Tronc Fires Half the Staff of the New York Daily News
Democracy Now: Tronc Fires Half the Staff of the New York Daily News, in Latest Attack on Local Journalism
In New York City, the new owner of the New York Daily News says it will fire half the staff of the longtime newspaper. Among those who were fired was editor-in-chief Jim Rich, who tweeted, “If you hate democracy and think local governments should operate unchecked and in the dark, then today is a good day for you.” In the 1980s, the New York Daily News employed 400 journalists. After the latest firings, the newspaper will have only 45 people in its newsroom staff. The New York Daily News’s owner, Tronc, is also the publisher of the Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Sun and the Hartford Courant. For more, we speak with Democracy Now!’s Juan González, a longtime columnist for the New York Daily News. — Democracy Now
US Citizenship and Immigration Services Starting a Denaturalization Task Force
Denaturalization to strip new citizens of citizenship.
The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services is creating a new task force. Its goal: to examine what they say are bad naturalization cases, according to Director L. Francis Cissna’s June announcement.
As a result, the organization expects to hire dozens of lawyers and immigration officers in the coming weeks to find U.S. citizens they say should not have been naturalized, to revoke their citizenship, and then eventually deport them.
Ur Jaddou, a former chief council for the USCIS, now the director of the immigrant advocacy group DHS Watch, and an immigration law professor at Washington College of Law at American University explains this development…Read Article
VFP Chapter 112 Gathering Aug 10
We now have enough consensus to schedule the anticipated VFP chapter 112 gathering.
The greatest number of replies were given to August 10, a Friday. Thanks to everyone for sending in a response. Hopefully, now that a date is chosen others can determine for themselves if they can make the date. I’ll guess we could have from eight to fourteen people in attendance. Remember, for members who have business items for the chapter to consider please come prepared to further your requests. Voting can take place at the BBQ. — Michael Cervantes
WHERE: Ventura Marina Park
2950 Pierpont Blvd, Ventura, CA 93001
Marina Park is located at the south end of Pierpont Boulevard in Ventura (near the intersection of Pierpont and Coral Street). It is a 15 acre park that has over a third of a mile of oceanfront adjacent to Ventura Harbor, giving it plenty of beachfront, flat sand to play in. We will be in the grassy area of the park.Look for our flying VFP banners.
WHEN: August 10, 2018; Beginning at 11:30am and staying at least two hours maybe more.
Planning on barbecuing turkey hotdogs and buns, with dressings and side items you may wish to bring like desserts, drinks, salads, veggies, fruit, etc.
Veterans For Peace 33rd Annual Convention, August 22-26th.
Veterans For Peace is excited to be coming to St. Paul for their 33rd Annual Convention, August 22-26th.
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/2018-annual-convention
This year’s theme is Reclaim Armistice Day – End All Wars! The Twin Cities VFP chapter has done an excellent job working with the National Office staff and the Board of Directors to bring together a great convention. For years, the Twin Cities chapter has been one of the strongest chapters ringing the bells to “Reclaim Armistice Day.” They introduced the first ever resolution in support of Armistice Day in 2008.
The VFP convention will be held 100 years after the armistice that ended the horrific carnage of World War I, and 90 years after the Kellogg-Briand Pact, the international agreement in which countries promised not to use war to resolve “disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them. Frank Kellogg, who was a Minnesota senator before becoming U.S. Secretary of State, co-authored the pact with French Foreign Minister
Briand in 1928, for which the two men were awarded the 1929 Nobel Peace Prize. It is fitting then that the VFP Convention will be held on Kellogg Avenue, the location of the St. Paul InterContinental, a union hotel owned by the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.
The weekend of plenaries and workshops will begin with a plenary on Indigenous History and the Discovery Doctrine. The Twin Cities are home to the inspiring Indigenous Youth Ceremonial Mentoring Society, who recently traveled to the Vatican to advocate for the abolishment of the Discovery Doctrine.
We are honored to have Christine Ahn, founder and International Coordinator of Women Cross DMZ, as our banquet speaker on Saturday evening. Christine Ahn, has traveled many times to Korea, bringing women from all over the world to meet with women in both the North and the South of Korea. Women Cross DMZ has had a real impact on building support in Korea and the U.S. for peace and disarmament on the Korean Peninsula.
