Baltimore Activist Alert – January 11 – 12, 2025

Baltimore Activist Alert – January 11 – 12, 2025

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center.  Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. 

If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to Max Obuszewski, BNC, 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  Max can be reached at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 [at] comcast.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Need help in archiving activist material

4] Get the book A Bag of Snakes

5] Get the book Male Supremacy in the Catholic Church: An Insider’s View by Roy Bourgeois

6] Labor History Project

7] Friends meeting -- Jan. 11

8] The Chesapeake Bay – Jan. 11

9] Doctors against Genocide – Jan. 11

10] Close Gitmo – Jan. 11

11] Catonsville against Trump – Jan. 11

12] Protest ICE violence – Jan. 11

13] Starvation & Genocide – Jan. 11

14] Visibility brigade – Jan. 11

15] ICE out now – Jan. 11

16] MOCO DSA meeting – Jan. 11

17] Weekly Town Hall – Jan. 11

18] Vigil at the Pentagon – Jan. 12

19] Baltimore Sign waves – Jan. 12

20] Election protection – Jan.12

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1] – Buttons, bumper stickers and books are available.  “God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions” stickers are in stock. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

2] –To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/.  Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

3] –  Janice Sevre-Duszynska needs some assistance in archiving her activist material.  If you are interested in this project, contact Max at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski2001 at Comcast dot net.

4] – Barry Lee Burnside, a gaggle of great writers and copy editors are making available “A Bag of Snakes: Selected Writings on Prisons and the Death Penalty by Murphy Davis and Eduard Loring. Edited by Barry Lee Burnside.” Ed indicates the book will be available for sale on April 13, and is asking you to pre-order your copy. Your donation will provide a needed financial boost for the printing costs. The suggested donation is $20 for one copy; and $30 for your copy and an additional copy for a prisoner or someone in need. Any donation is appreciated. More or less you will receive the book.  Barry and the team have spent over two years putting this book together. It begins with outlines and notes found in the boxes of materials Murphy left when she ascended. The work is a work of love, and all involved are proud of the fruit borne by seeds nourished in good soil.

To order by postal mail, make your check to Open Door Community.  Send it to Open Door Community, PO Box 10980, Baltimore 21234.  For any questions, contact David Payne at 404-290-2047 or davidpayne@opendoorcommunity.org.

5] – Another book to consider purchasing is Male Supremacy in the Catholic Church: An Insider’s View by Roy Bourgeois. His new book is both memoir and position-paper, and it makes the case that the Roman Catholic Church is a corrupt system that spits out truth-tellers. The crime he was excommunicated for was attending the ordination ceremony of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Lexington, Kentucky, in August 2008. The ordination was under the auspices of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.  The Vatican’s response has been to excommunicate any woman who has the audacity to see herself as a priest equal to a male priest. You can purchase a copy from Amazon or by Kindle.

Here are two quotes to contemplate: “I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men. She is to keep silent.” – Timothy 1, 2:12-13.  “If the patriarchy that dominates the church is not dismantled and women are not treated as equals, the church will continue to diminish and, eventually, die.” – Roy Bourgeois.

6] – William Barry [billbarry21214@gmail.com] has a request. As the country begins to celebrate our 250th anniversary, our history is complicated but one thing is certain--labor history is always deleted. So he created the MD250 Labor History Project, and hopes you will participate by sending in labor history materials, and by sharing it with your friends, as part of creating a union movement. Go to https://www.md250laborhistory.org/

"We are either part of the solution or part of the problem." "The only reason an organization has dead wood is that management either hired dead wood or it hired live wood and killed it."   - W. Edwards Deming

7] – Homewood Friends Meeting [homewoodfriends@gmail.com] gathers for worship on Sundays at 10:30 AM at 3107 N. Charles St., Baltimore 21218 and on Zoom.  A simple lunch will take place after the 10:30 AM worship. Call 410-235-4438. To join by Zoom, go to https://us02web.zoom.us/j/255867065?pwd=UDNxVnlVSkZQOHlXWlc3NHpHeHdhZz09#success

8] – The Baltimore Ethical Society on Sun., Jan. 11 at 10:30 AM will host a hybrid platform: "The Chesapeake Style Bay" with Tom Horton, environmental journalist & author.  You can attend the platform via Zoom or in person at the Impact Hub, 10 E. North Ave., Baltimore 21202. Horton will discuss the failure to achieve Chesapeake cleanup goals in an effort that has now occupied the better part of half a century, and suggest how we might proceed from here. He will speak of some real successes, and the lessons we can draw from those. Horton in Salisbury, and has worked for the Baltimore Sun, Rolling Stone, National Geographic and others, exploring issues from coral reefs and the Amazon, to oil spills and famines in Africa. His greatest interest for more than half a century now, has been the Chesapeake Bay.

As the author of several books, including Bay Country and Island Out of Time, a memoir of living for three years on Smith Island, he writes a monthly Chesapeake Born column for the Bay Journal. To join by Zoom, go to https://zoom.us/j/93214062778?pwd=dENwemN3QjJrR3A1MlRCVnVSc2JHdz09 The meeting ID is 932 1406 2778, the passcode is 609561 and the phone is +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC).

9] – Doctors against Genocide [leadership@doctorsagainstgenocide.org] on Sun., Jan. 11 at noon ET will host its weekly webinars. Hear directly from students, clinicians, and partners working on the frontlines of displacement, violence, and humanitarian collapse—yet continuing to lead, care, and organize. Register at https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aUUzycRDSwaem750Nc6iFg

Mohammed Yeasin will be speaking from the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. In mid-2025, He co-founded the Rohingya Youths Empowerment Association (RYEA), where he serves as Vice Chairman. You will also hear from Sudanese students and partners, sharing updates on education, healthcare access, and survival amid ongoing war and displacement. Finally, there will be critical updates from Gaza, Sudan, and the Congo, grounding our discussion in the lived realities of clinicians and communities navigating violence, scarcity, and the erosion of health systems while continuing to care for patients and one another.

10] –Steve Lane [steve_lane@amron.com] is reminding you to be at the White House to call for a Witness against Torture closure of Gitmo on Sun., Jan. 11 at noon.  Call Steve at 571-221-4120. This is the 24th anniversary of the opening of our prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.    

11] – On Sun., Jan. 11 from noon to 1 PM, get with Catonsville Nine Redux for a Sign Wave over the Frederick Road Overpass, Frederick Road and I-695, Catonsville 21228. This event will continue through Dec. 27, 2026.  RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/853167/?followup_modal_context=nonexclusive_newsletter_more_events_of_type

12] –  Stand up America [info@standupamerica.com] on Sun., Jan. 11 from noon to 2 PM ET is asking you to Protest ICE violence at the intersection of Little Patuxent Parkway & Broken Land Parkway, Columbia 21044. From an ICE agent shooting and killing Renee Good in Minneapolis this week, to others handcuffing and pepper spraying children, to the dozens of people who have died in ICE custody, this lawless agency has been operating unchecked for too long. It’s time to come together to get them off our streets. Demand accountability, honor the life lost, and make visible the human cost of ICE’s actions.  RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/standupamerica/event/882804/

13] – On Sun., Jan. 11 at 1 PM ET, Jewish Voice for Peace is holding a webinar: Starvation, Social Death, and Genocide with Alex de Waal and Sara El Khatib. RSVP at https://www.jvphealth.org/events/sunday-january-11-2026-1-pm-eastern-jvc-hac-webinar-starvation-social-death-and-genocide

14] – On Sundays, Jan. 11, 18 & 25, from 1 to 3 PM ET at 15202 Major Lansdale Blvd., Bowie 20716, join Indivisible Bowie for a Visibility Brigade sign wave on the pedestrian bridge over Route 50. If you can't make the full time, no worries, come when you can! Help bring attention to important issues and let your neighbors and commuters know they are not alone in fighting back against authoritarianism.

