Category: political struggle
Ethics Explorer: Greg Abbott | The Texas Tribune
| March 3, 2018 | 8:20 pm | Local/State, political struggle | Comments closed

Governor Greg Abbott (R)

IndustryLawyer, State Government

EducationB.B.A., University of Texas at Austin; J.D., Vanderbilt University Law School

Spouse Cecilia

Financial Statements

20152014201320122011201020092008 (amended)200820072006 (amended)20062005200420032002200120001999199819971996199519941993

Tax Returns

201520142013201220112010

Sources of Income

  • In 1984, when he was 26, Abbott was struck by a falling tree limb while jogging and was partially paralyzed, requiring the use of a wheelchair. He sued the owner of the Houston property where the tree fell and won a tax-free settlement; a Houston plaintiff’s lawyer told the San Antonio Express-News in 2002 that it was more than $10 million.
  • He was appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by then-Gov. George W. Bush in 1995.
  • He was first elected attorney general in 2002, and was the longest-serving attorney general in state history before being elected governor in 2014.
  • His wife, Cecilia, serves on the board of directors for the University of St. Thomas, St. Gabriel’s Catholic School and Huston-Tillotson University, and is an honorary member on the board of the Capitol of Texas Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
  • Abbott has earned income from West Services, a legal publisher, as the co-author of Texas Practice Guide: Business and Commercial Litigation.
  • Abbott owns over 10,000 shares of mutual funds with Fidelity Municipal Money Market Fund.

Property

  • His private residence has been held as confidential by the Travis County Appraisal District (meaning it is not listed by the appraisal district, as is often the case with prosecutors and law enforcement). It was last valued in 2012 by the district at $895,500. The homes on either side of Abbott’s range from $1.3 million to $2 million in value.

Analysis

  • Abbott, who settled a personal injury suit after the accident that paralyzed him, has championed tort reform, something his opponents in past attorney general campaigns have argued presents a conflict. Abbott has argued that the legal remedies available to him at the time are still available to plaintiffs today.
  • Abbott has never been required to disclose how the money in his lawsuit settlement is invested. A spokeswoman told The Texas Tribune that “Abbott fully complies with all financial reporting requirements including the listing of investments on his annual personal financial statements.”
  • In 2006, the Dallas television station WFAA-TV reported that Abbott’s campaign commercials used video footage obtained by his office using taxpayer dollars. Abbott’s campaign director defended the use of the material, telling The Associated Press that anyone can obtain the footage through an open records request.
  • As Texas neared the end of a decade-long legal fight over homeowner’ insurance rates with Farmers Insurance Group in 2013, the company’s employees PAC gave $50,000 to Abbott’s gubernatorial campaign. At the time, Abbott was the top lawyer in the state’s case against the company. Abbott’s campaign told The Texas Tribune that he did not treat donors differently when it came to applying the law and that accepting the campaign money was not a conflict of interest.
  • During Abbott’s gubernatorial campaign, the Houston Chronicle and the San Antonio Express-News reported that Abbott, who signs off on Texas bond deals as attorney general, received more than $200,000 in campaign donations over the course of two years from the political branches of law firms serving as bond counsel. Abbott’s staff said the AG’s role in bond approval amounted to “a strictly legal review.”
  • The state’s consumer protection division, working under Abbott, started to pursue a lawsuit against Donald Trump’s Trump University in 2010 — but instead dropped the case when the university agreed to stop operating in Texas. A few years later, Abbott received $35,000 in campaign contributions from Trump. Critics claimed the decision to drop the suit was political. Abbott’s office said that was absurd, and noted that the donations came years after Texas forced Trump U out of the state.
  • After a Church of Scientology-backed group helped organize a campaign against it, Abbott vetoed legislation in 2015 that would have given Texas doctors more power to detain mentally ill and potentially dangerous patients. In his veto statement, Abbott said he objected to the bill because it raised serious constitutional concerns and that medical facilities already had options to protect the mentally ill and the public.
  • Abbott was a member of the oversight committee for the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, which came under investigation in 2013 for awarding a substantial grant without going through the appropriate review process. Abbott had never attended a meeting and sent a substitute in his stead.

https://www.texastribune.org/bidness/explore/greg-abbott/

Data current as of Aug. 2, 2016

  • © 2018 The Texas Tribune
Dan Patrick mental health detailed in court depositions
| March 2, 2018 | 8:14 pm | Local/State, Political Pandemonium, political struggle | Comments closed
http://abc13.com/politics/dan-patrick-mental-health-records-leaked-in-last-days-of-lt-govs-race/63863/

Dan Patrick, the front-runner in what has been a brutal GOP runoff for Texas Lieutenant Governor, spent time in psychiatric hospitals in the 1980s, according to court records released to ABC-13.

Patrick’s campaign late Thursday confirmed he “sought medical attention to help him cope with mild depression and exhaustion.” The campaign also accused Patrick’s opponent in the runoff, incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of being behind the release of the records.

Dewhurst has hit a “new low,” Patrick said, responding in a statement released late Friday.

The information about Patrick’s medical past was unearthed in a 1989 deposition from when Patrick, a former Houston sportscaster and restaurant owner, was suing a columnist for the now-closed newspaper, the Houston Post.

Patrick told attorneys in the deposition that he started seeing a psychologist in the early 1980s because he was “tired, fatigued, stressed out.”

ABC-13 also obtained records late Friday detailing Patrick’s hospital stays that appear to indicate he suffered from “acute anxiety” had “major depression” and at one point needed “sitters around the clock.”

One of those records is from a 1984 hospital stay shows a medical official’s notes quoting Patrick as saying, “Last night I did a foolish thing. I attempted suicide.”

“As I have said, I voluntarily entered the hospital twice in the 1980’s for exhaustion and to seek treatment for depression,” Patrick said in a statement late Friday. “Some of prescribed medications exacerbated my condition and created more serious problems. Through prayer and with the help of my family and physician, like millions of other American, I was able to defeat depression. I have not seen a doctor or taken any medication to treat depression in nearly 30 years…

“I am ready to serve.”

In 1982 Patrick was admitted to a short stay in Memorial City Hospital for what he called “rest, fatigue, exhaustion,” according to the deposition. He also said it was around this time that he started taking a common antidepressant medication.

In 1984, Patrick was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen, a substance abuse and psychiatric center. He said he didn’t recall psychiatric treatment there. Instead, he testified that he “Slept, basically for two weeks.”

Notes from that stay, though say that “The patient was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen after attempting suicide by overdosing and superficially slitting his wrist.”

The Patrick camp also released late Thursday a clean bill of mental health from Dr. Stephen Kramer, the psychologist who treated Patrick.

Patrick “was a patient of mine in the mid-1980s,” Kramer wrote in a 2011 letter. “He entered the hospital on a voluntary basis for the treatment of depression. The symptoms of depression decreased within a short period of time and he was discharged.”

Patrick is a Tea-Party favorite and a current state senator. Dewhurst has been lieutenant governor since 2003. Patrick bested Dewhurst in a four-candidate GOP primary in March: Patrick captured 41 percent of the vote to Dewhurst’s 28 percent.

The court documents about Patrick’s mental health past were provided to a small group of Texas media by Jerry Patterson, Texas’ land commissioner who was an unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for lieutenant governor and who now backs Dewhurst.

The Austin-based Texas Tribune reported Friday on an email some political reporters received from Patterson that suggested Dewhurst’s campaign at least knew about Patterson’s email dump to the media. Patterson denies coordinating with the Dewhurst campaign.

“Dewhurst has asked me to cease distribution of this information,” said Patterson. “He also asked me not to run against him for Lt. Gov. I didn’t really give a damn what David wanted then, and I don’t give a damn now. The voters of Texas need to know.”

Dewhurst’s campaign responded late Friday with the following statement:

    “Commissioner Jerry Patterson operates completely independently of my Campaign, and over my objections he chose to release information from Mr. Paul Harasim’s files, which are all part of the public domain. My heart goes out to Dan Patrick and his family for what they’ve endured while coping with this situation.”

Patrick did not appear to believe Dewhurst’s sincerity.

“The public response has been overwhelming,” Patrick said. “Dewhurst has been roundly criticized from all corners. On the other hand, I have received a flood of new support and encouragement – much from those Texans who have suffered from depression or had it touch their families or loved ones.

“Dewhurst started the day denying any involvement in the release of my medical records. His hapless surrogate, Jerry Patterson, removed all doubt in an afternoon email misfire where he clearly stated that it was Dewhurst’s idea. Dewhurst now tries to deny any connection to Patterson while just days ago his campaign produced a video of Patterson cleaning his guns and defaming me.

The leak also comes on the cusp of early voting for the runoff. Early voting begins May 19. Runoff Election Day is May 27.

Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist, said the attack on Patrick my backfire.

“If anything, it’s likely to generate sympathy for someone who generally doesn’t elicit a lot of sympathy from voters,” Jones said. “Dan Patrick is seen as something of a hard, sometimes less than straightforward guy… now you’re effectively making him a sympathetic figure.”

Dr. Richard Pesikoff with the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Psychology said that while much of the stigma of mental illness and depression has been erased in recent years, it still is a confusing issue to many.

“The whole issue of mental illness is in a dark corner for some segments of the population,” he said.

Pesikoff also said that mental illness has a particular blemish for some when it comes to politics. He recalled Thomas Eagleton who, in 1972, was briefly George McGovern’s vice-presidential pick. He was asked to withdraw by the McGovern campaign after it was revealed that Eagleton was hospitalized three times for physical and nervous exhaustion.

“Eagleton got a really bad reception when he talked about his psych treatment,” Pesikoff said.

Pesikoff also pointed out that many in the U.S. and Texas have suffered from depression or mental illness.

Indeed, a 2012 National Institute of Mental Health survey shows that 18.6 percent of the country’s population has suffered from some sort of mental illness.

Political scientist Jones thinks that this latest bombshell may be a dud, like some others from the Dewhurst camp.

“David Dewhurst seems to be stuck in the eighties,” Jones said. “Every attack ad is focused on ‘Dan Patrick didn’t pay his taxes in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick hired undocumented immigrants in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick went into bankruptcy in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick had a mental health crises in the eighties.’

“Well, it’s 2014. That was like 30 years ago.”

Producer: Trent Seibert

Dan Patrick mental health detailed in court depositions

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Patrick blames opponent David Dewhurst for leak of mental health records, says Dewhurst ‘oozing sleaze.’

Dan Patrick, the front-runner in what has been a brutal GOP runoff for Texas Lieutenant Governor, spent time in psychiatric hospitals in the 1980s, according to court records released to ABC-13.

Patrick’s campaign late Thursday confirmed he “sought medical attention to help him cope with mild depression and exhaustion.” The campaign also accused Patrick’s opponent in the runoff, incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of being behind the release of the records.

Dewhurst has hit a “new low,” Patrick said, responding in a statement released late Friday.

The information about Patrick’s medical past was unearthed in a 1989 deposition from when Patrick, a former Houston sportscaster and restaurant owner, was suing a columnist for the now-closed newspaper, the Houston Post.

Patrick told attorneys in the deposition that he started seeing a psychologist in the early 1980s because he was “tired, fatigued, stressed out.”

ABC-13 also obtained records late Friday detailing Patrick’s hospital stays that appear to indicate he suffered from “acute anxiety” had “major depression” and at one point needed “sitters around the clock.”

One of those records is from a 1984 hospital stay shows a medical official’s notes quoting Patrick as saying, “Last night I did a foolish thing. I attempted suicide.”

“As I have said, I voluntarily entered the hospital twice in the 1980’s for exhaustion and to seek treatment for depression,” Patrick said in a statement late Friday. “Some of prescribed medications exacerbated my condition and created more serious problems. Through prayer and with the help of my family and physician, like millions of other American, I was able to defeat depression. I have not seen a doctor or taken any medication to treat depression in nearly 30 years…

“I am ready to serve.”

In 1982 Patrick was admitted to a short stay in Memorial City Hospital for what he called “rest, fatigue, exhaustion,” according to the deposition. He also said it was around this time that he started taking a common antidepressant medication.

In 1984, Patrick was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen, a substance abuse and psychiatric center. He said he didn’t recall psychiatric treatment there. Instead, he testified that he “Slept, basically for two weeks.”

Notes from that stay, though say that “The patient was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen after attempting suicide by overdosing and superficially slitting his wrist.”

The Patrick camp also released late Thursday a clean bill of mental health from Dr. Stephen Kramer, the psychologist who treated Patrick.

Patrick “was a patient of mine in the mid-1980s,” Kramer wrote in a 2011 letter. “He entered the hospital on a voluntary basis for the treatment of depression. The symptoms of depression decreased within a short period of time and he was discharged.”

Patrick is a Tea-Party favorite and a current state senator. Dewhurst has been lieutenant governor since 2003. Patrick bested Dewhurst in a four-candidate GOP primary in March: Patrick captured 41 percent of the vote to Dewhurst’s 28 percent.

