May 11, 2019: Emergency Hugo Chavez Humanitarian Caravan to Defend the Venezuelan Embassy Protectors in D.C.

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Emergency Hugo Chavez Humanitarian Caravan

Join the emergency “Hugo Chavez Humanitarian Caravan” which will bring food and water to the Venezuelan Embassy Protectors who are holding on and strong despite the electricity being illegally cut and food blocked. We are collecting food that does not have to be cooked or refrigerated and water. We pack up and decorate cars this Saturday, 9 am @ 2011 N. Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. We will post other asks, background, and a link to donate.

Initial endorsers include: Peoples Power Assembly, Rev. Annie Chambers, RAB Board delegate Douglas Homes, Welfare Rights Organization, Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Harvard Blvd Black Club, South Central LA, Youth Against War & Racism

May 11, 2019: Stamp Out Hunger Drive by the National Association of Letter Carriers

Bryan ,

Stamp Out Hunger PhotoThe 27th annual National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) Stamp Out Hunger food drive is set for this Saturday, May 11. To make a donation simply leave a bag of non-perishable food items by your mailbox on Saturday and your letter carrier will do the rest. All donations stay local. Non-perishable goods only.

Saturday’s union-made food drive is the largest one-day food drive in America. National partners with the NALC include the National Rural Letter Carriers’ Association, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the AFL-CIO.

Set out your non-perishable donation well before your letter carrier’s normal pick-up time. Letter carriers will be delivering and collecting mail as usual, on top of collecting food donations, so pickup time may slightly vary.

Show your union and community solidarity by making a food donation during this year’s Stamp Out Hunger food drive. Be sure to leave a bag of non-perishable food items by your mailbox on Saturday, May 11, and thank a union member for doing the rest!

In Solidarity,

Stephanie Bloomingdale, President

Dennis Delie, Secretary-Treasurer

U.S. Shuts Off Electricity to Venezuelan Embassy in D.C., Embassy Protectors Vow to Fight On

Embassy Protection Collective

The Trump government illegally cut off our power tonight just as it has done to the Venezuelans. This deepens our solidarity. As they resist imperialism, so will we.

US authorities illegally cut off power at the Maduro gov’s diplomatic mission. The releases a statement saying they were prepared for this, aren’t going anywhere & see parallels between Washington’s treatment of Venezuelan ppl & embassy protectors.

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Wisconsin’s Outdated Laws Criminalize Abortion. We Deserve Better

https://bit.ly/2DYR2xE

Abortion is legal throughout the United States because of the landmark Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. However, given the current political climate, misleading rhetoric, and the balance of the Supreme Court shifting drastically away from reproductive rights, Roe v. Wade is at risk to be overturned or gutted.

Wisconsin is one of 9 states with dangerously outdated laws on the books that criminalize abortion. Without the protections provided by Roe in place, Wisconsin’s 1849 abortion law1 that would criminalize doctors who perform abortions could be enforced, making them guilty of a felony. A provider could be prosecuted and punished with up to six years in prison for performing a safe, common health care procedure.

Anti-abortion politicians want to enforce this outdated, unjust law, threatening abortion rights and access for all women in Wisconsin. Around the country, state laws are already being misused by prosecutors to punish women for their reproductive health care decisions.

Support for abortion is at an all-time high, and according to Pew Research Center, a majority of Wisconsinites want abortion to be legal in all or most cases. But since Roe was decided, the Wisconsin legislature has enacted over a dozen new abortion restrictions, pushing access for this vital health care procedure out of reach for more and more women. The inflammatory, purposely misleading language of anti-abortion rhetoric is designed to perpetuate falsities about abortion care and is a part of a broader aim to make abortion illegal or entirely inaccessible.

The decision whether or not to continue a pregnancy should be between a woman and her doctor. It’s critical that Wisconsin reverse course and start protecting abortion rights and access, so that regardless of the Supreme Court’s future rulings on abortion, women in Wisconsin can be assured of their ability to access safe, affordable abortion care in their community without shame, pressure, or fear of punishment.

1 Wis. Stat. 940.04

Pompeo Makes Surprise Visit to Iraq Amid Turmoil With Iran

https://bit.ly/2PUWB58

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to Baghdad Tuesday in order to meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, the Reuters News Agency reported. This unannounced meeting came just two days after U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said the American Navy was sending the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf to deal with the “Iranian threat”.

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Official Statement From the Family of Sandra Bland

OFFICIAL FAMILY STATEMENT which should be shared in its entirety when sharing the link below.

