People Before Profit blog

Today in history: Mass arrests in 2004 Republican National Convention crackdown

Mon, 31 Aug 2015 15:21:00 +0000

New York City is a true-blue town, but the GOP decided to hold its 2004 Republican National Convention there as a reminder to the nation of 9/11. Of course the GOP did not dwell on the fact that the largest terrorist act in U.S. history happened on Pres. George W. Bush's watch despite several warnings his administration chose to ignore.

Protest activity against the convention and Bush's re-nomination included a broad range of marches, rallies, performances, demonstrations, exhibits, and acts of civil disobedience. Hundreds of groups organized protests, including United for Peace and Justice (UPJ), a coalition of more than 800 anti-war and social justice groups. Before the week had ended, over 1800 individuals were arrested by the authorities, a record for a political convention in the U.S. Ninety percent of those charges were eventually dropped.

Banner drop, ACT UP, Critical Mass

The public face of activism began on Thurs., Aug. 26, when four people hung a banner more than a dozen stories above the ground over the front of the Plaza Hotel. The banner, measuring 60' wide and three stories high, said "Truth," with an arrow pointing toward Central Park, where the UPJ march would take place, and "Bush," with an arrow pointing the other direction, toward Madison Square Garden (MSG), the convention site. The four climbers were arrested and the banner was removed by the police.

Twelve activists from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) staged a naked protest in front of MSG, demanding debt cancellation for poor countries. They took their clothes off in the crosswalk, stopping traffic, as they joined hands and began chanting, "Bush, Stop AIDS. Drop the Debt Now!" They told "the naked truth" about Bush's inadequate global AIDS policies, arguing for debt cancellation as a top priority. Several protesters - arrested, with all charges later dropped - later became subjects in photographer Richard Avedon's last project, published in the New Yorker.

Nearly 6000 participants took part in the Critical Mass environmental bicycle ride on Fri., Aug. 27^th. The monthly ride prior to this had attracted about 1500 riders. Police blockaded roads and arrested 264 people on the ride, charging them with disorderly conduct and holding them in custody for up to 72 hours.

Among the largest protests in U.S. history

On Sun., Aug. 29, UPJ organized the main march of the week, among the largest protests in U.S. history, in which protesters marched past MSG. The march included hundreds of separate contingents as well as individual marchers. Citizens, veterans and clergy held a procession of 1000 full-scale flag-draped coffins commemorating the fallen U.S. troops (so far). Estimates of crowd size ranged from 120,000 (a police spokesman) to over 500,000 (organizers, plus a second police source). In March 2007 NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne stated about the RNC protests: "You certainly had 800,000 on August 29."

Michael Moore, Jesse Jackson, Congressman Charles Rangel, and a father who had lost his son in Iraq were among the speakers at the pre-march press conference. The march lasted six hours; the lead contingent finished the route at Union Square long before thousands of people could even move from the starting point. The NYC government, under Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, had earlier denied the protesters a permit to hold a rally in Central Park following the march, citing concern for the park's grass, but organizers refused and encouraged people to go there anyway. "Only" 200 arrests were made that day, most after the march had concluded. For the most part, the march proceeded peacefully and without violence.

More marches, civil disobedience

On Mon., Aug. 30, Still We Rise, a coalition of 52 NYC-based community organizations for the poor and people of color marched from Union Square to MSG, and held a rally. At 4 pm, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, a national coalition involving over 60 organizations, held a rally at the UN's Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. Many of these demonstrators had been living in a "mobile Bushville" which settled in Brooklyn a week before the Convention. A plainclothes police detective drove his scooter at 20 mph into the crowd, hitting and injuring people. The crowd tried to stop him, upon which police made several arrests (for assaulting a police officer) and deployed tear gas.

A group called the A31 Action Coalition called for massive civil disobedience on Tues., Aug. 31. About 1000 people, members of Code Pink and others, gathered in front of Fox News Channel's NYC headquarters and held a "Fox News Shut-Up-A-Thon," protesting Fox's lack of balance and deriding it as a GOP propaganda arm. Protesters from the War Resisters League were arrested en masse just as they began their march from the World Trade Center up to the RNC convention. Others who got closer to the convention did a "die-in" in the street, where 54 more were arrested.

Several protesters were able to sneak into MSG and disrupt the speakers at the podium. Anti-war activists from Code Pink disrupted primetime addresses three nights in a row and twice during Bush's acceptance speech. The father of one of the first U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq was ejected after holding up a sign that read, "Bush Lied. My Son Died."

Agents provocateurs and lawsuits

The New York Times reported that the police not only videotaped and infiltrated protests, but also acted as agents provocateurs. NYPD officers traveled as far away as Europe and spied on people there who planned to protest at the RNC.

Along with the nonviolent protesters, police swept up many innocent bystanders in mass arrests who were required to show ID's or face arrest without charges. Police created what one lawyer described as the city's "own little Guantanamo on the Hudson," the three-story, block-long Pier 57 that the city converted into a temporary prison - overcrowded, dirty, and contaminated, and unfit for detention of human beings.

The City reportedly refused to release the prisoners until a judge threatened to fine it for every extra hour every prisoner would spend in prison. Victims of the arrests filed lawsuits against the City of New York; it was determined from video evidence that the charges of resisting arrest in most cases were completely fabricated.

Events surrounding the RNC convention galvanized the broad opposition to the Bush agenda. But the movement for the Democrat John Kerry did not succeed. The day after Bush was "re-elected" (the veracity of the vote in the critical swing state of Ohio is still highly suspect), thousands of sad-faced Americans posted their pictures on the Internet with signs announcing to the world, "We tried. I'm so sorry."

Adapted from Wikipedia and other sources.

Photo: Radical drum corps and marching bands, such as the Rude Mechanical Orchestra shown here, were a common sight at the RNC protests. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.

Iran deal likely to survive Capitol Hill opposition

Mon, 31 Aug 2015 14:02:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Sen. Harry Reid, D.-Nev., and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., are the latest lawmakers to announce their support of the Administration's deal with Iran. That makes two more votes to sustain President Obama's veto of the sure-to-come House and Senate resolutions to kill the deal.

All members of the House and Senate return here Sept.7 from their summer recess. The votes on the Iran agreement will take place September 17.

House members and then senators will vote "yes" to accept or "no" to reject the agreement. It's a sure bet the deal will be rejected because Republicans are unanimously opposed. The rejection resolutions will then go to President Obama, who is sure to veto them.

Next, Republicans will offer resolutions in the House and Senate to override the veto. They need two thirds of both houses to win.

Slowly but surely enough Democrats to assure acceptance of the deal seem to be lining up with the Administration, but with lawmakers now scattered all over the country, no one can say for sure how many Democrats will vote for or against the resolutions on the deal or the veto.

This has not stopped Washington pundits from making predictions.

Every time a vacationing lawmaker makes a statement - no matter how ambivalent - the pundits parse it, dissect it, deconstruct it and weigh all possible interpretations.

Many - but not all - political observers predict that in the House, 12 Democrats will vote with the Republicans and 61 will not. Many - but not all - pundits also say that six Democrats are "leaning" against the deal and 23 are "leaning" for it. Observers have no clue as to how 86 Democrats will vote.

In the House, opponents of the deal need 290 votes to override a veto. All 246 Republicans will vote to override, so to prevail they need 44 of the 188 House Democrats to vote with them.

Regarding the Senate, observers are predicting that Ron Wyden of Oregon will join Chuck Schumer of New York and Robert Menendez of New Jersey in voting against the Administration. They also say that 32 senators seem to be "leaning" in favor of the agreement. No one says they can predict how 11 senators will vote.

Opponents of the deal in the Senate need 67 votes to override a veto. There are 54 sure Republican votes against the veto which means the Republicans need 13 Democrats to vote with them.

They might not be able to pinpoint the potential vote count, but political observers have been refreshingly candid about the pressure on lawmakers to vote against the Iran agreement.

The right-wing-backed American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is firing all its guns. Through a front group called Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, it's spending some $40 million for media ads during the Congressional recess and sending hundreds of people to dog the steps of lawmakers in their home jurisdictions.

