Big Apple Coffee Party

Trump prosecutors move to ensure Embassy Protectors are convicted!

Support Venezuela Embassy Protectors! Friday, January 24, 2020, 7:00-9:00 pm at The People’s Forum, 320 West 37th Street, NYC.

This event is being hosted by the Embassy Protectors Defense Committee. Please contribute what you can to the Defense Committee. Suggested contribution is $10-$20, but no one will be turned away.

Kevin Zeese, Margaret Flowers, Adrienne Pine and David Paul, the four arrested Embassy Protectors will be at The People’s Forum as part of a speaking and fundraising tour. Join Big Apple Coffee Party in their support.

U.S. imposed economic sanctions kill and are a form of warfare which punishes civilian populations. Thus, Big Apple Coffee Party considers economic sanctions a crime against humanity and has adopted the following resolution with the determination to end all economic sanctions.

24. In Support of An End to All United States Imposed Economic Sanctions

WHEREAS, sanctions are imposed by the United States and its collaborators against countries that resist U.S. regime change efforts and/or neoliberal agendas, and

WHEREAS, in every U.S. imposed sanctioned country, the most vulnerable—infants, children, the chronically ill and the elderly—suffer the worst impact of this economic warfare, and

WHEREAS, U.S. imposed sanctions are economic warfare, create severe economic disruption and chaotic hyperinflation, result in chronic shortages of basic human necessities, lead to famine, disease, and poverty, and

WHEREAS, U.S. imposed sanctions are a crime against humanity, currently impacting 39 countries—a third of humanity—and are in violation of international law, and

WHEREAS, U.S. imposed sanctions, as deadly as military intervention, are often used to topple autonomous and democratically elected governments by undermining successful social programs that improve health, nutrition and education, by blocking access to fuel, raw materials and replacement parts interfering with the functioning of critical infrastructure i.e. electrical grids, water treatment and distribution facilities and hospitals, while lending false credulity to the slander against popular leaders and social movements, and

WHEREAS, the U.S. uses its economic and military influence to force other nations to end established financial and trade relations with the targeted country or risk retribution. According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in 2019, U.S. sanction violations have resulted in civil penalties imposed by the U.S. exceeding $1.28 billion. Additionally, violators of U.S. sponsored sanctions are subject to U.S. criminal charges, and

WHEREAS, the banks and financial institutions, responsible for the devastation of our communities at home derive benefit from the plunder of countries abroad, when asset freezes and property seizures, create massive redistribution of public wealth from these sovereign countries into the accounts of U.S. banks and financial institutions, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that Big Apple Coffee Party will work along with SanctionsKill.org and other allies to end all United States imposed economic sanctions.

Join us Tuesday, January 14, at 6:00 pm for our next Big Apple Coffee Party general meeting. Please RSVP to this notice, and we will send the location of the meeting at a member’s home on the Upper West Side.

Agenda:

Report from the Julian Assange Committee

Discussion and vote for the proposed Sanctions Resolution

January 24, 2020, BACP-supported event for the Venezuela Embassy Protectorsat People’s Forum

BACP participation with NYC Free Assange in February 24, 2020 Global Protests in Support of Julian Assange on the first day of the Extradition Hearings in UK

Latest developments re Iran

And more…

 We look forward to seeing you at our meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Please RSVP to let us know if you can or cannot attend.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 28 2020 at a member’s home.

This is the first in a series of commentaries from Big Apple Coffee Party members on subjects of interest.

OPINION BY ALAN BAILY

You have been hearing Pompeo, and other members of the Trump administration, use the word “imminent” to describe actions by Iran to the US but their use of the word has a very specific meaning that may be at odds with most people’s use of the word. As Craig Murray writes in the attached article, the Bethlehem Doctrine has been used by the Trump administration to justify actions such as the assassination of General Soleimani. Craig Murray was British ambassador to Uzbekistan from August 2002 to October 2004.

 https://consortiumnews.com/2020/01/09/lies-the-bethlehem-doctrine-the-illegal-murder-of-soleimani/

Big Apple Coffee Party Supports:

Mental Health Justice for NYC Community Event

An Afternoon of Learning and Action

• Keep Allen Psych Open
 • Expand Mental Health Services City-Wide
• Stop Sending NYPD to Mental Health Crisis Calls

Monday, January 20, 2020 2pm – 5pm 
St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church
146 W. 228^th Street, Bronx, NY
(#1 Train to 225^th Street) For more information: northbronxracialjustice@gmail.com

Our next Big Apple Coffee Party meeting will be Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at a member’s home.

Big Apple Coffee Party along with NYC Free Assange is moving the Vigil to Free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning Thursday, January 2, 2020 from the New York Times Building to Grand Central Terminal, located at 42^nd Street and Park Avenue from 4:30-5:30PM. We will meet in the Main Concourse of the Terminal at the Information Booth Clock. We will be distributing flyers and holding our signs calling for the freedom of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. Be there!

Although Amazon seems to be the prime offender, (no pun intended) lack of antitrust enforcement goes back to the 1970s with the implementation of the Consumer Welfare Standard put forth by Robert Bork. Simply, the Consumer Welfare Standard states that regulators and courts should pursue consumer welfare and economic efficiency as the main criterion to look to when evaluating a merger or alleged anticompetitive behavior. The consequence is that other entities such as local businesses and the communities that they reside in are of little concern. Also, with the recent creation of tech platforms such as Amazon, businesses, mostly small, have no protection from the creator of the platform also acting as a business competitor on the platform. This is an incredible asymmetry of power that regulation has not rectified. More enforcement of existing antitrust regulation needs to be implemented and, if necessary, new regulations and legislation need to be created to level the playing field on the new tech platforms. To these ends, Big Apple Coffee Party has adopted the following resolution at the December 17, 2019 general meeting:

23. In Support of Greater Antitrust Enforcement Against Monopoly Power

WHEREAS, the basis for antitrust enforcement is more than just the adherence to the outmoded “Consumer Welfare Standard” (if the consumer benefits, there can’t be any antitrust issues), so that the community benefits of small business can be better recognized and protected, and

WHEREAS, there should be a review of the tech platforms and their effect on competition, barriers to entry, privacy, and market concentration, and

WHEREAS, because of the lack of antitrust enforcement, the number of new (small) business formations has been seriously reduced that leads to lack of competition, reduction in product quality, variety and innovation, and

WHEREAS, there should be a clearer and more expansive approach and guidelines to the review of mergers and acquisitions that includes the effect on consumer prices, promotion of greater competition, and concentration of economic power, and stronger enforcement of existing antitrust regulations, therefore be it

Resolved, Big Apple Coffee Party will work, along with allies, to support the greater use of existing antitrust laws and regulations and, if necessary, the creation of news laws and regulations to maintain a proper balance within the market structure of commercial enterprises.

We  are still getting great responses to PROPAGANDA: How Propaganda Manufactures Consent presented at Community Church on November 19, by people who either attended in person or watched the video. Over 350 people had the opportunity to see panelists Max Blumenthal, Margaret Kimberley, and Aaron Maté with moderator Lee Camp deliver exciting and provocative presentations on various aspects of how propaganda is pervasive in our society today. Over 1800 people have watched the video online. You can watch the entire forum here.

Some people decided to come to their first general meeting of BACP based on their positive response to the December 19 event. We were happy to see them, and we hope that trend continues.  

Join us Tuesday, December 17, at 6:00 pm for our next Big Apple Coffee Party general meeting. Please RSVP to this notice, and we will send the location of the meeting at a member’s home on the Upper West Side.

 We will discuss developments in the efforts to free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. We will continue to follow up on the issues of U.S. sanctions, climate crisis, NYCHA housing,the privatization of the Postal Service, and the growing threat of war.

The next Vigil to Free Julian Assange & Chelsea Manning will be Thursday, Dec. 19, at The New York Times Building, 8th Avenue @ 40 Street, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm. (Please support NYC Free Assange by “liking” our FB page here.)

We look forward to seeing you at our meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 17. This will be the last BACP meeting of 2019. Please RSVP to let us know if you can or cannot attend.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, January 14, 2020 at a member’s home.

Max Blumenthal, one of the featured presenters at Big Apple Party’s PROPAGANDA: How Propaganda Manufactures Consent on November 19, 2019, had false charges of “simple assault” against him dropped by the US Government. Journalist Max Blumenthal, who had been arrested on a 5-month-old warrant and jailed for nearly two days on trumped up charges, was exonerated when the U.S. Government dropped the bogus charges against him.

“The Grayzone has learned that Secret Service call logs recorded during the alleged incident were either not kept or destroyed. The mysteriously missing evidence included print documents and radio recordings that may have exposed collusion between Secret Service officers operating under the auspices of the US State Department and violent right-wing hooligans in an operation to besiege peace activists stationed inside Venezuela’s embassy in Washington, DC.”

As reported in “US Government drops case against Max Blumenthal after jailing journalist on false charges” by Ben Norton, The Grazyzone, December 7, 2019, “Blumenthal, who is the editor of The Grayzone, was arrested at his home on October 25 by a team of DC cops who had threatened to break down his door. He later learned that he was listed in his arrest warrant as “armed and dangerous.” a rare and completely unfounded designation that placed Blumenthal at risk of severe harm by the police.”

Norton continues, “The government’s case rested entirely on a false accusation by a right-wing Venezuelan opposition activist, Naylet Pacheco, that Blumenthal and Benjamin Rubinstein had assaulted her while they were delivering food to Venezuela’s embassy in Washington, DC in the early morning on May 8. (Rubinstein is the brother of journalist and Grayzone contributor Alexander Rubinstein who was reporting from inside the embassy at the time.)”

The Grayzone has reported extensively on the corruption of coup leader Juan Guaido, whom Washington recognizes as “interim president” of Venezuela, as well as the scandals plaguing Guaidó’s “ambassador” to the United States, Carolo Vecchio.

We had a great turnout for PROPAGANDA: How Propaganda Manufactures Consent at Community Church on November 19.  Over 350 people had the opportunity to see panelists Max Blumenthal, Margaret Kimberley, and Aaron Maté with moderator Lee Camp deliver exciting and provocative presentations on various aspects of how propaganda is pervasive in our society today. If you weren’t lucky enough to be there, you can watch the entire forum by clicking the logo on the right.

Join us Tuesday, December 3, at 6:00 pm for our next Big Apple Coffee Party general meeting. Please RSVP to this notice, and we will send the location of the meeting at a member’s home on the Upper West Side.

We will do an analysis of the impact of the November 19th event and discuss developments in the efforts to free Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning. We continue to follow up on the issues of U.S. sanctions, climate crisis, NYCHA housing, privatization of the Postal Service, and the growing threat of war.

The Thursday Vigils to Free Julian Assange & Chelsea Manning continue after our Thanksgiving break. The next vigil will be Thursday, Dec. 5, at The New York Times Building, 8th Avenue @ 40 Street, 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm.  are growing as is the visibility and support of NYC Free Assange. (Please support NYC Free Assange by “liking” our FB page here.)

We look forward to seeing you at our meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 3. Please RSVP to let us know if you can or cannot attend.

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, December 17, at a member’s home.