[mpen-dayton4] FW: "Trump’s immigration plan generates white nationalist support" & "I'm Iranian-American. This is my story." & "CHINA SET TO OPEN THE WORLD'S HIGHEST AND LONGEST GLASS-BOTTOM BRIDGE !!" and more
FYI. Best, Munsup
P.S. Please reply back to me with 'unsubscribe' added on the subject line if you no longer want to receive
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P.P.S. "He who dares not offend cannot be honest" - Thomas Paine
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· FW: Trump's immigration plan generates white nationalist support
· FW: Remember "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"?
· FW: I'm Iranian-American. This is my story.
· FW: Get breaking Iran deal news
· FW: FW: Call it (as corruption --- Represent.US)
· FW: Fight dark money-->Add your name to pass the K.O.C.H. Act!!
· FW: CHINA SET TO OPEN THE WORLD'S HIGHEST AND LONGEST GLASS-BOTTOM BRIDGE !!
· FW: MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
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From: Southern Poverty Law Center; FIGHTING HATE // TEACHING TOLERANCE // SEEKING JUSTICE
Subject: Trump's immigration plan generates white nationalist support
AUGUST 27, 2015
Credit: AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
Donald Trump's immigration plan backed by prominent white nationalists
White nationalists are rallying behind Donald Trump after the presidential hopeful released an immigration plan calling for building a border wall, deporting 11 million immigrants and gutting the 14th Amendment. Among the racists praising Trump was longtime Klan leader David Duke, the most recognizable figure of the American radical right.
READ MORE
White supremacist group's conference canceled after SPLC report
Reacting to an SPLC report, a hotel in Nashville canceled the reservation of the racist Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC) two days before its annual conference. As the SPLC pointed out, the CCC is the group whose online propaganda radicalized and inspired Dylann Roof, who allegedly killed nine African Americans at the "Mother Emanuel" church in Charleston this summer.
READ MORE
From: Jo, Maria, Manny, Nick, and the rest of the team; MoveOn.org Civic Action
Subject: Remember "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"?
Do you have any friends who've been tricked, duped, or bamboozled by the war lobby into opposing the Iran nuclear deal?
Our family and friends need to know that the people urging Congress to walk away from the Iran nuclear deal and risk another Middle East war are the very same ones who took us to war in Iraq.
They were wrong then. And they're wrong now.
But, unfortunately, they do have a lot of money to spend. And that's why it's important that each of us helps ads like this one end up in front of as many people as possible. Will you share the video today?
P.S. Interested in more-detailed reasons to support the Iran nuclear deal? Check out this article from The Huffington Post blog titled "10 Reasons Why Opposing Iran Nuclear Deal Is Bad Politics for Dems, Bad Policy for America."
Want to support our work? MoveOn member contributions have powered our work together for more than 17 years. Hundreds of thousands of people chip in each year—which is why we're able to be fiercely independent, answering to no individual, corporation, politician, or political party. You can become a monthly donor by clicking here, or chip in a one-time gift here.
From: Sohaela Amiri (LA Congressional Co-Captain, National Iranian-American Council) for JVP
Subject: I'm Iranian-American. This is my story.
It's so important to make sure that when we talk about the Iran deal, we don't just include the voices of Israelis and American Jews. That's why I'm so excited to share this email from Sohaela Amiri (an Iranian-American human rights activist and foreign policy researcher) with you. In solidarity, Rabbi Joseph Berman -- Government Affairs Liaison, JVP.
Stand for diplomacy. Stand for human rights.
Contact Rep. Michael Turner
Sen. Sherrod Brown
and Sen. Rob Portman
in support of the Iran deal today.
You've heard from a lot of people about the proposed nuclear deal with Iran. You've heard from pundits and politicians. You've heard from people who think they can speak for me. But you haven't heard from me.
My name is Sohaela Amiri, and I'm a 28 year old Iranian-American living in Los Angeles. I want to tell you why I support this deal.
I grew up in Iran, went to college there, and became a student activist. It wasn't always easy or safe being an activist in Iran: my student card was revoked and I was threatened with arrest. Many of my friends have been arrested and imprisoned, but we carried on fighting. Why? Because we know that our dream of a better Iran is within reach.
That's why I support this deal, despite my criticisms of the regime: it represents the best chance in a generation to chart a new course for Iran and the U.S. I've heard right-wing pundits crudely using the people of Iran in their arguments to fight against the deal, and claim that they stand with human rights activists in Iran. But every single human rights activists I know in Iran supports the deal, and the chance it brings to end the sanctions and pursue diplomacy.
Remember that next time you hear Netanyahu pretend he cares about the people of Iran: right-wingers are stealing the rhetoric of reformists in Iran and using us as a political prop.
If you support diplomacy, click here to visit www.diplomacynotwar.org and contact Rep. Michael Turner, Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Sen. Rob Portman now.
It's crucial to remember that the harsh sanctions on Iran took a toll on the Iranian people, not just the extremist elements of the regime. The sanctions violate the basic human rights of Iranian people. They have prevented their access to crucial medicine, blocked any type of humanitarian assistance, and have significantly deteriorated public health conditions on a large scale. And frankly, sanctions are degrading. They took away the dignity of the Iranian people.
Add your name: contact Rep. Michael Turner, Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Sen. Rob Portman and support the Iran Deal today.
Opponents of the deal aren't just presuming to speak for me -- they're also helping the hardliner extremists within the Iranian regime. Every time some right-wing politician in the U.S. or Israel beats a war-drum about Iran, they don't help the movement for reform in Iran, they hurt it. They give fodder to the regime, who whip up fear and hatred about the West and use it to suppress dissent. That's why the Iranian people -- including me and all my comrades -- want this deal.
So do all the Iranian human rights groups, and campaigning organizations. Pursuing peace and diplomacy with the U.S. won't just help the U.S., it'll take away one of the Iranian government's excuses to oppress its people. As an activist in Iran, and as a foreign policy researcher in the U.S., I've never wavered from my commitment to human rights, and I know that this deal is our best chance of making progress.
Stand for human rights. Stand for peace. Contact Rep. Michael Turner, Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Sen. Rob Portman today.
I am Iranian. I am American. I know that Iran and America can co-exist in peace -- and this deal is how we'll start to get there.
From: Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran
Subject: Get breaking Iran deal news
Congress could vote on a dangerous nuclear deal with Iran as early as September 9th.
Despite the fact that the agreement lets Iran use its own inspectors at suspicious sites that could be used for nuclear weapons developments, and that government officials, defense and nuclear experts, and everyday citizens have all called on Congress to reject a bad deal, the vote could still go either way.
To ensure that Congress rejects a dangerous deal with Iran, the best thing you can do is join the Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran Mobile Action Network. You'll get major updates on the nuclear deal, and learn about the best opportunities to take action.
To receive text updates, text "VOTE NO" to 877877 or click here.
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From: Mansur Gidfar; Communications Director, Represent.Us
Subject: Call it
$120 million for Jeb. $67.8 million for Hillary. An election projected to cost $10 billion.
Big donors are buying politicians. Lobbyists are writing our laws. America is in the midst of a corruption crisis and everybody knows it. But only a handful of 2016 presidential hopefuls have been willing to publicly call the problem what it actually is: Corruption.
If most candidates won't even recognize America's corruption crisis, we can't possibly expect them to offer serious solutions. It's time to find out exactly which candidates have the guts to face this crisis head on – will you add your name to our open letter demanding that all presidential candidates call it corruption?
Just three presidential hopefuls – Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump, and Larry Lessig – have been willing to publicly call the problem what it is: Corruption.
We have to demand better. Together, we can make sure America's corruption crisis is front and center throughout the entire election.
We'll send it to every major presidential candidate until we get a real response. If they refuse to answer or respond with a vague dodge, we'll publicly call them out. Public pressure is key in these early primary stages – just drawing attention to a weak position can be enough to create negative press or sink a candidate's poll numbers.
