Baltimore Activist Alert - December 7 - 8, 2016

23] Demonstration against Dollar Diplomacy -- Dec. 7

24] "U.S.-Russian Relations in the Next Administration" – Dec. 7

25] "How the Trump Administration Should Address North Korea" – Dec. 7

26] Regional Cooperation for Stability & Growth in the Middle East -- Dec. 7

27] De-Risking Development Finance – Dec. 7

28] Leonard Peltier Press Conference – Dec. 7

29] Ethical Endowment at Georgetown – Dec. 7

30] CASA Holiday Party - Dec. 7

31] Black & Pink Holiday Card Party – Dec. 7

32] LEARNING FROM THE SOCIALIST EXPERIMENT -- Dec. 7

33] The President, Pardons, A Push Toward the Vision for Black Lives – Dec. 8

34] "U.S.-Russia Policy for the Next Administration" – Dec. 8

35] "Convincing China to Coerce North Korea" – Dec. 8

36] LGBTI Caucus of the Refugee Congress – Dec. 8

37] TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM POST TRUMP -- Dec. 8

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23] – Join in the Demonstration against Dollar Diplomacy at the Trump International Hotel, 1100 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, WDC, on Wed., Dec. 7 from 11:30 AM to 2 PM.  The Bahraini government will be holding a reception at the Trump International Hotel to mark the Kingdom’s national day and the anniversary of King Hamad’s accession to the throne. Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB) will be holding a protest outside the hotel to call attention to this unethical conflict of interest that further legitimizes the United States’ complicity in the ongoing human rights abuses in Bahrain. By holding the event at the President-elect’s hotel, it paints a clear picture that Bahraini authorities are willing to use their money to silence any sort of calls for reform. This mixture of money and politics is dangerous, potentially illegal, and further undermines US credibility in the international arena. Go to https://www.facebook.com/events/201215357002476/.

24] – On Wed., Dec. 7 from noon to 1:15 PM, Chris Miller, Yale University; Angela Stent, Georgetown University; and Derek Chollet, German Marshal Fund will opine about "U.S.-Russian Relations in the Next Administration" at the German Marshal Fund, 1744 R St. NW, WDC 20009. Go to http://www.gmfus.org/events/us-russian-relations-next-administration.

25] –  On Wed., Dec. 7 from noon to 1:30 PM, David Straub, former senior U.S. foreign service officer, will offer his opinion about "How the Trump Administration Should Address North Korea" at the Korea Economic Institute, 1800 K St. NW, Suite 1010, WDC. RSVP at http://keia.org/webform/rsvp-event.

26] - Advancing Regional Cooperation for Stability & Growth in the Middle East will happen at Johns Hopkins SAIS- Rome Auditorium, 1619 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC, on Wed., Dec. 7 from noon to 1:30 PM. A special MEI series of policy papers this year by renowned scholars examined how to foster cooperation between states of the Middle East on economic and environmental challenges, domestic security and political stability, and in military matters. Experts from the United States, Europe, and the region contributed to the series' provocative examination of the possibilities and obstacles for a more collaborative Middle East.

The Middle East Institute (MEI) and the Conflict Management Program of the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) are pleased to host five of the contributing authors, Anthony Cordesman (CSIS), Shahrokh Fardoust (College of William and Mary), Querine Hanlon (Strategic Capacity Group), Ross Harrison (MEI), and Jean-Francois Seznec (MEI & SAIS), for a discussion of opportunities in regional cooperation and the costs of the prevailing competition and rivalries between states. Paul Salem (MEI) will moderate the discussion. Go to http://www.mei.edu/events/advancing-regional-cooperation-stability-and-growth-middle-east.

27] – On Wed., Dec. 7 from 12:30 to 2 PM at Amazon Watch / CIEL Conference Room, 1350 Connecticut Ave. NW, #1100, (Above Cosi, Dupont Circle South), WDC, get over to a  Green Bag lecture - De-Risking Development Finance: A Human Rights Perspective by Mac Darrow is the Washington, DC Liaison Office Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  In 2015, the international community reached two potentially important agreements on sustainable development and financing with human rights at their core: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Agenda for Action. The opportunities presented by these agreements are significant, but so are the risks. Global goals, it is sometimes said, are "easily set but seldom met." Increased infrastructure investment is part of this package, moving from "billions to trillions." But what are the potential trade-offs involved? How can the infrastructure needs of developing countries be met while at the same time protecting and promoting the human rights of the most vulnerable population groups and those suffering discrimination? What are the responsibilities of states, international organizations, and businesses in this regard? The OHCHR Liaison Office was established recently in order to strengthen OHCHR's engagement on human rights issues relating to financing for development in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

28] – There is a Leonard Peltier Press Conference at the National Press Club, Zenger Room, 13th Floor, 529 14th St. NW, WDC 20045, on Wed., Dec. 7 at 1 PM. A spotlight will be on the case of Native American activist and federal prisoner Leonard Peltier and his pending application for Executive Clemency. The panel will include Martin Garbus, lead counsel for Leonard Peltier; Cynthia Dunne, attorney for Leonard Peltier and former federal prosecutor; Bruce Ellison, long-time attorney for Leonard Peltier; Justin Mazzola of Amnesty International-USA; John Dulles, former Regional Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and Jean Roach and Norman Brown, survivors of the deadly June 26, 1975 firefight on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota that led to the decades-long imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. The panel will be joined by Peltier family members and other invited guests. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A session. Contact Peter Clark at the Indigenous Rights Center at info@indigenousrightscenter.org or 505-750-7347.

29] – Join GU F.R.E.E. (Georgetown University Forming a Radically Ethical Endowment) for the kick off of its campaign for justice on campus. There will be a rally at Georgetown University's Red Square, 3700 O St. NW, WDC on Wed., Dec. 7 at 4 PM to present demands. GU F.R.E.E. will then deliver a letter to the president asking if Georgetown invests in specific companies that profit off of the private prison industry and human rights violations in Occupied Palestine. Email georgetown.free@gmail.com.

