The ADL, Chief Sargent, and Terrorism

The ADL, Chief Sargent, and Terrorism

   

     

The Anti Defamation League (ADL) has granted the City of Worcester money to send its police chief, Steven Sargent, to Israel purportedly to study “counterterrorism”. It also paid for officials from other New England communities to Israeli seminar as well.

I am against individualistic acts of terror and I have spent a large part of my adult life opposing the tactics of the Weather Unground and fascist groups.

The value of Chief Sargent’s trip is questionable in terms of preventing so called terrorist attacks in Worcester.  The situations and material conditions in Worcester are significantly dissimilar than those found in Israel.  Israel has militarily occupied Palestine and is blockading Gaza. The Palestinians live under military rule without some basic human and civil rights.

                                                                Chief Sargent

In Worcester there is a significant demographic change from a mostly White population to a mostly dark skin and immigrant population. Legally everyone in Worcester is protected by the U.S. Constitution. There are no known credible threats of mass killing or terrorism.

Reports from the Justice Department are that there is a greater threat of killings by Nazis and other White supremacists than by Al Qaeda or ISIS. Despite this fact the City of Worcester does not have a policy for making known to the public incidents of so called Hate crimes. The Chief, the City Manager, and the City Council have all ignored the demands of the public for such information.

It would be a reasonable request that the Chief and the City follow its own policy of “See something: say something” and seek the input of public hearings based on an annual report about Hate crime incidents.

Although I do not think it intentional, it seems to be the case that the Police Chief and the City has been played by the ADL. The ADL has been criticized for it blind support of the Israeli government. It has been criticized for its abandonment of civil rights issues in the United States.

 The ADL has been something of an ally in the fight against Nazism, especially when it concerns Jewish people. I welcome its help in the fight against Fascism in the United States. Nonetheless I expect some to play the race card and call me anti-Semitic.

Given the condemnation of the Trump administration anti-Palestinian policies, has the ADL cynically colluded with the President to involve the City of Worcester and others on the wrong side of an international dispute? The City of Worcester has a policy which it refuses to involve itself with anything that does not directly affect the City. For example it refused to allow a vote on the Iraq War even though residents of Worcester were killed and the City lost tax revenues.

                                                              Protesters at City council

This might be the time for the City to review its policy on Hate crimes and on accepting money from what some would say is agents of a foreign government. Public Hearing on Hate crimses is long overdue.

Thomas, Clinton, and Me Too

Thomas, Clinton, and Me Too   

Thomas

In the early 1990s Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States. He had after his graduation from the College of the Holy Cross married a Black women from Worcester MA and they had a son. 

At the time of his nomination. Justice Thomas had divorced his wife and married a White woman. This was not unusual and some Black people would say that he had the “fever”. A term that meant that some Black men preferred White woman. Although many think it is a loving marriage, other thought it to be a sign of his rejection of the aspirations of Black people.

While at Holy Cross Thomas was very respectful of Black women. He had a theory that Black women became lesbians in reaction to being mistreated by Black men. Because of this I was surprised when Anita Hill complained that she was the victim of sexual harassment by Thomas. 

What convinced me she was telling the truth was her testimony that Thomas jokingly said “Isn’t that pubic hair on that coke can?”.  He had said the same to me and others while at Holy Cross.  Ms. Hill also testified that Mr. Thomas would talk of about large penises. Mr. Thomas at Holy Cross used to say that Black men from Georgia who ate ham had penises so long that they had to strap them to their legs.

It was something of an irony when Mr. Thomas played the race card in his defense against Ms. Hill.

Clinton

There is no doubt that Bill Clinton was a cheat, a womanizer, and a liar. Clinton’s victims, Flowers, Lewinsky, and other are looked down upon by many in society. I would like to hear arguments that President Clinton is not a narcissist, using the pretense of helping poor people to further his fame and fortune. His real legacy is mass incarceration of Black people and adversely reducing the safety net of the unemployed, the poor, and the homeless.

 I voted for him in 1992 and again in 1996. My vote was motivated by the concept that “It is the economy, stupid”. I have not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate subsequently.

Curiously Charles Barkley, a former professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers, got it right. Shortly after Doug Jones won the senate seat in Alabama, Barkley said that the Democratic Party should no longer take Black working people and the poor for granted.

It is ironic that presidential candidate  Al Gore, about whom I have heard nothing bad, lost his presidential bid due in large part to the impeachment of President Clinton for his role in the Monica Lewinsky affair. Clinton like Nixon should have resigned and allowed Gore to be President before the 2000 election.

Also ironic is how Secretary Hilary Clinton came to be seen as an enabler of a asexual harasser, instead of a “good wife”. President Clinton’s actions negatively impacted many people he should have protected.

Such a resignation was never in the character of a narcissist womanizer.

Me Too

The “Me Too” movement has brought weight to the complaints by women of sexual harassment. Women had little credibility before the “Me Too” movement. Even when women were believed very few people cared, Just ask Paula Jones and Anita Hill. This trend of not caring, upsettingly was continued by many Trump supporters. President Trump has many accusers and a taped admission of his intentions to wrongfully sexually harass women.

Conclusion

The “Me Too “movement success will be measured by its success against Presidents, such as President Trump and President Clinton. Another measure of its success will be how seriously society takes the complaints of sexual harassment, especially the allegations made by dark skin women.    

PRESIDENTIAL TREASON

THE TREASONS OF PRESIDENTS

Acts of War

Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 was an Act of War. This attack has been defined by convention and treaty to be a hostile act of war. It fits the concept of an attack via sea, land, air by opposing states.

The attack on the twin towers was at the time something new. It was an attack by a new kind of entity that does not fit the definition of a “state” or a “nation. The United States had to create new and still disputed definitions of an act of war, states, soldiers, and other legal concepts in order to go to war in Afghanistan and create the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

 

In 2016 the United States government considered the cyber-attacks by Russia and others to be hostile acts. These attacks were unrecognized in law as acts of war. No convention or codes has been developed to cover cyber war.

There has been a de facto cyber war between the 

United States and Russia, but the law lags behind. The American response was that of certain diplomatic and economic sanctions.

Treason

 Section 110 of Article III of the Constitution 

of the United States, declares that:

"Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort. No person shall be convicted of treason unless on the testimony of two witnesses to the same overt act, or on confession in open Court. The Congress shall have power to declare the punishment of treason."

It is likely that President Trump committed

 treason against the United States if he 

negotiated and colluded with the Russian 

government regarding the sanctions imposed 

on it by President Obama. It is important to 

note that the United States and the Russian 

governments are in a cyber war.

  

Donald Trump

The ongoing cyber war includes cyber-attacks on the United States’ elections and a retaliation by the United States. Presidential candidate Trump’s campaign in 2016 aided and comforted (if true) Russia in it levying a cyber war on the United States by negating the retaliatory sanctions imposed by President Obama.

Special prosecutor Mueller seems to be developing at least two witnesses’ testimony against President Trump’s possible treason. This treason occurred before President Trump took office, while he was a private citizen.

Presidential candidate Trump was not the first American presidential candidate to have been accused of treason. Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan were also alleged to have committed treason in order to win their respective presidential elections.

Richard Nixon

Nixon interfered with President Johnson’s negotiations for a cease fire in 1968. Nixon convinced the South Vietnamese government to boycott the cease fire talks. By doing this Presidential candidate Nixon violated President John Adams' 1797 Logan Act, banning private citizens from intruding into official government negotiations with a foreign nation.

Nixon’s interference was likely treason because the United States was at war and the delays caused by Nixon led to many seemingly unnecessary deaths which aided and comfort the North Vietnamese government.

Ronald Reagan

It has been alleged that Presidential candidate Ronald 

Reagan entered into negotiations with Iran delaying the 

release of the American hostages.It is disputed that Ronald 

Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign negotiated a secret 

deal with Iran to prevent the release of American hostages 

until after the 1980 presidential election.

One of the accusers is Gary Sick, a Middle East specialist 

who helped handle the Iranian hostage crisis as a member of 

the White House staff in the Carter Administration. Mr. Sick

 said in a New York Times editorial that he heard what he 

considers to be reliable reports that a secret deal involving 

the hostages was begun during two meetings between an 

agent representing Reagan and the Iranian cleric in a Madrid

 hotel in July 1980.The hostages held by Iran were not 

released until after the 1980 elections. They were released on 

January 20, 1981 just a few minutes after Reagan was 

inaugurated.

Final Thoughts

President Johnson did not reveal Nixon’s treason in order to

spare the country more divisiveness during wartime. There

apparently was not enough evidence against Reagan to bring

 charges he delayed the release of the American hostages in 

Iran.

With President Trump the circumstances seem to be that he 

has very powerful enemies.  His nemeses have set upon him a 

bulldog of a prosecutor, Robert Mueller. President Trump is 

likely to face the same fate as Richard Nixon.  

Analysis of a Police Report

A Police Report Shows Need for Training

Background

     In October of 2017 a tenant at Elm Park Tower passed out flyers at a tenants crime watch meeting that was being run by the Worcester Housing Authority (WHA). The Head of  security ordered the tenant to leave the room. The Head of security instructed an Worcester Police Office to talk with the tenant.

     The Head of security and the Executive Director of the WHA were planning to ban the tenant from any WHA meeting. They complained that the tenant was a nuisance or a joke, and disruptive.

     People in the community opposed this ban and held a demonstration, helped by the Mass. Human Rights and Progressive Labor Party,  outside of Em Park Tower. People also interviewed witnesses and gathered statements of the incident, including the police report.

    The WHA management folded and  sent a letter to the tenant saying he was welcomed at tenants, meetings.

Police Report

     The police report is surprising in that the officer went to the tenant's apartment as the officer did not witness any disruption. The report only says that the tenant was passing out flyers with a few demands for changing the lease.

      Passing flyers at a meeting is a civil right protected by the First Amendment from governmental interference (especially by the police). 

     The officer in his report tells the tenant that if the tenant does not like the lease the tenant can move. This is inappropriate as the police officer is supposed to be investigating a disruption and not intimidating tenants or interpreting housing statutes. 

     The bias of the police officer is again seen when he tells the tenant the meeting is not open to the public. Whether the meeting was open to the public is not relevant, as the meeting was open to all tenants. 

     It is clear that the management of the WHA is a bully violating tenants. rights. It is also clear that the Worcester Police knowingly or in ignorance violated the civil rights of a tenant.

SCHOOL TO JAIL PIPELINE AND ICE

Superintendent Maureen Binienda

              

SCHOOL TO JAIL PIPELINE AND  ICE

Meeting With Superintendent Binienda 7-12-17

On July 12, 2017 people from Mass. Human Rights Comte., Progressive Party, and other met with School Superintendent Maureen Binienda and School Safety Officer Robert Pezzella. The discussion included the so called School to Jail Pipeline, Policies regarding ICE, and high stakes testing.

 Regarding the issue of the school resource officers (police in schools) many of the issued raised seemed to outside of the School Administration to control.  Whether school resource officers (SRO) should carry guns in school and when they make arrests are decisions that can only be changed by the Police Chief and the City Manager.

Mr. Pezzella promised to provide further information regarding the number of students arrested at school for last 2 years, the curriculum of the 40 hours of training that was given to the SROs, number students given long term suspensions over the last 2 years, and the latest Memorandum of Understanding with the City Police Department.

Superintendent Binienda and Mr. Pezzella indicated several times that they wanted to maintain a dialog with the community and hoped that the documents provided would help in that dialog.

Another part of the School to Jail Pipeline discussed was the afterschool programs at the Worcester Public Schools. Superintendent Binienda said that these programs are especially effective during traditionally problematic hours of 3 PM to 6 PM. She said students not in Worcester Public Schools participates in the programs and the program provide a service to the entire City.

The Worcester Public Schools do not as a rule enforce Federal laws. As a rule ICE is not allowed on School buildings or provided students’ information except by Federal warrant or summons. With the summons the School District is given 24 hours to comply. Superintendent Binienda said that Administration would take appropriate actions within the 24 hours compliance period.

The Schools do not ask for or keep information regarding a student’s immigration status. Should a student return to his home and find that his parents have been arrested by ICE, there is program at the Schools to help the student.

