All posts by Shane Pekny

What to do now: Sustained protest and organizing

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From the Green Party US:

“The Green Party and Green candidates and activists represented political revolution throughout the 2016 election year. We’ll continue to do so during the next four years and beyond,” said Jill Stein, the Green Party’s 2016 nominee for president.

“For Greens, political revolution means supporting front lines of struggle from Black Lives Matter, to pipeline blockades, ending immigrant deportations and bailing out students. It also means fighting Sen. Charles Schumer’s corporate tax break proposal as well as the Trump-Pence agenda. It means offering a Green alternative to neoliberalism, white supremacy, and the two-party political establishment that made the election of someone like Donald Trump possible,” said Dr. Stein.

Read the full list of talking points and action plans from Greens around the country.

Nebraskans demand that their State Troopers come home from North Dakota

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Nebraskans who don’t want this state’s troopers responding to anti-pipeline protests in North Dakota slid a wad of petition signatures through the Governor’s Mansion gates Monday.

The two petitions contained names of more than 29,000 people calling for Gov. Pete Ricketts to bring the troopers home, said organizer Joseph Hams, a 21-year-old University of Nebraska-Lincoln student.

“At the very least, I hope he recycles them,” Hams said of the petitions, joking. He added, “I hope that he’s moved by how many people were offended by his actions.”

Thousands of Nebraskans along with people from other states and countries signed the online petitions, one started by Hams and the other by Bold Nebraska.

Read the full story.

Check out Election Central from the Green Party US

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From the Green Party US:

Check out Election Central from the national Green Party all day on election day and into the evening. You can:

Go to Election Central.

Mother Jones on Gov. Ricketts vs. the Retain campaign

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From Mother Jones:

On May 20, 2015, the Nebraska state Legislature voted to repeal the state’s death penalty. When the Republican governor, Pete Ricketts, vetoed the legislation six days later, the Legislature overrode his veto. It was an extraordinary move, making Nebraska the first solidly conservative state in more than 40 years to end the death penalty.

But the victory for death penalty opponents was short-lived. Having failed in his role as governor to protect the death penalty, Ricketts worked to reinstate it in a different capacity: As a man of deep pockets. Ricketts and his billionaire father, Republican megadonor Joe Ricketts, spent $300,000 on an effort to collect enough signatures to put the death penalty question to voters, in the form of a referendum on November 8. The governor donated another $100,000 this fall to fund a campaign to sway voters to reinstate the death penalty.

Read the full story at Mother Jones.

Nebraskans stand with those at Standing Rock

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From the Lincoln Journal Star:

Flashing signs that read “We Stand with Standing Rock, #NoDAPL” and “Can’t Drink Oil,” about 200 Nebraskans rallied Saturday afternoon at the state Capitol to oppose a controversial pipeline being constructed more than 400 miles away.

Should it be completed, the Dakota Access oil pipeline will run underground in close proximity to the Missouri River, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s main water source. It also would require tearing apart land the tribe considers sacred burial grounds.

Protests escalated last weekend when demonstrators set up camp on private land along the pipeline’s path, and more than 140 people were arrested Thursday.

Quieter protests continued Friday and Saturday.

Lincoln’s rally and march were organized by a 17-year-old high school student.

Read the full story.

Get Your Stein/Baraka Yard Sign

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Yard signs for Stein/Baraka are available:

  • IN OMAHA: Pick up signs any day after 7:15 p.m. at 2028 N. 65th Avenue. Phone Dave at (402) 570-2187 to make special arrangements if necessary.
  • IN LINCOLN: Phone Charise Grimes, (402) 720-6760, if you’re in Northeast Lincoln, or phone Mj, (402) 489-0598, in Central Lincoln.

Meet the first U.S. death-row exoneree and support the Retain campaign Nov. 1 in Omaha

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From Retain A Just Nebraska:

Please join us on Tuesday, November 1, from 5 to 6:45 p.m. for a reception with death row exoneree, Kirk Bloodsworth. A screening of the documentary Bloodsworth: An Innocent Man about his life will follow the reception.

An honorably discharged former Marine, Mr. Bloodsworth is the first person in the United States exonerated from death row by DNA testing. In 1984, he was arrested for the rape and murder of nine-year-old Dawn Hamilton. He was sentenced to death in Baltimore County, Maryland, in 1985. Kirk was released from death row in 1993 after DNA tests incontrovertibly established his innocence.

  • WHEN: 5:00 pm – 6:45 pm on Tuesday, November 1, 2016
  • WHERE: The Session Room, 1506 Mike Fahey Street, Omaha
  • COST: $50 suggested donation, $35 for young professionals

Mr. Bloodsworth will join us at the reception. Following that, there will be a screening of the film about his experience on death row at Film Streams, which is just around the corner from The Session Room, followed by a Q &A with him.

Learn more and RSVP.

Join Jill Stein and fellow Greens for the final “presidential” “debate”

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From Jill2016.com:

Over 75% of Americans want open debates.

However, the Commission on Presidential Debates, run by former Republican and Democratic party officials, has chosen to exclude Jill Stein from the presidential debates. As we have demonstrated with the previous two debates, this does not stop the Stein/Baraka campaign from speaking truth to power. We have been inserting Jill’s responses in each debate and livestreaming it to #BreakTheBlackout. We’ll do it again during the third, and final, presidential debate on October 19th. We’ll also follow the debate with a live Q&A session, open to all. Join us!

Read more and join the Facebook Live Q&A with Jill Stein.

Annual Peace Conference Oct. 29 in Omaha

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From Nebraskans for Peace:

Plan to attend Nebraskans for Peace’s Annual Peace Conference. Senator Ernie Chambers, Dr. Richard Miller, and ​Professor John Hibbing will be keynote speakers:

  • Saturday, October 29
  • 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
  • Augustana Lutheran Church, 38th Sreet and Lafayette Avenue, Omaha

The 2016 Annual Peace Conference promises to be one of the best in our storied 46-year history. You can attend this all-day event (lunch included) for just $20. You can register for the conference by contacting the NFP State Office directly at nfpstate (at) nebraskansforpeace.org or (402) 475-4620.

The eight workshops are about Combating Climate Change, Stopping the Nuclear Arms Race, Our Criminal Justice System, The Latest on Whiteclay, Public Policy & Black Lives Matter, Getting To Know Our Muslim Neighbors, Crisis in Syria and Iraq, and The Political & Economic Prowess of the 1%.

Check out the full details, including the schedule and registration form.

People’s Film Festival in Omaha Oct. 17

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The next People’s Film Festival event is this coming Monday, Oct. 17, held as always at 7 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, 31st and Harney streets. The theme will be the death penalty, and two short films will be shown. The first is the award-winning documentary Stones, which explores the death penalty in Nebraska. The second is a film clip from Democracy Now! that deals with two people, one from Ireland and one from the United States. “It is a story you will marvel at and also be uplifted by,” says Steve Horn. “It ought to put a stake through the heart of those who insist on blind retribution.”