Parking is behind the Hampton Inn in the old theatre lot, please look for the sign. Follow the paved path through the chain-link fence, then turn left onto the pedestrian trail to reach the bridge. Approximately a 4-minute walk. RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/dfadcoalition/event/873914/?followup_modal_context=organization_newsletter_custom_recommendations

15] – On Sun., Jan. 11 from 2 to 3:30 PM ET, get over to the Leisure World Plaza, 3800-3860 International Dr., Silver Spring 20906 to say ICE out of my community. The lawlessness of ICE didn’t start this week. For months, they have been targeting and harassing people in their neighborhoods—from daycares to schools to community centers. ICE agents have shown up in neighborhoods fully masked and in unmarked vans, seizing people off the streets. When actions like that go unchecked and are allowed to escalate, there is only one thing that will come from it: more violence.  ICE must stop terrorizing our cities. RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/standupamerica/event/883335/

16] – The Montgomery Country DSA is holding a hybrid branch meeting on Sun., Jan. 11 from 2 to 4 PM at the White Oak Library, 11701 New Hampshire Ave., Silver Spring 20904. A virtual link will be communicated before the event: https://actionnetwork.org/events/january-2026-moco-branch-meeting?link_id=76&can_id=4b9d4061aec5469758759317ac0f5285&source=email-metro-dc-dsa-weekly-newsletter-for-january-2-2026&email_referrer=email_3045039&email_subject=metro-dc-dsa-weekly-newsletter-for-january-9-2026&&

17] – Progressive Democrats of America [info@pdamerica.org] on Sun., Jan. 11 at 4 PM will hold its weekly National Town Hall focused on Venezuela & ICE Violence in Minnesota. PDA is mourning the murder of Renee Good, who was shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis while defending her neighbors. Her death has shaken communities across the country and underscores the escalating violence and lack of accountability surrounding immigration enforcement. One week after Trump ordered the abduction of Venezuela’s president and his wife, reports indicate significant loss of life and massive U.S. military spending in Venezuela and the Caribbean—raising serious questions about legality, accountability, and the path forward. RSVP at https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJ0tceuhrzsvHdymeeZRwb-i7X50FJa-HMR4?emci=ced5d1ed-71c8-f011-8196-6045bdfe8e9c&emdi=ea000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&ceid=2907617#/registration

18] – There was a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop.  However, the Pentagon police, presumably on the orders of President Trump, have made it impossible to protest on the reservation. Now it will take place on the corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr. in Arlington, VA.  The next vigil is Jan. 12, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.  Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649. 

By car from D.C. area, take 395 South and get off at Exit 8A-Pentagon South Parking. Take slight right onto S. Rotary Rd. at end of ramp and right on S. Fern St. Then take left onto Army Navy Dr. You can "pay to park" on Army Navy Dr.,  and there is meter parking one block on right on Eads St. Payment for both of these spots begins at 8 AM.  No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. The restrooms are located inside Marriot Providence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr.

19] – Baltimore Sign Waves on Mon. Jan. 12 from 7:30 to 8:15 AM will be at West Northern Parkway & Roland Ave., Baltimore 21210. Join in the waving of pro-democracy signs! Bring your sign or just show up. This event will continue through March 23. RSVP at https://www.mobilize.us/mobilize/event/793151/?followup_modal_context=nonexclusive_newsletter_closest

20] – Progressive Democrats of America [info@pdamerica.org] wants you to participate with the Grassroots Election Protection Coalition/ALLIANCE 4 GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY Zoom on Mon., Jan. 12 at 5 PM ET. Hear from leading activists, elected officials, and others committed to union organizing as well as cleaning up our elections and the environment, and other critically important issues. RSVP at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYqfuygpjIiHtc20uIOxdeqYRiAicjSLWUc#/registration

To be continued

Donations can be sent to Max Obuszewski, Baltimore Nonviolence Center, and 431 Notre Dame Lane, Apt. 206, Baltimore, MD 21212.  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