Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
June 24, 2019
Hello All – The jury is still out on the question of whether President Trump's last-minute intervention saved us from going to war against Iran, or whether that was the plan all along and the whole thing was theater. But if the threat were only a head-fake to test the Iranian defenses and world opinion, it was also a test of the citizens of the USA. How did we do?
While most of the mainstream media expressed anti-Iranian noises, but were hesitant or opposed to going to war in the present state of confusion about what actually happened in the Persian Gulf, two fault lines about war/peace were revealed that should cause us concern. One, of course, was the continued Democratic Party (and some Republicans) demand that war should not happen until Congress gives its approval. This in part grew out of Trump's efforts to by-pass Congress and sell weapons to Saudi Arabia. Trump's "Iran Emergency" put the War Powers Act and the Constitutional role of Congress re: war on the front burner. So at the moment, it is hard to tell whether or under what circumstances Democratic hawks would vote for war if Congress were asked its opinion. It is important, therefore, to advocate for No War under ALL circumstances, and not just whether Congress is being ignored.
Over the weekend, another fault line appeared, this time on a Sunday news programs. On "Face the Nation," Senator Bernie Sanders was criticized by the CBS host for objecting to a "limited strike" on Iran, stating that this was an act of war and thus unlawful without congressional approval. Very good; but immediately after the attack on Iran was called off, CNN's Jake Taper asked several questions of Congressman Engel, one of which related to the need to consult Congress before attacking Iran. Engel told Tapper: I think the President needs to come to Congress if ... going to war with Iran. I mean, individual strike, we don't want to tie the President's hands. But in terms of going to war, we're a co-equal branch of government, it's very important that Congress have a say in it." But with this president, under the circumstances prevailing, it is absolutely necessary to tie his hands! That Congressman Engel, Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, should give a rhetorical blank check to President Trump to strike Iran is madness. Under those circumstances, the question is whether Iran will declare war against the United States. One small step we can take is to sign/support a petition calling on Congressman Engel to state that a "limited strike" on Iran would be an act of war requiring specific prior congressional authorization. Thanks.
Government Sadism at Our Southern Border
The way that our government treats immigrants, and especially children, at our southern border is reminiscent of fascist governments' treatment of Jews in the 1930s. It is simply intolerable, not only for those so treated, but for those forced to watch this cruelty being carried out in our name. Today, Democracy Now! devoted a program segment to the crisis: "'Somebody Is Going to Die': Lawyer Describes Chaos, Illness & Danger at Migrant Child Jail in Texas." Please watch it. One of the places where the Trump team plans to put immigrant children (but not their parents) is Ft. Sill, in Oklahoma, where 700 Japanese-American men were imprisoned in 1942. Some of the survivors of this wartime imprisonment protested against the re-use of Ft. Sill for immigrants. For those who have promised themselves, "Never Again!" – "Again" is now here.
News Notes
Almost 200 Turkish university teachers who signed an "Academics for Peace Petition" have been sentenced to prison. While most of the sentences have been suspended, dozens of others have not. One thing Americans concerned about this injustice might do is to email a protest to Mr. David Kaye, the UN's Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression. His email is freedex@ohchr.org This is a moment when public opinion might have some effect, as Turkey's President Erdogan has just suffered a massive electoral defeat in Istanbul.
The Story of Stuff Project produces great/smart educational videos on protecting our environment. Things like too much plastic or stopping Nestlé's raid on our water resources. One of their new projects is about water privatization. Check it out.
Those interested in the deeper story of the alleged Russian hacking of the Democratic Party's emails in the 2016 election should check out the latest posting from Ray McGovern and the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS). This one is about the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, the analytics firm that was hired by the Democrats and put the finger on the Russians.
For those keeping score at home, here's the latest update re: how many nuclear warheads exist, and which countries own them. Spoiler alert: this year's count of 13,865 warheads is a significant drop from 14,465 in 2018. At this rate, we could be touching bottom in 25 years.
Climate Update/News
This week we have two items from climate stalwart Iris Hiskey Arno. The first is a piece of good news; the second calls on us to take some action.
