We Are Change

A reporter for the New Phoenix Times was assaulted by a member of a left-wing radical group for filming their armed march outside the Arizona capitol.

Stephen Lemons was recording the march of a group of about 40 people wearing brown shirts and carrying rifles when he was approached by one of the marchers and asked to stop recording.

The marchers were members of “Antifascist Action Phoenix” (Antifa), “Arizona Brown Berets,” and the “Phoenix John Brown Gun Club,” and one of the apparent-militia members told Lemons they wouldn’t answer at the time.

Lemons continued recording video, and began asking questions to one of the militia members.

“Hey man so why did you decide to come out today?” Lemons asked the militia man.

The man responded “to film you.”

The reporter then asked the man, “What kind of firearm is that?” and walked alongside the gun-toting marcher.

“Excuse me sir,” the militia man said.

“Excuse me it’s a public sidewalk,” Lemons responded.

That’s when the militia member assaulted Lemons, appearing to elbow and shove him backwards.

“Oh I like to see the left wing get feisty, do you assault reporters a lot? You’re a big bad ass because you got a gun, you want to shoot me?” Lemons asked.

“No, but I’ll follow you around the rest of the afternoon, though,” the militia man answered.

Lemons then walked to the front of the march and began recording the march from the front.

The march halted, and another man walked up from the back of the march requesting the reporter’s business card.

“Can I see your business card?” the apparent militia leader asked.

“I’m with the New Times,” Lemons answered.

“Can I see?” the militia leader reiterated, asking for the reporter’s press credentials.

“No, this is not a show-me-your-papers state and you’re not law enforcement, you tell me who you are and I’ll give it to you,” Lemons answered.

“You’re right but what I am going to ask you to do though on a friendly level is for you to stop following us,” the man says.

The “friendly” militia leaders later followed up this request with an implied threat to break Lemons’s

“No I’m not going to leave, you going to shoot me?” Lemons told the militia leader.

“No I’m not going to shoot you, I am going to warn you that we are not responsible for anything that might happen to that phone.”

The wanna-be militia leader then argued with Lemons about whether or not his militia group was marching, whether they were really a militia or not, and the militia members began to claim that Lemons actually assaulted and kicked the man who assaulted him.

Ironically, Lemons claimed he would have supported the radical left-wing marchers had they not infringed his First Amendment right to record and assaulted him.

“This asshole here assaulted me, basically I think that’s interesting because I am usually documenting right wing hate groups and I would be cool with you guys being down here but the hostility is not cool,” the reporter says.

The confrontation ended with the militia slowly dispersing, and then one militia members blocking Lemons’ path so he could not record the license plates of the brown shirt brigade members.

Antifa and similar radical left-wing groups have been causing violence across the U.S. in recent months. One Antifa member even threatened the daughter of We Are Change reporter Cassandra Fairbanks.

You can watch the full video of Stephen Lemons and the Phoenix brown shirts below:

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In this video intrepid We Are Change journalist Cassandra Fairbanks confronts U.S. Senator Marco Rubio about his latest allegations of Russians trying to hack him.

Cassandra simply asked if Rubio thought about the possibility of a VPN (virtual private network) that could have been possibly used in order to fake a Russian hack attempt.

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We Are Change

Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colorado) has introduced a bill which, if passed, would federally decriminalize marijuana, remove it from the controlled substances list, and regulate it like alcohol.

Colorado Rep. Polis introduces bill to decriminalize marijuana and regulate like alcohol: https://t.co/WG41ACUuTJ via @aliciawallace

— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) March 30, 2017

Polis’ Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol Act

Polis’ bill, similar to the bill he introduced in 2015, seeks to regulate marijuana like alcohol. In an interview with The Cannabist, Polis had an optimistic outlook on the future of his bill:

“I think we have a working majority of representatives that believe the federal government needs to get out and allow states to move forward… We now feel we have the votes on the recreational side as well.”

The passing of this bill would have enormous impacts on the budding legal marijuana industry, allowing states who have individually legalized marijuana for recreational use to finally rest without having to worry that the DEA will come charging into their businesses with guns, body armor, and perhaps even flash grenades to take away their plants and rolling papers.

Other Moves in Washington To Reform Marijuana Legislation

Polis isn’t the only one who has been making moves to decriminalize marijuana. Senator Ron Wyden, and Rep. Earl Blumenauer have announced a “Path to Marijuana Reform” a three-bill package which includes Polis’ bill.

The Path to Marijuana Reform aims to protect and preserve the state-mandated laws regarding marijuana and includes the Small Business Tax Equity Act, and the Responsibly Addressing the Marijuana Policy Gap Act.

The Small Business Tax Equity Act seeks to “allow businesses operating in compliance with state law to claim deductions and credits associated with the sale of marijuana like any other legal business.” If passed, this act will further legitimize the marijuana industry, at least as far as tax filing is concerned.

The Responsibly Addressing the Marijuana Policy Gap Act seeks to legalize sectors of the marijuana business that were previously illegal, such as banking barriers, advertisement barriers, as well as protecting the civil liberties of individuals who use marijuana. The bill also wishes to legalize medical marijuana research, previously individuals would have to apply through the DEA to do this.

The Trump Administration Marijuana Policy

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has recently stated that “States they can pass the laws they choose. I would just say it does remain a violation of federal law to distribute marijuana throughout any place in the United States, whether a state legalizes it or not.”

This has understandably caused concern for political leaders whose constituents reside in states with legalized marijuana. For this reason, a large group of bipartisan senators are not going to wait and see how the Trump administration reacts, and have instead filed a letter asking Sessions to allow states to implement recreational legislation without fear of prosecution.

The post Cannabis Invades Washington: Three Bills Introduced to Reform Federal Marijuana Laws appeared first on We Are Change.

We Are Change

Police in Gainesville, Florida have arrested 15 men this month as the result of an undercover child sex sting operation. Florida police have seemingly upped the ante on their sex trafficking investigations, also arresting 114 suspects in Polk County in December on similar charges.

[Press Release] 15 Arrested For Soliciting Sex From Children During Operation “Resilient” https://t.co/a7m6rGVAQx

— Gainesville Police (@GainesvillePD) March 28, 2017

The 15 men were arrested after being lead to believe that they were about to have sex with a 14-year-old girl, as reported by local news. The sting operation, dubbed “Operation Resilient” included the work of 46 law enforcement agents from 7 different agencies, including the FBI.

The sting lasted only five days, after beginning on March 15.

Now, the suspects are all facing charges of soliciting sex to children, as well as other charges pertaining to their specific cases. One man is facing an additional charge related to sending a nude photo to an undercover official that he believed to be a 13-year-old child. Another suspect is facing an additional charge of resisting arrest, after multiple officers had to be utilized to detain him when he allegedly managed to pull the trigger of a stun gun attached to the uniform of an officer.

The Gainesville Police Department has released a statement which reads:

“During the 5-day operation, multiple persons communicated with what they believed were young teenagers or guardians allowing sexual contact with their young teenagers, and 15 of those persons ultimately traveled in an attempt to meet the children for the purpose of sexual contact.”

Among those arrested, three were college students at the University of Florida. Two of the students were reportedly under the impression they were communicating with 14-year-old boys.

Other suspects received information that they were talking to the guardian of a 14-year-old girl, who assured them that it would be okay to have sex with a child.

The overall average age of the suspects is 32.

Not everybody who was targeted in the sting was charged and it seems as only those who made a conscious effort to meet with a child were arrested.

“Fifteen men made the conscious decision to get into a vehicle and travel with the intention of having sex with a teenager… I’m proud of everyone involved in this operation as they seek to get these offenders behind bars and away from our children,” Gainesville Police Chief Tony Jones said in a statement.

The good news, in this case, is that no child (that we yet know of) was exploited and these men were arrested before they could make that decision.

