Mr. Mark Clarke was arrested on April 27, 2016 along with 119 other people in the largest "gang" raid in NYC history. They are now known as the Bronx 120. https://www.bronx120.org/ Indicted on the basis of "evidence" such as social media surveillance, "association" and the NYPD's highly discriminatory criteria for identifying "gang members," the Bronx 120 face federal charges from a DA's office that boasts a 90+% conviction rate. Being charged under the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act of 1970 allows for all 120 young men to be implicated in the same 8 alleged murders dating back to 2007. Since the shock-and-awe style raid by 700 militarized law enforcement officials from 6 different agencies last April, the state has employed numerous scare tactics against the Bronx 120 and their loved ones in an attempt to silence opposition to this blatant abuse of authority. Mark Clarke has been sent to Metropolitan Detention Center, the federal prison in Brooklyn, to await trial. Since Mark has been at MDC, other prisoners have reported multiple personal attacks against him by MDC correctional officers, including being denied family visits, being shot with rubber bullets and sprayed with tear gas while in his cell. Although Mark has documented psychiatric issues since his imprisonment last April, he has been denied visits to the psychiatric unit at MDC, despite multiple requests from his mother. Mr. Clarke has been in solitary confinement since September 14, 2016 and will be until October 2017 unless we act on his behalf. Please use this link to donate to the Bronx 120 Commissary and Legal Fund. Because this is a very large federal case, there is a shortage of local lawyers with the experience needed to take it on. This fundraiser will go towards helping to get additional legal support and contribute to commissary. https://www.youcaring.com/targets-of-the-eastchester-raids-and-their-families-640725 Please call these MDC officials to ensure that the warden and others know that people are aware of the situation and put pressure on them to allow family visits and phone calls for Mr. Mark Clarke. Phone: 718-840-4200 (Ext: 5549 Case Manager Demosphenes) (Ext: 5141 Warden's Secretary) Key points to mention when you call/leave a message: --Mr. Clarke needs to be allowed visits and be allowed phone calls. --All documentation about his continued segregation needs to be released to his family.

The netflix movie titled “The White Helmets” is one of the contenders to win the 2017 Academy Award for best “short documentary”. Here is why the movie should NOT receive this award. * It is more infomercial than real documentary. The film-makers never set foot in Syria. Some footage from inside Syria appears staged. * Claims that the “White Helmets” are apolitical volunteers are false. White Helmet leaders actively campaign for US/NATO enforced “No Fly Zone”. The White Helmets only operate in areas controlled by the armed opposition, primarily Nusra/Al Qaeda. * “The White Helmets” organization is a creation of foreign powers supporting the ‘Contra’ war to overthrow the government of Syria. The White Helmets were initiated by a British military contractor with major funding from the USA and UK. The “White Helmets” brand is managed by a New York based marketing company called “The Syria Campaign” directed by an Irish American woman who has never been to Syria. This is primarily a media campaign with the netflix movie being one of their promotions. * The White Helmets stole the name Syrian Civil Defence from the legitimate organization which has existed since the 1950’s and which is a founding member of the International Civil Defense Organization. When armed terrorists invaded Aleppo in late 2012, they stole equipment and killed real volunteer rescue workers from the authentic Syrian Civil Defence. * Claims that “White Helmets” are unarmed are untrue. Photos and videos show their members carrying arms and celebrating Nusra/AlQaeda military victories. * Claims that the White Helmets have saved 80,000 lives are nonsense. In fact there are very few civilians living in the zones controlled by 'Contra' terrorists in Syria where the White Helmets operate. * When the Syrian Government recaptured east Aleppo in December 2016, nearly all civilians rushed into the protection of the government controlled areas. They described abuse by the “terrorists” and how civilians who tried to flee had been killed by the armed groups. They described how the “White Helmets” prioritized support to the armed fighters and did little to help civilians. * In late December 2016 Nusra / Al Qaeda terrorists seized the villages, spring and water pumping station in the Barada Valley that supplies clean water to Damascus. They poisoned the water, then blew up the pumping station stopping the flow of water to 5 million people in Damascus. The White Helmets were among the groups allied with Nusra carrying out this atrocity. “The White Helmets” movie is symbolic of the disinformation and deceit in the war on Syria. “The White Helmets” movie deserves an award for advertising and war propaganda but NOT as a documentary movie. For detailed information see the exposes of the White Helmets by writers such as Jan Oberg, Vanessa Beeley, Rick Sterling, Max Blumenthal, Scott Ritter. Jan Oberg provides a listing with links in his extensive article "Just How Grey are the White Helmets and Their Backers?" See the 5 minute video titled "The White Helmets - Al Qaeda with a Facelift".

