Commentary by Caitlin Johnstone

Centrists Are Very Concerned That Donald Fucking Trump Isn’t Hawkish Enough

by Caitlin Johnstone

Today American centrists (who only get to call themselves that because plutocratic media control has made Orwellian neoliberal neoconservatism the dominant ideology in the US) are deeply, profoundly concerned that Donald fucking Trump is insufficiently hawkish.

This would be the same Donald Trump whose administration just facilitated the bombing of Yemen's new cholera treatment center. The same Donald Trump who has increased US troops in Afghanistan, Somalia and Syria. The same Donald Trump who is openly pursuing regime change in Iran. The same Donald Trump whose administration committed war crimes in Raqqa. The same Donald Trump who has made many dangerous cold war escalations against Russia. The same Donald Trump whose administration has voiced a goal of regime change in Damascus and the intention of remaining in Syria indefinitely. The same Donald Trump whose air strikes are killing far more civilians than the drone king Obama's did.

Centrist pundits and politicians on both sides of the aisle are saying that this very man is being too soft and cuddly toward North Korea. These would be the same centrist pundits and politicians who loudly cheered both of the times this administration bombed the Syrian government, effectively sending the message that the only way this narcissistic president can win praise by the manufacturers of the mainstream narrative is by rejecting peace and embracing war. Thanks guys.

Twitter:

We all want to see diplomacy succeed w/North Korea. However, a deal that preserves the status quo & trades away ability to counter nuclear aggression is unacceptable. Read my joint statement with @WhipHoyer, @RepEliotEngel, @RepAdamSmith & @RepAdamSchiff: https://t.co/jSLFXzcrey

— Nancy Pelosi (@NancyPelosi) June 11, 2018

What the United States has gained is vague and unverifiable; what North Korea has gained, however, is tangible and lasting. More on our take on the #NorthKoreaSummit LIVE: https://t.co/lJuj9bMrTd

— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 12, 2018

In addition to bipartisan freak-outs from the punditry of the DC orthodoxy, Democratic leaders in both the House and the Senate have released statements criticizing the administration for not making more demands of Kim Jong-Un in this first extremely rudimentary initial meeting. To their credit, fifteen more progress-minded House Democrats signed a statement addressed to the president diverging from the mainstream position of their party and expressing concern that “some, from both parties and inside and outside of your administration, seek to scuttle progress by attempting to limit the parameters of the talks, including by insisting on full and immediate denuclearization or other unrealistic commitments by North Korea at an early date.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer would be one such voice, again repeating his previous demands for the “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, nothing less” in a press conference today.

This is plainly insane. Demanding that North Korea immediately disarm as a condition of further peace talks will immediately end those peace talks, since North Korea has no reason to disarm at this time, or at any time in the foreseeable future. Insisting on an immediate and completely illogical capitulation from Pyongyang is the very kind of demand which has prevented these peace talks from happening in the past, and if Trump made them he would be ensuring a return to previous tensions.

North Korea is highly unlikely to ever denuclearize as long as the world geopolitical landscape remains as it is. The only way that would happen would be if Pyongyang decided to allow the DPRK to be fully absorbed into the blob of the US-centralized imperial alliance like Japan, and it has no good reason to do so at this time. The best way to ensure peace is to work toward making changes which shift North Korea's standing to that of any other non-US-aligned nuclear power, and ideally that would include the US and China getting out of the way as soon as possible to allow the North and the South to conduct their own diplomacy.

And with that handshake, President Trump has done something no other President has done: Legitimize the brutal dictator of North Korea, the most repressive regime in the world. — Jonathan Capehart (@CapehartJ) June 12, 2018

Most of the criticisms of Trump's meeting with Kim are gibberish about ‘legitimizing’ and ‘giving a world stage’ to his government. You guys know those aren't real things, right? War is real. Starvation sanctions are real. “Legitimizing” is just nonsense you made up in your head. https://t.co/PhpKFgOpJ1

— Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) June 12, 2018

What exactly is Kim supposed to do with this “legitimacy” that he’s been wrongly granted? Export it as a commodity? Harvest it for food? It’s such an intangible concept as to be meaningless

— Michael Tracey (@mtracey) June 12, 2018

US foreign policy elites have invented a whole slew of meaningless phrases to justify a state of permanent militarism & aggression in the world, then trained people to recite them. That US should avoid negotiating with Bad Guys because it gives them ‘legitimacy’ in a good example https://t.co/sSPZZq0luZ

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 12, 2018

But by far the most common concerns being expressed about the Singapore summit are based not on a fear of this administration making insufficiently aggressive demands of Pyongyang, but on pure ridiculous nonsense.

“President Trump seems to have given away two or three of the major things that Kim Jong-Un wanted,” Schumer complained at the aforementioned press conference. “A meeting. The flags next to each other. Now a delay of exercises with South Korea, without getting anything in return.”

Huh? A meeting? Flags next to each other? I can kinda-sorta-almost see into Schumer's twisted reality tunnel when it comes to temporarily suspending military drills along the DPRK's border as an act of good faith, but on what planet is having a meeting or putting two flags next to each other a win of any kind?

Well, going by the outcry I'm seeing from Twitter pundits, the concern appears to be that it ‘legitimizes’ Kim Jong-Un. What exactly that means is hard to fathom in terms of actual, tangible reality, but for years that term has been passed around like it has as much relevance as war or starvation sanctions. This imaginary product of ‘legitimacy’ is, according to influential mainstream political commentators, meant to be withheld from Kim until he gives up everything he has and grovels on his belly begging for it.

This just shows you the power of narrative, where repeating some meaningless placeholder syllables over and over again can create the illusion that a purely mental construct is as relevant in peace negotiations as nuclear warheads. It isn't hard to see through for anyone who doesn't have a vested interest in subscribing to that narrative, though, and Pyongyang certainly has no such interest.

In theory the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula and ending the Korean War are worthy goals, but are they worth the price of having the American flag photographed next to another flag of the same size? Worth considering

— WillMenaker (@willmenaker) June 12, 2018

There are many, many perfectly valid things to criticize the Trump administration for. Opening up peace talks with North Korea is not one of them, and anyone who says it is - is not a friend of humanity.

Original article here.

Photos from DC

Photos taken by me several years ago.

Message from Camilo Mejia

Hello everyone,

My name is Camilo E. Mejia, and I am a former Amnesty International prisoner of conscience (June 2004), on account of my refusal to return to the Iraq war on conscientious objection grounds.

I have written an open letter to Amnesty International in condemnation of the destabilizing role they have played in Nicaragua, my country of birth, in the current conflict.

Please feel free to publish this letter in your respective networks and publications and to share with others. The more it gets published the better.

================================================

Hola a todos,

Me llamo Camilo E. Mejia, y soy un ex prisionero de consciencia de Amnistia Internacional (junio 2004), por haberme rehusado a volver a la guerra en Irak por objeciones de consciencia. 

He escrito una carta abierta a Amnistia Internacional en condena por el papel desestabilizador que han desempenado en Nicaragua, mi pais de nacimiento, en el marco del presente conflicto.

Por favor sientanse con la libertad de publicar la carta en sus redes y publicaciones respectivas y de compartir con otros. Mientras mas se difunda la carta mejor.

Open Letter to Amnesty International 

by a Former Amnesty International Prisoner of Conscience

Through this letter I express my unequivocal condemnation of Amnesty International with regards to the destabilizing role it has played in Nicaragua, my country of birth. 

I open this letter quoting Donatella Rovera, who at the time this quote was made had been one of Amnesty International’s field investigators for more than 20 years:

“Conflict situations create highly politicized and polarized environments (…). Players and interested parties go to extraordinary lengths to manipulate or manufacture “evidence” for both internal and external consumption. A recent, though by no means the only, example is provided by the Syrian conflict in what is often referred to as the “YouTube war,” with a myriad techniques employed to manipulate video footage of incidents which occurred at other times in other places – including in other countries – and present them as “proof” of atrocities committed by one or the other parties to the conflict in Syria.”

Ms. Rovera’s remarks, made in 2014, properly describe the situation of Nicaragua today, where even the preamble of the crisis was manipulated to generate rejection of the Nicaraguan government. Amnesty International’s maliciously titled report, Shoot to Kill: Nicaragua’s Strategy to Repress Protest, could be dismantled point by point, but doing so requires precious time that the Nicaraguan people don’t have, therefore I will concentrate on two main points:

-      The report completely lacks neutrality and;

-      Amnesty International’s role is contributing to the chaos in which the nation finds itself.

The operating narrative, agreed-upon by the local opposition and the corporate western media, is as follows: That president Ortega sought to cut 5 percent from retirees’ monthly retirement checks, and that he was going to increase contributions, made by employees and employers, into the social security system. The reforms sparked protests, the response to which was a government-ordered genocide of peaceful protestors, more than 60, mostly students. A day or two after that, the Nicaraguan government would wait until nightfall to send its police force out in order to decimate the Nicaraguan population, night after night, city by city, in the process destroying its own public buildings and killing its own police force, to then culminate its murderous rampage with a Mothers’ Day massacre, and so on.

