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An intense human drama is playing out in Washington at this very moment but the US media is paying scant attention. Undeterred by the embarrassing failure of its recent attempt to topple Venezuela's elected government, the Trump administration continues to plot "regime change" for the "illegitimate" government in Caracas. Only now, it's preparing to take action closer to home. 

In the latest anti-Maduro twist, the White House is quietly working to seize Venezuelan "assets" inside the US and hand the trophies over to self-declared "president" and opposition leader, Juan Guaido. These assets include Venezuela's Consulate Office in the nation's capital. 

Rumors are swirling that Guaido's local forces (backed by the real Troika of Tyranny: Trump-Pence-Bolton) are planning to attack and seize the Embassy Building "on or after April 25." 

On March 18, the Guaido Faction seized Venezuela's military attaché building, with the generous assistance of the US Secret Service and the local DC police. A similar operation on the same day seized control of the Venezuelan Consulate in New York City. 

In response, a group of US activists has boldly moved into the Embassy to stand up as a nonviolent defensive force. The activists—from well-known anti-war groups like Popular Resistance and CODEPINK (led by former Bay Area resident Medea Benjamin)—have dubbed themselves "The Embassy Protection Collective" (Colectivos Por La Paz). 

Camped out in the building 24-7, they are prepared to confront any attempt by the "illegitimate opposition to try take the embassy with the help of the Trump administration." 

Meanwhile, all of this growing drama remains invisible to the corporate media. 

Countering the frequent claim that Nicolas Maduro's election was "fraudulent," defenders of the embattled government cite former US president and international election watchdog Jimmy Carter, who has declared: "Of the 92 elections that we've monitored, I would say that the election process in Venezuela is the best in the world." 

"We are staying in the Venezuelan embassy with the permission of the legitimate Venezuelan government under President Nicolas Maduro," the collective explained in a recently issued Declaration. "We seek to provide a nonviolent barrier to the threatened opposition takeover of their embassy in Washington, DC by being a presence at the embassy every day of the week for 24 hours a day." While they wait, the vigilers are hosting political forums, concerts, and anti-war art displays—and they are asking individuals and organizations to sign on to the Declaration by clicking here: http://bit.ly/EPCDeclaration.  

Molly, Naomi and AOC Paint a Vision of Hope 

On April 17 2019, The Intercept gave our troubled world a glimpse of a better future. It came in the form of a seven-minute film written and narrated by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Beautifully illustrated with Molly Crabapple's live-action brush strokes, “A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez” paints a picture of a future world where the Green New Deal has brought universal healthcare, clean energy, and human-based job options to all Americans. At the same time, our future world is fated to suffer from extreme weather and other threats of climate change. (The film forcefully condemns the powerful oil interests who knew as early as the 1970s that carbon pollution was disrupting the climate.) 

Note: AOC's video is accompanied by a fine article by Naomi Klein. 

Ax the Tax: Needed—Cuts for the Needy Not the Greedy 

Back in September 2017, Donald Trump announced plans to radically transform the annual agony of income-tax filling creating a tax return that would be "simple enough to file via a postcard." 

Another promise made. Another promise not kept. 

The proposal had popular (and populist) appeal. After all, if it's so bloody important for Washington to collect taxes, you'd think they might want to make the process quick, simple, and understandable. 

Instead, Trump's mini-1040 forms and ponderously long schedules looked like something cooked up by teams of demonic tax consultants and swarms of online tax-filing software firms all trying to sow confusion and increase business. 

Trump's latest Infernal Revenue Statement came with a new innovation—half-sized 1040 forms with accompanying instructions in type so small as to be unreadable by the unaided human eye. Adding to the eyestrain, some of the forms even came contained frickin' footnotes! Here's one example: "From Sch. C, line 7; Sch. C-EZ, line 1; Sch. K-1 (Form 1065), box 14, code C; and Sch. K-1 (Form 1065-B), box 9, code J2." Thanks for the help. 

It's time for Congress to pass a law agreeing to either (1) simplify tax filing or (2) start paying taxpayers for their time and trouble! 

Barbara Lee Shares Our Pain 

Our local political hero, Barbara Lee, is in a position to help reform the tax monster. As she recently wrote: 

"The GOP promised to give breaks to everyday families. But here’s the truth: their tax scam gave massive cuts to corporations and the top 1%, while leaving everyone else in the dust. 

