WORLD CAN'T WAIT: February 2014 Archives

European Parliament condemns U.S. drone strikes

February 27, 2014 5:41 PM | Permalink

"Today's vote represents a triumph of conscience by MEPs, who have issued a clear call to national European governments to come clean on their complicity with the CIA's illegal drones programme, and bring it to an immediate halt."

-- Reprieve Legal Director Kat Craig

America's assassination program is about empire, pure and simple.

February 27, 2014 1:30 PM | Permalink

People hate empires. They always have and they always will. Indeed, our American ancestors hated the British Empire... Their message to the British government became no different from the message that foreigners are today delivering to the U.S. government: Go home. Leave us alone.

the $3 pledge to blame Republicans

February 25, 2014 3:17 PM | Permalink

The Executioner-in-Chief sent out the following email today:

Friend -- In the closest Senate battlegrounds, Republicans are outspending Democrats 3-to-1. That could give them control of the Senate.
We believe we will be outspent. But that doesn't mean we won't win.
Like we did together in 2008, 2010 and 2012, the DSCC is building a sophisticated voter turnout operation -- a true grassroots campaign -- that I know will pay off. But the time to fund their Grassroots Victory Project is ticking away.
This month's deadline is the most important we've faced yet. Unless we meet our goals, we won't be able to place organizers on the ground in must-win battlegrounds.
It's moments like this that I need you to act. Will you pitch in $3 to fight a Republican takeover of the Senate before the deadline in just 72 hours?
No matter how the odds were stacked against us, organizing -- educating voters, registering young people, knocking on doors - is how we've always won when it counts.
And that's exactly how we'll keep the Senate in 2014 and keep moving our country forward.
I believe in this. And I believe in you, too. But this plan won't stop Republicans from taking over the Senate unless you're a part of it.
Please pitch in $3 before the deadline in just 72 hours to stop a Republican Senate takeover.
I don't get enough opportunities to tell you how much I appreciate you, but you've always been there for me and I'll never stop fighting for you. And right now I need you more than ever.
Thank you,
Barack Obama

Approbation for imperial "democracy" is looking pretty shaky these days, including the "lesser of two evils" construct employed above. Thanks to esteemed whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, government legitimacy is being challenged by the massive wave of dissent against NSA surveillance.

HOODIES UP!

February 25, 2014 1:50 PM | Permalink

A Day of Outrage and Remembrance

Rally & March
4pm
Fruitvale BART Plaza

February 26, 2014 - 2 years since Trayvon Martin was murdered by vigilante, wanna be cop George Zimmerman;

2 years since this 17-year-old African-American walking

home at 7:15 PM with skittles and iced tea and wearing a hoodie was murderedbecause he looked "suspicious" and "up to no good" to Zimmerman.

We will not stand by in silence as our youth are brutalized, locked up, murdered and more. On Feb 26th, we must say NO MORE! to the criminalization of whole generations of Black and Latino youth.

We Are All Trayvon Martin, The Whole Damn System is Guilty

No Drones to the Pacific / Block the "Pivot"

February 22, 2014 2:15 PM | Permalink

A message from Nick Mottern, Know Drones Campaign Bulletin #3:

Bruce Gagnon, Secretary/Coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
, has urged that we give attention to the "pivot" to the Pacific.

This is a U.S. plan that includes basing 60 percent of U.S. naval forces in Asia, compared to 50% there now. One goal seems to be to intimidate China.

This scheme must be seen in relation to the Administration's push for the Trans Pacific Partnership, an exploitative trade system that is likely to lead to protest and insurgency. Although the trade deal is slowed for the moment in Congress, the military plans are proceeding.

This NYTimes op-ed article describes what kind of drone war world is likely to be shaping up in the Pacific.

Due Process (NOT)

February 17, 2014 2:45 PM | Permalink

Not only has the Chicago Tribune abandoned the idea of courts of law, now they're even dismissive of the ersatz process that the Obama administration has substituted for the courts: "We can't think of a more dangerous prospect than U.S. drones tangled in bureaucracy . . . ."

Joe Scarry looks at "DRONE LOVE"

students repudiate deportation policies of former Secretary of Homeland Security

February 16, 2014 2:13 PM | Permalink

Protests happened around campus intermittently to voice their discontent against UC President Janet Napolitano's visit to UC Berkeley.

ALEJANDRA GONZALEZ RAMIREZ/STAFF

Campus-wide protests of UC President Janet Napolitano

DRONE ACTIVIST KAREEM KHAN FREED

February 14, 2014 10:19 AM | Permalink

KHAN'S LAWYER TELLS JOURNALISTS HIS CLIENT WAS TORTURED AND INTERROGATED BUT IS UNABLE TO IDENTIFY THE MEN WHO DETAINED HIM

Aamir Qureshi--AFP

A drone activist who was kidnapped from his home last week has been freed, his lawyer said on Friday, adding he had been tortured and interrogated.

Kareem Khan was picked up from his home on the outskirts of Islamabad on Feb. 5 by around 20 men, some in police uniform, just days before he was due to testify before European parliamentarians about U.S. drone attacks. He was bundled into a van blindfolded and pushed off onto the road in the early hours of Friday morning, in the Tarnol suburb of Islamabad, said his lawyer Shahzad Akber.

"He has been released," Akber said. "His hands weren't tied and he was able to remove his blindfold and took a taxi home after asking where he was."

San Francisco Fights Back Against Mass Surveillance

February 12, 2014 5:25 PM | Permalink

Tuesday, February 11

This is the site of Room 641A, the telecommunication interception facility operated by AT&T for the U.S. National Security Agency in a massive, unconstitutional, illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.

Speakers included Mark Klein, former AT&T technician and whistleblower.

Photo by Sarah Kimmel

Courage Fund to Protect Journalistic Sources

February 9, 2014 10:05 PM | Permalink

"It's great that there is a debate in America about constitutional rights - but it's so much pantomime... Even if a decision is made within the US establishment to rein in the powers of the NSA within the USA, they can still investigate the rest of us around the world; we have no rights under their law." -- British ex-spy Annie Machon

Reuters photo by Stephen Hird

The foundation will strive to ensure that whistleblowers, such as Snowden, currently in Russia where he has acquired temporary asylum, and Chelsea Manning, sentenced to 35 years in prison after releasing the largest-ever cache of secret US documents - receive the protection they need.

Obama: Your Pipe Dream is Our Nightmare

February 4, 2014 1:41 PM | Permalink

The Tar Sands Blockade is an open invitation for people across North America to join a peaceful direct action campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. We stand with people of all backgrounds who are fighting to save their homes, land and our planet from destruction by tar sands pumped by TransCanada.

Last June, President Obama said of his decision on the pipeline, he would do what's in the "best interest of the country." His State of the Union speech last week predictably glorified American military might and economic dominance over other nations.

The environmental impact report approved by the State Department on Friday was based on the forgone conclusion that available resources would be used anyway, and determined that XL pipeline delivery of raw product is no worse than other means of transportation. The presumption that the U.S. will exploit every last barrel of petroleum product begs the question of should it. The State Department report fails to address the core question, which is how much of these oil sands are going to be burned and what does that mean for the planet and for the climate.

"..the whole point of the global climate negotiations that are underway right now and that are supposed to conclude in December 2015 in Paris is that the world's governments have to get together and say, enough is enough, we have to draw some lines." -- Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute

Resisting Drones at Beale Air Force Base

February 3, 2014 10:15 PM | Permalink

Update: drone protesters found guilty of trespassing at Beale AFB

"Wheatland 4" protesters Martha Hubert, Robin Ryan, Bill Doub and Toby Blome put drone warfare
on trial

April 2013, 5 activists were arrested while attempting to deliver a letter to the Commander at Beale AFB during a nonviolent protest of drone warfare. 4 of the defendants face trespassing charges and a maximum of 6 months in jail. Barry Binks, the 5th arrestee had his charges dropped due to his veteran status. Please attend the pre-trial rally and stand in unity with us against the brutality and illegality of drone warfare.

February 3 (original date was January 13)

U.S. Courthouse, 501 I Street, Sacramento

8:00-9:00 am Press conference

9:00 am Trial begins

ASVAB: no specific score required

February 3, 2014 12:48 PM | Permalink

In his State of the Union speech Obama promised new ways to measure how well our kids "think" (not to be confused with critical thinking.) His particular emphasis on skills training and corporate sponsorship serves to commodify our next generation as workforce and worse, cannon fodder.

For Minnesota students this program finds actualization in the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. Pelican Rapids High School in rural Otter Tail County requires all juniors and seniors who fail mandated exit exams to take the military test as an alternative assessment.

Results are sent to military recruiters without obtaining parental consent.

February 2014 Archives