Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 28, 2013 0:00:14 GMT -8
Chelsea Manning's attorney David Coombs will speak and answer questions in Santa Monica on Sunday, December 8, at 7 p.m. at the Church in Ocean Park, 235 Hill St. Courage to Resist's Private Manning Support Network is hosting the fundraiser along with seven local groups, including Veterans for Peace-Los Angeles, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, the ANSWER Coalition and CODEPINK Los Angeles. All three of Coombs' West Coast appearances are detailed on this webpage: www.privatemanning.org/featured/pvt-manning-attorney-to-speak-in-la-oakland-seattleThe official L.A. flyer has a phone number for more information: (213) 880-3065. |
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anni
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Post by anni on Dec 5, 2013 9:54:03 GMT -8
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Post by Brian on Dec 9, 2013 0:49:22 GMT -8
Anni and I went to Santa Monica on Sunday to hear David Coombs, and we were very glad that we did. We learned that Chelsea Manning was in good spirits and that she was doing well in prison -- working a job from 9 to 5, part of the general population that largely accepts her and able to make phone calls with a calling card that Coombs keeps funded, including three to him on Sunday but more typically two or three times a week. Manning and Coombs have become friends in the past three years. Perhaps the attorney's greatest gift to us was his picture of Chelsea's growth as a human being of great courage and principle. I think that she is poised to become a figure like Nelson Mandela in prison for those of us who crave truth. Coombs' West Coast tour is sponsored by Courage to Resist, which started the Private Manning Support Network in 2010. They're trying to raise $40,000 to pay for Chelsea's relatives to travel to visit her, allow her to take college courses and potentially treat her gender dysphoria. For various legal reasons, the appeal process will not start for another year or even longer. Her first chance for parole is February 2, 2020. The announced total of the contributions collected was only $1,246, meaning that Anni and I gave ten percent, which is sad. I counted roughly 70 people in the room who weren't speakers or event organizers, so the average donation was $18 per person. We hope they do better in Oakland and Seattle. |
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Post by Brian on Dec 15, 2013 1:07:22 GMT -8
More of my notes from David Coombs' talk in Santa Monica last weekend: - No individual is more responsible for the absence of U.S. troops in Iraq today than Chelsea Manning. The information she released in 2010 led the Iraqi prime minister to require that U.S. troops be subject to Iraq's laws against crimes like murder and torture if they stayed into 2011. A President of the United States, of course, could not agree to that.
- The Private Manning Support Network and its many contributors, who fully funded Manning's legal fees to Coombs, can be thanked for helping Coombs achieve the not guilty verdict on aiding the enemy. If Chelsea had been convicted on that charge, she would have been sentenced to life imprisonment.
- Chelsea was quoted retainers in the $300,000 to $500,000 range when she was shopping for lawyers. Coombs received a lot less. Before the trial, the prosecution offered more time in a plea deal than Chelsea wound up receiving in her sentence if she would testify against any potential defendants, presumably that WikiLeaks guy living comfortably in London's Ecuadoran embassy.
- Among the local event cosponsors, Veterans for Peace-Los Angeles and the ANSWER coalition were well represented, but I saw no evidence of anyone from CODEPINK Los Angeles in the room. CODEPINK LA sent me no e-mail reminders, so I have to wonder why the Private Manning Support Network ever mentioned them.
- The Army should issue its decision on whether to allow Chelsea to begin hormone therapy and to legally change her name early in 2014. If the government denies her, Coombs said, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Southern Poverty Law Center will assist him in the subsequent appropriate legal actions.
Most importantly, Coombs confirmed that the government offered no evidence in the top secret trial sessions that Private Manning did any harm to the United States of America, whether in lives or in dollars, by releasing the less than top secret files to the world. |
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Post by anni on Dec 16, 2013 8:48:13 GMT -8
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Dec 22, 2013 2:28:37 GMT -8
Montrose Peace Vigil as a group fully came out for Chelsea Manning in the autumn of 2011, when we organized a free meal during one of our vigils to raise money for her defense. Roberta got our weekly vigils listed on the Events page maintained by Courage to Resist, the Oakland based organization behind the Private Manning Support Network. Every Montrose Peace Vigil through 2014 had its own page on their website with a map and a reply form for comments. Even though the time was wrong, we could reply to questions posted. We met new friends on the corner and, eventually, someone straighted out the weekly listings. Then the reply form quit functioning. Still, each webpage had our name, the right date, time span, address and a Google map, so I always linked it in my weekly postings on the message board calendar. But clearly, the Events section of the Private Manning Support Network was moribund. I spoke to Emma of Courage to Resist at the Chelsea Manning fundraiser in Santa Monica this month, and her best suggestion was to explain how their website doesn't work to a guy named Owen and send a copy to her. Then last Friday, all of the Events listings were reduced to this: www.privatemanning.org/eventsNo events have been registered. Let's see what Emma does with the official Events page before deciding how our weekly vigils fit. |
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