FYI. Best, Munsup
P.S. Please reply back to me with 'unsubscribe' added to the subject line if you no longer want to receive my e-Newsletters. The convenient link to unsubscribe is no longer available due to security reasons to protect my email servers.
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- FW: Need your opinion on DACA
- FW: LA Times: GOP is RATTLED!
- FW: Join Us: Working People's Day of Action
- FW: Rep. Turner and Sen. Portman are blocking Netflix & chill
- FW: Make your voice heard: Working People's Day of Action
- FW: NYT Today's Headlines
- FW: President's Day Reminder: NO ONE is above the law
- FW: Philippines: Washington's New Colonial War
- FW: The NRA has met its match
- FW: Sign to pass strong gun laws NOW!
- FW: Explosion at US embassy in Montenegro
- FW: "The Snake" read by Trump & impeach Thomas for lying to get to the SupCt
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From: Instant Poll
Subject: need your opinion on DACA
Congress has been promising for months to take up Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) legislation.
Last week, the Senate failed to pass the DREAM Act, failing to find a permanent solution for 700,000 DREAMers who are in jeopardy of being deported. They are Americans in every way, except on paper.
So we wanted to check in with you: Do you think Congress should take immediate action and pass DACA?
From: You're doing it!
Subject: LA Times: GOP is RATTLED!
The LA Times writes on the Pennsylvania 18th district special election, saying, "a poor showing here [by Republicans] would signal trouble for the midterm elections in November, in which GOP control of the House and Senate hangs in the balance."
DAMN RIGHT. That's why we're asking one more time for you to help Democrat Conor Lamb flip this CRUCIAL seat to the Democrats -- please donate now!>>
But just yesterday from Politico: "The pro-Trump super PAC America First Action is launching a $1 million ad-buy in support of [Republican] Pennsylvania special election candidate Rick Saccone..."
That's ANOTHER $1 million on top of what's already being spent by a slew of other right-wing super PACs.
Saccone is a Radical Right EXTREMIST, but right-wing groups and even Donald Trump himself are throwing everything they have into this race to elect him and hold onto this seat!
Donate to help Democrat Conor Lamb flip this seat from red to blue and TAKE BACK THE HOUSE!>>
Date: Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Re: ANOTHER seat flipped from red to blue!!!
RIGHT NOW, the most important election in the country is the special congressional election in Pennsylvania's 18th district.
The Republican, Trump-endorsed Rick Saccone, is a far-right extremist who says he was "Trump before Trump," has written extensively in support of torture, and once introduced legislation that would allow customers at Chuck E. Cheese to carry guns.
Including spending by outside groups, Republicans and the Right Wing are outspending Democrats by a staggering 17-to-1 margin. Yet, the polls still have this race as a virtual tie -- Democrat Conor Lamb is within just 3 points!!
The Far Right is DESPERATE to keep this seat, in a district that Trump won by 20 points, so they can stop the bleeding of Republican special election losses -- like one just yesterday in Kentucky, where the Democrat won in a state legislative district that Trump carried by 49 points!
YOU can deal them another defeat!
Donate on ActBlue to help Democrat Conor Lamb defeat Rick Saccone and flip the first US House seat from red to blue!>>
Election Day is less than 3 weeks away! Victory here will be the first step in taking back the House in this year's midterms!
-- Lizet Ocampo, Political Director
P.S. Right-wing super PACs, from Paul Ryan's Congressional Leadership Fund to the super PAC of the billionaire Ricketts family, are spending MILLIONS to keep this seat in Republican hands. Paul Ryan's super PAC alone announced a $1.5 million ad buy last month, as well as the opening of TWO field offices in the district and the hiring of at least 50 full-time door knockers who aim to talk to 250,000 voters![1]
But Democrat Conor Lamb is depending on grassroots donations from progressives like you to compete and win. So please pitch in!
Please give what you can now>>
From: Tom Roberts; President, Ohio Conference of NAACP
Subject: FW: Join Us: Working People's Day of Action
On Saturday, February 24, thousands will unite in cities across the country to demand an end to an economy that's rigged in favor of the wealthy and most powerful.
Ohioans are coming together in Columbus to rally at the Statehouse for the Working People's Day of Action. The rally is going to start at noon, but we will begin to gather at 10:30 a.m.