The AIPAC juggernaut has extracted anti-agreement pledges from many lawmakers, but some are refusing to be bullied.

For example, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid told the Washington Post, "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure the deal stands."

Reid is retiring, so he has nothing to lose.

On the other hand, standing up to AIPAC by supporting the agreement is an act of courage for Rep Nadler, who represents Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn. His constituents are overwhelmingly against the agreement, but Nadler told the Forward newspaper, "When you're dealing with issues of war and peace, that conceivably means life and death for many people, you have to try to ignore the political ramifications. It's difficult to compartmentalize like that but that's what's important: not to worry about my next election."

Tom Dine is also putting his conscience before his career. Along with 25 heads of national Jewish organizations, he signed a full-page ad in the New York Times supporting the agreement.

Dine is a former executive director of AIPAC.

Furthermore, Gary Samore quit his job as president of a right-wing group called United Against a Nuclear Iran because he supports the agreement.

Nadler, Dine and Samore took their stands as a matter of conscience. However, polls shows that they, and not AIPAC, represent the opinion of most American Jews.

A national survey conducted by GBA Strategies for J Street, a Jewish lobbying group, shows that 60 percent of American Jews support the agreement with Iran. Spot polls around the country have yielded similar results: in Colorado, 62 percent of the Jewish population support the agreement and in L.A., support for the agreement among the Jewish population is 18 percentage points more than those opposed.

The American public as a whole supports the deal by 56 percent.

In addition to the New York Times ad signed by 26 Jewish leaders, 340 rabbis from across the U.S. have signed a letter urging the House of Representatives and the Senate to endorse the agreement. The letter was circulated by Ameinu, which identifies itself as a "liberal Zionist organization."

Despite the polls proving they are out of line with the Jewish community, AIPAC functionaries continue to bully lawmakers, indicating that they care more about propping up the Likud government of Netanyahu than they do about the opinions of the American Jewish community.

When Representative Nadler announced his support of the Iran agreement, a pro-AIPAC politician promised to raise millions of dollars to defeat him in the next election.

Photo: San Jose rally says "no" to war with Iran. Henry Millstein/PW

San Jose says "no" to war with Iran

Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:29:00 +0000

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Waves and honks of support from passing motorists greeted some 30 South Bay activists gathered near the office of Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren to show their opposition to war with Iran and their support for the international nuclear arms deal with that country.

They delivered a petition bearing signatures of local residents calling on Rep. Lofgren to come out in support of the agreement and were pleased to find that she has done so.

This action was part of the National Day of Action to stop a war with Iran that was initiated by Moveon.org. It was a first-time organizing effort for Caryn Quist, who put together the event using tools provided by Moveon. Asked what led her to take this on, she responded, "I have an Iranian partner, so it's very personal for me, and I'm very pleased with the actions of the Obama Administration." Referring to the 1,200 signatures on the petition, she said, "I think we're in good company."

The event was very much a grassroots affair. David Martinez, a Puerto Rican resident in the neighborhood, said he came at the invitation of some of his neighbors. He reported proudly, in Spanish, that he had voted for Obama.

Among the participants was Brian Wheatley, president of the Evergreen Teachers Association, a local of the California Teachers Association, the state branch of the National Education Association. Brian has good reason to believe in negotiations, having led his local in a tough struggle to negotiate with the Evergreen School District, which at one point tried to cut off negotiations and move toward imposing a settlement on the teachers by declaring an impasse. This move was rejected by the state Public Employees Relations Board, and Brian looks forward to resuming negotiations shortly. "On a fundamental level, I believe that you should talk things out rather than act aggressively and in haste," he said when asked what brought him to the demonstration.

Photo: Henry Millstein/PW

Demonstrators to Connecticut's Sen. Blumenthal: Peace yes! War, no!

Mon, 31 Aug 2015 12:02:00 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. - Connecticut residents unfurled a long stream of petitions calling on one of their two Democratic senators, Richard Blumenthal, to support the peace agreement with Iran.

Gathered in front of the senator's Hartford office, over 80 demonstrators chanted "Hey Hey, Ho Ho, Peace, yes! war, no!" and "All we are saying is give peace a chance," along with other slogans.

The Greater New Haven Peace Council and MoveOn hosted the rally. A speaker from the Peace Council pointed out that the question of war vs. peace was at stake. "Opponents to the Iran agreement have repeatedly called for military attacks on Iran," he said.

The agreement requires Iran to refrain from seeking nuclear weapons, calls for strict inspections of its nuclear facilities, and allows Iran, under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes. In return, economic and political sanctions on Iran will be lifted.

"Those who oppose this agreement, like Dick Cheney and Joe Lieberman," said Tom Swan, executive director of Connecticut Citizens Action Group, "are the same actors that lied the U.S. into attacking Iraq 12 years ago. The U.S. initiated that war over the false claim that Iraq had nuclear weapons."

Marta Daniels, a long time peace activist and writer, reminded demonstrators of the success of the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign that 30 years ago took on President Ronald Reagan. "We changed the conversation then and we're changing the conversation now."

The United States, four other major nuclear weapons states [Russia, China, United Kingdom, and France] and Germany negotiated for over two years with Iran to reach the agreement.

Republicans and some Democrats trying to torpedo the agreement are reacting to pressure applied by pro-war interests who have amassed multimillion dollar war chests and unleashed armies of lobbyists. If Congress is able to pass legislation killing the agreement, President Obama has vowed to veto it. Then, for the agreement to take effect, 34 Democrats in the Senate need to vote to sustain the veto.

Every senator's support, therefore, is seen as critical. Blumenthal's six other Congressional colleagues, including Sen. Chris Murphy, have already announced their support for the agreement.

People are being urged to call Sen. Blumenthal: 860-258-6940.

Photo: Connecticut residents present petitions to Sen. Richard Blumenthal in support of the peace agreement with Iran. Henry Lowendorf/PW

People’s World wins new round of media awards

Fri, 28 Aug 2015 14:25:00 +0000

CHICAGO - People's World received a new round of media awards recently for news and opinion-editorial writing. The International Labor Communications Association announced last week the winners of its 2015 Labor Media Awards and People's World won three for best series, best editorial and best profile. Last month the National Federation of Press Women announced awards for People's World in the best news, best editorial, environmental, and opinion/column categories.

"We are honored by both NFPW and ILCA for this recognition," said John Wojcik, labor and co-editor of peoplesworld.org. "It shows that advocacy journalism is respected and needed now more than ever."

People's World won a total of three first place awards (two from NFPW and one from ILCA), three third place awards (NFPW and two from ILCA) and one honorable mention (NFPW).

First place awards went to PW co-editor Teresa Albano for news features on the August 2014 Ferguson protests over the killing of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, and an editorial, penned by Albano, on President Obama's executive order providing temporary deportation relief for millions of undocumented immigrants. NFPW third place went to co-editor Susan Webb for her series on U.S. military toxic dumping in Okinawa, Japan. One of ILCA's third place awards went to Wojcik for his feature story on Richmond, Calif., and how in local elections a progressive slate beat out the fear-mongering campaigns bankrolled by Chevron Oil. The other third place was for the Obama executive order editorial. The NFPW Honorable Mention went to volunteer writer John Dick for his columns on Detroit women's and civil rights history.

Another PW volunteer writer, Tim Libretti, won first, second and third place awards from NFPW in the essay/book chapter, online feature and speeches categories.

Earlier this year People's World won top awards from the Illinois Woman's Press Association, including IWPA contest's Silver Feather award.

The NFPW and ILCA awards will be presented in September at national meetings in Anchorage, Alaska, and Raleigh, N.C., respectively.

A decade after Katrina: what we’ve learned and refuse to learn

Thu, 27 Aug 2015 15:03:00 +0000

On the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's destruction along the Gulf Coast, registered nurse volunteers with the disaster relief program, Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), which sent hundreds of RN volunteers to provide disaster relief to the region in the wake of the deadly storm, say that critical lessons which exacerbated the 2005 crisis - global climate change, our lack of a national healthcare system, and failure to invest in public resources and infrastructure - have still not been learned.