While the above narrative is not uniformly expressed by all anti-government actors, the unifying elements are that the government is committing genocide, and that the president and vice-president must go.

Amnesty International’s assertions are mostly based on either testimony by anti-government witnesses and victims, or the uncorroborated and highly manipulated information emitted by U.S.-financed anti-government media outlets, and non-profit organizations, collectively known as “civil society.”  

The three main media organizations cited by the report: Confidencial, 100% Noticias, and La Prensa, are sworn enemies of the Ortega government; most of these opposition news media organizations, along with some, if not all, of the main non-profits cited by the report, are funded by the United States, through organizations like the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), which has been characterized by retired U.S. Congressman, Ron Paul, as “an organization that uses US tax money to actually subvert democracy, by showering funding on favored political parties or movements overseas. It underwrites color-coded ‘people’s revolutions’ overseas that look more like pages out of Lenin’s writings on stealing power than genuine indigenous democratic movements.”

Amnesty’s report heavily relies on 100% Noticias, an anti-government news outlet that has aired manipulated and inflammatory material to generate hatred against the Nicaraguan government, including footage of peaceful protesters, unaware of the fact that the protesters were carrying pistols, rifles, and were shooting at police officers during incidents reported by the network as acts of police repression of opposition marches. On Mothers’ Day, 100% Noticias reported the purported shooting of unarmed protesters by police shooters, including an incident in which a young man’s brains were spilling out of his skull. The network followed the report with a photograph that Ms. Rovera would refer to as an incident “…which occurred at other times in other places.” The picture included in the report was quickly met on social media by links to past online articles depicting the same image.

One of the sources (footnote #77) cited to corroborate the alleged denial of medical care at state hospitals to patients injured at opposition events –one of the main accusations repeated and reaffirmed by Amnesty International- is a press conference published by La Prensa, in which the Chief of Surgery denies claims that he had been fired, or that hospital officials had denied care to protesters at the beginning of the conflict. “I repeat,” he is heard saying, “as the chief of surgery, I repeat [the] order: to take care of, I will be clear, to take care of the entire population that comes here, without investigating anything at all.” In other words, one of Amnesty International’s own sources contradicts one of its report’s main claims. 

The above-mentioned examples of manipulated and manufactured evidence, to borrow the words of Amnesty’s own investigator, are just a small sample, but they capture the essence of this modality of U.S.-sponsored regime change. The report feeds on claims from those on one side of the conflict, and relies on deeply corrupted evidence; it ultimately helps create the mirage of a genocidal state, in turn generating more antigovernment sentiment locally and abroad, and paving the way for ever more aggressive foreign intervention. 

A different narrative

The original reforms to social security were not proposed by the Sandinista government, but by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and they were supported by an influential business group, known as COSEP. They included raising the retirement age from 60 to 65 and doubling the number of quotas necessary to get full social security from 750 to 1500. Among the impacted retirees, approximately 53,000, are the families of combatants who died in the armed conflict of the 1980s, from both the Sandinista army and the “Contras,” the mercenary army financed by the United States government in the 1980s, around the same time the NED was created, in part, to stop the spread of Sandinismo in Latin America. 

The Nicaraguan government countered the IMF’s reforms by rejecting the cutting out of any retirees, with a proposed 5% cut to all retirement checks, an increase in all contributions to the social security system, and with fiscal reform that removed a tax-ceiling that protected Nicaragua’s biggest salaries from higher taxation. The business sector was furious, and together with nongovernmental organizations organized the first marches, using the pretext of the reforms in the same manipulative way Amnesty International’s report explains them: “… the reform increased social security contributions by both employers and employees and imposed an additional 5% contribution on pensioners.”

The continuing narrative, repeated and validated by Amnesty International, is that the protesters are peaceful and the genocidal government is irrationally bent on committing atrocities in plain sight. Meanwhile, the number of dead among Sandinista supporters and police officers continues to rise. The report states that ballistic investigations suggest that those shooting at protesters are likely trained snipers, pointing to government involvement, but fails to mention that many of the victims are Sandinistas, regular citizens, and police officers. It also does not mention that the “peaceful protesters” have burned down and destroyed more than 60 public buildings, among them many City Halls, Sandinista houses, markets, artisan shops, radio stations, and more; nor does it mention that the protesters have established “tranques,” or roadblocks, in order to debilitate the economy as a tactic to oust the government. Such “tranques” have become extremely dangerous scenes where murder, robbery, kidnapping, and the rape of at least one child have taken place; a young pregnant woman whose ambulance wasn’t let through also died on May 17th.  All of these crimes occur daily and are highly documented, but aren’t included in Amnesty International’s report.

While the organization is right to criticize the government’s belittling response to the initial protests, such response was not entirely untrue. According to the report, Vice-President Murillo said, among other things, that “…they [the protesters] had made up the reports of fatalities (…) as part of an anti-government strategy.” What Amnesty leaves out is that several of the reported dead students did turn up alive, one of them all the way in Spain, while others had not been killed at rallies, nor were they students or activists, including one who died from a scattered bullet, and another who died from a heart attack in his bed.

Amnesty’s report also leaves out that many of the students have deserted the movement, alleging that there are criminals entrenched at universities as well as at the various “tranques,” who are only interested in destabilizing the nation. Those criminals have created a state of sustained fear among the population, imposing “taxes” on those who want passage, persecuting those who refuse to be detained, kidnapping them, beating them, torturing them, and setting their cars on fire. In a common practice, they undress their victims, paint their naked bodies in public with the blue and white of the Nicaraguan flag, and then set them free, prompting them to run right before shooting them with homemade mortar weapons. All of this information, which did not make the report, is available in numerous videos and other sources.

Why Nicaragua?

The most basic review of the history between Nicaragua and the United States will show a clear rivalry. Beginning in the mid-1800s, Nicaragua has been resisting U.S. intervention into the country’s affairs, a resistance that continued through the 20thcentury, first with General August C. Sandino’s fight in the 1920s and 30s, and then with the Sandinistas, organized as the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN), which overthrew the U.S.-supported, 40-year Somoza family dictatorship in 1979. The FSLN, despite having gained power through armed struggle, called for elections shortly after its triumph in 1984, and eventually lost to yet another U.S.-supported coalition of right-wing political parties in 1990. The FSLN once again managed, aided by pacts made with the church and the opposition, to win the election of 2006, and has remained in power since.

In addition to Nicaragua’s close ties with Venezuela, Cuba, Russia, and especially China, with whom the country signed a contract to build a canal, the other main reason the United States is after the Sandinistas, is Nicaragua’s highly successful economic model, which represents an existential threat to the neoliberal economic order imposed by the U.S. and its allies.

Despite always being among the poorest nations in the American continent and the world, Nicaragua has managed, since Ortega returned to power in 2007, to cut poverty by three quarters. Prior to the protests in April, the country’s economy sustained a steady annual economic growth of about 5% for several years, and the country had the third fastest-growing economy in Latin America, and was one of the safest nations in the region. 

The government’s infrastructural upgrades have facilitated trade among Nicaragua’s poorest citizens; they have created universal access to education: primary, secondary, and university; there are programs on land, housing, nutrition, and more; the healthcare system, while modest, is not only excellent, but accessible to everyone. Approximately 90% of the food consumed by Nicaraguans is produced in Nicaragua, and about 70% of jobs come from the grassroots economy –rather than from transnational corporations- including from small investors from the United States and Europe, who have moved to the country and are a driving force behind the tourism industry. 

The audacity of success, of giving its poorest citizens a life with dignity, of being an example of sovereignty to wealthier, more powerful nations, all in direct contradiction to the neoliberal model and its emphasis on privatization and austerity, has once again placed Nicaragua in the crosshairs of U.S. intervention. Imagine the example to other nations -their economies already strangled by neoliberal policies- becoming aware of one of the poorest countries on earth being able to feed its people and grow its economy without throwing its poorest citizens under the iron boot of capitalism. The United States will never tolerate such a dangerous example. 

In closing

The Nicaraguan government has deficiencies and contradictions to work on, like all governments, and as a Sandinista myself I would like to see the party transformed in various important ways, both internally and externally. I have refrained from writing of those deficiencies and contradictions, however, because the violent protests and ensuing chaos we have seen are not the result of the Nicaraguan government’s shortcomings, but rather, of its many successes; that inconvenient truth is the reason the United States and its allies, including Amnesty International, have chosen to “create highly politicized and polarized environments (…). [And to] go to extraordinary lengths to manipulate or manufacture “evidence” for both internal and external consumption.”

At a time when even the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and the Vatican have called for peaceful and constitutional reforms as the only way out of the conflict, Amnesty International has continued to beseech the international community to not “abandon the Nicaraguan people.” Such biased stance, obscenely bloated on highly manipulated, distorted, and one-sided information, has made the terrible situation in Nicaragua even worse. The loss of Nicaraguan lives, including the blood of those ignored by Amnesty International, has been used to manufacture the “evidence” used in the organization’s report, which makes the organization complicit in what future foreign intervention might fall upon the Nicaraguan people. It is now up to the organization to correct that wrong, and to do so in a way that reflects a firm commitment first and foremost to the truth, wherever it might fall, and to neutrality, peace, democracy, and always, to the sovereignty of every nation on earth.

Sincerely,

Camilo E. Mejia,

Iraq war veteran, resister, and conscientious objector (2003-2004)

Amnesty International prisoner of conscience (June 2004)

Born in Nicaragua, citizen of the world

The Military-Industrial Complex in the USA

Ending Russophobia hysteria

Amid ‘Russiagate’ Hysteria, What Are the Facts?

We must end this Russophobic hysteria.

By Jack F. Matlock Jr.

TheNation

June 1, 2018

“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.”

That saying—often misattributed to Euripides—comes to mind most mornings when I pick up The New York Times and read the latest “Russiagate” headlines, which are frequently featured across two or three columns on the front page above the fold. This is an almost daily reminder of the hysteria that dominates our Congress and much of our media.

A glaring example, just one of many from recent months, arrived at my door on February 17. My outrage spiked when I opened to the Times’ lead editorial: “Stop Letting the Russians Get Away With It, Mr. Trump.” I had to ask myself: “Did the Times’ editors perform even the rudiments of due diligence before they climbed on their high horse in this long editorial, which excoriated ‘Russia’ (not individual Russians) for ‘interference’ in the election and demanded increased sanctions against Russia ‘to protect American democracy’?”

It had never occurred to me that our admittedly dysfunctional political system is so weak, undeveloped, or diseased that inept Internet trolls could damage it. If that is the case, we better look at a lot of other countries as well, not just Russia!

The New York Times, of course, is not the only offender. Its editorial attitude has been duplicated or exaggerated by most other media outlets in the United States, electronic and print. Unless there is a mass shooting in progress, it can be hard to find a discussion of anything else on CNN. Increasingly, both in Congress and in our media, it has been accepted as a fact that “Russia” interfered in the 2016 election.

So what are the facts?

It is a fact that some Russians paid people to act as online trolls and bought advertisements on Facebook during and after the 2016 presidential campaign. Most of these were taken from elsewhere, and they comprised a tiny fraction of all the advertisements purchased on Facebook during this period. This continued after the election and included organizing a demonstration against President-elect Trump. 

It is a fact that e-mails in the memory of the Democratic National Committee’s computer were furnished to Wikileaks. The US intelligence agencies that issued the January 2017 report were confident that Russians hacked the e-mails and supplied them to Wikileaks, but offered no evidence to substantiate their claim. Even if one accepts that Russians were the perpetrators, however, the e-mails were genuine, as the US intelligence report certified. I have always thought that the truth was supposed to make us free, not degrade our democracy.

It is a fact that the Russian government established a sophisticated television service (RT) that purveyed entertainment, news, and—yes—propaganda to foreign audiences, including those in the United States. Its audience is several magnitudes smaller than that of Fox News. Basically, its task is to picture Russia in a more favorable light than has been available in Western media. There has been no analysis of its effect, if any, on voting in the United States. The January 2017 US intelligence report states at the outset, “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election.” Nevertheless, that report has been cited repeatedly by politicians and the media as having done so.

It is a fact that many senior Russian officials (though not all, by any means) expressed a preference for Trump’s candidacy. After all, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had compared President Putin to Hitler and had urged more active US military intervention abroad, while Trump had said it would be better to cooperate with Russia than to treat it as an enemy. It should not require the judgment of professional analysts to understand why many Russians would find Trump’s statements more congenial than Clinton’s. On a personal level, most of my Russian friends and contacts were dubious of Trump, but all resented Clinton’s Russophobic tone, as well as statements made by Obama from 2014 onward. They considered Obama’s public comment that “Russia doesn’t make anything” a gratuitous insult (which it was), and were alarmed by Clinton’s expressed desire to provide additional military support to the “moderates” in Syria. But the average Russian, and certainly the typical Putin administration official, understood Trump’s comments as favoring improved relations, which they definitely favored.

There is no evidence that Russian leaders thought Trump would win or that they could have a direct influence on the outcome. This is an allegation that has not been substantiated. The January 2017 report from the intelligence community actually states that Russian leaders, like most others, thought Clinton would be elected.

There is no evidence that Russian activities had any tangible impact on the outcome of the election. Nobody seems to have done even a superficial study of the effect Russian actions actually had on the vote. The intelligence-community report, however, states explicitly that “the types of systems we observed Russian actors targeting or compromising are not involved in vote tallying.” Also both former FBI director James Comey and NSA director Mike Rogers have testified that there is no proof Russian activities had an effect on the vote count.

There is also no evidence that there was direct coordination between the Trump campaign (hardly a well-organized effort) and Russian officials. The indictments brought by the special prosecutor so far are either for lying to the FBI or for offenses unrelated to the campaign such as money laundering or not registering as a foreign agent.

So, what is the most important fact regarding the 2016 US presidential election?

The most important fact, obscured in Russiagate hysteria, is that Americans elected Trump under the terms set forth in the Constitution. Americans created the Electoral College, which allows a candidate with a minority of popular votes to become president. Americans were those who gerrymandered electoral districts to rig them in favor of a given political party. The Supreme Court issued the infamous Citizens United decision that allows corporate financing of candidates for political office. (Hey, money talks and exercises freedom of speech; corporations are people!) Americans created a Senate that is anything but democratic, since it gives disproportionate representation to states with relatively small populations. It was American senators who established non-democratic procedures that allow minorities, even sometimes single senators, to block legislation or confirmation of appointments.

Now, that does not mean that Trump’s presidency is good for the country, just because Americans elected him. In my opinion, the 2016 presidential and congressional elections pose an imminent danger to the republic. They have created potential disasters that will severely try the checks and balances built into our Constitution. This is especially true since both houses of Congress are controlled by the Republican Party, which itself represents fewer voters than the opposition party.

I did not personally vote for Trump, but I consider the charges that Russian actions interfered in the election, or—for that matter—damaged the quality of our democracy ludicrous, pathetic, and shameful.

“Ludicrous” because there is no logical reason to think that anything that the Russians did affected how people voted. In the past, when Soviet leaders tried to influence American elections, it backfired—as foreign interference usually does everywhere. In 1984, Yuri Andropov, the Soviet leader then, made preventing Ronald Reagan’s reelection the second-most-important task of the KGB. (The first was to detect US plans for a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union.) Everything the Soviets did—in painting Reagan out to be a warmonger while Andropov refused to negotiate on nuclear weapons—helped Reagan win 49 out of 50 states.

“Pathetic” because it is clear that the Democratic Party lost the election. Yes, it won the popular vote, but presidents are not elected by popular vote. To blame someone else for one’s own mistakes is a pathetic case of self-deception.

“Shameful” because it is an evasion of responsibility. It prevents the Democrats, and those Republicans who want responsible, fact-based government in Washington, from concentrating on practical ways to reduce the threat the Trump presidency poses to our political values and even to our future existence. After all, Trump would not be president if the Republican Party had not nominated him. He also is most unlikely to have won the Electoral College if the Democrats had nominated someone—almost anyone—other than the candidate they chose, or if that candidate had run a more competent campaign. I don’t argue that any of this was fair, or rational, but then who is so naive as to assume that American politics are either fair or rational?

Instead of facing the facts and coping with the current reality, the Russiagate promoters, in both the government and the media, are diverting our attention from the real threats.

I should add “dangerous” to those three adjectives. “Dangerous” because making an enemy of Russia, the other nuclear superpower—yes, there are still two—comes as close to political insanity as anything I can think of. Denying global warming may rank up there too in the long run, but only nuclear weapons pose, by their very existence in the quantities that are on station in Russia and the United States, an immediate threat to mankind—not just to the United States and Russia and not just to “civilization.” The sad, frequently forgotten fact is that, since the creation of nuclear weapons, mankind has the capacity to destroy itself and join other extinct species.

In their first meeting, President Ronald Reagan and then General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev agreed that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” Both believed that simple and obvious truth and their conviction enabled them to set both countries on a course that ended the Cold War. We should think hard to determine how and why that simple and obvious truth has been ignored of late by the governments of both countries.

We must desist from our current Russophobic insanity and encourage Presidents Trump and Putin to restore cooperation in issues of nuclear safety, non-proliferation, control of nuclear materials, and nuclear-arms reduction. This is in the vital interest of both the United States and Russia. That is the central issue on which sane governments, and sane publics, would focus their attention.

Jack F. Matlock Jr., ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1987 to 1991, is the author of Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended and Superpower Illusions: How Myths and False Ideologies Led America Astray—And How to Return to Reality.

Kings Bay Plowshares action

Photo above (of Ken Jones of Swannanoa) came from Kings Bay Plowshares, as did the writing below. They are fasting in support of the protestors know as the Kings Bay Plowshares.

FAST FOR NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT: DAY 2

A reflection by Beth Brockman

We decided last night that we wanted to vigil earlier, from 9 to 11 am, to avoid the hottest part of the day. We started at 8 am with some of us doing Centering Prayer outside under the huge oak trees draped with Spanish moss, - so prevalent here in Brunswick, and throughout southern, coastal Georgia. Afterwards we slathered ourselves with sunscreen, donned our hats, and packed up our cooler with water and juice. Then we grabbed our signs and banners (now with sticks fastened to them to make them easier to hold!) and hopped into the car. We drove the 4 ½ short miles to the Glynn County Detention Center, where Clare, Liz, Steve, and Mark are being held on federal charges stemming from the plowshares action at Kings Bay Naval Base. We set ourselves up for our two-hour vigil along route 25.

The traffic along Route 25 was loud which made conversation difficult. There were periods of silence, and in the silence, I of course thought about and prayed for our friends. I also extended my thoughts and prayers to the other 400+ prisoners locked up there. Like our friends, they are somebody’s mother, daughter, sister, grandmother, wife, aunt, uncle, brother, grandfather (or soon to be, like our recently released on bail friend, Patrick!), son, or husband. If this jail reflects the overall jail population in the U.S., 70 % of them are being held PRE-TRIAL. This means that they, like our friends, have not been convicted of a crime, only accused. How many days, weeks, even months of their lives will be stolen from them? How many of them will ever know justice from a system that oppresses particularly the poor, people of color and LGBTQ folks?

At the vigil Kathy reminded me that it was Juneteenth, which commemorates the ending of slavery. Juneteenth dates to 1865 when on June 19th Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, and announced that the war had ended and that the slaves were now free, two and a half years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth serves as a powerful reminder that freedom and justice has always been delayed for blacks.

A local supporter from Brunswick, Robert, joined us at the vigil and later back at our cozy converted garage for morning prayer. Afterwards, we all trooped back outside to paint rocks that Ken had gathered at the Swannanoa River in Western North Carolina and I had gathered at Lake Superior on our family vacation last year. Celenda, a local supporter in St Marys, just south of Brunswick and the town closest to Kings Bay Naval Base, told me on one of my earlier trips to south Georgia about Painted Rocks of St Marys. This popular project grew out of The Kindness Rock Project, whose goal is “to promote random acts of kindness to unsuspecting recipients by painting and dropping inspirational rocks.” We talked about out how we could help spread the good news of the Kings Bay Plowshares by painting rocks with peace symbols and hiding them in St Marys for “unsuspecting recipients” to find.

Encouraged by Steve Baggarly’s puns (“We’re off to a rocky start,” “Looks like we’ve hit rock bottom,” etc.) we spent a couple of hours painting the rocks with peace symbols and reminders to “love one another,” “end police brutality,” “disarm,” and “put away your Trident.” A neighbor across the street came over and joined us. She told us about her many concerning health issues and her new job, going door to door for A T & T. She showed us a video of her 6-year-old niece, a video that has gone viral. The child pleads for an end to the shooting, for an end to violence. After showing us the video she explained that her other niece, the little girl’s three-year old sister, had been killed in a drive-by shooting in Miami.

In the Gospel reading this morning Jesus says to the disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you….” How can we possibly live out this Gospel in a society that has nuclear weapons on hair trigger alert aimed at our so-called enemies, a society that demonizes and imprisons people of color and poor people at unprecedented rates, a society in which a 3-year-old girl is shot and killed in her own front yard? I don’t exactly know the answer, but I think that Steve pointed me in the right direction when he said in our morning prayer that the bottom line is love.

Upcoming events for the week of June 24, 2018

Photo I took along I-40 in early fall 2017.

UPCOMING EVENTS CALENDAR BY DANCEWATER

06/24/18 STONEWALL COMMEMORATION WEEK IN ASHEVILLE

There is a lot of information about events around this in the Mountain Express. 

06/25/18  ASHEVILLE SURJ WEEKLY MEETING

Asheville SURJ weekly evening meeting: Monday, 6:30-8:30pm at Asheville Unitarian Universalist Congregation (downstairs main building). Accountability group for folks seeking to focus on anti-racism work. Meetings include opportunities such as discussion, educational opportunities, or role-playing difficult conversations, and building connections. For more info email avlsurj@gmail.com. 

06/25/18 STONEWALL COMMEMORATION WEEK EVENT

“Stonewall History” is a seminar about the leaders who kicked off the modern day LGBTQ movement. Free. Held at WNC Community Center at 417 Biltmore Avenue, Suite #4A in Asheville. More information in the Mountain Express.

06/26/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 4:30 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. 

06/26/18 INDIVISIBLE ASHEVILLE MEETING

Indivisible AVL General Meeting is on June 26 from 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm. This month’s meeting focuses on the national Poor People’s Campaign and what’s going on locally and statewide to support this multi-prong movement. Indivisible general meetings are held on the last Tuesday of the month. Each month we’ll give updates on recent and future actions and highlight opportunities to get involved, and we’ll also focus on learning more about our elected representatives in Raleigh and Washington, or hearing from candidates who are seeking election, or learning more about a particular issue, or sharing tools for active engagement. Monthly meetings are always free and open to the public. Location is  the Wesley Grant Center at 285 Livingston Street in Asheville. For more information, email info@indivisibleavl.org.

06/27/18 PANEL DISCUSSION ON US FOREIGN POLICY

OLLI Hot Topic Event - U.S. Foreign Policy: Possibilities and Perils is on June 27, 2018 at 9 AM. Hot Topic events are free and open to everyone, and take place at the Reuter Center, home of OLLI, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville. This event will be in the Reuter Center - Manheimer Room. U.S. Foreign Policy: Possibilities and Perils will be a panel discussion of OLLI members Jim Lenburg, Julie Snyder, Larry Wilson, Sarah Ann Smith moderated by Bob Bond from the World Affairs Council. The panel will discuss a range of topics including shifting trade policies, U.S.-China relations, Mexico, Russia, the Middle East and more. Contact for this event is OLLI - Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville at olli@unca.edu or 828.251.6140.

06/27/18 WE THE PEOPLE 2.0 FILM SCREENING

We The People 2.0 Screening will be on Wednesday, June 27th, from 6 to 8:00 pm at THE BLOCK off Biltmore, 39 S Market Street, Asheville. Interested in Community Rights and why Corporations have more rights than we do? This film showcases the work of CELDF and the Community Rights movement across the US. “We the People 2.0” is about the loss of democracy in the United States. The story unfolds through the eyes of rural people and sacrifice zones in urban communities who have faced decades of toxic dumps, drilling and mines in their communities. These people come to understand that the reason they can’t stop the destruction is that the US has become an oligarchy, run by the corporate few who ignore the rights and will of the people. These people are frontally challenging our corporate state; thereby saving nature and themselves. Thomas Linzey, a nonprofit attorney’s inspiring words shows how, we, the people, can turn this around and lay claim to our democracy. This movement is building as you read this, not just in this country but around the world; this film shows how and where it all began.

06/27/18 FILM SPONSORED BY SIERRA CLUB

June 27 film is “Reinventing Power: America’s Renewable Energy Boom.” A film commissioned by the Sierra Club will be shown on June 27, Wednesday, from 630 to 830 pm at the Collider in downtown Asheville, 1 Haywood Street Ste 401, in Asheville. Doors open at 6:30pm, with the film starting at 7:00pm. Free & open to the public with a suggested donation of $10/person or $20/family. Oskar Blues Brewery beer and refreshments will be provided. Join Sierra Club, MountainTrue & The Collider for a screening of “Reinventing Power: America’s Renewable Energy Boom” at the Collider. This film takes us across the country to hear directly from the people making our clean energy future achievable. These individuals are working to rebuild what’s broken, rethink what’s possible, and revitalize communities. These stories are proof that America does not need to choose between keeping our lights on and protecting our communities. Critically, Reinventing Power underscores the notion that we don’t have to sacrifice jobs for a clean environment. Supporting a clean energy future means building a better, more prosperous future for everyone. Over the film’s 50 minutes, you’ll meet people in eight states whose lives were changed by the renewable energy industry while exploring various aspects of the clean energy industry from innovation to installation.  It will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A. No contact information. 

06/28/18 PASTORS FOR PEACE POTLUCK AND TALK

The Cuba Caravan is coming to town! They are part of Pastors for Peace and are promoting building bridges and tearing down walls. Pastors for Peace began organizing Fridneshipment caravan to Cuba in 1992. What is it like in Cuba today? What is the current state of US-Cuba relations? What needs to be done to truly normalize relations? Pastors for Peace began organizing Friendshipment Caravans in 1992. This is its 29th caravan. This Asheville event will be a potluck and talk - please bring a dish. Also, it is a fundraising event for the caravan, so please donate what you can. The speaker will be Bill Hackwell, from the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity to the Peoples in Oakland, CA. He is a social documentary photographer and veteran of Caravans and the International Committee to Free the Five - now the International Committee for Peace, Justice and Dignity. US citizens are free to travel anywhere in the world, except Cuba. To travel to Cuba you need permission, a license, from the US government. This has been the case for over 50 years. In his final years President Obama made licenses very easy to get, as well as taking some steps to reduce the underlying US economic blockade of Cuba. However President Trump has adopted a very hostile stance towards Cuba, partially reversing Obama’s actions, and reduced the possibilities for individual licensed travel. Pastors for Peace believes that licenses should be scrapped and we should be freely able to travel to Cuba and meet our Cuban sisters and brothers. Since 1992 we have taken 28 Caravans of people to Cuba without a license as a conscious act of civil disobedience. Time is 6 PM to 8 PM and location is Asheville Friends Meeting House at 227 Edgewood Road in north Asheville. This is a fundraising tour, please donate what you can. For more information, contact ken at jonesk@maine.edu. 

06/28/18 BENEFIT FOR GUARDIAN AD LITEM ASSOCIATION

“A Light in the Dark” is a benefit party with live music, local food, Catawba Brewing Company beer and entertainment to benefit Guardian Ad Litem Association of Buncombe County. Time is 6 to 9 PM, and location is The Boathouse at Smokey Park at 350 Riverside Drive in Asheville. Cost is $30/$25 advance. Contact ashevilleaffiliates dot com for more information.

06/28/18 PEACE EDUCATION PROGRAM

This is a multimedia facilitated class series based on talks about personal peace by  Prem Rawat. Free. Time is 6:30 to 7:30 PM and this will be held at the Montford Community Center at 34 Pearson Drive in Asheville. This started on 06/21/18 and goes until 08/23/18. Contact jtfbuilder@gmail.com. 

06/28/18 TRANZMISSION PRISON PROJECT

Monthly meeting to prepare packages of books and zines for mailing to prisons across the US. Free. Held at Firestorm at 610 Haywood Road in west Asheville. Time is 6 to 9 PM.

06/29/18 BENEFIT FOR HOMELESS WOMEN VETERANS IN ASHEVILLE

Date is June 29, 2018 and time is 6:00 - 9:00 PM. Location is Historic Patton Parker House at 95 Charlotte Street in Asheville. Featuring Music From: Linda Mitchell, blues, jazz, and “Big Al” pop country singer/songwriter. Benefiting Veteran Women Aura Home is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization working to prevent homelessness for women veterans in WNC. Celebrate the mid-summer's full moon at the restored historic house & grounds. Bring your picnic basket, blanket, low chairs for an eve of music, s'mores and camaraderie. (Parking across the street). Aura Home will provide desserts and entertainment. $20 if purchasing ticket online at www dot AuraHomeWomenVets dot org. $25 At the door. No contact information.

06/29/18 REALITY CHECK CONFERENCE AT AB TECH

The Reality Check Conference is designed to encourage, empower, and educate leaders across western North Carolina and surrounding areas on the cultural diversity challenges within our community. This conference will continue the conversation around building a better community and decreasing the gaps in disparities, education, and other social factors that play into the cultural divide of the community and city at large. Participants will also learn about local initiatives and key players who are active and directly involved in our community. Two national powerhouse speakers, Tim Wise and Jane Elliott, will speak at the conference, which takes place Friday, June 29 at A-B Tech. Participants will also hear from several local speakers who will have specific topics to engage the audience. Conference Objectives - Provide further education and knowledge about the historical trauma of African Americans and people of color in Asheville and greater western North Carolina with a focus on where we’ve been, where we are presently, and what the future holds. Discuss the impact of offensive intention created by privilege and power in a thriving, profitable community. Gain a better understanding of ways to engage African Americans and people of color with recognition, understanding (avoiding checking the box and “tokenizing” individuals), and empathy as we move forward to create a better community and professional environment with the tools needed to work toward success. The Reality Check Conference takes place Friday, June 29, 2018 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at A-B Tech Community College, 340 Victoria Rd. in Asheville. Register before June 22 and the cost to attend is $80; after June 23 the cost is $95 per person. For more information, please call (828) 254-1921. There is a lot more information about this in the Mountain Express.

06/29/18 ENVIRONMENTAL SPEAKER IN ASHEVILLE

Come join me and your fellow wildlife lovers for a gathering to discuss the impacts of offshore drilling on wildlife. “Beyond the Spill: Through the Lens of Wildlife” is the name of the next edition of the Science Pub on Friday, June 29th, 2018 at 6:00 PM (doors open at 5:30 PM). Location is The Collider at the Wells Fargo Building at 1 Haywood St, Top Floor, in Asheville. This event is the next edition of Science Pub, a free Friday night guest speaker series offered by the Asheville Museum of Science (AMOS) and The Collider. Ben Prater will be presenting a talk, “Beyond the Spill: Through the Lens of Wildlife.” He will discuss the biological consequences of ocean drilling and its impacts on coastal and marine wildlife. The impacts go beyond a possible spill - from seismic testing to onshore infrastructure and beyond. We know what happens to coastal wildlife and habitat in the wake of toxic oil spills from offshore drilling - we've seen the pictures, and they aren't pretty. But what about the impacts to wildlife from other aspects of offshore drilling that are less visible or rarely discussed, like seismic testing? In the wake of the current Administration's plan to open the Atlantic coast to offshore drilling, he share information from past offshore drilling operations and the latest science to give a more accurate view of just how destructive this practice can be to wildlife -- and to underscore the need to prevent drilling in the Atlantic. Light refreshments will be served. Come meet Ben Prater, Southeast Program Director for Defenders of Wildlife and the Defenders team and learn what you can do for ocean wildlife. No contact information, but more information on Facebook.

06/30/18 FAMILIES BELONG TOGETHER RALLY

Families Belong Together Rally is on June 30. The Trump administration [along with the former Obama administration and all presidential administrations before him - dancewater] is/has been cruelly separating children from their families. On June 30, a rally will take place in Washington, D.C., and around the country to tell President Trump and his administration to stop separating kids from their parents. Join CJJ and others on June 30 to send a clear message to the President and Republicans in Congress: Families Belong Together! A rally will take place at 11:00 [presumably AM - dancewater] on the open lot at 68 Haywood across from the Cellular center in downtown Asheville.  Help us bring an end to this cruel and inhumane action. [Better late than never, right? But do they realize we have to abolish ICE to get anywhere? Do they also realize that the US government has done FAR worse than take kids away from their parents? Like, for example, torture and kill them? See articles at the end of this email for some recent history. And then think about all the brown and black children who have been taken from their parents one way or another for centuries in this country. We have quite the history, and it is not pretty at all. - dancewater] No contact information. 

07/01/18 LET’S TALK ABOUT RACE IN ASHEVILLE

Let's Talk About Race - Sunday, July 1, 4pm to 6pm: Presented by Anti-Oppression Educator and Consultant Corrie Wallace. Wallace is a parent and bilingual educator from Chicago, who also happens to be black and Jewish. She has lead numerous seminars and educational workshops around the US, focusing on diversity, equity and undoing racism. This event is co-sponsored by Asheville JCC, Asheville Buncombe County NAACP, Carolina Jews for Justice, Congregation Beth Ha Tephila, Congregation Beth Israel, Jewish Secular Community of Asheville, Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville and Tzedek Social Justice Fellowship. Location is the social hall at Asheville JCC. Come listen, learn and support each other in creating a more socially just and racially conscious community. Questions contact lael@jcc-asheville.org.

07/01/18 PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY EVENT 

Peter Lumsdaine, a member of Washington State PSR will visit Asheville on Sunday, July 1st, for a presentation to Western North Carolina PSR members and other concerned citizens on Sunday July 1st, 3:00 PM at The Block off Biltmore. All people are welcome. Peter’s innovative and outstanding presentation: “Turning the Clock Back from Midnight” links PSR's environmental, economic justice, peace and nuclear concerns with: intensified organizing strategies for PSR and other activists; challenges the dangerous escalation of US policy toward Iran and North Korea; addresses the pivotal implications of  21st century technologies that can facilitate  work on these most important issues. Event is free. For further information: Terry Clark, terryclarkpsych@gmail.com or Lew Patrie at  patrie.wncpsr@main.nc.us

07/02/18 DINNER WITH PROGRESSIVES

Next Dinner with Progressives is on Monday, July 2, 2018 from 5:30-7pm at Green Sage Cafe, Westgate, next to Earth Fare. Join fellow progressives at the Green Sage Cafe Monday, July 2 because now more than ever we need to be together, learn together and work together.  The November election is crucial to our city, county, state and country so the next 4 gatherings will include speakers who will discuss issues, candidates and/or volunteer opportunities.  All are invited who wish to move forward. There is no membership fee but we ask that attendees purchase dinner, a beverage and/or dessert and RSVP so we can give our gracious friends at Green Sage a headcount. Invite your friends and neighbors to join us! Anyone is invited to give an announcement, ask for signature for a petition or discuss volunteer opportunities. Please send Cheryl a quick email to let her know how much time you will need (first come, first serve basis). Our speaker(s) for July 2nd will be David Brown's campaign manager, Kathie Kline. David is running for the US House of Representatives and we are hoping that he will also attend but he will be in Charlotte that day so he may not be able to make it to Asheville by 6 pm. David Wilson Brown is a Progressive Democratic candidate for the 10th Congressional District of North Carolina. Contact Cheryl at ctorengo@gmail.com for more information. 

07/02/18  ASHEVILLE SURJ WEEKLY MEETING

Asheville SURJ weekly evening meeting: Monday, 6:30-8:30pm at Asheville Unitarian Universalist Congregation (downstairs main building). Accountability group for folks seeking to focus on anti-racism work. Meetings include opportunities such as discussion, educational opportunities, or role-playing difficult conversations, and building connections. For more info email avlsurj@gmail.com. 

07/03/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 4:30 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. 

07/03/18 CURRENT EVENTS BOOK CLUB

Join host Bruce Roth for a lively discussion on topics of current interest including war and peace, the economy, the environment, and other hot political topics. The selection for July is “No Turning Back: Life, Loss, and Hope in Wartime Syria” by Rania Abouzeid. Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café at 55 Haywood Street in Asheville. Time is 7 PM. Contact Malaprops at 828-254-6734 for more information.

07/05/18 HOMEWARD BOUND OF WNC TOUR

“Welcome Home Tour” is a tour of Asheville organizations that serve the homeless population. This will cover how Homeward Bound is working to end homelessness and how the public can help. Registration required at tours@homewardboundwnc.org, free to attend. Time is 11 AM. Call 258-1695 for more information.  

07/06/18 JEWISH VOICE FOR PEACE MEETING

Fri, Jul 6 at 4:30pm will be the Jewish Voice for Peace meeting. A monthly meeting for Asheville's JVA chapter, a national organization dedicated to a U.S. foreign policy based on peace, human rights, and respect for international law. Firestorm is located at 610 Haywood Road in west Asheville. Please contact them for more information on the event. 

07/06/18 TROUBLE SCREENING AT FIRESTORM

Friday, July 6th at 6:30pm there will be a “Trouble” screening at Firestorm at 610 Haywood in west Asheville. Sub-Media offers Trouble, a brand-new monthly show offering an in-depth anarchist analysis of current struggles, tactics, and movement dynamics. Trouble broadcasts first-hand accounts and perspectives from organizers on the ground, with the aim of cutting through the fog of misinformation that often clouds our understanding of the world, and provoking people into taking bold, collective action. This monthly, half-hour film on topics of interest to people fighting the settler colonial capitalism is hosted by Blue Ridge Anarchist Black Cross and will include a discussion of the film with questions provided by the filmmakers. This month's film is “Defend the Block: Fighting Back Against Gentrification.” Gentrification, like all facets of capitalism, is often presented to its victims as a natural process. Shrouded in the logic of progress and polished up with euphemisms like neighborhood revitalization or urban renewal, the violent displacement that it brings in its wake is carefully hidden behind a cover of market forces, zoning changes, public consultations and glitzy marketing campaigns. But those who have felt the force of the 'invisible hand' plucking them from their communities and pushing them out of their homes are not so easily fooled. The illusion that gentrification is natural, or even inevitable fact of life, is shattered when people decide to take a stand and fight back. Attacks targeting the front-line agents of gentrification force people to take sides. Often, the resulting sense of clarity can cut through the smokescreen of inclusivity and social peace that states and capitalists use to lull us into believing our communities are nothing more than potential sites of investment. They remind us that our neighborhoods have a pulse, and that they are physical territories whose futures can be contested, and ultimately shaped, by the people who live in them. In this month's episode of Trouble, the second of a two-part series on gentrification, sub-Media talks to comrades in Montreal, the Bay Area and Berlin to see how people in these cities are fighting back on attacks on their communities by developers, real estate speculators and the tech industry. Please contact Firestorm for more information.

07/07/18 PUERTO RICO BENEFIT SHOW IN ASHEVILLE

Despite Hurricane Maria being nine months past, the people of Puerto Rico are still experiencing a deep humanitarian crisis. In an effort to raise awareness and financial support, five Asheville acts will be performing at the Salvage Station on July 7, in partnership with Pop Ed, a local social justice activists collective. Proceeds from the event will go to Federación de Maestros de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rico Teachers Federation), an educators union in Puerto Rico that has been a driving force in rebuilding devastated communities since the hurricane hit. Tickets to Resist! A Benefit to Fight Unnatural Disasters, can be purchased at the Salvage Station website. Volunteers to run kids activities needed! Additional event details will be announced throughout the month of June, and can be followed via the web listings at salvagestation dot com. Call (828) 484- 6587 for more info or to get involved.

07/09/18 TEACH IN EVENT AT MALAPROPS

Teach in with Jeff Biggers. He presents “Resistance: Reclaiming an American Tradition.” As we face an increasingly authoritarian American political climate, Biggers underlines the dense history of opposition in America and reminds us of the vital role civil resistance has played in defining our national identity. Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café at 55 Haywood Street in Asheville. Time is 6 PM. Contact Malaprops at 828-254-6734 for more information.

07/09/18 TEACHING WITH SLAVE DEEDS COURSE AT MARS HILL UNIVERSITY

People Not Property: Teaching with Slave Deeds as Primary Sources at Mars Hill University on July 9 - 14 from 9:00 - 4:00PM. Teaching with Primary Source Documents at Mars Hill College is collaborating with the UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education to host a summer institute at Mars Hill University. Before the end of the Civil War, the “bill of sale” for an enslaved person was documented at the Buncombe County Courthouse - the site of the current Vance Monument. In 2013, Register of Deeds Drew Reisinger digitized the documents which are now viewable at the Register of Deeds website. This important research has spread to other NC counties as well as other states. The workshop is limited to 20 participants and is open to all teachers, but may be most effectively implemented in high school, college, or community college settings. The week will include scholarly lectures, presentations by teachers who use the deeds in the classroom, field trips to sites across Buncombe County, and opportunities to create lesson plans for the classroom. Participants will receive a certification of completion for 40 content hours. This certificate should be eligible for 4 CEUs in most school systems. For more information, contact UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education at 828-232-5024 or dmiles@unca.edu.

07/09/18 TRANSYLVANIA NAACP MEETING 

NAACP General Membership and Executive Committee meeting: 6:15 p.m., Bethel A Baptist Church, 290 Oakdale Street in Brevard. Our meetings are always on the second Monday of the month. All are welcome!

07/09/18 PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS MONTHLY MEETING 

When: Monday July 9th, 6:15pm – 8:00pm. Where: Buncombe County Democratic Party HQ, 951 Old Fairview Rd, Asheville. Description: Doors open by 6:15 for sign in and conversation. Meeting begins promptly at 6:30. We encourage candidates and motivate voters while promoting the most progressive parts of the DNC platform: campaign finance reform, clean energy policy, universal healthcare, and much more. Contact: Larry Dodson at pdobPRESIDENT@gmail.com.

07/09/18 LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS OF ASHEVILLE-BUNCOMBE COUNTY MEETING

Voter Engagement Coalition meeting is on Monday, July 9 from 3:00 – 4:30pm. We meet monthly on the second Monday of the month. Location is 50 South French Broad Avenue in Asheville, NC 28801, USA. Organizer: Voter Engagement Coalition Events. See their website for further information.

07/09/18  ASHEVILLE SURJ WEEKLY MEETING

Asheville SURJ weekly evening meeting: Monday, 6:30-8:30pm at Asheville Unitarian Universalist Congregation (downstairs main building). Accountability group for folks seeking to focus on anti-racism work. Meetings include opportunities such as discussion, educational opportunities, or role-playing difficult conversations, and building connections. For more info email avlsurj@gmail.com. 

07/10/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 4:30 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. 

07/12/18 GREEN NETWORKING EVENT

Sustainable Drinks: Green Networking is on July 12 from 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm.  A place and time for green minded folks and local business owners to get together and see what kind of game changing projects we can cook up together. Live jazz music. Vegan drinks. Community Roots and The BLOCK off Biltmore decided to host 2 of these events over the summer. If there is enough interest we will set up a series in the fall that will include speakers so we can all learn a little more while we enjoy each other’s company. Let us know if you’d like to be a speaker. Location is THE BLOCK off biltmore at 39 South Market Street in downtown Asheville. Call 828-254-9277 for more information.

07/15/18 ETHICAL HUMANIST SOCIETY EVENT

Sunday, July 15 “Do No Harm – Harm Reduction” by Dr. Jennifer Mullendore and Michael Harney.  Jenni and Michael will explore several controversial Western NC initiatives including Needle Exchange Programs – where sterile syringes, life-saving overdose-reversing naloxone (Narcan) and other harm reduction supplies are available; HIV & viral hepatitis prevention programs – including free HIV and hepatitis C testing and info on the HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis pill; and other programs.  Hear inspiring stories, explore individual and social bias, consider how we can practice compassion over judgment and whether “Do No Harm” extends to taking ethical action toward “Harm Reduction”.  Dr. Jennifer Mullendore is the Medical Director at Buncombe County Health & Human Services, is a graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine and has a MSPH from UNC–Chapel Hill, School of Global Public Health.  Michael Harney co-founded the Needle Exchange Program of Asheville (circa 1994), is an HIV/AIDS/STD/Hepatitis prevention educator with Western NC AIDS Project (WNCAP), and a street outreach worker sometimes known as “The Rubberman.”  All are welcome. Time is 2:00 PM. Location is Asheville Friends Meeting House at 227 Edgewood Road in north Asheville. Contact the Ethical Humanist Society of Asheville at EHSAsheville@gmail.com for more information.