30] – Get over to the CASA Holiday Party, 7701 Takoma Ave., Takoma Park, on Wed., Dec. 7 from 7 to 9 PM. The suggested minimum donation is $50.  Go to https://wearecasa.formstack.com/forms/holiday_party_2016.

31] – The DC Black & Pink Holiday Card Party will be at the DC Center for the LGBT Community, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105, WDC, on Wed., Dec. 7 from 7 to 10 PM.  Support incarcerated LGBTQ folks behind bars this holiday season by taking some time to write them holiday cards. This is the 4th annual Black & Pink international holiday card writing movement! Go to http://www.blackandpink.org/holiday/.  Please bring $5 to help with postage! RSVP at https://www.facebook.com/events/1160686660651243/.

32] – On Wed., Dec. 7 at 7:30 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, hear about IT'S NOT OVER: LEARNING FROM THE SOCIALIST EXPERIMENT WITH PETE DOLACK.  Dolack discusses and analyzes the history of socialist experiments with a concentration on the Soviet Union, but includes analysis of the failed German Revolution, the Prague Spring and the Sandinista Revolution. This is history that can be applied to today’s struggles to shape our world, in which new ideas are emerging to bring about the economic democracy that is indispensable to a rational and sustainable future. The book concludes with a final chapter that looks to the future. This is history that was shaped by flesh-and-blood human beings — leaders of movements and uncounted men and women in the streets and in the workplaces motivated by a desire to create a better world. With capitalism in deep crisis with no answer for working people, the time is now for us to think about the contours of a better world. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.  

33] –  On Thurs., Dec. 8 from noon to 1:30 PM catch The President, Pardons, A Push Toward the Vision for Black Lives at the Institute for Policy Studies, 1301 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 600, WDC 20036. This event will include a short video excerpt from the new movie 13th, and examine instructions offered in the A Vision for Black Lives; Policy Demands for Black Power, Freedom & Justice. It’s time for President Obama to take swift and substantial Executive Action- so what issues should we focus on in these last 100 days? Visit http://www.ips-dc.org/events/the-president-pardons-a-push-toward-the-vision-for-black-lives/.

34] – On Thurs., Dec. 8 from noon to 1:30 PM, Matthew Rojansky, Wilson Center; James Lewis, Center for Strategic and International Studies; and Marc Schleifer, Center for International Private Enterprise, will tackle "U.S.-Russia Policy for the Next Administration" at the American Security Project, 1100 New York Ave. NW, #710W, WDC 20005.  RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/russia-policy-for-the-next-administration-tickets-29579867179?ref=ebtn.

35] – On Thurs., Dec. 8 from noon to 1:30 PM, the Cato Institute is hosting "Convincing China to Coerce North Korea" with four speakers at Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC. RSVP at https://ssl.cato.org:8443/catopublic/#MtgDetail/00001020.

36] – On September 10, 2014, the LGBTI Caucus of the Refugee Congress organized a symposium entitled “Hear Our Voices". The event held at the Human Rights Campaign Headquarters in Washington, D.C. brought together refugees, asylees and asylum seekers from the LGBTI Community along with representatives from governmental and non-governmental organizations. The symposium's purpose was to identify some of the key protection gaps and barriers facing LGBTI refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. and overseas, as well as LGBTI refugees in the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. During 2015, the LGBTI Caucus of the Refugee Congress has worked with refugee and asylee service providers, LGBTI community organizations and local refugee community associations to encourage dialogue and collaboration. This effort has emphasized the involvement of LGBTI community-based organizations so as to increase their awareness of the U.S resettlement program and encourage their active involvement in welcoming refugees. With this in mind, the LGBTI Caucus invites you to join in on Thurs., Dec. 8 from 2:30 to 5 PM at the Cannon House Office Building, Room 121 to review progress made so far, and identify new joint actions as we move toward the end of 2016. Call Tel (702) 752 8809.

37] – On Thurs., Dec. 8 at 7 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, TEACHING IN THE CLASSROOM POST TRUMP will be heard.

Is there conflict arising in your classroom, are there bias incidents or hate crimes happening in your schools, or are students or faculty feeling just fearful and not sure what to do? Baltimore's K12 teachers and area university professors discuss how they are approaching teaching now that the election is over. The event will feature Kim Mooney from Roland Park Elementary/Middle, Jesse Schneiderman from Frederick Douglass, and Dr. Kaye Whitehead from Loyola University. Dr. Jessica Shiller, from Towson University, will moderate. The event is co-sponsored by the Teachers Democracy Project and Towson University's social justice collective. Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.  

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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

Donald Trump's White House Counsel Is Proud "Architect" of America's Corrupt Big Money Politics

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/40656-donald-trumps-white-house-counsel-is-proud-qarchitectq-of-americas-corrupt-big-money-politics

Don McGahn. (photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Donald Trump's White House Counsel Is Proud "Architect" of America's Corrupt Big Money Politics

By Jon Schwarz, The Intercept

04 December 16

   Jon McGahn, soon to be Donald Trump’s White House counsel, bears as much responsibility as any single person for turning America’s campaign finance system into something akin to a gigantic, clogged septic tank.

   From 2008 to 2013, McGahn was one of the six members of the Federal Election Commission, the government agency in charge of civil enforcement of campaign finance laws. While there, he led a GOP campaign that essentially ground enforcement of election laws to a halt.

  “I’ve always thought of McGahn’s appointment as an FEC commissioner as analogous to appointing an anarchist to be chief of police,” said Paul S. Ryan, vice president at Common Cause. “He’s largely responsible for destroying the FEC as a functioning law enforcement agency, and seemingly takes great pride in this fact. McGahn has demonstrated a much stronger interest in expanding the money-in-politics swamp than draining it.”

