New Yorkers to protest Steve Bannon and ICE profiteers at the Pierre Hotel

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New York, NY - New Yorkers gathered to protest outside the 2018 Delivering Alpha Conference at the Pierre Hotel on July 18, 2018, where Steve Bannon participated as a speaker, to make clear that his far-right fascist beliefs are not welcome in NYC. The group also protested major investment firms that profit off of detentions and deportations that attended the conference.

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Steve Bannon, former White House Senior Counsel and Executive Chair of Breitbart News in a speech to France’s far-right National Front earlier this year. Echoing rhetoric heard throughout Europe in the 30s and 40s, he told the gathering of modern-day fascists that “the tide of history is with us, and it will compel us to victory after victory after victory.” He encouraged the group to stick to its nationalistic, fascist roots. “Let them call you racists. Let them call you xenophobes. Let them call you nativists,” he implored the crowd. “Wear it as a badge of honor.”

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At a time when millions of people are outraged over the Trump administration’s cruel immigration policies, major banks and money managers that are profiting off of Trump’s detention and deportation machine are getting set to host Steve Bannon, the former Breitbart editor who was a key architect of Trump’s rise to power and served as his top advisor.

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Bannon will be be speaking at the Delivering Alpha 2018 conference on Wednesday, July 18th. The conference, co-hosted by CNBC and Institutional Investor, will be held at the The Pierre in New York City 

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Delivering Alpha sells itself as a gathering of top asset managers aimed at “tackling the critical issues facing investors in the economy.” Top executives from a host of Wall Street firms will be participating, including several that directly profit off of Trump’s immigration policies, such as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, and Blackstone.

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Bannon, one of the masterminds behind Trump’s rise and his xenophobic agenda, will be interviewed by CNBC’s Michelle Caruso-Cabrera in a late afternoon session titled “Midterms, China and Trump: A Political and Economic Perspective with Steve Bannon.” Bannon’s session will be followed by a cocktail reception, where he and other attendees of the conference will have an opportunity to shmooze.

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It is scandalous that, as immigrant families live in fear across the country, Wall Street executives who profit off of Trump’s detention and deportation machinery are getting set to socialize with a key architect of Trump’s victory who has known white supremacist ties and who helped elevate a crassly xenophobic, racist political agenda to the center of US politics. 

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#AbolishICE #Activism #chingalamigra #DefendTPS #DeportICE #DirectAction #DumpTrump #FamiliesBelongTogether #ICEfreeNY #ICEout #immigration #KeepFamiliesTogether #NewYorkCity #NoBorders #NoHumanIsIlegal #NoICEinNY #NoWall #NYC #ProtectFamilies #RefugeesWelcome #ResistTrump #SanctuaryCity #SteveBannon #StopDeportations #StopICEraids #TakenFromUs 

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963

New York City Joins Nationwide Vigils to Confront Public Corruption and Demand Democracy

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New York, NY - Joining fellow Americans in 70+ cities across the country, concerned citizens in New York City gathered in Times Square on July 18, 2018, at the Confront Corruption and Demand Democracy rally and vigil, to demand accountability from elected officials and confront corruption while bolstering our democracy nationwide. 

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America’s democracy is under increasing attack and citizens will gather in public spaces to take it back. From attacks on the rule of law to conflicts of interest, ethics violations and the flagrant abuse of government offices for personal gain, the corruption of the American government by the President, his associates and many in his party has reached a new, profound low. America’s citizens will be called to action to stand vigil for democracy, and show support for a broad range of reforms to fix our broken republic.

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Officials are trading on the power invested in our institutions for personal and financial gain rather than for the welfare of the American people. From attacks on the Russia investigation to ethics scandals in the highest offices in the land, we must reject attempts to shield corruption from political consequences, public scrutiny, and legal accountability.

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These issues are on top of years of challenges to the basic health of our democracy: from money in politics to attempts to shape congressional districts to manipulate outcomes and laws written intentionally to exclude voters from participating in our democracy. 

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Events Are Designed to Elevate the Importance of Protecting the Mueller Investigation, Confront the Corruption of the Current Administration, and Demand a Democracy that Works for Everyone. Additionally, the Vigils are Part of a Broader Fight Against a Compromised Supreme Court, and Threats to Roe v. Wade and the Affordable Care Act.

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This event is a grassroots, rapid-response event that did not feature speeches or amplified sound. Singers and musicians lead the crowd into songs followed by a moment of silence, a moment of solemnity to contemplate the scale of the problems we face as a country, and a moment to collect our resolve to face them.

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Participants were joined by the following coalitions: Empire State Indivisible, Indivisible Nation BK, Rise and Resist, Indivisible Brooklyn, Action Group Network, Four Freedoms Democratic Club, Caring for Us Indivisible and March for Truth.

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#Activism #collusion #ConfrontCorruption #corruption #DefendDemocracy #DemandDemocracy #demonstration #DirectAction #DonaldTrump #DumpTrump #ErikMcGregor #FakePrez #FirstAmendment #GOP #humanrights #impeach #impeachment #ImpeachTrump #LoveTrumpsHate #MangoMussolini #NewYork #NewYorkCity #NewYorkers #NotMyPresident #NYC #PeacefulProtest #PeacefulResistance #Photography #photojournalism #Protest #ResistTrump #revolution #RiseAndResist #‎Solidarity #StopTheHate #TimesSquare

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963

Zephyr Teachout slams Jared Kushner's attack on kids, lays out plan to protect tenants

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NEW YORK, NY - Zephyr Teachout, candidate for NYS Attorney General presented her Landlord/Tenant Platform outside Austin Nichols House in Williamsburg on July 16, 2018, in response to news reports that 19 tenants are suing Kushner Cos, for harassing them out of their rent stabilized apartments by exposing kids to cancer causing substances and called on other candidates for Attorney General to reject real estate money.

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“The wrong people are in jail. The real estate lobby contributes millions of dollars to New York politicians so they’ll look the other way on the housing crisis. This broken system has cost people their homes, their health, and in some cases, their lives. A mere slap on the wrist is not enough to deter greedy landlords: they must face criminal investigation as well as serious civil penalties. I’m not taking any corporate or LLC money, and I’m calling on the other candidates not to either, so that as Attorney General the public can trust that the chief law enforcement officer in the state will investigate predatory landlords, not protect her donors.” 

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Teachout laid out her tenants rights agenda for the Office of the Attorney General, which includes:

• Creating an ombudsman position, who will be responsible for community engagement with tenant groups, organizers, and individuals, to better source cases and respond to complaints
• Increasing the staff in the Real Estate Finance Bureau 
• Stepping up criminal prosecutions in the Real Estate Enforcement Unit, a team in the Criminal Division dedicated to real estate crimes
• Refusing to accept any campaign money from LLCs, the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY), or real estate lobbyists

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Teachout is the only candidate to refuse corporate money, including LLC contributions, which is the primary way real estate interests abuse campaign finance laws to make big dollar donations. Political donations from the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) and their members account for one tenth of all campaign contributions in New York, a staggering number that puts into perspective the affordable housing crisis in the state. REBNY has consistently backed Senate Republicans, the IDC, and contributions from Real Estate account for a quarter of Governor Cuomo’s 6M January filing. 

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#Activism #AttorneyGeneral #AustinNicholsHouse #Brooklyn #candidate #CorporateGreed #corruption #DefendDemocracy #DemocraticSocialist #JaredKushner #landlord #NewYork #NewYorkState #NYC #NYCDSA #NYSAttorneyGeneral #politics #PressConference #RealEstate #REBNY #slumlord #tenantharassment #tenants #tenantsfightback #Williamsburg #ZephyrForNY #ZephyrTeachout

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963

Cynthia Nixon, candidate for NY Governor, calls for shut down of Spectra AIM Pipeline near Indian Point nuclear power plant

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PEEKSKILL, NY - Cynthia Nixon, Candidate for NY Governor, held a press conference in Peekskill on July 13, 2018; with local community leaders calling on New York State to shut down the Spectra/Enbridge AIM Pipeline. The recently installed 42" diameter fracked gas pipeline, located within 105' of critical safety infrastructure of the aging and failing nuclear power plant. The site also holds 40 years worth of radioactive spent nuclear fuel in overcrowded and inadequate containers. Nixon urged New York Public Service Commission (PSC) to use authority delegated by Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to ensure the shut down of gas through AIM pipeline.

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After granting all necessary permits for the AIM Pipeline, the Governor, amidst ongoing protests and community outrage, ordered four New York state agencies, the Department of State (DOS), the Department of Public Service (DPS), the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and the Department of Health (DOH) to perform an Independent Risk Assessment regarding the co-location of the pipeline and nuclear power plant. Nearly two and half years after commissioning the study and a year and a half since the Spectra/Enbridge AIM Pipeline went into service, the NYS released the executive summary of the risk assessment that acknowledged unanswered questions and echoed years of safety concerns of experts and community members alike.