The court documents about Patrick’s mental health past were provided to a small group of Texas media by Jerry Patterson, Texas’ land commissioner who was an unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for lieutenant governor and who now backs Dewhurst.

The Austin-based Texas Tribune reported Friday on an email some political reporters received from Patterson that suggested Dewhurst’s campaign at least knew about Patterson’s email dump to the media. Patterson denies coordinating with the Dewhurst campaign.

“Dewhurst has asked me to cease distribution of this information,” said Patterson. “He also asked me not to run against him for Lt. Gov. I didn’t really give a damn what David wanted then, and I don’t give a damn now. The voters of Texas need to know.”

Dewhurst’s campaign responded late Friday with the following statement:

    “Commissioner Jerry Patterson operates completely independently of my Campaign, and over my objections he chose to release information from Mr. Paul Harasim’s files, which are all part of the public domain. My heart goes out to Dan Patrick and his family for what they’ve endured while coping with this situation.”

Patrick did not appear to believe Dewhurst’s sincerity.

“The public response has been overwhelming,” Patrick said. “Dewhurst has been roundly criticized from all corners. On the other hand, I have received a flood of new support and encouragement – much from those Texans who have suffered from depression or had it touch their families or loved ones.

“Dewhurst started the day denying any involvement in the release of my medical records. His hapless surrogate, Jerry Patterson, removed all doubt in an afternoon email misfire where he clearly stated that it was Dewhurst’s idea. Dewhurst now tries to deny any connection to Patterson while just days ago his campaign produced a video of Patterson cleaning his guns and defaming me.

The leak also comes on the cusp of early voting for the runoff. Early voting begins May 19. Runoff Election Day is May 27.

Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist, said the attack on Patrick my backfire.

“If anything, it’s likely to generate sympathy for someone who generally doesn’t elicit a lot of sympathy from voters,” Jones said. “Dan Patrick is seen as something of a hard, sometimes less than straightforward guy… now you’re effectively making him a sympathetic figure.”

Dr. Richard Pesikoff with the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Psychology said that while much of the stigma of mental illness and depression has been erased in recent years, it still is a confusing issue to many.

“The whole issue of mental illness is in a dark corner for some segments of the population,” he said.

Pesikoff also said that mental illness has a particular blemish for some when it comes to politics. He recalled Thomas Eagleton who, in 1972, was briefly George McGovern’s vice-presidential pick. He was asked to withdraw by the McGovern campaign after it was revealed that Eagleton was hospitalized three times for physical and nervous exhaustion.

“Eagleton got a really bad reception when he talked about his psych treatment,” Pesikoff said.

Pesikoff also pointed out that many in the U.S. and Texas have suffered from depression or mental illness.

Indeed, a 2012 National Institute of Mental Health survey shows that 18.6 percent of the country’s population has suffered from some sort of mental illness.

Political scientist Jones thinks that this latest bombshell may be a dud, like some others from the Dewhurst camp.

“David Dewhurst seems to be stuck in the eighties,” Jones said. “Every attack ad is focused on ‘Dan Patrick didn’t pay his taxes in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick hired undocumented immigrants in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick went into bankruptcy in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick had a mental health crises in the eighties.’

“Well, it’s 2014. That was like 30 years ago.”

Producer: Trent Seibert

Dan Patrick mental health detailed in court depositions

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Current time00:1213.24% buffered

02:19

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Patrick blames opponent David Dewhurst for leak of mental health records, says Dewhurst ‘oozing sleaze.’

Dan Patrick, the front-runner in what has been a brutal GOP runoff for Texas Lieutenant Governor, spent time in psychiatric hospitals in the 1980s, according to court records released to ABC-13.

Patrick’s campaign late Thursday confirmed he “sought medical attention to help him cope with mild depression and exhaustion.” The campaign also accused Patrick’s opponent in the runoff, incumbent Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst of being behind the release of the records.

Dewhurst has hit a “new low,” Patrick said, responding in a statement released late Friday.

The information about Patrick’s medical past was unearthed in a 1989 deposition from when Patrick, a former Houston sportscaster and restaurant owner, was suing a columnist for the now-closed newspaper, the Houston Post.

Patrick told attorneys in the deposition that he started seeing a psychologist in the early 1980s because he was “tired, fatigued, stressed out.”

ABC-13 also obtained records late Friday detailing Patrick’s hospital stays that appear to indicate he suffered from “acute anxiety” had “major depression” and at one point needed “sitters around the clock.”

One of those records is from a 1984 hospital stay shows a medical official’s notes quoting Patrick as saying, “Last night I did a foolish thing. I attempted suicide.”

“As I have said, I voluntarily entered the hospital twice in the 1980’s for exhaustion and to seek treatment for depression,” Patrick said in a statement late Friday. “Some of prescribed medications exacerbated my condition and created more serious problems. Through prayer and with the help of my family and physician, like millions of other American, I was able to defeat depression. I have not seen a doctor or taken any medication to treat depression in nearly 30 years…

“I am ready to serve.”

In 1982 Patrick was admitted to a short stay in Memorial City Hospital for what he called “rest, fatigue, exhaustion,” according to the deposition. He also said it was around this time that he started taking a common antidepressant medication.

In 1984, Patrick was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen, a substance abuse and psychiatric center. He said he didn’t recall psychiatric treatment there. Instead, he testified that he “Slept, basically for two weeks.”

Notes from that stay, though say that “The patient was admitted to Spring Shadows Glen after attempting suicide by overdosing and superficially slitting his wrist.”

The Patrick camp also released late Thursday a clean bill of mental health from Dr. Stephen Kramer, the psychologist who treated Patrick.

Patrick “was a patient of mine in the mid-1980s,” Kramer wrote in a 2011 letter. “He entered the hospital on a voluntary basis for the treatment of depression. The symptoms of depression decreased within a short period of time and he was discharged.”

Patrick is a Tea-Party favorite and a current state senator. Dewhurst has been lieutenant governor since 2003. Patrick bested Dewhurst in a four-candidate GOP primary in March: Patrick captured 41 percent of the vote to Dewhurst’s 28 percent.

The court documents about Patrick’s mental health past were provided to a small group of Texas media by Jerry Patterson, Texas’ land commissioner who was an unsuccessful GOP primary candidate for lieutenant governor and who now backs Dewhurst.