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Zero Hedge UPDATE: “There appears to be a discrepancy between the WSJ story, and the letter submitted by Mike Flynn’s lawyer, Robert Kelner, according to which the former National Security Advisor spoke only to  the House and Senate Intel Committees, not the FBI and furthermore, nowhere in the letter does it explicitly state that Flynn requested immunity from prosecution.”

Lawyer: Flynn Needs Assurance Against ‘Witch-Hunt’ Prosecution

Article via Antiwar

In a move that is likely nowhere near as significant as it sounds, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn has told the FBI and Congress that he is willing to testify about Trump campaign ties to Russia in return for immunity from prosecution.

Flynn is the shortest-serving National Security Adviser in American history, holding the position for less than a month before resigning in the face of controversy about his conversations with the Russian Ambassador ahead of the inauguration. After his resignation, Flynn also registered as a foreign agent for his lobbying activities on behalf of Turkey.

Flynn’s lawyer Robert Kelner issued a statement downplaying the significance of the offer, saying that the “witch-hunt environment” was leading Flynn to seek pre-emptive assurances against an unfair prosecution, and that the testimony itself was likely to be anti-climactic.

Officials familiar with Flynn’s offer of testimony say that so far he has found no takers in his quest for immunity, which may suggest that they don’t believe they’re going to get the sort of juicy information out of his testimony that would make such immunity worthwhile.

This article first appeared on Antiwar.com and was authored by Jason Ditz.

The post Report: Michael Flynn Offers To Testify On Russia In Exchange For Immunity appeared first on We Are Change.

We Are Change

Tillerson’s visit to Turkey Ends in Impasse

Article via Antiwar

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Turkey has uncovered a dramatic shift in US policy toward Syria, as Tillerson declared in his visit with Turkey’s Foreign Minister that the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should be left up to the Syrian people.

Throughout the Syrian Civil War, US officials have repeatedly insisted that Assad must have no political involvement in any future Syrian government, and have repeatedly demanded his unconditional resignation for years. Even in efforts to broker a future deal for elections, US officials maintained Assad could never run for office again.

The idea of leaving Assad’s future up to the Syrian voters was previously pushed both by the Syrian government and by Russia, and had been scoffed at by most Western countries, who were insisting heavily on regime change as the result of the war.

The Trump Administration has shifted war priorities in Syria toward fighting ISIS, and away from imposing regime change, and this may reflect the reality that the Assad government is probably not going to be forced from power outright by the rebellion.

A tacit acceptance that the Assad question is up to the voters could help with negotiating a settlement of the war, though it’s likely also going to fuel more anger from the rebels.

US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley confirmed the shift, saying that removing Assad from power is no longer “the priority” for the US in Syria.

In the meantime, Tillerson’s visit to Turkey, which aimed primarily at getting Turkey to accept US backing for the Kurdish YPG, ended in failure, with Turkish officials again condemning the US for supporting the Kurdish “terrorists.”

This article first appeared on Antiwar.com and was authored by Jason Ditz.

The post In Major U.S. Shift, Rex Tillerson Says Assad’s Future Up To Syrian People appeared first on We Are Change.

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On Thursday, Vladimir Putin declared climate change to be unstoppable and not caused by human activity. Still, he warned that countries will need to adjust to the planet warming up.

“The warming, it had already started by the 1930s,” Putin said during a broadcast from an Arctic forum held in the northern Russian.

“That’s when there were no such anthropological factors, such emissions, and the warming had already started.”

Putin believes that icebergs have been melting for several decades and that global warming is not actually the fault of humans.

“The issue is not stopping it… because that’s impossible, since it could be tied to some global cycles on Earth or even of planetary significance. The issue is to somehow adapt to it,” Putin added.

In the past, Putin has cracked jokes about global warming, such as when he speculated that warming by “two or three degrees” could be a good thing for Russians if that meant they would no longer need fur coats to stay warm.

When asked by moderator Geoff Cutmore of CNBC what his thoughts were on the recent appointment of Scott Pruitt, a climate change skeptic, as new chief of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Putin said Pruitt’s views should be heard loud and clear.

All of this will surely continue to horrify the scientific community, but could Vladimir Putin be right about this one?