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“It shouldn’t have taken four state agencies, $250k, and two years to know that it's dangerous to put a high pressure gas pipeline under a nuclear power plant 35 miles north of Manhattan,” said Cynthia Nixon. “Now that Cuomo has finally acknowledged the risks experts and communities have been warning about for years, the state has an obligation to act and ensure public safety, immediately. Thanks to Governor Cuomo's inaction over the past 5 years, the 20 million people that live and work in the 50 mile impact zone around Indian Point are now in jeopardy due to a massive, high pressure, fracked gas pipeline running alongside Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.”

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Following the press conference, local community leader Courtney Williams, PhD and cancer researcher whose family lives 400 feet from the pipeline, gave Ms. Nixon a tour of pipeline and power plant sites and explained their threats to the community and beyond. “I’m so grateful Cynthia Nixon came to Peekskill. It’s one thing to know that there’s a gas pipeline under the power plant or next to the elementary school, but to see it and to speak to those impacted is something else entirely. We here in Peekskill are tired of fighting our own governor to protect us. We need Cynthia Nixon in Albany to stop the flow of gas, ensure there’s no more gas infrastructure at the Indian Point site, and that we have a Citizens Oversight Board to watchdog the process of shutting down Indian Point as safely as possible.”

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After the infrastructure tour, local elementary school students showed Ms. Nixon around their kindergarten Playground, 400 feet from the Spectra/Enbridge AIM pipeline expansion. Irene Lindberg, 8 years old, one of the Buchanan-Verplanck Elementary School students who gave Ms. Nixon the tour said, “I think Cynthia Nixon would be a great governor because she listens to the people, even kids!”

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Following the tours, Ms. Nixon held a small roundtable of local impacted residents and then a meet and greet with a standing-room-only crowd of community members and local elected officials at The Beanrunner Cafe in downtown Peekskill.

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Robert Kesten, Candidate for State Senate 40th District, said “with an incomplete risk assessment, the pipeline needs to be closed down until we can be guaranteed that it is safe for people in the surrounding areas, and I don’t believe that it is a legitimate possibility.”

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Peekskill Common Council passed a resolution in March 2018 calling on Governor Cuomo to release the risk assessment and citing concerns about potential dangers of the co-location of the fracked gas pipeline and the nuclear power plant. Councilmember Colin Smith said, “We are grateful that Ms. Nixon is standing with Peekskill and calling on the state to protect our community and the 20 million New Yorkers who are at potential risk in light of the findings and questions raised by the risk assessment.”

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The decommissioning of Indian Point, set to begin in 2020 and 2021, does not mitigate all the risks associated with the site. Gary Shaw, a leader of Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition said, “The spent fuel storage units at Indian Point are each designed to have a maximum of 264 spent fuel assemblies per unit. As of 2014, one had 1374 assemblies and the second had 1345 assemblies. We need the Governor to act now and to promote a Citizen’s Oversight Board.” 

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The next steps are clear. As Ms. Nixon said, “The Public Service Commission must use all of the power it is delegated by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration to shut down the pipeline until public safety is assured and outstanding questions answered to the satisfaction of the community.”

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#Activism #ActOnClimate #AIMpipeline #ClimateChange #CommunitiesFightBack #CynthiaEffect #CynthiaForNY #CynthiaNixon #DefendPeoplePower #EnergyDemocracy #energyefficiency #EnergyIndependence #FossilFree #Fracking #IndianPoint #KeepItIntheGround #MakeREVreal #NewYork #NoPipelines #OffFossilFuels #Peekskill #ResistAIMpipeline #ResistSpectra #SpectraEnergy #SpectraPipeline #StopAIMpipeline #StopSpectra #WeSayNo #YOUAREHERE

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Zephyr Teachout

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NEW YORK, NY - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the powerhouse insurgent who unseated the 20-year incumbent Joe Crowley in Congressional District 14, announced her endorsement of Zephyr Teachout for Attorney General of the State of New York today in a press conference on July 12, 2018, at the Charging Bull statue in lower Manhattan.

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“Zephyr Teachout showed long before the success of our campaign an unprecedented willingness to stand up to the powerful forces of big money in New York politics. That spirit of independence and strength of will is exactly what we need in an attorney general. Zephyr is the only candidate in this race rejecting corporate money, and for that I commend her and fully endorse her candidacy,” said Ocasio-Cortez.  

