Friends,
A group of went to the State Department on
April 1, 2019 to deliver a letter to Secretary of State Michael Pompeo seeking
a meeting to force a major change in Trump’s foreign policy
misadventures. Dick Ochs was one of the advocates for radical change in
US foreign policy. I will do a write-up of the action undertaken at the State
Department at a later date.
However, after our adventure at the State
Department, we went to the building which houses the Organization of American
States. A vote on enacting further sanctions on Venezuela was to take
place, and about 30 of us demonstrated outside the building. For whatever
reason, the vote was p[ostponed.
However, around 5 PM, the police started
moving protesters away from the OAS front entrance to the sidewalk on 17th
Street. For those who failed to move to the sidewalk quickly enough were to be
arrested. In fact they police handcuffed Dick and Mary Elieisar. Mary
was released from custody after explaining she was acting as Dick’s lawyer. But
Dick was taken to a precinct and was being processed. More information
will shared as the details unfold.
Kagiso, Max
. Monday,
April 01, 2019
'Trump's
Brand Is Crisis': Progressives, Dems, and Pope Sound Alarm Over Threat to Close
Border
"Builders of walls, be they made of razor wire or
bricks," declared Pope Francis, "will end up becoming prisoners of
the walls they build."
commondreams.org
President
Donald Trump's threat to close the southern border was met with criticism and
concern from politicians, activists, the public—and Pope Francis.
Trump
is taking the action, he said,
because of what he believes is a crisis in drug smuggling and human
trafficking.
In
remarks to reporters Sunday on the papal plane en route from Morocco to Rome,
Pope Francis said that
Trump—and people who think the way the U.S. president does about migrants—are
ultimately trapping themselves in an inhumane situation.
"Builders
of walls, be they made of razor wire or bricks, will end up becoming prisoners
of the walls they build," the pope said.
Pope
Francis denounced immigration barriers when he was asked about President Donald
Trump’s threat to shut down the U.S.-Mexico border.
The comments preceded a tweet
made by the pope Saturday in which he celebrated the rights of migrants to
self-determination.
"Every
human being has the right to life, to dream and to find his or her rightful
place in our 'common home!'" posted the pontiff. "Every person has a
right to the future."
Every
human being has the right to life, to dream and to find his or her rightful
place in our “common home”! Every person has a right to the future. #ApostolicJourney
The
measure to close the border comes as the administration plans to cut aid to
Central American countries—a move that experts argue is almost certain to
increase, not curtail, the number of immigrants at the border.
Acting
Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, speaking to ABC News anchor Jon
Karl Sunday, said that unless "something dramatic" changed, the
closure would happen this week.
Acting
White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney tells @jonkarl it would take "something dramatic" for
President Trump not to close the U.S.-Mexico border https://abcn.ws/2U8i3sJ #ThisWeek
Mulvaney pushed back on the
idea that an increase in aid would lead to lower numbers of people on the
border in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, also aired
Sunday.
"If
we're going to give these countries hundreds of millions of dollars, we would
like them to do more," said Mulvaney.
"If it's working so well why are the people still coming?"
Whether
or not Trump actually goes through with his threat is, as with most actions the
president proposes, an open question. Rep. Tom Kole (R-Okla.) told MSNBC's
Hallie Jackson Monday that Trump may be bluffing.
Republican
@TomColeOK04 tells @HallieJackson he doesn’t think President Trump is
actually prepared to shut down the border.
So he’s bluffing? “That’s my view.”
So he’s bluffing? “That’s my view.”
Democrats
took a hard line against the proposal.
"It
is actions like these in which the president is announcing a potentially
devastating action to close the border for the state of Texas and the economic
well-being for the nation," Rep.
Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) said in a
tweet thread.
"Such
actions will backfire," Lee continued, "cause greater pain to
countries and do nothing to stop the flow of desperate migrants."
It
is actions like these in which the president is announcing a potentially
devastating action to close the border for the state of Texas and the economic
well-being for the nation - in addition, a reckless decision to deny aid to
three of the poorest countries in the world...
...Guatemala,
El Salvador and Honduras, out of spite is not foreign policy, it is punitive
and ineffective - such actions will backfire, cause greater pain to countries
and do nothing to stop the flow of desperate migrants. We need a real
immigration policy from...
"We
need a real immigration policy from this White House," added Jackson Lee.
Rep.
Juan Vargas (D-Calif.) was more blunt.
"Millions
of people would ultimately lose their jobs," said Vargas. "It's
really dumb."
Rep.
Juan Vargas on Trump threatening to close the border: "Millions of people
would ultimately lose their jobs. It is really dumb."
"I
studied democratization in college, which means I learned a lot about dictators
and autocrats," said Kelly Crowley. "They always eventually
close the borders."
"This
guy isn't into democracy," Crowley added. "He's checking
all the boxes."
I
studied democratization in college, which means I learned a lot about dictators
& autocrats. They always eventually close the borders (usually to stop
people from fleeing). This guy isn’t into democracy. He’s checking all the
boxes. https://nyti.ms/2TI8qfd
Shutting
down the border is "exactly the sort of move many in the GOP have—before
Trump—admired in European autocrats like Viktor Orban," said Sarah Posner,
a reporter with Type Investigations, referring to the far right Hungarian
leader.
Trump
is threatening to close the southern border? That's exactly the sort of move
many in the GOP have--before Trump--admired in European autocrats like Viktor
Orban:https://newrepublic.com/article/153276/republicans-congress-courted-nativist-authoritarian-leaders …
Trump's
motivation may be even baser than that, said Philadelphia Enquirer columnist
Will Bunch—the president may be doing nothing more than creating a crisis on
the border to help him win reelection.
"Trump's
brand is crisis," wrote Bunch,
pointing to the myriad ways the president has presented the country's woes in
ways that recall "carnage" rather than hope in the first two years of
Trump's administration.
"Nothing aids the
president's goal of portraying himself as a defender against invading hordes
than images of large crowds of asylum seekers," said Bunch.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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