Many women will play leading roles at the VFP convention. Aida Touma-Sliman, a well-known Palestinian journalist and member of the Israeli Knesset will speak on Friday morning about the new apartheid law in Israel. Medea Benjamin will address the danger of a U.S. war on Iran. Colonel Ann Wright will report on her experience with the Freedom Flotilla, currently headed to Gaza. Former National Lawyers Guild president Marjorie Cohn will be joined by Phyllis
Bennis and Ellen Barfield on a plenary discussion about the potential for working within the United Nations. Becky Leuning will facilitate a mini-plenary on the Crisis at the Border, and U.S. Policy in Latin America, to include Nellie Jo David, Tohono O’odham, environmental justice activist, and Daira Quinone, Afro-Colombian singer and human rights activist.
Throughout the weekend we will hear speakers on a range of issues from VFP campaigns and projects, like the Korea Peace Campaign, Save Our VA and updates from the Veterans Peace Team. We are also honored to have activist leaders from coalition partners from various
organizations like About Face: Veterans Against War and CodePink.
Iraq war veteran and GI resister Camilo Mejia will speak about U.S. intervention in his home
country, Nicaragua, as well as in Venezuela. Iranian-American veteran Bahman Azad will speak about U.S. intervention throughout the Middle East.
There will also be time to enjoy one another and listen to some good music! On Thursday evening, we will enjoy a two-hour Mississippi riverboat cruise on the Anson Northrup replete with tempting finger food and music by Ali Washington. Ali is “a refreshing twist on the soulful sounds of classic Motown and today’s Pop and R&B” and is a local legend! On Saturday night after the banquet, we will be dancing up a storm to music by a great local DJ.
At our closing plenary on Sunday, we will say our “peace” with a commemoration of the signing of the Kellogg-Briand Pact for world peace 90 years ago. Author, blogger and activist David Swanson and local peace activists from VFP and from Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) will participate in the commemoration.
We can’t wait to see you in St. Paul! As we said, you really won’t want to miss
it. Please register now, if you haven’t already done so.
END ALL WARS!
Harvest of Empire Screening and Discussion
Sunday, August 12th 12-4 PM
CSU Channel Islands, El Dorado Hall
Map / Location: http://maps.csuci.edu/?id=502#!m/189832
I would like to let you all know about an event held by a Ventura County group – Educators Doing Justice. We will be screening Harvest of Empire, a documentary about the US’s interventions in Latin America, followed by a discussion of the documentary. We will also be looking at AB 699, which requires school districts to have a contingency plan if they are approached by ICE, and giving information about how to support the undocumented and immigrant community in our schools. In light of the migrant crisis and all that is happening at the Southern Border, we feel that it is important to educate ourselves and the community about how the US economic and political interventions has caused the instability forcing many people in Central America and Mexico to flee for their lives.
Tickets now available for family movie night. Join us for “Black Panther” in San Diego
Family Movie Night featuring “Black Panther”
Friday, 8/24 at 6:30 p.m.
Location: GI Midway Museum
910 N Harbor Dr, San Diego, CA 92101
In this Marvel Studios’ 2018 smash hit, Black Panther defends Wakanda, a technologically advanced country in Africa that has hidden itself away from the rest of the world. Now, he must face a dissident who wants to sell the country’s natural resources to fund an uprising. Pre-show activities will take place in the museum’s hanger bay. Enjoy music, red carpet photo opportunities, resource tables, and more.
Be a Back-to-School Hero
The festival will be conducting a back-to-school supply drive for military connected youth and schools. Be a hero to military youth by equipping them for academic success. Each attendee that brings a donated item (valued at $10+) will receive a free popcorn.
Requested Items:
- spiral notebooks (wide or college ruled)
- notebook filler paper (wide or college ruled)
- 1 ½” or 2” binders
- subject folders or tab dividers
- pencil box or pouch
- markers / colored pencils
- blue or black ink pens
- pencils (8 pk)
- erasers
- pencil sharpeners
- glue sticks
The GI Film Festival runs August 25-30 and features five days of compelling and inspiring films including documentaries, shorts, major productions, local films, and more. Screenings will be held at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park and UltraStar Cinemas at Hazard Center.
