary supplies; and creating deafening noise with the use of sirens and the beating of pots and pans.

For consolidated reading, you may wish to go to:
https://popularresistance.org/violent-bigoted-supporters-of-juan-guaido-attempt-to-invade-venezuelas-d-c-embassy/
and
https://popularresistance.org/embassy-protection-collective-were-still-here-and-were-staying/

And for a sampling of mob violence, be sure to view the arrest of Veteran for Peace and author, Gerry Condon here:

Gerry Condon being arrested by the SS
(For background on Gerry Condon go to podcast https://couragetoresist.org/podcast-michael-uhl/ )

What You Can Do:


The Embassy Protection Collective remains determined, even after water and electricity are cut off. Make calls to insist they be allowed food, water and medicine.

Find your representative and urge him/her to protect the Embassy from mob violence and assure the protection of those inside, the legitimately invited guests of the Venezuelan Government at:
www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

For California: Feinstein 415 393-0707; Harris 415 981-9369; Lee 510 763-0370

Call D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser: 202 727-2643; demand D.C. Police defend victims and arrest their attackers, not the other way round.

Call State, Office of Foreign Missions at 202 895-3500. Remind them of 1961 Vienna Convention provisions for diplomatic protection for embassies all over the world, to which the U.S. is a signatory.

And have fun calling the Secret Service at 202 406-8800, extension 8 for the comment line. Talk fast. (It’s their goons seen manhandling Gerry Condon above.)



Foreign

National Lawyers Guild International Committee condemns threats posed by government of the U.S. and D.C. Police Department to the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela., and unilateral financial sanctions.

Venezuelan Police arrest coup’s second top opposition lawmaker.

International Google Employees sit-in protests retaliation.

Thousands protest against Honduras puppet president put in power by Clinton-Obama coup, demanding his resignation.

Thousands storm Queen’s Park in Ontario, protesting Doug Ford’s Bill 74 cuts to health care.

Germany plans on closing all 84 of its coal-fired plants and relying on renewables.

Canada provides $2.4M for 128,000 Palestinians in Gaza., West Bank.

UN rights rapporteur slams U.S. sanctions war on Iran. Cuba, and Venezuela, calling them “making pawns and hostages of people.”

Mexican President AMLO says no to U.S. “security” plan.

#45 turns on darling, Bolton, accusing him of “trying to start war in Venezuela.”

Fearing their use against civilian population, French rights group Christians for the Abolition of Torture filed legal challenge blocking a new batch of French weapons from being loaded onto Saudi vessel heading for Yemen.

187 countries take crucial step stopping rich nations from turning global south into dumping ground for plastic waste.

Bandung, Indonesia
Domestic

Sanders calls for national ban on fracking.

Interior Secy. David Bernhardt is putting an indefinite hold on the administration’s radical plans to ramp up offshore drilling along America’s coasts, including the entire Arctic Ocean, and key portions of the Atlantic.

House Natural Resources passes bipartisan Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act out of committee.

House Natural Resources Committee approves Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plan Protection Act, restoring longstanding protections to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

House passes H.R. 9, pushing back against #45 U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accords, the first time in 10 years House addresses climate change.

Washington State’s Gov. Inslee signs package of groundbreaking climate action bills into law.

Republican Senator Todd Young, although deploring Venezuelan government, calls for hearing on military intervention in Venezuela.

Pelosi, Schumer say they agree to pursue $2T infrastructure bill with #45.

New Mexico official pulls plug on new oil, and gas drilling on state land near Chaco Canyon.

Chicago charter school teachers launch nation’s multi-employer charter-school strike; two previous charter strikes resulted in pay increases and more student resources.

Rideshare drivers call Uber strike in 7 major cities throughout the U.S.: D.C. LA, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Chicago.

Although Treasury refuses to allow Congress to review #45 tax returns, California passes bill that would keep #45 off California ballot unless he releases those returns.

Federal judge orders prison reforms to prevent more suicides in Alabama’s prisons.

Ten trans asylum seekers win cases, released from ICE detention.

Washington airport operators refuse to service ICE deportation flights.

Thousands nationwide rally in support of drivers licenses for undocumented immigrant residents.

Silent rooftop turbine able to generate half of a household’s energy needs.

Boston baseball legend backs boycott of #45 by Red Sox manager Cora and several players.

Free Press heroine, Chelsea Manning released, but may be subpoenaed by another grand jury next week.

Facebook co-founder calls for company to be broken up, alleging Zuck has unilateral control over speech.

Syracuse, N.Y. delays 5G rollout in hopes of tightening regulations.

Philanthropy in the U.S.

Chobani Yogurt to pay off all Rhode Island district’s school lunch debt.

Sunday, May 5, 2019

HOW FAST CAN A G-MAN READ?


Nearly fast enough to break the sound barrier, as I discovered this morning. I phoned my trusty Scret Service at 7 AM to alert those serving and protecting that yesterday and possibly still today a howling mob of vigilantes had surrounded the Venezuelan Embassy in D.C. to threaten the legitimately invited American activist guests of the Embassy. Among these guests are recognizable (but unnamed here) figures from international peace movements among others. Their overnight stays are designed to prevent the illegitimate take over of a building belonging to the Democratically elected government of oil-rich Venezuela by a government and its puppet “president” appointed by the con artists presently occupying the government of the U.S. in D.C.

The glossolalia-afflicted officer  was temporarily flummoxed when I asked him if he might be reading at me from a text, but quickly recovered, he cut me off with a snappy “Good morning, Ma’am” before hanging up.

This morning, Kevin Zeese writing for Popular Resistance at
https://popularresistance.org/embassy-protection-collective-responds-to-tactics-to-drive-us-from-the-embassy/
writes that not only is the Embassy still surrounded, those offering support outside have been assaulted by the vigilantes, and the so-called “police” have done nothing to stop it, but  have arrested the victims of violence instead.

Some American embassy guests
Max Obuszewski urges all concerned  Americans to phone the secret service at 202-406-8800 and 202 287-0001 to voice your insistence that the secret service serve and protect the guests and their support friends outside from vigilante violence.

He also offers the text of a letter which he urges all of us to send to the State Department at U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
202-647-4000 (This number works with fewer loops, and gives you 15 supersonic minutes to say what you have to say. Let’s keep the connection so busy it breaks down.)

(But just try calling the PR number, 202-647-6575  X4   X4  X4 and ask to be connected to the comment line. It’s a fifteen minute loop which repeats itself, but if you engage in the charade long enough you will be prompted to press 8 for the comment line. Here’s what happens: A voice asks you to leave your comment and cuts you off after 15 seconds. Only supersonic speech allowed.)

There is no FAX number and the website is purposely designed to prevent any kind of clear interchange. Mike Pompeo is the current Secretary of State.

Here's the letter:

Dear Sirs,

At this moment, the violent mob that you have allowed to continually commit acts of violence against persons and property at the Venezuelan embassy is actively working to smash in the doors while your officers give permission to the assault and explicitly refuse to intervene.

As you know, and your officers have witnessed, members of this mob have physically attacked and made death threats to the peace activists who are inside and around the embassy. This presence inside the embassy, as you also know, is lawful, as the peace activists were invited inside the embassy by those lawfully in charge of the premises.

There has been no action that has divested them of the right to be inside the embassy or lawful process that could authorize removal.

Instead you are authorizing a vigilante group to attack the peace activists inside.

You must take action immediately to cease this assault, and ensure that there is no violence against the persons inside. They are in grave danger from the mob you have facilitated and authorized to besiege the embassy.

You are responsible for any acts of violence that will be committed against these peace activists inside the embassy.

Sincerely,


I want to reproduce verbatim words from the bulletin which  the Code Pink team sent out yesterday:

“As part of the Embassy Protection Collective, I’ve been staying inside the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, D.C. to protect it from takeover by Trjmp’s coup collaborators. On Thursday I came out to replenish food supplies, but was arrested as I tried to get the bread, salad greens, and other food back inside. Right-wing, pro-Guaidó/Trump supporters blocked the doors. Rather than helping me to get food to people legally inside the embassy, the police arrested me. I am charged with “throwing missiles”. I am not kidding.

Let’s be clear why we are inside the Venezuelan Embassy. We are there to protect it from a takeover by an unelected group of Guaidó supporters, a takeover that would dangerously escalate the conflict. If the opposition takes over the D.C. Embassy., the Venezuelan government will probably take over the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. The U.S. could consider this an act of war and use it as an excuse to invade. We can’t allow that to happen. That’s why, despite intense harassment and even a cut-off of our food supplies by right-wing thugs, our peaceful presence inside the Embassy continues.

Meanwhile, inside Venezuela, Guaidó’s continued call for a military uprising  threatens to plunge the country into a bloody coup that could lead to decades of war. And U.S. economic sanctions are leading to more misery. There needs to be mediation, like the Mexican government and the Vatican are calling for. We need your help to stop the coup attempt. Contact your representative in Congress now. Tell them to speak out against a coup and U.S. military intervention. Tell them to prohibit as unconstitutional military intervention in Venezuela at

….A U.S.-backed coup in Venezuela would only serve the interests of the U.S. and Venezuela elite who stand to profit by taking over a country with the largest oil reserves in the world. We must prevent unnecessary bloodshed and suffering in Venezuela.”

Omitted here is any mention that Venezuelan oil is among the dirtiest of remaining reserves, and that it must stay in the ground if we are to have a future on this planet, and any recognition by the U.S. Government (and presumably by the Government of Venezuela) of any relation to climate collapse.

For more background information, you may want to listen to an interview by Francisco Dominguez on “Radio Informar” at
https://archives.kdvs.org/archives/2019-05-02_5459_320kbps.mp3/ Skip the music by going to 6:45; and hear Medea Benjamin at 30 minutes.


 

Please see above to initiate phone calls, and write letters.



Foreign

Spain’s Socialist Workers Party won 123 of 350 Parliamentary seats in last weeks election running on a Green platform , a minimum wage increase, and higher taxes on the rich. If Spain can, the U.S. can too.

To escalate fight against ‘existential crisis” Greta Thunberg backs general strike for climate. Now we need to organize it.

And guess what: Activism just might work. after blocking London traffic for just one week, the UK Parliament knuckled under b y declaring a climate emergency.

Ecuador Amazon Waorani tribe wins first victory against oil companies befouling their land.

So far, U.S. fumble for a coup in Venezuela seems to be stalled.

Alberta librarian rushes to archive climate change data before it’s expunged by new government.

Putin-Trump talk about ending nuke weapons. Voy a ver.

Domestic

America’s renewable energy set to surpass coal usage for first time.

U.S. Judge Linda Parker determines Flint residents can sue U.S. government for water crisis.

Warren calls for investigation of surveillance at family separation protests.

U.S. Judge strikes down Texas anti-BDS law.

6,000 Amazon employees including a VP and Directors call on Bezos to quit automating oil extraction.

Demanding medicare for all, nurses apply bandaids to plaster “go-Fund-Me” pages to big pharma headquarters.

N. York’s American Natural History Museum cancels gala honoring Bolsonaro, Brazil’s far right kapo.

“We teach, we vote!”” 10,000 teachers rise up against Repuglican legislature in deep south South Carolina.

Kentucky and Minnesota teachers of year boycott Trump meeting.

Uber and Lyft contract worker drivers set to strike in LA.

For the first time, thanks to People’s Action across the country, the House Ways and Means Committee expects to hold hearings on Medicare for All bill.

N.Y. AG Letitia James sets target on Trump malfeasance. She’s a woman, and she’s black, and she don’t take no crap.

Two Justice Department attorneys in charge of the Civil Rights Division scrutinize Trump voter suppression efforts.

Court strikes down Ohio’s gerrymandering maps “so skewed” they “predetermined” election outcomes.

Federal Court rules gerrymandered house districts in Michigan unconstitutional.

Suffolk Superior Court Judge Robert L. Ullmann refuses to issue injunction requested by attorney Karen Hurvitz to prevent a panel discussion on Palestine from being convened at U. Mass campus.

Of over 5,000 kids separated from their families, 60 have been reunited. That leaves 4,940 still unaccounted for. (ICE needs to order new adding machines.)

Resistance: Providence residents query government officials, prompting them to tiptoe forward with plans to privatize two-thirds of state’s water supply.

Survey predicts oil investments will go bust in five years. (Ten years too late?)

New legislation protecting roadless rule preserves American forests.

With HALT Act, N.Y. progressive’s fight against inhumane prison punishment gains traction.

Washington State’s King County seeks to block ICE from using airport to deport immigrants. (They’ll just have to settle for LAX.)

Designed to end crushing debt,  Warren’s package to help storm-ravaged U.S. dependent Puerto Rico recover with dignity gains traction.

Philanthropy in the U.S.

Philando Castile’s mom pays the lunch debts of MN seniors so they can graduate.

Man opens his $4 million home to homeless Oakland couple while good neighbors call cops.