June, 15 2011, 01:05pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Keith McHenry  Food Not Bombs Global Coordination Office
575-770-3377
Benjamin Markeson with Orlando Food Not Bombs
407-252-1379
www.orlandofoodnotbombs.org
Shayan Elahi  - Orlando Food Not Bombs Attorney
407-902-5282
floridaattorney@gmail.com
Volunteers Could Be Arrested Today for Sharing Free Meals with the Hungry
Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko and Mayor Buddy Dyer are alone in arresting Food Not Bombs volunteers.
ORLANDO, FL
Orlando Food Not Bombs presented a letter to Buddy Dyer on Monday requesting a meeting but has not yet heard from the mayor. The City of Orlando has made a total of 15 arrested this June tarnishing the international reputation of Orlando by Mayor Dyers lack of cooperation and compassion. The city failed to send anyone to the mediation ordered by the federal district judge and has ignored all other requests to talk with Food Not Bombs.
Food Not Bombs has been sharing vegan meals with the hungry for over 30 years without media attention. The Orlando chapter has been sharing meals every week since the January of 2005, moving to the current location at Lake Eola Park in May of 2005 when the city asked the group to move from the Rosalind Avenue side of the park. The group was happy to share meals and seek to reach as many people as possible with the message that food is a right and no one should be forced to stand in line to eat at a soup kitchen doing so without media attention. Even now Orlando Food Not Bombs continues to provide for many of the city's hungry while the Mayor attempts to discourage our efforts, locking accuse to water and threatening our sources of organic food. Food Not Bombs is providing meals and groceries in over 1,000 cities each week meeting the needs of thousands of hungry people. So far the only other city trying to silence Food Not Bombs is Minsk, Belarus where dictator Alexander Lukashenko has ordered his police to arrest our volunteers. Who are the real "Food Terrorists?" Dictators and mayors that are arresting people for helping the poor or the good hearted volunteers using their own time and resources to end hunger.
Mayor Buddy Dyer is telling the public that there isn't a problem with hunger in Orlando and that it is unnecessary to seek public support for changes in federal and local policies. Second Harvest in Orlando reported that over 55,000 people required food through their central Florida program. They also reported that 20.7% of the pantries, 10.1% of the kitchens and 33.0% of the shelters responded that they turned away clients during the past year. Their website also shows that 49% of the Central Florida Second Harvest clients had to choose between paying for food and paying for their rent or mortgage. The people eating with Food Not Bombs eat with us because they need food. Many must choose between food or housing. Mayor Buddy Dyer and other officials must come to terms with the fact that we are in a crisis and hiding the problem of hunger is not a solution.
This problem is not limited to Orlando. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that over 15 percent of Americans were going with out food each month in 2009. That number has increased. Federal authorities also report that 387,849 new recipients were added to the food stamps program in March 2011. Over 44 million Americans rely on food stamps to feed their families and the number continues to grow. Efforts to organize to end hunger should be supported not arrested. These staggering and painful statistics reflect the failure of priorities. No one should hungry in the world's wealthiest country. Hiding poverty is not the solution.
###
Orlando Food Not Bombs delivers letter to Mayor Buddy Dyer requesting meeting.
https://www.foodnotbombs.net/letter_to_mayor_received.pdf
Weapons of Mass Dining (witness the terror here! )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgQDwtq16Es
The Minsk police declared the distribution of food in the poor 'unsanctioned action'
LATEST NEWS
Israel Aid Bill Fails in House as Progressives Slam 'Blank Check for Netanyahu'
"Each U.S.-made or funded bomb dropped in Gaza further jeopardizes the chances of long-lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians," said Rep. Delia Ramirez.
Feb 07, 2024
A Republican effort to push through a standalone military aid package for Israel failed to clear the U.S. House on Tuesday, with members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus condemning the proposed $17.6 billion in unconditional assistance for a government that stands accused on the world stage of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The legislation, which President Joe Biden threatened to veto if it reached his desk, needed two-thirds support to pass the House under a suspension of the rules. The final tally was 250 to 180, with 166 Democrats and 14 Republicans voting no.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said in a statement that "under no circumstances" could she have voted for the legislation, which House Republican leaders sought to advance ahead of the Senate's planned procedural vote on a broader package that includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine and a border agreement that would dramatically weaken asylum protections.
"The death toll in Gaza continues to rise. Gazans are starving," Ramirez said late Tuesday. "Over 1.5 million people have been displaced. Hostilities between the U.S. and Iran are escalating. And just this morning, The New York Times reported that one-fifth of the hostages still in captivity since the start of the conflict have likely died. We must change course."