When asked about any effect of high stakes testing, both Superintendent Binienda and Mr. Pezzella were of one mind that it was a complex issue. Neither would say that high stakes testing had any significant adverse effect on any student’s success.

 There will be a meeting of the Massachusetts Human Committee on July 19, 2017, 6PM at the YMCA 766 Main St. Worcester, MA 01610 to discuss and plan activities around the information we obtained from the meeting with the School Administration.

For information:  Gordon T. Davis 508 757 5873

A Year of Struggle

A Year of Struggle  2016-2017

April 2017

End School to Jail School Comte. 4-27-17

March for Science

Black and Latino Caucas

Anti Hate Crime Rally at Mosque

End Racist School to Jail Pipeline

City Delegation to State Ed, Funds

March 2017

International Women's Day 

February 2017

No Racist Deportation Forum 2017

This link to Worcester News. It covered the anti hate crimes petitions. Go to 3:02 on video.

https://youtu.be/DeQxYtU2D_U?t=207

Sanctuary Training

January 2017

Inauguration Day Rally in Worcester 

December 2016

Sanctuary City meeting 

November 2016

Sat. After Elections 

Rally for Immigrants

October 2016

State Candidate Education Forum

September 2016

Screening of documentary " Profiled"

July 2016

Protest Murder of Sterling and Castile

May 2016

Green Rainbow State Convention

May Day

The Connection Between Budget and Racist School to Jail Pipeline

The Connection Between Budget and Racist School to Jail Pipeline

During the old civil movement of the 1960s, it was shown that the principle of racially “separate and equal “schools was a myth. The non- White majority schools always got the inferior funding and resources. Although unlawful there are still attempts to create racially “separate and equal” public school systems. The beginning of the charter school movement in Massachusetts was based on the refusal of some White Boston parents to the desegregation of Boston schools.

During the 1990s the issue of separate and unequal schools based on property taxes was remedied to some extent by MGL Chapter 70. This statute removed basic school funding from cities and towns. Under the statute the State would provide a “foundation” budget for all of the public school districts

The foundation budget was based on the number of students in a school district. A monetary figure is assigned to each student. That number is about $6,500.00. So a school district gets that number of dollars multiplied by the total number of students in the district.

The foundation budget did not prevent cities and towns from adding to their respective school budget based on property taxes.  Of course the more affluent towns added more to their school budget as a rule, than did the less affluent cities. Last year Worcester added $500,000 to its school budget on top of the foundation funding provided by the State. Economic disparities continue.

The foundation funding from the State has some problems that need correcting. The first is that more Cities are becoming “Gateway Cities” in which live and work many immigrants and other newly arrived people. This population is larger in some cities than others. The resources needed for this population exceed the $6,500 per student provided by the foundation budget,

Another population that is underfunded are the special needs children whose costs of education greatly exceed the $6500. The cost to educate this group of children is almost two and one half times higher than the foundation funding.

The foundation funding does not cover some teachers’ benefits such as health care. The Gateway Cities’ school districts have more teachers and higher teacher benefits costs. There is little or no property tax money to cover the benefits needed to attract good teachers and ensure their long service.

The so called Gateway Cities and other poor communities have large people of color populations. The cutbacks that occur because of the lack of fully funded schools causes conditions that exacerbate the school to prison pipeline.

There are lacks of supplies. Programs such as art and music are cut. Summer and after school academics are ended. Most importantly the student to teach ratio is increased. Several teachers has said that 35 students to 1 teacher is not uncommon in Worcester.

Lack of teachers, lack of programs, and lack of supplies are setting the conditions for children to get into trouble. These items also increase the likelihood that children experiencing difficulties will drop out. Dropping out will increase the likelihood of problems outside of school.

All children suffer from the underfunding of public schools. Although some school committee people are good people and are somethings to mitigate the lack of adequate funds, some city official do not see themselves as fighters for fully funded schools and an end to the school to jail pipeline.

The City officials should see themselves as asserting the rights of the children who can not do it for themselves. The attitude of “It is not my job “or “color blindness” will not due.

There is a need for a coalition of Gateway Cities and other underfunded school district to be form and pressure the legislature for reform of the Chapter 70 and the end of the racist school to jail pipeline.