Working People's Day of Action
Saturday, February 24, at 10:30
Ohio Statehouse, 70 E State St., Columbus, Ohio 43215
Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. joined striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, as they fought for the freedom to join together in a strong union and be treated with dignity and respect at work.
Fifty years later, corporate lobbyists and special interest groups are bringing a case against working people, Janus v. AFSCME Council 31, to the U.S. Supreme Court. These are the same extremist voices that actively work to limit voting rights, roll back economic protections, and gut civil and labor rights laws. They're ratcheting up their fight to break us up because they know we are strongest together.
Let's stand strong, together. Hope to see you on Saturday.
- Team ProgressOhio
From: Nita, Shaunna, Kat, Karin, Adam, Holly, Kathy, Susan, Anathea, Audine, Shannon, Emma,
Pilar, Natalie, Melody, Pam, Lindsay, and Ryan, the UltraViolet team
Subject: Rep. Turner and Sen. Portman are blocking Netflix & chill
We are just ONE vote shy in the Senate of passing a bill to protect net neutrality. And in the House, over 100 Democrats support this legislation to stop the corporate takeover of a free and open Internet.1
But Representative Michael R. Turner and Senator Rob Portman are still silent about how they are going to vote. We know calls from constituents, when overwhelming, are heard louder than the biggest megaphone from corporate America or even the President.
Corporate giants like Verizon and AT&T are throwing everything they've got to institute fast and slow lanes on the Internet. That's why your voice is so urgent.
Can you give Sen. Portman a call and ask them to overturn the FCC's repeal of Net Neutrality? Here's the contact info.
Senator Rob Portman
- Cleveland, OH: 216-522-7095
- Columbus, OH: 614-469-6774
- Toledo, OH: 419-259-3895
- Cincinnati, OH: 513-684-3265
It's best to speak in your own voice, but here are some points to make:
- My name is ______________, and I live in _______________. I am calling my member of Congress to ask him/her to cosponsor the Congressional Review Act (CRA) "resolution of disapproval" to reverse the FCC's repeal of net neutrality.
- Unless my member of Congress takes action, they will be complicit in a historically terrible decision that will negatively impact millions of Americans who rely on a fast, open Internet for work, education, news, entertainment, and more.
- Without net neutrality, the Internet will look like cable TV. Content will be controlled by Comcast and Verizon, and the ability to access it will be dependent upon those who can pay.
- That will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, especially communities of color. Pay for Black women ranges from 48 to 69 cents for every dollar paid to white men. More than one in four Black households have zero or net-negative worth.2 Increasing the economic burden to access the Internet is an attack on marginalized communities--including on the ability to use the Internet to respond rapidly to issues like police brutality.
- My member of Congress needs to stand with constituents, not Comcast and Trump.
Click here to make a call to your member of Congress. Demand that they save the Internet.
Sources:
- Senate Dems searching for one last vote to revive FCC's net neutrality rules, CNBC, January 16, 2018
We can make Congress save net neutrality, Free Press, accessed January 27, 2018 - How Repealing Net Neutrality Will Disproportionately Impact The Black Community, Bustle, December 27, 2018
Black Women and the Wage Gap, National Partnership for Women and Families, March 2017
Want to support our work? UltraViolet is funded by members like you, and our tiny staff ensures small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
From: Bradley E. Williams, People For the American Way
Subject: Make your voice heard: Working People's Day of Action
On February 24 (this Saturday!), in cities across the country, thousands will unite to demand an end to an economy that's rigged in favor of the wealthy and most powerful.
Find a Working People's Day of Action event near you>>
Can't join in person? Sign our online solidarity pledge to show your support>>
Fifty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. joined striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee as they fought for the freedom to join together in a strong union and be treated with dignity and respect at work.
Now, fifty years later, as corporate elites, anti-worker extremists, and corrupt politicians continue to rig the economy against us, working people and allies nationwide are rising up.
Working people never needed the support of the broader progressive movement than right now.
On the Working People's Day of Action, we will stand up for the freedom of working people to join together in strong unions and fight for decent and equitable pay for our work, affordable health care, quality schools, vibrant communities, and a secure future for all of us.
Join us at grassroots events around the country as we make our voices heard>>
Can't join in person? Sign our online solidarity pledge to show your support>>
Thank you for taking a stand for workers and working families, and for everything you do!