More Information: http://gifilmfestivalsd.org/2018/films/family-movie-night-featuring-black-panther/
General admission begins at $10 / $8 for KPBS members, veterans, and current service members.
S. Brian Willson forwards letter from Nicarauga
This is a very good assessment of the orchestrated coup in Nicaragua. The author is a Gringo who lives in Managua working at the Ben Linder house who happens to be stuck in Granada because we are under siege by many thugs armed I am sure with help of the US. We hope that the OAS soon will agree to come to Nicaragua to facilitate a true (non-church) dialogue and peace process. Granada will need some kind of physical intervention to corral the many armed thugs. The neighbors have barricaded our own neighborhood for protection from them in their unlicensed vehicles. – Brian Willson
Read More: http://popularresistance.org
Three Suicides in One Night – Guantanamo Prison
Three Suicides in One Night
Guantanamo Prison Commander Nominated as US Ambassador to South Korea
Who Are These Russians? A 6 minute film by Regis Tremblay
This is the first of several interviews I made while in Russia, entitled, “Who Are These Russians”. I am also working on a short film about this second trip to Russia.Tatyana is a 19 year old university student fromTaganrog, Russia which is about 18 miles from Donbass. Donbass has been under attack by the Ukrainian military.She was one of the English-speaking volunteers who assisted some 200 foreign guests invited to participate in the March of the Immortal Regiment on May
9th.Tatyana is one of several young Russians I interviewed while in Russia from May 7th-May 21st of this year. Listen to what she has to say about America,
Russian desire to be friends with America, and their hope for peace and not war. She also speaks about President Putin.I am quite confident that if more
Americans could visit Russia, we would discover that they are just like us. They do not want war. They want to be friends with us, and nearly all said they would love to
visit America. Citizen diplomacy is much more effective than that practiced by our government.
Hundreds Arrested Nationwide as Poor People’s Campaign Demands End to the “War Economy”
“We have a long history of wars against other people, mostly people of color, around the world. It’s time we stopped calling it the Defense Department and started calling it what it is:
the Department of War.”
In its demands unveiled last month, the Poor People’s Campaign called for “a reallocation of resources from the military budget to education, healthcare, jobs, and green infrastructure needs, and strengthening a Veterans Administration system that must remain public.” (Photo: Poor People’s Campaign/Twitter)
—By
Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s warning that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom,” the Poor People’s Campaign launched its third week of action in cities nationwide on Tuesday with the aim of confronting the American war economy, which pours resources that could be used to provide healthcare and food to the poor at home into the killing of innocents aboad.
Hoisting signs that read “The War Economy Is Immoral” and “Ban Killer Drones,” demonstrators gathered at the capitol buildings of New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and several other states to denounce a militaristic system that profits “every time a bomb is dropped on innocent people.”
READ MORE: http://www.commondreams.org/
The Coming Collapse, Chris Hedges
Trump has tapped into the hatred that huge segments of the American public have for a political and economic system that has betrayed them. He may be inept, degenerate, dishonest and a narcissist, but he adeptly ridicules the system they despise. His cruel and demeaning taunts directed at government agencies, laws and the established elites resonate with people for whom these agencies, laws and elites have become hostile forces. And for many who see no shift in the political landscape to alleviate their suffering, Trump’s cruelty and invective are at least cathartic.
An economy reliant on debt for its growth causes our interest rate to jump to 28 percent when we are late on a credit card payment. It is why our wages are stagnant or have declined in real terms—if we earned a sustainable income we would not have to borrow money to survive. It is why a university education, houses, medical bills and utilities cost so much. The system is designed so we can never free ourselves from debt.
However, the next financial crash, as Prins points out in her book “Collusion: How Central Bankers Rigged the World,” won’t be like the last one. This is because, as she says, “there is no Plan B.” Interest rates can’t go any lower. There has been no growth in the real economy. The next time, there will be no way out. Once the economy crashes and the rage across the country explodes into a firestorm, the political freaks will appear, ones that will make Trump look sagacious and benign.
READ MORE