CLIMATE LEGISLATION PASSED IN NYS! - While it didn't include everything activists had hoped for, the Climate and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) hammered out by the legislature and governor is an excellent first step. Tireless work by environmental advocates definitely played a part in getting this legislation over the finish line and much more work will be needed to address the weaknesses of the bill.
THE WILLIAMS FRACKED GAS PIPELINE PROPOSED TO GO THROUGH NY HARBOR NEEDS TO BE STOPPED AGAIN! - This pipeline involves a 23-mile trench dug in the seabed of NY harbor to transport fracked gas from PA out past the Rockaways. The project is disastrous for sea life, frontline communities that were hit hard by Sandy, lots of noise/lights from construction. Also, it threatens various endangered forms of marine life, and we don't need the gas. The DEC has extended the public comment period until July 13, so please flood them with comments! Use this link.
THE WILLIAMS FRACKED GAS PIPELINE PROPOSED TO GO THROUGH NY HARBOR NEEDS TO BE STOPPED AGAIN! - This pipeline involves a 23-mile trench dug in the seabed of NY harbor to transport fracked gas from PA out past the Rockaways. The project is disastrous for sea life, frontline communities that were hit hard by Sandy, lots of noise/lights from construction. Also, it threatens various endangered forms of marine life, and we don't need the gas. The DEC has extended the public comment period until July 13, so please flood them with comments! Use this link.
If you would like to give Iris and her colleagues a hand, the next meeting of the NYCD16 Indivisible Environment Committee is Wednesday, June 26th, 7:30 p.m. at the James Harmon Community Center, Main St. in Hastings.
Thing to Do/Coming Attractions
Ongoing – Weather permitting, the CFOW stalwarts gather every Saturday from 12 to 1 PM at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring St.) to protest war and other evils. Please join us!
Please sign a petition to Eliot Engel that urges him to take action of arms sales to Saudi Arabia. While Engel supports blocking these arms sales – and is attacking the fake "Iran Emergency" that Trump is using to circumvent the need for congressional approval – this petition supports the efforts of some DC-based peace groups to get "No Arms to Saudi Arabia" put into the National Defense Authorization Act, which can't easily be vetoed by Trump. So please sign the petition and – for extra credit – give Engel's office a call at 202-225-2464 – Put No Arms to Saudi Arabia in the NDAA! Thanks.
Friday, June 28th – For those outraged by the Trump-regime anti-immigrant sadism at our southern border, one way to help is via the New Sanctuary Coalition. A training in Yonkers will get you started in the NSC's accompaniment program, which recruits and trains volunteers to accompany people facing deportation to their immigration hearings and ICE check-ins. The training takes place at The Power Lab, 35 Ludlow St. (Suite #310) in Yonkers from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, go here, or email Ambien Mitchell – ambien@newsanctuarynyc.org.
Thursday, July 4th – Mark your calendars for the more-or-less annual CFOW 4th of July Picnic. All CFOW friends are invited to a picnic on the lawn/porch of the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, from 1 to 5 p.m. We'll have a grill and hot dogs and maybe a few other things. Come see old friends and make new ones!
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Our leaflet and posters for our rallies are usually about war or climate change, but issues such as racial justice or Trump's immigration policies are often targeted, depending on current events. We (usually) meet on the first Sunday of each month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. And if you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
This Newsletter
Articles linked in the CFOW newsletter are intended to illuminate some of the main action-issues about which we are concerned. Coming mostly from the "dissenting media," they provide an alternative to the perspectives of the mainstream media. As always, we have some excellent "Featured Essays," I also highly recommend the sets of good/useful articles on the threat of war with Iran; AOC and the US concentration camps for immigrants; and excellent articles on the sadistic regimes of economic sanctions; the threat of immigrant round-ups and deportations; and a good essay on the implications of Israel's plan to annex more land from the Occupied West Bank.
Rewards!
The Newsletter's rewards offer a brief sanctuary of sanity before proceeding to the News of the Week. Starting off on a positive foot, thanks to JG we have two pieces of fair-and-balanced reporting from Tom Tomorrow: "The Brain-Eating Zombie Party" and "Yet Another Week in Stupidverse." And while printing leaflets for this week's vigil I listened to some more Dr. John, and I especially liked his versions of "Goodnight Irene" and "How come my dog don't bark when you come around?" Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
Forget Bernie vs. Warren. Focus on Growing the Progressive Base and Defeating Biden.
By Naomi Klein, The Intercept [June 21, 2019]
---- Today's electoral dynamics are absolutely nothing like 2016. That was a two-way race between two candidates with radically different records and ideas, in which one candidate's gain really was the other's loss. A winner-takes-all race like that pretty much always turns into some kind of death match.
These primaries are another species entirely. There is a small army of candidates, with two of the leaders running on platforms so far to the left, they would have been unimaginable for anyone but a protest candidate as recently as 2014. The frontrunner, meanwhile, is eminently beatable (especially if Joe Biden keeps showing us exactly who he is, as he did about six times this week). All this means that for leftists and progressives, the name of the game is not canceling out each other's candidates. It's doing everything possible not to end up with a Wall Street-funded centrist running against a president with the power of incumbency. That means making the case against the idea that candidates positioning themselves as the "safe choice" are in any way safe, whether at the polls or once in office. And it means helping to bring more and more people to one of the genuinely progressive frontrunners. There's plenty of time to worry about vote-spitting down the road — the task now is to enlarge the number of votes available to be split (or combined). [Read More]
(Video) Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates Makes the Case for Reparations at Historic Congressional Hearing
From Democracy Now! [June 20, 2019]
---- On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary held a historic hearing on reparations for slavery—the first of its kind in over a decade. Wednesday's hearing coincided with Juneteenth, a day that commemorates June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had abolished slavery. This year marks the 400th anniversary of the transatlantic slave trade. Lawmakers are considering a bill titled the "Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African-Americans Act." It was introduced by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, after former Congressmember John Conyers had championed the bill for decades without success. The bill carries the designation H.R. 40, a reference to "40 acres and a mule," one of the nation's first broken promises to newly freed slaves. Ahead of the hearing, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "I don't think reparations for something that happened 150 years ago, for whom none of us currently living are responsible, is a good idea." Award-winning author Ta-Nehisi Coates testified at the historic congressional hearing on reparations and took direct aim at McConnell. [Read More]
America's Suicide Epidemic
By Rajan Menon, Tom Dispatch [June 18, 2019]
---- We hear a lot about suicide when celebrities like Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade die by their own hand. Otherwise, it seldom makes the headlines. That's odd given the magnitude of the problem. In 2017, 47,173 Americans killed themselves. In that single year, in other words, the suicide count was nearly seven times greater than the number of American soldiers killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars between 2001 and 2018. A suicide occurs in the United States roughly once every 12 minutes. … One aspect of the suicide epidemic is puzzling. Though whites have fared far better economically (and in many other ways) than African Americans, their suicide rate is significantly higher. It increased from 11.3 per 100,000 in 2000 to 15.85 per 100,000 in 2017; for African Americans in those years the rates were 5.52 per 100,000 and 6.61 per 100,000. Black men are 10 times more likely to be homicide victims than white men, but the latter are two-and-half times more likely to kill themselves. The higher suicide rate among whites as well as among people with only a high school diploma highlights suicide's disproportionate effect on working-class whites. This segment of the population also accounts for a disproportionate share of what economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have labeled "deaths of despair" — those caused by suicides plus opioid overdoses and liver diseases linked to alcohol abuse. [Read More]
---- We hear a lot about suicide when celebrities like Anthony Bourdain and Kate Spade die by their own hand. Otherwise, it seldom makes the headlines. That's odd given the magnitude of the problem. In 2017, 47,173 Americans killed themselves. In that single year, in other words, the suicide count was nearly seven times greater than the number of American soldiers killed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars between 2001 and 2018. A suicide occurs in the United States roughly once every 12 minutes. … One aspect of the suicide epidemic is puzzling. Though whites have fared far better economically (and in many other ways) than African Americans, their suicide rate is significantly higher. It increased from 11.3 per 100,000 in 2000 to 15.85 per 100,000 in 2017; for African Americans in those years the rates were 5.52 per 100,000 and 6.61 per 100,000. Black men are 10 times more likely to be homicide victims than white men, but the latter are two-and-half times more likely to kill themselves. The higher suicide rate among whites as well as among people with only a high school diploma highlights suicide's disproportionate effect on working-class whites. This segment of the population also accounts for a disproportionate share of what economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton have labeled "deaths of despair" — those caused by suicides plus opioid overdoses and liver diseases linked to alcohol abuse. [Read More]
WAR WITH IRAN?
We must stop the US from going to war with Iran
By Sen. Bernie Sanders, The Guardian [UK] [June 21, 2019]
---- The drums of war are beating in Washington again. Just today we learned that the US came very close to striking targets inside Iran in response to the downing of a US drone in the Persian Gulf. Last week the White House announced that 1,000 additional troops would be sent to the Middle East in response to an alleged Iranian attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman. Last month, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon had presented a plan to the White House that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the region to fight Iran. We need to rethink our current approach. A war with Iran would be an absolute disaster. As former general Anthony Zinni has put it: "If you like Iraq and Afghanistan, you'll love Iran." If the US were to attack Iran, Iran could respond with attacks on US troops and on countries around the region. It would lead to the further destabilization of that region in a way that is unimaginable and would result in wars that would go on years and probably cost trillions of dollars. [Read More]
America's Confrontation With Iran Goes Deeper Than Trump
By Trita Parsi, The Nation [June 20,, 2019]
---- This is why the cards were stacked against the survival of the Iran nuclear deal even if Trump had not been elected. By striking a compromise with a defiant non-democracy like Iran, which for the past 40 years has defined itself as the foremost opponent of American hegemony (liberal or otherwise), while signaling a desire to slowly dismantle American hegemony in the Middle East (in order to pivot to Asia), Obama introduced an unsustainable contradiction to US foreign policy. This contradiction has been particularly visible among Democrats who oppose Trump's Iran policy but who still cannot bring themselves to break with our seemingly endless confrontation with Iran. As long as such Democrats allow the debate to be defined by the diktat of US primacy, they will always be on the defensive, and their long-term impact on US-Iran relations will be marginal. [Read More]
Also useful/illuminating on the war against Iran – "Iran Had the Legal Right to Shoot Down US Spy Drone," by Marjorie Cohn, Truthout [June 21, 2019] [Link]; and the blogsite Moon of Alabama has had a week (or more) of excellent reporting on the deeper goings on re: Iran and USA.
AOC AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Yes, Liz Cheney, AOC is right that US is Running Concentration Camps for Refugees
---- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been under fire for an Instagram message she sent out in which she characterized the holding facilities for refugees and other undocumented entrants into the US run by ICE and by private companies (for which it is a $2 billion a year industry) as "concentration camps. "Human rights groups are speaking of a systematic violation of basic human rights of these immigrants. Note that it is perfectly legal for people to seek refugee status in the United States, and that the court system determines if they will be awarded that status. …For-profit prisons should be illegal, and government officials certainly shouldn't be allowed to own them! Cheney's line is that it is sacrilegious to apply the term "concentration camp" to these facilities because it diminishes the concentration camps into which Jews were put by the Nazis in preparation for the Holocaust. AOC and her critics fired back that the Nazi concentration camps were a prelude to death camps, an entirely different phenomenon. So being a historian I looked into this "concentration camp" term. [Read More]
AOC's Generation Doesn't Presume America's Innocence
By Peter Beinart, The Atlantic [June 21, 2019]
----On Monday night, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez declared in an Instagram video that "the United States is running concentration camps on our southern border." The following morning, Liz Cheney tweeted, "Please @AOC do us all a favor and spend just a few minutes learning some actual history. 6 million Jews were exterminated in the Holocaust. You demean their memory and disgrace yourself with comments like this." … But whether you believe Ocasio-Cortez's terminology was appropriate or offensive, the deeper question is why it provoked such a ferocious debate. The answer: Because for the first time in decades, the left is mounting a serious challenge to American exceptionalism. … American exceptionalism does not merely connote cultural and political uniqueness. It connotes moral superiority. Embedded in exceptionalist discourse is the belief that, because America has a special devotion to democracy and freedom, its sins are mostly incidental. [Read More]
Also useful/insightful on Concentration Camps USA – "A Brief History of US Concentration Camps," b [Link]; "Why Interning Refugee Children In Military Bases puts them at Risk in Age of Trump," by Jana Lipman, The Conversation [June 23, 2019] [Link]; "Concentration camps – at the US border and in Gaza," by Jonathan Ofir, Mondoweiss [June 24, 2019] [Link]; and "When the NY Times understood what the term concentration camp meant," by Louis Proyect, [June 20, 2019] [Link].
