Watershed to Watershed: Lessons from the Back Forty Mine Resistance

Tuesday, May 4, 2021 at 7 PM CDT

Duluth for Clean Water invites you to a discussion with organizers resisting the Back Forty Mine, a sulfide ore project proposed on the bank of the Menominee River. The coordinated efforts of this group recently resulted in the denial of the project's Wetland Permit. We can learn from their success. Registration link below!

Peace Action WI presents:

People Over the Pentagon- Cutting the Defense Budget

Thursday, May 13, 2021 at 7 pm CT 

Watch the Code Pink Webinar with Cong. Reps. Mark Pocan and Barbara Lee.

We will follow with a discussion on the problem of egregious military spending. We will include information from the War Resisters League and the National Priorities Project.

WASHINGTON, D.C. On Mar, 16, 2021, co-chairs of the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus, Reps Barbara Lee (D-CA), Mark Pocan (D-WI) and Marine veteran Rep Jake Auchincloss (D-MA9), led a letter of 50 colleagues to President Biden urging him to decrease the Pentagon’s budget by at least 10% in his forthcoming proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2022. Under Donald Trump, the defense budget ballooned to $740 billion—a more than 20% increase during his tenure. Over 535,000 Americans have lost their lives to COVID-19. Last year’s NDAA authorized $738 billion in defense spending for FY20, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) got 1/90th of that: less than $8 billion.

“We are facing a crisis in this country and billions of dollars in defense spending increases won’t solve it,” said Congressman Pocan. “Year after year, we see taxpayer dollars line the pocket of defense contractors instead of supporting the American public. The enemy we’re fighting right now is COVID-19, so our sole focus should be on expanding testing, tracing and treatment, funding towards vaccine development, and relief for the American people.

 “As we face a global pandemic and unprecedented economic crisis, the needs of American families far outweigh the need to continue feeding our bloated military defense budget.  Now is the time to show the American people that the Biden-Harris administration prioritizes their health, housing, education, and jobs over billions more towards forever wars abroad.” said Rep. Lee.

In 2020, an amendment to the NDAA was introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Senate that would save $74 billion, which is more than the total budgets of the CDC, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Park Service and the Department of Housing and Urban Development combined. And in a new poll from Data for Progress, 57 percent of people said they would support cutting the defense budget by 10 percent and reallocating the funds to the CDC and other domestic needs.

Sponsored by Peace Action WI, peaceactionwi.or

Julie Enslow presenting Sue with an Award of Appreciation from Peace Action WI

Check this compilation of Sue Ruggles' photos and videos of Peace Action WI 

https://www.peaceactionwi.org/photos 

Harvey Taylor

Friends, my video in partnership with Susan Ruggles, 'The Dove Of Peace':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okCfNjj81eI

You can access all my videos on my website:
http://harveytaylor.net/videos.html?fbclid=IwAR3UkStrIB1-EDyxyUvm3Nnc9RPWDPLjgs7-ZMMdX5ewzKs9_8tBmYbDUI0

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Reduce Pentagon Spending! Veterans For Peace is outraged that President Biden’s budget released this week INCREASES Pentagon spending. This is unacceptable. It is far past time for the U.S. budget to reduce a over-inflated Pentagon spending . This budget does not reflect the overwhelming majority of public opinion that supports re-prioritizing military spending towards programs that benefit regular people and their families. In the post-9/11 years alone, the United States has spent $6.4 trillion dollars on warfighting and the maintenance of a needless and ill-advised overseas presence.  Considering that the Pentagon has returned $80 billion that it could not spend in recent years and could not pass its first two financial audits, a reduction seems like a reasonable proposition, to say the least. As military veterans from WWII to the current era of conflicts, who have trained for, and in many cases, fought in U.S. wars, we know that endless wars, failed weapons and the Pentagon’s corporate handouts do nothing to make us safe. Can you take action today and let President Biden know that veterans want a budget that reflects HUMAN NEEDS and not more overinflated military spending?

Ro Khanna, CA, with Mark Pocan-WI, Call on Pres Biden to End the Saudi Blockade

Washington, DC – Today, Res. Ro Khanna (CA-17), Debbie Dingell (MI-12), and Mark Pocan (WI-02) led 76 of their colleagues in calling for the Biden Administration to publicly increase pressure on Saudi Arabia to lift the blockade on Yemen immediately, unilaterally, and comprehensively.

The blockade has been a leading driver of Yemen’s humanitarian catastrophe since 2015 and has contributed to shortages of fuel, affordable food, clean water, electricity and transportation. The World Food Programme projects 400,000 Yemeni children under the age of 5 could die from acute malnutrition this year as the Saudi-led war and blockade continues.

“We ask you to take additional steps to publicly pressure Saudi Arabia to lift this blockade immediately, unilaterally, and comprehensively,” the lawmakers wrote. “This must include guaranteeing that humanitarian and commercial imports can freely enter Yemen; entrusting security oversight to the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM); fully permitting flights in and out of Sana’a airport; and ensuring that and crossings for commercial and civilian traffic are permanently opened.”

The lawmakers continued, “Every day that we wait for these issues to be resolved in negotiations is another day that pushes more children to the brink of death…We strongly support a comprehensive political settlement that addresses all aspects of the conflict, including a nationwide ceasefire, currency stabilization, and payment of government salaries. At the same time, a U.S demand to end the blockade must occur independently of negotiations, particularly given that recent Saudi bombings of Sana’a and the Houthis’ offensive on Marib have cast the fate of those talks into doubt.”

The letter has been endorsed by the following organizations: Friends Committee on National Legislation, Just Foreign Policy, Demand Progress, Win Without War, Peace Action, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, Freedom Forward, Democracy for the Arab World Now, Yemeni Alliance Committee, Action Corps.

• TAKE ACTION to end the blockade NOW (FCNL)

  End the U.S.-Backed Saudi Blockade of Yemen

  President Biden must pressure Saudi Arabia to end its blockade on Yemen. Urge your members of Congress to join this important letter

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Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice