Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
August 19, 2018
Hello All – Last Wednesday Immigration and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) showed up at a home in Ossining at 6 a.m. looking for "Luis." They showed a photo of "Luis" to the woman who answered the door, but she did not know him. Neither did her husband, Carlos. Perhaps not to waste their trip, I.C.E., took Carlos into custody. Of course they had no warrant for Carlos, and no reason to detain him. A video recorded by a family member/associate can be seen here. And a few weeks ago, a Mt. Kisco man was deported to Mexico. Armando, that was his name, was employed at a synagogue. He had lived in the United States for 30 years. Luckily for Armando, the Rabbi and other synagogue members worked with Armando's son to help him. They flew to Mexico and escorted Armando him to the border so he could apply for asylum. See this powerful, short video for more of Armando's story.
Last Saturday, CFOW's vigil/rally in Hastings brought together people from several organizations who share a common concern about the dangers facing our immigrant neighbors, and about I.C.E., which seems to have stepped up its activities in Westchester. While the focus was on last Wednesday's outrage in Ossining, our leaflet and discussions placed this in the context of President Trump's immigration policies and the changing laws and administrative practices that deter immigrant/refugees from entering the United States, while expediting laws and practices that deport them. These thoughts are developed further in several good/useful articles linked below ("The Trump regime and the immigration crisis.")
A Deep State?
In the last several weeks, following President Trump's attacks on former Directors of the FBI and the CIA, and in light of the slow but steady march of the Mueller investigation, the United States has entered into what some would call an intra-elite power struggle for the control of the state. This is something that we might expect to read about in Mao's China or under a similar dictatorship, but it is something new for the United States, I believe. President Trump has attempted to frame this as an attack on him by "the Deep State," presumably the unelected bureaucrats leading agencies or centers of power not under his control. In my brief life, the idea of a "Deep State" has had several iterations. In the 1960s there were attempts to divide the country's main power blocks into "Yankees and Cowboys" (Carl Oglesby), pitting East Coast finance and commerce vs. mid-America extraction industries. Howard Hughes and the Cuban exiles somehow played a pivotal role. Later, Mike Klare proposed a similar division, though classifying the competing parties as "Traders" and "Prussians." That is, a struggle for power between commerce/manufacturing and the Military Industrial Complex. And there were others, later ones incorporating illegal drug trading and the CIA.
The current polarization of US power structures has resulted in some surprising and imo dangerous alliances. In particular, the Democrats and its supporting mainstream media outlets have sided with the CIA and the FBI, whose (former) leaders are speaking out against Trump and his policies. While these are not exactly strange bedfellows, one element of their bonding is a common faith in the claim that Trump is somehow in thrall to Russia's President Putin. While the Democrats have been moving to the right for 20 years or so, they and the main military/repressive institutions are now aligned around an anti-communism, or anti-Russianism, reminiscent of the Cold War. Those of us with any historical memory recall the horrendous histories of the FBI and the CIA, and can see no evidence that they have become carriers of liberalism. During the Cold War, "anti-communism" brought the world close to nuclear annihilation. And at home, "anti-communism" stigmatized almost all forms of dissent, causing great personal hardship and national disaster. – So what is this "intra-elite power struggle" in the United States about? Check out the interesting/thought-provoking essays linked below.
News Notes
I'm sorry to report that David McReynolds has died. David was a peace & justice stalwart forever. For many years he was the staff person at the War Resisters League, and you can read their warm tribute to him here. His presidential campaigns for the Socialist Party highlighted his New York Times obituary. He was one of the first gay political activists who was "out," and while trolling for news about him I came across this interesting review he wrote about Clint Eastwood's Hollywood film about J. Edgar Hoover, which focuses on Hoover's repressed homosexuality. In David McReynolds the world has lost a wonderful, interesting man, and a lifelong fighter for peace; get to know him.
A few weeks ago CFOW signed on (with hundreds of other groups) to statement opposing President Trump's plans for a yuge military parade in Washington, DC, on Veterans Day, November 11th. Perhaps it was this threat, and not the alleged $90 million tab, which has caused Trump and the Pentagon to cancel the parade. Another job, well done! To read some back story, go here.
