Category: Civil Rights

How Your Tax Dollars Are Used | War Resister’s League

The new War Resisters League’s annual “pie chart” flyer, Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes, analyzes the Federal Fiscal Year 2026 Budget (FY 2026 is 1 October 2025 – 30 September 2026).  This FY2026 issue is being published in March 2025.

This year’s chart compares the Projected FY2026 Biden Budget based on OMB figures (March 2024) and Possible FY2026 Trump Budget based on G.O.P. stated goals (as of March 2025)

Projected FY 2026 Biden Budget
Projected FY 2026 Biden Budget based on OMB figures (March 2024)

These figures are from the FY2026 column in last year’s Analytical Perspectives book of the Budget
of the United States Government, Fiscal Year 2025. They are Federal funds, so do not include Trust funds
— such as Social Security — which are raised and spent separately from income taxes.

“Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($880 billion) and the military portion ($314 billion) from other departments and agencies, including Homeland Security, Energy (nuclear weapons), State, NSA, CIA. “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits ($391 billion) plus 80% of the interest on the debt ($1,023 billion).*

Income taxes, you pay (or don’t pay) by April 15, 2025, go to the Federal funds portion of the budget. Potential cuts to Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds are not reflected on this flyer

Possible FY2026 Trump Budget based on G.O.P. stated goals (as of March 2025)
Possible FY2026 Trump Budget based on G.O.P. stated goals (as of March 2025)

Because Trump has yet to release a budget proposal, presented here is a rough estimate of what the FY2026 budget (Oct. 1 – Sep. 30, 2026) might look like. The overall budget, projected to be smaller than the Biden proposal, is based on stated goals to eliminate the Dept. of Education, in addition to major cuts in Medicaid, housing assistance, food aid, energy credits, EPA, USAID, Labor, NSF, NASA, Interior, FEMA, IRS, as well as other departments and agencies, offsetting increases in military expenditures.

These cuts will not offset major tax cuts for the rich and corporations, so the debt is expected to increase.

SOURCES: Budget reports from mainstream news sources, plus indepth analysis from nationalpriorities.org, taxpayer.net, responsiblestatecraft.org, budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu, cbpp.org, thehill.com, federalnewsnetwork.com, kff.org, among others

*Analysts differ on how much of the debt stems from the military; other groups estimate 50% to 60%. We use 80% because we believe if there had been no military spending, most of the national debt would have been eliminated.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Get involved in WRL’s organizing and education work: nonviolent direct action training, counter-military recruitment, internationalist work, and more. Visit WRL’s membership handbook at warresisters.org/joinwrl. Find resources to challenge militarism, curb police and border patrol power, strengthen nonviolent action and lift up community resilience!

Write elected officials, letters-to-the-editor, and posts online. Send and share copies of this flyer. Explain your budget priorities for a better world.

Divest from war!!  Refuse to pay all or part of your federal income tax. Though illegal, thousands of people openly participate in this form of protest. Whatever you choose to refuse—$1, $10, 45% or 100%—send a letter to elected officials and tell them why. Contact us for information or referral to a counselor near you. Contribute resisted tax money to groups that work for the common good.

For more about refusing to pay for war, brochures, and other resources, contact the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee, (800) 269-7464 or see nwtrcc.org.

Order a DVD of NWTRCC’s film, Death and Taxes from WRL’s online store.

JUST PUBLISHED! Read and use War Tax Resistance: A Guide to Withholding Your Support from the Military – 6th Edition – handbook with history, methods and resources

CT Protests Over the Khalil Abduction

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

A protest on March 12 in Hartford, originally called by CT Labor for Palestine, morphed into a protest over the taking by ICE of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University graduate.

The rally took place in front of the Ribicoff Building in Hartford which. among its federal offices, houses ICE.

Several score people walked up and down in front of the building with signs with various messages. Many said, “Free Mahmoud Khalil”. Others said, “Justice for Palestine, Prosecute the War Criminals,” “I Stand Against Genocide,” “Healthcare not Warfare,” “End All US Aid to Israel,” and “We are Standing for Social Justice.” One banner (from MECC) called on unions to sell off their Israel Bonds.

Photo: Stanley Heller, Bay View Park, New Haven

There were many messages from the speakers. One warned that Khalil and Palestine rights supporters were just the first targets and that we all had to stand together. Another talked about the extensive repression at Wesleyan and Yale and other campuses. I mocked the Israeli soldier who claimed to have the proof of Khalil’s support for terrorism, whose own “evidence” showed nothing of the sort.

In New Haven a few days later, a much larger rally condemned Israeli actions. A huge banner was featured that read: “Free Mahmoud, Protect Free Speech.” Many signs were provided by the Party for Socialism and Liberation and a theme was ‘Free All Palestinian Political Prisoners.”

The rally took place on March 16 and one protester held a sign featuring a picture of Rachel Corrie. Corrie, on March 16, 2003, was deliberately run over by an Israeli military Caterpillar tractor and killed.

The park was near an I-95 overpass. At the close of the rally people went to the overpass with their signs and then draped the extra-large banner over the railing.

You can see video of both protests at the YouTube channel of “The Struggle Video News.” Go to YouTube and search for the above channel, or scan this QR code.

Our website is: thestrugglevideo.org.

Hundreds Protest On (Not My) President’s Day

By Laura Glesby, Feb 17, New Haven Independent

Holding up a pink triangle sign — which in another time and place might have marked them for death — Patricio seized a moment of silence, cupped their hands over their mouth, and started a chant of their own among the hundreds of protesters gathered outside City Hall.

Laura Glesby Photos

Their words — “Trans rights are human rights!” — spread
through the crowd like fire.

Patricio was one of about 400 people who filled the Church Street sidewalk outside City Hall at noon on Monday, braving forceful winds. The rally emerged as part of a national effort to protest President Donald Trump’s administration on President’s Day — sparked at least in part by the 50501 Movement (standing for “50 protests. 50 states. 1 movement”), a massive online grassroots effort that originated on Reddit to coordinate mass protests of the Trump administration all throughout the country. The protests were advertised in advance as “Not My President’s Day” events.

Laura Glesby Photos

With no featured speakers or identifiable organizational leaders, random individuals like Patricio found themselves yelling out chants for the crowd to organically echo.

People called out a wide range of pithy slogans: “Lock him up!”, “Gaza is not a resort!”, “Send Elon to Mars!”, “Hands off my healthcare!”, “Support civil servants!”, “Rule of Law!”, “Black Lives Matter!”, and “Save science!”

Each chant gained traction in one corner of the crowd, then spread like a wave through the rest of the protest. Every so often, someone would start a rendition of “God Bless America,” “This Land is Your Land,” or “We Shall Overcome.” Both an American flag and an LGBTQIA+ Pride flag rippled through the windy air.

Many attendees held up signs hearkening back to Nazi Germany, featuring crossed-out swastikas, the words “Never again,” and Holocaust-inspired poetry. One protester used a bullhorn adorned with a sticker of the infamous Nazi salute by Elon Musk, the wealthiest man on earth now acting as the country’s unelected, unratified government downsizer. “Hitler dismantled democracy in 53 days,” one sign recalled.

[To read the article in its entirety and to see more photos,
please go to https://bit.ly/4i44t0a]

New ICE Age Response Team: Prepare, Don’t Panic

by Paul Bass, Feb 18, New Haven Independent

[The following are excerpts. To read the entire article, please go to http://bit.ly/41dh0aA]

If an ICE (federal Immigration & Customs Enforcement) agent is indeed at the door: “I don’t wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United Stations Constitution … I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights … unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door …”

A coalition of 60 agencies and nonprofit groups is spreading those red cards, and that calm-but-ready message, to the heart of New Haven’s immigrant community, which is bracing for ICE mass deportation raids promised by the newly installed Trump administration. …

“Exactly what the Trump administration wants is just fear, to incite fear and panic and chaos,” Yenimar Cortes, New Haven organizer for CT Students For A Dream, said during a New ICE Age conversation Tuesday on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” She was joined by fellow organizers Fatima Rojas of Semilla Collective, Junta case worker Jacqueline Gonzalez, and high school youth organizer Ambar Santiago-Rojas.

An estimated 100,000 undocumented people live in Connecticut.
You can call the rapid response hotline at 220-666-4472. Rojas said people can call her at 203-747-4309 for information on attending the coalition’s Saturday community engagement meetings. Cortes invited people to contact her group at 203-787-0191 for information on Know Your Rights workshops.

