Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
January 11, 2021
Hello All – On Saturday, CFOW held a rally in Hastings supporting the demand that Trump be impeached. In planning our demonstration, we had several discussions about why this was necessary even now, when his terms in office is set to expire soon, and what else must be addressed to push back against the broad conspiracy that Trump launched to negate the results of November's presidential election. The result was a family of demands and concerns that reached beyond impeachment-yes-or-no, and we would like to share some of our thoughts with you.
In terms of "why bother with impeachment," we point out that Trump was the leader, and acknowledged by the crowd as such, of a mob action that resulted in the death of five people. This was not the case of "free speech" unrelated to a later tragedy, but was the climax of Trump's months-long efforts to subvert the results of the November election, a fundamental attack on the foundations of Constitutional government. His responsibility for what happened cannot be denied.
Second, in the chain of events leading up to and including the mob attack on the Capitol, Trump demonstrated extreme personal instability and an inability to distinguish facts from lies. And this was not an aberration, but was a characteristic of his four-year term. Thus, even though he has less than two weeks left in office, there are credible fears that he is potentially irrational enough to start a war or do irreparable damage to our nation's well being. He must go asap.
And third, impeachment will put at least one nail in the coffin of Trumpism. Impeached, he will be discredited in the eyes of at least some Republicans, and impeached, he cannot again fill elected office – he can't run again in 2024. Impeachment will also reassert the principle that no one is above the law. We reject the idea of "presidential immunity" when such serious crimes are involved. A failure to punish him leaves ajar to door to the Next Time.
Of course Trump was not alone in this conspiracy, and we think it is important that the extent of the conspiracy and the role played in it by others be clarified. In this sense, we support a "broad," not a "narrow" impeachment, aiming as far as possible to suppress an anti-democratic movement, not simply a heinous individual. Thus we assert:
· The storming of the Capitol was the culmination of four years of hateful actions by our country's rightwing white supremacist movement. President Trump assumed the leadership of this movement. In ending his power and rebuking his actions, we will show that the green light given to the white supremacist movement has now turned red.
· The behavior of the Capital area's security people on Wednesday – from Capitol police to Metro police to the Pentagon and the National Guard – dramatically demonstrated the unacceptable difference between the treatment of white rioters and peaceful protesters in the Black Lives Matter and climate movements. We need accountability.
· The Republican legislators who supported the mob on Wednesday and who collaborated with President Trump in attempting to subvert the results of the presidential election must also be punished. There was nothing "in good faith" about what they did; they knowingly entered into a conspiracy to subvert the Constitutional process for the transfer of power. They have shown they are unfit to serve in government.
Establishing justice in this case – against President Trump, the rioting actors, and those who supported and enabled this assault on our Constitution – will not be easy, but it must be done. We are confident, as with Watergate in 1974, that an investigation into this conspiracy will reveal important facts and developments of which few are now aware, and will help to clarify where we are as a nation and what we have to do to construct a more democratic Republic.
News Notes
In an interesting video posted Saturday on Facebook, Michael Moore argues that the attack on the Capitol was an "inside job," with the police and some military collaborating with President Trump to overturn the results of the election. Many good points, imo.
After a British judge refused to extradite Julian Assange to the USA because of the state of his health and the terrible state of US prisons, on Wednesday she denied Assange bail while the USA filed an appeal against the judge's decision. Thus Assange remains confined in a high-security, Covid-ridden British prison. In denying extradition, the judge's decision nevertheless was supportive to all the USA claims about what Assange did and his violation of the 1917 Espionage Act, charges that could earn him the death penalty. For useful explanations and updates on the case, check out a good webinar with Noam Chomsky, Marjorie Cohn, and Daniel Elsberg; and for an overview of the case, check out "The Empire is Not Done with Julian Assange," by Chris Hedges.
