Category: Uncategorized

Excerpts from Sen. Chris Murphy’s COVID-19 Weekly Update, Nov. 20, 2020

PURA has extended the enrollment period for programs to prevent heat source shut-offs for both residential and non-residential customers through at least Feb. 9, 2021. Further, the Winter Protection Program, which protects eligible households during the winter months, is also in effect from Nov. 1, 2020 through May 1, 2021. If you are experiencing difficulty paying your utility bill, you can contact your utility company and ask if you are eligible to be “coded hardship” and enrolled in the Winter Protection Program. If you are ineligible for hardship status or a non-residential customer, ask to enroll in a COVID-19 Payment Plan.

For information on federal coronavirus relief, including help for small businesses, direct cash payments and more, visit murphy.senate.gov/coronavirus. This page provides answers to frequently asked questions and gives a summary of available programs and funding.

For the latest information about keeping you or your family safe go to cdc.gov/coronavirus. For resources and information about Connecticut’s response visit ct.gov/coronavirus.

Alert: Pandemic Protocol at Yale New Haven Health Restricts Life-Saving Efforts for Some Patients

The PAR newsletter has received a copy of the “Yale New Haven Health Resuscitation Protocol for the COVID-19 Pandemic,” updated and issued to all medical staff on November 12. It was accompanied by the following comments.

Couched in vague language open to wide interpretation, this memorandum’s overall point is clear: even if critical care patients and/or their representatives desire intervention such as resuscitation or intubation, or have not yet made their wishes known, they may nevertheless be assigned “Do Not Resuscitate/Do Not Intubate” status by agreement of “two or more physicians.” While patient wishes, or those of their advocates, are to be “considered” if they can be “obtained,” the system is not bound to honor them, and is unlikely to do so if they contradict practitioners’ assessments.

It is stated that one reason to limit (or prohibit) cardiopulmonary resuscitation of “critically ill patients with COVID-19” is to avoid “exposing health care workers to high risk of infectious transmission,” a laudable goal on the face of it. Health care workers have been truly heroic in doing their jobs during this pandemic under terrible conditions. But they know that theirs is not a no- or even low-risk job. And PPE including face shields and masks are more available now than they were in the earliest days. Meanwhile, people go to the emergency room and to the hospital seeking critical care, believing in good faith that they will receive it. Are they to be denied that care because providing it has become too risky? And are people now required to merely accept the judgment of doctors they may never even have met, knowing the health care system is under serious economic pressure to have fewer, less critically ill patients?

The memo states that, in addition to this “system-wide notice,” “ the YNHHS Chief Clinical Officer, in collaboration with the YNHHS Chief Executive Officer and YNHHS Senior Vice President and General Counsel…shall determine an appropriate manner of notifying the public, patients and other stakeholders.” (Emphasis added.)

Since this is an update of a memo originally circulated in April which, to our knowledge, was never made available for public comment or scrutiny, PAR decided its readers should learn about this in a timely manner. Feel free to email us for a copy of the full memo at parnewhaven@hotmail.com.

Job Openings at Save the Sound

For information about these jobs, visit the website savethesound.org, go to the “About Us” tab, and click on “Jobs & RFPs.”

Clean Water Advocate (full-time, NY)
Ecological Communications Specialist (part-time, CT)
Lands Communications Specialist (part-time, CT)

We’re also currently reviewing applications received for the Climate Advocate, NY Ecological Restoration Program Manager, and Peter B. Cooper Legal Fellow. If you’ve been planning to apply for one of those openings, please get your materials in soon!

New Haven Peace Council Webinar on Syria from Damascus Friday Nov. 20

Please join the Peace Council’s upcoming webinar that updates the war on Syria and the vast propaganda campaign that promotes that war.

Join the free Webinar with independent journalist Vanessa Beeley from Damascus on Friday November 20, 4:00 PM Eastern for an update on the shooting, propaganda and economic war on Syria.

There are many advocates for US Imperialist aggression against the sovereignty of the Syrian people. They perpetuate the lies of the State Department and align themselves with the ultimate goal of overthrowing and replacing the Syrian government with a US puppet.

Yet a wealth of information exposes the details and personnel behind the policies that continue to bring such suffering to the Syrian people. This at a time when the Syrian people are successfully regaining their sovereignty and destiny.

Donald Trump’s and the United States’ credentials as humanitarian are pretty thin as the devastated peoples of Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Yemen, among others, would affirm. In its war to overthrow the Syrian government and replace it with a puppet regime, the US helped create and fund the White Helmets whose “links to extremist Salafi-jihadist groups, including ISIS and al-Qaeda, have been thoroughly documented. What’s more, the group has participated in recent Turkish onslaughts in northern Syria where Kurds and other minority groups faced ethnic cleansing.”