Katrina commemoration events

Nurses from RNRN, a project of National Nurses United (NNU), the country's largest organization of RNs, are back in New Orleans this week to show support for residents of the region and highlight that the problems, which existed 10 years ago, continue to fester.

RNs, some of whom volunteered with RNRN post-Katrina, will staff a first aid tent and participate in Katrina commemoration events hosted by Gulf South Rising, a coordinated regional movement of people and groups to highlight how the global climate crisis, and the rising sea levels that come with it, are affecting the Gulf Coast states.

"Things aren't just the same, they're worse," said Malinda Markowitz, RN, a NNU vice president who will participate in the events. "As nurses, we always want to get at the root causes of illnesses, and Katrina exposed them all: the socioeconomic inequality, the racism, the lack of access to healthcare, how we've defunded our public infrastructure, and how our dependency on fossil fuels has accelerated climate change. On this anniversary, we are again working to build the movement needed to fix these problems."

Volunteer RNs sprung into action

After Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf and New Orleans flooded, forcing the evacuation of millions of residents and trapping - and sometimes killing - those who remained in the city, RNRN sprung into action to supply volunteer RNs to the affected areas.

What nurses learned was that there was no coordinated emergency system to respond to natural and man-made disasters such as this one. Federal, state, and county and municipal agencies all implemented their own plans, which resulted in chaos.

Despite the confusion, RNRN was ultimately able to determine the needs of various hospitals and state disaster agencies overwhelmed with the need for qualified medical providers and place more than 300 volunteer RNs in positions where they could fully utilize their skills, experience, and knowledge as registered nurses.

In Baton Rouge, La., RNRN sent rotations of nurse volunteers to relieve exhausted staff nurses at Earl K. Long Medical Center, the only public hospital (now closed) in the city where scores of New Orleans evacuees had fled. RNRN also sent nurse volunteers to a number of hospitals and clinics in other parts of the Gulf, and provided a significant percentage of nurses who staffed medical services for thousands of evacuees sheltered at the Houston Astrodome, where many New Orleans residents had been bussed.

A decade later, the nation has made little progress in addressing the systemic problems Hurricane Katrina laid bare:

Systemic problems

Climate change, which results in rises in sea temperatures and likely increased the size and intensity of the hurricane, remains a major global crisis. Despite numerous climate summits and treaties, dependence on burning fossil fuels as the world's primary energy source continues.

A number of countries lag behind efforts to reduce CO2 levels that scientists say must be lowered to arrest and reverse the warming of the earth. Many policy makers in the U.S., at the behest of the fossil fuel industry, continue to oppose robust action to stem the effects of the climate crisis. The earth's current, identified fossil fuel energy stores - of oil, gas, coal, etc. - are already five times more than scientists say we can safely burn and not risk planetary collapse, and the U.S. is still one of the top two emitters of greenhouse gases.

Millions of Gulf residents are still without access to healthcare. While the Affordable Care Act did end some of the worst insurance industry abuses that shut many people out of access to coverage, many patients still cannot afford to use the health insurance they pay for because of the high deductibles and copayments those plans require. And while the Affordable Care Act greatly expanded Medicaid coverage, all of the Gulf states -Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida - have refused to take advantage of the expansion, depriving their states' lowest-income residents of needed healthcare services.

Investments have been diverted away from public infrastructure and public resources, and systems in New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana into privately owned entities. Public hospitals, such as Charity Hospital in New Orleans and teaching hospitals connected to Louisiana State University, were never reopened, have been shut down, or privatized. The New Orleans traditional public school system has been largely privatized and turned into a charter and voucher system.

The racial disparity in the post-Katrina "recovery" is especially pronounced. A recent Louisiana State University survey found that almost 80 percent of white New Orleans residents say that the city has "mostly recovered" from the disaster, but some 60 percent of black New Orleans residents say the city has "mostly not recovered." African-Americans, reports 538.com, are less likely to be working than when the storm hit, more likely to be living in poverty, and the racial wage gap has grown. An estimated 100,000 of the city's poorest African-Americans have been unable to return.

"Those populations that were more vulnerable before the disaster continue to remain the most vulnerable now," said Bonnie Castillo, RN, director of the RNRN program. "Katrina taught us that these types of services - public housing, education, healthcare, safety - need to be centralized and socialized. Instead, there's been a real move to decentralize and privatize."

Photo: FILE - This Aug. 30, 2005 file photo shows Evelyn Turner, right, with friends and family, waiting with the body of her husband, Xavier Bowie, after he died in New Orleans. They had decided to ride out Hurricane Katrina when they could not find away to leave the city. Bowie, who had lung cancer, died when he ran out of oxygen that Tuesday afternoon. At an estimated $81 billion in property damage, it is the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. But to many, especially to those in greater New Orleans, this catastrophe was anything but an act of God. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Today in history: It’s Women’s Equality Day!

Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:42:00 +0000

On this day 95 years ago, in 1920, after a 72-year struggle, women in the United States won the right to vote with ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. The constitutional amendment had first been introduced in 1878.

Women's Equality Day is proclaimed each year by the president to commemorate this democratic advance. Every president has published a proclamation for Women's Equality Day since 1972, the year after legislation was first introduced in Congress by New York Democratic Rep. Bella Abzug.

The full text of the resolution is as follows:

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States; and

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex;

WHEREAS, the women of the United States have designated Aug. 26, the anniversary date of the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, as symbol of the continued fight for equal rights: and

WHEREAS, the women of United States are to be commended and supported in their organizations and activities,

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that Aug. 26 of each year is designated as "Women's Equality Day," and the President is authorized and requested to issue a proclamation annually in commemoration of that day in 1920, on which the women of America were first given the right to vote, and that day in 1970, on which a nationwide demonstration for women's rights took place.

Some further thoughts

It's interesting, looking back on this 1971 resolution, that strong as its language is, even now, only women (in paragraph two) are given credit for uniting to assure women's rights. Certainly the women's suffrage movement had allies among mass organizations who need to be remembered; and by 1920 there were already a number of states where women legally voted.

In paragraph five the resolution speaks of women "given the right to vote," as if that prolonged struggle had not been won at great cost and sacrifice. The "national demonstration for women's rights" in 1970 marked the 50th anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

Forty-five years later, with ultra-right Republicans dominant in Congress, we see daily attacks on women's rights, reproductive rights, voting rights and civil rights.

As the movement against Portuguese colonialism taught us, A luta continua. The struggle continues.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)

Today in history: Nat Turner begins anti-slavery revolt

Fri, 21 Aug 2015 10:48:00 +0000

On Aug. 21, 1831, Nat Turner began a bloody slave revolt in Southampton County, Va., killing about 60 white people and freeing slaves along the way. It is considered the largest revolt of enslaved people in U.S. history.

In an exhibit "Death or Liberty - Gabriel, Nat Turner and John Brown," the Library of Virginia says Nat Turner's rebellion was one of three dramatic events in the state that "focused America's attention on the problem of slavery," providing "confirmation for those who argued that slavery was incompatible with American liberty."

"African American scholar and activist W.E.B. Du Bois once noted that the attitudes of an 'imprisoned' group could take three forms: 'a feeling of revolt and revenge; an attempt to adjust all thought and action to the will of the greater groups; or, finally, a determined attempt at self-development, self-realization, in spite of envisioning discouragements and prejudice.' These attitudes ebbed and flowed with the 'spirit of the age.'"

In the wake of the uprising, a new wave of oppressive legislation was passed that prohibited the movement, assembly and education of enslaved African Americans. Approximately 200 African Americans were lynched in retaliation. Turner and his approximately 75 followers were captured and killed.

Originally published in PW on August 21, 2012.

Photo: Panel from Diego Rivera's mural at Pennsylvania's Unity House, depicting the growing conflict over slavery that eventually led to the Civil War. Also included are references to the Mexican War and the discovery of gold in California. Important figures include Henry David Thoreau, Zachary Taylor, Winfield Scott, John C. Calhoun, Nat Turner, John Brown, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Beecher Stowe. (Kheel Center for Labor-Management Cornell University/CC)

Standing up to Trump: Undocumented worker challenges billionaire bully

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 15:57:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - As the negative coverage surrounding Donald Trump's inflammatory immigration policy paper continues to spill out, Liz Robbins of the New York Times lifts up a critical, yet missing, voice in the current debate.