To the extent Trump's insurrection was fueled by conspiracies that supposedly denied him the vote, it is obvious that we need to eliminate the electronic voting machines used in our elections and return to hand-marked, hand-counted paper ballots. A reader-friendly article explaining the basics of what we need and what (unfortunately) we have can be read here. Right now, the NYS Board of Elections is considering "certifying" an even worse voting machine than those now in use in NY; it is called the "Express Vote XL." We have until Thursday, January 14th to submit letters to the BoE saying not to do this. For some ideas about what to say and how/where to submit your letter, go to https://smartelections.us/.
Finally, about 50 people and some media turned out for the CFOW rally Saturday that demanded the impeachment of Donald Trump and a strong fight-back against white supremacy. For a few pictures, go here.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Taking the Covid Crisis into account, we meet (with safe distancing) for a protest/rally on Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Another vigil takes place on the first Monday of the month (February 1st, etc.), from 5 to 5:30 pm, in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. In this time of coronavirus, we are meeting by Zoom conference; if you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, Tuesday and Thursday at noon and/or Saturday at 4 pm, please send a return email. 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 support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
I woke up this morning "listening" in a dream to Gil Scott Heron and "Work for Peace." Perhaps you will like it too. Also topical this week is Heron's "Winter in America," for obvious reasons. Gil Scott Heron, we miss you now.
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
DONALD TRUMP'S FAILED COUP D'ETAT
The violence at the Capitol was an attempted coup. Call it that
By Rebecca Solnit, The Guardian [UK] [January 6, 2021]
---- On Wednesday, a coup attempt was led by the president of the United States. A rightwing mob attempted the coup in the form of a violent riot that stormed the Capitol building. They disrupted the proceedings that would have completed the recognition of the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Those proceedings had been disrupted earlier by elected officials bringing forth bad-faith claims that the election was not legitimate and should instead produce a continuation of Trump's presidency. This too was a coup attempt, an effort to violate the constitution and override the will of the voters in this election. Inside and outside were two faces of the same thing, and both were fomented by the leaders of the Republican party and by the US president. The mob outside would not exist without the politicians inside. Those insiders will make noises of horror and repudiation, but they own this. [Read More]
Riot on the Hill
By Mike Davis, New Left Review [January 7, 2021]
---- Yesterday's 'sacrileges' in our temple of democracy – oh, poor defiled city on the hill, etc. – constituted an 'insurrection' only in the sense of dark comedy. What was essentially a big biker gang dressed as circus performers and war-surplus barbarians – including the guy with a painted face posing as horned bison in a fur coat – stormed the ultimate country club, squatted on Pence's throne, chased Senators into the sewers, casually picked their noses and rifled files and, above all, shot endless selfies to send to the dudes back home. Otherwise they didn't have a clue. …Let me be clear: the Republican Party has just undergone an irreparable split. By the White House's Fuhrerprinzip standards, Pence, Tom Cotton, Chuck Grassley, Mike Lee, Ben Sasse, Jim Lankford even Kelly Loeffler are now traitors beyond the pale. This ironically enables them to become viable presidential contenders in a still far-right but post-Trump party. Since the election and behind the scenes, big business and many mega-Republican donors have been burning their bridges to the White House, … The goal is a realignment of power within the Party with more traditional capitalist interest groups like NAM and the Business Roundtable as well as with the Koch family, long uncomfortable with Trump. That's one side of the split. The other is more dramatic: the True Trumpists have become a de facto third party, bunkered down heavily in the House of Representatives. As Trump embalms himself in bitter revenge fantasies, reconciliation between the two camps will probably become impossible, although individual defections may occur. Mar-a-Lago will become base camp for the Trump death cult which will continue to mobilize his hardcore followers to terrorize Republican primaries and ensure the preservation of a large die-hard contingent in the House as well as in red-state legislatures. [Read More]
(Video) White Terrorist Groups Attacked Democracy During Reconstruction, They Are Doing It Again
From Democracy Now! [January 7, 2021]
