Covid

MASKING SAVES LIVES

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Detroit Will be Democracy's Decisive Battle -- Glen Ford at Black Agenda Report


http://www.blackagendareport.com/content/detroit-will-be-democracys-decisive-battle
EXCERPT:
Kevin Orr, ensconced in a $5,000 per month luxury penthouse condominium paid for by one of Governor Snyder’s private slush funds with contributions from secret corporate donors, is building the template for urban democratic dissolution from scratch. He is a crude and unimaginative man, doing Wall Street’s bidding with little finesse in the bright light of day. His arrogance is buttressed by the certainty that he is backed by the real rulers of the American State, Wall Street, and that the outcome in Judge Steven Rhodes’ federal bankruptcy court will create precedent to render all of America’s cities servile and neutered. Orr is also aware that his coloration provides perfect cover for his mission – added value for his services, well worth the luxury suite. (The judge ruled that Orr’s accommodations were irrelevant to the case.) 
First-responders, revered in the post-911 United States, are crucified along with the rest of the city rabble. Orr ejected 8,000 city retirees under age 65 from their city-paid $605 per month health insurance [11], including police [12] and firefighters [13]. The state constitution specifically forbids impairing pensions [14], which average only $18,000 a year, yet Orr testified that he thinks federal law allows him to override those protections. He and the governor, who was subpoenaed by unions, both claimed they didn’t start out wanting to bankrupt the city – but why would Snyder hire bankruptcy lawyer Orr unless that were the intention? The lying duo claimed they never conspired to push Detroit into the venue, and that it was the unions that refused to negotiate in good faith. Apparently, “good faith” means negotiating away rights guaranteed by law. 
Orr ejected 8,000 city retirees under age 65 from their city-paid $605 per month health insurance, including police and firefighters.” 
Orr admitted that he never even raised the subject of getting the state to help Detroit out of its fiscal difficulties. And, why would he? His mission is not to save the city, but to break it into auctionable pieces and to garnishee its remaining revenue streams for bankers. His opening fiscal reorganization plan would pay off Bank of America and UBS, who have already made millions on a 2005 derivatives scheme with the city, establishing Britain’s Barclay’s Bank as the super-priority creditor[15] with dibs on $4 million a month in Detroit casino revenues if the city defaults. 
To ensure that the city can never escape the clutches of capital, the contract would allow Barclay’s to immediately declare Detroit in default if Emergency Financial Manager rule is ended for any reason – that is, the corporate plan calls for the permanent cessation of democracy in Detroit. 
That’s the plan for the whole country. Wall Street recognizes that it cannot effectively consume the public sphere as long as the public retains the electoral democratic mechanisms to stop it. In other words, concentrated capital can no longer coexist with even the thin gruel of American democracy. The Black polity is the weakest link in the U.S. democratic armor. White folks won’t protect it, and Black folks have the least resources to defend it. The generals of Wall Street have purposely chosen Detroit as the decisive battleground, where the power of massed capital will be hyper-charged by an endemic, unreconstructed racism that can reliably be expected to deny that democracy is really at stake, at all. It’s just, you know – “the Blacks.” 
And even some Black folks will agree.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Are You Racist? | George Galloway | Oxford Union -- MUST WATCH



http://youtu.be/6jfTaIW8mqg

The above video relates to a recent occasion when Galloway walked out of a debate when he found out his opponent was an Israeli.

Tuesday, October 22, 2013

2013 Leonard Peltier Holiday Gift Drive


2013 Leonard Peltier Holiday Gift Drive


2013 Leonard Peltier
Holiday Gift Drive


Children's Winter Clothing, Toys & School Supplies

Please only send NEWitems for children of ALL ages.  



(Donors tend to send small sizes & toys for younger children often. Please remember that our teens need some holiday cheer, too!)

NORTH DAKOTA

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, Belcourt, North Dakota
 (Leonard Peltier's Nation)

TMBCI Holiday Gift Drive
Attention Cindy Malaterre
PO Box 900
Belcourt, ND 58316

SOUTH DAKOTA

Oglala Nation, Pine Ridge, South Dakota

Paul Waha (Shields) Peltier
PO Box 646
Pine Ridge, SD 57764

Peltier Network: Year-Long Support

Peltier College Scholarship (Cash Donations)

Oglala Commemoration
1939 Wentzville Parkway
#191
Wentzville, MO 63385

School Supplies (Paper, pens and pencils, binders, erasers, backpacks, etc.)

Oglala Commemoration
1939 Wentzville Parkway
#191
Wentzville, MO 63385

 
Thank You!

We Wish You Many Blessings This Holiday Season and Throughout the New Year!
 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Free Leonard Peltier -- One More Reason Why: Illegal Canadian Extradition

Mr. Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada on February 6,1976. He was extradited from Canada in December of the same year on the basis of an affidavit signed by Myrtle Poor Bear (above), a Native American woman known to have serious mental health problems. 
Poor Bear claimed to have been Leonard Peltier’s girlfriend at the time of the shootings, and to have been present during the shoot-out and witnessed the killings.
Leonard Peltier was extradited from Canada to the United States. 
Today, the government concedes that, in fact, Myrtle Poor Bear did not know Leonard Peltier, nor was she present at the time of the shooting. She later confessed she had given false statements after being pressured and terrorized by FBI agents. Myrtle Poor Bear sought to testify in this regard at Leonard Peltier’s trial. However, the judge barred her testimony on the grounds of mental incompetence. 
In addition to being a violation of Leonard Peltier's rights, the United States government committed fraud on the court during the extradition proceedings and violated the sovereignty of Canada. The U.S. government has made no attempt to correct this wrong and, to date, the illegal extradition has not been corrected by the Canadian Court.

Guantánamo Bay: The Hunger Strikes - [animation] -- Close Guantanamo!



http://youtu.be/2VN4hewhWvY

Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Tuesday, October 01, 2013

Welcome Home to Herman Wallace!

UPDATE:  Herman Wallace died in his sleep Thursday night, surrounded by friends, family & love.  Tuesday night when he was freed, I was so happy and honored to be under the same sky.  Even though he was a continent away, I felt his joy and dignity.  Herman Wallace, Presenté.





Pics tweeted from #OpHiginiosLaw
Share photos on twitter with Twitpic

Article on Herman's case and the Angola 3:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/09/release_herman_wallace_of_the_angola_three_he_is_about_to_die_of_cancer.html