Dorothy Day Catholic Worker–Thomas Drake to Speak At Dorothy Day Catholic Worker on Friday, February 7, 2020 @7:30 p.m.

Speaking Truth to Power: Withering Away of our Constitutional Republic? – The National Security State, Surveillance, Privacy and You

Speaker: Thomas Drake

Date: Friday, February 7, 2020 @ 7:30 p.m.

Place: Dorothy Day Catholic Worker: 503 Rock Creek Church Rd. NW, Washington, DC, 20010

Mr. Drake will provide a provocative peek from both a personal and professional perspective at our post 9/11 world increasingly characterized by the national security state, the de-evolution of democracy, the erosion of our inalienable rights and liberties as well as the rise of technocracy as threats to our individual sovereignty and agency as people. With the post 9/11 rise of the leviathan national security state, the rule of law in the United States under the Constitution is increasingly ruled by secrecy, surveillance and executive fiat under the guise and veil of safety and “protecting” America. He will also explore the nexus of secrecy, transparency, technology, privacy, anonymity, Internet and the law as well as actions people can take to deal with the reality of the growing corporate and government surveillance state and its clear and present danger to human rights, liberty and freedom around the world in both our off- and on-line lives.

Thomas Drake is a former senior executive at the National Security Agency, where he blew the whistle on massive multi-billion dollar fraud, the widespread violations of the rights of citizens through secret mass surveillance programs after 9/11, and critical 9/11 intelligence failures. In 2010, he was charged under the draconian Espionage Act for his oath to support and defend the U.S. Constitution. In 2011, the government’s case against him collapsed and he went free in a plea deal.  He is featured in the “Silenced” documentary as well as the U.S. PBS Frontline special “The United States of Secrets”. 

In 2017, Drake received his PhD in public policy and administration. His dissertation “Eyewitness to History in Devolution of Democracy and Constitutional Rights Following 9/11” focused on the centrality of the post-9/11 security driven world and the price paid by those who speak truth about the abuse power and the erosion of our rights and freedoms. He speaks widely on privacy and security issues and the critical need to protect our inalienable human rights. Mr. Drake has a varied career background that includes teaching, information technology, systems and software engineering, code analysis and military and intelligence experience. He is now dedicated to the defense of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. He currently works as a Pro for Apple.

Please Join Us! 

For more info contact the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker: 202-882-9649,   artlaffin@hotmail.com

Published in: on January 24, 2020 at 6:10 pm  Leave a Comment  

Bishop Gumbleton’s Statement

 

From Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, A Call to Catholics: Let Us End Our Complicity in War

Once again, information has surfaced regarding United States governmental efforts to mislead and misinform people about disgraceful, cruel destruction caused by a United States war of choice against people who meant the U.S. no harm. In the Afghanistan Papers, the United States government officials acknowledged, privately, their own uncertainty about why they were going to war against Afghanistan in 2001. The trove of newly released documents about the 18-year war unmasked yemars of high-level deceit and deliberate efforts to obfuscate realities on the ground in Afghanistan.

The United States War on Terrorism began in 2001. A decade earlier, the U.S. invaded and bombed Iraq, following the aerial attacks with an economic war which cost the lives, through sanctions, of hundreds of thousands of children. In 2002, the U.S. invaded Iraq under false pretenses, sparking a vicious civil war, destroying the country’s infrastructure, harrowing the ground for Al-Qaeda in Iraq and the rise of ISIS, and turning the country into a bloodbath which continues to this day.

United States wars have literally set the Middle East on fire. Several million people in the Middle East and North Africa have been killed, and tens of millions maimed, traumatized, and made into refugees.

Over the last 19 years United States forces have detained tens of thousands of people in dozens of countries. Prisoners  have suffered ghastly torture, and some will remain at Guantanamo Bay without trial until they die.

The U.S. has killed untold numbers of civilians by unmanned aerial drones, bombing raids, cruise missile attacks, and special operations missions in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia—also in Syria and Yemen. The U.S.  toppled the Libyan government leading to years of violent chaos. In all of these places, United States war-making has helped cause humanitarian catastrophes.

Rather than follow the lead of the Vatican and other states that have signed and ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,  the U.S. now exacerbates a new nuclear arms race by upgrading every warhead and delivery system, along with every production and command and control site in the nuclear weapons complex.  

This tragic pattern of killing and destroying begs the question of our responsibility as Catholic followers of Christ. The endless War on Terrorism has fallen short of the Church’s Just War requirements on multiple fronts. Likewise, United States nuclear weapons policy, which targets the world’s children, falls short of Just War requirements. I call on Catholics in the military, including chaplains, as well as all who work for the military or any branch of the armaments industry to heed Pope Francis’s call to set aside the futility of war. All Catholics should refuse to kill and should refuse cooperation with United States wars. Catholic taxpayers should make every effort to avoid paying for war and weapons. Rather, embrace Jesus, who calls us to love our enemies, put up the sword, and take up the cross.

 

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton
Archdiocese of Detroit
January 10, 2020

 

For more info see: https://www.bishopgumbleton.com/

Published in: on January 14, 2020 at 10:41 pm  Leave a Comment  

NO Clarification of Thought Speaker at Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in January 2020– Please Support Witness Against Torture Events

Dear Friends,

There will NOT be a speaker at the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker in January.   

Forty men are still being held by the U.S. military at the Guantanamo Bay Prison. We encourage people to support the Witness Against Torture Fast for Justice from January 7-12 (Fast Ends Jan. 11) calling for the closing of Guantanamo and an end to torture and indefinite detention.  

For a schedule of events please see:

http://www.witnessagainsttorture.com/2019/12/18/schedule-2020-fast-for-justice/
In Focus Schedule – 2020 Fast for Justice. WITNESS AGAINST TORTURE. FAST FOR JUSTICE SCHEDULE. JANUARY 7 THROUGH 12, 2020. Always still in flux until it happens, here is a basic framework.

We especially encourage you to attend the January 11th Coalition Rally Commemorating 18 years of Guantanamo and to demand that Guantanamo be closed: Saturday, January 11, 2020 at 1:00 PM in Lafayette Park across from the White House. 

Witness Against Torture, New York, New York. 6,219 likes · 31 talking about this. Founded in 2005 when 25 Americans traveled to Guantánamo to call for its closing, WAT calls for an end to torture…

Please check the WAT web site daily for ALL events and possible schedule changes. 

We wish you every good blessing in this New Year.

 

In peace and hope,

Dorothy Day Catholic Worker

Published in: on January 1, 2020 at 10:17 am  Leave a Comment