   Elaine Weintraub, a current FEC commissioner, overlapped with McGahn’s entire tenure. McGahn and his two fellow GOP appointees, she recalled, possessed a “very strong ideological opposition to campaign finance laws in general.”

   This ideology — that essentially all limits on campaign contributions and spending are unconstitutional violations of the First Amendment — was developed by a loose affiliation of conservative lawyers including McGahn, beginning in the late 1990s. It started bearing fruit a decade later with a series of court decisions, including the Citizens United ruling in 2010. McGahn’s page on his law firm’s website describes him as one of the “architects of the campaign finance revolution.”

  McGahn’s perspective manifested itself consistently at the FEC. Previously, when the agency received outside complaints alleging violations of the law, its general counsel’s office was responsible for conducting a preliminary examination of the issues and then making a recommendation to the commission members about the legal issues involved and whether to proceed with a full investigation.

   McGahn was so extreme that he attempted to block the general counsel’s staff from reading news reports, using Google or looking at a campaign’s web site without prior authorization from a majority of the FEC commissioners. Had the measure passed, because the FEC has six members at full capacity and no more than three can be from one political party, Republicans would effectively have controlled what FEC lawyers were allowed to read.

   McGahn also attempted to prevent the FEC’s staff from doing something it had done as a matter of course in the past: respond to requests for internal records from the Justice Department, which is responsible for criminal prosecution of campaign finance crimes, without formal approval from the commissioners. “He just did not want us to have a more cooperative relationship with the Justice Department,” Weintraub said.

McGahn’s losing battle nevertheless led the agency’s general counsel at the time to resign in frustration.

  Now, as Trump’s White House lawyer, McGahn will provide crucial advice on the nomination of judges, including to the Supreme Court. While Trump has criticized Citizens United, and called the Super PACs that sprang up in its wake “horrible” and a “total phony deal,” McGahn is a vociferous defender of the ruling.

   Trump praised McGahn as possessing “a deep understanding of constitutional law.”

A White House’s lawyer essentially serves as the president’s conscience, and is in charge of the ethics rules. “I was hoping that the sea of conflicts of interest that surround Donald Trump and many of his appointees would convince Trump that he needs to pursue sweeping ethics reforms, especially for incoming administration officials,” said Craig Holman of Public Citizen. “The selection of McGahn to be the chief ethics cop strongly suggests the new administration is likely to be scandal-ridden and eventually perceived by the public as business as usual.”

    Ryan considers McGahn to be “a very skilled lawyer who knows campaign finance and ethics laws like the back of his hand” and hence will give Trump accurate advice. Therefore, says Ryan, “when President-elect Trump engages in any questionable ethics practices, we’ll know he’s doing so with full knowledge of ethics standards. President-elect Trump has no excuses.”

  McGahn began his career at Squire Patton Boggs, a famed D.C. law firm and lobby shop. The late Tommy Boggs, one of its cheerfully mercenary name partners, said that the firm’s moral code was “We pick our clients by taking the first one who comes in the door.”

   In 1999, McGahn became chief counsel of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which coordinates campaigns for GOP members of the House of Representatives. While there he also represented House majority leader Tom DeLay of Texas in investigations into some of DeLay’s incredibly labyrinthian fundraising schemes.

One of these schemes led to DeLay being convicted of money laundering and sentenced to prison. (The conviction was later overturned.) But McGahn helped DeLay escape any consequences for another, in which the U.S. Family Network, a dark money nonprofit close to DeLay, received $1 million that DeLay’s former chief of staff told others came from Russian oil and gas executives. According to the president of U.S. Family Network, DeLay’s chief of staff said this money was specifically intended to buy his support for a 1998 International Monetary Fund bailout of the Russian economy. DeLay voted for the bill but later claimed the U.S. Family Network donation had nothing to do with it.

There’s no question that Americans loathe the way big money controls the U.S. political system. Many Trump supporters presumably believed they were voting to halt it in its tracks. Instead, all evidence suggests that Don McGahn will now be stomping on the accelerator.

C 2015 Reader Supported News

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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

Why Is Trump Fighting So Hard to Stop the Recount in Michigan?

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Why Is Trump Fighting So Hard to Stop the Recount in Michigan?

By Steven Rosenfeld [1] / AlterNet [2]

December 1, 2016

  The Trump campaign filed a legal petition Thursday to stop Michigan’s presidential recount, saying Jill Stein has no chance of winning and no grievance, and there’s no way a hand count can be done before the Electoral College meets December 19.

“Despite being a blip on the electoral radar, [Green Party nominee] Stein has now commandeered Michigan’s electoral process,” said Trump’s petition [3] to Michigan’s Board of State Canvasser. “Indeed, on the basis of nothing more than speculation, Stein asks that Michigan residents endure an expensive, time-consuming recount, and the scrutiny and hardship that comes with it.”

The Trump campaign called the recount an “electoral farce,” ignoring that it has been filed in a state where its candidate leads Hillary Clinton by almost 11,000 out of 4.8 million votes cast, the smallest margin of the final three states that gave Trump an Electoral College majority after election night. (The Green Party is also seeking recounts in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. Wisconsin began its recount Thursday, while challenges continue in Pennsylvania as the Green Party is filing local petitions at county election boards.)

“She does not allege, let alone explain, how a fourth-place finisher could be ‘aggrieved’ by the election canvass,” Trump’s petition said [3], saying candidates must be harmed to seek a recount under Michigan law. “And even if that could be overlooked, Stein’s request would have to be denied because no recount can be reliably competed in the time required by state and federal law” (to meet the Electoral College’s deadline).

