The people of Venezuela need a respite from violence and suffering and have the right to determine their own future.

Marzieh Hashemi (she is a US citizen), when returning from Iran was arrested, without charges, at the St. Louis, Missouri Airport and then taken and put in detention in a prison in Washington D.C. as a 'material witness.' Actually she is an Anchor woman on Press TV. Since when does the US jail 'material witnesses?' This is another travesty against journalists, and the MSM isn't even covering it. Educate yourselves on this. As a material witness whom is she going to testify against---The US gov't, Britain, France and Israel for their ongoing mass murder around the world?

Academic institutions are restricting free speech, due mainly to organized pressure campaigns. This is destructive to academic activity and to free pursuit of ideas in the institutions and the wider societies which they serve.

AND WHEREAS, hundreds of people have petitioned the City to take the following action[14]; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the City Council formally declares its opposition to investing City funds in any entities that are involved in the production of fossil fuels or the production or upgrading of weapons and weapons systems, whether conventional or nuclear, and including the manufacture of civilian arms, and decides that it shall be City policy to divest from such entities; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the City Council directs any and all persons acting on behalf of City investment activity to enforce the provisions of this Resolution; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this Resolution shall be binding City policy and shall be in full force and effect after adoption by the City Council. 1. Rich Whitney, Truthout, Sept. 23, 2017, "US Provides Military Assistance to 73 Percent of World’s Dictatorships" https://truthout.org/articles/us-provides-military-assistance-to-73-percent-of-world-s-dictatorships/ 2. World BEYOND War, "War Threatens Our Environment," https://worldbeyondwar.org/environment 3. World BEYOND War, "City of Charlottesville Passes Resolution Asking Congress to Fund Human and Environmental Needs, Not Military Expansion," March 20, 2017, https://worldbeyondwar.org/city-charlottesville-passes-resolution-asking-congress-fund-human-environmental-needs-not-military-expansion 4. “Pursuing the 1.5°C Limit: Benefits and Opportunities,” by the United Nations Development Programme, Nov 16, 2016. http://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/librarypage/climate-and-disaster-resilience-/pursuing-the-1-5c-limit---benefits-and-opportunities.html 5. Stephen Nash, Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests, University of Virginia Press, 2017. https://www.upress.virginia.edu/title/4501 6. Political Economy Research Institute, “The U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities: 2011 Update,” https://www.peri.umass.edu/publication/item/449-the-u-s-employment-effects-of-military-and-domestic-spending-priorities-2011-update 7. “Climate change may increase risk of water shortages in hundreds of US counties by 2050,” https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120215143003.htm 8. Examples include U.S. wars in Syria (https://www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-cia-pentagon-isis-20160327-story.html ), Iraq (https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/isis-weapons-arsenal-included-some-purchased-u-s-government-n829201 ), Libya (https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/world/africa/weapons-sent-to-libyan-rebels-with-us-approval-fell-into-islamist-hands.html ), the Iran-Iraq war (http://articles.latimes.com/1987-06-18/news/mn-8000_1_gulf-war ), the Mexican drug war (https://fas.org/asmp/library/publications/us-mexico.htm ), World War II (https://www.amazon.com/Trading-Enemy-Charles-Higham/dp/0760700095/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463760561&sr=1-1&keywords=Trading+with+the+enemy ) and many others. 9. “Our cities are getting hotter—and its killing people,” by Alissa Walker, https://www.curbed.com/2018/7/6/17539904/heat-wave-extreme-heat-cities-deadly 10. Nash, op. cit. 11. “Climate-change–driven accelerated sea-level rise detected in the altimeter era,” by R. S. Nerem, B. D. Beckley, J. T. Fasullo, B. D. Hamlington, D. Masters, and G. T. Mitchum. PNAS February 27, 2018, 115 (9) 2022-2025; published ahead of print February 12, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1717312115. https://www.pnas.org/content/115/9/2022 12. “Global Warming of 1.5°C, An IPCC Special Report; Summary for Policymakers.” October 2018. https://report.ipcc.ch/sr15/pdf/sr15_spm_final.pdf 13. “Global Climate Change and Children’s Health,” by Samantha Ahdoot, Susan E. Pacheco, and The Council on Environmental Health. Pediatrics, Nov 2015, Vol 136 / Issue 5, a Technical Report from the American Academy of Pediatrics. http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/136/5/e1468 14. https://diy.rootsaction.org/p/cvilledivest

Because GLYPHOSATE IS KILLING PEOPLE AND PLANET!!!

Rep. Engel's foreign policies views are well to the right of the vast majority of Democrats. He was among the right-wing minority of Congressional Democrats who voted to authorize the illegal, unnecessary, and predictably tragic U.S. invasion of Iraq. He has opposed efforts to end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen, which has killed many thousands of civilians outright and threatened millions more with starvation and disease. He was one of only a handful of Democrats to oppose the Iran anti-nuclear agreement. He has opposed the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, called for expanding NATO to include Ukraine and Georgia, and supports Morocco’s illegal annexation of occupied Western Sahara. He has defended the Israeli occupation and illegal settlements, Israeli bombing of civilian targets, and praised Trump for moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and attacked the United Nations, the World Court, the European Union, and human rights groups for criticizing Israel's right-wing government. Despite Rep. Engel's seniority, the Democratic Party must not give the chair of this important committee to someone whose views are closer to Trump and the Republicans than the majority of Democrats.

For 31 consecutive Fridays, Palestinians have gone to the border with Israel demanding the end to the horrific Israeli blockade of Gaza. According to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights on October 28, Israeli snipers have killed 168, wounded by gunfire 9073 including 1586 children, 247 women, 116 journalists and 128 paramedics. Among those wounded, 498 are in serious condition and 76 persons' lower or upper limbs were amputated. Thousands of others suffered tear gas inhalation and sustained bruises. The Gaza health facilities need the 114 boxes of medical supplies from the Gaza Flotilla. Two boats of the 2018 Gaza Freedom Flotilla carried 114 boxes of medical supplies — sterile gauze and sutures — for the Gaza health system. By international law, Israel must deliver them to the Gaza border. One month has passed since the Israeli military hijacked the boats, arrested, imprisoned and deported 34 persons on the boats. While the amount of medical supplies is small compared to the massive need, it is critical to force Israel to abide by international law and let medical supplies into Gaza. Please sign the petition to put pressure on the Israeli government to deliver the 114 boxes of medical supplies to the Gaza health system. And call the Israeli Embassy in your country and your Ministry of Foreign Affairs/Department of State demanding the release of the medical supplies. In the U.S., call the Israeli Embassy at 202-364-5500 and the Department of State at 202-647-4000 and ask for the Office of Israel/Palestine Affairs.

Nonviolent intervention and inquiry on behalf of the Kashmir people is needed because of the daily escalation of violence by occupation forces. The loop of violence will continue and escalate without representation of the people of Kashmir.

It is imperative to stop the Jewish state from committing war crimes and crimes against God, Country and man. They are in the process of a Holocaust on the innocent Palestinian people, including genocide, theft of Palestinian land, Palestinian homes and murdering Palestinian children for the purpose of organ harvesting. They are digging up Palestinian cemeteries, which is part of the genocide on the Palestinian people to deny them their heritage and their legitimate place in history. The world is weary of their barbarian activities. It is time for the US to stand up against what has become a fascist theocracy, and not to use their veto in further UN sanctions, also; amend the inappropriate use of the veto against all UN sanctions and honor all past UN sanctions. NATO recently announced that they will not come to the aid of the fascist state if the fascist state starts a war on Iran, a country that has not attacked and occupied another country in over 200 years. Before the US lied about the reason for declaring war on Iraq by citing UN sanctions, we should also look at the number of sanctions on Iraq by the UN. The number of proposed UN sanctions against the fascist state outnumbers the sanctions against Iraq by a wide margin. It is time to put the fascist state on their knees and out of business, once and for all. The US should move in and seize all nuclear weapons and the chemical weapons used on women and children.

Israel does not deserve any special consideration, particularly in the light of their total disregard for the lives and well-being of those it has blockaded in Gaza and those whose land it is stealing in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.

Rep. Betty McCollum introduced this bill earlier in 2018 after learning about the appalling treatment of Palestinian children in the West Bank who are arrested and treated in blatant violation of international law by the Israeli military. They are often taken from their beds in the middle of the night, interrogated without parents or attorneys present, subjected to harsh and degrading treatment and coerced into signing confessions in Hebrew, which they don't know. The 26 co-sponsors, including four California Democratic members of Congress, want to bar U.S. funding of such practices. The bill would require the State Department to report regularly and assure that to be the case. For more information about the bill, see https://mccollum.house.gov/palestinianchildrensrights. Jewish Voice for Peace and others have asked Reps. Matsui and Bera to sign on, but they have not responded. Perhaps they will if they hear from hundreds of constituents.

Your Congressional district has a strong tradition of being supportive of human rights and the dignity of all. Introduced by Rep. Betty McCollum in November of last year, this important bill is needed to ensure that US taxpayer money is not used by Israel to commit human rights abuses against Palestinian children under military occupation. According to Defense for Children International-Palestine, Israel is the only country in the world to systematically detain and imprison children through a separate-and-unequal military court system. These courts convict Palestinians in 99.74 percent of cases, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. Palestinian children are also systematically ill-treated by Israeli forces during and after their arrest. They suffer “beatings, long-term handcuffing, threats, intimidation, and solitary confinement,” which in some cases amount to “torture,” according to the Department of State. This bill would prohibit any US assistance appropriated to Israel being used to support the military detention, interrogation, abuse, or ill-treatment of Palestinian children in violation of international law. The United States gives Israel more than $3 billion in military aid each year. The least we can do is to ensure that this money is not going to support Israel’s human rights abuses of Palestinian children. Your action on this bill has become very urgent. Israel is using massive military force against unarmed protesters in Gaza, killing dozens, terribly wounding hundreds. Clearly identified members of the press have been murdered or wounded by the Israeli military. Children have been killed or wounded. The Israeli military admits “we know where every bullet landed”. Now is not the time for empty platitudes of concern. We demand accountability for US aid to Israel. I strongly urge you to join Bay Area representatives Barbara Lee, Jackie Speier, Ro Khanna, and Anna Eshoo and cosponsor this bill. I look forward to hearing back from you on this matter.