From: New York Times
Subject: Today's Headlines:
(1) Trump Promotes Arming Teachers With Guns, but Rejects Active Shooter Drills
(2) Parents and Students Plead With Trump: 'How Many Children Have to Get Shot?'
(3) Trump Moves to Regulate 'Bump Stock' Devices
(4) After Florida School Shooting, Russian 'Bot' Army Pounced
Trump Promotes Arming Teachers With Guns, but Rejects Active Shooter Drills
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
President Trump promoted arming specially trained teachers to fend off school shooters, but rejected active-shooter drills to survive a rampage.
Parents and Students Plead With Trump: 'How Many Children Have to Get Shot?'
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
An afternoon listening session in the State Dining Room included those affected by school shootings in Parkland, Fla.; Littleton, Colo.; and Newtown, Conn.
Trump Moves to Regulate 'Bump Stock' Devices
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
The president asked the Justice Department to propose regulations that would ban "bump stocks," which can convert a semiautomatic gun into an automatic weapon.
After Florida School Shooting, Russian 'Bot' Army Pounced
By SHEERA FRENKEL and DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI
Twitter accounts suspected of having links to Russia were focused on Robert Mueller. But after news broke about the shooting, they quickly changed their focus.
From: Ben Betz, Digital Advocacy Director, People For the American Way
Subject: President's Day Reminder: NO ONE is above the law
The stories of how Donald Trump treats and talks about women ... his racist promotion of offensive stereotypes, demonization of immigrants, and defense of white supremacists ... the compulsive lying, endless cover-ups, blatant appeals to authoritarianism, and what appear to be more instances of corruption and ethics violations than can be easily counted...
Because he has the unconditional and unwavering backing of one of America's two major political parties (and that party controls both chambers of Congress), it seems like Trump can do anything, say anything, and degrade people -- and, indeed, entire communities -- with absolute impunity.
But there IS a limit.
For all of Republicans' abuses of power to shield Trump and his team from accountability, the fact remains that NO ONE is above the law -- not even the president.
Trump has crossed so many lines. For his attacks on people and communities, his assault on institutions and norms, and his war on our constitutional rights and values, we're working hard to make sure that he and his party are held accountable on Election Day. But if America itself -- as a nation and, perhaps even more importantly, as an idea -- is to survive the Trump presidency, there's a line that he must not be allowed to cross.
If Donald Trump fires Special Counsel Robert Mueller, or moves to derail the Russia investigation with other actions (like the firing of other key Justice Department staff) that are clearly meant to obstruct justice or thwart the law, we will be in the streets, in towns and cities all across the country, with a robust coalition of Americans who are committed to defending our democracy and holding power accountable.
Sign now to let us know you're with us!>>
Thank you for all of your support and your unyielding dedication to defending the American Way!
From: Daytonians Against War Now On Behalf Of Logan Martinez
Subject: Philippines: Washington's New Colonial War
Operation Pacific Eagle in the Philippines: Washington's New Colonial War
Elliott Gabriel, February 9, 2018, Minit Press News
Critics contend that Operation Pacific Eagle Philippines is aimed at strengthening Washington's grip on the long-subjugated people of the Philippines, defeating a half-century leftist insurgency, and securing the country for the interests of U.S. multinational corporations.
In the first part of this MPN exclusive, we speak to Ka Oris of the New People's Army and Professors William I. Robinson and Roland Simbulan about the new U.S. intervention in Asia, which raises the Philippines to the same level as Syria and Iraq for the Pentagon's war plans.
In the second part, we will look at the 1999-2015 counterinsurgency initiative "Plan Colombia" as a template for Operation Pacific Eagle, as well as the use of the operation to continue the encirclement of China by U.S. bases.
In Part Three, we will conclude with a comparison of Operation Pacific Eagle to the notorious counterinsurgency initiative "Plan Colombia," and look at how the new Pentagon mission enables the U.S. to continue encircling China with its military bases.
MANILA, PHILIPPINES – Last month, the U.S. Armed Forces finally admitted that a new mission was underway in the Philippines. Dubbed "Operation Pacific Eagle – Philippines," the operation allows for an unlimited budget to be set aside for the purpose of armed U.S. operations in the Southeast Asian region.