“Between 2013 and 2016, USAID donated at least $23 million to the group. The governments of Britain, France, Canada, the Netherlands, and Japan added tens of millions more to this substantial ‘humanitarian’ regime-change slush fund.”
https://thegrayzone.com/2019/10/28/trump-million-syria-jihadist-white-helmets

Join the free Webinar with independent journalist Vanessa Beeley from Damascus on Friday November 20, 4:00 PM Eastern for an update on the shooting, propaganda and economic war on Syria.

Attached is a flier with registration for the Webinar on Syria Friday, Nov. 20 at 4:00 PM Eastern.

Peace /\ Justice

Henry Lowendorf
Greater New Haven Peace Council
With the Hands Off Syria Coalition

PAR looking for writer

PAR readers:

The Progressive Action Roundtable is looking for someone who knows how to write clearly and has a good command of spelling and grammar.

This person must also be interested in talking to local organizers about their groups and plans, and writing a couple of short (up to 300-word) articles for the monthly (except for July and August) PAR newsletter. A small stipend will be available. If interested, please contact Paula with a writing sample at parnewhaven@hotmail.com.

Thank you!

Dwight’s Kensington Playground Is About to Be Sold for $1 to Build Housing

by Jane Comins, Friends of Kensington Playground

Kensington Playground is the largest green space and the only public playground in the Dwight neighborhood. It is about to be sold by the City of New Haven for $1 to non-profit housing developer The Community Builders/TCB. TCB plans to build a 15-unit apartment building and a 15-space surface parking lot on the playground. A diverse group of neighbors has organized to stop this sale.

The proposed deal was approved by the full Board of Alders on Monday, October 19, 2020. Only three alders, Douglass, Festa, and Roth, stood with the neighborhood. Others relied on old stereotypes of Kensington Street to hijack our only playground to benefit TCB, a non-profit developer that has not been a good landlord. Kensington Playground is a major success story for policing in New Haven. Lt. John Healy made it his top priority when taking over this police district. As a result, it is now a place we can use. The City did not follow the law. The Dwight Central Management Team never gave its support. Housing can be built without taking this playground from our children. We call upon the Mayor to reject this plan.

For updates, visit: KensingtonPlayground.org

 

The Yale Cross Campus Occupation Oct. 22-24

Facebook Yale Endowment Justice Coalition

The Yale Endowment Justice Coalition demands Yale’s complete divestment from fossil fuels and Puerto Rican debt! They held an in-person COVID-safe occupation on Cross Campus from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day on October 22, 23, and 24. There were speakers and events throughout, and time designated for calling University President Peter Salovey, Chief Investments Officer David Swensen, and other members of the Yale Corporation to demand that they divest. They ended on International Divestment Day—Oct. 24—when hundreds of youth organizations around the world call on their institutions to stop profiting from climate change.

For years, Yale students and New Haven community members have demanded that Yale listen to scientists, stop profiting from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels and cancel its holdings in exploitative and imperialist Puerto Rican debt. Last year hundreds of students and community members stormed the field at the Harvard/Yale game in support of those demands. Yet our administration still refuses to listen to student voices. Now, as New Haven struggles with the worst public health crisis and the worst economic downturn in living memory, it could not be more important that Yale invest its $30 billion endowment in the New Haven community, not fossil fuel companies or predatory debt collectors. Join us as we continue to demand that our university curb the violence of their financial practices and become a more equitable, accountable institution. (See up-dates at: yaledailynews.com/blog/2020/10/23/endowment-justice-student-protesters-occupy-cross-campus.

NeverEnding Books Hosting Great Fall Give-Away

NeverEnding Books is Hosting the Great Fall Give-Away! We have so many books, we need to find new homes for them. Call (203) 865-6507 and leave a message for Rainbow Recycling or for Roger to find out when you can come by the bookstore at 810 State Street. Bring a box or a bag (or two) and fill up with the all free books you want.

Two Green Party candidates qualify for November ballot; one to challenge DeLauro | New Haven Register

Two candidates for public office from the Green Party have gathered enough signatures to qualify for the Nov. 3 ballot.

Dr. Justin Paglino of Guilford is challenging 30-year Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro for the 3rd District congressional seat, while attorney Paul Garlinghouse will be on the ballot with Democrat Shannel Evans and Republican Marlene Napolitano for registrar of voters in New Haven.