Leonard Peltier to Be Freed After Half-Century in Prison: ‘A Day of Victory for Indigenous People’

Democracy Now!, Jan. 21

Indigenous political prisoner Leonard Peltier is coming home after nearly half a century behind bars. Just minutes before leaving office, former President Joe Biden granted Peltier clemency and ordered his release from prison to serve the remainder of his life sentence in home confinement. In a statement, Peltier said, “It’s finally over — I’m going home. I want to show the world I’m a good person with a good heart. I want to help the people, just like my grandmother taught me.” Biden’s historic decision came after mounting calls by tribal leaders and supporters, and a community-led campaign that fought for Peltier’s freedom for decades.

Watch the complete interview with the NDN Collective’s Nick Tilsen at https://www.democracynow.org/2025/1/21/leonard_peltier. Nick just visited Leonard Peltier in prison after news of his sentence commutation, about fighting for Peltier’s freedom, his health and Trump’s executive orders attacking environmental rights and Indigenous sovereignty. “Indigenous people, we’re going to be on the frontlines fighting this administration.”

‘Emma Jones Justice for Malik Corner’ OK’d

by Laura Glesby, Oct. 8, New Haven Independent

The corner where East Haven police officers chased, shot, and killed 21-year-old Malik Jones in 1997 will not be called “Malik Jones Corner” after all.

Instead, the Board of Alders decided to name that inter-section after Jones’s mother, Emma, and the campaign for police accountability she has carried forth after his death…. On Monday, Oct. 7, the full Board of Alders unanimously voted to amend the proposed corner name to “Emma Jones Justice For Malik Corner,” an edit proposed by Fair Haven Alder Frank Redente.

Redente … elaborated after the meeting that he heard passionate feedback from constituents about the corner-naming proposal in recent weeks.

Some opponents of the proposed corner name took issue with Malik’s criminal record… the input that primarily spurred his amendment Monday night was “more that Emma was being left out.” Emma Jones’s activism around the memory of her son led to the creation of New Haven’s Civilian Review Board to review complaints of police misconduct, a board on which Redente now serves…

As he introduced the amendment during Monday’s meeting at City Hall, Redente explained that the name “Emma Jones Justice for Malik Corner” would “shift away from the personal connection and toward justice.”

…[All] the alders present voted in favor of this name change.

The activists who had first submitted the corner name shuffled out of the room after the vote. [Norman] Clement immediately called Jones to update her…

“I think it’s important to have Malik’s name there because of what happened to him, and I never want people to forget,” Jones said. She praised how the new version puts her own name alongside Malik’s and “gives it a greater meaning.”

“It’s a great honor,” she said. “I didn’t expect to be honored. But I’m delighted that people thought enough of me to remember all of the work that I did do.”

She hopes it will speak to the terror that so many mothers of Black sons have felt and still feel — “your son goes out to the store to get a loaf of bread, and you’re terrified because you don’t know whether he’s coming back.”

“I will never forget what that officer did to my son,” she said. Now, neither will the street.

Article can be read in its entirety at https://tinyurl.com/kp997bb7.

Unforgotten: Connecticut’s Hidden History of Slavery

CT Public Radio www.npr.org/podcasts/organizations/s546

It’s a history lesson many of us didn’t get in school: Slavery has deep roots in Connecticut and across New England. Enslaved people helped build the foundation of much of this state. Get to know some of these men and women and the lives they lived. Hear from descendants who reflect on their loved ones. And learn from historians and experts going on a journey of discovery to recover this hidden history. In this five-part episode podcast from Connecticut Public, Report-er/Producer Diane Orson and Editorial Consultant and Curator Frank Mitchell talk about some of the issues in, and around these stories.

Visit www.ctpublic.org/unforgotten to learn more, including additional videos, photos and digital stories.

Change a Charter, Change a Community, Change a Nation = Changing the World

by Frank C. Rohrig, The Egalitarian Quest

Dear Fellow Citizens,

I’m writing this letter as a matter of societal urgency to implore your participation in a movement/cause absolutely critical to the very salvation of our democracy, as well as the world’s future stability and security….

In spite of all the advances women have made through decades of fighting for fairness and equality, the most important and significant area of disparity that affects all of their lives every single day is the political arena. The ratio of male to female representation in all areas of governance is roughly 75% to 25%. “Having a seat at the table” or “being in the game” has never been so desperately important as it has become entering the twenty-first-century “global world.” This disparity is a detriment to the majority of the citizenry….