In December 2016, a report by scientists from the Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement (PRIME) Laboratory discovered that Greenland wasn’t always covered in ice.

“We now have pretty conclusive evidence that for a time that ice wasn’t there,” says Marc Caffee, professor of physics and astronomy at Purdue. “That’s big. That’s new. It’s probably not much different in temperature now than it was then, so we shouldn’t count on that ice sheet never melting again.”

In August 2016, scientists from the National Space Institute at the Technical University of Denmark and the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem linked solar eruptions to changes in Earth’s cloud cover, which is an important factor in controlling the temperature on Earth.

“Earth is under constant bombardment by particles from space called galactic cosmic rays. Violent eruptions at the Sun’s surface can blow these cosmic rays away from Earth for about a week. Our study has shown that when the cosmic rays are reduced in this way there is a corresponding reduction in Earth’s cloud cover. Since clouds are an important factor in controlling the temperature on Earth our results may have implications for climate change,“ explained Jacob Svensmark, the lead author on the study.

As it turns out, there is a lot we don’t know about cosmic rays. After five years of studying cosmic rays with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer experiment, Sam Ting, a Nobel Laureate and Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said that cosmic rays could tell us about the imbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe, in addition to dark matter, which has never been detected directly.

For more information on why Vladimir Putin may be correct, check out this video by James Corbett that reveal some of the grade school level tricks the global warming alarmists use to misrepresent their data and alarm the public.

If you’re short on time (aren’t we all?), here is another Corbett Report video busting 10 climate myths in just 60 seconds:

This is a breaking news story and will be updated shortly with more information.

The post Vladimir Putin Doesn’t Believe Climate Change Is Caused By Human Activity appeared first on We Are Change.

We Are Change

Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. secretary of state and wanted war criminal, penned a goodbye letter to his recently deceased friend David Rockefeller.

Article via Activist Post by Derrick Broze

David Rockefeller, head of the Rockefeller dynasty, former Chase Manhattan Bank Chairman, and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, and Bilderberg group, died earlier this month at the age of 101.

After a career of promoting eugenics, global government and totalitarian dictators, Rockefeller has finally moved on to the next realm.

The deadstream media celebrated Rockefeller as a philanthropist while completely glossing over the darker aspects of his life. Perhaps no review of Rockefeller’s life is more disturbing than the reflection taken by former Secretary of State, prominent “globalist,” and wanted war criminal Henry Kissinger.

The Washington Post released the disgusting piece of propaganda on Thursday under the title, “Henry Kissinger: My friend David Rockefeller, a man who served the world.” The letter reveals an incredible honesty in describing the role both men have played in geopolitics for the last 50 years. The letter makes it clear that presidents and prime ministers are hardly the most powerful movers and shakers working behind the scene.

“He saw his life as an obligation to enable the consequential issues of our time to be pursued by the most talented and committed men and women, for the sake of our society and the peace of the world,” Kissinger writes.

Kissinger then describes his initial meeting with Rockefeller at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations, another institution that has galled for global government. “Shortly afterward, he encouraged a discussion group, which later was developed into what is now known as the Bilderberg Group, an annual meeting of European and American leaders to explore their challenges and common purposes.”

It is fascinating how open Kissinger is about the creation of the Bilderberg Group. They may be fairly well known today, but only 5 to 10 years ago the group was completely unknown to mainstream society. Media denied the group existed and politicians ran away when questioned about the group. Now, Bilderberg has a website and their meetings are reported on, although the topics are still not publicly discussed.

A decade later, David called on me, at the time secretary of state, to inform me that, in the view of some of the colleagues he had brought with him, the scope of U.S. foreign policy needed broadening. A truly global study to include Asia was required for that challenge. His associates, in fact, included Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Zbigniew Brzezinski; in other words, a government in exile waiting to replace the administration in which I served. But David’s combination of dedication and innocence was such that the thought never took hold. Instead, I became a founding member of the Trilateral Commission, which thrives to this day.

Again, Kissinger is openly admitting influencing geopolitics, specifically U.S. foreign policy. He mentions Rockefeller, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser to many presidents and one of the men responsible for creating al-Qaeda.