---- As Washington reels from the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob intent on overturning the 2020 election results, lawmakers are considering new impeachment proceedings against President Trump for fomenting the insurrection. Civil War and Reconstruction historian Manisha Sinha says this isn't the first attempt to disrupt the democratic process by right-wing white domestic terrorists, citing the 1898 Wilmington coup and other efforts before that throughout the Southern states. "These groups today remind me of those people," says Sinha. In response to the call to invoke the 25th Amendment against Donald Trump, she argues, "This is an awful portent for our democracy, and we need to respond forcefully to it." [See the Program]
Some Background to the Day of Rage
(Video) "Unprecedented Moment": Far-Right Forces Swarm D.C. to Back Overturning Election, Egged On by Trump
From Democracy Now! [January 6, 2021]
---- Thousands who refuse to accept President Trump's 2020 election loss to Joe Biden are protesting in Washington, D.C., as Congress meets to count the Electoral College votes and certify the results. Mayor Muriel Bowser has called in the National Guard ahead of the protests, after anti-democracy protesters clashed with police near Black Lives Matter Plaza. Police arrested six people on charges that include bringing illegal guns to the city. National security reporter William Arkin says it is "an unprecedented moment," with the sitting president actively encouraging the unrest. [See the Program]
For more on the "Day of Rage" – "Donald Trump Unleashed His Cult on American Democracy" by James Risen, The Intercept [January 8, 2021] [Link]; ""Wanted: Lead Suspect in Election Fraud Conspiracy" by Ankush Khardori, New York Review of Books [January 6, 2021] [Link]; and "What were those Horrifying Anti-Jewish Hate Symbols at the Capitol Insurrection? A Scholar of American Anti-Semitism Explains" by Jonathan D. Sarna, The Conversation [January 10, 2021] [Link].
Serious Questions About the Police
(Video) White Supremacy in Action: Police Stand Down as Trump Mob Storms Capitol to Disrupt Election Vote
From Democracy Now! [January 7, 2021]
---- The insurrection was the culmination of months of lies by President Trump, widely repeated in right-wing media and on social media platforms, that the 2020 presidential election was rigged for Joe Biden. At a rally Wednesday, Trump urged supporters to head to the Capitol, who later broke through barriers and lines of police outside the Capitol and made their way inside, where they ransacked offices and sent lawmakers scrambling. Bree Newsome Bass, an antiracist activist, artist and housing rights advocate arrested in 2015 after she tore down the Confederate flag at the South Carolina state Capitol, says it's impossible not to note "the obvious difference in terms of how police have a coordinated, overtly militarized response to any kind of protest that is challenging racism in policing or racism in the government versus what we witnessed yesterday" in Washington, D.C. "It is very clear that the primary function of police forces in the United States is to enforce racism above enforcing public safety." [See the Program]
Was it police incompetence or a conspiracy? – "To See Police Priorities, Contrast Capitol Mob With J20 and Black Lives Matter Protests" by Natasha Lennard, The Intercept [[Link]; "Capitol Rioters Walked Away. Climate Protesters Saw a Double Standard" b[Link]; and "Storming of the Capitol Was Openly Planned but Ignored by Law Enforcement" by Ryan Devereaux, The Intercept [January 7, 2021] [Link].
Trump Should be Impeached and/or Prosecuted
Democrats Unify on Impeachment as They Explore Urgent Strategies to Nullify Trump
By John Nichols, The Nation [January 10, 2021]
---- As demands for the impeachment of Donald Trump grew in intensity Saturday, House Democrats united in support of a strategy to address the threat posed by a president who on January 6 incited a mob to storm the Capitol where members of Congress were certifying the election of Joe Biden as Trump's successor. Three key members of the House Judiciary Committee—Representatives David Cicilline of Rhode Island, Ted Lieu of California, and Jamie Raskin of Maryland—have secured more than 175 cosponsors for a draft article of impeachment against Trump that is expected to be introduced Monday and brought up for consideration as soon as Wednesday. … The coming week has the potential to see the House take decisive action on a multipronged agenda—elements of which are outlined below—to address an urgent moment when the nation is on edge over what Cicilline describes as "an attempted coup." It is not too much to ask that Democrats move boldly on an array of accountability measures at the same time. In fact, this is the best strategy for addressing the crisis created when the president incited an insurrection. [Read More]
More Thoughts on Trump's Impeachment – "Trump May Face Prosecution — but Not for His War Crimes" by Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept [[Link]'; (Video) "Rep. Ro Khanna: Republicans Should Back Impeachment After Trump Incited Mob Violence Against Them" from Democracy Now! [January 8, 2021] [Link]; and "Trump and violence in 2020: a timeline of incitement," from The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [Link].