Trump’s objection comes just one day after state officials said they would do a full, statewide hand recount of all votes cast in Michigan, beginning Friday, December 2. Because of the filing, the state canvassers' board, an appointed body that has already pledged its support of the recount, will have to postpone counting until it holds a hearing and issues a ruling within five days. If the recount goes forward, Trump’s objections will have delayed the process up to a week and made it that much harder to complete before presidential electors convene.

“You wonder why they are fighting it so hard,” said Bob Fitrakis, an Ohio-based attorney who was involved in that state’s 2004 presidential recount and has been advising the Green Party in 2016. “Michigan, with its thousands of undervotes [no vote recorded for president] in Democratic strongholds—these people voted the whole ticket but left off Hillary Clinton?”

“They are trying to run out the clock,” he said, saying that same delaying tactic was used in Ohio in 2004 when the Green and Libertarian parties filed for a presidential recount in the state where George W. Bush unexpectedly beat John Kerry, despite media exit polls and other indices suggesting the incumbent president would be defeated.

Stein issued a statement blasting Trump’s petition to stop the recount, calling it a “shameful” and “outrageous” attempt to verify the accuracy, security and integrity of the election.

“The recount in Michigan, which has been driven by an outpouring of grassroots support in the state, will go forward,” Stein said. “The Michigan Board of State Canvassers and Director of Elections has been a model of professionalism in moving this recount forward in an efficient, transparent manner. Yet the Trump campaign’s cynical efforts to delay the recount and create unnecessary costs for taxpayers are shameful and outrageous.”

The Green Party filed its recount petition Wednesday, paying an initial filing fee of $973,250 for the state’s first presidential recount in more than a half-century. That sum may be adjusted upward once the recount is complete. Her campaign paid Wisconsin a $3.5 million fee for a recount in a state where Trump leads Clinton by 23,000 votes. Stein’s statements emphasized that the recount’s purpose is to verify the vote and showcase vote count problems, including the possibility the machinery malfunctioned or was hacked.

“The true costs of this recount are the result of elected leaders who have refused to invest in a 21st-century voting system and powerful politicians who are putting up obstacles in an effort to prolong, undermine and stop this recount,” Stein said. “But as the overwhelming grassroots demand shows—close to $7 million raised by nearly 150,000 people—Americans are hungry for a voting system they can trust, and they won’t let these obstacles get in their way.”

On Monday, the Michigan Board of State Canvassers certified that Trump won by 10,704 votes, or a margin of just 0.22 percent of the total vote. But computer scientists and election experts have raised serious concerns about election results in papers filed for the Wisconsin recount. These include the vulnerability of voting machines that can be breached without detection and have a tendency to misread ballot markings. In Michigan, there were 75,335 under-count tallies—votes that machines did not record as selecting anyone for president—nearly double the amount recorded in 2012.

“America's voting machines and optical scanners are prone to errors and susceptible to outside manipulation,” said J. Alex Halderman, one of the nation’s leading cyber security experts and a professor of computer science at the University of Michigan who filed court papers supporting a recount.

“Paper ballots, like those used in Michigan’s elections, are the best defense we have against cyberattacks, but that defense is only effective if we actually look at the paper trail after the election,” he said. “That’s precisely why we need this recount—to examine the physical evidence, to look under the hood. A recount is the best way, and indeed the only way in 2016, to ensure public confidence that the results are accurate, authentic, and untainted by outside interference.”

Steven Rosenfeld covers national political issues for AlterNet, including America's democracy and voting rights, campaigns and elections, and many social justice issues. He is the author of "Count My Vote: A Citizen's Guide to Voting" (AlterNet Books, 2008).

Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [4]

        [5]

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/why-trump-fighting-so-hard-stop-recount-michigan

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/steven-rosenfeld
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] https://drive.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http://media.freep.com/documents/2016/11/Objection-to-Recount-Petition.pdf
[4] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Why Is Trump Fighting So Hard to Stop the Recount in Michigan?
[5] http://www.alternet.org/
[6] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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

CIA Analyst to Iraq Tribunal: Wolfowitz Pushed Multiple Investigations of “Pure Fiction”

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

CIA Analyst to Iraq Tribunal: Wolfowitz 

Pushed Multiple Investigations of “Pure Fiction”

By Elizabeth Murray [1] / AlterNet [2]

December 1, 2016

   I retired in 2010 after a 27-year career with the CIA and for the first 20 years of my career, I was a senior political and media analyst with the CIA’s open source arm. That department monitors and translates speeches by foreign leaders, newspaper editorials and other foreign news of interest to US policymakers.

Our job was to analyze the speeches of foreign leaders and the political spin of foreign media content and help the policymakers we worked with understand the implications for US policy and interests. It was exciting, challenging and very interesting work.

   In early 2003, just prior to the launching of the US attack on Iraq, I was the senior analyst in charge of Iraqi media at the Open Source Center. The political atmosphere around the Beltway had become very charged amid allegations that Saddam Husayn possessed WMD and there were active efforts afoot to link him to al-Qa’ida and the events of 9-11. The drumbeat for war was in full swing.

One morning I received a telephone call from the office of then-Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz asking us to find media reportage of meetings between al-Qaida representatives and Iraqi officials. There was a strong implication in the way the tasking was conveyed to me that a meeting between the two sides had, in fact, taken place - possibly in Prague - and that we needed to find the evidence.

   I gave the tasking my highest priority. I immediately contacted our overseas bureau in the Middle East in charge of monitoring and translating Iraqi media. We had the monitors/translators undertake an exhaustive search of all relevant Iraqi media reports in our archives that might contain such information. We also leveraged other resources available to us in Baghdad so that they could check on lesser known Iraq media sources - we pulled out all the stops.

   About 2 weeks later, we received a definitive response - there was no evidence in Iraqi media of any such relationship between al-Qaida and Saddam Husayn’s regime. I promptly reported this information to Wolfowitz’s office. I assumed that was the end of the matter.