Designated on Sept. 1, 2017 by U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis amid total secrecy in the U.S.. and the Philippines, the overseas contingency operation – an official designation for the military theaters of the former "War on Terror" – is presented as a continuation of Operation Inherent Resolve, the U.S. military's crusade against the Islamic State group (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria.
Pacific Eagle, an open-ended mission aimed at "countering radicalization and violent extremism" in the Southeast Asian region, could see the U.S. military re-establish itself as a virtually permanent fixture in a former U.S. colony described by President Donald Trump as a "prime piece of real estate."
Critics contend that the operation is aimed at strengthening Washington's grip on the long-subjugated people of the Philippines, defeating a half-century leftist insurgency, and securing the country for the interests of U.S. multinational corporations.
The operation comes to light months after the conclusion of the bloody siege of Marawi, a now-pulverized city in the southernmost island of Mindanao that became the scene of a ruinous counterinsurgency campaign by the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) against hundreds of alleged "Islamic State affiliates" of the Maute and Abu Sayyaf groups.
The campaign entailed the declaration of martial law in Mindanao until the end of 2018, the displacement of thousands of families, and the deployment of U.S. Special Forces to the city as advisors and drone operators assisting the Philippine military.
A recent video released by Philippine Army Special Operations Command, highlighted by Interaksyon, noted the clear evidence of U.S. logistical support to the AFP campaign, including M4s rifle optics, PEQ-2 laser designators, machine guns, grenade launchers and Harris tactical radio systems.
The U.S. participation was seen by the country's leftists as proof of President Rodrigo Duterte's hypocrisy, exposing his angry anti-U.S. statements and pledges to align with regional powerhouses such as Russia and China as the empty bluster of a U.S. puppet.
A report published for the U.S. Congress last Friday by Lead Inspector General Glenn Fine repeatedly invokes "ISIS-Philippines" as justification for the report while subtly mentioning "other terrorist organizations" that remain unnamed:
OPE-P is described as the comprehensive counterterrorism campaign by the DoD, in coordination with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners, to support the Philippine government and military in their efforts to isolate, degrade, and defeat Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) affiliates and other terrorist organizations in the Philippines."
Critics see the use of the term "other terrorist organizations" as a red flag signaling that the Pentagon's focus is far from limited to those who are seeking to help establish a global "caliphate" from the Southeast Asian archipelago.
For, Roland Simbulan, a professor at the University of the Philippines and scholar of U.S. military activities in the region, Operation Pacific Eagle represents a new stage in the counterinsurgency against the Maoist guerrillas of the New People's Army (NPA).
"The Operation Pacific Eagle marks a new era of U.S. military intervention in the Philippines," Simbulan told MintPress News:
Internally, it is directed against the Philippine left and externally, to use the Philippines as a springboard to reassert U.S. military power in the Pacific. It is Trump's way of supporting the creeping authoritarianism in the country while using U.S. military forces and assets to make sure that Duterte does not change the U.S. military presence [in relation to] China."
The Philippine RevolutFor nearly 50 years, the NPA – affiliated with the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – has waged a prolonged insurgency against successive governments in Manila, which it accuses of serving U.S. imperialist interests rather than the interests of poor people and Indigenous communities in resource-rich rural areas desired by multinational mining firms and local exporters
Duterte once called himself a "socialist" and "anti-imperialist," and even expressed sympathies for the red fighters in a manner considered taboo in a country that, for decades under former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, once nursed a single-minded hatred of the left.
Since 1986, however, Manila has taken part in intermittent peace talks with the banned Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) through the National Democratic Front, an alliance of social movements affiliated with the clandestine party.
While Duterte initially championed the peace process, which hinged on the implementation of an ambitious socio-economic reform agenda, the negotiations were derailed last May after his declaration of martial law in Mindanao.
Watch | Why is there an armed revolution in the Philippines?
Accordingly, the end of last year's peace talks eventually led to Duterte designating the Philippine communists, both armed and unarmed, as "terrorists."
"I will follow America, since they say that I am an American boy," Duterte noted. "OK, granted, I will admit that I am a fascist. I will categorize you already as a terrorist."
The clandestine party and its military wing have both been included in the official U.S. government list of foreign terrorist organizations since 2002.
Duterte's accusations came shortly after U.S. President Trump's visit to Manila for the ASEAN leaders' summit last November, drawing criticisms that the Philippine president was acting under the direction of his "idol and puppet-master" from Washington.
