Zen punk funeral/memorial for Leonard Cohen, today

Leonard Cohen passed away yesterday. His songs meant a lot to me. And to everyone I worked with; when we heard the news, we stopped what we were doing (building a loft bed,) and we went around the room and we each quoted to each other a favorite bit of one of his great songs.

I want to put together an informal Zen punk funeral/memorial for Leonard Cohen, today Saturday, at 2 PM  in Tompkins Square Park, NYC, in the center, where the stage goes. We are just gonna show up there with guitars & lyrics & iPhone and invite people to come and play and sing Leonard Cohen songs. Make a big sing-along. Want to join me?

We will sing all of your favorite Leonard Cohen works. If you can, please print and bring lyrics and chords. Please bring a candle, if you can. I will set up an altar. I will bring his picture. We will chant the Heart Sutra together, as a way to celebrate his life, his passage, our unity. 

My old friend Sam from The Mooney Suzuki is also interested in coming. Other indie music anti-stars and alternative Cohenite poets will also appear. Please come.

Next Meeting of NYC Truth Action Project - 7 PM - 11/11/16 at 6th Street Community Center

We had a great meeting of the NYC Truth Action Project, last week. Below are the minutes.

Some inspirational quotes from us here.

Please come to our next meeting: 11/11/16, 7-9 PM, at 6th Street Community Center.

 Minutes of the Monthly Meeting of Truth Action Project, NYC Area Meeting

Coordinated by Sander Hicks

Present: 21 Activists - a  24% Growth in Attendance from Last Meeting.

Intro:

We had a very positive meeting. We have officially formed four separate Action Teams, to do focused work, that is results oriented. I am so grateful to everyone who came to this meeting. Many other activists are on the email list, and were not able to come, but will try to make the next meeting, (Nov. 11, Friday, Location probably the same, to be announced.)

We started and finished the meeting with a brief meditation, in the name of peace and light.

Notes from Round Robin Shares:

“Inverted Totalitarianism” by Sheldon Wolin was a book and concept mentioned by Joel Simpson. This is what we are dealing with.  Read up on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism

“We scare because we care” was the Disney movie slogan for Monsters, Inc. Came out right after 9/11. Fern noted this.

Sander suggested everyone watch the YouTube that Richard Squires made - “Kangaroo Court.”

Tony Esper is an IT consultant - wants to give our website some love.

Ross Muir: Suggested “Strap-hangers for 9/11 Truth” doing outreach (and maybe fund-raising) on the subways. (My contribution to this idea is to suggest a printed brochure - small, hand-held. My company just printed 25,000 units of a full color, 10 page, 4x6”, accordion fold-out, for less than $1,300. Once we have some money together, we could print something like this, and have something to give to people, to explain “We Why Care” and invite people to join, and contribute….)

Ground Zero Outreach: Charlie and Scott are doing outreach at Ground Zero, from 3-5 PM down near the Port Authority Station. John M. visited them. We should continue to support them, and invite them to come to our next meeting. John, do you have their contact info?

Formation of Arts Action Team:

Arts Action Team:

Tony Esper

Richard Squires

Ross Muir

John Migletti

Joel Simpson

Sander Hicks

Who else wants to join? I will create a separate Google Group for this Action Team….

Legal Work Action Team

The legal team reported they are still assembling a “packet of evidence.” We brainstormed about how to best contribute to the creation of a formal fund-raising mechanism for Truth Action Project. Jerry mentioned the $50K raised by the professional fund-raiser for Gloria Mattera’s old political campaign, for Brooklyn Borough President. Also JK mentioned the name “Ivana Edwards.”

In other states, a legal petition to the DA has to result in a Grand Jury, but not in NY.

Is the DA elected? Yes they are.

When is the term up? It coincides with the Mayor’s term in NYC.

More on Cyrus Vance, Jr, current DA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Vance_Jr.

My talking points are: he worked for Gary Hart, as a young person, and he’s opposed to the death penalty. RFK Jr. endorsed him.

I believe that Bill Jacoby told me that someone DID contact Cy Vance at one point, about WTC 7 is that right?