In another section Kissinger writes that Rockefeller was “received around the world like a head of government.” Kissinger then explains how Rockefeller was able to use his power and influence to bring together heads of state and other important players to make policy changes, including nuclear proliferation.

On one occasion, in the late 1980s, I accompanied him to the Soviet Union for a visit to Mikhail Gorbachev to discuss nuclear issues. David had invited former French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, former Japanese prime minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and me to produce a document on dealing with nuclear proliferation. Only David would have been capable of bringing about that combination of participants or, for that matter, conceiving the idea.

In another example of attempting to rewrite history, Kissinger describes Rockefeller as a man who was devoted to his family. He remembers that in 1979,”when the Shah of Iran was being exiled, some close friends appealed to David to help find refuge for a ruler who had demonstrated his friendship with America in various international crises.” Kissinger says Rockefeller ultimately helped the Shah despite any negative commercial impact to Chase Bank.

What Kissinger fails to mention, is that the Shah was exiled from Iran during the 1979 revolution because he was a puppet who had been installed via a CIA coup in 1953. Rockefeller was simply helping out a brutal dictator who had been tasked with undermining his own people in order to carry out a Western-friendly regime. Great guy, this Rockefeller.

Kissinger concludes by stating that Rockefeller “will remain a reminder that our ultimate legacy will be service and values, not personal ambitions.” Perhaps Rockefeller’s legacy will be a reminder to service and values, but only by studying who he truly was and knowing his motivations can you understand what those values are.

To gain that understanding I suggest the new documentary The Unauthorized Biography of David Rockefeller from The Corbett Report.

One final note: While many Internet commentators took the opportunity to laugh or celebrate the death of a man that promoted such darkness, I propose that perhaps we can find a way to have compassion and empathy for these super elites.

The people who are even wealthier than Rockefeller, more hidden than Kissinger – these people have been raised to believe they should inherit the world.

They may have been duped into believing false eugenics and race science that justifies their views on population control and war. If we choose to celebrate their death, or even initiate violence against these sick souls are we not stooping to their level? Are we so blind to believe that violence could bring peace?

I believe our species will have an opportunity to awaken and confront those who have held us back and held us down. We will have the opportunity for forgiveness, accountability, and healing.

How will we choose to act in those moments? Does an eye for an eye truly make us all go blind?

We must determine what path we want our species to take on our journey to a higher state of consciousness. Especially when confronting darkness.

Derrick Broze is an investigative journalist and liberty activist. He is the Lead Investigative Reporter for ActivistPost.com and the founder of the TheConsciousResistance.com. Follow him on Twitter. Derrick is the author of three books: The Conscious Resistance: Reflections on Anarchy and Spirituality and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 1 and Finding Freedom in an Age of Confusion, Vol. 2

Derrick is available for interviews. Please contact Derrick@activistpost.com

This article may be freely reposted in part or in full with author attribution and source link.

Image Credit

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We Are Change

One of the hardest things to do in this world is be you,

Not be who everyone else wants you to be,

But be true to yourself,

It is you no else who chooses what path you take in life,

Who loses or wins the fights,

Who gets back up or knocked back down,

Who draws on your face that smile that frown,

Yes you,

Are responsible for who you,

Become in this world,

You can choose to be a doctor, a lawyer, a painter, a writer

A Muslim, A Jew, a Christian, A liar,

A man of truth, without a religion,

You can choose to have a family or have no children,

You can spend your whole life and chase after money,

You can act in a drama, comedy, funny,

How sometimes we forget it is we,

Who are the producer’s of our life’s movie,

Now Im not claiming to know the right way to live

And I’m not saying be selfish or give,

All I am saying is your life’s a gift,

And what is this gift that you have been given?

It is the freedom to choose the life you are living,

When you were an infant you didn’t have a voice,

But now you are grown and your voice can reach farther than you can imagine,

You can travel the world,

You can start your own business,

You can work for a company and build someones vision,

You can live your life free once you learn that the prison,

That really confines you is really a figment,

Of your imagination and with enough vision,

You can create whatever you want,

You are an artist and this world is your canvas,

Paint something beautiful and make your like matter,

Are there excuses why you wont succeed?