07/16/18 CITIZEN CLIMATE LOBBY MEETING

CCL June Monthly Chapter Meeting (every 3rd Monday each month) is on June 16 from 6:30-8:30PM. Location is Habitat Brewing Tavern & Commons at 174 Broadway Street in Asheville. Come hear about our meetings with Congress during Lobby Day and how you can help with better outreach for this year. All political parties are welcome to join in this effort - conservative, liberal , progressive, libertarian, etc. Come have a beer or just plain good conversation with positive actionable items to help move us forward on the most important topic of our time. Contact asheville@citizensclimatelobby.org for more information.

07/16/18  ASHEVILLE SURJ WEEKLY MEETING

Asheville SURJ weekly evening meeting: Monday, 6:30-8:30pm at Asheville Unitarian Universalist Congregation (downstairs main building). Accountability group for folks seeking to focus on anti-racism work. Meetings include opportunities such as discussion, educational opportunities, or role-playing difficult conversations, and building connections. For more info email avlsurj@gmail.com. 

07/17/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 4:30 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. 

07/17/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE MEETING

On the third Tuesday of each month, Western North Carolina Veterans for Peace meets to coordinate group activities and programs.Veterans For Peace is a global organization of Military Veterans and allies whose collective efforts are to build a culture of peace by using our experiences and lifting our voices. We inform the public of the true causes of war and the enormous costs of wars, with an obligation to heal the wounds of wars. Our network is comprised of over 140 chapters worldwide whose work includes: educating the public, advocating for a dismantling of the war economy, providing services that assist veterans and victims of war, and most significantly, working to end all wars. Time is 5:45 PM and location is the Block Off Biltmore at Eagle and Market Streets in downtown Asheville. For more information, contact Gerry at gwerhan@gmail.com.

07/19/18 NOTORIOUS HBC* (*HISTORY BOOK CLUB)

Join host and Malaprop’s bookseller Patricia Furnish to discuss a range of books across different periods of history. We’re creating a book club that tackles the challenging subjects, hence the Notorious in the name. This month’s pick is “Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala” by Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer. Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café at 55 Haywood Street in Asheville. Time is 7 PM. Contact Malaprops at 828-254-6734 for more information.

07/20/18 WNC PHYSICIANS FOR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MEETING

Physicians, health personnel and everyone; all are welcomed at our monthly meetings held on the third Friday of each month. Bring a brown bag lunch around noon. This will be held at The First Congregational United Church of Christ, Room E205, at 20 Oak Street (just off College St. in downtown Asheville). Time is noon to 2 PM. Meeting starts at 12:30. Parking is available behind the church. Enter the church or ring doorbell at the glass doors on Oak Street. For more information contact Dr. Terry Clark, Chair, 633-0892 or Dr. Lew Patrie, 285-2599.

07/21/18 SIERRA CLUB PICNIC

Sierra Club July 21: 9th Annual Summer Picnic. Come one, come all to the 9th Annual Sierra Club Summer Picnic on Saturday, July 21. The picnic is scheduled from noon to 4:00 p.m. at the Blue Ridge Parkway sheltered picnic grounds located on Bull Mt. Road near the VA Hospital on Riceville Road. This event is free and will be held rain or shine. Please bring a pot luck dish to share and your own place settings. Drinks will be provided. Badminton,  horseshoes and music will add to the festivities. Directions: Exit 7 on I-240; go east on Tunnel Rd for 2 miles; turn north on Riceville Road Pass the VA Hospital and turn left on Bull Mt. Road. The fenced-in, sheltered picnic area is on the left about ½ mile up the road. Contact Judy Mattox, judymattox@sbcglobal.net, or 828-683-2176 for more information.

07/23/18  ASHEVILLE SURJ WEEKLY MEETING

Asheville SURJ weekly evening meeting: Monday, 6:30-8:30pm at Asheville Unitarian Universalist Congregation (downstairs main building). Accountability group for folks seeking to focus on anti-racism work. Meetings include opportunities such as discussion, educational opportunities, or role-playing difficult conversations, and building connections. For more info email avlsurj@gmail.com. 

07/24/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 4:30 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. 

07/27/18 BENEFIT FOR PISGAH LEGAL

Amplify Pisgah is back this summer on July 27 at 6:30 pm, featuring The Mavericks at Pisgah Brewing Company's outdoor stage in Black Mountain. Proceeds from the concert benefit Pisgah Legal Services. Don't miss your chance to purchase discounted early bird tickets for $29.50. Thank you to Amplify My Community and Pisgah Brewing Company for their continued partnership and support!  To learn more about sponsoring the event or for more information including how to get tickets, contact Michelle Spiegel at 828-210-3773 for details.

07/30/18  ASHEVILLE SURJ WEEKLY MEETING

Asheville SURJ weekly evening meeting: Monday, 6:30-8:30pm at Asheville Unitarian Universalist Congregation (downstairs main building). Accountability group for folks seeking to focus on anti-racism work. Meetings include opportunities such as discussion, educational opportunities, or role-playing difficult conversations, and building connections. For more info email avlsurj@gmail.com. 

07/31/18 VETERANS FOR PEACE VIGIL - BECAUSE THE WARS STILL GO ON

Every Tuesday, Veterans for Peace Chapter 099 holds a vigil at Vance Monument in downtown Asheville. Time is 4:30 PM. This has been happening since 2002. No matter the weather, no matter if it falls on a holiday, they are out there standing for peace. 

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ONGOING EVENTS

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MONDAY

Asheville SURJ weekly meeting at 6:30 pm at UU Congregation in Asheville, downstairs - cancelled for 06/18/18

Citizens’ Climate Lobby meeting on the third Monday at 6:30 at Habitat Tavern & Commons. 

TUESDAY

Veterans for Peace have a weekly vigil at 4:30 PM at Pack Square, Vance Monument 

Rally at historic Courthouse in Hendersonville at 5 PM on the first Tuesday of the month. Organized by the Progressive Organized Women. 

WEDNESDAY

Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville

French Broad Riverkeeper has a paddle-n-plant to prevent sediment erosion most Wednesdays and Saturdays. Registration required at anna@mountaintrue.org. 

Green Drinks meets at 6 PM at The Block Off Biltmore on the second Wednesday of the month.

Indivisible Asheville does political letter writing at 5:30 to 7 PM on the first and third Wednesdays at The Block Off Biltmore. 

THURSDAY

Welcome Home Tour by Homeward Bound on the third Thursday of the month at 11 AM. Call 258-1695 for more information.

Haywood Peace Vigilers have a weekly vigil at 4 PM at Haywood County Courthouse in Waynesville.

Sierra Club meets at 7 PM at Unitarian Universalist in Asheville on the first Thursday of the month.

FRIDAY

Women in Black have a weekly vigil at noon at the City Hall in Hendersonville.

Progressive Women of Hendersonville hold a letter/postcard writing to government representatives from 4 to 7 PM at Sanctuary Brewing Company at 147 First Avenue in Hendersonville.

SATURDAY

French Broad Riverkeeper has a paddle-n-plant to prevent sediment erosion most Wednesdays and Saturdays. Registration required at anna@mountaintrue.org. 

Mountain True holds urban forest workdays on the second Saturday of the month at Richmond Hill Park from 9 AM to 1 PM. Call 258-8737 for more information.

Food Not Bombs serves free vegan/vegetarian food Saturday at noon at Pritchard Park.

Dances of Universal Peace on the third Saturdays at 7:30 at 1 School Road in Asheville. 

SUNDAY

Asheville National Organization for Women meeting at 2:30 PM at YWCA of Asheville on second Sunday of the month.

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ACTIONS AND READINGS

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Mr. Obama’s Dubious Detention Centers

By The Editorial Board of the New York Times

July 18, 2016

The family detention centers the Obama administration has been operating in Texas and Pennsylvania have been an expedient way to handle the soaring numbers of Central Americans, many of them young children, who have arrived at the Southern border since 2014. They give a sense that Homeland Security has the border situation under control, and they supposedly send a message to other would-be refugees not to come.

But these privately run, unlicensed lockups are no place for children. Or mothers. Their existence belies President Obama’s oft-professed concern for the humane treatment of people fleeing crime and violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

And the centers stand on dubious legal ground. Last year, a district judge ruled that the administration was violating a 1997 court-ordered settlement, called the Flores agreement, that governs the treatment of underage migrants who seek asylum or enter the country illegally. The judge said the children were being held for too long, and ordered the administration to release them as quickly as possible to the care of relatives or other guardians as their cases move through the immigration courts.

The administration appealed, saying that the agreement applied only to children who had crossed the border alone, not those who were accompanied by parents or other adult relatives. On July 6, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit disagreed, upholding the district ruling that Flores covers all children, accompanied or not. But it said the administration could still detain their parents.

