November, 12 2013, 03:11pm EDT

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Tony Newman, 646.335.5384, tonynewmanpr@gmail.com
Noor Mir, 845.625.3725, noor@codepink.org
Medea Benjamin, 415.235.6517, medea@codepink.org
- See more at: http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=6521#sthash.3svghqB8.dpuf
DC Global Drone Summit: Momentum Building Against Killer and Spy Drones
Friday: National Press Club Event and White House Rally and March to Drone Manufacturer Headquarters
WASHINGTON
For the first time ever, a Yemeni delegation of drone strike victims' family members, human rights experts and Yemeni political leaders will be visiting the US as part of the Global Drone Summit. Faisal Gaber, whose family members were killed by U.S. drones, will ask President Obama for an apology. The delegation will speak at the Friday press conference and at the Drone Summit on Saturday from 1:30pm-3:30pm.
Their visit follows in the wake of the shocking new reports on the impact of US drone strikes put out by the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and a recent US visit by Pakistani drone strike survivors. Yemen is now the number one target for US drone strikes, and the heart-breaking story of the death of Faisal Gaber's family members is detailed in the Human Rights Watch report.
The Global Drone Summit will bring together hundreds of people from across the US and around the world to discuss strategies to stop the proliferation of drones used for killing and spying. It is organized by the peace group CODEPINK, along with the Institute for Policy Studies, The Nation Magazine, Center for Constitutional Rights, and National Lawyers Guild (Georgetown Chapter).
In addition to the Yemeni delegation, the Summit will include drone pilots, legal experts, human rights advocates, authors, technology experts, artists and grassroots activists.
On Friday, November 15 at noon, CODEPINK is organizing a protest march from the White House to the headquarters of drone manufacturer General Atomics, and a day of congressional lobbying and actions on Monday, November 18. These actions will build on hundreds of recent protests at drone bases, CIA, Pentagon, White House and drone manufacturers as the anti-drone movement has gained rapid momentum.
Press Conference
Time: Friday, November 15, 11:00am
Location: National Press Club, 529 14th St., NW, DC
Speakers: Faisal bin Ali Gaber, whose brother-in-law (an anti-al Qaeda cleric) and 21-year-old nephew were killed in drone strike; Entesar Al Qadhi, prominent female Yemeni politician from drone strike area; Baraa Shiban, youth representative for National Dialogue Conference and drone investigator for human rights group Reprieve UK; Medea Benjamin, CODEPINK cofounder and author of Drone Warfare.
White House Rally and March to Drone Manufacturer General Atomics HQ
Time: Friday, November 15, 12:00pm-1:30pm
Location: Rally at White House, march to General Atomics (1899 Pennsylvania Ave, NW)
Summit: Drones Around the Globe: Proliferation and Resistance
Time: Saturday, 9 am to 6 pm and Sunday, 9 am to 5 pm
Location: Georgetown Law Center, Hart Auditorium, 600 New Jersey Avenue, NW DC
The Summit's program will include:
* Opening Remarks by Dr. Cornel West
* Victims' Testimonies: Honoring Voices, Acknowledging Lives
* Drone Operators: Commanding the Machines
* I Spy: Drones and the Surveillance State
* Compensation: Helping with Loss
* Global Action to Regulate Drones: The United Nations and the International Movement
* Creative Resistance to Drone Warfare, Art and Poetry From Around the World
* Film screenings throughout the weekend
* Workshops on Sunday for direct action training, street theater, social media and student organizing
* Speakers include international law expert Mary Ellen O'Connell, author of Drone Warfare Medea Benjamin, Retired Colonel Ann Wright, UK/Europe drone expert Chris Cole, renowned British scientist Noel Sharkey, and creator of DroneStream Josh Begley.
The Yemeni delegates and other speakers are available for individual interviews.
- See more at: https://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=6521#sthash.3svghqB8.dpuf
CODEPINK is a women-led grassroots organization working to end U.S. wars and militarism, support peace and human rights initiatives, and redirect our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming programs.
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"Trump's ongoing meme grift squats at the crest of his mountain of conflicts, corruptions, and debasements of the presidency," said one watchdog.
May 06, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump used his social media accounts on Monday to promote a scheduled private dinner for the top holders of the $TRUMP meme coin, effectively soliciting purchases of the crypto token that now accounts for a substantial portion of his net worth.
On both X and TruthSocial, Trump posted a promotional image for the May 22 "gala dinner," which will be held at his private golf club in Virginia. Only the top 220 investors in $TRUMP will get a seat at the dinner; the top 25 holders are promised a "VIP White House tour."