Of course there are and there always will be,

Before Albert Einstein discovered relativity the teacher’s at school doubted his ability,

He worked several jobs just to get by,

Little did they know he would win a nobel prize,

And JK Rowling who wrote Harry Potter,

She was diagnosed with depression, on welfare with a daughter,

But that didn’t stop her,

She kept on writing,

Rejected 12 times but she kept on fighting,

Before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb

he found 10,000 ways how to not make a light bulb,

Did he get discouraged?

Probably yes,

Is it true he saw failure as only progress?

Honestly, I don’t know and I really don’t care,

I’ll tell you what I know: life is rare,

So you yeah you the one hearing this poem,

I may not know you and how life at home was,

It could be in your home that no love was shown but,

Believe me when I tell you that your not alone cause,

All of us struggle,

Myself included,

Struggle is part of what it means to be human,

Don’t let that stop you and keep you from moving

Keep pushing forward the rest is God’s doing!

The post You Can Be Whoever You Want – A Transformational Poem appeared first on We Are Change.

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In a new shocking undercover video by the Center for Medical Progress, a former Planned Parenthood abortionist explains how the abortion provider would dodge state law and employees would forcibly rip apart aborted babies.

At a Planned Parenthood conference, Dr. DeShawn Taylor, an abortionist from a Los Angeles facility and former medical director of Planned Parenthood of Arizona, described to CMP journalists how she would dismember a baby in order to harvest as many organs as possible. Tiny human organs could then be sold to researchers for profit.

“It’s not a matter of how I feel about it coming out intact, but I gotta worry about my staff and people’s feelings about it coming out looking like a baby,” she said.

Taylor also describes how much easier it is to dismember a baby by delivering it illegally in the breach (feet first) position.  A procedure which is known as “partial-birth abortion,” which is illegal in all states.

“Breach makes it a lot easier, because you can, you know, but the thing is, there’s still going to have to be some decompression of the calvarium for it to come out,” she said.

According to federal law during an abortion, there must be “no alteration of the timing, method, or procedures used to terminate the pregnancy that is made solely for the purpose of obtaining the tissue.”

When Taylor was questioned by the investigator how the abortionist would tell if the baby was alive, she admitted that she would only obey Arizona state law based off who was in the room when the baby was ripped out of its mother’s womb if it was still alive.

Arizona state law passed in 2015 requires abortionists to take the baby to the hospital in an effort to save the child’s life if it survives the procedure.

“In Arizona, if the fetus comes out with any signs of life, we’re supposed to transport it to the hospital,” Taylor said.

She added, “Well, the thing is, I mean the key is, you need to pay attention to who’s in the room, right?”

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra charged two CMP journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt with 15 criminal counts for recording conversations with numerous abortionists in public places, claiming the recordings violate privacy laws. The group has stated they will continue to release videos exposing the planned parenthood organizations’ “organ trafficking.”

You can watch the new Center for Medical Progress video below but a fair warning its very disturbing.

The post Planned Parenthood Abortionist Confesses They Would Let Babies Die After They Survived Abortions appeared first on We Are Change.

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The Venezuelan Supreme Court has suspended the country’s Parliament, WikiLeaks reported, illustrating the alarming increase of centralized power in the socialist state.

Reports that the Venezuelan supreme court has suspended parliament. WikiLeaks docs on the court: https://t.co/r8Z6stt9xq

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) March 30, 2017

Local Venezuelan media claims that the Supreme Court will take over all of the parliament’s duties until a solution has been reached. According to the translated report, one parliament member was quoted to say that “this is not a sentence anymore, it is a sentence that marks a point of no return of the dictatorship.”