Meet Ricardo Aca. Ricardo is an undocumented immigrant who works hard at three different jobs, including the Trump hotel in New York City's Soho neighborhood. In an incredible video from New Left Media and picked up by the New York Times, Ricardo describes working as a busboy at the only restaurant at Trump Soho, and his subsequent reaction to Trump's claim that undocumented immigrants from Mexico - hardworking immigrants like himself - are criminals.

While Ricardo realizes the risks in going public -feeling Trump's retaliatory wrath in public or at work-he also wants to speak up for his family and community, and that's a risk he's willing to take for them.

Says Frank Sharry, executive director of America's Voice, "This is the true David versus Goliath story. Ricardo is putting everything on the line to stand up to a bigoted bullying billionaire who makes even the media and well-financed politicians cower. Ricardo's story isn't just courageous, it's inspiring. Moreover, it's representative of the millions of hardworking undocumented immigrants who contribute to this country every day. According to Trump's immigration plan, Ricardo would be stripped of DACA and he and his family would be deported. At America's Voice, we're proud to stand with Ricardo, and stand up to 'The Donald.'"

The video is available here and the full New York Times story, entitled, "In Video, Immigrant Worker at Trump Hotel Criticizes Donald Trump's Views," is available online and below, following the introduction to Liz Robbins story on Aca:

Ricardo Aca knew he could be fired. But he wanted the camera to roll anyway.

Mr. Aca is shown holding his cellphone watching Donald J. Trump call Mexicans who enter the United States rapists, criminals and drug dealers. Then, Mr. Aca calmly tells his story.

A slight 24-year-old Mexican immigrant who graduated from high school and community college in Queens, Mr. Aca works at the Koi SoHo restaurant, which leases space inside the Trump SoHo hotel. He made a short video with a filmmaker friend and posted it on Facebook on Monday, where it attracted more than 300,000 views in 24 hours.

"I was offended because this is not who we are, this is not who I am, this is not anybody I know who is an immigrant," Mr. Aca said in an interview on Tuesday, wearing his Mexican national team soccer jersey.

Read the full New York Times story here.

Photo: "We are workers, not criminals" was a theme at the Chicago May 1, 2006, immigrant and labor rights march. (swanksalot/CC/Flickr)

Here’s why close collaboration between NSA and AT&T matters

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 13:49:00 +0000

Newly disclosed documents unveiling the close relationship between the National Security Agency and AT&T could breathe new life into a long-running legal dispute about the NSA's controversial method of tapping the Internet backbone on U.S. soil.

This program, according to documents provided by Edward Snowden, is largely enabled by telecom giant AT&T, which filters Internet traffic, based on NSA instructions. AT&T then forwards the "take" to the spy agency's storage facilities for further review and analysis.

But a single email traverses the Internet in hundreds of tiny slices, called "packets,'' that travel separate routes. Grabbing even one email requires a computer search of many slices of other people's messages.

Privacy advocates have long argued in court that grabbing portions of so many emails - involving people not suspected of anything - is a violation of the protection against unreasonable searches and seizures provided by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital civil liberties group, is now hoping that the new documents will bolster their claims in a long-running case, Jewel v. NSA. "We will be presenting this information to the court," said Cindy Cohn, executive director of the foundation. A Department of Justice spokesman declined to comment.

So far, the only court that has reviewed the constitutional question is the secret panel of jurists known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This court only hears arguments from the government and all of their decisions are highly classified.

Other federal courts have declined to debate the constitutional question for fear that discussing any collaboration with telecom companies would damage American security. Last year, James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, told a court that confirming the identities of any telecoms that work with the NSA would alert terrorists that "certain channels of communications are vulnerable to NSA interception."

But the internal NSA documents describe a nearly unavoidable surveillance system on AT&T's Internet backbone in the United States. One document shows a technical sketch of how AT&T provides the spy agency not only with access to traffic on its own network, but also traffic from other telecoms that crosses its network.

Such cooperative arrangements, known in the industry as "peering,'' are central to the speed of the global Internet. The packets that make up emails and other messages are sent through the fastest routes possible, jumping on and off each company's network as needed. That means that any Internet user's communications, regardless of whether they are an AT&T customer, could end up on AT&T's network - and in the NSA's hands.

The newly disclosed documents seem to confirm the words of former AT&T technician Mark Klein, who has testified that the spy agency had access to vast amounts of data from other telecoms that was transmitted over AT&T's fiber-optic lines.

Klein's allegations are central to Jewel v. N.S.A., which alleges that the NSA's "bulk, untargeted seizure of the Internet communications of millions of innocent Americans" from AT&T's networks amounted to an unconstitutional search and seizure.

The government has responded that there is no evidence that any particular communications have been copied, and, even if they were, they would have been "destroyed within milliseconds of their creation" if they did not have intelligence value. Even in that scenario, the government says, the surveillance would be a "minimal intrusion on Fourth Amendment interests" that would be "vastly outweighed" by the benefits of the program.

The court agreed, dismissing most of the case in February without examining the plaintiffs' constitutional questions.

For Kevin Bankston, the new document disclosure is bittersweet. Bankston was the attorney at the EFF who first brought Mark Klein's allegations to court.

After reviewing the documents, he said, "We were treated as crazy for years for allegations that we now know are substantially true."

This article is reposted from ProPublica.

Photo: Anonymous615/CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Indigenous News: Youth sue U.S. government over climate change

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 12:26:00 +0000

Twenty-one youth activists sue U.S. government over climate change

The grown-ups should know better. And soon, if a group of young activists have their way, the adults will be taken to task-in court. Twenty-one teen activists, including 15-year-old hip-hop singer and youth advocate Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh Martinez, are suing the U.S. government, all the way up to President Obama's office.

"The Federal Government has known for decades that CO2 pollution from burning fossil fuels was causing global warming and dangerous climate change," said Xiuhtezcatl in a press release announcing the suit on Aug. 12. "It also knew that continuing to burn fossil fuels would destabilize our climate system, significantly harming my generation and generations to come. Despite knowing these dangers, Defendants did nothing to prevent this harm. In fact, my government increased the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere to levels it knew were unsafe."

Climate scientist James Hansen, who is both supporting them and appearing on the lawsuit on behalf of "future generations," issued a proclamation in support of the suit, noting that his granddaughter Sophie is one of the plaintiffs.

"In my opinion, this lawsuit is made necessary by the at-best schizophrenic, if not suicidal, nature of U.S. climate and energy policy," Hansen wrote in his declaration.

Native mother attacked and beaten, skinheads suspected

CLOVIS, Calif. - On June 14, also known as Flag Day, Patty Dawson dropped her Apache uncle off at the Fresno train station after a family visit, and headed for home around 2:30 p.m.

What happened next she will never forget.

Dawson, who is Navajo and San Carlos Apache, said she was at a stop sign in the small town of Clovis when a car behind her bumped into her lightly. She glanced in the rearview mirror and saw three people in the car, and decided to keep going.

Read more at: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/07/21/native-mother-attacked-and-beaten-skinheads-suspected-43814

Black Hills Unity Concert to gather Native artists and leaders

RAPID CITY, S.D. - The Black Hills Unity Concert, an international gathering focused on educating the general public on the history of the Black Hills, will host its second annual concert from Friday, Aug. 28, through Sunday, Aug. 30. The concert will be hosted at the Elk Creek Resort in Piedmont, S.D. and will feature dozens of internationally recognized musicians, Native American leaders and thousands of supporters from all over the globe to be in attendance. It will also host community leaders from 12 Lakota, Dakota and Nakota reservations to present their solutions to social and environmental challenges.

Uprooting patriarchy: new book relays stories of Zapatista women

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, a specialist in movements of resistance among indigenous peoples and feminism, writes in her forward to Hilary Klein's Compañeras that the book is "brilliant and informative," praising the author for detailing how Zapatista "women and girls ... transformed the movement into something profoundly distinct from previous social movements of the post-feminist era." Klein notes in her introduction to the book that it "captures many individual stories, [but] it ultimately centers on Zapatista women's closely held group identity.