The Austin-based Texas Tribune reported Friday on an email some political reporters received from Patterson that suggested Dewhurst’s campaign at least knew about Patterson’s email dump to the media. Patterson denies coordinating with the Dewhurst campaign.

“Dewhurst has asked me to cease distribution of this information,” said Patterson. “He also asked me not to run against him for Lt. Gov. I didn’t really give a damn what David wanted then, and I don’t give a damn now. The voters of Texas need to know.”

Dewhurst’s campaign responded late Friday with the following statement:

    “Commissioner Jerry Patterson operates completely independently of my Campaign, and over my objections he chose to release information from Mr. Paul Harasim’s files, which are all part of the public domain. My heart goes out to Dan Patrick and his family for what they’ve endured while coping with this situation.”

Patrick did not appear to believe Dewhurst’s sincerity.

“The public response has been overwhelming,” Patrick said. “Dewhurst has been roundly criticized from all corners. On the other hand, I have received a flood of new support and encouragement – much from those Texans who have suffered from depression or had it touch their families or loved ones.

“Dewhurst started the day denying any involvement in the release of my medical records. His hapless surrogate, Jerry Patterson, removed all doubt in an afternoon email misfire where he clearly stated that it was Dewhurst’s idea. Dewhurst now tries to deny any connection to Patterson while just days ago his campaign produced a video of Patterson cleaning his guns and defaming me.

The leak also comes on the cusp of early voting for the runoff. Early voting begins May 19. Runoff Election Day is May 27.

Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist, said the attack on Patrick my backfire.

“If anything, it’s likely to generate sympathy for someone who generally doesn’t elicit a lot of sympathy from voters,” Jones said. “Dan Patrick is seen as something of a hard, sometimes less than straightforward guy… now you’re effectively making him a sympathetic figure.”

Dr. Richard Pesikoff with the Baylor College of Medicine Department of Psychology said that while much of the stigma of mental illness and depression has been erased in recent years, it still is a confusing issue to many.

“The whole issue of mental illness is in a dark corner for some segments of the population,” he said.

Pesikoff also said that mental illness has a particular blemish for some when it comes to politics. He recalled Thomas Eagleton who, in 1972, was briefly George McGovern’s vice-presidential pick. He was asked to withdraw by the McGovern campaign after it was revealed that Eagleton was hospitalized three times for physical and nervous exhaustion.

“Eagleton got a really bad reception when he talked about his psych treatment,” Pesikoff said.

Pesikoff also pointed out that many in the U.S. and Texas have suffered from depression or mental illness.

Indeed, a 2012 National Institute of Mental Health survey shows that 18.6 percent of the country’s population has suffered from some sort of mental illness.

Political scientist Jones thinks that this latest bombshell may be a dud, like some others from the Dewhurst camp.

“David Dewhurst seems to be stuck in the eighties,” Jones said. “Every attack ad is focused on ‘Dan Patrick didn’t pay his taxes in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick hired undocumented immigrants in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick went into bankruptcy in the eighties,’ ‘Dan Patrick had a mental health crises in the eighties.’

“Well, it’s 2014. That was like 30 years ago.”

Producer: Trent Seibert

Missing Conyers Already
| January 12, 2018 | 9:09 pm | political struggle | Comments closed

https://www.opednews.com/articles/Missing-Conyers-Already-by-Robert-Weiner-Congress_Conyers-Jr-John_Conyers-John_Democratic-180112-475.html

OpEdNews Op Eds

Missing Conyers Already

By

 

 

 

After Conyers grilled AG Sessions, Judiciary Questioning of Deputy AG Rosenstein Shows Democrats Have Large Shoes to Fill

Article originally published in the Detroit Free Press

By Robert Weiner and Ben Lasky

U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) has been named the new Democratic Leader (“Ranking Member”) of the House Judiciary Committee. It was the powerful post held by Rep. John Conyers’ (D-Detroit), who was pressured to resign from the position and then retire from Congress last month due to allegations of sexual harassment and disclosure of a state-no-guilt settlement.

The national discourse is missing Conyers already. On November 14, his last major public appearance before the allegations broke and the 88-year-old was hospitalized with stress-related issues, Conyers led the Democratic questioning of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions at his committee’s day-long oversight hearing. The event was the center of the media universe for the day because of Sessions’ history of inconsistent answers about the administration’s potential cooperation with Russian interference in the 2016 US elections and the White House recently trying to switch the conversation.

We spent more than six hours with Conyers at the event. In his lead-off questioning, he asked Sessions, “In a functioning democracy, is it common for the leader of the country to order the criminal-justice system to retaliate against his political opponents?”

Sessions answered in general terms: “Mr. Conyers, I would say the Justice Department can never be used to retaliate politically against opponents. That would be wrong.” Conyers, with his usual persistence, repeated the question, “I’ll interpret that as a no. Here’s another. Should the president of the United States make public comments that might influence a pending criminal investigation?” This time, Sessions answered directly, “He should take great care in those issues I would say it’s improper. A president cannot influence an investigation.”

That was Conyers at his finest, pushing witnesses to give direct answers to the key questions.

Now, consider the next hearing, about a month later, on December 13, with Conyers gone, and the witness this time Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Cong. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) used a similar question to what Conyers had asked Sessions, Rosenstein’s boss, a moth earlier: “Do you think it’s appropriate for the president to call for the investigation of specific individuals?”

But the question was more generic and Rosenstein got away with responding: “I’m certainly not going to comment on that Congressman, other than to tell you that it’s my responsibility, along with the attorney general, to make sure that those decisions are made independently by the Department based on the facts and the law.”

Conyers, known for precision, would have used the hearing’s punch and asked something like, “Attorney General Sessions said last month that it is improper for a president to ask DOJ to investigate his political opponent. Do you agree?” He would likely have forced the issue for an answer.

Even if we recognize that some of his accomplishments are decades ago including creating Martin Luther King Day, voting-rights legislation, and laws against hate crimes for civil rights, Conyers during this and the last session of congress led on a host of issues: He obtained a majority of Democrats for the first rime to sponsor his single-payer, “Medicare for All” legislation. He led a pending lawsuit against the President’s violating the Constitution by receiving emoluments (profits) from his properties including the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC. He sponsored passage of a resolution saying no wars in Iran or North Korea without congressional approval. He also sponsored legislation banning bulk data collection by US intelligence agencies of Americans’ phone calls without warrants by US intelligence agencies, a position supported by the Supreme Court. With relevance today, he was the only member of the Judiciary Committee who served and voted on Richard Nixon’s impeachment and had that relevant knowledge.

We already are missing the leadership of John Conyers. Nadler is a strong progressive with a brilliant and insightful understanding of the Constitution. He has large shoes to fill from John Conyers.

Robert Weiner is a former White House spokesman and was communications director for Congressman John Conyers. Ben Lasky is a senior policy analyst at Robert Weiner Associates and Solutions for Change.

Why I support the Sanders Institute
| October 6, 2017 | 9:22 am | Bernie Sanders, political struggle | Comments closed

Friend,

The present state of our country and of our world beckons to all of us. As we confront climate change, multiple refugee crises, the threat of global conflict, and a disturbing normalization of fascism, our collective future mandates that we unite around calls for justice with a sense of urgency  justice for women, justice for LGBTQ communities, justice for immigrants, justice for racial and ethnic minorities, justice for religious minorities, justice for the economically disenfranchised, justice for our environment. We are called to defend the self-evident truths upon which democracy is built – equality, freedom, and the ability to pursue personal fulfilment – from forces rooted in falsehood, manipulation, and demagoguery. To do so, we must inform ourselves thoroughly and organize effectively. It is in this spirit that I support the Sanders Institute in actively engaging citizens and media in the pursuit of progressive solutions to economic, environmental, racial, and social justice issues.

The Sanders Institute’s focus on individuals and media speaks directly to the terrain of the digital age. Its emphasis on progressive solutions speaks to our collective need to defend our highest ideals by effecting positive change. While mendacity can be a shortcut to power, that power is ultimately unsustainable. We must speak powerful truths to power; truths rooted in our diversity and interconnectedness. In recognizing the ways in which we all have something to contribute and the ways in which we all depend on one another, we harness the value of our differences to establish powerful coalitions; coalitions that can effectively counter the rigidity and isolation of illiberalism. As a Fellow of the Sanders Institute, I offer my experience in supporting social justice movements around the world on issues like environmental justice, labor, economic inequality, and racism, and I hope to inspire a new generation of socially engaged citizens in fighting for justice and equality for all.

Danny Glover, Sanders Institute Founding Fellow, 2017

“Condemn me. It does not matter. The peoples will have the last word!”- Fidel Castro Ruz, 26 July 2003
| July 25, 2017 | 9:45 pm | Cuba, Fidel Castro, political struggle | Comments closed

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

“Condemn me. It does not matter. The peoples will have the last word!”- Fidel Castro Ruz, 26 July 2003

 https://communismgr.blogspot.com/2017/07/condemn-me-it-does-not-matter-peoples.html
Speech by Comandante Fidel Castro Ruz on the 50th anniversary of the attack on the Moncada and Carlos Manuel de Cespedes Garrisons, in Santiago de Cuba, 26 July 2003:
It seems almost unreal to be here in this same place 50 years after the events we are commemorating today, which took place that morning of July 26, 1953. I was 26 years old back then; today, 50 more years of struggle have been added to my life.
Way back then, I could not have imagined for even a second that this evening, the few participants in that action who are still alive would be gathered here, together with those, gathered here or listening to us all around the country, who were influenced by or participated directly in the Revolution; together with those who were children or teenagers back then; with those who were not even born yet and today are parents or even grandparents; with whole contingents of fully fledged men and women, full of revolutionary and internationalist glory and history, soldiers and officers in active duty or the reserves, civilians who have accomplished veritable feats; with a seemingly infinite number of young combatants; with dedicated workers or enthusiastic students, as well as some who are both at the same time; and with millions of children who fill our imagination of eternal dreamers. And once again, life has given me the unique privilege of addressing all of you.
I am not speaking here on my own behalf. I am doing it in the name of the heroic efforts of our people and the thousands of combatants who have given their lives throughout half a century. I am doing it too, with pride for the great work they have succeeded in carrying out, the obstacles they have overcome, and the impossible things they have made possible.
In the terribly sad days that followed the action, I explained to the court where I was tried the reasons that led us to undertake this struggle.
At that time, Cuba had a population of less than six million people. Based on the information available back then, I gave a harsh description, with approximate statistics, of the situation facing our people 55 years after the U.S. intervention. That intervention came when Spain had already been militarily defeated by the tenacity and heroism of the Cuban patriots, and it frustrated the goals of our long war of independence when in 1902 it established a complete political and economic control over Cuba.
The forceful imposition on our first Constitution of the right of the U.S. government to intervene in Cuba and the occupation of national territory by U.S. military bases, together with the total domination of our economy and natural resources, reduced our national sovereignty to practically nil.
I will quote just a few brief paragraphs from my statements at that trial on October 16, 1953:
“Six hundred thousand Cubans without work.”

“Five hundred thousand farm laborers who work four months of the year and starve the rest.”
“Four hundred thousand industrial workers and laborers whose retirement funds have been embezzled, whose homes are wretched quarters, whose salaries pass from the hands of the boss to those of the moneylender, whose life is endless work and whose only rest is the tomb.”
“Ten thousand young professionals: medical doctors, engineers, lawyers, veterinarians, school teachers, dentists, pharmacists, journalists, painters, sculptors, etc., who finish school with their degrees anxious to work and full of hopes, only to find themselves at a dead end, with all doors closed to them.”
“Eighty-five percent of the small farmers in Cuba pay a rent and live under constant threat of being evicted from the land they till.”
“There are two hundred thousand peasant families who do not have a single acre of land to till to provide food for their starving children.”
“More than half of our most productive land is in foreign hands.”
“Nearly three hundred thousand caballerías (over three million hectares) of arable land owned by powerful interests remain idle.”
“Two million two hundred thousand of our urban population pay rents that take between one fifth and one third of their incomes.”
“Two million eight hundred thousand of our rural and suburban population lack electricity.”
“The little rural schoolhouses are attended by a mere half of the school age children who go barefoot, half-naked and undernourished.”
“Ninety per cent of the children in the countryside are sick with parasites.”
“Society is indifferent to the mass murder of so many thousands of children who die every year from lack of resources.”
“From May to December over a million people are jobless in Cuba, with a population of five and a half million.”
“When the head of a family works only four months a year, how can he purchase clothing and medicine for his children? They will grow up with rickets, with not a single good tooth in their mouths by the time they reach thirty; they will have heard ten million speeches and will finally die of poverty and disillusion. Public hospitals, which are always full, accept only patients recommended by some powerful politician who, in return, demands the votes of the unfortunate one and his family so that Cuba may continue forever in the same or worse condition.”
Perhaps the most important statement I made about the economic and social situation was the following:
“The nation’s future, the solutions to its problems, cannot continue to depend on the selfish interests of a dozen big businessmen nor on the cold calculations of profits that ten or twelve magnates draw up in their air-conditioned offices. The country cannot continue begging on its knees for miracles from a golden fleece, like the one mentioned in The Old Testament destroyed by the prophet’s fury. Golden fleece cannot perform miracles of any kind. […] Statesmen whose statesmanship consists of preserving the status quo and mouthing phrases like ‘absolute freedom of enterprise,’ ‘guarantees to investment capital’ and ‘law of supply and demand,’ will not solve these problems.”
“In this present-day world, social problems are not solved by spontaneous generation.”