It also appears that a high-level political figure is calling on the people of Venezuela to ignore this ruling, citing two articles of the Venezuelan Constitution. Freddy Guevara, who is the first vice president of the National Assembly has cited two Venezuelan laws in their Constitution which allegedly prohibit this action:

333. This Constitution shall not cease to be in effect if it ceases to be observed due to acts of force or because or repeal in any manner other than as provided for herein. In such eventuality, every citizen, whether or not vested with official authority, has a duty to assist in bringing it back into actual effect.

350. The people of Venezuela, true to their republican tradition and their struggle for independence, peace and freedom, shall disown any regime, legislation or authority that violates democratic values, principles and guarantees or encroaches upon human rights.

Guevara elaborated further, saying that “Our Constitution, in its articles 333 and 350, empowers and orders us to ignore any illegitimate and arbitrary action or regime, but this should not be a mere statement. In order to be effective, we must articulate and organize ourselves…”

Guevara went on to say that the people should work to “make impossible” the latest decision by the Venezuelan Supreme Court and “force them to remain attached to democracy.”

What Does All Of This Mean For Venezuela?

This is a major turning point for the country, no doubt. The country is currently facing a food epidemic and a currency crisis, which may have been one of the reasons this action occurred. As the Committee to Protect Journalists reports, journalists have been detained and even labeled as potential terrorists for reporting on the ongoing crisis in the country.

As a result, it is difficult to get a real gauge on what is happening in Venezuela. WikiLeaks documents reveal the Venezuelan Supreme Court has previously lobbied for loans from the World Bank. Further documents reveal that one Supreme Court justice had previously said that “justice does not exist in Venezuela.”

We Are Change’s Luke Rudkowski spent some time in Venezuela not too long ago, here is what he saw while he was there:

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The Department of Justice announced the arrest of a veteran State Department employee who had access to top secret information. Candace Claiborne is accused of failing to report numerous contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents whom allegedly provided her with “tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and benefits” in exchange for diplomatic and economic information.

FULL TEXT: State Department employee arrested and charged with concealing extensive contacts with foreign agents. pic.twitter.com/N1XUce1dXN

— Evan Rosenfeld (@Evan_Rosenfeld) March 29, 2017

Claiborne, 60, was charged in a Washington federal court with obstruction of justice, making false statements to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and violation of her oath of office, Reuters reported.

“Candace Claiborne is accused of violating her oath of office as a State Department employee, who was entrusted with top secret information when she purposefully mislead federal investigators about her significant and repeated interactions with foreign contacts,” FBI Assistant Director in Charge Andrew Vale said.

A 58-page complaint alleges that Claiborne was given tens of thousands of dollars in gifts and wire transfers by Chinese agents beginning in 2011 in exchange for information about U.S. economic policy in relation to China and other diplomatic policies.

Claiborne “allegedly failed to report her contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with thousands of dollars of gifts and benefits,” U.S. Acting Assistant Attorney General Mary McCord said.

Among the gifts given to Claiborne and an unidentified co-conspirator, male family member were – “beads, a sewing machine, an iPhone, a laptop computer, slippers, cash, tuition payments to a fashion school in China and an all-expenses paid vacation to Thailand,” prosecutors alleged.

Her relative received plane tickets, dinners, an apartment and tuition at the Raffles Design Institute in Shanghai, the affidavit said.

In one instance the Justice Department complaint alleges that one of the Chinese intelligence agents wired $2,500 into Claiborne’s bank account and then asked her for an “internal evaluation of the fruits and consensus” made by the U.S. government at an economic conference with Chinese government officials.

The Justice Department further alleges that Claiborne wrote in her journal that she could “generate 20k in 1 year” through her work with one of the intelligence agents.

“When a public servant is suspected of potential misconduct or federal crimes that violate the public trust, we vigorously investigate such claims,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

Statement from @StateDept in reaction to arrest of one of its employee who allegedly spied for #China. pic.twitter.com/cfY3zb5XrZ

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) March 29, 2017

Claiborne was caught as a result of monitoring under a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, obtained through a FISA warrant.

She is expected back in court April 18th if convicted Claiborne could face a maximum of 20 years in prison for obstruction of justice and five years in prison for making false statements to the FBI.

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