   However, about a week later Wolfowitz’s office phoned us again, asking for the same thing - media evidence of an Iraqi government link with al-Qaida. So I again marshaled all the resources we had and dedicated some of our overseas staff to a full-time search. Again the finding was negative.

   Again I reported this back. Unbelievably, a few weeks the request came to us a third time. It was slowly dawning on me that we were not providing his office with the answer they wanted. We were being subjected to political pressure. We had already expended many hours and many US tax dollars on this search - and I trusted our seasoned media professionals when they said there was no evidence of these allegations.

    So I asked Wolfowitz’s office where they had heard that a meeting between al-Qa’ida and Iraqi officials had taken place - in the hopes that this might aid our search. However, I never received a response to my request.

   Of course, we now know that these allegations were pure fiction, as were the allegations that Saddam possessed weapons of mass destruction.

   By 2006 - three years into the war on Iraq — the Bush administration officially admitted it had no evidence of any Iraqi role in the 9-11 attacks. Nevertheless, the US continues to devastate that country, to this very day.

  It is time to face the truth and hold our leaders to account for the terrible war crimes committed against the Iraqi people. And it is time for the United States to withdraw from Iraq and allow the Iraqi people to rebuild their country free of foreign interference.

    That is why I have shared my experience with The People's Tribunal on the Iraq War – as my testimony to the lies that led to the mass murder of so many innocent people. It is my hope that the truth uncovered by the Tribunal will enable a national reckoning and help us hold our leaders accountable for the past and present war crimes committed against the nation of Iraq – crimes which could not have been committed in the absence of the lies that were told to the American people.

   Elizabeth Murray served as Deputy National Intelligence Officer for the Near East in the National Intelligence Council before retiring after a 27-year career in the U.S. government, where she specialized in Middle Eastern political and media analysis.

Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [3]

        [4]

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/world/cia-analyst-iraq-tribunal-wolfowitz-pushed-multiple-investigations-pure-fiction

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/elizabeth-murray
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on CIA Analyst to Iraq Tribunal: Wolfowitz Pushed Multiple Investigations of “Pure Fiction”
[4] http://www.alternet.org/
[5] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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

Bush’s Iraq Lies, Uncontested, Will Haunt Us Under Trump

Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)

Bush’s Iraq Lies, Uncontested, Will Haunt Us Under Trump

By Medea Benjamin [1] / AlterNet [2]

December 1, 2016

1

    The CODEPINK Tribunal [3] taking place December 1 and 2, and live streamed [4] by The Real News, is a historic collection of testimonies about the lies and costs of the Iraq war. It takes on new meaning with the incoming Trump administration, and the hawks who are flocking to join that administration with their sights set on starting yet another war in the Middle East, this time in Iran. 

My testimony started with the first CODEPINK action against the war that took place in Congress. It was September 18, 2002, the day Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld testified before the House Armed Services Committee about why the US military should invade Iraq. He accused Saddam Hussein of having and hiding weapons of mass destruction, raised the specter of an Iraqi-initiated September 11-style attack and told the Committee that Iraq under Saddam Hussein was a global threat. 

   My colleague Diane Wilson and I were in the audience, just behind Rumsfeld and a row of generals. It was the first time we had ever attended a Congressional hearing. Shaking, I got up and belted out:  "Mr. Rumsfeld, we need weapons inspections, not war. Why are you obstructing the inspections? Isn’t this really about oil? How many civilians will be killed? How many Iraqis will be killed?” We unfurled banners that said: UN Weapons Inspection, Not US War” and repeated that chant over and over until the police came to forcibly remove us. 

      Once we were out of the room, Rumsfeld joked about us and said: "Of course, the country that threw the inspectors out was not the United States. It was not the United Nations. It was Iraq that threw the inspectors out.”

    That was a lie. Iraq did not expel the inspectors. In December 1998, the weapons inspectors withdrew for their safety in anticipation of a US-British bombing campaign. But this was just one of so many lies about Saddam Hussein’s supposed weapons of mass destruction and his unwillingness to yield to weapons inspections.

   In February 2003, just weeks before the US invasion, CODEPINK led a delegation to Iraq. We wanted to see for ourselves what the Iraqis were thinking, particularly the women. We found them terrified at the prospect of a US invasion. Some said to us, in hushed voices, “Yes, Saddam is a dictator, but we don’t want the U.S. military to liberate us. That is something we must do ourselves.” 

   We also wanted to meet with the UN weapons inspectors, and we did. They told us there were no weapons of mass destruction and that even if there were, the very presence of so many inspectors in the country guaranteed that they would not be used. 

   Two weeks after we returned, on March 7, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported to the UN Security Council. Based on more than a hundred visits to suspect sites and private interviews with a number of individual scientists known to have been involved with WMD programs in the past, IAEA leader ElBaradei stated that the IAEA had “to date found no evidence or plausible indication of the revival of a nuclear weapons program in Iraq.”

Hans Blix of the UN Special Commission on Iraq (UNMOVIC) said no stockpiles or active programs had been found, but it had not yet been possible to document destruction of all the weapons known to have been produced prior to the 1991 Gulf War. Blitz predicted that months but not years, would be needed to complete the job.

    The Bush administration dismissed the inspectors’ findings because their conclusions contradicted the US government allegations. The next day, President George W. Bush delivered a radio address to the American people, arguing that the inspection teams did not need any more time, because Saddam was “still refusing to disarm.” The rest is history.

    Iraq posed absolutely no threat to the United States. But the US people, traumatized by the 9/11 attack, were easily duped by the Bush administration’s propaganda that Iraq was a terrorist state linked to al-Qaeda, and that it was only minutes away from launching attacks on America with weapons of mass destruction.

   Americans were the victims of an elaborate public relations campaign, barraged every day with distortions, deceptions and lies. By the start of the war in March 2003, 66% of Americans mistakenly thought Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attacks and 79% thought he was close to having a nuclear weapon. Of course, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks, and had no nuclear weapons and no functional chemical or biological weapons. This massive deception was only achieved with the complicity of the US mainstream press, a press that refused to air the voices of dissenters like us and instead sought to commercialize the Iraq war, embed with the military and profit from the invasion. 

   At CODEPINK, we worked furiously to stop the invasion and continued to protest the war after it started. We held a daily vigil in front of the White House in the freezing cold for four months, we went on a month-long hunger strike, we organized massive demonstrations, we protested at the homes of VP Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well as the offices and homes of Democratic and Republican congresspeople. We interrupted dozens of Congressional hearings to speak out against the war. Over and over again, we were arrested for acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, spending much time in cold, bleak jail cells. 

   For our work speaking truth to power and confronting an illegal, immoral war, we were attacked viciously for being “unpatriotic” and treated like traitors. Conservative groups began coming out every Wednesday night in Washington DC to picket our CODEPINK DC house and launched a campaign to try to get us evicted. The hate mail, death threats and violent phone calls were a constant. The police on Capitol Hill cracked down on CODEPINK activists and judges issued us "stay-away orders" to keep us away from the Capitol. One of our cofounders, Diane Wilson, was even banned from all of Washington DC for a year. Some of us discovered that our names were put on an FBI criminal database, something that has caused us much hardship as we travel overseas for our peace work.

Speaking at the Heritage Foundation in 2007, when the war had already been dragging on for five devastating years, President George Bush exhorted Congress to spend more time listening to the military commanders on the ground in Iraq and less time “responding to the demands of CODEPINK protesters.” We only wish that Congress, and George Bush, had listened to CODEPINK and the millions of protesters back in 2002 when we warned that attacking Iraq would be a disaster. 

   There is no decision more grave than taking your nation to war. There is nothing more criminal than basing that war on lies. And there is nothing more derelict than failing to prosecute those responsible for taking us to war on the basis of lies. 

This is where we stand today: In the face of the Bush administration’s colossal deceptions, Barack Obama, before he even officially took office in 2009, said: "We need to look forward, as opposed to looking backwards." In other words, he decided to ignore Bush's unconscionable invasion, an invasion that continues to reverberate in the current bloodshed in the Middle East, including the creation of ISIS. But the fact that no one was held accountable means that today, many of the very same architects of the Iraq invasion, from General David Petraeus to John Bolton, may join the Trump administration and take us into a new war with Iran. 

    That’s why the CODEPINK Tribunal [3] is so critical, because those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it. 

  Medea Benjamin is cofounder of the peace group CodePink. Her new book is Kingdom of the Unjust [5]: Behind the U.S.-Saudi Connection (OR Books, September 2016).

Report typos and corrections to 'corrections@alternet.org'. [6]

        [7

 additional lists

Source URL: http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/iraq-lies-donald-trump

Links:

[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/medea-benjamin
[2] http://alternet.org
[3] http://www.codepink.org/iraqtribunal
[4] http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2971
[5] https://www.amazon.com/Kingdom-Unjust-Behind-U-S-Saudi-Connection/dp/1944869026
[6] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on Bush’s Iraq Lies, Uncontested, Will Haunt Us Under Trump
[7] http://www.alternet.org/
[8] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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

Baltimore Activist Alert - December 4 – 6, 2016

Baltimore Activist Alert - December 4 – 6, 2016

"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 BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218.  Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-323-1607 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists  

4] Two friends are looking to buy a house in Baltimore

5] “Who Gets to Decide How You Will Die?” – Dec. 4

6] Clemency for Leonard Peltier 2016 Human Rights Week – Dec 4 – 10

7] On Being Woke and White – Dec. 4

8] Pax Christi Peacemaker of the Year Awards and Dinner -- Dec. 4

9] Discuss SPLINTERLANDS – Dec. 4

10] Pentagon Vigil – Dec. 5

11] Marc Steiner on WEAA – Dec. 5 – Dec. 7

12] Strengthening U.S-Arab Cyber Security Policy Cooperation – Dec. 5

13] Food worker justice panel – Dec. 5

14] Food procurement policy – Dec. 5

15] Green Party meeting – Dec. 5

16] Book talk MISSILE PARADISE – Dec. 5

17] Common Cause Blueprint for a Great Democracy Conference– Dec. 6

18] Peace vigil in Philadelphia – Dec. 6

19] Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" – Dec. 6

20] Food Workers Organizing for Justice – Dec. 6

21] Film WARRIOR – Dec. 6

22] New York Times columnist Roger Cohen in Baltimore – Dec. 6

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1] – Buttons, bumperstickers 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] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR].  It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed.  It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to mobuszewski at Verizon.net.  Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.  

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe.  It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing.  To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed.  If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

4] – Janice and Max are looking to buy a house in Baltimore.  Let Max know if you have any leads—410-323-1607 or mobuszewski at Verizon dot net.

5] – Usually, the Baltimore Ethical Society, 306 W. Franklin St., Suite 102, Baltimore 21201-4661, meets on Sundays, and generally there is a speaker and discussion from 10:30 AM to noon.  On Sun., Dec. 4, the platform address is “Who Gets to Decide How You Will Die?”  Barbara Mancini’s 93 year old father prepared for the end of life with an advanced directive, a healthcare proxy and a hospice. Yet he was subjected to unwanted medical treatment in defiance of his wishes. His daughter endured a prolonged criminal prosecution for “aiding an attempted suicide.” Her case sparked outrage and condemnation in the media and was ultimately dismissed. She has spoken widely about her case in over 90 events in seventeen states. She has done numerous radio and television interviews, including NPR radio productions and a widely broadcast interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes with Anderson Cooper. She has met with legislators to discuss end-of-life choice and has provided testimony at legislative committee hearings.

