Is Dissent A Criminal Act? No Says DC Jury As It Acquits Six #J20 Inauguration Protesters

The first six of more than two hundred protesters from the J20 group arrested in DC on inauguration day have been acquitted.  

The J20 were charged with felony conspiracy and other ridiculous charges, and the group includes many journalists who were not protesting but were present doing their jobs.

Sarah Lazare of In These Times interviewed one of those acquitted, street medic Michelle "Meil" Macchio, who said:

Hopefully, through our dissent and this case, we can get the message out that we will not stand by and let this happen. We will continue to resist and build our movement. 

I hope people are paying attention to the ongoing Standing Rock cases. While we were in trial, a number of undocumented folks were arrested for standing up to protect DACA after launching a hunger strike.

I noticed the term "trial family" in Maccio's description of the solidarity she experienced. And it made me remember how much I love my Aegis 9 trial family (ok, one of them is my husband) and supporters. Our trial for protesting at General Dynamics begins on January 4, 2018 in West Bath District Court. If you're in Maine, we would love to have your support.

Maccio's account of outside support for the J20 reminded me how important it is for us to support Aegis 9 family member Jessica Stewart who, along with Ridgely Fuller and Sharon Dean, were arrested for refusing to leave Senator Susan Collin's office in Bangor on Monday over her vote for the tax scam.

Happy solstice. Be of good cheer! We are all in this together.

DREAM workhorse for military funding??

I see where the DREAM act has become attached to the FY11 "defense" funding bill in the senate.

Just like the congress had education funding attached to the last war supplemental funding bill a few months ago. So orgs like my union could send out bulletins pushing members to call their rep or senator urging passage of the bill. Many members click without knowing much about the piece of legislation and certainly without being told that they are urging passage of the largest "defense" funding bill in history. Deception is a complicated game.

Respecting the educational needs of young undocumented immigrants is the aim of DREAM and this is a wonderful goal, but it's a tiny part of all that doesn't work about our immigration policies.

It makes me sick when ideals -- like not interrupting the education of undocumented youth -- are twisted for the profit of death dealers. But this is what our country has become.

And under DREAM service in the military would be equivalent to education as a path to citizenship.

I remember the fact that immigrants are offered a path to citizenship by enlisting came to light during the Winter Soldier hearings. We were in a local cafe screening the hearings and the young hometown waitresses were amazed by that fact.

DREAM is already a band-aid applied to a gaping wound and doesn't need this odious association to further weaken it. Real immigration reform is one of the many things that were supposed to change. Challenging AZ over SB1070 was a good gesture, but delivery on real change would have meant fixing large portions of the dysfunction of U.S. immigration policies.

Now immigration is brought in as a workhorse as congress labors to pass two war bills each year. One bill is hardly behind us before another bills begins the dark dance of committees and cloture and arcane rules. The chief executive of the nation renews the national "emergency" caused by 9/11. A constant state of war requires a constant flow of (borrowed to be paid back later) dollars gushing forth from our taxes and other revenues.

Private corporations are mercenaries paid for by public funds. Knowing this does not make me feel safer at all.