These statements and ideas described a whole underlying thinking regarding the capitalist economic and social system that simply had to be eliminated. They expressed, in essence, the idea of a new political and social system for Cuba, although it may have been dangerous to propose such a thing in the midst of the sea of prejudices and ideological venom spread by the ruling classes, allied to the empire and imposed on a population where 90% of the people were illiterate or semi-literate, without even a sixth-grade education; discontent, combative and rebellious, yet unable to discern such an acute and profound problem. Since then, I have held the most solid and firm conviction that ignorance has been the most powerful and fearsome weapon of the exploiters throughout all of history.
Educating the people about the truth, with words and irrefutable facts, has perhaps been the fundamental factor in the grandiose feat that our people have achieved.
Those humiliating realities have been crushed, despite blockades, threats, aggressions, massive terrorism and the unrestrained use of the most powerful media in history against our Revolution.
The statistics leave no room for doubt.
It has since been possible to more precisely determine that the real population of Cuba in 1953, according to the census taken that year, was 5,820,000. The current population, according to the census of September 2002, now in the final phase of data processing, is 11,177,743.
The statistics tell us that in 1953, a total of 807,700 people were illiterate, meaning an illiteracy rate of 22.3%, a figure that undoubtedly grew later during the seven years of Batista’s tyranny. In the year 2002, the number was a mere 38,183, or 0.5% of the population. The Ministry of Education estimates that the real figure is even lower, because in their thorough search for people who have not been given literacy training in their sectors or neighborhoods, visiting homes, it has been very difficult to locate them. Their estimates, based on investigative methods even more precise than a census, reveal a total of 18,000, for a rate of 0.2%. Of course, neither figure includes those who cannot learn to read or write because of mental or physical disabilities.
In 1953, the number of people with junior or senior high school education was 139,984, or 3.2% of the population aged 10 and over. In 2002, the number had risen to 5,733,243, which is 41 times greater, equivalent to 58.9% of the population in the same age group.
The number of university graduates grew from 53,490 in 1953 to 712,672 in 2002.
Unemployment, despite the fact that the 1953 census was taken in the middle of the sugar harvest, –that is, the time of the highest demand for labor– was 8.4% of the economically active population. The 2002 census, taken in September, revealed that the unemployment rate in Cuba today is a mere 3.1%. And this was the case in spite of the fact that the active labor force in 1953 was only 2,059,659 people, whereas in 2002 it had reached 4,427,028. What is most striking is that next year, when unemployment is reduced to less than 3%, Cuba will enter the category of countries with full employment, something that is inconceivable in any other country of Latin America or even the so-called economically developed nations in the midst of the current worldwide economic situation.
Without going into other areas of noteworthy social advances, I will simply add that between 1953 and 2002, the population almost doubled, the number of homes tripled, and the number of persons per home was reduced from 4.46 in 1953 to 3.16 in 2002; 75.4% of these homes were built after the triumph of the Revolution.
Eighty five percent of the people own the houses they dwell and they do not pay taxes; the remaining 15% pays a rather symbolic rent.
Of the total number of homes in the country, the percentage of huts fell from 33.3% in 1953 to 5.7% in 2002, while the percentage of homes with electrical power service rose from 55.6% in 1953 to 95.5% in 2002.
These statistics, however, do not tell the full story. Cold figures cannot express quality, and it is in terms of quality that the most truly spectacular advances have been achieved by Cuba.
Today, by a wide margin, our country occupies first place worldwide in the number of teachers, professors and educators per capita. The country’s active teaching staff accounts for the incredible figure of 290,574.
According to studies analyzing a group of the main educational indicators, Cuba also occupies first place, above the developed countries. The maximum of 20 students per teacher in primary schools already attained, and the ratio of one teacher per 15 students in junior high school –grades seven, eight and nine– that will be achieved this coming school year, are things that could not even be dreamed of in the world’s wealthiest, most developed countries.
The number of doctors is 67,079, of which 45,599 are specialists and 8,858 are in training. The number of nurses is 81,459, while that of healthcare technicians is 66,339, for a total of 214,877 doctors, nurses and technicians in the healthcare sector.
Life expectancy is 76.15 years; infant mortality is 6.5 for 1000 live births during the first year of life, lower than any other Third World country and even some of the developed nations.
There are 35,902 physical education, sports and recreation instructors, a great many more than the total number of teachers and professors in all areas of education before the Revolution.
Cuba is now fully engaged in the transformation of its own systems of education, culture and healthcare, through which it has attained so many achievements, in order to reach new levels of excellence never even imagined, based on the accumulated experience and new technological possibilities.
These programs are now fully underway, and it is estimated that the knowledge currently acquired by children, teenagers and young people will be tripled with each school year. At the same time, within five years at most, average life expectancy should rise to 80 years. The most developed and wealthy countries will never attain a ratio of 20 students in a classroom in primary school, or one teacher to 15 students in high school, or succeed in taking university education to every municipality throughout the country to place it within reach of the whole population, or in offering the highest quality educational and healthcare services to all of their citizens free of charge. Their economic and political systems are not designed for this.
In Cuba, the social and human nightmare denounced in 1953, which gave rise to our struggle, had been left behind just a few years after the triumph of the Revolution in 1959. Soon, there were no longer peasants, sharecroppers or tenant farmers without land; all of them became the owners of the land they farmed. There were no longer undernourished, barefoot, parasite-ridden children, without schools or teachers, even if their schooling took place beneath the shade of a tree. They no longer died in massive numbers from hunger, disease, from lack of resources or medical care. No longer were the rural areas filled with unemployed men and women. A new stage began in the creation and construction of educational, healthcare, residential, sports and other public facilities, as well as thousands of kilometers of highways, dams, irrigation channels, agricultural facilities, electrical power plants and power lines, agricultural, mechanical and construction material industries, and everything essential for the sustained development of the country.
The labor demand was so great that for many years, large contingents of men and women from the cities were mobilized to work in agriculture, construction and industrial production, which laid the foundations for the extraordinary social development achieved by our country, which I mentioned earlier.
I am talking as if the country were an idyllic haven of peace, as if there had not been over four decades of a rigorous blockade and economic war, aggressions of all kinds, countless acts of sabotage and terrorism, assassination plots and an endless list of hostile actions against our country, which I do not wish to emphasize in this speech, so as to focus on essential ideas of the present.