Which leaves things pretty much where they were — unsettled, unsatisfactory, unfit for a country that aspires (or once did, anyway) to be an example to the world in its welcome for desperate refugees. The administration hasn’t said whether it will appeal, but it’s hard to imagine that it will use the appeals court ruling to break up families — sending children to foster care, maybe, while continuing to hold their mothers behind bars. On a separate issue not addressed by the Ninth Circuit ruling, plaintiffs have accused the administration of subjecting children to miserable conditions at Border Patrol stations.

If the Obama administration took its principles to heart, it would be closing its family prisons and abandoning its emphasis on border crackdowns in favor of greater efforts to connect Central Americans with pro bono lawyers and to provide family- and community-based alternatives to detention. Much money and effort have been spent to deter and detain them, to speed them through court, to hunt down those who are later found to be deportable.

It would be far better to to score a humanitarian victory by reuniting children and families, especially since data show that Central Americans with asylum claims are far more likely to show up in court — and win their cases — when they have lawyers.

Legislation introduced this month in Congress seeks to attack the problem at its root, with funds for combating human trafficking and resettling refugees within Central America and Mexico. But Congress is unlikely to pass it, which leaves the crisis in the president’s hands. Donald Trump and his Republican Party minions have taken the immigration debate to sickening lows, with disgraceful animus toward Mexicans and Muslims. Mr. Obama has forcefully denounced such nativism. But he can add strength to his words by ensuring greater protection for those who arrived, defenseless, at the Southern border.

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Tug-of-Love: Immigrant Mom Loses Effort to Regain Son Given to US Parents

By BRIAN ROSS

ANGELA M. HILL / ABC NEWS

July 18, 2012 

In a controversial case that involved the rights of illegal immigrants and their young children, a Guatemalan mother lost her effort today to get back the five-year old son who was taken away from her after her arrest on immigration charges and put up for adoption in Missouri despite her objections.

A Missouri judge ruled the boy should stay with the Missouri couple, Melinda and Seth Moser, who took him into their home five years ago while his mother was in federal custody, where she attempted in vain to oppose the adoption proceedings.

"Nobody could help me because I don't speak English," said Encarnacion Bail Romero in an interview with ABC News.

The child, born as Carlos but renamed Jamison by the Mosers, has been with his adoptive parents in Carthage, Missouri since the age of 11 months.

The judge said the biological mother had no rights to even see her child, according to the mother's lawyer.

Asked if the Mosers would allow Bail Romero to see the child, the Mosers' attorney, Joseph Hensley, said the couple was "not willing to comment on that at this time.”

'We're extremely happy about the decision," said Hensley, who also noted that the decision "really puts the biological mom in a difficult decision in terms of staying in this country.”

The ruling today reaffirmed the original decision by another Missouri judge who terminated the parental rights of Bail Romero, stating that "illegally smuggling herself into the country is not a lifestyle that can provide any stability for the child.”

The Missouri Supreme Court called the initial decision a "travesty of justice" and ordered a review of the case by a second judge.

Appearing outside the courtroom with tears in her eyes, the biological mother declined to comment.

Her lawyer, Curtis Woods, said he would appeal the decision of the judge who he said ruled Encarnacion Bail Romero's parental rights had been terminated because she had abandoned him while she was incarcerated.

"I am very disappointed in the decision," said Woods.

The judge handed down the decision in a courtroom closed to all but the parties involved and their lawyers. There was no translator provided by the court today for the Guatemalan woman, who speaks only a little English.

The ruling allows the formal adoption proceedings by the Mosers to proceed.

The Mosers left the court without speaking to reporters, but they had previously argued in court that they could best provide for the boy and that they were the only parents that he knew.

"I could not love him more, had he come out of me physically," Melinda Moser said in an earlier interview.

The biological mother was arrested in 2007 on an immigration raid at a chicken processing plant in Missouri and has not seen her son since.

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Stolen Babies? Immigrant Mother Loses Four Kids

By LAUREN GILGER, 

CHARLES GORRA

BRIAN ROSS / ABC NEWS

Feb. 2, 2012 

The scars of childbirth were still healing on Amelia Reyes Jimenez's stomach in 2008 when police came to her Phoenix apartment and took her three-month-old daughter from her arms.

Three and a half years later, Reyes Jimenez and her four children have become statistics in the U.S. crackdown on illegal immigration. Each year thousands of children of undocumented immigrants, like Amelia's kids, wind up in foster care when their parents are arrested for immigration violations. Some are even adopted by U.S. citizens while their parents are held in federal detention centers or deported back to their native countries.

Reyes Jimenez's son and three daughters are now living in foster care in Phoenix, and are awaiting possible adoption. Reyes Jimenez is back in Mexico, her parental rights terminated by an Arizona judge, and she cries when she remembers the raid that began it all.

"My daughters were calling, 'Mommy, my Mommy,'" said Reyes Jimenez. "I felt destroyed. I felt like I would never see my girls, even worse [the baby] was so small. I had just bought her cradle and her stroller."

A new study by the human rights group Applied Research Center estimates that as of summer 2011 there were at least 5,100 children of detained immigrants in foster care in 22 states.

"It's clearly a systemic problem," said Rinku Sen, executive director of ARC. "It happens again and again and again in multiple states, multiple counties, different ICE agents, different detention centers, different judges." Though the report did not say how many kids had been adopted, ARC did find that detained parents were at risk of permanent separation from their kids because of deportation.

"It's sort of like saying, okay, you came here as an undocumented immigrant, we're going to break up your family, we're going to keep your kids," said John De Leon, and attorney who represents the Guatemalan and Mexican consulate in immigration cases. He says he has seen the issue grow into a national problem over the last decade.

The police came for Amelia Reyes Jimenez in 2008 to arrest her for one count of child endangerment, a misdemeanor, because she had left her 13-year-old son Cesar, who is severely disabled, alone in her apartment. Jimenez says she thought that Cesar was with her two older daughters and their father, but he had taken the girls to the park and left Cesar home alone.

When she arrived home with baby daughter Erica in her arms, she found the police waiting.

"The only thing they asked was if I was illegal and whether or not I had my papers," she said. She told them she had no papers. She was handcuffed.

Reyes Jimenez was sent to a detention center an hour outside Phoenix. It would be six months before she had any contact with her children, and nearly two years before she would see them again in person.

"I didn't know anything about my girls; they didn't give me any reasons," she said. "I would ask about them and nobody would answer."

Reyes Jimenez, who pled guilty to the misdemeanor, then spent nearly two years fighting deportation. Ultimately, she was loaded onto a bus and dropped off in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico, just across the border.

"It's very sad, very horrible because you're living a life, and then you come here and it's very strange," she said. "I feel empty without my children."

'I Don't Think There's Any Salvaging This Case'

Since then, she has been living outside Guadalajara, Mexico, with her sister, working nights on a factory assembly line making cell phones. She sleeps a few hours each morning in a borrowed bed and then waits by the phone in the corner.

She has to be there, she says, in case her lawyer calls.

Long after her deportation, Reyes Jimenez continued to fight two cases in the United States -- one in immigration court and another in family court.

Reyes Jimenez's three daughters are U.S. citizens. Reyes Jimenez and her attorneys spent two years trying to convince an immigration judge that she qualified for a visa on account of the harm that would be done to her three U.S. citizen children if she were to be deported. They lost -- twice.

That case is now being appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but there is no trial date in sight and little chance of success, explained Nina Rabin, an attorney with the University of Arizona's Immigration Law and Policy Program who represents Reyes Jimenez.

"I don't think there's any salvaging this case," Rabin said.

"But, meanwhile, all of this took time," she said -- time during which the child welfare system had to make decisions about the children.

There are strict time-lines in place to ensure that children in foster care are placed in permanent homes sooner rather than later, said Rabin. If Reyes Jimenez hadn't been kept in detention for two years, Rabin believes, she would have had a much better chance of keeping her kids.

Rabin released a report last year titled "Disappearing Parents" that focuses on Amelia Reyes Jimenez's case. It details the way in which parents like Amelia can slip through the cracks between two huge bureaucracies: the child welfare system and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

There are no policies in place, she says, to coordinate between the two systems. Caseworkers don't know how to find a parent in detention. Parents in detention are rarely released to attend family court hearings. They would be better off in jail, according to Rabin, where caseworkers know how to find you, jail personnel know where to send you and parents can meet the strict time-lines laid out by the family court.

In order to be reunified with their children, most parents will be given a plan to follow. They need to attend parenting classes, court hearings and show an effort to be part of their children's lives to prove they are fit parents.

But the family court in Reyes Jimenez's case listed in the record that "no services [were] available, due to mother's incarceration," according to Rabin. In detention, she had no way of meeting any of the court's usual requirements, so the court didn't give her any to meet. And, soon enough, it was too late.

"It really puts parents in this terrible position of having to make a choice," said Rabin. "Do I fight my deportation and risk the clock ticking and facing termination of parental rights? Or do I take the deportation and try to fight from Mexico, or wherever I'm from, to get my child back?"

An Arizona court terminated Reyes Jimenez's parental rights in late 2011. The most recent publicly available information indicates that the children, who now no longer speak Spanish, are in foster homes and are in the process of being adopted. But Reyes Jimenez says she is determined to see her children again, to be their mother again.

"I'm not going to be satisfied until I'm back with them," she said.