His next race for re-election will culminate at the polls Nov. 7, 2017.

A primary challenge would be a great way to get this issue into the public sphere. We need an attorney to be a candidate.

--

Not sure who said this but I have in my notes “we need to build a coalition. How to do it? Make this an Action Item.”

David said: Clarify the legal limits of a 501 ©(3)’s political activism. What can we do and not do? “We need a new way of thinking.”

David talked about a “heaven on earth” quotation from Buckminster Fuller - I couldn’t find those, but I did find these two:

Tony suggested we treat TAP as a start-up. What is our mission statement? Objectives? Strategic Plan? (Bill J. later said TAP has one but it needs to be shared.)

How will this non-profit be run? Who is in charge of branding and identity? Logo?

Create sub-groups and define goals for each of them (this is great and each Action Team should do this.) Use a white board  - FOCUS on structure. Who is our target audience to reach with our message?

Rebecca S. said that we have a “culture in denial” - this is acceptable.

Mitchell Cohen - “why not use the U.N.?” there are seats there for NGOs (non governmental organizations) - let’s form a new Action Team on this (done, see below)- Mitchell suggested we use the projector that Occupy used. Put out a “why we care” brochure.

Eric Rassi - “Each action team can be autonomous” - no one needs to agree with every single other thing the other action teams are doing….(i.e. Not everyone one has to believe in the electoral politics stuff).  We must go after what is “most feared” by the upper class - “losing control of their political monopoly.” We need to strategize. Electoral politics and entering campaigns would be a “educational bonanza.”

Lucy: at the UN there are “Special Rapoteurs” - maybe we could get one for 9/11.

Special Rapporteurs often conduct fact-finding missions to countries to investigate allegations of human rights violations. They can only visit countries that have agreed to invite them.

Aside from fact-finding missions, Rapporteurs regularly assess and verify complaints from alleged victims of human rights violations. Once a complaint is verified as legitimate, an urgent letter or appeal is sent to the government that has allegedly committed the violation. If no complaint has been made, Rapporteurs may intervene on behalf of individuals and groups of people of their own accord.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Special_Rapporteur

Bill Jacoby: “let’s go from 20 to 200” people

Sati: what about The Hague?

Henry: Let’s do a literature table at the Left Forum, and on campuses

Ross - get a psychologist to join the group

SIGN UPS for the ELECTORAL POLITICAL ACTION TEAM:

Sati

Sander

Carl Person

Eric Rassi

(Matt Mills?)

UN OUTREACH ACTION TEAM:

Lucy

Sander

WEBSITE ACTION TEAM:

Joel

Tony

Sati

Action Team Groups should meet in a week or two, and create their own goals and actions. Report back to the main group at next meeting.

Sander will help create Google Group email lists for each action team, coming later tonight.

Next Meeting: 11/11/16

7-9 PM at 6th Street Community Center

9/11 VOTING BLOC?

What are you doing tomorrow, Friday, Oct. 14, 7-9 PM?

We are doing a meeting of the Truth Action Project, the new group birthed by AE911 Truth - and we have a pretty good head of steam, after our big conference at Cooper Union at the Annivesary. 

 

The new legal avenues open to us are pretty significant, in light of the 28 Pages release, and JASTA. Here's my full report on the two day conference and the testimony and hearings we heard:
https://www.911tap.org/557-news-releases/655-9-11-movement-presents-evidence-for-a-legal-case

Our meeting tomorrow is at 6th Street Community Center. 7-9 PM. 638 E. 6th St NYC.

We are talking about launching a new project, and I specifically want to discuss it with the group - the possibility of creating a "voting block" that could have the option to branch out and create a new third party/coalition.

It might be the "9/11 Party" or the "Truth Party" or something like that. I will be doing an interview on YouTube with candidate and attorney Carl E. Person on this topic, very soon! Stay Tuned!

Guest Blogger: Rep. Cynthia McKinney

INTRO by Sander Hicks:


The anti-Free Speech spirit of this editorial in Bloomberg is alarming: Writer Jonathan Bernstein attacks Howard Dean for suggesting that Trump was coked up at the debate. I actually had the same suspicion, and so did author Daniel Hopsicker, who posted in on Twitter that night. How else to explain Trump's sputtering and megalomania? It was extreme, even for Donald. 