Suffice it to say that defense-related tasks alone required the permanent mobilization of hundreds of thousands of men and women and large material resources.
This hard-fought battle served to toughen our people, and taught them to fight simultaneously on many different fronts, to do a lot with very little, and to never be discouraged by obstacles.
Decisive proof of this was their heroic conduct, their tenacity and unshakably firm stance when the socialist bloc disappeared and the USSR splintered. The feat they accomplished then, when no one in the world would have bet a penny on the survival of the Revolution, will go down in history as one of the greatest ever achieved. They did it without violating a single one of the ethical and humanitarian principles of the Revolution, despite the shrieking and slander of our enemies.
The Moncada Program was fulfilled, and over-fulfilled. For some time now, we have been pursuing even greater and previously unimaginable dreams.
Today, great battles are being waged in the area of ideas, while confronting problems associated with the world situation, perhaps the most critical to ever face humanity. I am obliged to devote a part of my speech to this.
Several weeks ago, in early June, the European Union adopted an infamous resolution, drafted by a small group of bureaucrats, without prior analysis by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs themselves, and promoted by an individual of markedly fascist lineage and ideology: José María Aznar. The adoption of this resolution constituted a cowardly and repugnant action that added to the hostility, threats and dangers posed for Cuba by the aggressive policy of the hegemonic superpower.
They decided to eliminate or reduce to a minimum what they define as “humanitarian aid” to Cuba.
How much of this aid has been provided in the past few years, which have been so very difficult for the economy of our country? In 2000 the so-called humanitarian aid received from the European Union was 3.6 million dollars; in 2001 it was 8.5 million; in 2002, 0.6 million. And this was before the application of the just measures that Cuba adopted, on fully legal grounds, to defend the security of our people against the serious threats of imperialist aggression, something that no one ignores.
As can be seen, the average was 4.2 million dollars annually, which was reduced to less than a million in 2002.
What does this amount really mean for a country that suffered the impact of three hurricanes between November of 2001 and October of 2002, resulting in 2.5 billion dollars in damages for our country, combined with the devastating effect on our revenues of the drop in tourism after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks against the United States, the drop in sugar and nickel prices due to the international economic crisis, and the considerable rise in oil prices owing to various factors? What does it mean in comparison with the 72 billion dollars in losses and damages resulting from the economic blockade imposed by the U.S. government for more than four decades, and with regards to which, as a result of the extraterritorial and brutal Helms-Burton Act, which threatened the economic interests of the European Union itself, the latter reached a shameful “understanding” where it pledged not to support its businesspeople in their dealings with Cuba, in exchange for vague promises that the Act would not be applied to its investments in the United States?
Through its sugar subsidies, the countries of the European Union have caused billions of dollars in losses for the Cuban economy throughout the entire duration of the U.S. blockade.
Cuba’s payments to the countries of the European Union for goods imported over the last five years totaled some 7.5 billion dollars, or an approximate average of 1.5 billion dollars annually. On the other hand, over the last five years, these countries only purchased an average of 571 million dollars worth of imports from Cuba annually. Who is actually helping whom?
Moreover, this much touted humanitarian aid usually comes with bureaucratic delays and unacceptable conditions, such as creating funds of an equal value in national currency, at the exchange rate of our currency exchange bureaus, to provide funding in national currency for other projects where decisions were to be adopted with the participation of third parties.
This means that if the European Commission were to hand over a million dollars, they want the Cuban side to put up 27 million Cuban pesos in exchange, to fund other projects in national currency for the same amount, and the execution of the projects would involve the participation of European non-governmental organizations in all decision-making processes. This absurd condition, which was never accepted, practically paralyzed the flow of aid for a number of projects for three years, and subsequently limited it considerably.
Between October 2000 and December 2002, the European Commission officially approved four projects for an approximate total amount of 10.6 million US dollars (almost all of it for technical assistance in administrative, legal and economic matters) and only 1.9 million dollars for food security. None of this has been executed, due to the delays caused by the bureaucratic mechanisms of this institution. Nevertheless, in all European Union reports, these amounts appear as “approved for Cuba”, although the truth remains that until now not a penny of this funding has reached our country.
It should be remembered that additionally, in all of their reports on aid to Cuba, the European Commission and member countries include so-called indirect costs, such as airfares on their own airlines, accommodation, travel expenses, salaries and First World-standard luxuries. The portion of the supposed aid money that actually directly benefits the projects is whittled away through these expenditures, which do not help the country in any way, but are nonetheless calculated as part of their “generosity” for public relations purposes.
It is truly outrageous to attempt to pressure and intimidate Cuba with these measures.
Cuba, a small country, besieged and blockaded, has not only been able to survive, but also to help many countries of the Third World, exploited throughout centuries by the European colonial powers.
In the course of 40 years, over 40,000 youths from more than 100 Third World countries, including 30,000 from Africa, have graduated in Cuba as university-educated professionals and qualified technical workers, at no cost to them whatsoever, and our country has not attempted to steal a single one of them, as the countries of the European Union do with many of the brightest minds. Throughout this time, on the other hand, over 52,000 Cuban doctors and health care workers, who have saved millions of lives, have provided their services voluntarily and free of charge in 93 countries.
Even though the country has still not completely left behind the special period, last year, 2002, there were already more than 16,000 youths from throughout the Third World undertaking higher studies in our country, free of charge, including over 8,000 being trained as doctors. If we were to calculate what they would have to pay for this education in the United States and Europe, the result would be the equivalent of a donation of more than 450 million dollars every year. If you include the 3,700 doctors providing their services abroad in the most far-flung and inhospitable locales, you would have to add almost 200 million US dollars more, based on the annual salary paid to doctors by the WHO. All in all approximately 700 million dollars.
These things that our country can do, not on the basis of its financial resources, but rather the extraordinary human capital created by the Revolution, should serve as an example to the European Union, and make it feel ashamed of the measly and ineffective aid it offers these countries.
While Cuban soldiers were shedding their blood fighting the forces of apartheid, the countries of the European Union exchanged billions of dollars worth of trade every year with the South African racists, and through their investments, reaped the benefits of the cheap, semi-slave labor of the South African natives.