The presidential race is already dominating headlines, and it's absolutely critical that we seize this opportunity to make corruption a major part of the story. We're done settling for candidates who tiptoe around the truth. It's corruption, and it's time to find out exactly which candidates are bold enough to speak publicly about it.
From: Ben Betz; Online Engagement Director, People For the American Way
Subject: Fight dark money-->Add your name to pass the K.O.C.H. Act!!
We've had a major response to this petition so far, but we still need you!
Nearly 25,000 people have signed so far to stand up to the Koch brothers, super PACs, and the mountains of dark money invited into our election by decisions like Citizens United.
Please ADD YOUR NAME NOW and help us get to 50,000 people fighting back before the end of the week!
Sign now -- Tell Congress to pass the KOCH Act>>
-- Ben
The KOCH Act would direct the FCC to require that super PACs and other outside political groups disclose their major donors in TV and radio ads.
Add your support for the KOCH Act here>>
The Federal Communications Commission could play a huge role in cracking down on secret election spending, with tougher rules for political disclosure.
To pave the way, some of our allies in Congress have introduced the Keeping Our Campaigns Honest (KOCH) Act -- and, yes, that name is no coincidence.
The KOCH Act would direct the FCC to require that super PACs and other outside political groups disclose their major donors in TV and radio ads.1
SIGN THE PETITION: Tell Congress to PASS the KOCH Act>>
Even the disastrous Citizens United decision was supposedly predicated on there being a certain level of transparency that, according the Court's majority opinion, "enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages."
Obviously that transparency is just not there. And because of the Right's trumped up 'IRS scandal,' where new Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status in the 2012 election received scrutiny from the agency, the IRS is poised to sheepishly hold off on new much-needed rules to regulate dark money groups in the next election.
So it's especially urgent that the FCC steps up and gets tough now.
Pro-big money Republicans in the House have already blocked the KOCH Act once in committee, but we need to keep pushing in both the House and the Senate.
And this is important: even if we don't get the bill passed, the grassroots support we generate for this bill will put pressure on the FCC, which can take vital steps to increase disclosure on its own.
Add your name now and tell Congress to pass the KOCH Act>>
After you take action, do even more to help shine a light on dark money by sharing the petition with five friends and on social media.
1. Democrats Press FCC to Unmask Koch-Backed Groups http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/democrats-press-the-fcc-to-unmask-koch-backed-groups-20150430
From: ave3vale
Subject: FW: CHINA SET TO OPEN THE WORLD'S HIGHEST AND LONGEST GLASS-BOTTOM BRIDGE !!
China Set To Open World's Longest And Highest Glass-Bottom Bridge
A bridge too far? China set to open the most terrifying walkway in the world, stretching a quarter-of-a-mile across a canyon at a dizzying height of 980ft ... and it's made of GLASS (The Zhangjiajie skywalk is opened in July hovering over a 980ft drop!!) If you are terrified of heights, you would be advised to stay well away from China 's latest attraction The Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon skywalk will hover over a nail-biting 980ft drop and is set to smash records to be the world's longest and highest glass-bottomed bridge. The dizzying footbridge, which spans between two cliffs in the national park of Zhangjiajie , will be open to brave tourists in July.
If you have vertigo look away! The world's highest and longest glass-bottomed bridge is set to open in China in July
The dizzying walkway is suspended between two cliffs in the Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon area with unbeatable views of the national park
There are even plans to hold fashions shows along the sky-high pathway, which has unbeatable views of the national park that was the inspiration for the planet Pandora in the movie Avatar.
Israeli architect Haim Dotan was behind the ambitious venture, which will easily dwarf America's Grand Canyon Skywalk which sits 718ft above ground measuring 68ft long.
Israeli architect Haim Dotan was behind the ambitious venture, which will easily dwarf America's Grand Canyon Skywalk
The terrifying platform is no quick stroll, stretching a whopping 1410ft above the impressive Hunan province scenery
Skyhigh fashion! There are plans to hold fashion shows along the bridge set against the picturesque Zhangjiajie backdrop
Visitors will be able to marvel at the stunning Zhangjiajie national park landscape, which boasts over 3,000 sandstone pillars, and was the inspiration for James Cameron's 2009 movie, Avatar.