Barbara will show how dying can be fraught with unanticipated perils for the person and caregivers. Vaguely-worded criminal statutes and perverse incentives are some of the factors that may confront well-intentioned families in caring for their loved ones. Mancini has been a nurse for over 30 years. She has a master’s degree in burn, emergency, and trauma nursing, and has spent most of her career in emergency nursing. Her nursing experience includes working with Native Americans for the Indian Health Service on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in the early 1990’s. Call 410-581-2322 or email ask@bmorethical.org. 

6] – Clemency for Leonard Peltier 2016 Human Rights Week is happening from Sun., Dec. 4 through Sat. Dec. 10.  On Dec.  4, from 1 to 3 PM., meet at the National Museum of the American Indian (outdoor space), 4th St. and Independence Ave. SW, WDC 20560.  From Dec. 5 through Dec. 9 vigil at the White House from 11 AM to 2 PM for Executive Clemency for Leonard Peltier.  On Dec. 10, there will be a candlelight vigil from 5 to 8 PM. There are many other events planned.

On Dec. 10, Human Rights Day, attend “U.S. Prisons: Conditions of Confinement,” a conference at the Washington College of Law, American University - Tenley Campus, 4300 Nebraska Ave. NW, Yuma Building, Claudio Grossman Hall, WDC 20016. Doors open at 8 AM. The conference will be followed at 4 PM by a walk/march to the White House for Indigenous rights and clemency for Leonard Peltier. Visit www.whoisleonardpeltier.info.

7] – The next segment of A.C.T.O.R (A Continuing Talk on Race) - On Being Woke and White with Time Wise – is happening at BUSBOYS at 14th & V Sts., 2021 14th St. NW, WDC, on Sun., Dec. 4 from 5 to 7 PM.  Now more than ever it is imperative that anti-racist conversations be had among groups outside just people of color.  Join Busboys & Poets and Antiracist Activist and Author Tim Wise for this discussion "On Being Woke and White." Wise is among the nation's leading anti-racist educators and essayists. He is the author of six books on race and racism. He has conducted anti-racism training for teachers nationwide, as well as corporate officials, law enforcement officers, government agencies, the military, doctors, and social service providers.  Go to http://busboysandpoets.com/events/event/a.c.t.o.r-a-continuing-talk-on-race-on-being-white-and-woke-with-tim-wise.

8] – On Sun., Dec. 4 from 6 to 9 PM, come to the Annual Pax Christi Metro DC-Baltimore Peacemaker of the Year Awards and Dinner at St. Camillus Parish, 1600 St. Camillus Dr. , Silver Spring 20903 just off New Hampshire Ave. and just south of the Capital Beltway.  Note there will be an annual meeting at 4:15 PM followed by a Mass at 5 PM.  Registration is $25, which includes a vegetarian meal.  The keynote speaker is Frida Berrigan.  Call 443-846-5207. Register at www.paxchristimetrodc.org. Honor Sr. Marie Lucey and Fr. Jacek Orzechowski for their contributions to peace, justice and the integrity of creation.

9] – On Sun., Dec. 4 at 7:30 PM at Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse, 30 W. North Ave., Baltimore 21201, John Feffer will discuss SPLINTERLANDS, A NEW NOVEL. Part Field Notes from a Catastrophe, part 1984, part World War Z, Feffer's striking new dystopian novel, takes us deep into the battered, shattered world of 2050. The European Union has broken apart. Multiethnic great powers like Russia and China have shriveled. America's global military footprint has virtually disappeared and the United States remains united in name only. Nationalism has proven the century's most enduring force as ever-rising global temperatures have supercharged each-against-all competition and conflict among the now 300-plus members of an increasingly feeble United Nations.

As he navigates the world of 2050, Julian West offers a roadmap for the path we're already on, a chronicle of impending disaster, and a faint light of hope. He may be humanity's last best chance to explain how the world unraveled—if he can survive the savage beauty of the Splinterlands.  Call 443-602-7585.  Go to http://www.redemmas.org.  

10] – There is a weekly Pentagon Peace Vigil from 7 to 8 AM on Mondays, since 1987, outside the Pentagon Metro stop.  The next vigil is Dec., 4, and it is sponsored by the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker.  Email artlaffin@hotmail.com or call 202-882-9649.  The vigil will be outside the Pentagon's south Metro entrance and in the designated "protest zone" behind bicycle fences across from the entrance to the Metro.  By Metro, take Yellow Line and get out at the "Pentagon" stop. Do not go to the Pentagon City stop! Go up south escalators and turn left and walk across to protest area. 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 begin at 8 AM.  No cameras are allowed on Pentagon grounds. Restrooms are located inside Marriott Residence Inn on corner of S. Fern and Army Navy Dr. 

11] – The Marc Steiner Show airs Monday through Friday fr6m 10 AM to noon on WEAA 88.9 FM, The Voice of the Community, or online at www.weaa.org.   The call-in number is 410-319-8888, and comments can also be sent by email to steinershow@gmail.com. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org.

12] – Strengthening U.S-Arab Cyber Security Policy Cooperation is the topic at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, WDC, on Mon., Dec. 5 from 1:30 to 4:30 PM. Cyber threats are on the rise in the Middle East, ranging from electronic vandalism or financial crimes to sabotage and virtual acts of war. Governments and businesses in the Middle East have suffered damaging attacks. State actors and hacker collectives in the region are also believed to be targeting the U.S. military, civilian government agencies, and private sector systems. What systemic problems will the United States and Arab states confront in the next few years? Are there gaps in national policy or in the collaboration between governments and the private sector that render the United States vulnerable? What is the state of the U.S.-Arab dialogue within these global issues, and how can Washington and its Arab partners coordinate better? The Middle East Institute is pleased to host industry and policy experts for a program examining Middle Eastern cyber threat trends and developments affecting national security, essential services, and the economy. Register now to hear the analysis and recommendations of these leaders in the field.  See http://www.mei.edu/events/strengthening-us-arab-cyber-security-policy-cooperation-0.