WAR & PEACE
The Antiwar Movement No One Can See
By Allegra Harpootlian, Tom Dispatch [June 24, 2019]
---- When Donald Trump entered the Oval Office in January 2017, Americans took to the streets all across the country to protest their instantly endangered rights. Conspicuously absent from the newfound civic engagement, despite more than a decade and a half of this country's fruitless, destructive wars across the Greater Middle East and northern Africa, was antiwar sentiment, much less an actual movement. Those like me working against America's seemingly endless wars wondered why the subject merited so little discussion, attention, or protest. … But here's what I've been wondering recently: What if there's an antiwar movement growing right under our noses and we just haven't noticed? What if we don't see it, in part, because it doesn't look like any antiwar movement we've even imagined? If a movement is only a movement when people fill the streets, then maybe the critics are right. It might also be fair to say, however, that protest marches do not always a movement make. Movements are defined by their ability to challenge the status quo and, right now, that's what might be beginning to happen when it comes to America's wars. [Read More]
---- When Donald Trump entered the Oval Office in January 2017, Americans took to the streets all across the country to protest their instantly endangered rights. Conspicuously absent from the newfound civic engagement, despite more than a decade and a half of this country's fruitless, destructive wars across the Greater Middle East and northern Africa, was antiwar sentiment, much less an actual movement. Those like me working against America's seemingly endless wars wondered why the subject merited so little discussion, attention, or protest. … But here's what I've been wondering recently: What if there's an antiwar movement growing right under our noses and we just haven't noticed? What if we don't see it, in part, because it doesn't look like any antiwar movement we've even imagined? If a movement is only a movement when people fill the streets, then maybe the critics are right. It might also be fair to say, however, that protest marches do not always a movement make. Movements are defined by their ability to challenge the status quo and, right now, that's what might be beginning to happen when it comes to America's wars. [Read More]
US Sanctions: Economic Sabotage That Is Deadly, Illegal, and Ineffective
June 17, 2019]
---- While the mystery of who is responsible for sabotaging the two tankers in the Gulf of Oman remains unsolved, it is clear that the Trump administration has been sabotaging Iranian oil shipments since May 2, when it announced its intention to "bring Iran's oil exports to zero, denying the regime its principal source of revenue." The move was aimed at China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey, all nations that purchase Iranian oil and now face US threats if they continue to do so. The US military might not have physically blown up tankers carrying Iranian crude, but its actions have the same effect and should be considered acts of economic terrorists. … Whether in Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, North Korea or one of the 20 countries under the boot of US sanctions, the Trump administration is using its economic weight to try to exact regime change or major policy changes in countries around the globe. [Read More] For more on the failures of "sanctions" as economic warfare, real "Risk of Shooting War with Iran Grows after Decades of Economic Warfare by the U.S.," by David Cortright, The Conversation [June 22, 2019] [Link]
HUMAN-CAUSED CLIMATE CHAOS
'Hardhats vs. Hippies': How the Media Misrepresents the Debate Over the Green New Deal
By
---- The Green New Deal resolution calls for an economy-wide mobilization to achieve a national transition to a zero-carbon future within a decade. The proposal has sparked a vibrant conversation in Congress and throughout the country, resonating with grassroots environmental groups and challenging lawmakers to start talking seriously about decarbonization. Yet despite massive public support, the resolution was predictably stymied in Congress, and has faced skepticism within the Democratic Party and labor movement. Nor has the resolution been greeted with universal praise by the Democratic Party or labor unions. But while some unions express reluctance to hop on the green bandwagon, there's more to the story than "environmentalists versus blue-collar workers." Organized labor does not speak with a single voice on climate policy, though the whole movement has deep stakes in the politics of decarbonization, as working-class people's lives and livelihoods are most vulnerable to climate change. … More importantly, though building-trades workers may fit Trump's image of working-class America, they are not representative of labor or the working class as a whole when it comes to green issues. The future of labor will be helmed by service workers, women, immigrants and people of color. Accordingly, the Green New Deal or other strong climate change policies have won endorsements from SEIU, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and National Nurses United, along with various locals like New York State Nurses Association and American Federation of Teachers - Oregon. A survey released by Data for Progress this month found that "union membership is one of the factors most highly correlated with support for Green New Deal policies as well as the Green New Deal framework as a whole." [Read More]
CIVIL LIBERTIES/"THE GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR"
(Video) Julian Assange Indictment "Criminalizes the News Gathering Process," Says Pentagon Papers Lawyer
From Democracy Now! [June 18, 2019]
---- A London judge has ordered WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to appear before a court in February 2020 to face a full extradition hearing. Prosecutors in the U.S. have indicted Assange on 18 counts, including 17 violations of the Espionage Act. This is the first-ever case of a journalist or publisher being indicted under the World War I-era law. Assange said that his life was "effectively at stake" if the U.K. honors a U.S. request for his extradition. Assange is currently serving a 50-week sentence in London's Belmarsh Prison for skipping bail in 2012. We speak with James Goodale, former general counsel of The New York Times. In 1971, he urged the paper to publish the Pentagon Papers, which had been leaked by whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg. [Read More]
I'm a Journalist but I Didn't Fully Realize the Terrible Power of U.S. Border Officials Until They Violated My Rights and Privacy
By Seth Harp, The Intercept [
---- I should have kept my mouth shut about the guacamole; that made things worse for me. Otherwise, what I'm about to describe could happen to any American who travels internationally. It happened 33,295 times last year. My work as a journalist has taken me to many foreign countries, including frequent trips to Mexico. On May 13, I was returning to the U.S. from Mexico City when, passing through immigration at the Austin airport, I was pulled out of line for "secondary screening," a quasi-custodial law enforcement process that takes place in the Homeland Security zone of the airport. … In retrospect, I was naive about the kind of agency CBP has become in the Trump era. Though I've reported several magazine stories in Mexico, none have been about immigration. Of course, I knew these were the guys putting kids in cages, separating refugee children from their parents, and that Trump's whole shtick is vilifying immigrants, leading to many sad and ugly scenes at the border, including the farcical deployment of U.S. troops. But I complacently assumed that wouldn't affect me directly, least of all in Austin. [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
What You Need to Know About Trump's Mass Deportation Threat
By Maryam Saleh, The Intercept [
---- In between tweets complaining about Fox News polling numbers and boasting about the size of future rallies, President Donald Trump took a moment on Monday to send shock waves through immigrant communities with a threat meant to rally his base — but one that is not actually logistically possible. "Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States," he tweeted. "They will be removed as fast as they come in." An administration official later told the Associated Press that the effort would target people who have received final orders of deportation. There are more than 1 million people living in the United States with final deportation orders, among an undocumented population of about 11 million. "He obviously wants everyone to believe he's talking about some mass roundup, which is just not possible," immigration attorney Matt Cameron said of Trump, "both because of resources and because of due process." [Read More] And now Trump is "postponing" the deportations. "Trump Says He'll Delay Deportation Operation Aimed at Undocumented Families," by Michael D. Shear, New York Times [June 22, 2019] [Link]
Supreme Court Ruling on Census Could Deal Grave Blow to Democracy
By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout [June 15, 2019]
---- The Supreme Court is poised to decide two cases that could prove devastating to the right to vote — the very foundation of a democracy. One case will review the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. The other will consider whether partisan gerrymandering is constitutional. They are related because the citizenship question would "allow Republicans to draft even more extreme gerrymandered maps to stymie Democrats," the New York Times reported. … The census is used to determine the number of representatives each state will have in the House, how electors are distributed in the Electoral College, and how $880 billion in federal funds will be allocated between the states. … Gerrymandering is "the intentional manipulation of district boundaries to discriminate against a group of voters on the basis of their political views or race." Although the Supreme Court has struck down racial gerrymandering, it has never agreed on a standard for assessing the constitutionality of partisan gerrymandering. … The Supreme Court will decide two cases involving partisan gerrymandering by the end of June. One challenges gerrymandering by Republicans, the other by Democrats. [Read More]
Mobilizing the Poor People's Campaign
---- This week in Washington, the powers that be are hearing from a vital new democratic force in this country. For three days, the Poor People's Campaign will bring poor and low-wage Americans to the nation's capital to call for a moral renewal in this nation. They will question many of those who are seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Congressional hearings will showcase their Poor People's Moral Budget. Their actions should be above the fold of every newspaper in America; they should lead the news shows and fill the talk shows. A movement for common sense and social justice is building, putting every politician on notice: lead or get out of the way, a new moral majority is building and demanding change. … This week, the campaign releases their Poor People's Moral Budget. It details authoritatively that the cost of our current inequality, the cost of mass poverty is far greater than what it would cost to invest in people, put them to work at a living wage and guarantee basic economic and political rights. It costs society big time to not provide health care or quality education or clean water and air, to suppress voting rights and to keep wages low. The moral budget is detailed and authoritatively sourced. The numbers are clear, as is the conclusion. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Annexation: How Israel Already Controls More Than Half of the West Bank
---- A state of de facto annexation already exists on the ground in most of the occupied West Bank.
Almost two-thirds of the Palestinian territory, including most of its most fertile and resource-rich land, is under full Israeli control. About 400,000 Jewish settlers living there enjoy the full rights and privileges of Israeli citizens. At least 60 pieces of legislation were drafted by right-wing members of the Knesset during the last parliament to move Israel from a state of de facto to de jure annexation, according to a database by Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group. … Support in Israel for annexation is growing, with 42 percent backing one of several variants in a recent poll, as opposed to 34 percent who were behind a two-state solution. Only 28 percent of Israelis explicitly rejected annexation. Behind the scenes, debates about formally annexing the Palestinian territories have been rife in Israel since it occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza in 1967. [Read More]
World Refugee Day
By Ramzy Baroud, Editor, Palestine Chronicle [June 22, 2019]
---- The United Nations' World Refugee Day, observed annually on June 20, should not merely represent a reminder of "the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence." It should also be an opportunity for the international community to truly understand and actively work towards finding a sustainable remedy to forced displacement, for no woman, man or child should be forced to endure such grueling, shattering and humiliating experience in the first place. Palestinians who have withstood the degradation of exile for over 70 years embody the harshness of this collective experience more than any other group. … Palestinian refugees may not top the political agenda of the Middle East at the moment, but it is their persistence, determination and undying hope that will keep their cause alive until international law is respected and human rights are truly honored. [Read More]
---- The United Nations' World Refugee Day, observed annually on June 20, should not merely represent a reminder of "the courage, strength and determination of women, men and children who are forced to flee their homeland under threat of persecution, conflict and violence." It should also be an opportunity for the international community to truly understand and actively work towards finding a sustainable remedy to forced displacement, for no woman, man or child should be forced to endure such grueling, shattering and humiliating experience in the first place. Palestinians who have withstood the degradation of exile for over 70 years embody the harshness of this collective experience more than any other group. … Palestinian refugees may not top the political agenda of the Middle East at the moment, but it is their persistence, determination and undying hope that will keep their cause alive until international law is respected and human rights are truly honored. [Read More]
Trump, Kushner, and "The Deal of the Century"
Buying Palestine for peanuts
---- Over the weekend, the White House released "Peace to Prosperity," the economic component of its so-called Deal of the Century. It calls for $50 billion in "investments" spread over 179 projects. Half the money would be spent on Palestinian infrastructure over 10 years, with the rest spread between Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. It will supposedly include a $5 billion transportation corridor between the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and another $2 billion in the Palestinian tourism sector. The plan has zero chance of success, not least because no one knows where the money would come from – presumably it is to be pledged by America's client states in the Gulf – and there's no reason to believe Israel would ever remotely allow any major projects intended to benefit Palestinians. Jared Kushner, adviser and son-in-law to President Donald Trump, and US envoy Jason Greenblatt, are the brains behind the plan. They claim it will reduce Palestinian poverty by half and double Palestinian GDP over a decade. [Read More] Ali Abunimah discusses this further on (Video) Aljazeera. Also useful is "Palestinians have every right to reject another Oslo," by Sam Bahour, +972 Magazine [Israel] [June 22, 2019] [Link].