The meme coin's website displays a leaderboard with the usernames of the top holders, one of whom appears to be Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun. Earlier this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paused a fraud case against Sun after he purchased tens of millions of dollars worth of tokens from World Liberty Financial—the Trump family's crypto venture.
The Trump family's net worth has reportedly grown by $2.9 billion over just the past six months thanks to crypto-related investments, and creators of the president's meme coin have raked in hundreds of millions from trading fees as people rush to purchase access to Trump. Late last month, a shipping logistics firm announced that it planned to purchase $20 million worth of $TRUMP coins as it seeks tariff relief.
"Those responsible for upholding the law, from federal prosecutors to members of Congress, can only ignore this at the expense of their own personal legacies."
The watchdog group Public Citizen said Monday that Trump's promotion of the private dinner for investors in his meme coin "is a crime with no immunity."
"Federal criminal law (18 U.S.C. § 201; 5 C.F.R. § 2635) forbids the president from soliciting gifts; as this is not a presidential act, he does not enjoy immunity from prosecution," the group noted, alluding to the U.S. Supreme Court's sweeping immunity decision last year.
Bartlett Naylor, Public Citizen's financial policy advocate, said in a statement that "Trump's ongoing meme grift squats at the crest of his mountain of conflicts, corruptions, and debasements of the presidency."
"Those responsible for upholding the law, from federal prosecutors to members of Congress, can only ignore this at the expense of their own personal legacies," said Naylor, who co-authored a Monday letter imploring the Justice Department and Office of Government Ethics (OGE) to "intervene and end these gift solicitations."
The dinner giveaway is so brazenly corrupt that it's raising eyebrows even among some of Trump's Republican allies in the Senate.
"This is my president that we're talking about, but I am willing to say that this gives me pause," said Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) last week.
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This is a breaking story… Please check back for possible updates...
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ended a week of speculation on Monday by announcing that she will not seek the ranking member position on the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The New York Democrat, who last year ran for ranking member and lost to Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), told reporters, "It's actually clear to me that the underlying dynamics in the caucus have not shifted with respect to seniority as much as I think would be necessary, so I believe I'll be staying put at Energy and Commerce."
Ocasio-Cortez has recently been crisscrossing the country with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for his Fighting Oligarchy Tour. Nationally, the 35-year-old progressive is seen as a possible primary challenger to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and even a potential future presidential candidate.
Politico's Nicholas Wu noted last week that if Ocasio-Cortez declined to run for the committee post, "a number of young, ambitious members could mount bids, including Reps. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, Ro Khanna of California, Maxwell Frost of Florida, and Robert Garcia of California."
Connolly, now 75, sought the House leadership role despite an esophageal cancer diagnosis he disclosed in November. Last Monday, he said in a letter to constituents that "I want to begin by thanking you for your good wishes and compassion as I continue to tackle my diagnosis. Your outpouring of love and support has given me strength in my fights—both against cancer and in our collective defense of democracy."
"When I announced my diagnosis six months ago, I promised transparency," Connolly continued. "After grueling treatments, we've learned that the cancer, while initially beaten back, has now returned. I'll do everything possible to continue to represent you and thank you for your grace."
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An internationally acclaimed digital news outlet in El Salvador said Monday that the administration of Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is preparing to arrest a number of its journalists following the publication of an interview with two former gang leaders who shed new light on a power-sharing agreement with the U.S.-backed leader and self-described "world's coolest dictator."
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Bukele responded to the interview in a Friday evening post on the social media site X that read in part, "It's clear that a country at peace, without deaths, without extortion, without bloodshed, without corpses every day, without mothers mourning their children, is not profitable for human rights NGOs, nor for the globalist media, nor for the elites, nor for [George] Soros."
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As El Faro reported:
At the heart of the threat of arrests is irony: El Faro was only able to interview the two Revolucionarios because they escaped El Salvador with the complicity of Bukele.
One, who goes by "Liro Man," recounts that he was taken to Guatemala, through a blind spot in the Salvadoran border, by Bukele gang negotiator Carlos Marroquín; the other, Carlos Cartagena, or "Charli," was arrested on a warrant in April 2022, early in the state of exception, but quickly released after the police received a call at the station and backed off.
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"We've wanted to talk about this for a long time, for the simple reason that the government beats their chests and says, 'We're anti-gang, we don't want this scourge,'" Liro Man told El Faro. "But they forgot that they made a deal with us, and you were the first to get this out."
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