But to call on Hillary Clinton to denounce Dean for making this observation is just unnecessary. The spirit of the First Amendment is to allow a diversity of opinions, and the "truth will win out" as Milton said in Areopagitica.

Bernstein suffers from an acute sense of Conspiracy-Phobia. He's in denial that great people like Rep. Cynthia McKinney and Rep. Alan Grayson have something important to say. So, he gloats in their political defeats and holds up their silencing as the new standard for Democratic Party behavior.  But let me remind you that Alan Grayson alone, as a member of Congress, had the courage to levy hard questions at Fed Reserve officials after the meltdown of 2008. (They make for educational, and very entertaining viewing on YouTube here and here.)

Then there's the defamatory swipe that Bernstein makes at former Representative Cynthia McKinney. McKinney, in a similar way, had the courage, to confront the negligent Donald Rumsfeld, about missing trillions at the Pentagon budget, defense contractor DynCorps involvement in child prostitution, and the mysterious "war games" on 9/11 which distracted normal air defenses.

As you can see from these videos, these instances were not about "peddling conspiracy theories" but were sourced, professional, and severe for Rumsfeld and Richard Myers.

Here is Cynthia McKinney in her own words, responding to Bernstein, today. 

Bloomberg refused to publish this, so I would like to do my part, in a small way, by welcoming McKinney today as a guest blogger:

Truth Foretold, Specious Journalism, And Spurious Assertions:

The Case of Jonathan Bernstein, Bloomberg View, and The Charlotte Observer

While it is true that I was “booted” by pro-war Democrats who worked in concert with like-minded Republicans, your assertion of my being booted for “peddling conspiracies” deserves a deeper look.  My booting, by the way, resulted in the GOP takeover of my home State of Georgia, an outcome that seemingly makes both pro-war Democrats and Republicans (now called “globalists”) comfortable.  Therefore, I want to take a deeper look at what I did “peddle:”

1.  That Presidential candidate George W. Bush worked with his Florida Governor brother, Jeb, to orchestrate election theft in the 2000 Presidential election. Now that the public has caught up with the facts that I put on the table in 2000 and 2001 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdPhXuTzQeI), this position is supported by evidence that is available to all;

2.  That President George W. Bush received warnings about an impending attack on the US (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/11/cia-directors-documentary-911-bush-213353) and actively blocked an investigation (http://edition.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/01/29/inv.terror.probe/) into the September 11, 2001 attacks.  Now that the public has caught up with the facts that I put on the table in 2001, this position is supported by evidence that is available to all;

3.  That the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund (https://www.vcf.gov/faq.html) was really set up to thwart 9/11 wrongful death lawsuits because it prevented victims’ survivors from getting justice in US Courts; I felt that victims and victims’ survivors should be able to sue the culprits as well as receive support from the Fund.  The President recently vetoed legislation that would allow lawsuits to move forward against Saudi Arabia and Congress just overrode his veto.  Fourteen years later, I am pleased that, once again, my position has been supported by evidence that has been clearly available to all for at least a decade;

4.  That the US was not justified in attacking Iraq in 2003.  The most thorough investigation into the 2003 decision to go to war against Iraq is the Chilcot Report (http://www.iraqinquiry.org.uk/the-report/) which found that war was not the last option and that U.S. allegations of Saddam Hussein possessing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in Iraq were not justified.  Now that the public has caught up with the facts that I put on the table in 2002, this position is supported by evidence that is available to all;

5.  That the then-Secretary of Homeland Security, Michael Chertoff, failed to perform his job during Hurricane Katrina and that thousands needlessly died because he failed the Gulf States and the country.  After joining with Republicans and writing a Congressional Report on the subject that is available to the public (www.nola.com/katrina/pdf/mainreport.pdf), my position is supported by evidence that is available to all;

6.  That a specific allegation had been made to my Congressional Office that thousands of bodies had been dumped in Louisiana swamps after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Now, we know that 9/11 human remains were dumped in a landfill (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/us/panel-recommends-more-oversight-and-training-at-dover-mortuary.html?_r=0) with such action having been deemed “dereliction of duty,” so who has conducted an independent investigation into what happened in Louisiana, in particular, with respect to body disposal?

7.  That racism exists in Capitol Hill Police Department similar to what exists in other police departments around the U.S. and that I was a victim of that discrimination after I supported a lawsuit filed by Black police officers after one of their superior officers used the word “nigger.”  Black police officers have been waiting fifteen years for justice and recently held a demonstration in support of their claim (http://www.rollcall.com/news/policy/former-capitol-police-call-attention-discrimination-lawsuits).  One need only hear the moving testimony of the U.S. Senate’s lone Black GOP Member and his interactions with the Capitol Hill Police (http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/floor-speeches/tim-scott-black-republican-emotional-powerful-dramatic-race-speech-targeted-capitol-police) to understand that my experience was surely possible.  Now, again—after the fact— that the public has caught up with the evidence that I put on the table in 2006, my position is supported by evidence that is available to all, sadly now most of all, the family of Keith Lamont Scott and all of those young people who were just recently in Charlotte’s streets.

If only the press had decided to investigate my assertions rather than castigate me for making them!  Maybe things would be far different than they are today in Iraq, Libya, Louisiana, and elsewhere.  But, instead of investigation of the inconvenient or unpleasant facts that I repeatedly put on the table, the response was a frenzy of specious journalism and spurious assertions where true journalism was needed.  Your column, with mention of my name, is an example of that.  Such “reporting” is precisely why Trump’s attacks on the media resonate so well with the American and global public.  The polling data on the public perception of the U.S. media is a damning indictment of the role the media has played in this country for too many years.  That is why the U.S. public more and more now seeks its information from foreign media outlets, the internet, “alternative” media, and less and less from “newspapers” like yours.

Cynthia McKinney, Ph.D.

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|    __o     CONTINENTAL CRITICAL MASS   
|  _`\;,_               come ride with me
| (*)/ (*)
|                  Bike4Peace Across the USA                   
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http://claritypress.com/McKinneyII.html
http://www.claritypress.com/McKinney.html
https://www.facebook.com/CynthiaMcKinneyOfficial
http://www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com/CynthiaSpeaks

Silence is the deadliest weapon of mass destruction.  OPEN SOURCE EVERYTHING!

"My weapon is media, lectures, protest, organization."  Kenneth S. Carr (Dedon Kamathi)

“It’s organized crime. All you do is you call the Republicans the Genoveses and you call the Democrats the Gambinos. The people at the top, they treat it like a crap game. It’s their crap game, like they’re making lots of money. Occasionally, somebody at the table shoots each other, but the moment anything threatens their crap game, they all unite to protect it. ... They’re both controlled by the same financial, economic and corporate interests.” -Michael C. Ruppert (excerpted from the film America Freedom to Fascism)

"We as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values."  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"The biggest weapon in the hands of the oppressors is the minds of the oppressed." Steve Biko

"Make your spirit flexible, and nothing will ever bend you out of shape."  Wisdom by Taro Gold

10/14 - Next Meeting of TRUTH ACTION PROJECT, NYC

Hi Folks - We had a great meeting last Friday, to follow-up on the launch of the Truth Action Project here in NYC.

It seems to be that we now have three new "Action Teams" to get stuff done. 

We have an "Arts Action Team" to "create a new product that can raise money for the group, and also get the word out.....a film, book, etc."

We have a "Legal Action Team" researching the usability of an Extraordinary Grand Jury in NYC. Especially interesting is the possibility that a petition might be used to influence a DA to instigate the use of a Grand Jury like that.

We have a "Political Action Team" keenly interested in using the very public forum of campaigns and elections to further the message of 9/11 research, and justice. 

I will be getting in touch with you individually to help flesh out who is on what Action Team.

We will have our NEXT MEETING Oct. 14. I booked us the main room of the 6th Street Community Center.

Oct. 14, at 6th St Community Center - 638 E. 6th Street, Manhattan, 7-9 PM. (Please donate $5-10 to help cover rental.)