Sprouting totems, blossoming Haida culture in Southeast Alaska

HYDABURG -- Chain saws toppled a 550-year-old western red cedar tree on Prince of Wales Island recently. But last month, the ancient log rose again as Eagle and Raven totem poles in the village of Hydaburg.

Photo: In this 2006 photo, Zapatista women gather in front of San Cristobal de las Casas Cathedral in Chiapas, Mexico. (Oriana Eliçabe/CC/Flickr)

Today in history: LBJ’s “Great Society” is launched

Thu, 20 Aug 2015 11:23:00 +0000

On this date in 1964, a nearly $1 billion (about $5 billion in current dollars) anti-poverty measure, the Economic Opportunity Act, which created Head Start, VISTA (Volunteers In Service To America), and other programs that became part of the "War on Poverty," was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

When John Gardner became the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, he was joining Pres. Johnson not just as a cabinet member, but as the engineer of LBJ's ambitious agenda of social reform known as the "Great Society."

Sargent Shriver, the first director of the Peace Corps, drafted the legislation and became director of the Office of Equal Opportunity, which implemented the new law.

In the wake of Pres. Kennedy's assassination in 1963, a wave of sympathy and public support enabled LBJ to pass a number of Kennedy Administration proposals, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Building on this momentum, Johnson introduced his own vision for America - "the Great Society" - in which America ended poverty, promoted equality, improved education, rejuvenated cities, and protected the environment. This became the blueprint for the most far-reaching agenda of domestic legislation since the New Deal - legislation that has had a profound effect on American society.

Perhaps driven by his own humble beginnings, Johnson declared a "War on Poverty" as central to building the Great Society. In 1960, despite overall prosperity, almost one-quarter of all American families were living below the poverty line. Communities of color, as well as entire regions of the country, like central Appalachia, were bypassed by the economic growth of the postwar years. Technological advances in industry were also changing job requirements for American workers. Good-paying, unionized, and even unskilled jobs of the past were disappearing, and those without education and skills were being left behind.

The first piece of Great Society legislation, the Economic Opportunity Act, tried to give people tools to get out of poverty. The bill created a Job Corps similar to the New Deal Civilian Conservation Corps; a domestic peace corps; a system for vocational training; and Head Start, a pre-school program designed to prepare children for success in public school. The bill also funded community action programs and extended loans to small businessmen and farmers.

Johnson's landslide re-election victory over conservative Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964 added to the momentum of Great Society reforms. Over the next four years, Johnson enacted a flurry of legislation. One of the most ambitious efforts was the 1965 establishment of Medicare to provide health care for America's senior citizens.

In 1964, 44 percent of seniors had no health care coverage, and with the medical bills that come with older age, this propelled many seniors into poverty. In fact, more than one in three Americans over 65 were living below the poverty line - more than double the rate of those under 65. Medicare was an important and big change in American health care - it was called the "biggest management job since the invasion of Normandy" - and it was up to John Gardner to make it work. He helped shepherd Medicare to reality, and the results have been extraordinary: Virtually all seniors now have health care, and the poverty rate for the elderly has fallen to approximately one in ten, a rate lower than that of the general population. Along with Medicare, the Johnson Administration established the Medicaid program to provide health care to the poor.

Education reform was also an important part of LBJ's Great Society, and a particular passion of Gardner's. In 1964, 8 million American adults had not finished 5 years in school; more than 20 million had not finished eight years; and almost a quarter of the nation's population, around 54 million people, hadn't finished high school. In 1965, Congress passed the groundbreaking Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which for the first time provided federal funding for education below the college level. The Higher Education Act created a National Teachers Corps and provided financial assistance to students wishing to attend college.

Urban renewal and conservation was the third major component of the Great Society. Ever since the end of World War II, cities faced a shortage of good, affordable housing. At the same time, the suburbanization of America along with the changing economy meant that many businesses began to leave city centers, an exodus that was accelerated after the Watts uprising in 1965 in Los Angeles, and continued throughout Johnson's term. As part of his administration's response, Johnson signed the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965 that established the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and expanded funding for public housing. In addition, he provided aid to cities to rebuild blighted areas.

What happened?

Johnson's ambitions for a Great Society were thwarted by his ambitions in Vietnam. The cost of the war in Vietnam, along with the costs of his domestic programs, strained the economy and overshadowed his reputation. Moreover, as the war became more and more unpopular, Johnson lost the political capital needed to continue these reforms. He did not have the stomach to run for office again in 1968.

Critics of the Great Society charged that these programs just created bureaucracies and threw money at problems without producing results. Conservatives naturally rejected the notion that the federal government should be undertaking these tasks at all. People on the left saw the immediate value of Great Society programs, and the progress they promised, while also questioning whether such advances could be fully integrated into our especially rapacious form of capitalism in the U.S. Another president could easily come along and undermine much of LBJ's agenda. That is indeed what happened with many Great Society programs.

Nevertheless, the impact of the Great Society in many areas is undisputed, and the vision endures, earning LBJ the reputation among historians of being one of America's great presidents, despite Vietnam. The nation today still wrestles with poverty, health care, housing, homelessness, education, the environment, unemployment, war, inequality, immigration reform and many other issues.

Adapted from Peace History Index, PBS, and other sources.

Photo: peacebuttons.info

Military families and top brass support Iran nuclear deal

Wed, 19 Aug 2015 16:03:00 +0000

Military Families Speak Out (MFSO) in a recent press release commended "President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry, along with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Russia on their tremendous work in reaching an agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran dramatically curbing Iran's nuclear program."

MFSO is an organization made up of over 4,000 members who have family members in the military and speaks out against unjust wars and for taking care of our troops when they come home.

"It takes courage to deal with an adversarial country in a peaceful manner, and to instead focus on what joins us together than what tears us apart. There can be no doubt that our rush to war responses has created more enemies and an ever increasingly violent Middle East," states the press release.

"As a mother, whose son served a combined five tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is a great relief to know that our country can follow a path to diplomacy and not rush into another war, where more lives will be lost and or damaged," said Pat Alviso, coordinator for Military Families Speak Out.

In an open letter, three dozen retired generals and admirals called on Congress and the American people to support the Iran Deal.

"We, the undersigned retired military officers, support the agreement as the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons," states their letter.

Generals and admirals emphasized, "America and our allies, in the Middle East and around the world, will be safer when this agreement is fully implemented. It is not based on trust; the deal requires verification and tough sanctions for failure to comply.

"We agree with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey, who said on July 29, 2015, "[r]elieving the risk of a nuclear conflict with Iran diplomatically is superior than trying to do that militarily," the letter continues.

One of its signers is Retired Navy Admiral Harold L. Robinson, a rabbi and former naval chaplain who chairs the National Conference on Ministry to the Armed Forces. In a recent interview he said "As a lifelong Zionist, devoted to Israel, and a retired general officer and a rabbi for over 40 years, and operating without institutional encumbrances, I have a unique perspective, those of us who love Israel in the United States are not of one mind and one voice on this matter. I thought it was important to represent some of the diversity within the American Jewish community."

Along with military families, generals and admirals, 29 of the nations top scientist, including some of the world's most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control have also spoken in favor of the Iran Deal citing that, "It limits the level of enrichment of the uranium that Iran can produce, the amount of enriched uranium it can stockpile, and the number and kinds of centrifuges it can develop and operate."

If you want to support the Iran Deal sign the petition: http://www.stopwarwithiran.com/

Photo: Military Families Speak Out

Immigration: Trump trumps the truth

Tue, 18 Aug 2015 15:31:00 +0000

On Sunday, Donald Trump released, or unleashed, his "plan" to deal with immigration to the United States. It is hard to know where to start with this awful document, which is a compendium of unachievable, cruel proposals based on utterly false premises.

The United Nations recently released a study that shows that currently, there are 60 million refugees and displaced persons in the world. This number, which is rising rapidly, does not include economic migrants, though of course the two categories overlap. Huge numbers of refugees have gone to Europe fleeing instability in North Africa and the Middle East, with many drowning when their rickety boats founder. The war in Ukraine has created its own refugee crisis. In East Asia the problem of "boat people" has exploded.