This serves as our family’s formal response to the WFAA segment that aired yesterday evening which focused on new cellphone footage that shows what Sandra experienced during her unlawful arrest four years ago leading to her wrongful death while in police custody. We wish we had control over the criminal investigation. We NEVER did. This video is confirmation that the special prosecutors could have prosecuted former Officer Brian Encinia but chose to cut a deal. As a result, we’ve been made to move forward.

We can’t tell you how proud we are that we’ve managed to do that through sheer will and determination. This is why it’s so incredibly important for you to watch HBO‘s Say Her Name: The Life & Death of Sandra Bland to learn more about our personal journey. #shareworthy #sayhernamesandrabland #sandySTILLspeaks

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If Socialism Falls in Venezuela, Colombia Shows Us What Will Replace It

https://bit.ly/2JnAW4e

https://afgj.org/

By James Patrick Jordan

When corporate media is obsessing on one story, you can pretty much bet that another story is being ignored or, more likely, purposely hidden and obscured. Corporate media, ever beating the drums for whatever war, coup, or intervention the oligarchs are pushing, plays its dutiful and subservient role. The example that comes immediately to mind is the false reports about weapons of mass destruction that paved the way for the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the Second Gulf War. Right now, something very similar is happening with regards to Venezuela. There is a barrage of unverified allegations and outright lies regarding that country, not to mention half-truths devoid of analysis. Every economic woe that has befallen the Venezuelan people is presented as a failure of the administration of Nicholas Maduro and a result of the path the country is taking toward socialism. Virtually never offered is any kind of explanation about the devastating effects of massive hording of goods by the opposition, and the US government’s policies of sanctions, blockades, and other forms of economic sabotage.

Meanwhile, we hear virtually nothing about the humanitarian crisis in Colombia, and when we do hear about that country, it is absurdly paraded as some kind of success story for democracy and capitalism. Just the other day I was listening to National Public Radio and heard Janet Napolitano, Homeland Security Secretary under the Obama administration, talking about how US engagement in Colombia has resulted in a much-improved human rights situation, painting a rosy picture of the country as a tourist destination. Well, Janet, either you’re lying or intolerably misinformed, because if that picture is rosy, the red tint you’re seeing is painted with blood. Seriously, how many of us know that in Colombia, in La Guajira, over the past eight years, at least 6100 indigenous children have died from hunger and lack of water? We don’t hear about that because Colombia is basically a colony of the United States, and a partner in the US-NATO Empire, and publicizing the information would be an indictment and an embarrassment. We don’t hear about that because corporations like US-based Drummond Coal, heavy operators in that region, don’t want you and me to know about how they are robbing the people of water, diverting the flow of rivers from communities and food production, in order to mine and process their dirty energy source. Ironically, in the name of fighting alleged repression and a manufactured crisis in Venezuela, Colombia is a staging ground for intervention in the neighboring country…. https://afgj.org/

VA Attacks Own Workforce: AFGE rejects management proposal that guts union contract

https://www.afge.org/publication/va-attacks-own-workforce/

WASHINGTON – The American Federation of Government Employees is denouncing a proposal from Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie that would eviscerate the existing labor contract covering 250,000 employees in the Department of Veterans Affairs and strip workers of their rights and protections.

“Secretary Wilkie is making a mockery of the collective bargaining process to do the bidding of President Trump,” American Federation of Government Employees National President J. David Cox Sr. said. “This is all part of the Trump administration’s strategy to force the VA to fail, thereby paving the road to privatization.”

The sham proposal, which the VA submitted to AFGE’s National VA Council Thursday afternoon, deletes entirely or in part 42 articles in the existing contract. Provisions were removed covering critical issues such as employee training, workplace health and safety, and protection from whistleblower retaliation.

“As a veteran myself, it makes me sick to see how little regard this administration shows to the workers who serve our veterans day in and day out,” said AFGE District 3 National Vice President Phil Glover, who chairs the AFGE National Executive Council’s Veterans Committee. “VA employees deserve to be treated with the same respect we expect them to show the veterans they serve.”

More than one-third of VA’s employees are veterans themselves, which allows them to provide veterans with the specialized care they need. VA employees have pioneered groundbreaking treatments for traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injuries, post-traumatic stress, and other ailments that are far more common among veterans than the general population.

Yet the Trump administration is attacking the women and men who provide that care – stripping away their rights, funneling resources to the for-profit private sector, and failing to fill 49,000 vacancies across the department nationwide.

“Despite the attacks from this administration, the VA continues to offer the highest level of care for our nation’s veterans, and we are improving every day,” VA Council President Alma Lee said. “There is no justification for the administration’s proposal, which would gut our contract and make it more difficult for veterans to get the quality service they expect and deserve.”

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The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) is the largest federal employee union, representing 700,000 workers in the federal government and the government of the District of Columbia.