The United States spends $1.4 trillion a year on its military budget, including its many intel agencies, veteran affairs and so forth. This astounding figure is more than double what the entire rest of the world spends on theirs. A significant portion of that destructive waste goes to maintaining an over-reaching empire's 748 foreign military bases; a planet-wide occupation. As to how much is spent on external forces by the rest of the world? Threat of force and withdrawn support are the only means of extorting these sites. And exposing this blackmail further is SOFA, the agreement which binds countries to never charge a soldier with anything, even frequent gang-rape and murder. Meanwhile we are told we must endure cuts in Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education, and environmental protection... Maybe if we left the world alone it would do the same. America has been by far the most warring of countries in history. Folks might like us better if we would set the waging of endless wars aside for a while, maybe forever. It's a sure thing that Wall Street won't like the new arrangement as there's a profit to be made in every body bag...but they'll just have to find a nicer replacement.

see all the You Tube videos and research the USS LIBERTY INCIDENT. Also search OPERATION CYANIDE. The attempted sinking of the USS LIBERTY was a part of OPERATION CYANIDE. The USS LIBERTY was an American Navy spy ship. It was attacked 50 years ago on June 8, 1967. The official version of the cause was that it was a case of mistaken identity. In many experts opinion this was a cover-up and needs to be re-investigated and remembered as the Japanese attack on Hawaii is remembered...as a day of rememberance.

America is also founded to uphold common hoped-for benefits which unite us (as described in The Preamble to the US Constitution). These are: justice, civil order, common defense [not the preemptive kind], general welfare [not corporate welfare], and preserving for future generations ("our posterity") the benefits we wish for ourselves and fellow citizens. By many measures, these values, too, are not being realized. What's the solution? A constitutional amendment that ensures fair elections, and provides new means to nominate and hold new officeholders accountable to We The People: A six-month probationary period for new electees to enforce accountability. Vote of confidence/budget impasse provisions that increase control of government by the electorate. Automatic nationwide voter registration, thumbprint verified, updated by motor vehicle license and/or payroll records. Stricter requirements and enforcement of tamper-proof, hack-proof, and fully auditable elections. Why not go through Congress? Since the Congress is part of the problem to be solved, the usual route of sending it through Congress would not work. Article V of the US Constitution spells out the steps by which amendments to the Constitution can be made, which includes ratification by 3/4 of state legislatures. This new proposed bill will be sent to state legislatures once it has been circulated and endorsed. It requires endorsement by 2/3 of state legislatures to call for a vote and passage by 3/4 to be ratified.

The ICC is degrading rather than enhancing the idea of international justice by giving a free pass to Western war makers. The United States has itself given a free pass to its war makers, kidnappers, torturers, and assassins. The U.S. president-elect and his advisors openly plan to violate laws against war, torture, and the targeting of civilians. The people of the United States and the world need the ICC to fulfill its mission and step in where domestic justice has failed. * * * * * Preliminary ICC report on consideration of investigating U.S. crimes in Afghanistan and at secret sites in other countries: https://www.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/otp/161114-otp-rep-PE_ENG.pdf * * * * * New York Times report: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/15/world/asia/united-states-torture-afghanistan-international-criminal-court.html?_r=1 * * * * * Congressman Ted Lieu on U.S. and Saudi war crimes in Yemen: https://lieu.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/us-congressman-john-kerry-are-we-committing-war-crimes-yemen * * * * * John LaForge article: http://worldbeyondwar.org/torture-charges-us-considered-international-criminal-court/

Peace helps everyone

Barbara Lee has a high reputation of speaking truth to power. We ask her to stand on that ground and speak again on some major issues coming up in the next administration.

Thus the relationship of cause and effect is clear again, this a first real step towards combating the causes of flight and the demand for a stop all arms exports is given emphasis, and, not at least, there must be an end of playing off local paupers against newly arriving poor. Therefore we call: Finally make the profiteers liable for the misery they have caused! Arms companies must pay for refugees!

The CPD has perpetrated fraud on the American People since its inception in 1987. The Democrats and Republicans have colluded with mainstream media, the 1%, wall street, and the military/industrial/fake war complex (among others), to keep the public uninformed on all candidates running for POTUS by creating arbitrary polling threshholds rigged by the MSM. This is in direct opposition to their mission statement. For these treasonous crimes they should be shut down.

Donald Trump appears more and more likely to win the U.S. Presidential election in November if Clinton continues to be the Democratic nominee. A President Trump would threaten the future of our planet. He does not comprehend the dangers of climate change, nuclear war or economic injustice, and his rhetoric on race and religion is already stirring up civil unrest. Yet he continues to improve in the polls and is raising significant amounts of money from his solid base of grassroots supporters. He is a serious contender and we dismiss him and his supporters at our own peril. Hillary Clinton, while obviously the more experienced and competent candidate, is not well-positioned to defeat Trump. The American people are not enthusiastic about Clinton and have given her record-high “untrustworthy” numbers in opinion polls. They worry that she is not being honest about her health. She continues to be the subject of various investigations and email leaks, which are at a minimum an embarrassment to her campaign, and which have the potential to lead to criminal charges. Clinton also continues to use bad judgment on the campaign trail, where she is alienating large numbers of the voters she desperately needs in order to win. Many decent Americans are so tired of establishment politicians that they are thinking about voting for Trump simply to show their level of anger and frustration. They seem quite willing to vote “against their own interests” if it means that they will also hurt those at the top. It is not clear whether these people are admitting their support for Trump to pollsters, which means that Trump could already be further ahead than the polls indicate. We need to remember what happened recently in the UK during the Brexit vote. Our only hope for defeating Donald Trump in November is to bring back Bernie Sanders as the Democratic Party nominee. Sanders is seen by the public as an outsider and a fighter (qualities people admire in Donald Trump) but he is also seen as someone of unquestionable integrity. Sanders has extremely high favorabilities overall, and particularly among all the demographics where Hillary Clinton is weak: millennials, independents, and white working-class men. Sanders can beat Trump easily. He polled very strongly against Donald Trump in July, and since that time his popularity in the country has only increased, to the point where he is even more popular than Michelle Obama. In order for Bernie Sanders to return to the campaign and defeat Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton has to voluntarily drop out of the race. We urge her and beg her to do so, for the good of her country and the planet. Our very survival as a species could depend on this selfless and noble act from her. In addition, in order to defeat Trump convincingly, the Democratic Party would have to replace Clinton with their strongest candidate against Trump, Bernie Sanders. Bernie won 23 states and 13 million votes during the Democratic primary, and has proven that he has great appeal among Independents and that he can mobilize strong grassroots funding and draw huge crowds. We urge the DNC not to replace Clinton with another establishment candidate who also might lose to Trump. We urge the DNC to give the Democratic nomination to Bernie Sanders, and work with Sanders to pick a VP candidate (for example, Joe Biden) who would satisfy centrist and establishment elements within the party. In November, America needs to reject Donald Trump soundly at the polls, so that there is no question of a rigged election. Americans need to be motivated to turn out to vote, and to vote for as many down-ballot Democrats and progressives as possible. America needs to step up and take an active leadership role on issues such as renewable energy and climate change, economic justice, healthcare, education, fair trade, diplomacy and immigration. With cooperation and support from Hillary Clinton and the DNC, we can place Bernie Sanders at the top of the Democratic ticket and achieve all these goals. We can do this, and we MUST. Our future, our children and our grandchildren are depending on it. Thank you for your consideration.

Practically speaking, the US is stuck in a two-party system of Republicans and Democrats. This system frequently results in having two candidates who both have very low levels of overall public support. Currently, supporters of non-mainstream political parties (e.g. Green, Independent, Libertarian) can't realistically vote for their own candidates because they are sabotaging the final election by taking votes away from either the Republican or the Democratic candidates. For example, a liberal Green party supporter would assist the conservative cause by removing a vote for a Democratic liberal candidate. They would actually increase their chance of getting their last-choice candidate by voting for their first-choice candidate. The same is true in reverse for a conservative voter. Being able to vote for only two candidates artificially polarizes many issues, reduces the possibility of introducing innovative ideas, and encourages both candidates to move towards centrist, status quo policies. Regardless of whether you are a Bernie supporter, right-wing evangelical, environmentalist, etc, you should be supporting a shift to a ranked voting system that lets you vote based on your beliefs, not based on fear of getting the worse of two candidates you don't want. Ranked-voting is used successfully by many other countries including Australia and is much more democratic than the current US system. If we had a ranked-voting system in the US during the 2016 elections it is less likely that Trump would have come out as the top republican candidate, and Bernie would realistically have been able to run as third-party candidate and stand a real chance of winning. In short, moving the US to a ranked-voting system will give us a foundation for more representative and innovative government in future elections.