RSVP

 

Please also enjoy a sneak peek at my article that summarizes the important testimony at Justice in Focus three weeks ago. This will be published soon on the TAP website.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ro2CKbfKkuLqYhV0VnZ6lFh3vGEGXaC76s7_XPqxLZM/edit?usp=sharing-- 

FRIDAY: Jan 8 Activist Dinner and Show in Asbury Park, NJ

Friday, Jan 8: 

Activist Dinner and Indie Rock Show in Asbury Park, NJ

Our Goal:

Inspire YOUR Congressional Rep to Have Courage

Educate Congress on the 28 Pages, 9/11 Transparency Issue, and Pass HR 14.

Pressure your New Jersey Congressional representatives in the House and Senate to support and pass HR 14 or Senate Bill 1471. This is our moment for truth and democracy.

How We Win:

Already, citizens in New York City and nation-wide have written letters, asked for meetings, and met with Congressional representatives, to pass HR 14.
Now, it’s time for New Jersey citizens to reach out. 

Meet fellow NJ activists, write letters and send them, Friday Jan. 8, right on the spot.
Get organized, by local congressional district, to follow-up and meet with your Congressional representatives.

Background:

Enough is ENOUGH. It’s been 15 years of cover-up with 9/11. But now we’ve got mainstream media coverage, and a bill in Congress. We have a nation-wide effort starting up right now to pass HR 14, and Senate Bill 1471 and “Release the 28 Pages!”

H. R. 14 aims to declassify and release 28 pages that were redacted (or actually excised, according to Rep. Steven Lynch) from the “Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001”  which is an 860 page report written in 2002, prior to the formation of the 9/11 Commission. Former Senator Robert Graham, (D-FL), who was chair of the Joint Inquiry, has been demanding its release since 2003, including FOIA requests to the Obama administration — all to no avail. It's up to us. 

Next Meeting: WHAT, WHEN AND WHERE:

FRIDAY - -    Jan 8 Activist Dinner and Indie Rock Show

6:30 PM 

Kim Marie's Eat n Drink Away

1411 Kingsley Street Asbury Park, NJ 07712

http://www.kimmarieseatndrinkaway.com/home.html

Menu here.

RSVP: sanderhicksdotcom@gmail.com

To be followed by an inspiring political performance by Sander Hicks and White Collar Crime, down the street, at Wonder Bar, doors at 7:30 PM, WCC show at 9 PM. 

Show will feature White Collar Crime's song “No Conspiracy Theory” a toe-tapping pop-punk anthem sure to inspire you to take action against war, state terror, and lies. Also on the bill: Broken Arrow and AciD.

Lyrics:

No Conspiracy Theory

"No Conspiracy Theory?"

Just a set of facts you don’t want to hear

It’s like Cassandra of Troy

is still alive in my ears

You don’t want to know you don’t want to see

But more and more people are coming to believe.

How did those Towers fall?

Were there bombs in the walls?

What melted all that steel?

The Government lives off your trust

So please don’t test the dust

The War on Terror is the 

war on the real

"No Conspiracy Theory"

Just a set of facts you don’t want to hear

It’s like Cassandra of Troy

is spitting her truth into your ears

You don’t want to know you don’t want to see

But more and more people are coming to believe.

And you let ‘em search your bag

just for riding on their filthy subway

the Bill of Rights did not call in sick today

and the psychotic war machine

lives on a fuel of lies

you could take this slingshot, spread the truth

hit the Giant right between the eyes.

No, your problem is that think 

it’s still the 50’s

You’ve got this image in your head of normality

You’d like to think this country 

is all about democracy

So you believe the lies they taught you to believe

And No Conspiracy Theories

Just a set of facts you don’t want to hear

It’s like Cassandra of Troy

is spitting her truth into your ears

You don’t want to know you don’t want to see

But more and more people are coming to believe.

Who shot the Kennedys?

Yo Mick Jagger

It was not “you and me”

Morales and Campbell

watched as RFK fell

The same CIA spooks

shot Jack as well

The cover-up will end at the gates of Hell.