According to the Trump people, the number of immigrant children who have not been reunited with their parents has fallen from 572 to 565 in the last two weeks. At this rate, it will take several years for the Trump administration to be in compliance with the federal court order issues a month ago. Who's minding the store? According to this New York Times story, none of four US agencies is tracking migrant children.
This newsletter, and the USA mainstream media, has failed to give adequate coverage to the nightmare that Turkey has become. To get some sense about what this is like, read this informative interview with a Turkish academic, a member of Academics for Peace, who signed a petition against the repression of the Kurds, and was on tried for treason in June.
Last week President Trump signed the $716 billion military spending bill. (This is for Pentagon spending only; billions more in military expenditures are contained in other budgets.) Senator Kristen Gillibrand is to be congratulated for voting against the spending bill, one of a handful of Democrats to do so. Senator Schumer, and Representatives Lowey and Engel, of course, voted for the outrageous spending bill. They know no other way to represent us.
And this just in. The New York Times has endorsed Zephyr Teachout for Attorney General.
Finally, I think you will enjoy this clip of a Fox News anchorperson explaining what's so terrible about socialism in Denmark, and the replies made to this "fake news" by a Danish socialist politician.
Things to Do/Coming Attractions
Ongoing – CFOW holds a vigil/rally each Saturday at the VFW Plaza in Hastings (Warburton and Spring) from 12 to 1 p.m. Everyone invited; please join us!
Sunday, September 9th - Please join us for the next CFOW monthly meeting. At these meetings we discussed events and our work of the past month and make plans for what's ahead. We meet at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs, from 7 to 9 p.m
Thursday, September 20 and 27 – Westchester for Change, the Greenburgh Human Rights Advisory Council, and many other groups invite you to attend a two-part voter turnout/civic engagement workshop. The workshop will take place at the Theodore Young Community Center, 32 Manhattan Ave. in White Plains, from 7 to 9 p.m. To learn more, go to the event's Facebook page. If you plan to attend, please RSVP.
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 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. If you would like to make a financial contribution to our work, 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. In addition to the excellent "Featured Essays," I especially recommend the set of articles about the "Deep State"; several very good articles about the wars in Afghanistan and Yemen; an interesting article about the progress of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA); and a set of important articles about what the Trump regime is doing to immigration law and policy. Read on!
Rewards!
Once again, this newsletter is full of dreary stuff. So as a Reward for those who persevere, here is some funny stuff from Eman El-Husseini & Jess Salomon (thanks to JaniG). And if you are among the few who haven't yet seen this Doonesbury classic, now's your chance (h/t JayG). Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
(Video) Respect: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin, an Icon of the Civil Rights & Feminist Movements
From Democracy Now! [August 17, 2018]
---- Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, died Thursday at her home in Detroit at the age of 76. For decades, Aretha Franklin has been celebrated as one of the greatest American singers of any genre, who helped give birth to soul and redefined the American musical tradition. In 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. She held the record for the most songs on the Billboard Top 100 for 40 years. Rolling Stone ranked her the greatest singer of all time on its top 100 list, calling her "a gift from God." Her hit single "Respect" became part of the soundtrack to the civil rights movement, which she also supported behind the scenes. [See the Program] Other segments in this lengthy tribute from Democracy Now! include a discussion with Angela Davis,"Aretha Franklin "Will Forever Animate Our Collective Sense of Desire for Change," here and here.
U.S. Is Complicit in Child Slaughter in Yemen
By Kathy Kelly, Voices for Creative Nonviolence [August 10, 2018]
---- On August 9, a U.S.-supported Saudi airstrike bombed a bus carrying schoolchildren in Sa'ada, a city in northern Yemen. The New York Times reported that the students were on a recreational trip. According to the Sa'ada health department, the attack killed at least forty-three people. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, at least twenty-nine of those killed were children under the age of fifteen, and forty-eight people were wounded, including thirty children. CNN aired horrifying, heartbreaking footage of children who survived the attack being treated in an emergency room. One of the children, carrying his UNICEF issued blue backpack, is covered with blood and badly burned. Commenting on the tragedy, CNN's senior correspondent Nima Elbagir emphasized that she had seen unaired video which was even worse than what the CNN segment showed. She then noted that conditions could worsen because Yemen's vital port of Hodeidah, the only port currently functioning in Yemen, has been under attack for weeks of protracted Saudi coalition-led airstrikes. Ms. Elbagir described the port of Hodeidah as "the only lifeline to bring in supplies to Yemen." "This conflict is backed by the U.S. and the U.K.," Elbagir said, concluding her report with, "They are in full support of the Saudi-led activities in Yemen today." U.S. companies such as Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, and Lockheed Martin have sold billions of dollars' worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the Saudi-Emirati-led coalition which is attacking Yemen. The U.S. military refuels Saudi and Emirati warplanes through midair exercises. And, the United States helps the Saudi coalition warmakers choose their targets. [Read More] [More useful/awful reporting from Yemen is linked below under "War & Peace."]