European and Asian states have, for the most part, been able to think of no better way to deal with this humanitarian crisis than to slander and persecute the refugees and migrants. In Hungary, they are building a wall, a la Donald Trump. In the United Kingdom, there are plans to actually jail landlords who rent to undocumented immigrants. And then, of course, we have the migration from poorer countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to the United States including the "child migrant" crisis which caused such uproar last year.

What is driving this high level of population movements?

First, neoliberal policies of "free" trade and economic development are causing the disruption of means of survival in poor rural and urban communities throughout the world. The search by extractive industries such as mining for new areas to exploit is driving rural populations off their land. Seizure of vast quantities of farmland by transnational agribusiness and its conversion from producing food crops for local and regional markets to producing cash crops for export (and corporate profit) does the same. In some areas, the development of tourism threatens to displace farming and fishing populations, such as the Garifuna people of Honduras. The governments of the powerful and wealthy countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, Australia and others, fully back up this corporate onslaught through controlling the rules of trade and economic development, and through institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade organization.

Passage of the monster trade agreements now being considered by the world's governments - the Transpacific Partnership (TPP), the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA) promise to greatly exacerbate this situation.

Secondly, instability and personal insecurity related to these expansive plans of international monopoly capital literally have people fleeing for their lives. The efforts to expand the European Union into the former Soviet republic of Ukraine, in which NATO has acted as the enforcer, has triggered the bloody civil war in that country. The NATO intervention to overthrow former President Gaddafi of Libya has created a massive wave of instability that not only has affected Libya but all its neighbors as well, as Islamist extremist fighters have used Libya as their base to foment warfare in a half dozen countries. In the Western Hemisphere, U.S. support for the unconstitutional removal of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in 2009 has created a massive and ongoing crisis of corruption and violence as living standards plummet and people feel they have no choice but to take the risk of setting out on the incredibly dangerous trip north.

Global warming and desertification undermine the ability of farmers and fishermen to survive in poorer parts of the world, and therefore play into migration directly, or create instability as people clash over resources. This is part of the problem in Syria and other Middle Eastern countries, as well as in the Sudanic belt in Northern Africa. It is also a prominent feature of the situation in Central America, where drought is driving Guatemalan farmers to desperation, and into the migrant stream.

There are other causal factors. Inequality is increasing in poorer countries; this is prominently the case in Mexico. A number of poorer countries are linked to the wider world economy by being given the role of providing the wealthier countries with natural resources such as oil, natural gas and gold; the prices of all of these things are prone to instability. Current drops in oil prices are wreaking havoc.

You do not hear Donald Trump or any of the other Republican presidential candidates or political talk about these things, because it would spoil their whole false narrative. Corporate capitalism and especially some of its most destructive components, including agribusiness, the extractive industries and the "military industrial complex", would have to be put in the dock, and not poor farmers and young children from homelands pauperized by corporate globalization. In fact, it is rare to hear even Democratic Party candidates say much about these macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that drive mass immigration, but at least so far the Democratic presidential candidates don't propose cruelly repressive plans like Trump's idiocies.

Trump wants to deport all undocumented immigrants plus their U.S. citizen children. He would like to trash the 14^th amendment of the Constitution to render the children of undocumented parents living in the United States essentially stateless, the same thing the government of the Dominican Republic is trying to do to people of Haitian descent in that country. He wants to build a 1,900 mile wall along the U.S. Mexican border, even though anybody who has actually seen that border can tell you this is an impossible task, and that even accomplishing half of it would be incredibly expensive. No problem, he will pay the expenses of this crackpot plan by seizing funds that Mexican immigrants in the United States send to help their relatives in Mexico and hold those funds hostage until the Mexican government is somehow forced to pay for the wall. He would cancel the initiatives of President Obama to give some relief to honest undocumented workers.

He ignores the fact that the people crossing the border right now include more Central Americans than Mexicans, and that in fact the Mexican government has been helping the United States by cracking down on Central American migrants crossing into Mexico from Guatemala in their attempts to make it to the U.S. border.

His claims about harm undocumented immigrants do to the United States are nonsense. He accuses the government of Mexico of deliberately sending rapists and murderers into the United States, ignoring the fact that the rate of violent crime for immigrants is lower than for U.S. born citizens. In typical demagogic fashion, Trump picks on isolated cases of violent crime in which the suspect was an undocumented immigrant to slander an entire nation. He repeats the canard about how much money undocumented immigrants and their children "cost" the United States, ignoring the fact that all undocumented families pay real estate taxes (through their rent), sales taxes and others, and a great many find ways to pay federal and state income taxes, as well as payroll taxes to Social Security and Medicare as well. And the wealth that undocumented workers create, which is appropriated by unscrupulous employers, seems to escape his attention.

This is not serious stuff. Surely Mr. Trump knows that his proposals are completely impractical. So why does he say these things? I think his purpose is demagogic, to toss red meat to the most extreme reactionary sections of the Republican Party base and thus enhance his political career while spreading the poison of xenophobic racism around. His anti-immigrant venom has already had a legislative impact. And it serves the interests of the whole Republican party, the political right and the corporate ruling class. For although some Republican candidates have taken less extreme positions, none of them dare recognize the role of their own corporate allies in creating the present worldwide situation of turmoil of which migration to the United States is a small part.

So far all the Democrats propose legalization of the undocumented and, while that is being legislated, a continuation and even expansion of the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents) programs.

This is a clear distinction between the Republican and Democratic positions.

Photo: AFL-CIO website.

After 54 years, U.S. raises flag in Cuba

Tue, 18 Aug 2015 13:58:00 +0000

HAVANA (AP) -- A jubilant flag-raising at the reopened U.S. Embassy in Havana is giving way to serious talk about the road ahead in improving relations between the United States and Cuba.

Capping off a Friday in Havana that began with the Stars and Stripes being hoisted outside the embassy, Secretary of State John Kerry met with Cuban dissidents in the evening and said the island will not see an end to the despised U.S. trade embargo if Cuba's single-party government does not make progress on human rights.

Cuban and U.S. negotiators are to meet in Havana in early September to begin talks on normalization of the relationship between the two countries, which includes topics ranging from maritime security to the embargo to human rights, Kerry told reporters.

He said negotiations will follow three tracks. The first will encompass areas in which rapid progress is expected, such as cooperation on naval matters, climate change and the environment. The second will tackle more complex topics like the establishment of direct airline flights and U.S. telecommunications deals with Cuba. The last will take on the toughest problems, including the embargo, human rights and each country's desire to have fugitives returned by the other.

While the three tracks will proceed simultaneously, Kerry said, Cuban leaders should not expect to see progress on the embargo without improvements in civil liberties in Cuba, which does not allow independent media, political parties other than the ruling communist party or direct election of anything but low-level municipal posts.

"There is no way Congress will lift the embargo if we are not making progress on issues of conscience," he said.

Kerry began the day with a nationally broadcast call for democratic change on the island, saying that "we remain convinced the people of Cuba would be best served by a genuine democracy, where people are free to choose their leaders, express their ideas, practice their faith."

Addressing reporters with Kerry after the ceremony, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez responded by indignantly opening his remarks with complaints of U.S. human rights transgressions - from police shootings of black men to mistreatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. naval base on Cuba that the government says must be returned.

"Cuba isn't a place where there's racial discrimination, police brutality or deaths resulting from those problems," Rodriguez said. "The territory where torture occurs and people are held in legal limbo isn't under Cuban jurisdiction."

President Barack Obama also called for change in Cuba when he announced the new U.S. policy of engagement in December, but his words were less pointed than Kerry's on Friday.

Cuba formally reopened its Washington embassy last month. The U.S. raised its flag in Havana then, too, though saving the formal ceremony for Kerry's visit. Three Marines who took part in lowering the U.S. flag when the embassy was closed in 1961 handed over the new flag to Marines who raised it on Friday.

Kerry was the first secretary of state to visit Cuba since 1945, and his speech was remarkable for its bluntness and the national spotlight in which it came.

The flag raising ceremony at he U.S. embassy constitutes the official opening of the diplomatic mission, which has been functioning as an embassy since July 20.

Special participants were James Tracy, Mike East and Larry Morris, the three Marines who lowered the flag in 1961, and this morning carried the U.S. flag raised in front of the building located on Havana's emblematic waterfront.

Embassy Charge d'affaires Jeffrey DeLaurentis welcomed the U.S. delegation, as well as the Cuban, led by Josefina Vidal, the Foreign Ministry's director for the United States, commenting that the day marked a new beginning in the two countries' relationship.

Hundreds of people within the grounds and surrounding the area witnessed what has been described as a historic event, joined by reporters and photographers assigned to cover the proceedings by media around the world.

The Cuban American poet Richard Blanco recited his poem "Matters of the sea-Cosas de mar," followed by Kerry's remarks.

The formal opening of the embassy and Kerry's visit to Cuba concludes the first phase of efforts underway to normalize relations, announced Dec. 17, 2014, by Presidents Raúl Castro and Obama.

Associated Press writers Anne-Marie Garcia and Andrea Rodriguez and the Cuban website, Granma, contributed to this report.

Photo: Juvenal Balán (Granma)

Today in civil rights history: James Meredith graduates from Ole Miss

Tue, 18 Aug 2015 11:51:00 +0000

On this date in 1963, 30-year-old James Meredith became the first African-American student to graduate from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss), with a degree in political science.

An Air Force veteran of African-American, British Canadian, Scots and Choctaw heritage, Meredith attended Jackson State University for two years, achieving good grades. In 1962 he became the first African-American student admitted to the segregated Ole Miss. Inspired by President John F. Kennedy's inaugural address, Meredith decided to exercise his constitutional rights and apply to Ole Miss, thereby pressuring the Kennedy administration to enforce civil rights for African Americans.

In 1961 he started his application. Meredith wrote that he wanted admission for his country, race, family, and himself. He said, "Nobody handpicked me.... I believed, and believe now, that I have a Divine Responsibility.... I am familiar with the probable difficulties involved in such a move as I am undertaking and I am fully prepared to pursue it all the way to a degree from the University of Mississippi."

Twice denied admission, he filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, alleging that the university had rejected him only because of his race. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that Meredith had the right to be admitted, and the Supreme Court upheld the ruling.

On September 13, 1962, the District Court entered an injunction directing the university Board of Trustees and officials to register Meredith.Ross Barnett, Democratic governor of Mississippi, declared that "no school will be integrated in Mississippi while I am your governor." On September 28, the Court of Appeals found the governor in civil contempt and ordered that he be arrested and pay a fine of $10,000 for each day that he kept up the refusal, unless he complied by October 2.On September 29, Lieut. Gov. Paul B. Johnson, Jr. was found in contempt, and a similar order was entered against him, with a fine of $5,000 a day.

U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy had a series of phone calls with Gov. Barnett between September 27 and October 1. Barnett reluctantly agreed to let Meredith enroll. On September 29, Pres. Kennedy issued a proclamation commanding all persons engaged in the obstruction of the laws and the orders of the courts to peaceably comply, citing his authority to use the militia or the armed forces to suppress any insurrection, domestic violence, unlawful combination, or conspiracy.

Gov. Barnett had committed to RFK that he would maintain civil order, but by secret agreement to help Barnett save face, RFK ordered 500 U.S. marshals to accompany Meredith during his arrival and registration.

Whites opposing integration gathered at the campus. On the evening of September 29, a riot broke out, and the Kennedy administration ordered the nationalized Mississippi National Guard and federal troops to the campus. In the violent clashes that followed, two men were killed by gunshot wounds, and the white mob burned cars, pelted federal marshals with rocks, bricks and small arms fire, and damaged university property.

On October 1, 1962, after troops took control, Meredith became the first African American student to enroll at the University of Mississippi. His admission was a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights. He persisted through constant harassment and extreme isolation until he graduated the following year.

In 1966 Meredith planned a solo 220-mile March Against Fear from Memphis, Tenn. to Jackson, highlighting continuing racism in the South and encouraging voter registration after passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. On his second day, he was shot by a white gunman and suffered numerous wounds. But the march continued in his name as he lay recovering. Ultimately 15,000 more people from across the country became involved, in what was the largest civil rights march in the state, during which more than 4,000 African Americans registered to vote.

In 1966, his memoir "Three Years in Mississippi" was released by the Indiana University Press. He has also published several books on politics and society. He lives in Jackson, Miss.

Ole Miss has several times publicly commemorated Meredith's integration of the institution. A statue on campus honors him. The Lyceum-The Circle Historic District at the center of the campus has been designated as a National Historic Landmark for his role.

Adapted from Wikipedia.

Photo: Remaining racial tension: This past February, a noose and an old Georgia flag that included the Confederate battle emblem were found draped on the Meredith statue at the University of Mississippi. AP

Black Cat Appreciation Day: the perfect time to adopt

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 16:07:00 +0000

Today is National Black Cat Appreciation Day! It's a relatively new holiday, which was started in 2011 as a Facebook campaign to honor the struggle of black cats. That struggle is the sad fact that due to outdated and misguided superstition, black cats are the least likely to be adopted at animal shelters, and have the highest rate of euthanization. This year, adoption centers are using the date to draw attention to dark-furred felines everywhere.

In Florida, the Humane Society of Tampa Bay is waiving all adoption fees today for black cats and kittens. And the ASPCA has put together a small list of available black cats on their website, any of which can be found at their adoption center in New York City. Cat Care Society is also offering adoption discounts and offering people the chance to have all fees waived; their center is located in Lakewood, Colorado. And many more places are offering similar deals.

In an attempt to dispel the myths that cause the stigma surrounding these animals, the Animal Foundation noted that despite black cats' association with bad luck, it wasn't always that way. "Let's go back a few centuries," they noted, "to the Egyptian times of 3,000 B.C., when black cats were actually held in the highest esteem and to harm one was considered a capital crime. Sailors also believed in having a black cat aboard their ships to bring good luck." Nevertheless, "black cats are still the least likely to be adopted, and they need people to give them a chance!"

Ironically enough, however, the labor movement has used the symbol of a black cat to its advantage. According to the Industrial Workers of the World's dictionary and glossary, the union used it to represent the idea of sabotage; in other words, to get ready to cause a little "bad luck" for an unfair or exploitative employer, likely through an upcoming strike. The symbol used was designed by writer and labor activist Ralph Chaplin.

Another reason for people's prejudice toward black cats is due to a perceived association with the occult, particularly witchcraft. But even there, it's no reason for hate. Wiccans, who practice a peaceful, alternative form of spirituality and who respect and cherish nature and life, do indeed often use cats as familiars (spirit guides of sorts, which can assist in matters of magic). But black cats are so chosen because Wiccans believe they have the ability to empathize with humans. The cats are thought to provide emotional and spiritual healing. They are loved and treated as lifelong companions.

Furthermore, an adopted black cat might itself be lucky! According to National Geographic, melanism, the condition that produces yellow eyes and black fur, is believed to hold immunological benefits for cats, especially resistance to certain pathogens, which would make them less likely to become sick. Your cat might also be better protected; melanism arose from a need for members of the cat family (Felidae) to hide more easily from predators, and to ambush prey.

Above all, there are simply many cats out there, black or otherwise, that need a home and a loving family.

Photo: Free cat wallpaper site

Protest against prosecutor’s charges in year-old Ferguson arrests

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 13:19:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - The News Guild denounced the St. Louis County prosecutor's criminal charges against the two reporters who were arrested a year ago during the protests against Michael Brown's death. The charges were filed just before the statute of limitations expired and as police arrested more people in Ferguson.

County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch, whom reports criticized for easy treatment of the police officer who shot Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African-American - charged Washington Post reporter Wesley Lowery and Huffington Post reporter Ryan Reilly with trespassing on private property, a local McDonald's, and interfering with a police officer. Upon conviction, the charges carry $1,000 fines and up to a year in jail.

"The News Guild-CWA joins with other outraged journalists in demanding the St. Louis County prosecutor drop the trumped-up charges against two reporters who were arrested a year ago covering the Ferguson protests," the union said. Police arrested the two on Aug. 13, 2014, days after Brown was killed.