For tourists who catch the adrenaline bug from completing the transparent walkway, there will also be the opportunity to try the world's highest bungee jump.
This record-breaking bungee will snatch the title from Macau Tower 's 764ft-high attraction.
Last month a similarly scary walkway opened in south-west China in Chongqing , which extended 87.5ft from the edge of a cliff.
Visitors are suspended in the air with 2,350ft of valley below their feet, leaving them feel as though they are walking on air.
Located in the Longgang National Geological Park , the bridge has been named Yuanduan, meaning 'at the end of the clouds'
With jaw-dropping panoramic views from its observation deck, it is the longest cantilever bridge in the world
The park is limiting it to just 30 people at a time to ensure visitors have plenty of room to enjoy the view!
From: albert baca
Subject: FW: MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL
This is a Bernie paper but it is worth a read no matter who you support or are against for President. Let's face it. This country has gone to hell in a handbasket since Tricky Dick and St. Ronnie. The "exceptional" USA has become a Plutocracy. I want Democracy back. It is "We the people" not "We the rich". One person equals one vote. Money be damned. Damn State Politicians who can be bought. Damn Congressmen who can be bought. Damn SCOTUS RATS and their damn "Citizens United" decision. Damn Gerrymandering. Damn. Damn. Damn. FYI: I am merely quoting Professor Henry Higgins where he says, "Damn, Damn, Damn" before he sings, "I've grown accustomed to her face" in My Fair Lady.
https://berniesanders.com/issues/racial-justice/
RACIAL JUSTICE
We must pursue policies that transform this country into a nation that affirms the value of its people of color. That starts with addressing the four central types of violence waged against black and brown Americans: physical, political, legal and economic.
Physical Violence
Perpetrated by the State
Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Rekia Boyd, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Samuel DuBose. We know their names. Each of them died unarmed at the hands of police officers or in police custody. The chants are growing louder. People are angry and they have a right to be angry. We should not fool ourselves into thinking that this violence only affects those whose names have appeared on TV or in the newspaper. African Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police.
Perpetrated by Extremists
We are far from eradicating racism in this country. In June, nine of our fellow Americans were murdered while praying in a historic church because of the color of their skin. This violence fills us with outrage, disgust, and a deep, deep sadness. Today in America, if you are black, you can be killed for getting a pack of Skittles during a basketball game. These hateful acts of violence amount to acts of terror. They are perpetrated by extremists who want to intimidate and terrorize black and brown people in this country.
Addressing Physical Violence
It is an outrage that in these early years of the 21st century we are seeing intolerable acts of violence being perpetuated by police, and racist terrorism by white supremacists.
A growing number of communities do not trust the police and law enforcement officers have become disconnected from the communities they are sworn to protect. Violence and brutality of any kind, particularly at the hands of the police sworn to protect and serve our communities, is unacceptable and must not be tolerated. We need a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter, and racism cannot be accepted in a civilized country.
We must demilitarize our police forces so they don't look and act like invading armies.
We must invest in community policing. Only when we get officers into the communities, working within neighborhoods before trouble arises, do we develop the relationships necessary to make our communities safer together. Among other things, that means increasing civilian oversight of police departments.
We need police forces that reflect the diversity of our communities.
At the federal level we need to establish a new model police training program that reorients the way we do law enforcement in this country. With input from a broad segment of the community including activists and leaders from organizations like Black Lives Matter we will reinvent how we police America.
We need to federally fund and require body cameras for law enforcement officers to make it easier to hold them accountable.
Our Justice Department must aggressively investigate and prosecute police officers who break the law and hold them accountable for their actions.
We need to require police departments and states to provide public reports on all police shootings and deaths that take place while in police custody.
We need new rules on the allowable use of force. Police officers need to be trained to de-escalate confrontations and to humanely interact with people who have mental illnesses.
States and localities that make progress in this area should get more federal justice grant money. Those that do not should get their funding slashed.
We need to make sure the federal resources are there to crack down on the illegal activities of hate groups.
Political Violence
Disenfranchisement
In the shameful days of open segregation, "literacy" laws were used to suppress minority voting. Today, through other laws and actions — such as requiring voters to show photo ID, discriminatory drawing of Congressional districts, not allowing early registration or voting, and purging voter rolls — states are taking steps which have a similar effect.
The patterns are unmistakable. An MIT paper found that African Americans waited twice as long to vote as whites. Wait times of as long as six or seven hours have been reported in some minority precincts, especially in "swing" states like Ohio and Florida. Thirteen percent of African-American men have lost the right to vote due to felony convictions.
This should offend the conscience of every American.
The fight for minority voting rights is a fight for justice. It is inseparable from the struggle for democracy itself.
We must work vigilantly to ensure that every American, regardless of skin color or national origin, is able to vote freely and easily.
Addressing Political Violence
We need to re-enfranchise the more than two million African Americans who have had their right to vote taken away by a felony conviction.
Congress must restore the Voting Rights Act's "pre-clearance" provision, which extended protections to minority voters in states where they were clearly needed.
We must expand the Act's scope so that every American, regardless of skin color or national origin, is able to vote freely.
We need to make Election Day a federal holiday to increase voters' ability to participate.
We must make early voting an option for voters who work or study and need the flexibility to vote on evenings or weekends.
We must make no-fault absentee ballots an option for all Americans.
Every American over 18 must be registered to vote automatically, so that students and working people can make their voices heard at the ballot box.
We must put an end to discriminatory laws and the purging of minority-community names from voting rolls.
We need to make sure that there are sufficient polling places and poll workers to prevent long lines from forming at the polls anywhere.
Legal Violence
Millions of lives have been destroyed because people are in jail for nonviolent crimes. For decades, we have been engaged in a failed "War on Drugs" with racially-biased mandatory minimums that punish people of color unfairly.
It is an obscenity that we stigmatize so many young Americans with a criminal record for smoking marijuana, but not one major Wall Street executive has been prosecuted for causing the near collapse of our entire economy. This must change.
If current trends continue, one in four black males born today can expect to spend time in prison during their lifetime. Blacks are imprisoned at six times the rate of whites and a report by the Department of Justice found that blacks were three times more likely to be searched during a traffic stop, compared to white motorists. African-Americans are twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force during encounters with the police. This is an unspeakable tragedy.
It is morally repugnant and a national tragedy that we have privatized prisons all over America. In my view, corporations should not be allowed to make a profit by building more jails and keeping more Americans behind bars. We have got to end the private-for-profit prison racket in America. I intend to introduce legislation that will end the private prison industry.
The measure of success for law enforcement should not be how many people get locked up. We need to invest in drug courts as well as medical and mental health interventions for people with substance abuse problems, so that people struggling with addiction do not end up in prison, they end up in treatment.
For people who have committed crimes that have landed them in jail, there needs to be a path back from prison. The federal system of parole needs to be reinstated. We need real education and real skills training for the incarcerated.
We must end the over incarceration of nonviolent young Americans who do not pose a serious threat to our society. It is an international embarrassment that we have more people locked up in jail than any other country on earth – more than even the Communist totalitarian state of China. That has got to end.
We must address the lingering unjust stereotypes that lead to the labeling of black youths as "thugs." We know the truth that, like every community in this country, the vast majority of people of color are trying to work hard, play by the rules and raise their children. It's time to stop demonizing minority communities.
We must reform our criminal justice system to ensure fairness and justice for people of color.
Addressing Legal Violence
We need to ban prisons for profit, which result in an over-incentive to arrest, jail and detain, in order to keep prison beds full.
We need to turn back from the failed "War on Drugs" and eliminate mandatory minimums which result in sentencing disparities between black and white people.
We need to invest in drug courts and medical and mental health interventions for people with substance abuse problems, so that they do not end up in prison, they end up in treatment.
We need to boost investments for programs that help people who have gone to jail rebuild their lives with education and job training.
Economic Violence
Weeks before his death, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke to a union group in New York about what he called "the other America."
"One America is flowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of equality," King said. "That America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies, culture and education for their minds, freedom and human dignity for their spirits. . . . But as we assemble here tonight, I'm sure that each of us is painfully aware of the fact that there is another America, and that other America has a daily ugliness about it that transforms the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair."
The problem was structural, King said: "This country has socialism for the rich, rugged individualism for the poor."
Eight days later, speaking in Memphis, King continued the theme. "Do you know that most of the poor people in our country are working every day?" he asked striking sanitation workers. "And they are making wages so low that they cannot begin to function in the mainstream of the economic life of our nation. These are facts which must be seen, and it is criminal to have people working on a full-time basis and a full-time job getting part-time income."
King explained the shift in his focus: "Now our struggle is for genuine equality, which means economic equality. For we know that it isn't enough to integrate lunch counters. What does it profit a man to be able to eat at an integrated lunch counter if he doesn't earn enough money to buy a hamburger and a cup of coffee?"
But what King saw in 1968 — and what we all should recognize today — is that it is necessary to try to address the rampant economic inequality while also taking on the issue of societal racism. We must simultaneously address the structural and institutional racism which exists in this country, while at the same time we vigorously attack the grotesque level of income and wealth inequality which is making the very rich much richer while everyone else – especially those in our minority communities – are becoming poorer.
In addition to the physical violence faced by too many in our country we need look at the lives of black children and address a few other difficult facts. Black children, who make up just 18 percent of preschoolers, account for 48 percent of all out-of-school suspensions before kindergarten. We are failing our black children before kindergarten. Black students were expelled at three times the rate of white students. Black girls were suspended at higher rates than all other girls and most boys. According to the Department of Education, African American students are more likely to suffer harsh punishments – suspensions and arrests – at school.
We need to take a hard look at our education system. Black students attend schools with higher concentrations of first-year teachers, compared with white students. Black students were more than three times as likely to attend schools where fewer than 60 percent of teachers meet all state certification and licensure requirements.
Communities of color also face the violence of economic deprivation. Let's be frank: neighborhoods like those in west Baltimore, where Freddie Gray resided, suffer the most. However, the problem of economic immobility isn't just a problem for young men like Freddie Gray. It has become a problem for millions of Americans who, despite hard-work and the will to get ahead, can spend their entire lives struggling to survive on the economic treadmill.
We live at a time when most Americans don't have $10,000 in savings, and millions of working adults have no idea how they will ever retire in dignity. God forbid, they are confronted with an unforeseen car accident, a medical emergency, or the loss of a job. It would literally send their lives into an economic tailspin. And the problems are even more serious when we consider race.
Let us not forget: It was the greed, recklessness, and illegal behavior on Wall Street that nearly drove the economy off of the cliff seven years ago. While millions of Americans lost their jobs, homes, life savings, and ability to send their kids to college, African Americans who were steered into expensive subprime mortgages were the hardest hit.
Most black and Latino households have less than $350 in savings. The black unemployment rate has remained roughly twice as high as the white rate over the last 40 years, regardless of education. Real African American youth unemployment is over 50 percent. This is unacceptable. The American people in general want change – they want a better deal. A fairer deal. A new deal. They want an America with laws and policies that truly reward hard work with economic mobility. They want an America that affords all of its citizens with the economic security to take risks and the opportunity to realize their full potential.
Addressing Economic Violence
We need to give our children, regardless of their race or their income, a fair shot at attending college. That's why all public universities should be made tuition free.
We must invest $5.5 billion in a federally-funded youth employment program to employ young people of color who face disproportionately high unemployment rates.
Knowing that black women earn 64 cents on the dollar compared to white men, we must pass federal legislation to establish pay equity for women.
We must prevent employers from discriminating against applicants based on criminal history.
We need to ensure access to quality affordable childcare for working families.
End of MPEN e-Newsletter
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