"The supplemental funding proposed, which includes no humanitarian aid for Gaza nor assistance for Ukraine, supports weapons of war and destruction that further jeopardize Israeli hostages and Palestinian civilians," she continued. "Each U.S.-made or funded bomb dropped in Gaza further jeopardizes the chances of long-lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians. I've said it before, and I'll say it now: I will only support actions that bring us closer to peace."
In a brief floor speech ahead of Tuesday's vote, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) described standalone Israel aid legislation as a "blank check for [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu" and other far-right officials seeking the permanent removal of Palestinians from Gaza.
If passed, the aid measure would have allowed the U.S. State Department to waive congressional notification requirements for billions of dollars in U.S. military financing for Israel, which has massacred Gaza civilians with American-made weaponry.
"I will vote no because it is painfully obvious to the entire world that what is needed today is a permanent cease-fire and a release of all hostages," Khannas said. "There come moments in a nation's history when our actions reveal our values. This is such a moment."
I will vote no on the $17 billion aid package which is a blank check to Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir, and the extreme right-wing government in Israel. pic.twitter.com/zILxMsBPYv
— Rep. Ro Khanna (@RepRoKhanna) February 6, 2024
The failure of the Israel aid bill came shortly after House Republicans also fell short in their effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) wrote in response to the Mayorkas vote that "Republicans are deeply disconnected from the people."
"They're not serious about fixing our immigration system, they have no plan to improve folks' lives, and they keep wasting our time with political stunts like these," Pressley added. "This sham, failed impeachment is just the latest example."
Senate Republicans on Wednesday are expected to block consideration of the broader supplemental security package over the border agreement, which they claim isn't sufficiently harsh—a position right in line with that of former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Federal Dicamba Ruling Called 'Vital Victory for Farmers and the Environment'
"The court today resoundingly reaffirmed what we have always maintained: The EPA's and Monsanto's claims of dicamba's safety were irresponsible and unlawful," said one plaintiff.
Feb 06, 2024
In what one plaintiff called "a sweeping victory for family farmers and dozens of endangered plants and animals," a federal court in Arizona on Tuesday rescinded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2020 approval of the highly volatile herbicide dicamba for use on certain genetically engineered crops.
In a 47-page ruling, U.S. District Judge David C. Bury found that the EPA failed to comply with public notice and comment requirements under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), legislation passed in 1947 to protect agricultural workers, consumers, and the environment.
"This is a vital victory for farmers and the environment," said George Kimbrell, legal director at the Center for Food Safety (CFS), a plaintiff in the case. "Time and time again, the evidence has shown that dicamba cannot be used without causing massive and unprecedented harm to farms as well as endangering plants and pollinators."
"The court today resoundingly reaffirmed what we have always maintained: The EPA's and Monsanto's claims of dicamba's safety were irresponsible and unlawful," Kimbrell added.
Dicamba has damaged millions of acres of U.S. cropland since the EPA, during the Trump administration, dubiously approved its use on genetically engineered cotton and soybeans developed by Monsanto, which was acquired by Bayer in 2018.
The EPA subsequently identified spray drift as the main environmental risk for dicamba due to its potential to contaminate nontargeted crops, declaring that since 2016 "there has been a substantial increase in the overall number of reported nontarget plant incidents."
As CFS explained on Tuesday:
In today's decision, the court canceled dicamba's over-the-top use, holding that EPA violated FIFRA's public input requirement prior to the approval. This violation is "very serious," according to the court, especially because the 9th Circuit previously held EPA failed to consider serious risks of over-the-top dicamba in issuing the prior registration. The court outlined the massive damage to stakeholders that were deprived of their opportunity to comment, such as growers that do not use over-the-top dicamba and suffered significant financial losses and states that repeatedly reported landscape-level damage yet, in the same 2020 decision, lost the ability to impose restrictions greater than those imposed by the federal government without formal legislative and/or rulemaking processes. As a result, the court found "the EPA is unlikely to issue the same registrations" again after taking these stakeholders' concerns into account.
"We are grateful that the court held the EPA and Monsanto accountable for the massive damage from dicamba to farmers, farmworkers, and the environment, and halted its use," Lisa Griffith of the National Family Farm Coalition—another plaintiff in the case—said in a statement Tuesday. "The pesticide system that Monsanto sells should not be sprayed as it cannot be sprayed safely."
Tuesday's decision in Arizona follows a July 2022 ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis that found Monsanto and BASF were liable for damage to a Missouri peach farmer's groves caused by dicamba.
A 2021 EPA report revealed that high-ranking Trump administration officials intentionally excluded scientific evidence of dicamba-related hazards, including the risk of widespread drift damage, before reapproving the dangerous chemical. A separate EPA report described the widespread harm to farmers and the environment caused by dicamba during the 2020 growing season.
