Dear Supporter,

I was listening to the "foreign policy debate" while reading blogs and tweeting. Among people I follow there was a lot of interest in whether the drone war would come up. It was brought up by Mitt Romney, approvingly, and then not spoken to by Obama. People also hoped Guantanamo would come up; it didn't.

Some I followed thought the President's comment that the US military doesn't have horses and bayonets anymore quite clever. The fact that both candidates are such thorough proponents of "modern" warfare; not just drones, but nuclear subs, and deep surveillance as well as Special Forces and targeted killing, made it impossible for me to enjoy the wit at Romney's expense.

I am not voting for either of them, since many of you have asked. I am taking the advice on our postcard to speak and act in defense of people's rights against domestic political repression and mass incarceration; for a real end to U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and threats to bomb Iran.

Food for thought from worldcantwait.net:

Blood is Their Argument: The Real Campaign Trail by Chris Floyd
"...for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument?" -- Shakespeare, Henry V

Even as the presidential candidates meet in ersatz agon to spew their self-serving lies and scripted zingers in a "debate" on foreign policy, the real campaign -- the campaign of blood and bone, of death and terror, being waged in Pakistan by the American government -- goes on it all its horror.

Counting the Bodies in the Pakistani Drone Campaign by Alice K. Ross
The US government must release its estimates of how many people are being killed in CIA drone strikes, to end an over-reliance on often scanty media reports, a new study on drone casualties says.

Illusions, US imperialism and Islamic Fundamentalism by Emma Kaplan
I have been watching the coverage on Malala Yousafzai, a young girl who was targeted for assasination by the Taliban. If you are outraged by this, look at the situation in the world right now. You are fooling yourself if you think that that the U.S. does not have the blood of this young girl and millions of other children like her on their hands.

US Justice Likely Coming Soon to Benghazi with Extrajudicial Executions by Glenn Greenwald
Ever since the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, Obama officials, including the President himself, have been vowing that the perpetrators will be "brought to justice". That, of course, is typical American-speak for: "without any evidence presented or due process afforded, we will execute suspects by bombing them from the air, along with anyone who may have the misfortune of being in close proximity to them."

The trial of Jamel Mims, Carl Dix, Morgan Rhodewalt and World Can't Wait national office staffer Bob Parsons continues in Queens, NY into next week. We appreicate all the good wishes and THANKS for making so many phone calls to the Queens DA asking that the charges be dropped. This is the biggest political protest trial in Queens in decades, probably. You can get updates at stopmassincarceration.org

On Facing Two Years in Jail for Protesting Stop-and-Frisk by Jamel Mims
The stakes are undoubtedly high: this is the second stop-and-frisk protest mass trial resulting from the culminating action of the civil disobedience campaign that sparked citywide resistance to the policy.  The Queens District Attorney added a serious misdemeanor charge on us last month, and re-wrote our charges last week so that we're charged with 'acting in concert' rather than as individuals.  For less than ten minutes of protesting stop-and-frisk outside of the doors 103rd precinct, which houses the NYPD officers who put fifty shots into Sean Bell, I and 12 co-defendants find ourselves facing two years of jail time.  

Videotaping = Trespass? Chicago Man Faces Jail For Use Of iPhone by Jay Becker
Dr. Lisa Barr, journalist, lawyer, and media educator, wrote, “This is not just an Illinois issue. At a time when the funding mechanism for newspapers across the country is failing and newspapers are folding, we need freelance journalists more than ever to tell the stories that keep our communities whole in a democratic sense. Supporting Gregory Koger is supporting any journalist in any community.” Koger’s supporters see his prosecution as part of worldwide attempts to curtail the ability of dissenters and protesters to document their actions and police repression. “[F]rom Tunisia to Wall Street, political attacks on those who document these courageous acts are escalating,” their new statement maintains.

Debra Sweet, Director, The World Can't Wait

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