The War Piece to End All War Pieces, Or How to Fight a War of Ultimate Repetitiousness
By Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch [August 16, 2018]
By Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch [August 16, 2018]
---- Most Americans hardly seem to notice that the war in Afghanistan is still going on. To the extent that they're paying attention at all, the public would, it seems, like U.S. troops to come home and the war to end. That conflict, however, simply stumbles on amid continuing bad news with nary a soul in the streets to protest it. The longer it goes on, the less — here in this country at least — it seems to be happening (if, that is, you aren't one of the 15,000 American troops stationed there or among their families and friends or the vets, their families and friends, who have been gravely damaged by their tours of duty in Kabul and beyond). And if you're being honest, can you really blame the public for losing interest in a war that they largely no longer fight, a war that they're in no way called on to support (other than to idolize the troops who do fight it), a war that they're in no way mobilized for or against? In the age of the Internet, who has an attention span of 17 years, especially when the president just tweeted out his 47th outrageous comment of the week? [Read More]
THE US INTRA-ELITE CONFLICT AND THE "DEEP STATE"
Hail to the Chief
By Michael Tomasky, New York Review of Books [August 16, 2018]
---- Soon, according to a June report in The Washington Post, the moment of truth will arrive. Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating the president, his administration, and his campaign, will deliver his verdict on whether Donald Trump obstructed justice. … All of this doesn't begin to detail what Mueller and his team have learned from interviews about what took place in private. It's a reasonable bet, then, that Mueller will find that Trump and others around him—former press aide Hope Hicks, possibly his son Donald Jr., maybe Jared Kushner, other campaign associates and hangers-on—have lied or tried to quash or in some way compromise the investigation. If that happens, what comes next? … It's worth stepping back here to review quickly the steps by which the Republican Party became this stewpot of sycophants, courtesans, and obscurantists. It's easy to forget these things, but it's not as if Trump announced his candidacy in mid-2015 and all this self-abasement suddenly happened. [Read More]
The 'Witch Hunters' [The "Deep State"]
By Tim Weiner, New York Review of Books [August 16, 2018]
[FB – Tim Weiner has written important books the CIA and the FBI.]
----- A true deep state must have the power to be a puppet master of democratically elected officials—in particular, the president. By this definition, even at the depths of the cold war, the American deep state was a chimera born of secrecy and fear. And yet the fear persists. A corrosive mistrust of the official version of cataclysmic events has made conspiracy theories into mainstream beliefs. Most Americans—the number went as high as 81 percent in 2001, according to a Gallup Poll—have thought the Kennedy assassination was the result of a conspiracy and not a million-to-one shot by a deranged Marine marksman with a mail-order rifle. A clear majority of those polled by The New York Times in the five years after the September 11 attacks said that the government was either lying or "hiding something" about what happened. The belief in a deep state is equally widespread today, albeit with a Trumpian twist. It is not a shadowy substratum, it is the administrative state itself; there is no Justice Department, only "Deep State Justice," as Trump would have it. This may be a necessary construct of the post-truth politics that have given us a counterfactual conspiracy-theorist-in-chief. [Read More]
American Breakdown
By David Bromwich, London Review of Books [August 9, 2018]
---- Trump comports himself not as a president or even a politician, but as a reality TV host. He is a showman above all. In a process where the media are cast as reviewers, and voters as spectators, the show is getting bad reviews but doing nicely: the clear sign of success is that nobody can stop talking about the star. He keeps up the suspense with teasers and decoys and unscheduled interruptions, with changes in the sponsors and the supporting cast and production team. The way to match the Trump pace is by tweeting; but that is to play his game – a gambit the White House press corps have found irresistible. Much of the damage to US politics over the last two years has been done by the anti-Trump media themselves, with their mood of perpetual panic and their lack of imagination. But the uncanny gift of Trump is an infectious vulgarity, and with it comes the power to make his enemies act with nearly as little self-restraint as he does. The proof is in the tweets. Meanwhile his administration is well along – and not very closely watched – on its slow march through the institutions. One example can stand for many: the US Environmental Protection Agency, created in 1970 by Richard Nixon …. [Read More]
WAR & PEACE
Voters will punish Congress for ignoring duty on war and peace
By Perry Cammack and Anthony Wier, The Hill [August 16, 2018]
---- The recent all caps threats by President Trump to go to war with Iran closely echoed his fire and fury taunts against North Korea. Then as now, analysts, politicians, and government officials sighed nervously, but comforted themselves that surely he would not actually start a war. But the drama these episodes unleashed hid a bigger danger. … As former staff members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, we saw the lengths members of Congress have gone to evade responsibility for whether American citizens are committed to new fights overseas. Given the stakes, voters must demand that Congress not shirk its duty. If our representatives in Congress want war with Iran, or North Korea, or any other nation, they should vote to support it. But if they do not, they need to get busy taking steps to stop it. There are few impulses that have driven Congress more predictably over the last decade and a half than the bipartisan and bicameral desire to avoid voting on the use of military force. To understand why, just take a look at who was voted out of Congress for supporting the Iraq War and who survives there now. [Read More]
The War in Afghanistan
Who Is Winning the War in Afghanistan? Depends on Which One
By Rod Nordland, New York Times [August 18, 2018]
---- Two wars are convulsing Afghanistan, the war of blood and guts, and the war of truth and lies. Both have been amassing casualties at a remarkable rate recently. The first is that messy war in which, just in the past week, more than 40 high school students were blown to pieces in their classroom, hundreds of bodies were left abandoned for a week in the streets of Ghazni city or dumped in a river, and two important Afghan Army units were destroyed, almost to the last soldier. The other is the war in which most of that, according to official accounts, did not happen — or at least was not as bad as it sounded. Not until late on the third day of the Taliban's assault on Ghazni did President Ashraf Ghani's aides even inform him of the desperation level there, two government officials said privately; Mr. Ghani himself later confirmed that publicly. By then the Taliban had control of nearly every neighborhood. … Discerning fact from fiction is challenging in any war, of course. But in Afghanistan, where most of the population has known only war, narratives are often total contradictions of one another. [Read More] And for an important update reported today: "As Taliban Start Charm Offensive, Afghan President Calls for Cease-Fire," by Rod Nordland and Fahim Abedm" New York Times [August 19, 2018] [Link].
The Human Cost of War for Afghan Children
By August 18, 2018]
---- Youth growing up in Afghanistan today have never known peace, and after almost two decades of U.S. development efforts, living conditions in the country may be worse than when the so-called "peacemaking" started in 2001 … We often see numbers and figures about the country in various survey findings, human rights reports and corruption indexes. But what do these numbers mean to Afghans? In 2017, 8,000 children were reported killed and hurt in conflicts from Syria and Yemen to Congo and Afghanistan. Afghan children account for more than 40 percent of the total. Casualties among Afghan children had increased by 24 percent in 2016. Beyond the physical cost is the mental toll of war. Almost half of children between ages 7 and 17, or 3.7 million, do not attend school, and the rate of out-of-school children has increased to 2002 levels. Girls account for 60 percent of this number. War has decimated the educational system in Afghanistan. Attacks on schools have risen, especially in conflict zones, which now are expanding. Operating schools in rural parts of Afghanistan face overwhelming challenges. Since the country has one of the lowest electricity usages in the world, students have limited access to basic in-class and out-of-classroom educational resources. These conditions make learning difficult, if not impossible. [Read More]
The War in Yemen
America's Gulf Allies Are Making the World a More Dangerous Place
By Kate Kizer, The Nation [August 15, 2018]
---- Continued US support for the massacre and man-made famine in Yemen is conducted in the name of "supporting our Gulf partners" against an Iranian menace, an image that has been created by Washington think tank–written op-eds and Gulf-funded K Street lobbyists. What's more, the countries that had been pushing the United States to kill the Iran nuclear deal—Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and, perhaps most openly, Israel—having succeeded in getting Trump to do it, are now pounding the drums louder than ever for direct conflict with Iran. Proponents of maintaining an unquestioning alliance with the Gulf will say the United States needs to look the other way because these states help the country fight terrorism. But using countries like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as the first line of defense against this nation's perceived threats runs counter to US national-security interests, and worse, contrary to American values. Indeed, so many Washington pundits and establishment politicians on both sides of the aisle are so fearful of losing these "friends" in the fight against terrorism that they willfully ignore blatant evidence that these countries' policies actively undermine their own stated security interests and subvert the rationale for why America supposedly needs these countries as partners in the first place. [Read More]
For more on the utter depravity of US policy in Yemen – Micah Zenko, "America Is Committing War Crimes and Doesn't Even Know Why," Foreign Policy [August 15, 2018] [Link]; Alex Emmons, "Elizabeth Warren Demands in Letter That U.S. Military Explain Its Role in Yemen Bombings," The Intercept [August 14, 2018] [Link]; and Erik Eikenberry, "Tell Congress: Demand Accountability for the US Role in Yemen's Catastrophe," [Link].
The Hour When Children Die—What Is Going On in Yemen?
By
---- A busload of young boys was on a field trip. They were excited. Their summer session of school was over. This was to be the outing to celebrate the end of school. The boys jostle on the bus. It is noisy. One of them covers his ears. They are all laughing. One of their friends is taking a video (which was shown this week on Yemen's al-Massira television). The video shows the universal joy of being an adolescent, of being filled with anticipation at the field trip. The Red Cross now says that 50 children died in the strike (11 adults were killed). Among the 79 wounded, 56 are children—many fighting for their lives. Along the way, the bus stops at a crowded market in the town of Dahyan, in the Saada governorate in Yemen's north, on the border with Saudi Arabia. This governorate or province is largely in support of the Ansarullah insurgency and is the center of regular bombings by the aircraft of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The teachers with the young boys make the stop to pick up supplies for the trip: snacks and water. The excitement on the bus does not abate. It is just then, in this crowded market, that the aircraft of Saudi Arabia fired on the bus. It was a direct strike, according to eyewitnesses. The Red Cross now says that 50 children died in the strike (11 adults were killed). Among the 79 wounded, 56 are children—many fighting for their lives. A UNICEF report out earlier this year suggests that this kind of violence is not unusual. [Read More]
More about US complicity in the Yemen children massacre - (Video) "40 Yemeni Children Dead by U.S.-Made Bomb? Outrage Mounts Over U.S. Role in Airstrike on School Bus," from Democracy Now! [August 14, 2018] [Link]; "44 Small Graves Stir Questions About U.S. Policy in Yemen," New York Times [August 15, 2018] [Link];
War with North Korea?
Moon and Kim to Meet again in September; U.S. Ambassador says "Too early" to End the Korean War
From ZoomInKorea [August 17, 2018]
---- The leaders of North and South Korea will meet for the third time, this time in Pyongyang in September, announced Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the North Korean agency that deals with inter-Korean affairs. He announced the upcoming summit without offering a specific date and said, "If the issues that were raised in the inter-Korea talks and individual meetings are not resolved, then unexpected problems could arise and all the items on the agenda could meet obstacles." The two Koreas agreed on the summit at their fourth high-level talks at Panmunjom on August 13 where they also agreed on the following … On the same day as the announcement of the inter-Korean summit, U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris commented that it is "too early" to move toward the declaration of a formal end to the Korean War. [Read More] And for more on whether it's "too early": Choe Sang-Hun, "North Korea Presses Demand for End of War Amid Talk of Pompeo Visit," New York Times [August 17, 2018] [Link].
War with Iran?
Manufacturing Consent For War On Iran: Pompeo's New Iran Action Group
By Trita Parsi, Information Clearinghouse [August 18, 2018]
---- I wanted to share with you a few thoughts on the announcement of Mike Pompeo's new Iran Action Group at the State Department. As if the parallels were not strong enough to the regime-change policy on Iraq, the announcement comes almost exactly on the anniversary of the CIA-led coup against Iran's elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. One thing stood out from Pompeo's presser: As usual, it was heavy on accusations and demands, and rather empty on substance. In fact, it was not clear what exactly the group would be doing beyond what already has been announced. But there are reasons to believe that this is an important development. Fissures exist within the Trump administration between Trump himself (who likely does want to pivot to diplomacy with Iran as he did on North Korea) and members of his team (John Bolton, Pompeo and Brian Hook), who view the offer of negotiations as yet another instrument of pressure, rather than a genuine offer. [Read More] Also useful is this report from Juan Cole: "If you Put an old W. Bush crony in Charge of Iran Policy, doesn't it Signal a War-Like Intention?" [Link].
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE BREAKDOWN
(Video) Watch What Bill McKibben Calls 'One of the Best and Most Straightforward Videos about Climate Change I've Ever Seen From a Political Leader'
Trump's 'Immoral' Plan to Allow Coal States to Self-Regulate Could Send 365 Million Tons of Carbon Into Atmosphere
By
---- Weeks after President Donald Trump moved to keep California from applying its own stringent regulations to auto emissions, White House officials indicated that the president would soon unveil a plan to give several other states the right to self-regulate regarding pollution—but the states in question this time are coal producers, and Trump's proposal is likely to cause an explosion in emission rates as well as a worsening of the climate crisis. At a rally in West Virginia on Tuesday, Trump is expected to unveil a plan to allow states to determine whether they'll regulate coal plant emissions, and if so, how. … The plan could release about 365 million metric tons of carbon into atmosphere which would have otherwise been prevented from being released under President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan, according to the Washington Post. [Read More]
All the battles being waged against fossil fuel infrastructure are following a single strategy
By Luis Hestres, The Conversation [August 8, 2018]
---- The activists holding a growing number of protests against oil pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects from coast to coast are winning some courtroom victories. For example, a federal appeals court recently struck down two key decisions allowing a natural gas pipeline to cut through Virginia's Jefferson National Forest, just days before a three-judge panel nixed two permits for another pipeline intended to transport natural gas in Virginia because it would compromise efforts to protect endangered wildlife. At the same time, Oregon's Supreme Court declined to revisit a lower court ruling that let Portland's prohibition of big fossil fuel export projects stand. Just like when activists refuse to leave their treetop perches to stop oil companies from axing an old-growth forest or when they lock their bodies to bulldozers to prevent the machine from making way for a new coal mine, these legal challenges are part of a coordinated strategy [Read More] And for some examples of successful pipeline protests: "Atlantic Coast Pipeline foes file their broadest legal challenge yet," from Energy News [August 17, 2018] [Link]; and "Another Set Back For TransCanada: Keystone XL Pipeline In Nebraska To Go Through 'Robust Environmental Review," from Nationofchange.org [August 18, 2018] [Link].
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Democratic socialism derangement syndrome? Why hysteria about the rise of the progressive left misses the mark
---- After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's shocking victory in New York earlier this summer, pundits warned of a socialist takeover. The front page of the New York Post put the city on "Red Alert," cheekily depicting the likely incoming congresswoman in bright red lipstick. … The reality is the progressive left hasn't gone anywhere. Indeed, membership in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has been ticking upward since long before all these elections, exploding by 800 percent since 2015. According to DSA's national office, the group now counts nearly 50,000 members in all 50 states — most of them millennials. … Establishment politicians and media elites are hostile to socialism because it threatens their interests — and because they don't understand our current political moment. But socialism is in the spotlight precisely because there's a growing movement behind it. While anger toward capitalism is nothing new, the DSA has found a way to mobilize that outrage into organizing — and winning elections. Democratic socialism offers a world to work toward that looks a hell of a lot better than the one we've been handed — and a moral roadmap for how to get there. We can expect a lot more Americans to get on board. [Read More]
DNC Will Take Fossil Fuel Money After All
By Lorraine Chow, Ecowatch [August 13, 2018]
---- That was fast. Just two months after the Democratic National Committee (DNC) unanimously prohibited donations from fossil fuel companies, the DNC voted 30-2 on Friday on a resolution that critics say effectively reverses the ban, The Huffington Post reported. The resolution, introduced by DNC Chair Tom Perez, allows the committee to accept donations from "workers, including those in energy and related industries, who organize and donate to Democratic candidates individually or through their unions' or employers' political action committees" or PACs. It conflicts with the original resolution that called on the committee to "reject corporate PAC contributions from the fossil fuel industry that conflict with our DNC Platform." [Read More]
The Trump Regime and The Immigration Crisis
Federal immigration lawyers have asked to reactivate thousands of closed deportation cases
By Jazmine Ulloa, The Los Angeles Times [August 17, 2018]
---- Federal immigration prosecutors have sought to reactivate thousands of closed deportation cases, following a recent court decision by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions that curbed the power of immigration judges to indefinitely suspend cases. Attorneys with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement this fiscal year have asked to restart nearly 8,000 cases that immigration judges had suspended or closed for administrative reasons, according to statistics from the Department of Justice's Executive Office for Immigration Review. Those requests totaled about 8,400 in fiscal year 2017, which included four months of the Obama administration. But the pace of the requests has doubled as compared to Obama's previous two years in office — 3,551 and 4,847 in fiscal years 2015 and 2016. … Through a series of recent court decisions, Sessions has used his legal authority over the immigration system to limit full asylum hearings and block most victims of domestic and gang violence from seeking the form of legal refuge. In May, the attorney general ruled that immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals, the highest immigration tribunal in the nation, lack the general authority to close cases for administrative reasons. [Read More]. And for more bad news: "U.S. attorney general issues order to speed up immigrant deportations," from Reuters [August 16, 2018] [Link].
Donald Trump Isn't Just Slashing the Refugee Quota, He's Dismantling the Entire Resettlement System
By Sarah Aziza, The Intercept [August 15, 2018]
---- As the world's already-unprecedented refugee population continues to climb, the Trump administration is considering slashing the annual refugee cap to 25,000 for the 2019 fiscal year, down from this year's historic low of 45,000, the New York Times reported earlier this month. The administration last year suspended all refugee resettlement for 120 days and diverted resources and personnel away from refugee processing, further weakening an already-backlogged system. These disruptions have caused a cascade of delays and interagency confusion, while a lack of transparency leaves refugees and advocates alike at the mercy of an increasingly antagonistic system. Sources familiar with the program describe chaos amid shifting security protocols, with particular detriment to refugees from the Middle East and other Muslim-majority countries. [Read More]
---- As the world's already-unprecedented refugee population continues to climb, the Trump administration is considering slashing the annual refugee cap to 25,000 for the 2019 fiscal year, down from this year's historic low of 45,000, the New York Times reported earlier this month. The administration last year suspended all refugee resettlement for 120 days and diverted resources and personnel away from refugee processing, further weakening an already-backlogged system. These disruptions have caused a cascade of delays and interagency confusion, while a lack of transparency leaves refugees and advocates alike at the mercy of an increasingly antagonistic system. Sources familiar with the program describe chaos amid shifting security protocols, with particular detriment to refugees from the Middle East and other Muslim-majority countries. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Resistance In the Ruins [Gaza/Israel]
By
Last week, as part of its ongoing terror campaign, a series of air strikes conducted by "the world's most moral army" virtually leveled Gaza's five-story al-Meshal Theater and Cultural Center, a cherished cultural landmark for local artists and writers, to "make residents feel the price of escalation." A "place of love" and one of the few surviving cultural spaces in a ravaged Gaza, the center's elegant 350-seat theater hosted plays, poetry readings, dance recitals, music performances, holiday celebrations and the UK-based Station House Opera's At Home in Gaza and London; the building also housed a library and offices for arts organizations. The day of the attacks, actors were rehearsing a new play; the director left in the afternoon, and when he returned at 6 p.m., "the building was gone." An Israeli army spokesman said the center was destroyed because it housed Hamas' political leadership, but no Gazan had ever seen a sign of Hamas there. Many were devastated by the loss. [Read More]