This past July 21, less than a week ago, the European Union, in a much-trumpeted meeting to review its shameful common position on Cuba, ratified the infamous measures adopted against Cuba on June 5 and declared that political dialogue should continue ‘in order to more efficiently pursue the goals of the common position’.
The government of Cuba, out of a basic sense of dignity, relinquishes any aid or remnant of humanitarian aid that may be offered by the European Commission and the governments of the European Union. Our country would only accept this kind of aid, no matter how modest, from regional or local autonomous governments, non-governmental organizations, and solidarity movements, which do not impose political conditions on Cuba.
The European Union is fooling itself when it states that political dialogue should continue. The sovereignty and dignity of this people are not open to discussion with anyone, much less with a group of former colonial powers historically responsible for the slave trade, the plunder and even extermination of entire peoples, and the underdevelopment and poverty suffered today by billions of human beings whom they continue to plunder through unequal trade, the exploitation and exhaustion of their natural resources, an unpayable foreign debt, the brain drain, and other means.
The European Union lacks the necessary freedom to take part in a fully independent dialogue. Its commitments to NATO and the United States, and its conduct in Geneva, where it acts in league with those who want to destroy Cuba, render it incapable of engaging in a constructive exchange. Countries from the former socialist community will soon join the European Union, albeit the opportunistic leaders who govern them, more loyal to the interests of the United States than to those of Europe, will serve as Trojan horses of the superpower within the EU. These are full of hatred towards Cuba, which they left on its own and cannot forgive for having endured and proven that socialism is capable of achieving a society a thousand times more just and humane that the rotten system they have adopted.
When the European Union was created, we applauded it, because it was the only intelligent and useful thing they could do to counterbalance the hegemony of their powerful military ally and economic competitor. We also applauded the euro as something beneficial for the worldwide economy in the face of the suffocating and almost absolute power of the U.S. dollar.
But now, when the European Union adopts this arrogant and calculated attitude, in hope of reconciliation with the masters of the world, it insults Cuba, then, it does not deserve the slightest consideration and respect from our people.
Any dialogue should take place in public, in international forums, and should address the grave problems threatening the world.
We shall not attempt to discuss the principles of the European Union or Disunion. In Cuba they will find a country that neither obeys masters, nor accepts threats, nor begs for charity, nor lacks the courage to speak out the truth.
They need someone to tell them a few truths, because there are many who flatter them out of self-interest, or are simply spellbound by the splendor of Europe’s past glories. Why do they not criticize or help Spain to improve the disastrous state of its educational system, which brings shame to Europe with its banana republic levels? Why do they not come to the aid of the United Kingdom, to prevent drugs from wiping out this proud nation? Why do they not analyze and help themselves, when they so obviously need it?
The European Union would do well to speak less and do more for the genuine human rights of the immense majority of the peoples of the world; to act with intelligence and dignity in the face of those who do not want to leave it with even the crumbs of the resources of the planet they aspire to conquer; to defend its cultural identity against the invasion and penetration of the powerful transnationals of the U.S. entertainment industry; to take care of its unemployed, who number in the tens of millions; to educate its functionally illiterate; to give humane treatment to immigrants; to guarantee true social security and medical care for all of its citizens, as Cuba does; to moderate its consumerist and wasteful habits; to guarantee that all of its members contribute 1% of their GDP, as some already do, to support development in the Third World or at least alleviate, without bureaucracy or demagoguery, the terrible situation of poverty, poor health and illiteracy; to compensate Africa and other regions for the damage wreaked throughout centuries by slavery and colonialism; to grant independence to the colonial enclaves still maintained in this hemisphere, from the Caribbean to the Falkland Islands, without denying them the economic aid they deserve for the historical damage and colonial exploitation they have suffered.
To a list that would be endless, I could add:
To undertake a genuine policy supporting human rights with actual deeds and not just hollow words; to investigate what really happened with the Basques murdered by GAL and demand that responsibility be taken; to tell the world how scientist Dr. David Kelly was brutally murdered, or how he was led to commit suicide; to respond at some point to the questions I posed to them in Rio de Janeiro regarding the new strategic conception of NATO as it relates to the countries of Latin America; to firmly and resolutely oppose the doctrine of preemptive strikes against any country in the world, proclaimed by the most formidable military power in all of history, for you know where the consequences for humanity will lead.
To slander and impose sanctions on Cuba, is not only unfair and cowardly but ridiculous. Thanks to the great and selfless human capital it has created, which they lack, Cuba does not need the aid of the European Union to survive, develop and achieve what they will never achieve.
The European Union should temper its arrogance an prepotency.
For decades, our people have confronted powers much greater than those possessed by the European Union; new forces are emerging everywhere, with tremendous vigor. The peoples are tired of guardians, interference and plunder, imposed through mechanisms that benefit the most developed and wealthy at the cost of the growing poverty and ruin of others. Some of these peoples are already advancing with unrestrainable force, and others will join them. Among them there are giants awakening. The future belongs to these peoples.
In the name of 50 years of resistance and relentless struggle in the face of a force many times greater than theirs, and of the social and human achievements attained by Cuba without any help whatsoever from the countries of the European Union, I invite them to reflect calmly on their errors, and to avoid being carried away by outbursts of anger or Euronarcissistic inebriation.
Neither Europe nor the United States will have the last word on the future of Humanity!
I could repeat here something similar to what I said in the spurious court where I was tried and sentenced for the struggle we initiated five decades ago today, but this time it will not be me who says it; it will be declared and foretold by a people that has carried out a profound, transcendental and historic Revolution, and has succeeded in defending it:
Condemn me. It does not matter. The peoples will have the last word!
Eternal glory to those who have fallen during 50 years of struggle!
Eternal glory to the people that turned its dreams into a reality!
Venceremos!
ΠΛΑΝΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΑΝΤΙΙΜΠΕΡΙΑΛΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΔΙΑΔΗΛΩΣΗ ΣΤΗ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ
| June 24, 2017 | 2:39 pm | class struggle, Greece, Imperialism, PAME, political struggle, WFTU | Comments closed

ΠΛΑΝΑ ΑΠΟ ΤΗΝ ΑΝΤΙΙΜΠΕΡΙΑΛΙΣΤΙΚΗ ΔΙΑΔΗΛΩΣΗ ΣΤΗ ΘΕΣΣΑΛΟΝΙΚΗ
| June 24, 2017 | 2:36 pm | Greece, Imperialism, PAME, political struggle, WFTU | Comments closed