Category Archives: The Denise Simon Experience

#Occupy Venezuelan Embassy in Washington DC

Posted on by

Enter Madea Benjamin, only to refuse to leave. #OccupyVenezuela or something like that. And…the ANSWER Coalition is there too.

The Embassy building, located in Georgetown, is owned by the Venezuelan government and is a protected international compound by the Vienna Conventions. Progressive activists have been working and living inside the Embassy as invited guests for weeks.

The Embassy Protection Collective was initiated by CODEPINK and Popular Resistance, and the ANSWER Coalition has been mobilizing support for this effort in Washington and around the country. Many ANSWER volunteers and organizers are inside the Embassy.

Image result for answer coalition venezuela

“The people inside this Embassy are here at the invitation of its lawful owner, the Government of Venezuela,” said ANSWER’s National Director Brian Becker. “The Trump administration is acting as the world’s number one international pirate as it seizes Venezuelan assets, properties and diplomatic compounds. In pure colonial fashion, U.S. and European entities have grabbed hold of Venezuela’s oil revenue, gold reserves and bank accounts — while openly championing the Monroe Doctrine. We are joining with the people of the world to declare that the days of the Monroe Doctrine are over.”

Becker continued, “Any action to evict the Embassy’s current tenant guests by the MPD, Secret Service or other police agencies would be an illegal and unlawful arrest under both D.C. and international law. What we are doing here in this Embassy is not an act of civil disobedience. International law and D.C. law are on our side. The violator of these laws — the criminal in this case — is none other than the Trump White House and the U.S. State Department.”

A letter was sent last night from the Embassy Protection Collective, with the assistance of lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, to the U.S. State Department:

Members of the Embassy Protection Collective are writing to make it expressly clear and ensure all personnel are put on notice that any arrest of persons inside the embassy would constitute an unlawful arrest. We understand from our communications with your office that you are threatening to arrest persons inside the Venezuelan embassy.

Not only are we here at the invitation of persons lawfully in charge of the premises but we are also here as people with lawful rights under Washington, DC tenancy law.

It is our intention to hold responsible any person who orders or effectuates any unlawful actions against us.

We have received no eviction notice and due process opportunity to challenge any attempted eviction as is required by law.

No water or electricity.

Pepco, with protection from the Secret Service, cut electricity and water to the building,” says Ariel Gold, the national co-director of the antiwar activist organization Code Pink. “All of the utility bills have always been paid in full by the government of Venezuela.”

Carlos Vecchio, the Venezuelan ambassador to the U.S. appointed by the opposition government, took responsibility on Twitter for the power outage. Activists have prevented him from entering the embassy.

For the last month Code Pink activists have been occupying the Venezuelan embassy in Washington D.C. Not in protest but in support of the government led by socialist dictator Maduro.

With no electricity, activists who have been living inside the building are adjusting to the latest obstacle in their month-long occupation of the embassy.

Getting food inside has been one of the biggest challenges for the past 10 days, with anti-Maduro protesters and Secret Service barricades blocking most of the doors. Then Thursday, activists announced they would be cutting back on their primary source of communication with the outside world: social media. With no power to charge their devices, there will be less tweeting and fewer video streams…

About two weeks into Code Pink’s residency, Venezuelan and Venezuelan American protesters began to gather outside. They have not left since.

Note, the ones occupying the embassy are (liberal, duh) Americans from groups like Code Pink, Answer Coalition, Popular Resistance and Black Alliance for Peace, while most of the pro-opposition protesters are actual, real-life Venezuelans. Who are the nasty American imperialists now, Code Pink?

And of course Max Blumenthal is in the mix too –>

STEM School Already Had Major Warnings Prior to Shooting

Posted on by

In part from (CNN) Five months before Tuesday’s fatal shooting at a Colorado charter school, a district official urged the school’s administration to investigate allegations of violence, sexual assault and campus bullying that an anonymous parent feared could lead to “a repeat of Columbine,” according to a school district letter obtained by CNN.

The parent called a member of the county Board of Education to express “concerns about student violence due to a high-pressure environment,” according to the letter. The parent referenced an alleged bomb threat and other student clashes as evidence that the school could become the site of another Columbine, the infamous school shooting that occurred 20 years ago, only around seven miles from STEM School Highlands Ranch.
Douglas County School District official Daniel Winsor wrote the letter in December to STEM’s executive director. He noted that the parent complained that “many students are suicidal and violent in school. Several students have reported sexual assault in school and that nothing is being done.”
Winsor asked the school’s executive director to “investigate the allegations … determine their legitimacy and to take any remedial action that may be appropriate.”
Another 2018 letter from the county Board of Education said it had “significant concerns” about STEM’s compliance with the charter school contract and legal requirements, and questioned its willingness to serve students with disabilities. It also cited “ineffective leadership,” saying, “the tenor of the comments at our meetings suggests that the relationship between STEM and some of its parents is irretrievably damaged.”
An online petition signed by multiple parents and a post on a Facebook page for the school district community also expressed concerns about the leadership of the school. And minutes from a “School Accountability Committee” meeting at the school describe “a small group of people who speak against STEM.”

Hat tip: Ryan

Video Emerges of ISIS Leader al Baghdadi

Posted on by

He released a speech about the end of the ISIS caliphate as he sat beside 3 other ISIS members. He praised the attack in Sri Lanka. He has not been seen in an estimated 5 years. He urged his members to persevere and continue fighting everywhere. The authenticity of the video remains unclear, which is the same for his whereabouts.

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was pictured in a new video for the first time since July 2014, SITE Intelligence Group said Monday.

The video was released by ISIS’s propaganda arm al-Furqan.

Rumors of al-Baghdadi’s death have persisted as ISIS militants who have surrendered to U.S.-backed coalition forces, believed their ideological leader abandoned their cause.

Baghdadi also suffers from diabetes, high blood pressure and injuries sustained during an airstrike years ago.

*

The United States is offering up to $25 million for any credible information that leads to his capture.

Zarif/Iran Making War Noise, Pentagon Ready

Posted on by

Iran of course is angry the United States declared the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp a terror organization. Well, it is. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is making the media rounds and he is throwing out words like war, military intervention and conflict. Reinforcing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s stance, Zarif warned: “If the United States takes the crazy measure of trying to prevent us from doing that, then it should be prepared for the consequences.” He did not give specifics.

Kerry, Zarif named candidates for 2016 Nobel Peace Prize

Zarif is even making noise about prisoner swaps as this shows some desperation including blocking the Strait of Hormuz from maritime oil tanker traffic. Stop the oil sanctions and we can pursue a prisoner swap..hummm. Zarif has also suggested possible cooperation with the United States to bring stability to Iraq and Afghanistan, a priority for both Tehran and Washington, but did not mention Syria.

US Central Command Chief General Kenneth McKenzie said on Saturday that the United States would deploy the necessary resources to counter any dangerous actions by Iran, Sky News Arabia reported.

“We’re gonna continue to reach out to our partners and friends in the region to ensure that we make common cause against the threat of Iran,” McKenzie, on an official visit to the Gulf region, was quoted as saying by Sky News Arabia.

“I believe we’ll have the resources necessary to deter Iran from taking actions that will be dangerous,” he said, according to a transcript released by the Abu Dhabi-based channel.

He said: “We will be able to respond effectively.”

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have risen since the Trump administration last year withdrew from an international nuclear deal with Iran and began ratcheting up sanctions.

Earlier this month, the United States blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards.

Washington on Monday demanded buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May or face sanctions, ending six months of waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers, most of them in Asia, to continue importing limited volumes.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and some senior military commanders have threatened to disrupt oil shipments from Gulf countries if Washington tries to strangle Tehran oil exports.

McKenzie also said a reduction of US troops in Syria would be done cautiously.

“On the long term, we’re gonna reduce our forces in Syria, we recognize that, that’s the guidance in which we are operating.”

“That will be something that we will look at very carefully as we go forward,” the general said.

President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of US troops Syria in December after he said they had defeated ISIS extremist group in Syria.

In February, a senior administration official said the United States will leave about 400 US troops split between two different regions of Syria.

McKenzie also said he was confident that the US is going to have “a long term presence in Iraq, focused on the counter-terror mission.”

Congressman Cummings’ Daughter Uses Official Car for Lyft

Posted on by

And CNN even reported this…and Congressman Cummings is Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee….sheesh

A photo submitted to local Washington, D.C., blog Popville last week depicted a black Honda with a pink Lyft driver sticker on its window shield and the words “Maryland U.S. Congress 7-A” on its license plates.

Washington (CNN) No, that’s not Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings driving for Lyft in his downtime.

Representative Elijah Cummings' daughter Adia (pictured together at her graduation) used his car with Congressional plates while working for Lyft

But his daughter, Adia, who borrowed her father’s car, may have made her passengers feel like VIPs since the black Honda she uses was sporting official congressional license plates.
Lyft is a company that provides rides to subscribers who summon a car to pick them up using an app on their phone.
The Washington Post first reported that Cummings did lend his car to his daughter, who was a student at Howard University.
Someone posted a picture of the car with a Lyft sticker on a D.C. blog called “Popville” and asked which member of Congress worked for the company. The picture showed the vehicle with Maryland plates that read “US Congress” and the number “7,” which designates Cummings’ district in Baltimore, and the “Reliable Sources” gossip column at the Post solved the mystery.
Cummings explained the situation in a statement to CNN.
“In an effort to earn some extra money to pay her expenses at school, she signed up for a part-time position with one of the ride-sharing companies. They, in turn, gave her a sticker to apply to the windshield of the car,” Cummings said.
The congressman, who is the top ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee and another panel investigating the attacks in Benghazi, says after he spoke with his daughter, the congressional tags have been removed. He took responsibility for the situation, saying, “I apologize for not having removed the license plate before loaning the vehicle to her.”
Cummings’ office told CNN that the Honda is a personal car, not one leased or purchased through his campaign or official office account.
According to Lyft’s requirements posted on their website, drivers must be 21 years old, have a smartphone and “must be a covered party on your car’s in-state insurance and have in-state license plates.” The website advertises that individuals can make up to $35 per hour with the company by signing up as a driver.
Lyft riders in D.C. can still be picked up by Adia, since Cummings isn’t taking the car away.
“My daughter has now graduated from Howard and I could not be more proud of her,” Cummings said. “I have told her she can continue to use my car while she pursues full-time employment.”