13] --There is a food worker justice panel on Mon., Dec. 6 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters, 25 Louisiana Ave. NW, WDC 20001.  The event is co-organized by the International Labor Rights Forum and Food Chain Workers Alliance (FCWA). The event marks the D.C. launch of the FCWA report, No Piece of the Pie: U.S. Food Workers in 2016, which documents how the food sector is one of the largest employers in the United States, but also has some of the worst wages and working conditions. Go to https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTE5OTE=.

14] – The D.C. Food Policy Council & The Food Chain Workers Alliance Stakeholders Meeting is taking place at the Shaw Library, 1630 7th St. NW, WDC, on Mon., Dec. 5 at 6 PM.  What does food procurement policy that is sustainable for the environment, workers, and consumers look like in D.C.? Join Jeremiah Lowery for a stakeholders meeting to discuss creating a good food purchasing program in Washington, D.C. To RSVP, email jeremiahalowery@gmail.com.

15] – This year more votes were cast in Baltimore City for Green Party candidates than in any previous year. In the month since Election Day the steering committee has heard from well over 100 people about what the next steps are in order to continue and build on the momentum. On Mon., Dec. 5 at 7 PM, engage in the third post-election meeting and get to work on some of the great proposals at 1041 W. Baltimore St. RSVP at http://www.baltimoregp.org/dec_5th_meeting_and_work_session?

16] –   Ron Tanner will discuss his book “Missile Paradise” on Mon., Dec. 5 at 7:30 PM at Bird in Hand at 11 East 33rd St., Baltimore 21218. In the Marshall Islands, an island nation in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that was once a testing ground for nuclear bombs, American engineers and programmers are making and testing missiles while their "hosts," the indigenous Marshallese, sweep their streets and clean their houses. It's 2004, the Iraq war is heating up, and 9/11 is fresh in everyone's minds. Following four interconnected story lines - the meltdown of a burned-out cultural liaison who has "gone native" and bitterly resents his role in keeping the Marshallese down; a young programmer who has lost his leg in a reckless solo sailing journey; the struggles of a young widow with two children, whose husband drowned in a mysterious diving accident; and the destructive spiral of a Marshallese teenager whose American girlfriend rejects him when she returns to the States. “Missile Paradise” is an epic, heartbreaking and satirical novel about the clash of cultures between the Yanks trying to realize their American Dream in this seeming paradise, and the Marshallese who are both angered and bedazzled by that dream. Tanner teaches writing at Loyola University Maryland and directs the Marshall Islands Story Project.  Call 410-243-0757. Go to Project. http://www.theivybookshop.com/upcomingevent/2708.

17] – You invited to the annual Common Cause Blueprint for a Great Democracy Conference, where top advocates, staff and activists in the democracy reform space strategize and plan for the year ahead. The event is free for un/underemployed activists and students, and $15 for others (to cover food costs). Some small travel scholarships are available. It will take place on Tues., Dec. 6 from 8:30 AM to 5 PM at Blackburn Center, Howard University, 2397 6th St. NW, WDC 20059.  Go to http://act.commoncause.org/site/Calendar?id=104685&view=Detail.  Get tickets at https://secure2.convio.net/comcau/site/Ticketing;jsessionid=60494AEF03E5A567DD70680340ABEF9C.app260a?view=Tickets&id=104685.

18] – Each Tuesday from 4:30 - 5:30 PM, the Catholic Peace Fellowship-Philadelphia for peace in Afghanistan and Iraq gathers at the Suburban Station, 16th St. & JFK Blvd., at the entrance to Tracks 3 and 4 on the mezzanine.  The next vigil is Dec. 6.  Call 215-426-0364.

19] – Vigil to say "No Drone Research at JHU" each Tuesday at 33rd & North Charles Sts. join this ongoing vigil on Dec. 6  from 5:30 to 6:30  PM. Call Max at 410-323-1607.

20] – There will be a Panel & Reception at the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, 25 Louisiana Ave. NW, WDC, on Tues., Dec. 6 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. Join Food Workers Organizing for Justice in the US and Globally for the D.C. release of their report No Piece of the Pie: U.S. Food Workers in 2016. There will be a panel of food workers based in the U.S. and globally discussing their campaigns for justice. There will also be light food and drinks. This great opportunity to meet food workers, food justice advocates and supporters.  Go to https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTE5OTE=.

21] – Catch a screening of “Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier” at the George Washington University Amphitheater, Cloyd Heck Marvin Center, 3rd Floor, 800 21st St. NW, WDC, on Tues., Dec. 6 at 6 PM.  This is the definitive feature documentary about American Indian activist, Leonard Peltier. His story is told within the context of the American Indian Movement, the US federal government, and the multinational companies interested in mining the land in South Dakota. It is produced and directed by Suzie Baer (1992) who will be present for a Q& A. To understand Peltier’s story, the film goes back to the violent confrontations at Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee in the 70s, and then to today’s Indian reservations where the government’s plans for uranium mining and waste dumping are still being heatedly resisted by Indian activists. The heart of the film, though, is a detailed painstaking account of Peltier’s harrowing odyssey through the American justice system.”

22] --  Join New York Times columnist Roger Cohen and J Street's Alan Elsner on Tues., Dec. 6 at 7 PM at Temple Oheb Shalom, 7310 Park Heights Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland 21208. What do the election results mean for those who want to achieve peace in the Middle East?  Go to http://act.jstreet.org/signup/cohenbaltimore2016/?akid=5316.10478.xRnahH&rd=1&t=1.  Email Jessica Simon at jessicas@jstreet.org.

To be continued.

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.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