Tag Archives: McCain

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Never Forget. Act


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Two Years After Newtown, Take Action Right Now To Defeat The NRA

9:35 am on Sunday morning will be exactly two years after the start of one of the most horrific mass shootings in American history. On the morning of December 14, 2012, a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut armed with a semi-automatic assault rifle and killed 20 children and six educators before taking his own life.

Many people hoped this tragedy would be a transformative moment for the United States, but by some measures not that much has changed. In the two years since, about 60,000 Americans have died by gunfire. There have been at least 94 school shootings (and another reported today in Portland, OR). Congress failed to pass comprehensive background check legislation even though 90 percent of Americans supported it. And if trends continue, 2015 will be the year when gunfire passes motor vehicles as the leading killer of young Americans under 26.

But despite these deplorable incidents and disappointing trends, there are many indications of progress in the fight for stronger gun laws. This year, Washington state voters passed a referendum to strengthen background checks with 60 percent of the vote, and in Nevada, a similar measure just qualified for the ballot with a record number of signatures for the state. Legislatively, there have been 64 laws passed to strengthen gun laws, including significant reforms in swing states like Colorado.

And while there was some political backlash to those — like in Colorado where two Democratic state Senators were recalled in 2013 following their votes to strengthen gun laws — the gun violence prevention community has punched back. This year, in those same two seats, candidates supporting gun safety measures like stronger background checks beat the NRA-backed candidates. Colorado governor John Hickenlooper also won. Connecticut governor Dan Malloy narrowly won reelection, and there is evidence that his support of stronger gun laws was a key reason voters pushed him over the edge. And with new groups like Gabby Giffords’ Americans for Responsible Solutions, Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action, and Sandy Hook Promise, along with this new, proven strategy to focus on states and bring the issue directly to voters, the future looks bright.

Which brings us to the next big test: confirming Dr. Vivek Murthy for surgeon general. We wrote just a few days ago about this fight — and about how the NRA has made it their mission to block Dr. Murthy’s confirmation simply because he has taken the medically accepted position (and the position taken by the surgeon general under Ronald Reagan) that gun violence is a public health issue. Dr. Murthy has excellent credentials to be the nation’s top doctor, and the country shouldn’t go through any more public health crises without a surgeon general’s leadership. With Congress in the middle of negotiating how they are going to finish their business before the year ends, now is the critical moment to get them to stand with Vivek and deal a big defeat to the NRA. Will you help?

Here is what you can do:

1. Call your Senator and urge them to stay in session to confirm executive nominees including Dr. Vivek Murthy. (202) 224-3121.
2. Get engaged on social media. Click here for sample messages and graphics to share with your networks.
3. Share this email. Send this around to anybody you know who wants to give America the public health leader it needs regardless of what the NRA says.

BOTTOM LINE: This weekend offers an important time for remembrance of the devastation the Sandy Hook shooting caused two years ago, and reflection on how efforts to reform our gun laws have gone since then. While federal legislation remains out of reach, many positive reforms have taken place and momentum is building for more in the coming days and months.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

¡Amazonia Viva! Art and Action at COP20

¡Amazonia Viva! Art and Action at COP20
Yesterday hundreds of indigenouspeoples from communities across the Amazon joined together on a beach in Lima, Peru to create a massive “human banner” image to promote awareness about territorial rights for indigenouspeoples in the global climate conversation. Beneath the heat of the sun and to the sound of beating drums, indigenouspeoples and allies danced and rallied around a united message. Representatives from many Amazonian communities participatedin the creation of the banner includingShipibo,Asháninka,Achuar,Awajún,Munduruku,Guajajara,Kichwa andKampupiyawi.”Together we created a beautiful image of what we want to see in the world. We want our rights and territories respected here in Peru, across the Amazon and around the world,” said Juan Agustín Fernandez, leader of the Shipibo community of Cantagallo who participated in the creation of yesterday’s banner.

The artwork coincided with the UN COP20 climate summit. Indigenous peoples and allies worked together to form a design with their bodies displaying the words “Pueblos + Derechos = Bosques Vivos” (Peoples + Rights = Living Forests). Participants aim to send a message about the importance of territorial rights to decision-makers and world leaders.

READ THE REST ON EYE ON THE AMAZON
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Lonnie G. Bunch at The NMAAHC … Look at what we’ve already accomplish​ed together


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Your generous support as a friend of the Museum helped to make 2014 a truly amazing year for the National Museum of African American History and Culture…

… as our beautiful building on the National Mall began to take shape … our collection of historical and cultural artifacts increased to more than 29,900 objects … and excitement grew nationwide for our 2016 Grand Opening.

  please help keep our momentum growing in the year ahead by making a donation for 2014 today.

When the Museum opens its doors, it will be a beacon of learning, inspiration and reconciliation. It will tell the stories and celebrate the achievements of the African Americans who shaped our nation’s history — from well-known figures like civil rights icon Rosa Parks and Chuck Berry who donated his 1973 Cadillac to not-so-famous heroes like Henry Ossian Flipper, a former slave who became the first African American to graduate from West Point. It will bring the African American experience to life and enrich the cultural heritage of every American.

You can take pride in our progress toward making the National Museum of African American History and Culture a reality. Please help us continue that progress in 2015 by making a special year-end gift of $50, $100 or more.

Thank you again for your vision and leadership as a friend of the Museum.

All the best,
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Lonnie G. Bunch
Founding Director

 

P.S. Don’t miss the December 31st deadline to support the Museum with a donation for 2014. Make your year-end gift today!

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Wal-Mart 10 Years Later


Ten years ago we released Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price to shine a light on the then-shocking business practices of one of the world’s largest and most profitable retailers.

We have made progress, but there is a lot more to be done. End corporate welfare!

Watch the full documentary film here!

 

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Due to demand we re-released the entire movie on YouTube. Share and subscribe here!

Help keep this fight alive.Thanks for all that you do.Robert Greenwald, President
Brave New Films

P.S. Still looking for the perfect gift for a special someone? Stay away from Wal-Mart and give the gift of media that makes an impact! Donate $100 or more today and get the Brave New Films 10th Anniversary Activist Collection.

Brave New Films

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Torture Report


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Senate Releases Damning Report On CIA’s Use Of Torture After 9/11

The Senate Intelligence Committee, led by Senator Dianne Feinstein, today released a summary of a 6,000 page report investigating the CIA’s use of “enhanced interrogation techniques” in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The report contains dozens of disgraceful facts about the CIA’s practices during the Bush era, including gruesome details of how detainees were tortured. Ultimately, the report demonstrates two fundamental truths: torture is always wrong, and torture doesn’t work.

Here are a few key findings from the report:

1. Torture didn’t stop a single terrorist attack. “At no time did the CIA’s coercive interrogation techniques lead to the collection of imminent threat intelligence, such as the hypothetical ‘ticking time bomb’ information that many believe was the justification for the use of these techniques.”

2. Torture did not lead the CIA to the courier who ultimately helped capture Osama bin Laden. The best information about the courier who ultimately led to the discovery of the compound where Osama bin Laden was hiding “was provided by a CIA detainee who had not yet been subjected to the CIA’s enhanced interrogation techniques.” The detainees who were subjected to torture “withheld and fabricated information” about the courier.

3. The torture methods were far more brutal than originally reported. They included forcing detainees to stay awake for up to 180 hours while “standing or in painful stress positions,” waterboarding detainees to the point of serious physical harm and “near drowning,” and rectally force-feeding detainees.

4. Not everyone approved of the torture policy. “Internally, CIA officers regularly called into question the effectiveness of the CIA’s interrogation techniques, noting how the techniques failed to elicit detainee cooperation or produce accurate intelligence.” But still nothing was done to stop it.

5. The CIA lied about the success of torture in obtaining intelligence. CIA reports that torture was successfully giving them information “were inaccurate and contradicted by the CIA’s own records.” The agency continues to stand by these discredited claims.

President Obama denounced the interrogation tactics in a statement after the report’s release, saying that “these harsh methods were not only inconsistent with our values as nation, they did not serve our broader counterterrorism efforts or our national security interests.” Obama went on to say that these torture practices “did significant damage to America’s standing in the world.”

But Senator John McCain delivered perhaps the most forceful and eloquent condemnation of the CIA’s torture methods during the Bush era: “The truth is sometimes a hard pill to swallow. It sometimes causes us difficulties at home and abroad. It is sometimes used by our enemies in attempts to hurt us. But the American people are entitled to it, nonetheless.” McCain continued, “Our enemies act without conscience. We must not. This executive summary of the Committee’s report makes clear that acting without conscience isn’t necessary, it isn’t even helpful, in winning this strange and long war we’re fighting. We should be grateful to have that truth affirmed.”

Despite the horrifying facts contained in the report, however, the reaction has not been the universal condemnation of torture. Former Vice President Dick Cheney, for one, continues to defend the practices as “absolutely, totally justified.” Senator Marco Rubio, disregarding McCain’s speech, called it “one sided” and “partisan.”

BOTTOM LINE: The Senate report reveals in horrifying detail the abusive interrogation practices of Bush-era CIA officials in the wake of 9/11. It confirms that torture is wrong, and that torture doesn’t work. There’s no doubt that this dark episode undermined our values as a nation, but the Senate’s efforts to be transparent and show the American people the facts will help us move past it and never repeat it.