"Just take a look at the numbers — Republicans handed millionaires and billionaires $17 billion in savings and gave huge corporations a 14% tax cut, ultimately adding $1.9 trillion to the national debt. 

"To make up for the debt, Trump wants to slash programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid from people who desperately need them. It’s appalling." 

The Climate's Changed: Weather We Like It or Not 

Planetary Emergency, indeed. If you need any more proof that the global weather is out of whack, just take a look at the daily weather maps in the San Francisco Chronicle. Before the climate began to crack, jet streams would traditionally appear traveling serenely across the US from West to East in predictable "stream-like" flows. Now the tracks of the jet stream over the US have become other-worldly—instead of west-to-east they have doubled back, moved from north to south, separated into twin streams, halted in mid-stream, and—on some recent days—vanished entirely.  

The power of the stream has been weakened by rising temperatures and, as the force of the stream weakens, it is less able to push its way around the world along the most efficient path. Instead, the steam is slowing down and beginning to meander erratically. 

This "ox-bowing" of the jet stream has brought Arctic cold from the North Pole down to North Carolina, created massive slow-moving rainstorms that pounded the same states for days, and unleashed freakish "bomb cyclones" that caused both white-outs and black-outs. 

More Dire News from Our Suffering Planet  

While the jet stream has begun to amble unpredictably across the northern and southern hemispheres, other troubling changes are afoot closer to the North Pole. In another troubling development, the North Pole is on the move. Over the past ten years, the movement of Earth's magnetic pole has increased radically, requiring elaborate corrections on the part of global military forces, airlines, and communications satellites. 

Between 1900 and 1990, the magnetic North has migrated about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles). But in February, scientists who update the World Magnetic Model reported that the magnetic north has covered 1,000 km within the past 19 years. The motion, which has been called "unprecedented," has also been accompanied by an increase in geomagnetic pulses. 

What's causing this sudden aimless migration? Here is my theory: the loss of the massive weight of polar ice (caused by Arctic temperatures that are rising higher and faster than any other place on Earth) is causing the buried landmasses to rise (picture a 200-pound teen jumping off a trampoline). This relatively sudden upward release creates room for the planet's hidden iron-rich and electrically conductive magma to expand and move. This increased motion could account for the accelerated migration of magnetic North. The melting of the poles would also allow the massive uplift of landmasses connected to tectonic plates, which would be expected to trigger increased seismic activity around the planet's earthquake-prone Ring of Fire. 

William Brown, a geomagnetic specialist with the British Geological Survey, attempted to reassure the public—but failed. "Don't panic," Brown stated, "It's not something that we understand how it works, but we're aware that it happens." 

Trump's Boot Heels Land in Colombia 

Minga march for indigenous land rights in Colombia. 

Writing emails to the White House never prompts a reply, so I was surprised when I received an email response from the President of Colombia. I had signed a petition calling for a peaceful resolution to the conflict that has oppressed Colombia's indigenous Minga peoples in their long struggle for land rights. 

The message (from Alfy Rosas Sanchez, writing on behalf of President Ivan Duque) was reassuring: "We appreciate your critical and constructive attitude," the note began. "Mr. President of the Republica has developed several efforts aimed at solving the problems" (i.e., land grabs and armed violence targeting Minga protesters). Rosas Sanchez noted that 25 days of negotiations would soon be capped by a presidential visit to the department of Cauca to secure a just agrrement. 

It didn't happen. When Duque arrived in Cauca on April 9 to sign an accord to end the violence, he stopped 200 yards short of the negotiating table. He then turned his back and returned to Bogota. 

What accounted for Duque's unexpected turnabout? 

Well, two days before Duque's visit, his mentor—former president Alvaro Uribe, aka "Father of Colombia's Death Squads"—had fired off a disparaging tweet to the effect that if the authorities were involved "in a massacre it is because there is violence and terror from the other side." 

The US-based Alliance for Global Justice (now on-the-ground in Colombia, monitoring the situation) noted another cause for Duque's sudden about-face: "He is not just responding to pressure from his patron, Alvaro Uribe. He's also taking his lead from Washington, DC. The Trump administration is waging its own assault on Colombia's peace process and funding the very armed forces that have been attacking the Minga." 

There is a new message now being directed at Duque. It reads: "If Colombia is not safe for the Minga, how can it be safe for tourists?" To sign on, click here.