Looking Ahead: What to Do?
The Failed Fascist Coup and the Futility of "Reconciliation"
---- The Democratic establishment falsely claims that "democracy" survived the failed putsch. This ignores the fact that the United States was a corporate and financial oligarchy subjected to an unelected dictatorship of concentrated wealth and Empire well before Trump's ascendancy. This pre-existing capitalist-imperialist authoritarianism was critical democracy-delegitimizing and populace-demobilizing context for the rise of Trump and Trumpism-fascism. The radical right danger will survive the eclipse of Trump, congealing perhaps around a more competent and disciplined Dear Leader, set to feed off mass disillusionment with the likely capital- and Constitution-imposed failures of the neoliberal Biden administration and the coming bare majority Democratic Congress. Meanwhile, nearly half of Republicans polled by YouGov approved the demented attack on the Capitol. [Read More] Also interesting/useful is "The Unacceptable Costs of Appeasing MAGA Nation" bDecember 21, 2020] [Link].
From the Cold War to the War on Terror: the harms from authoritarian "solutions" are often greater than the threats they are ostensibly designed to combat.
By Glenn Greenwald [January 8, 2021]
---- It is stunning to watch now as every War on Terror rhetorical tactic to justify civil liberties erosions is now being invoked in the name of combating Trumpism, including the aggressive exploitation of the emotions triggered by [Wednesday's] events at the Capitol to accelerate their implementation and demonize dissent over the quickly formed consensus. The same framework used to assault civil liberties in the name of foreign terrorism is now being seamlessly applied — often by those who spent the last two decades objecting to it — to the threat posed by "domestic white supremacist terrorists," the term preferred by liberal elites, especially after yesterday, for Trump supporters generally. In so many ways, yesterday was the liberals' 9/11, as even the most sensible commentators among them are resorting to the most unhinged rhetoric available. [Read More] This morning's Democracy Now! hosted a useful discussion with Chris Hedges and an academic media expert on the dilemma of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms being privately owned, and thus censorship decisions, etc. being left up to zillionaire corporations.
WAR & PEACE
Biden Faces a Minefield in New Diplomacy with Iran
By Robin Wright, The New Yorker [January 4, 2021]
---- Iran claims that the U.S. has to act first—since it withdrew from the deal—and do more than offer promises. "Go back to full compliance, normalize Iran's economic relations with the rest of the world, stop making new conditions, stop making outrageous demands," Zarif said, at the Mediterranean Dialogues, in early December. … Biden can lift sanctions with three executive orders, Zarif told an Iranian newspaper. In broad terms, Biden wants Iran to roll back its recent breaches, especially on uranium enrichment. Iran, in turn, wants U.S. sanctions lifted so that it can sell more oil, tap into its financial assets frozen abroad, and revive an ailing economy also hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Tehran claims that it demonstrated restraint, after Trump withdrew from the deal; it honored all its obligations for more than a year, as verified repeatedly in inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. [Read More]
THE CLIMATE CRISIS
A Global Green New Deal Is the Only Way to Avert Disaster
An interview with Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin, Truthout [January 7, 2021]
---- Noam Chomsky: Rejoining the Paris Agreement is imperative, but only a bare beginning. The Agreement was an important step forward. It is, however, very weak, not even close to what has to be done. It also has no teeth: it is voluntary, no binding commitments. The primary reason for the weakness is the U.S. Republican Party, which would not permit anything that went much beyond symbolism. The Party is still there. … And Trump is not gone, far from it. A large majority of the Republican voting base regards him as their leader, if not savior. They can be whipped up to threaten any Republican office holder who dares to depart from Trump-McConnell malevolence, much as the Tea Party was organized and used for that purpose, with plenty of funding