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“Alexandria ran a gutsy, grassroots campaign about getting big money out of our politics and lifting up the voices of people left behind. I was so proud to endorse her when it was just the two of us at a flower shop in Queens, and just as proud to have her support now that the world has woken up to the power of fearless women," said Zephyr Teachout.

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#2018 #Activism #AG #AlexandriaOcasioCortez #AttorneyGeneral #candidate #ChargingBull #CorporateGreed #corruption #DefendDemocracy #DemocraticSocialist #ErikMcGregor #NewYork #NewYorkCity #NewYorkers #NewYorkState #NYC #NYCDSA #NYSAttorneyGeneral #Ocasio2018 #Photography #photojournalism #politics #PressConference #WallStreet #ZephyrForNY #ZephyrTeachout

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963

Transgender community members and allies joined the 7th Annual Trans-Latinx March

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New York, NY - Make the Road New York hosted the seventh annual Trans-Latinx March on July 9, 2018. Transgender community members, allies, and elected officials marched through the streets of Jackson Heights to celebrate the diversity of the transgender community while demanding an end to transphobia and homophobia. The transgender community sent a clear message to the Jackson Heights community that Trans people exist and they demand social equality and inclusion. 

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Transgender people are disproportionately the victims of hate violence and discrimination. In Jackson Heights, Queens, over the past two years there have been multiple attacks on trans-latinx women—with more than fifteen attacks last year alone. Trans members of the community and their allies stand united against such actions and, on Monday, will continue to show their resilience. 

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The Trans-Latinx march was preceded by a press conference and followed by a community block party with food and performances.

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Participating Organizations: Make the Road New York, Translatina Network, Community Healthcare Network, ACQC, OASIS LGBTS Wellness Center, New York City Anti-Violence Project, The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center, Colectivo Intercultural TRANSgrediendo, The Trevor Project, GMHC, New York Transgender Advocacy Group, Caribbean Equality Project, and LGBT Network - Queens LGBT Center. 

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#Activism #Community #EndTransphobia #Equality #GayRights #GenderEquality #GenderNonConforming #GNC #humanrights #JacksonHeights #Latinx #LGBTQ #LGBTQLivesMatter #MakeTheRoadNY #march #NewYork #NYC #Pride2018 #ProtectTransLives #Queens #TGNC #Trans #Transgender #TransJustice #TransLiberation #TransLivesMatter #TransMarch #TransRights #TransWomenBelong #WeExist

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963

Civil disobedience outside Trump Tower after Trump announced his SCOTUS nominee

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New York, NY - National Action Network (NAN) leadership and leading activists committed an act non violent civil disobedience outside Trump Tower in New York on July 9, 2018, resisting Trump SCOTUS nominee from day one and call on Senator Chuck Schumer and the Democrats to hold the Line at all costs.

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Trump just nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, setting the stage for a monumental shift in the court’s balance. Here’s what you need to know about him:

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Judge Brett Kavanaugh's extreme outlier approach to the Second Amendment would elevate gun rights above public safety and put in jeopardy the full range of gun safety laws — including assault weapons and large-capacity magazine prohibitions, minimum age requirements, safe storage requirements, and other common-sense gun safety laws.

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Kavanaugh is one of the most cravenly partisan choices Trump could have made. He’s been called the “Forrest Gump of Republican politics,” as he seems to always show up in high-stakes, far-right political battles and conspiracy theories.

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Both because of his partisan allegiances and his views on presidential powers, Kavanaugh’s nomination could shield Trump from facing accountability for his crimes and corruption. Kavanaugh once wrote a law review article declaring that presidents should be free from criminal investigations. Also, while taking a shot at the Affordable Care Act in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals, he wrote a lengthy opinion asserting that presidents can decline to enforce laws that they think are unconstitutional, even if courts disagree.

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In the coming months and years, the Supreme Court could decide whether Trump is held accountable for his corruption and crimes, and if he’s able to expand his executive powers. So, it’s easy to see why he chose Brett Kavanaugh.

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#Activism #arrests #BrettKavanaugh #ChuckSchumer #CivilDisobedience #DefendDemocracy #demonstration #DirectAction #JumaaneWilliams #LoveTrumpsHate #NAN #NationalActionNetwork #news #NewYorkCity #NotMyPresident #NYC #PeacefulResistance #Photography #photojournalism #politics #Protest #rally #ReclaimSCOTUS #ResistTrump #SCOTUS #SCOTUSnominee #SenatorSchumer #‎Solidarity #streetphotography #SupremeCourt #TrumpTower #trumpvsallofus

© Erik McGregor - erikrivas@hotmail.com - 917-225-8963