The shooting of Brown set off a nationwide uproar about police shootings of unarmed African-Americans. Other shootings since have led to more protests and an intense discussion about police-minority relations.

"Lowery and Reilly were doing absolutely nothing wrong when police stormed the McDonald's restaurant the journalists were using for a reporting base. While attempting to comply with officers' orders to leave the restaurant, police decided they weren't acting quickly enough," the News Guild added.

Initially, after slamming Lowery into a soda machine, and cuffing him, and treating Reilly "like a five-year-old," officers took them to a police station. They were held there for half an hour, then released with no charges. McCulloch filed the charges against them on Aug. 10, 2015.

His "actions are a gross abuse of power and a vile assault on the 1st Amendment" [Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.] and its constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press, Lunzer said. "We are not politely calling on him to drop these charges; we are demanding it. If he refuses, he will be in for the fight of his life as faces the collective and growing wrath of journalists and free press advocates."

The editors of the Washington Post and the Huffington Post also defended their reporters, who were incredulous at the prosecutor's charges. The Washington paper's legal team is planning Lowery's defense.

Reilly was expecting the authorities to press charges; Lowery thought it was less likely. When Lowery quipped on Twitter on Monday that "Ryan won," Reilly replied, "You owe me a Happy Meal." Lowery told CNN that "we were not in the wrong" on the day of the arrest. Reilly told CNN that the charges are "a distraction from a lot of the key issues," that Brown's death raised. "If they're charging us in this nonsense case, what are they getting away with charging other people with?" he asked.

Photo: This image taken from video provided by Wesley Lowery of Washington Post shows a police officer confronting Lowery in a fast-food restaurant in Ferguson, Mo., on Aug. 13, 2014. Lowery of Washington Post, and Ryan Reilly of Huffington Post, said they were handcuffed and put into a police van after officers came in to quickly clear the fast-food restaurant where the journalists were doing work while covering the protests. (AP Photo/The Washington Post, Wesley Lowery)

Chris Christie’s tunnel tango

Mon, 17 Aug 2015 12:47:00 +0000

When we wrote in April about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's budget "sins," one of the biggest was the money shuffle he engineered after his 2010 decision to kill an $8.7 billion commuter rail tunnel from New Jersey to New York City.

That decision, which boosted him to national prominence, was a major bragging point for years. But now he's playing tunnel defense rather than his customary offense amid a torrent of terrible tunnel news: lengthy delays in the century-old rail tunnel commuters are stuck with now; jockeying among New Jersey, New York and Amtrak over how to pay for a new $14 billion tunnel; and warnings of chronic failures and shutdowns if something isn't done soon to add rail capacity.

Had Christie not spiked the so-called ARC tunnel, it would be coming online in about three years. But now, as Christie runs for president on his claim of having been a prudent and competent guardian of New Jersey's finances, the tunnel problems have inspired a spate of news reports, including one by The Record newspaper in New Jersey's Bergen County saying the cancellation wasted $1.2 billion that had been spent on engineering.

Why did Christie kill the tunnel, and what did he do with the money afterward? As we reported back in April, Christie diverted a total of $3 billion of highway toll increases and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey money originally earmarked for the tunnel to bail out Jersey's finances - the biggest one-time budget fix of his administration.

The upside: Christie was able to keep a campaign pledge and avoid raising taxes, including New Jersey's gas tax, which at 14.5 cents a gallon is lower than any state but Alaska.

The downside: No salvation in sight for the estimated 87,000 New Jersey Transit rail commuters who cross the Hudson River to Manhattan each weekday in tubes dug when Theodore Roosevelt was president.

(Read more about the controversial legacy behind Christie's budget claims.)

Since Superstorm Sandy flooded the tunnel with saltwater and caused extensive damage, the need for additional rail capacity has only become more acute. Time is running out before one of the two rail tubes within the tunnel has to be shut down for repairs, Amtrak executive Stephen Gardner warned at a hearing on Monday.

That would bring the daily commute to a crawl. "We would be left with having to handle 24 trains' worth of demand across six slots spread between Amtrak and New Jersey Transit," Gardner said, noting that Amtrak needs four of the slots, leaving just two for commuter trains.

Christie has defended his decision to kill the ARC tunnel, saying New Jersey would have been stuck paying for billions in potential cost overruns. A spokeswoman added that "the completion of ARC would have done nothing to resolve the issues we're still facing with Amtrak's tunnels today."

Gardner said at the hearing that Amtrak's tunnel problems would exist even if the ARC were on schedule, but he also answered yes when asked if the tunnel would have provided a "safe haven" to New Jersey commuters by giving them a backup.

There is no consensus about how to pay for Amtrak's proposed new tunnel project, known as the Gateway Program. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., this week proposed creating a new nonprofit agency to raise money for the effort.

Amtrak supports an 80 percent federal, 20 percent local funding split, but its influence in Washington is extremely limited. It's not clear when, if ever, the Gateway Program, which would cost billions more than the canceled ARC tunnel, will get under way.

Christie recently said New York should shoulder a portion of the cost. "The reason I killed the ARC tunnel was the federal government was contributing to it, the state of New Jersey was contributing to it and the state or city of New York was contributing nothing," he told WABC.

Earlier this week, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said money should come from anywhere but his state. "It's not my tunnel," Cuomo told reporters. "It is an Amtrak tunnel that is used by Amtrak and by New Jersey Transit." However, if the federal government steps in to pay for the project, Cuomo suggested he may chip in: "If they're serious, I'll come to the table," he told The New York Times.

The ARC tunnel was expected to be completed in 2018. The earliest a Gateway tunnel could open is 2025, Gardner said at the hearing. "Every day that we defer is a day of extending, frankly, our risk," he said.

Allan Sloan contributed to this story. Cezary Podkul writes for ProPublica. Read more of Cezary Podkul's reporting on New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Photo: Amtrak Regional viewed from NJ Transit train by Joseph Barillari (JosephBarillari at English Wikipedia - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons)

Over forty percent of U.S. children live in poverty

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 16:33:00 +0000

A January 2015 report from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health reveals that forty four percent of children (those under 18) are living in de facto poverty. The Federal Government issues an artificially low annual official poverty level that radically understates the real level of U.S. poverty. For 2015 the official level of poverty for a family of four, for example, is roughly an income $24,000 a year or less. This is for a family with two adults and two children.

This income figure, however, does not reveal the true level of poverty in the U.S. The National Center for Children in Poverty, located at Mailman, states that it would take twice that amount, or about $48,000 to cover just the "basic expenses" of a family of four.

Now, any family that can't pay for its basic expenses is a family living in poverty, therefore any such family of four that has a yearly income of less than $48,000 is, despite what the U.S. government says, poor and living in poverty.

The government likes to make a distinction between "poor" and "low income" but this is just a semantic game to try and hide the true level of economic deprivation the GOP controlled Congress is willing to inflict on millions of children in order to avoid comprehensive welfare reform and realistic taxation polices directed at Wall Street and the 1 percent.

These figures for the four-person family can be extrapolated across the board to all families of whatever composition to arrive and realistic figures regarding the number of children under 18 who are suffering in poverty. There are over 30 million such children living in poverty.

Scientists have determined that children living in poverty are liable to suffer permanent physical and mental handicaps that children who are not poor will not have to face. This means it is a national crisis when 44 percent of the nation's children are not getting their basic needs met and face permanent life long damage due to the policies of their own government.

These facts are well known to our elected leaders and other policy makers in the government yet public awareness does not seem high. In the recent televised debate of the Republican presidential candidates, for example, this national disgrace wasn't even mentioned.

Due to the institutional racism perpetuated by the present economic and political system some minorities are disproportionately affected by these figures. According to Science Daily over 60 percent of Hispanic, Black, and Native American children are living in de facto poverty. ["Four in 10 American children live in low-income families, new report shows," SD 1-21-2015].

Reflecting on these figures SD quotes Renée Wilson-Simmons, National Center for Children in Poverty director, as saying "Far too many American children live in economically insecure families, and this serious threat to our nation's future does not get the attention it deserves."

Photo: The goal is healthy children