"Duterte's martial law against the so-called 'ISIS' in Mindanao set a perfect backdrop for the reentry of U.S. troops and their permanent basing in the country without a signed treaty," the CPP Information Bureau said in a statement released last month:
His termination of the peace negotiations with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and subsequent declaration of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army as 'terrorist organizations' further set the stage. The declaration, which was made specifically in line with the U.S. State Department's foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) listing, bolstered Duterte access to the U.S.' budget for overseas contingency operations (OCO), the Pentagon's bloated 'anti-terror' slush fund."
Mindanao's riches
The material incentives of the United States government are key to understanding why the U.S. declared Operation Pacific Eagle, according to Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos, the spokesman for the New People's Army (NPA) National Operations Command.
"ISIS in the Philippines is more imagined than real," Ka Oris told MintPress News:
By using the general catchphrase 'radicalization and violent extremism,' the U.S. is encompassing all armed groups resistant to its puppet state's rule, both existing and those bound to emerge due to its interference. In Mindanao, this includes legitimate Moro groups/clans fighting for their ancestral lands and right to self-determination."
The lush island has long been known for its lucrative natural gas and mineral deposits and its wide tracts of land ideal for large-scale commercial plantations operated by multinational corporations based in the U.S., Ka Oris explains..
Multinationals have also looked covetously at the Liguasan Marsh, a huge and biodiverse complex of rivers, channels, lakes, freshwater marshes and ponds.
Viewed as sacred patrimony for the Maguindanaoan Muslim tribe, the 220,000-hectare marsh was described in U.S. diplomatic cables from 2006, obtained by WikiLeaks, as containing untapped mineral wealth totaling anywhere from $840 billion to $1 trillion.
Manila government officials at the time described the region as a "treasure trove" of mineral resources — including gold, copper, chromites, nickel, manganese, silver, iron ore, lead and zinc. According to subsequent surveys carried out by U.S. oil engineers, the natural gas reserves of Liguasan alone amount to $580 billion.
"At the same time, the island is also home to robust people's movements and has a strong presence of armed groups, including the NPA," Ka Oris notes.
In hopes to advance their demands for self-determination from the distant Manila government, Maguindanaoans have long taken part in armed insurgencies led by groups such as the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) — both groups that faced accusations of terrorism" from Manila and the U.S. Both groups have since signed peace deals and now hope to finalize a law granting autonomy to local elites.
Controversially, Duterte has tied the granting of autonomy to a new push to drastically raise the constitutional ceiling limiting the right of foreign investors to own Philippine land, among other measures that have raised the ire of watchdogs and opposition figures. Filipinos who oppose Duterte see the reform of foreign land ownership laws as key ingredients of a recipe for a return to colonialism in the country.
Manila also hopes a new law on autonomy can smooth over the lingering rage provoked by Marawi's destruction. According to Moro advocates, the city's Islamist insurgency was itself rooted more in a neglect of Moro people's legitimate interests than in locals' interest in the ISIS program.
"The U.S. even acknowledges that the Marawi siege may have further complicated the Moro situation in this part of the country," Ka Oris explained.
Local Moro advocates see recent developments, such as plans to build a second major military camp in the city, as proof that Manila intends to transform Marawi City into a de facto "military reservation" directly owned and operated by the U.S. armed forces. The developments cast new light on the overuse of force against the city's civilian infrastructure and neighborhoods for the purpose of quelling a relatively small number of Islamist insurgents.
Ka Oris notes:
The U.S. is sure to consider the city as one of its potential bases, as it hosted the main U.S. base in Mindanao in the 1900s (then known as Camp Keithley). Duterte has already displaced almost all its civilian population and is in the process of building a military base there. Resistance, both armed and unarmed, to this latest injustice is bound to intensify."
Making the Philippines safe for global capitalism
When former dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 — ostensibly to contain the communist insurgency of the CPP-NPA and growing unrest in the cities and schools — the neocolonial status of the Philippines was drastically deepened. The country was transformed into a laboratory for neoliberal experiments, free-market policies, special economic zones, and a lifting of protectionist laws under World Bank structural adjustment loan requirements.
U.S. multinational corporations, operating through loyal elites and oligarch clans, gained unprecedented access to the country's riches — including its banking, petrochemical, construction, telecoms, and mineral extraction industries, among other strategic sectors.
For William I. Robinson, an author and professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, a new period of martial law and militarization would come as little surprise:
Both Trumpism and Duterteism are far-right authoritarian responses to crises of state legitimacy and internecine feuding among the elite. Militarization and authoritarianism in the United States and the Philippines will become more closely linked through Operation Pacific Eagle."
Even in the past, when Manila abstained from the iron-fisted policies of Duterte, the country's governance entailed the violent displacement of millions throughout the country and the resultant export of several millions of displaced Filipinos to all corners of the globe as "guest workers" lacking rights in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North Africa. While women find work as domestic laborers, servers, caregivers, nurses, or hospitality industry workers — where they are often vulnerable to rape, physical assault, and murder — men find hazardous jobs as construction workers and agricultural laborers. Some reports claim that around 6,000 are forced to leave the country to seek work every day.
Relatives of OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) display placards as they pitch their tent to begin their planned three-day camp-out at the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila, Philippines, Monday April 29, 2013. The camp-out was organized in sympathy with more than 2,500 who pitched their tents in Jedda, Saudi Arabia to escape alleged crackdowns on undocument overseas workers by the Saudi government. (AP/Bullit Marquez)
"The export of this surplus labor has provided a political escape value to an explosive situation of displacement and mass immiseration," Robertson told MintPress News.
Likewise, he continues,
Agro-industrial zones have spread through the countryside and the export-industry that first took off in the 1980s has eclipsed national industrial development and has been expanding, as has the transfer of transnational corporate services – call centers, Facebook censors – to the Philippines. These transnational agro-industrial, industrial, and service complexes, along with the global export of Philippine labor, are the face of capitalist globalization in the Philippines."
Such processes can only accelerate in a "hot-house fashion," as global markets and the transnational capitalist class seek temporary fixes to their deepening financial worries in resource-rich yet poverty-stricken countries such as the Philippines, Robertson suggests — ensuring that Operation Pacific Eagle will embroil the U.S. in a deeper role policing the internal social turmoil within the country.
Robinson also sees Operation Pacific Eagle as quite similar to Plan Colombia, the 1999-2015 counterinsurgency aid program that saw billions of dollars in weaponry poured into Colombian security forces and paramilitaries for the purpose of destroying the FARC's left-wing insurgency and, ostensibly, continuing the "war on drugs."
The New People's Army is prepared to weather the storm, according to Ka Oris, who sees continued revolutionary rigor as key to the survival of the Filipino people and New People's Army:
Expanding the mass base, strengthening and expanding the people's army through trainings and mass recruitments, making sure that revolutionary work is done in a comprehensive manner – [this is how we can] ensure that the guerilla forces and bases can withstand and outlast relentless attacks from enemy forces. These, alongside the study and adaptation of the NPA and the people to U.S. sophisticated weapons, such as surveillance and attack drones, that the local armed forces are already using against civilian communities."
For the Filipino revolutionaries, it remains unclear as to whether Operation Pacific Eagle marks a new phase in Washington's militarization of the Philippines. The interventionist policies of the United States have been a constant since the end of the Spanish colonial period when the U.S. military waged a brutal war that claimed around one million lives in the country.
However, Ka Oris notes, Operation Pacific Eagle is clearly consistent with the past administration's so-called "pivot to the Pacific" and the United States' push to maintain military supremacy in the Asia-Pacific region. For the Pentagon's war-planners, the Philippines remains key to their plans for containing an increasingly strong and confident China.
In Part II, we will look at the 1999-2015 U.S. initiative "Plan Colombia" as a template for Operation Pacific Eagle, as well as the use of the operation to continue the encirclement of China by U.S. bases.
Elliott Gabriel is a former staff writer for teleSUR English and a MintPress News contributor based in Quito, Ecuador. He has taken extensive part in advocacy and organizing in the pro-labor, migrant justice and police accountability movements of Southern California and the state's Central Coast.
From: Anna, Ilya, Anne, Manny, and the rest of the team, MoveOn.org Political Action
Subject: The NRA has met its match
At a rally in Parkland, Florida, over the weekend, Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school student Emma Gonzalez had this message to share: "To the politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have ever been done to prevent this: We call BS!"1
Brave students are leading the way, and it is up to us to follow them.