Paglino is running on a platform that supports Medicare for All; ranked choice voting; the Green New Deal, which includes a ban on fracking; and reduced military spending.

Read the rest of the story in The New Haven Register: 2 Green Party candidates qualify for November ballot; one to challenge DeLauro – New Haven Register

Tell us, and the community, about your organization

Dear PAR Contributors,

Thank you for your continued readership and support of the Progressive Action Roundtable newsletter. In a few weeks we will begin to compile our October issue. Readers want to know: What is the purpose of your organization? How are you building your group? What campaigns are you organizing? What events are you planning?

We want to publicize the work that groups have done and what they’re planning to do. We want to spread the word to others who will be inspired to join you, support your activism and build the struggles. Send us articles (even a paragraph or two) about what your group wants to do and any ideas for organizing! 350-word limit, please!

Please send articles about your group’s recent and current activities and upcoming actions and events to parnewhaven@hotmail.com.

***Help inspire others through your commitment! ***

The deadline for the October Progressive Action Roundtable Newsletter is Saturday, September 19.

Please keep in mind that as layout space permits, we will include photos.

IMPORTANT: Don’t neglect to add your organization’s contact information such as phone number, e-mail address or website, so our readers can get more information about what your group is doing.

ABOUT CALENDAR ITEMS

If you mention an event in an article, please also send a SEPARATE calendar announcement.

Please give street addresses for any events or meetings, even for “well-known” public buildings.

VERY IMPORTANT: Please indicate whether your event location is wheelchair accessible.

You can also send us SAVE THE DATE items about future events, even if you do not yet have all the details in place.

The PAR newsletter will come out approximately Wednesday, September 30. Please consider this when submitting calendar items.

Progressive Action Roundtable is on Facebook

For automatic PAR updates, sign up on our website: par-newhaven.org

If your group has a website, please add our link to your webpage.

To renew your own subscription or to buy a subscription for a friend, the rate is $13 for 10 issues. Please make the check out to PAR and mail it to

PAR
P.O. Box 995
New Haven, CT 06504

Dear PAR Subscribers,

After two months of being available only on-line, we’re glad to provide you with the printed PAR newsletter. We still encourage all our subscribers to sign on to get PAR notices on-line so you can be kept informed of events that weren’t known in time to be included in the printed version. You can subscribe at par-newhaven.org.

PAR does not print in July or August. The next newsletter will be the September issue. Because there are still so many restrictions on gatherings, we are unsure of when, or which, of our regularly-scheduled events will take place. Many meetings, conferences and rallies are taking place via the internet. We urge you to contact the organizations you are interested in to find out how you can participate in their work.

Enclosed in this issue is the War Resisters League’s famous “pie chart” flyer, Where Your Income Tax Money Really Goes. It analyzes the Federal Fiscal Year 2021 Budget, published in February 2020. FY2021 is 1 Oct. 2020 – 30 Sept. 2021. We recently contacted the War Resisters League to see if these figures are still accurate, due to the emergency spending necessary for the pandemic, massive unemployment and economic crisis. We were told the current Pie Charts are based on figures for the FY2021 Federal Budget, not the current budget, so those figures are not affected by expenditures connected to the pandemic.

Wishing you a healthy, safe and peaceful summer.

PAR Planning Committee

How You Can Help At-Risk People in Our Community

by Mark Colville, Amistad Catholic Worker [edited. See last month’s PAR for full statement]

Friends,

This is an urgent call to come together as advocates, caregivers, organizers, activists and allies, in response to the ongoing unmet needs of some of the most at-risk people in the New Haven community. We’ve seen the city and some of its institutions take bold and proactive steps. At the same time, there is a growing fear that those efforts are falling short in terms of providing safe spaces for significant numbers of people who still lack the wherewithal to follow the statewide directive to shelter in place.

There is an effort underway to erect a tent city, in open space somewhere relatively close to the city center. This is being organized collectively and with a fair degree of urgency. It will integrate the requirements of social distancing and sheltering in place, but the rules and regulations will be developed and agreed upon by those dwelling in that space. Thus the responsibility for its operation in a safe and sanitary way, maintaining the peace and respecting the privacy of its residents, will also be assumed collectively.

We are now looking for camping supplies, especially tents, sleeping bags, warm blankets and tarps. If you can donate any of these or other items, please call or text me: (203) 645-5417; markcolville9761@gmail.com. For anyone interested in taking an active role in getting the project off the ground, I’m happy to discuss that as well.

Stay safe everyone.

Gratefully,

Mark Colville

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