Gender parity in governance is the first step in countering the greed and corruption that have decimated this nation’s economy and a further step towards the Constitution’s promised aspirations of an Egalitarian Society. We as a nation can no longer wait for promises made and broken. We can and must begin the movement together (men and women) for GENDER PARITY (50%-50%) throughout our entire nation and world. Every house, as well as every nation, needs a strong foundation; so we must attain parity in the smallest of communities, in statehouses, and throughout the federal government, until every taxpayer-supported entity is governed with a shared purpose in betterment for all its citizens. Nothing short of 50/50 male/female representation shall suffice in a nation/world that is so presently divided and ineffective.

Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide Launches New Website

by Joan Cavanagh, Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide

Thanks to co-hosting and considerable technical assistance from the Patients Rights Action Fund (PRAF), Progressives Against Medical Assisted Suicide (PAMAS) now has its own website, pamasprogressives.org. It’s an ongoing endeavor (and the three of us managing it have a steep technical learning curve) but we’re on our way! We will be adding updates, news, and information as things develop.

As PAR readers know, PAMAS formed in 2021 to open a path for leftist and progressive opposition to legislation enabling physicians to prescribe lethal drugs to terminate their patients’ lives. We believe that those who are committed, as we are, to universal, comprehensive, fully accessible, unrestricted, high-quality health and palliative care must stand equally strongly against MAS, which will contribute further to the already existing deadly discrimination against the most vulnerable among us.

PAMAS members disagree with those who favor these laws but we agree on many other issues. We support and advocate for reproductive rights, disability justice, labor rights, the rights of LGBTQIA people, and for prison and police reform. Many of us are lifelong war resisters and several of us worked to help repeal the death penalty in our state. We see MAS as a serious threat to the lives of the most vulnerable among us and to our vision of a just society. The website provides links to testimonies, as well as articles by others and several links to outside sources. More will follow. We hope that you’ll visit.

With allies in the disability justice movement, we helped to defeat the most recent MAS bills proposed in Connecticut. Each year, the well-funded proponents bring up more legislation, and we are sure they’ll be ready to go in 2024. We plan to be ready, too.

One further appeal: we need a progressive, experienced videographer who agrees with us on this issue to help us produce a video as soon as possible. We’ll try to raise some funds, although this would need to be a labor of love as well. If you’re interested, please contact me at joan.cavanagh@gmail.com or the group at progressivesagainstmas@hotmail.com.

Chief Moves to Fire 4 Cox Case Cops

by Thomas Breen, New Haven Independent, March 21, 2023

Police Chief Karl Jacobson has recommended that four city police officers be fired for their roles in the mishandling of Richard ​“Randy” Cox, roughly nine months after the 36-year-old New Havener suffered paralyzing injuries while in police custody.

Jacobson announced that decision in a Tuesday afternoon press conference held on the third floor of police headquarters at 1 Union Ave. With Asst. Police Chiefs Bertram Ettienne and David Zannelli and newly promoted Lt.-to-Asst. Chief Manmeet Colon at his side, Jacobson said that he has submitted recommendations to the Board of Police Commissioners that Sgt. Betsy Segui and Officers Oscar Diaz, Jocelyn Lavandier, and Luis Rivera be terminated from their employment with the New Haven Police Department (NHPD). He has issued that recommendation after the department’s Internal Affairs (IA) division wrapped up its months-long investigation of the roles that those officers and now-retired Officer Ronald Pressley played in the June 19, 2022, arrest and handling of Cox. Jacobson said that the IA investigation found that all five police officers violated a number of department general orders, including rules of conduct that require city cops to be law-abiding and work with integrity, trustworthiness, courtesy, and respect.

The IA investigation also found Diaz violated department general orders related to his driving of the police van and being on his cellphone, and it found that Segui violated additional orders related to her supervision of the police detention center. …

After Elicker’s City Hall press conference, Cox’s mother, Doreen Coleman, and one of his local attorneys, R.J. Webber, expressed a small sense of relief that — as they have been calling for months — the chief has now recommended that these officers be fired.

“It was something that we were waiting for,” Coleman said.

“While this has taken some time, the important thing is to get it right,” Webber said.
He and Coleman said that Cox remains paralyzed from the shoulders down and away from home at a rehabilitation facility. Coleman said she visits her son just about every day, most recently bringing him his lunch yesterday.

“He’s doing pretty good,” she said. ​“He’s holding on.” She said her son is still ​“processing” the chief’s recommended firings of these officers. ​“He’s in good spirits.”

[Article can be read in its entirety at newhavenindependent.org/article/cox_police_firing]

Workers Protest Pizza House for Homophobia and Violence Against Former Employee

by Nayeli García , Unidad Latina en Acción

On Tuesday, March 21, community groups protested at Pizza House restaurant (89 Howe St., New Haven) with Javier Lavado, a former employee who suffered homophobia, intimidation, and physical violence at the hands of the manager, Luis Nagera.

On Feb. 25, 2023, Lavado was verbally and physically assaulted by the manager Nagera. This incident was reported to the police and NHPD Officer Blanco inexplicably decided not to make an arrest.

Lavado reported to police that on Feb. 25, Nagera had been intoxicated and was very aggressive when Lavado disagreed with him about the correct way to put cheese on a pizza. Nagera physically assaulted Lavado and used hate language, telling him that he was a “poor faggot.”

On March 9, a commission from ULA went to the pizzeria with a letter addressed to the owner, Peter Papadopoulos, requesting a friendly meeting between the parties to avoid legal action. Papadopoulos refused to receive the letter and accused Lavado of trespassing, even though he knew that Lavado was on the sidewalk the whole time.

Given the refusal of dialogue by the owner of Pizza House and the history of violence that exists there, ULA has decided to start public and legal actions against the establishment. ULA has received complaints from other former employees about the intimidating actions that the manager continually uses when he is allegedly drunk.

ULA demands that Pizza House fire Nagera immediately for his disrespect for his co-workers, his homophobia, and violence. ULA demands monetary compensation for Javier Lavado for the abuse suffered there. ULA also calls on the New Haven Police Department to arrest Nagera for the hate speech and physical attack perpetrated on Lavado on Feb. 25, 2023. ULA also calls on the New Haven community to boycott Pizza House until our demands are resolved.

For information, contact Briam Timko, 201-370-7998. Unidad Latina en Acción is a grassroots organization defending human rights of immigrants and workers in Connecticut since 2002. Visit our website at ulanewhaven.org.

Finally, Some Good News: CT Governor Signs Legislation Extending State’s Free School Lunch Program

by Lesley Cosme Torres, Connecticut Public Radio, Feb. 14, 2023

Gov. Ned Lamont signed legislation Tuesday extending the state’s free school lunch program for all students through the end of the academic year.

The state will shift funding from the federal American Rescue Plan Act into the Free Meals for Students program.

Lamont, a Democrat, said the move will ensure that all students in Connecticut have equal access to free lunch, regardless of socioeconomic status.

The funding for the school lunch program was set to expire between last November and February of this year. State Rep. Gary Turco, a Democrat who represents Newington and New Britain, said he’s proud of Connecticut for stepping up and providing $60 million for all Connecticut school districts.

Turco said that when students are hungry, they can’t learn as well. “When you have a universal program and you make sure every child eats, it actually helps the lower-income students to ensure they were eating too,” Turco said.

He also said participation for lower-income students went up because the program eliminated the stigma some children felt about receiving a free meal.

Don’t Believe Everything Your Landlord Tells You

by a New Haven PAR reader who wishes to remain anonymous

A corporation bought the apartment building I was living in and told me as soon as my lease was up the rent for my apartment would be raised from $1500 a month to $2300 a month. I couldn’t afford that and gave two months’ notice that I’m moving. I was told I had to pay a penalty and the remaining balance of the lease.

I contacted Wildaliz Bermudez, Executive Director of the City of New Haven’s Fair Rent Commission. She said even when all parties sign a lease agreement, the CT General Statute 47a-11a puts limits on how much a landlord can sue the tenant if the tenant leaves early. There are very specific conditions about being penalized for breaking a rental lease.

The law states whatever the landlord receives from the new tenant must be applied to reduce what the old tenant would have owed for the rest of the lease. This will often result in a zero tenant liability or at least a liability of no more than the security deposit. If the landlord does not make reasonable efforts to re-rent, the tenant’s liability is zero, even if many months still remain on the lease.

Since the new landlord was going to immediately re-rent the apartment for $800 more per month than what I was paying, I didn’t owe any additional money for leaving before the lease was up. Because I knew this and confronted the landlord, I saved many thousands of dollars.

There’s another law that allows seniors to break a lease without penalty. C.G.S. 8-116d, which was adopted in 2008 as P.A. 08-93, allows a senior to break a lease with one month’s notice to move to state or federally subsidized housing.

In addition to the Fair Rent Commission, other tenant resources include tenants’ unions (in New Haven and Hamden) and New Haven Legal Assistance.

Renters: If you move before your lease is up, investigate before paying fees for leaving early. Our state law is clear about these exceptions. People should not have to pay for what they’re not liable for.

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