from powerful concentrations of capital. It may be recalled that as recently as 2008, during the McCain campaign, Republicans were willing to entertain the thought that there might be some problem about destroying the climate that sustains life. With virtual unanimity, they succumbed to a juggernaut launched by David Koch to extirpate that heresy, a victory that remains in place. With Trump setting himself up as the "true victor" in the elections, stirring up poisons in the ways he masters very well, there will be serious barriers to returning the country to a moderately civilized course. [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Trump's Execution Spree Is Not About Him. It's About Us. [Lisa Montgomery]
By Liliana Segura, The Intercept [January 10 2021]
---- One week before her client was scheduled to die in the federal execution chamber, capital defense attorney Kelley Henry shared a photograph with reporters assembled on a Zoom call. It showed an old trailer in a grassy field in Osage, Oklahoma. This was the spot where her client Lisa Montgomery was repeatedly raped as a child. Henry had taken the photograph herself. It was an emblem of Montgomery's harrowing life story. "We've described it as Lisa experiencing life like a horror movie growing up," Henry said. "But what happened to Lisa was worse than a horror movie. Worse than anything you can imagine." … If the Department of Justice gets its way, Montgomery will be killed by lethal injection on January 12. Two days later, Corey Johnson is set to die, followed the next day by Dustin Higgs. Both Johnson and Higgs contracted Covid-19 in December — part of a severe outbreak in the Special Confinement Unit at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. If the three executions go through, Trump will have executed 13 people in the federal death chamber since July. [Read More]
Inside the Scramble for Power in the Board Controlling Puerto Rico's Financial Future
By Alleen Brown, Ryan Grim, The Intercept [December 22, 2020]
---- A long-running clash between Wall Street bondholders and the people of Puerto Rico is coming to a head, as the Trump administration looks to lock down gains that financiers have made in their battle with the island. The fate of the island hinges on the terms of a bankruptcy-like deal currently being hashed out by a seven-person, unelected control board and a bankruptcy judge, all of which must be ultimately approved by the legislature and governor of Puerto Rico. … Ultimately, a "good" debt repayment deal is not what the anti-austerity movement is asking for. Many have pointed out that much of the debt was illegally issued in violation of Puerto Rico's constitution and have called for a full audit. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
2021: Palestine's Chance of Fighting Back
---- 2020 will go down in history as the year that terminated the American-sponsored 'peace process'. While 2021 will not reverse the monumental change in the US attitude and objectives in Palestine, Israel and the Middle East, the new year presents Palestinians with the opportunity to think outside the American box. … If 2021 is to bring about any positive change in the trajectory of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, new strategies would have to replace the old ones. Instead, thinking should shift completely into a whole new political landscape: First, Palestinian unity must be redefined so it is not confined to a mere political arrangement between rivals Hamas and Fatah, each motivated by its own agenda and self-preservation. Unity should be expounded to include a national dialogue among all Palestinians, so that the Palestinian people, at home, or in 'shataat' (diaspora), should be part of forming a new Palestinian – not factional – vision. Second, a new vision should be developed and articulated to replace useless clichés, dogmas and wishful thinking. A two-state solution is simply unattainable, not because Israel and the US have done their utmost to bury it, but because, even if implemented, it will not satisfy the minimal expectations of Palestinian rights. [Read More]
Also interesting/useful – "The Separate Regimes Delusion" [Israel's Apartheid] by Nathanial Thrall, London Review of Books [January 7, 2021] [Link]; and "When Sharing Data on the Occupation Is Treated as an Intel Breach" by Amira Hass, Haaretz [Israel] [January 4, 2021] [Link].