Click below to chip in and help MoveOn raise $100,000 to organize in support of student-led efforts to end gun violence.
The students in Parkland are not just calling BS, they are turning their grief into action. Less than a week after 17 of their classmates and teachers were murdered in the hallways of their school, these students have made their demands very clear: They want to kick out members of Congress who take money from the NRA, make the NRA so toxic that no one else takes money from them in the future, and ban the assault weapons that have caused so much carnage in schools, nightclubs, concerts, and movie theaters across the country.2
Let's follow their lead and make sure we're mobilizing our resources for this fight. With your help, we will:
- boost organizing for the student-led marches and walkouts in March and April by recruiting MoveOn's millions of members and using MoveOn's social media megaphone to help promote student-led events in Washington, D.C., and in communities across the country, and supporting as needed in other ways;
- help ensure that millions of people hear what these young people are asking of all of us by amplifying videos of their speeches and interviews to our millions of social media followers;
- keep campaigning to curb the power of the NRA all the way through this year's election by shining a spotlight on the politicians who are doing the NRA's bidding in Washington, D.C., and in states across the country, just as we helped do in the Virginia elections last year; and
- look for ways to support youth leaders in future actions. The Parkland students have reminded all of us that young people will lead the way on this work. We will look for ways to support these and other student organizers as they plan and announce their next steps to fight for their lives against the gun lobby, and as students around the country identify specific needs.
Click below to chip in now to help rally behind student efforts to stop the epidemic of gun violence in our nation.
Sources:
- "Florida student Emma Gonzalez to lawmakers and gun advocates: 'We call BS,'" CNN, February 17, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/34063?t=4&akid=199392%2E1195276%2E80lC8N - "Mission Statement," March for Our Lives, accessed February 20, 2018
https://act.moveon.org/go/34068?t=6&akid=199392%2E1195276%2E80lC8N
Want to support our work? The MoveOn community will work every moment, day by day and year by year, to resist Trump's agenda, contain the damage, defeat hate with love, and begin the process of swinging the nation's pendulum back toward sanity, decency, and the kind of future that we must never give up on. And to do it we need your support, now more than ever. Will you stand with us?
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
From: Stop The NRA [ProgressiveTakeover.org]
Subject: Sign to pass strong gun laws NOW!
We need you to click this link right now to DEMAND Congress pass strong gun laws >>
The survivors of Florida's shooting are heroic. These students are DEMANDING action!
But Republicans are cowards. In the face of constant tragedy and violence, they're offering thoughts and prayers -- but NO action.
So we're standing with Democrats to pass strong gun laws state-by-state!
That means we need massive grassroots support from all 50 states. Will you sign your name for Ohio today?
Children who survived unthinkable violence are demanding action.
Parents of children who will never come home are demanding change.
And we're demanding action NOW to pass common-sense gun control.
Here are the facts:
- 75% of Americans think Congress needs to do more to reduce gun violence.
- 67% of Americans are in favor of an assault weapons ban.
- 83% of Americans are in favor of waiting periods before all gun purchases.[1]
The public is on our side. Now is the time to do the right thing and finally end the scourge of gun violence!
Please add your name to our petition right now:
Progressive states like California already have common sense gun control measures on the books -- and they work!!
That's why the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to California's waiting period law:
But we need laws like these nationwide. That's why we're asking you to sign our petition today!
[1] Qunnipiac University Poll | U.S. Support for Gun Control Tops 2-1, Highest Ever | 02.21.18
From: CLG_News
Subject: Explosion at US embassy in Montenegro
News Updates from CLG on 22 February 2018 http://www.legitgov.org/
All links are here: http://www.legitgov.org/#breaking_news
Explosion at US embassy in Montenegro | 22 Feb 2018 | There has been an explosion at the US Embassy in Montenegro, the government says. An unidentified attacker threw an explosive device into the embassy compound in the capital Podgorica, before killing himself, it tweeted. It said the device thrown was likely a hand grenade. A guard at a nearby sports centre told the AFP news
From: Andrew Tierman
Subject: "The Snake" read by Trump & impeach Thomas for lying to get to the SupCt
Trump explicitly applies this to immigrants, appealing to his base through his performance. See:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/23/politics/trump-the-snake-song/index.html
impeach Thomas for lying to get to the SupCt. See:
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/02/the-case-for-impeaching-clarence-thomas.html