"Every summer since the approval of dicamba, our farm has suffered significant damage to a wide range of vegetable crops," said Rob Faux, a farmer and communications manager at the advocacy group Pesticide Action Network, a case plaintiff. "Today's decision provides much-needed and overdue protection for farmers and the environment."
Keep ReadingShow Less
In 'Send-a-Message Verdict,' Jury Finds School Shooter's Mother Guilty
"When adult gun owners allow children unsupervised access to unsecured weapons, it's criminal negligence—not an accident."
Feb 06, 2024
Gun control advocates and at least one victim's father on Tuesday welcomed the landmark guilty verdict in the case of Jennifer Crumbley, whose teenage son Ethan Crumbley murdered four Michigan high school students and wounded seven other people in a 2021 shooting.
"Today's verdict underscores the important responsibility of parents and gun owners in preventing children from having unsupervised access to deadly weapons," said Nick Suplina, senior vice president of law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety.
"Plain and simple, the deadly shooting at Oxford High School in 2021 should have—and could have—been prevented had the Crumbleys not acquired a gun for their 15-year-old son," he continued. "This decision is an important step forward in ensuring accountability and, hopefully, preventing future tragedies."
A Michigan jury found the mother guilty of four counts of involuntary manslaughter, one for each person killed. Each count has a maximum sentence of 15 years, meaning she faces up to 60 years behind bars. Sentencing is scheduled for April 9.
Her husband, James Crumbley, is set to go to trial next month for the same manslaughter charges. Their son, who is now 17, previously pleaded guilty to murder and terrorism charges and is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Jennifer and James Crumbley are the first U.S. parents to be tried on manslaughter charges for their child's mass shooting. They not only bought their son a pistol but are accused of failing to keep it secured and ignoring his mental health struggles. On the stand, Jennifer Crumbley did not deny that her son had told "his only friend" that he asked her for help and she laughed at him.
As The Associated Pressreported Tuesday:
On the morning of November 30, 2021, school staff members were concerned about a violent drawing of a gun, bullet, and wounded man, accompanied by desperate phrases, on Ethan Crumbley's math assignment. His parents were called to the school for a meeting, but they didn't take the boy home.
A few hours later, Ethan Crumbley pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot 10 students and a teacher. No one had checked the backpack.
According to the AP, "The words with the disturbing drawing said: 'The thoughts won't stop. Help me. The world is dead. My life is useless.'"
Ethan Crumbley murdered Madisyn Baldwin, 17; Tate Myre, 16; Justin Shilling, 17; and Hana St. Juliana, 14. Justin Shilling's father, Craig Shilling, on Tuesday welcomed the verdict outside the courtroom and framed the verdict as a signal to all parents.
"We have been asking for accountability across the board, and this is one step towards that," he told NBC News. "I feel that moving forward is not going to be any easier because of what we left behind, but it gives us hope for a brighter future."
"Do your due diligence with your child," he said to parents. "You cannot choose to take your own interest over your child, especially when it comes to mental health."
While Tuesday's "send-a-message verdict" is a first, there have been other cases involving parents. As Mother Jonesdetailed:
Jennifer Crumbley's conviction comes as America's mass shooting epidemic tests new legal terrain in several cases. In November, the father of the Highland Park mass shooter pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct for his role in helping his troubled son submit an application to buy firearms. In December, the mother of a 6-year-old boy who shot his first grade teacher at a Virginia elementary school pleaded guilty to felony child neglect and was sentenced to two years in prison.
To some extent, the prosecutions of the Crumbley parents have eclipsed unanswered questions about the role and possible culpability of the Oxford school district. An independent investigation, long delayed, eventually found that the district failed to follow its own threat assessment policy. (As I reported previously, one egregious error was the failure by school officials to inquire proactively about access to guns once they grew alarmed about the perpetrator's behavior and state of mind.)
Prevention policies generally remain underemphasized and underfunded when it comes to reducing school shootings, even as threat assessment becomes more widely used in public schools.
"The horrific deadly shooting at Oxford High School in 2021 was preventable, and today's verdict sets important precedent moving forward that we hope leads to greater accountability and responsibility for parents and gun owners alike," said NextGen America vice president of communications Antonio Arellano in a statement.
"More than anything, this verdict proves our urgent need for better and stronger gun control policy," he asserted. "The Crumbleys should never have been able to acquire a gun for their 15-year-old son. The time for commonsense gun policies is now, and it starts with Congress taking decisive action to implement an assault weapon ban through legislative action."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular