From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Jan 1 21:34:21 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 15:34:21 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Nuclear War, Capitalism, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix References: <139971992.9313.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: > > New post on Caitlin Johnstone > > > Nuclear War, Capitalism, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative?Matrix by Caitlin Johnstone > The life of every terrestrial organism is being threatened with the steadily growing possibility of nuclear war because after the fall of the USSR a few imperialists decided that US unipolar hegemony needs to be maintained at all cost. > > I'm growing a uniquely deep hatred for people who scoff at me for saying that nuclear war is a real risk. There's no basis whatsoever for the belief that what the US empire is doing with Russia and China is safe. Your source is your own cognitive dissonance with the subject. > > To be clear, the risk is not that anyone will choose to have a nuclear war, it's that a nuke will be deployed amid heightening tensions as a result of miscommunication or malfunction, as nearly happened many times during the last cold war. The more tense things get, the likelier such an event becomes. This new cold war is happening along twofronts, with a bunch of proxy conflicts complicating things even further. There are so very many small moving parts, and it's impossible to remain in control of all of them. > > People like to think every nuclear-armed country has one "The Button" with which they can consciously choose to start a nuclear war after careful deliberation, but it doesn't work that way. There are thousands?of people in the world controlling different parts of different nuclear arsenals who could independently initiate a nuclear war. Thousands of "The Buttons". It only takes one. The arrogance of believing anyone can control such a conflict safely, for years, is astounding. > > ? > > The "Great Reset" will result in further widening of the wealth gap and more control for unelected oligarchs. Of course it will. Just like all the other steps in capitalism's inevitable march toward dystopia. This isn't a deviation, it's a continuation. > > ? > > Chortle, chortle, socialism is a pie-in-the-sky fantasy you silly child. Much more realistic to choke our planet to death chasing imaginary currency in an imaginary economy so we can pay to live on the planet where we were born. > > ? > > "Socialism has never worked," said the system that created the earth's sixth mass extinction. > > ? > > Capitalism is held in place by imagination, compartmentalization, and a huge mountain of survivorship bias . > > ? > > The unspoken premise of modern capitalism is that the world is about to be saved by union-busting tech billionaires who choose every day not to end world hunger. > > ? > > Capitalism does not reward innovation in the way our world requires because: > > It constricts solutions to only those that can make money. All the crises our species now faces can be solved easily, but if the solution isn't profitable it's rejected. > Capital buys up competitors' solutions to shelve them. > Stress inhibits creative thinking. > ? > > Life pro tip: 100 percent of the capitalism cultists who say you "don't understand economics" are posturing. It's an empty slogan they've been trained to bleat, and if you debate them for a bit you'll soon find that all they can do is vaguely gesticulate at other people's ideas which they clearly do not understand. They're pure bluster. > > ? > > "I need water." > > Better go find some then. > > "All the water's right there. You're standing on the hose." > > You're just jealous of my success. > > "No I'm dying of thirst and you control all the water." > > Better pull yourself up by your bootstraps and make some water then. > > ? > > All the chipper articles and news segments you've been seeing in the US mass media about "tiny houses" are really just glorifying the re-emergence of shanty towns in America. > > ? > > Obama gets a lot of criticism for killing Libyans, killing Syrians, killing US citizens, killing all kinds of people all over the world, but he doesn't get enough recognition for also killing the anti-war movement. > > ? > > Imperialist warmongering is by far the worst expression of white supremacism in the world, yet liberals and progressives virtually ignore it. We've seen millions of establishment-endorsed lynchings of brown-skinned people since the turn of the century, and it's accepted as normal. > > ? > > Progressives who say "We have to work within the Democratic Party because the only alternative would be tearing down the entire system" are so close to getting it. > > ? > > The dumbest thing about the Democratic primaries was watching all the mainstream narrative managers pretending all the shitlib candidates were different from each other. "Ooh, this one has brown skin, but this one speaks better Spanish! Let's write ten thousand think pieces about these crucial political differences." > > ? > > Rank-and-file Democrats have been trained for four years to only care about foreign policy if a president wants to withdraw troops from somewhere that Russia might arguably approve of. Which will work out nicely for the foreign policy agendas of the Biden administration. > > ? > > Your favorite artist has great content but shit political opinions because they're very talented but our society is saturated with establishment propaganda. Hope that helps. > > ? > > People tell me they like what I say but they wish I'd say it more politely. Uhh I'm trying to help topple a psychopathic global empire here. People who are put off by a little crude language aren't really my target demographic. > > ? > > The abusers I've known have had an interesting feature in common: they always expect, and feel entitled to, a private space to abuse you in. They get outraged and indignant if you tell others about their abuse, acting like you've done something deeply immoral. I say it's interesting because the powerful people who demand secrecy behave the exact same way. > > FYI your abuser is never entitled to a private space in which to inflict abuse, whether they're a significant other or a globe-spanning empire. > > ______________________ > > Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack , which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook , following my antics on Twitter , throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon or Paypal , purchasing some of my sweet merchandise , buying my new book Poems For Rebels or my old book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers . For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I?m trying to do with this platform, click here . Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. > > > Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 > > Caitlin Johnstone | December 30, 2020 at 3:17 am | Tags: capitalism , imperialism , narrative matrix , nuclear war , Politics , socialism , war | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-2qd > Comment See all comments > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 01:39:16 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 19:39:16 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The U of I wants a nuclear reactor...... Message-ID: https://www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/carbon_or_radiation_a_false_dilemma/?fbclid=IwAR3ZKJINDNJ7ZlBIKH8XwEyy5i8yh3KPfmWpUL1piyO_1mxton6aFft1X-k From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 01:39:16 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 19:39:16 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The U of I wants a nuclear reactor...... Message-ID: https://www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/carbon_or_radiation_a_false_dilemma/?fbclid=IwAR3ZKJINDNJ7ZlBIKH8XwEyy5i8yh3KPfmWpUL1piyO_1mxton6aFft1X-k From jbw292002 at gmail.com Sat Jan 2 04:42:00 2021 From: jbw292002 at gmail.com (John W.) Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 22:42:00 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The U of I wants a nuclear reactor...... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thank you, Karen. That was very well written and informative. I'd be interested to hear what Mort Brussel thinks of it. John Wason On Fri, Jan 1, 2021 at 7:39 PM Karen Aram via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: https://www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/carbon_or_radiation_a_false_dilemma/?fbclid=IwAR3ZKJINDNJ7ZlBIKH8XwEyy5i8yh3KPfmWpUL1piyO_1mxton6aFft1X-k > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > Virus-free. www.avg.com <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbw292002 at gmail.com Sat Jan 2 04:42:00 2021 From: jbw292002 at gmail.com (John W.) Date: Fri, 1 Jan 2021 22:42:00 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The U of I wants a nuclear reactor...... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Thank you, Karen. That was very well written and informative. I'd be interested to hear what Mort Brussel thinks of it. John Wason On Fri, Jan 1, 2021 at 7:39 PM Karen Aram via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: https://www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/carbon_or_radiation_a_false_dilemma/?fbclid=IwAR3ZKJINDNJ7ZlBIKH8XwEyy5i8yh3KPfmWpUL1piyO_1mxton6aFft1X-k > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > Virus-free. www.avg.com <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 13:25:41 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2021 07:25:41 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The U of I wants a nuclear reactor...... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I?m sure we?ll hear from Mort, who generally supports nuclear power. > On Jan 1, 2021, at 22:42, John W. wrote: > > > Thank you, Karen. That was very well written and informative. I'd be interested to hear what Mort Brussel thinks of it. > > John Wason > > > On Fri, Jan 1, 2021 at 7:39 PM Karen Aram via Peace > wrote: > > https://www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/carbon_or_radiation_a_false_dilemma/?fbclid=IwAR3ZKJINDNJ7ZlBIKH8XwEyy5i8yh3KPfmWpUL1piyO_1mxton6aFft1X-k > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > Virus-free. www.avg.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 13:25:41 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2021 07:25:41 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The U of I wants a nuclear reactor...... In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I?m sure we?ll hear from Mort, who generally supports nuclear power. > On Jan 1, 2021, at 22:42, John W. wrote: > > > Thank you, Karen. That was very well written and informative. I'd be interested to hear what Mort Brussel thinks of it. > > John Wason > > > On Fri, Jan 1, 2021 at 7:39 PM Karen Aram via Peace > wrote: > > https://www.smilepolitely.com/opinion/carbon_or_radiation_a_false_dilemma/?fbclid=IwAR3ZKJINDNJ7ZlBIKH8XwEyy5i8yh3KPfmWpUL1piyO_1mxton6aFft1X-k > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > Virus-free. www.avg.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 14:01:29 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2021 08:01:29 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Nuclear reactor on U of I campus Message-ID: The U of I, had a nuclear reactor on the U of I campus, but it was inoperable as of 1998, and dismantled in 2011-2012. Used for teaching purposes. https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/209552?fbclid=IwAR0f1PFhgW41_F3jS1h0dKlAjHoIG5iDO8YpJ-KYtQsvuAbknndiazHACZg From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 14:01:29 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2021 08:01:29 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Nuclear reactor on U of I campus Message-ID: The U of I, had a nuclear reactor on the U of I campus, but it was inoperable as of 1998, and dismantled in 2011-2012. Used for teaching purposes. https://news.illinois.edu/view/6367/209552?fbclid=IwAR0f1PFhgW41_F3jS1h0dKlAjHoIG5iDO8YpJ-KYtQsvuAbknndiazHACZg From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 23:49:56 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2021 17:49:56 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: [New post] In An Insane World, Revolution Is The Moderate Position References: <139971992.9244.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: > > New post on Caitlin Johnstone > > > In An Insane World, Revolution Is The Moderate?Position by Caitlin Johnstone > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose mass murder for profit and power. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose the globe-spanning power alliance that is perpetrating most of that mass murder on the world stage today. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose the existence of secretive government agencies which have extensive histories of committing horrific crimes. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to say that everyone ought to have a basic standard of living instead of being deprived of food, shelter and medicine if they have the wrong imaginary numbers in their bank account. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose the existence of a small class of elites who use their vast fortunes to manipulate our entire society toward their advantage. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to want plutocrats and government agencies to stop deliberately manipulating people's minds using mass media propaganda. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to want everyone to have an equal chance of getting their voice heard in our information ecosystem instead of a few select power-serving lackeys. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to want a society that is ruled by the many for the benefit of the many instead of one that is run by the few for the benefit of the few. > > It is very normal, sane and healthy to want a world where everyone has what they need to live, where everyone is free to do, say and think whatever they like as long as it isn't hurting anyone else, and where nobody is being murdered by powerful governments. This is a very basic, intuitive, common sense desire to have for yourself and for your fellow human beings; it's wanting for your society what you want for yourself. > > Yet people who promote policies which are aimed at creating this kind of world are consistently marginalized and dismissed as radicals and extremists. It's okay to say you oppose war in principle, but if you oppose any specific acts of warmongering being perpetrated by your government you'll get labeled a Russian asset, a dictator apologist and all sorts of other pejorative labels which exist solely to justify keeping you off of mainstream platforms. It's okay to think we should live in peaceful collaboration with each other and our ecosystem, but if you promote specific policies to make that happen you're an evil commie, a class warrior and a moonbat in the same way. > > Simply advocating sanity over insanity gets you shoved out of sight and out of mind by the narrative managers responsible for preserving a world order that is stark raving insane from top to bottom. If you oppose the systems exploited by the ruling power establishment which murders, exploits and oppresses people at home and abroad all day every day while destroying the very ecosystem we depend on for survival, then you are branded a lunatic and your wrongthink quarantined so as not to infect the mainstream herd. > > This dynamic is made possible by the fact that the powerful are constantly pouring their wealth and influence into manufacturing the collective delusion that madness is sanity and sickness is health. The plutocrat-controlled political class and the plutocrat-owned media class feed the public an unceasing stream of propaganda aimed at convincing them that capitalism is totally working, that western imperialism is a kooky conspiracy theory, and that the military, police and politicians are our friends. This is what's constantly being done by mainstream news media, and with varying degrees of subtlety it's what is being done by every show on television and every movie churned out by Hollywood as well. > > But that's all it is: a collective propaganda-induced delusion. In reality it is the mainstream promoters of the establishment-authorized status quo who are the violent extremists, and it is those who desire health and sanity who are the moderates. > > The madness of our world will necessarily continue for as long as we are unable to collectively find our way out of it, and we will be unable to collectively find our way out of it for as long as they are able to keep us collectively confused about what is madness and what is sanity. About what is normal and what is abnormal. About what is moderate and what is extreme. > > If you oppose the madness of our world, don't make an identity out of being a "radical". Don't build an egoic structure around life on the fringe. You are not radical, and your ideas should not be fringe. To live a revolutionary life, you should insist on the normality and mundaneness of your own position. Sanity should not be special and unusual, and we should not participate in the delusion that it is. > > Let your life be an expression of the common sense ordinariness of revolution. > > ______________________ > > Image via Pixabay. > > Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack , which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook , following my antics on Twitter , throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon or Paypal , purchasing some of my sweet merchandise , buying my new book Poems For Rebels or my old book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers . For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I?m trying to do with this platform, click here . Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. > > > Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 > > Caitlin Johnstone | December 7, 2020 at 3:37 am | Tags: establishment , peace , Politics , propaganda , revolution , sanity | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-2p6 > Comment See all comments > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 2 23:49:56 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 2 Jan 2021 17:49:56 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: [New post] In An Insane World, Revolution Is The Moderate Position References: <139971992.9244.0@wordpress.com> Message-ID: > > New post on Caitlin Johnstone > > > In An Insane World, Revolution Is The Moderate?Position by Caitlin Johnstone > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose mass murder for profit and power. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose the globe-spanning power alliance that is perpetrating most of that mass murder on the world stage today. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose the existence of secretive government agencies which have extensive histories of committing horrific crimes. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to say that everyone ought to have a basic standard of living instead of being deprived of food, shelter and medicine if they have the wrong imaginary numbers in their bank account. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to oppose the existence of a small class of elites who use their vast fortunes to manipulate our entire society toward their advantage. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to want plutocrats and government agencies to stop deliberately manipulating people's minds using mass media propaganda. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to want everyone to have an equal chance of getting their voice heard in our information ecosystem instead of a few select power-serving lackeys. > > It should not be considered radical or extremist to want a society that is ruled by the many for the benefit of the many instead of one that is run by the few for the benefit of the few. > > It is very normal, sane and healthy to want a world where everyone has what they need to live, where everyone is free to do, say and think whatever they like as long as it isn't hurting anyone else, and where nobody is being murdered by powerful governments. This is a very basic, intuitive, common sense desire to have for yourself and for your fellow human beings; it's wanting for your society what you want for yourself. > > Yet people who promote policies which are aimed at creating this kind of world are consistently marginalized and dismissed as radicals and extremists. It's okay to say you oppose war in principle, but if you oppose any specific acts of warmongering being perpetrated by your government you'll get labeled a Russian asset, a dictator apologist and all sorts of other pejorative labels which exist solely to justify keeping you off of mainstream platforms. It's okay to think we should live in peaceful collaboration with each other and our ecosystem, but if you promote specific policies to make that happen you're an evil commie, a class warrior and a moonbat in the same way. > > Simply advocating sanity over insanity gets you shoved out of sight and out of mind by the narrative managers responsible for preserving a world order that is stark raving insane from top to bottom. If you oppose the systems exploited by the ruling power establishment which murders, exploits and oppresses people at home and abroad all day every day while destroying the very ecosystem we depend on for survival, then you are branded a lunatic and your wrongthink quarantined so as not to infect the mainstream herd. > > This dynamic is made possible by the fact that the powerful are constantly pouring their wealth and influence into manufacturing the collective delusion that madness is sanity and sickness is health. The plutocrat-controlled political class and the plutocrat-owned media class feed the public an unceasing stream of propaganda aimed at convincing them that capitalism is totally working, that western imperialism is a kooky conspiracy theory, and that the military, police and politicians are our friends. This is what's constantly being done by mainstream news media, and with varying degrees of subtlety it's what is being done by every show on television and every movie churned out by Hollywood as well. > > But that's all it is: a collective propaganda-induced delusion. In reality it is the mainstream promoters of the establishment-authorized status quo who are the violent extremists, and it is those who desire health and sanity who are the moderates. > > The madness of our world will necessarily continue for as long as we are unable to collectively find our way out of it, and we will be unable to collectively find our way out of it for as long as they are able to keep us collectively confused about what is madness and what is sanity. About what is normal and what is abnormal. About what is moderate and what is extreme. > > If you oppose the madness of our world, don't make an identity out of being a "radical". Don't build an egoic structure around life on the fringe. You are not radical, and your ideas should not be fringe. To live a revolutionary life, you should insist on the normality and mundaneness of your own position. Sanity should not be special and unusual, and we should not participate in the delusion that it is. > > Let your life be an expression of the common sense ordinariness of revolution. > > ______________________ > > Image via Pixabay. > > Thanks for reading! The best way to get around the internet censors and make sure you see the stuff I publish is to subscribe to the mailing list for at my website or on Substack , which will get you an email notification for everything I publish. My work is entirely reader-supported , so if you enjoyed this piece please consider sharing it around, liking me on Facebook , following my antics on Twitter , throwing some money into my tip jar on Patreon or Paypal , purchasing some of my sweet merchandise , buying my new book Poems For Rebels or my old book Woke: A Field Guide for Utopia Preppers . For more info on who I am, where I stand, and what I?m trying to do with this platform, click here . Everyone, racist platforms excluded, has my permission to republish, use or translate any part of this work (or anything else I?ve written) in any way they like free of charge. > > > Bitcoin donations:1Ac7PCQXoQoLA9Sh8fhAgiU3PHA2EX5Zm2 > > Caitlin Johnstone | December 7, 2020 at 3:37 am | Tags: establishment , peace , Politics , propaganda , revolution , sanity | Categories: Article | URL: https://wp.me/p9tj6M-2p6 > Comment See all comments > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Jan 5 14:46:26 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2021 08:46:26 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The best Jimmy Dore show yet as he reveals all. Message-ID: The best Jimmy Dore show yet as he reveals all. Yes, he?s angry, rightfully so, we should all be angry. Yes, he uses foul language which may offend you, but you should be offended at the lives being ruined by these fraudulent leaders, the so called liberal Democrats. https://youtu.be/LyAXpYPA7C4 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Jan 5 14:46:26 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2021 08:46:26 -0600 Subject: [Peace] The best Jimmy Dore show yet as he reveals all. Message-ID: The best Jimmy Dore show yet as he reveals all. Yes, he?s angry, rightfully so, we should all be angry. Yes, he uses foul language which may offend you, but you should be offended at the lives being ruined by these fraudulent leaders, the so called liberal Democrats. https://youtu.be/LyAXpYPA7C4 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Jan 5 14:49:57 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2021 08:49:57 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Signs point to imminent Israeli military action in Yemen. References: <3b33b8b02bdc833e727219156.9c85e5de6e.20210105011419.9ed3d27705.3f488ec3@mail124.sea172.mcdlv.net> Message-ID: > > Add share at mintpressnews.com to your address book to avoid spam filters. > View this email in your browser > > Ahmed Abdulkareem reports on? the potential of Israeli military action in Yemen. > > Signs of escalation are beginning to surface gradually in the Yemeni interior and along the Red Sea in the wake of the wave of normalization between the Gulf states and Tel Aviv. > Will Yemen be the first arena for military cooperation between the Gulf kingdoms and Israel? > > Saudi Arabia has rung in the new year in a familiar way, with an airstrike targeting a large gathering of civilians at a wedding ceremony in Yemen. > > On new year?s night, at least five civilians were killed when Saudi-backed militants launched artillery rounds at a wedding ceremony in the populated al-Hawk area in the strategic port city of Hodeida. > > Developments taking place across the Middle East are driving the reality home in Yemen that 2021 is unlikely to bring about an end to Saudi Arabia?s nearly six-year-long war on their country. > > On the ground, signs of escalation are expected to intensify during 2021 as an open military confrontation between Yemen and Israel seems closer than ever in the wake of recent Israel statements, including the statement of the spokesman for the Israeli military, Brigadier General Hidai Zilberman, who revealed to a Saudi website on Saturday the intention of his forces to launch a blitzkrieg in Yemen, confirming that Israel has been monitoring the situation in Yemen and Iraq. > > The Yemeni people fear that they will pay the price for tensions between Iran and the United States, according to many Yemenis who spoke to MintPress. > > Learn more about the imminent potential for Israeli military action against Yemen. > > > In solidarity, > Ahmed at MintPress News > > > > > > > Copyright ? 2021 Mint Press News, All rights reserved. > > Our mailing address is: > Mint Press News > 3500 Vicksburg Ln N #312 > Minneapolis, MN 55447 > > Add us to your address book > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Tue Jan 5 14:49:57 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Tue, 5 Jan 2021 08:49:57 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Signs point to imminent Israeli military action in Yemen. References: <3b33b8b02bdc833e727219156.9c85e5de6e.20210105011419.9ed3d27705.3f488ec3@mail124.sea172.mcdlv.net> Message-ID: > > Add share at mintpressnews.com to your address book to avoid spam filters. > View this email in your browser > > Ahmed Abdulkareem reports on? the potential of Israeli military action in Yemen. > > Signs of escalation are beginning to surface gradually in the Yemeni interior and along the Red Sea in the wake of the wave of normalization between the Gulf states and Tel Aviv. > Will Yemen be the first arena for military cooperation between the Gulf kingdoms and Israel? > > Saudi Arabia has rung in the new year in a familiar way, with an airstrike targeting a large gathering of civilians at a wedding ceremony in Yemen. > > On new year?s night, at least five civilians were killed when Saudi-backed militants launched artillery rounds at a wedding ceremony in the populated al-Hawk area in the strategic port city of Hodeida. > > Developments taking place across the Middle East are driving the reality home in Yemen that 2021 is unlikely to bring about an end to Saudi Arabia?s nearly six-year-long war on their country. > > On the ground, signs of escalation are expected to intensify during 2021 as an open military confrontation between Yemen and Israel seems closer than ever in the wake of recent Israel statements, including the statement of the spokesman for the Israeli military, Brigadier General Hidai Zilberman, who revealed to a Saudi website on Saturday the intention of his forces to launch a blitzkrieg in Yemen, confirming that Israel has been monitoring the situation in Yemen and Iraq. > > The Yemeni people fear that they will pay the price for tensions between Iran and the United States, according to many Yemenis who spoke to MintPress. > > Learn more about the imminent potential for Israeli military action against Yemen. > > > In solidarity, > Ahmed at MintPress News > > > > > > > Copyright ? 2021 Mint Press News, All rights reserved. > > Our mailing address is: > Mint Press News > 3500 Vicksburg Ln N #312 > Minneapolis, MN 55447 > > Add us to your address book > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 9 02:06:21 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2021 20:06:21 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Growing threat that Trump will provoke war with Iran to further coup plot References: Message-ID: > > Growing threat that Trump will provoke war with Iran to further coup plot > Bill Van Auken > 5 January 2021 > > > > > > As President Donald Trump?s attempted coup d??tat unfolds in Washington, the threat that the White House will provoke a catastrophic new war in the Middle East grows by the hour. > > The Pentagon has concentrated immense firepower in the Persian Gulf in preparation for a military confrontation with Iran that could engulf the whole region, and indeed the world. > > Sunday saw the extraordinary reversal of an order for the USS Nimitz carrier strike group to return to its home base in the United States. Instead, it was sent back to the Persian Gulf on the personal order of Trump following a White House meeting with his newly installed defense secretary, Christopher Miller. > > > USS Nimitz which is currently deployed in the Persian Gulf. (Image Credit US Navy/Flickr) > An ex-special forces colonel, Miller replaced Mark Esper after the November 3 election as part of a wholesale purge of the civilian leadership at the Pentagon. Esper had provoked Trump?s ire by publicly opposing the invocation of the Insurrection Act and deployment of regular army troops to suppress anti-police violence protests last summer. Miller and his new deputy, Ezra Cohen, are part of a fascistic pro-Trump and fanatically anti-Iranian cabal that has been slotted into top positions at the Defense Department. > > The Nimitz, carrying 90 fighter jets and accompanied by a flotilla that includes guided-missile destroyers, has been joined in deployment to the Gulf by the nuclear submarine USS Georgia, which is armed with cruise missiles and escorted by its own squad of warships. > > These naval deployments have been supplemented over the past month with three overflights of the Persian Gulf by pairs of nuclear-capable B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers, in what amount to dry runs for a devastating aerial bombardment of Iran. > > The increasingly crowded and perilous waters of the Persian Gulf are also the apparent destination of an Israeli Dolphin class submarine that sailed through the Suez Canal late last month and a South Korean destroyer that has been dispatched following Iran?s seizure of a South Korean tanker. Iranian authorities charged that the tanker was leaking toxic chemicals. The incident has taken place amid a dispute between Tehran and Seoul over $7 billion in Iranian assets held by South Korea, formerly a major importer of Iranian oil. South Korea is now submitting to Washington?s ?maximum pressure? sanctions campaign barring both oil and financial transactions with Iran. > > > > Foreword to the German edition of David North?s?Quarter Century of War > Johannes Stern, 5 October 2020 > After three decades of US-led wars, the outbreak of a third world war, which would be fought with nuclear weapons, is an imminent and concrete danger. > > > Any clash between Iranian naval forces and the South Korean warship could trigger a war with the US, a military ally pledged to defend South Korea against any ?external armed attack.? > > For its part, Israel has seized upon Iran?s decision to resume enriching uranium to 20 percent levels at its underground Fordo facility to threaten war. While the increased enrichment is part of a series of measures taken by Iran in response to Washington?s unilateral abrogation of the 2015 nuclear accord between Tehran and the major powers, and Europe?s failure to challenge Washington?s sanctions regime, Tel Aviv has insisted that it is a preparation for producing nuclear weapons. > > Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz, referring to the rising tensions surrounding the political crisis in the US, told reporters: ?I don?t know if the situation will erupt. An eruption of the situation is a function of what will happen in these events. I must add that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] and the rest of the Israeli security forces are on alert and are well aware of what is happening in this front.? > > Iran has charged that Israel is deliberately seeking to instigate a military confrontation before Trump leaves office. On Saturday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said, ?New intelligence from Iraq indicate[s] that Israeli agent-provocateurs are plotting attacks against Americans? to provide Trump ?with a fake casus belli.? > > Pentagon chief Christopher Miller?s rationale for ordering the carrier Nimitz to reverse course and head back into the Gulf was alleged threats ?against President Trump and other US government officials.? > > The claim of Iranian ?threats? was put in the context of January 3rd?s one-year anniversary of the US assassination of top Iranian leader Qassem Suleimani, who was targeted with a US drone strike shortly after arriving at Baghdad?s international airport for an official state visit. > > The anniversary saw major demonstrations in Iraq, where marchers demanded the withdrawal of all US troops from the country, as well as protests elsewhere in the region. Despite Washington?s warnings of Iranian retaliatory attacks on the anniversary?providing a pretext for a US war of aggression?none materialized. Tehran reportedly asked pro-Iranian Shia militias in Iraq, whose own leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed in the same strike that claimed the life of Suleimani, to refrain from attacks on US forces and facilities on Iraqi soil. > > In a Tehran press conference on Tuesday, Gholamhossein Esmaili, spokesman for the Iranian judiciary, told reporters that Iran has asked Interpol to issue a ?red notice? for the arrest of President Trump and 47 other US officials responsible for the assassination of Suleimani. Previously, Interpol stated that it is not authorized to intervene in issues of a political or military character. > > The threat of a US war in the Persian Gulf as part of a coup plot in the US is being taken very seriously by former senior British military commanders interviewed by the Independent. Maj. Gen. Jonathan Shaw, a former assistant chief of defense staff and British commander in Iraq, told the British daily that amid the mounting concerns over the coup attempt in Washington, ?the possibility that Trump might launch an attack on Iran receives less attention, yet there are worrying indicators we should also take this threat seriously.? > > He continued, ?The first concerning sign is that the incoming Biden defense team have had their briefings by the Pentagon curtailed. Denying access to the incoming team breaks all the rules of party politics and good governance and threatens a dangerous discontinuity in defense over the handover period. But if you are planning on action that you know your successor would not approve of, then isn?t this exactly what you do?? > > General Shaw added: ?If a concerted attack on Iranian facilities were ordered, the tools are there to do the job. B-52 bombers, with supporting tankers and fighter escorts; the USS Nimitz carrier strike force. The USS Georgia transited the Straits of Hormuz into the Gulf, thus increasing both its potency and its vulnerability in the shallows, and the Israelis sending a Dolphin class attack submarine through the Suez Canal to join the US forces, albeit not in the Gulf itself. All Trump has to do is say the word.? > > Gen. Sir Richard Barrons, the former chief of Joint Forces Command, told the newspaper that in addition to Trump, there are elements within the US military command that want a war with Iran. ?The US military is divided to an extent on this. There is a section which is quite hawkish about Iran and see it as a threat. They are almost quasi-messianic in their attitude in this,? he said. > > Clearly representative of this layer is Gen. Michael Flynn (ret.), Trump?s criminally convicted first national security adviser, who last month discussed with him the prospect of imposing martial law to overturn the election. > > The joint statement by all 10 living secretaries of defense, Republicans and Democrats alike, published Sunday by the Washington Post, declaring that the Pentagon has no role in determining the outcome of the US presidential election, was an unmistakable indication that plotting to employ the military for just such a purpose is well advanced. > > A war on Iran, with the potential for mass casualties among the tens of thousands of US troops deployed in the region, could provide Trump with the pretext for imposing martial law and refusing to surrender the White House. > > While even the British generals recognize this threat, President-elect Joe Biden and the Democrats have raised no alarm, instead merely insisting that their being locked out of the Pentagon undermines a seamless handover of the US war machine. What they want to avoid, above all, is working people in the United States becoming conscious of the danger and taking the road of an independent struggle against it. > > WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 9 03:03:57 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2021 21:03:57 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Three Major Threats to Life on Earth That We Must Address in 2021 References: Message-ID: > JANUARY 6, 2021 > Three Major Threats to Life on Earth That We Must Address in 2021 BY NOAM CHOMSKY ? VIJAY PRASHAD Facebook Twitter Reddit Email > > Pulp Mills on a December night, Wauna, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. > Large parts of the world?outside of China and a few other countries?face a runaway virus, which has not been stopped because of criminal incompetence by governments. That these governments in wealthy countries cynically set aside the basic scientific protocols released by the World Health Organization and by scientific organizations reveals their malicious practice. Anything less than focused attention to managing the virus by testing, contact tracing, and isolation?and if this does not suffice, then imposing a temporary lockdown?is foolhardy. It is equally distressing that these richer countries have pursued a policy of ?vaccine nationalism ? by stockpiling vaccine candidates rather than a policy for the creation of a ?people?s vaccine .? For the sake of humanity, it would be prudent to suspend intellectual property rules and develop a procedure to create universal vaccines for all people. > Although the pandemic is the principal issue on all of our minds, other major issues threaten the longevity of our species and of our planet. These include: > Nuclear Annihilation > In January 2020, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds to midnight, too close for comfort. The clock, created two years after the first atomic weapons were developed in 1945, is evaluated annually by the Bulletin?s Science and Security Board, who decide whether to move the minute hand or keep it in place. By the time they set the clock again, it may well be closer to annihilation. Already limited arms control treaties are being shredded as the major powers sit on close to 13,500 nuclear weapons (more than 90 percent of which are held by Russia and the United States alone). The yield of these weapons could easily make this planet even more uninhabitable. The United States Navy has already deployed low-yield tactical W76-2 nuclear warheads. Immediate moves toward nuclear disarmament must be forced onto the world?s agenda. Hiroshima Day, commemorated each year on August 6, must become a more robust day of contemplation and protest. > Climate Catastrophe > A scientific paper published in 2018 came with a startling headline: ?Most atolls will be uninhabitable by the mid-21st century because of sea-level rise exacerbating wave-driven flooding.? The authors found that atolls from the Seychelles to the Marshall Islands are liable to vanish. A 2019 United Nations (UN) report estimated that 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Add to this the catastrophic wildfires and the severe bleaching of the coral reefs and it is clear that we no longer need to linger over clich?s about one thing or another being a canary in the coal mine of climate catastrophe; the danger is not in the future, but in the present. It is essential for major powers?who utterly fail to shift from fossil fuels?to commit to the ?common but differentiated responsibilities? approach established at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. It is telling that countries such as Jamaica and Mongolia updated their climate plans to the UN before the end of 2020?as mandated by the Paris Agreement?even though these countries produce a tiny fraction of global carbon emissions. The funds that were committed to developing countries for their participation in the process have virtually dried up while external debt has ballooned. This shows a lack of basic seriousness from the ?international community.? > Neoliberal Destruction of the Social Contract > Countries in North America and Europe have eviscerated their public function as the state has been turned over to the profiteers and civil society has been commodified by private foundations. This means that the avenues for social transformation in these parts of the world have been grotesquely hampered. Terrible social inequality is the result of the relative political weakness of the working class. It is this weakness that enables the billionaires to set policies that cause hunger rates to rise. Countries should not be judged by the words written in their constitutions but by their annual budgets; the U.S., for example, spends almost $1 trillion (if you add the estimated intelligence budget) on its war machine, while it spends a fraction of this on the public good (such as on health care, something evident during the pandemic). The foreign policies of Western countries seem to be well lubricated by arms deals: the United Arab Emirates and Morocco agreed to recognize Israel on the condition that they could purchase $23 billion and $1 billion worth of U.S.-made weapons, respectively. The rights of the Palestinians, the Sahrawi, and the Yemeni people did not factor into these deals. The use of illegal sanctions by the United States against 30 countries including Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela has become a normal part of life, even during the COVID-19 public health crisis. It is a failure of the political system when the populations in the capitalist bloc are unable to force their governments?which are in many ways democratic in name only?to take a global perspective regarding this emergency. Rising rates of hunger reveal that the struggle for survival is the horizon for billions of people on the planet (all this while China is able to eradicate absolute poverty and largely eliminate hunger). > Nuclear annihilation and extinction by climate catastrophe are twin threats to the planet. Meanwhile, for victims of the neoliberal assault that has plagued the past generation, the short-term problems of sustaining their mere existence displace fundamental questions about the fate of our children and grandchildren. > Global problems of this scale require global cooperation. Pressured by the Third World states in the 1960s, the major powers agreed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968, although they rejected the deeply important Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order of 1974 . The balance of forces available to drive such a class agenda on the international stage is no longer there; political dynamics in the countries of the West, in particular, but also in the larger states of the developing world (such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, and South Africa) are necessary to change the character of the governments. A robust internationalism is necessary to pay adequate and immediate attention to the perils of extinction: extinction by nuclear war, by climate catastrophe, and by social collapse. The tasks ahead are daunting, and they cannot be deferred. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 9 03:03:57 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2021 21:03:57 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Three Major Threats to Life on Earth That We Must Address in 2021 References: Message-ID: > JANUARY 6, 2021 > Three Major Threats to Life on Earth That We Must Address in 2021 BY NOAM CHOMSKY ? VIJAY PRASHAD Facebook Twitter Reddit Email > > Pulp Mills on a December night, Wauna, Oregon. Photo: Jeffrey St. Clair. > Large parts of the world?outside of China and a few other countries?face a runaway virus, which has not been stopped because of criminal incompetence by governments. That these governments in wealthy countries cynically set aside the basic scientific protocols released by the World Health Organization and by scientific organizations reveals their malicious practice. Anything less than focused attention to managing the virus by testing, contact tracing, and isolation?and if this does not suffice, then imposing a temporary lockdown?is foolhardy. It is equally distressing that these richer countries have pursued a policy of ?vaccine nationalism ? by stockpiling vaccine candidates rather than a policy for the creation of a ?people?s vaccine .? For the sake of humanity, it would be prudent to suspend intellectual property rules and develop a procedure to create universal vaccines for all people. > Although the pandemic is the principal issue on all of our minds, other major issues threaten the longevity of our species and of our planet. These include: > Nuclear Annihilation > In January 2020, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists set the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds to midnight, too close for comfort. The clock, created two years after the first atomic weapons were developed in 1945, is evaluated annually by the Bulletin?s Science and Security Board, who decide whether to move the minute hand or keep it in place. By the time they set the clock again, it may well be closer to annihilation. Already limited arms control treaties are being shredded as the major powers sit on close to 13,500 nuclear weapons (more than 90 percent of which are held by Russia and the United States alone). The yield of these weapons could easily make this planet even more uninhabitable. The United States Navy has already deployed low-yield tactical W76-2 nuclear warheads. Immediate moves toward nuclear disarmament must be forced onto the world?s agenda. Hiroshima Day, commemorated each year on August 6, must become a more robust day of contemplation and protest. > Climate Catastrophe > A scientific paper published in 2018 came with a startling headline: ?Most atolls will be uninhabitable by the mid-21st century because of sea-level rise exacerbating wave-driven flooding.? The authors found that atolls from the Seychelles to the Marshall Islands are liable to vanish. A 2019 United Nations (UN) report estimated that 1 million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction. Add to this the catastrophic wildfires and the severe bleaching of the coral reefs and it is clear that we no longer need to linger over clich?s about one thing or another being a canary in the coal mine of climate catastrophe; the danger is not in the future, but in the present. It is essential for major powers?who utterly fail to shift from fossil fuels?to commit to the ?common but differentiated responsibilities? approach established at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro. It is telling that countries such as Jamaica and Mongolia updated their climate plans to the UN before the end of 2020?as mandated by the Paris Agreement?even though these countries produce a tiny fraction of global carbon emissions. The funds that were committed to developing countries for their participation in the process have virtually dried up while external debt has ballooned. This shows a lack of basic seriousness from the ?international community.? > Neoliberal Destruction of the Social Contract > Countries in North America and Europe have eviscerated their public function as the state has been turned over to the profiteers and civil society has been commodified by private foundations. This means that the avenues for social transformation in these parts of the world have been grotesquely hampered. Terrible social inequality is the result of the relative political weakness of the working class. It is this weakness that enables the billionaires to set policies that cause hunger rates to rise. Countries should not be judged by the words written in their constitutions but by their annual budgets; the U.S., for example, spends almost $1 trillion (if you add the estimated intelligence budget) on its war machine, while it spends a fraction of this on the public good (such as on health care, something evident during the pandemic). The foreign policies of Western countries seem to be well lubricated by arms deals: the United Arab Emirates and Morocco agreed to recognize Israel on the condition that they could purchase $23 billion and $1 billion worth of U.S.-made weapons, respectively. The rights of the Palestinians, the Sahrawi, and the Yemeni people did not factor into these deals. The use of illegal sanctions by the United States against 30 countries including Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela has become a normal part of life, even during the COVID-19 public health crisis. It is a failure of the political system when the populations in the capitalist bloc are unable to force their governments?which are in many ways democratic in name only?to take a global perspective regarding this emergency. Rising rates of hunger reveal that the struggle for survival is the horizon for billions of people on the planet (all this while China is able to eradicate absolute poverty and largely eliminate hunger). > Nuclear annihilation and extinction by climate catastrophe are twin threats to the planet. Meanwhile, for victims of the neoliberal assault that has plagued the past generation, the short-term problems of sustaining their mere existence displace fundamental questions about the fate of our children and grandchildren. > Global problems of this scale require global cooperation. Pressured by the Third World states in the 1960s, the major powers agreed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons of 1968, although they rejected the deeply important Declaration on the Establishment of a New International Economic Order of 1974 . The balance of forces available to drive such a class agenda on the international stage is no longer there; political dynamics in the countries of the West, in particular, but also in the larger states of the developing world (such as Brazil, India, Indonesia, and South Africa) are necessary to change the character of the governments. A robust internationalism is necessary to pay adequate and immediate attention to the perils of extinction: extinction by nuclear war, by climate catastrophe, and by social collapse. The tasks ahead are daunting, and they cannot be deferred. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kmedina67 at gmail.com Sat Jan 9 04:26:56 2021 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (Karen Medina) Date: Fri, 8 Jan 2021 22:26:56 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?panel_discussion/=E2=80=9CThe_importance_of_st?= =?utf-8?q?orytelling_to_historians=2C_labor_unions=2C_and_communit?= =?utf-8?q?y-building=E2=80=9D?= Message-ID: Panel discussion event: ?The importance of storytelling to historians, labor unions, and community-building? The panel participants will be: Augustus Wood, Stephanie Fortado, David Johnson, Jim Barrett, and Ricky Baldwin (facilitator). Wednesday, January 13, 2021; 7pm-8:30pm Central Standard Time. This is a virtual event of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Find out more from www.ucimc.org/20th (the zoom link will be posted around 5pm on Jan 13) Supported in part by a City of Urbana Arts Grant ### Facebook event https://www.facebook.com/events/1901841046648850 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: storytellingToHistorians_fullPage.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1702771 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: storytellingToHistorians_forFacebook.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1501684 bytes Desc: not available URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: 2021_01_13_storytellingToHistorians.png Type: image/png Size: 624836 bytes Desc: not available URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Mon Jan 11 23:01:14 2021 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:01:14 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Execution Message-ID: I just signed the petition "TELL PRESIDENT TRUMP TO STOP THE EXECUTION OF LISA MONTGOMERY" and wanted to ask if you could add your name too. This campaign means a lot to me and the more support we can get behind it, the better chance we have of succeeding. You can read more and sign the petition here: https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/tell-president-trump-to-stop-the-execution-of-lisa-montgomery Thank you! From carl at newsfromneptune.com Wed Jan 13 01:18:13 2021 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2021 19:18:13 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row From jbw292002 at gmail.com Wed Jan 13 06:39:42 2021 From: jbw292002 at gmail.com (John W.) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:39:42 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once again! On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace < peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row > > > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From deb.pdamerica at gmail.com Wed Jan 13 11:15:28 2021 From: deb.pdamerica at gmail.com (Debra Schrishuhn) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 05:15:28 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: Sadly, tragically, no. https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace wrote: > > Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is > finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once > again! > > > On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace < > peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > > >> https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace mailing list >> Peace at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace >> > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Jan 13 19:21:49 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 13:21:49 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as well within the next couple days. I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. Though the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and placed the death penalty on the table for a recent case. Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the monster killer, life instead. As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated within the nation, we need some uniformity. Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades. > On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > > Sadly, tragically, no. > > https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace > wrote: > > Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once again! > > > On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace > wrote: > > https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row > > > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From kmedina67 at gmail.com Wed Jan 13 19:44:29 2021 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (Karen Medina) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 13:44:29 -0600 Subject: [Peace] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_panel_discussion/=E2=80=9CThe_importanc?= =?utf-8?q?e_of_storytelling_to_historians=2C_labor_unions=2C_and_c?= =?utf-8?q?ommunity-building=E2=80=9D?= In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: Here is the zoom link for 7pm Urbana time this evening: *https://zoom.us/j/93094093547 * This is going to be great, especially if you are there. ?The importance of storytelling to historians, labor unions, and community-building? Augustus Wood, Stephanie Fortado, David Johnson, Jim Barrett, and Ricky Baldwin (facilitator). Wednesday, January 13, 2021; 7pm-8:30pm Central Standard Time. This is a virtual event of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. Find out more from www.ucimc.org/20th Supported in part by a City of Urbana Arts Grant ### -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: storytellingToHistorians_fullPage.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1702771 bytes Desc: not available URL: From jbw292002 at gmail.com Wed Jan 13 20:28:45 2021 From: jbw292002 at gmail.com (John W.) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 14:28:45 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM Karen Aram wrote: Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as well > within the next couple days. > > I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. Though > the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and placed the > death penalty on the table for a recent case. > Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the > monster killer, life instead. > > As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in > respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. > within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated > within the nation, we need some uniformity. > > Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of > which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve > progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades. > Well, it's interesting. For every point of view, there's a countervailing point of view. As one who studied law formally, I absolutely hated the complexity of 50 different sets of state laws, overlaid and often contradicted by the federal law. It's a mess, and makes everything infinitely more complicated, more labrynthine, ultimately more incomprehensible. The idea originally was that the autonomy of the states would keep the federal government from growing too all-powerful. We've seen how the states' autonomy has eroded over the years, both for good and ill. (The Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been possible without federal intervention.) Sadly, the only people who are upset about it are those still fighting on the losing side of the Civil War. I honestly would have liked to see the South secede and become a separate country, albeit without slavery. The North would have done just fine without them. But that's a separate conversation. John > > > On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn > wrote: > > Sadly, tragically, no. > > > https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace < > peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > >> >> Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is >> finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once >> again! >> >> >> On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace < >> peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: >> >> >>> https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> Peace mailing list >>> Peace at lists.chambana.net >>> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace mailing list >> Peace at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace >> > > Virus-free. www.avg.com <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Jan 14 04:10:30 2021 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 22:10:30 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: <04A04A82-C5C5-47BE-A411-1E6A4CBB1A44@newsfromneptune.com> John? Wouldn?t it have been better if the slaveowners had lost their ?War of Independence? (1775-83)? Slavery would have been abolished in the British North American colonies as it was throughout the British empire. ?CGE > On Jan 13, 2021, at 2:28 PM, John W. wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM Karen Aram wrote: > > Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as well within the next couple days. > > I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. Though the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and placed the death penalty on the table for a recent case. > Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the monster killer, life instead. > > As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated within the nation, we need some uniformity. > > Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades. > > Well, it's interesting. For every point of view, there's a countervailing point of view. > > As one who studied law formally, I absolutely hated the complexity of 50 different sets of state laws, overlaid and often contradicted by the federal law. It's a mess, and makes everything infinitely more complicated, more labrynthine, ultimately more incomprehensible. > > The idea originally was that the autonomy of the states would keep the federal government from growing too all-powerful. We've seen how the states' autonomy has eroded over the years, both for good and ill. (The Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been possible without federal intervention.) Sadly, the only people who are upset about it are those still fighting on the losing side of the Civil War. > > I honestly would have liked to see the South secede and become a separate country, albeit without slavery. The North would have done just fine without them. But that's a separate conversation. > > John > > > > >> On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: >> >> Sadly, tragically, no. >> >> https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ >> >> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace wrote: >> >> Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once again! >> >> >> On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: >> >> https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace mailing list >> Peace at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace >> _______________________________________________ >> Peace mailing list >> Peace at lists.chambana.net >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > > Virus-free. www.avg.com From kmedina67 at gmail.com Thu Jan 14 04:21:06 2021 From: kmedina67 at gmail.com (kmedina67) Date: Wed, 13 Jan 2021 22:21:06 -0600 Subject: [Peace] [Peace-discuss] Executions In-Reply-To: Message-ID: <5fffc6b6.1c69fb81.2d1a1.d257@mx.google.com> Re > Letting the south secede.Actually the northern states like Illinois were officially slave-free in name only. Indentured servants were legally held -- slaves that had no way of knowing their rights and no way to fight for their rights- Karen Medina"The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great" - Mark Twain -------- Original message --------From: "John W. via Peace-discuss" Date: 1/13/21 14:28 (GMT-06:00) To: Karen Aram Cc: Peace Discuss , "C. G. Estabrook" , Peace , Debra Schrishuhn Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] [Peace] Executions On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM Karen Aram wrote: Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as well within the next couple days.?I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. Though the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and placed the death penalty on the table for a recent case.?Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the monster killer, life instead.?As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated within the nation, we need some uniformity.?Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades.Well, it's interesting.? For every point of view, there's a countervailing point of view.As one who studied law formally, I absolutely hated the complexity of 50 different sets of state laws, overlaid and often contradicted by the federal law.? It's a mess, and makes everything infinitely more complicated, more labrynthine, ultimately more incomprehensible.??The idea originally was that the autonomy of the states would keep the federal government from growing too all-powerful.? We've seen how the states' autonomy has eroded over the years,?both for good and ill.? (The Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been possible without federal?intervention.)? Sadly, the only people who are upset about it are those still fighting on the losing side of the Civil War.I honestly would have liked to see the South secede and become a separate country, albeit without slavery.? The North would have done just fine without them.? But that's a separate conversation.John?On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn wrote:Sadly, tragically, no.https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace wrote:Yay!!? ?We won!!? We did it!!!? By the time her competency?hearing is finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once again!On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote:https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace _______________________________________________ Peace mailing list Peace at lists.chambana.net https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace Virus-free. www.avg.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From jbw292002 at gmail.com Thu Jan 14 09:51:45 2021 From: jbw292002 at gmail.com (John W.) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 03:51:45 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 10:01 PM C. G. Estabrook wrote: John? > > Wouldn?t it have been better if the slaveowners had lost their ?War of > Independence? (1775-83)? > > Slavery would have been abolished in the British North American colonies > as it was throughout the British empire. > > ?CGE > Eventually. Slavery wasn't abolished in Britain and her empire until 1833. https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Abolition-Of-Slavery/ > On Jan 13, 2021, at 2:28 PM, John W. wrote: > > > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM Karen Aram > wrote: > > > > Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as > well within the next couple days. > > > > I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. > Though the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and > placed the death penalty on the table for a recent case. > > Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the > monster killer, life instead. > > > > As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in > respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. > within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated > within the nation, we need some uniformity. > > > > Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of > which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve > progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades. > > > > Well, it's interesting. For every point of view, there's a > countervailing point of view. > > > > As one who studied law formally, I absolutely hated the complexity of 50 > different sets of state laws, overlaid and often contradicted by the > federal law. It's a mess, and makes everything infinitely more > complicated, more labrynthine, ultimately more incomprehensible. > > > > The idea originally was that the autonomy of the states would keep the > federal government from growing too all-powerful. We've seen how the > states' autonomy has eroded over the years, both for good and ill. (The > Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been possible without federal > intervention.) Sadly, the only people who are upset about it are those > still fighting on the losing side of the Civil War. > > > > I honestly would have liked to see the South secede and become a > separate country, albeit without slavery. The North would have done just > fine without them. But that's a separate conversation. > > > > John > > > > > > > > > >> On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn > wrote: > >> > >> Sadly, tragically, no. > >> > >> > https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ > >> > >> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace < > peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > >> > >> Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is > finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once > again! > >> > >> > >> On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace < > peace at lists.chambana.net> wrote: > >> > >> > https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Peace mailing list > >> Peace at lists.chambana.net > >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Peace mailing list > >> Peace at lists.chambana.net > >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > > > > > Virus-free. www.avg.com > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Jan 14 14:10:19 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 08:10:19 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: John Your point of view was not counter to mine. In spite of the Federal government placing the death penalty back on the table in a recent legal case in Illinois I referred to, I was criticizing the lack of uniformity in state laws, as Margaret Kimberly opposes the lack of uniformity in electoral rules and regulations. So often cries for greater autonomy and decentralization for local communities ignore the fact that abuse due to decentralization occurs and goes unnoticed in the US, as well as other nations. Especially large nations where the local authorities are often guilty of abusive behavior, not following the rule of law. The central governments being brought in to curb the abuse only when the victims are able to make their complaints known. ?Sundowner towns? in Illinois not so long ago, was clearly a case of local community abuse of power. Perhaps focus on national issues should be paramount rather than the usual local which is the trend, and often leaves us with a myopic view of society. Maybe this is why we are where we are today with people ignoring the fact that the US, as a nation is the most violent in the world having destroyed as many as eight nations in less than twenty years, with our taxes going to support the military in preference to the people with adequate infrastructure, healthcare, and housing, as we remain comfortable in our communities. Only now, is reality hitting us full force. > Your example of the Federal government having to be brought in to enforce civil rights in the south is a good one I have also used for years when hearing people complain about the Feds, but the potential for violence when the Feds send in the military is a frightening ordeal we?re faced with now, I believe due to a lack of focus on national issues. > On Jan 14, 2021, at 03:51, John W. wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 10:01 PM C. G. Estabrook > wrote: > > John? > > Wouldn?t it have been better if the slaveowners had lost their ?War of Independence? (1775-83)? > > Slavery would have been abolished in the British North American colonies as it was throughout the British empire. > > ?CGE > > Eventually. Slavery wasn't abolished in Britain and her empire until 1833. > > https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Abolition-Of-Slavery/? > > > > > On Jan 13, 2021, at 2:28 PM, John W. > wrote: > > > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM Karen Aram > wrote: > > > > Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as well within the next couple days. > > > > I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. Though the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and placed the death penalty on the table for a recent case. > > Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the monster killer, life instead. > > > > As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated within the nation, we need some uniformity. > > > > Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades. > > > > Well, it's interesting. For every point of view, there's a countervailing point of view. > > > > As one who studied law formally, I absolutely hated the complexity of 50 different sets of state laws, overlaid and often contradicted by the federal law. It's a mess, and makes everything infinitely more complicated, more labrynthine, ultimately more incomprehensible. > > > > The idea originally was that the autonomy of the states would keep the federal government from growing too all-powerful. We've seen how the states' autonomy has eroded over the years, both for good and ill. (The Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been possible without federal intervention.) Sadly, the only people who are upset about it are those still fighting on the losing side of the Civil War. > > > > I honestly would have liked to see the South secede and become a separate country, albeit without slavery. The North would have done just fine without them. But that's a separate conversation. > > > > John > > > > > > > > > >> On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn > wrote: > >> > >> Sadly, tragically, no. > >> > >> https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ > >> > >> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace > wrote: > >> > >> Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once again! > >> > >> > >> On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace > wrote: > >> > >> https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Peace mailing list > >> Peace at lists.chambana.net > >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Peace mailing list > >> Peace at lists.chambana.net > >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > > > > > Virus-free. www.avg.com > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From carl at newsfromneptune.com Thu Jan 14 19:38:34 2021 From: carl at newsfromneptune.com (C. G. Estabrook) Date: Thu, 14 Jan 2021 13:38:34 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Executions In-Reply-To: References: <851D2A85-4908-4083-A726-838B9E65EDF9@newsfromneptune.com> <02247502-C107-4326-94D7-EDAA18083508@newsfromneptune.com> <8306BDA5-5668-452C-889B-87A56EEF9216@newsfromneptune.com> Message-ID: Horne, Gerald. "The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America" (New York University Press, 2014) > On Jan 14, 2021, at 3:51 AM, John W. wrote: > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 10:01 PM C. G. Estabrook wrote: > > John? > > Wouldn?t it have been better if the slaveowners had lost their ?War of Independence? (1775-83)? > > Slavery would have been abolished in the British North American colonies as it was throughout the British empire. > > ?CGE > > Eventually. Slavery wasn't abolished in Britain and her empire until 1833. > > https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Abolition-Of-Slavery/ > > > > > On Jan 13, 2021, at 2:28 PM, John W. wrote: > > > > On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 1:21 PM Karen Aram wrote: > > > > Tragically, the two men also on death row will likely be executed as well within the next couple days. > > > > I?m glad to live in a state where such barbarism has been outlawed. Though the Federal gov., under the Trump administration over ruled and placed the death penalty on the table for a recent case. > > Thankfully, the good people of Illinois chose to ignore it, and gave the monster killer, life instead. > > > > As Margaret Kimberly of the Black Agenda report pointed out recently in respect to US electoral laws, we have so many laws, procedures, rules etc. within each state differing from one another, that keeps us separated within the nation, we need some uniformity. > > > > Not her exact words, but its obvious that these differing state laws of which the death penalty is one, make it extremely difficult to achieve progress when the battles must be continually fought and won over decades. > > > > Well, it's interesting. For every point of view, there's a countervailing point of view. > > > > As one who studied law formally, I absolutely hated the complexity of 50 different sets of state laws, overlaid and often contradicted by the federal law. It's a mess, and makes everything infinitely more complicated, more labrynthine, ultimately more incomprehensible. > > > > The idea originally was that the autonomy of the states would keep the federal government from growing too all-powerful. We've seen how the states' autonomy has eroded over the years, both for good and ill. (The Civil Rights Movement wouldn't have been possible without federal intervention.) Sadly, the only people who are upset about it are those still fighting on the losing side of the Civil War. > > > > I honestly would have liked to see the South secede and become a separate country, albeit without slavery. The North would have done just fine without them. But that's a separate conversation. > > > > John > > > > > > > > > >> On Jan 13, 2021, at 05:15, Debra Schrishuhn wrote: > >> > >> Sadly, tragically, no. > >> > >> https://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2021/01/12/lisa-montgomery-execution-once-again-set-take-place/6635726002/ > >> > >> On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 12:40 AM John W. via Peace wrote: > >> > >> Yay!! We won!! We did it!!! By the time her competency hearing is finished, Joe Biden will have hopefully suspended federal executions once again! > >> > >> > >> On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 7:19 PM C. G. Estabrook via Peace wrote: > >> > >> https://www.npr.org/2021/01/12/955984890/judge-blocks-execution-of-only-woman-on-federal-death-row > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Peace mailing list > >> Peace at lists.chambana.net > >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Peace mailing list > >> Peace at lists.chambana.net > >> https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace > > > > > > Virus-free. www.avg.com > From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Jan 15 14:31:44 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:31:44 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Jimmy Dore, no bad language, interviews Chris Hedges as to where we go from here..... Message-ID: https://youtu.be/olBU619Dlsc From karenaram at hotmail.com Fri Jan 15 14:31:44 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Fri, 15 Jan 2021 08:31:44 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Jimmy Dore, no bad language, interviews Chris Hedges as to where we go from here..... Message-ID: https://youtu.be/olBU619Dlsc From jbn at forestfield.org Sun Jan 17 03:51:37 2021 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Sat, 16 Jan 2021 21:51:37 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Recommended videos for AOTA, NFN, Labor's World View TV Message-ID: <3f23e0cf-7336-8db2-ac62-8c0c535122bc@forestfield.org> Here are some suggested videos for upcoming timeslots which I just sent to UPTV's Jason Liggett. As per usual, I offered these videos with the recommendation to let other AWARE members have priority over my recommendations and for David Johnson to have priority over my recommendations for Labor's World View TV. -J Grayzone https://youtube.com/watch?v=ArZ4q1CqTWw -- (34m 48s) Aaron Mat? interviews Alena Douhan, UN Special Rapporteur on sanctions who is calling for an end to the sanctions on Syria saying those sanctions are illegal and hurting civilians https://youtube.com/watch?v=0YeoTfUwAwo -- (27m 20s) "U.S. blocks humanitarian aid to Yemen as millions starve" Anya Parampil interviews Rune Agerhus, the co-founder and General Director of the Yemen Solidarity Council Democracy at Work https://youtube.com/watch?v=0EC1KMfUECw -- (1h 20m 33s) "Global Capitalism: US Capitalism?s Decline and Desperate Efforts to Save It [January 2021]" with Prof. Richard Wolff https://youtube.com/watch?v=ld0YbG5WBNs -- (29m 15s) "Economic Update: Externalities & Capitalism's Inefficiencies" with Prof. Richard Wolff https://youtube.com/watch?v=0U_POPb3lRM -- (10m 19s) "AskProfWolff: Uber, Lyft: Profits Vs. Labor Law Protections" regarding California's proposition 22 which exempts Uber and Lyft from classifying drivers as employees. Uber & Lyft spent up to $200M to obtain this exemption. See https://voterguide.sos.ca.gov/propositions/22/ for more on this proposition which, now having passed in California, is likely to show up "everywhere else [both] in and out of the United States" according to Prof. Wolff. RT https://youtube.com/watch?v=wt9fSHBKhbM -- (26m 10s) Chris Hedges interviews Glenn Greenwald about the upcoming Biden administration, "Redux Deep State, Empire & Censorship" From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Jan 18 14:31:54 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2021 08:31:54 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Chris Hedges on the Bleak Future of the USA 2017 Message-ID: Chris quotes Karl Marx on the end of Capitalism, proving Marx was prophetic. Chris was also prophetic in relation to the Trump Administration. https://youtu.be/AWBIFmVB7TU From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Jan 18 14:31:54 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2021 08:31:54 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Chris Hedges on the Bleak Future of the USA 2017 Message-ID: Chris quotes Karl Marx on the end of Capitalism, proving Marx was prophetic. Chris was also prophetic in relation to the Trump Administration. https://youtu.be/AWBIFmVB7TU From jbn at forestfield.org Mon Jan 18 18:31:59 2021 From: jbn at forestfield.org (J.B. Nicholson) Date: Mon, 18 Jan 2021 12:31:59 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Recommended videos for AOTA, NFN, Labor's World View TV In-Reply-To: <3f23e0cf-7336-8db2-ac62-8c0c535122bc@forestfield.org> References: <3f23e0cf-7336-8db2-ac62-8c0c535122bc@forestfield.org> Message-ID: <43fc6a6e-2f2c-bbc4-a404-30190e2b928b@forestfield.org> I wrote: > RT > > https://youtube.com/watch?v=wt9fSHBKhbM -- (26m 10s) Chris Hedges interviews Glenn > Greenwald about the upcoming Biden administration, "Redux Deep State, Empire & > Censorship" https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact/512689-biden-deep-state-censorship/ is the transcript of this episode of Hedges' show. From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Jan 20 19:12:43 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:12:43 -0600 Subject: [Peace] China agreement supporting Iran Message-ID: A couple months old, Anya Paramphil of The Grayzone Project/Relines interviews Ian Goodrun in Beijing. https://youtu.be/vDBrPWfjmnU From karenaram at hotmail.com Wed Jan 20 19:12:43 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 13:12:43 -0600 Subject: [Peace] China agreement supporting Iran Message-ID: A couple months old, Anya Paramphil of The Grayzone Project/Relines interviews Ian Goodrun in Beijing. https://youtu.be/vDBrPWfjmnU From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Jan 21 00:00:12 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 18:00:12 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: PSL Statement - The Paralysis Ends: Trump, Fascism and the Capitalist State References: <5fff746a6192e_76ba51ef50748a5@asgworker-qmb3-18.nbuild.prd.useast1.3dna.io.mail> Message-ID: > > > Home About Support > PSL Statement: > > The Paralysis Ends: Trump, Fascism and the Capitalist State > > > > Photo: Mob of Trump supporters outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. Credit: TapTheForwardAssist (Wikimedia Commons) > > Read and share this article on Liberation News > The paralysis that gripped the U.S. capitalist establishment in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 Trump-instigated, fascist-led assault on the U.S. Congress and the continuing threats from armed fascist organizations came to an abrupt halt on Jan. 12 with the public letter sent to all members of the U.S. military signed by the eight generals who comprise the Pentagon?s Joint Chiefs of Staff. The statement read: ?The violent riot in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021 was a direct assault on the U.S. Congress, the Capitol Building and our constitutional process ? [and was the result of] sedition and insurrection.? > > The letter sent to more than 1.3 million members of the armed forces by the Pentagon top brass is a clear sign that they are worried that military forces were being drawn into or participated in the seditious conspiracy. This letter comes after the extraordinary Jan. 3 statement from all ten living Secretaries of Defense warning the officials in the Pentagon to not allow the military to be used to alter the 2020 election outcome. > > Also on Jan. 12, leaders of the Republican Party began to defect from Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney, the 3rd ranking House Republican, announced that she would vote for impeachment and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell let it be known to the media that he thought Trump had committed impeachable offenses. This constitutes the first real break within the Republican leadership against Trump. Cheney said, ?The President of the United States summoned the mob and lit the flame of this attack,? adding, ?There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of his oath of office and to the Constitution.? House Republican Rep. John Katko, the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee, said, ?To allow the president of the United States to incite this attack without consequences is a direct threat to the future of our democracy.? > > Also on Jan. 12, the FBI organized the first press conference where Acting United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin declared they had initiated ?a significant international counterintelligence or counterterrorism operation? whose ?only marching orders from me are to build seditious and conspiracy charges?. Sherwin announced that 70 had already been charged, charges against 100 more people were being prepared, and noted ?That number, I suspect, is going to grow into the hundreds?. Steven D?Antuono, assistant director in charge of the FBI?s Washington field office, stated, ?The brutality the American people watched with shock and disbelief on the 6th will not be tolerated by the FBI,? adding that ?The FBI has a long memory and a broad reach?. > > Powerful tech companies have also come together to ban Trump from using social media platforms on the basis that he used these same networks to incite a violent assault against the seat of government. Trump is banned from Twitter, Facebook and now YouTube as well as many others. > > On the same day, a large number of capitalist corporations, banks and other institutions took action to break from any association with Trump or his family-owned company. Deutsche Bank, which has been Trump?s primary lender for decades, announced their decision not to do business with Trump or his company in the future. The Trump Organization owes Deutsche Bank more than $400 million. The PGA said it would no longer hold the PGA Championship at Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey which had been set for May 2022. Universities stripped Trump of honorary degrees. Shopify, the company that serves e-commerce sites, closed to online stores tied to Trump. The online payment platform Stripe will no longer process payments for Trump?s campaign website. > > The conservative National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) had earlier issued a statement that supported Trump?s ouster from office before the end of his term which stated: > > ?Armed violent protesters who support baseless claims by outgoing President Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost have stormed the U.S. Capitol ? Throughout this whole disgusting episode, Trump has been cheered on by members of his own party, adding fuel to the distrust that has inflamed violent anger. This is not law and order. This is chaos. It is mob rule. It is dangerous. This is sedition and should be treated as such. The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power.? > > Nearly a week of paralysis and passivity > > The NAM statement, issued just hours after the mob arrived at the Capitol, was an exception. Key centers of ruling class power were gripped by a sense of shock and paralysis in the first several days following the putsch, unwilling to deploy the forces of the state in a serious crackdown on the fascists. > > Considering the circumstances, it is not surprising that this was the initial reaction. It was obvious that the attack was an ?inside job? involving elements of the state, but it was unclear exactly how far this conspiracy went. Video showed Capitol Police officers opening barricades to allow the mob to advance on Congress. Staffers barricaded inside Rep. Ayanna Pressley?s office discovered that the panic buttons that were installed had been mysteriously ripped out. The Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Army were ignoring pleas to deploy the National Guard. > > Members of Congress even had reason to suspect their own colleagues were in on the plan. Rep. Mikie Sherrill said that she witnessed, ?members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5 for reconnaissance for the next day.? Roughly half of Republican members of the House and a quarter of Republican Senators had publicly supported Trump?s call to refuse to certify the results of the election. Panic and confusion took hold as members of the political elite scrambled to figure out how deeply the coup plotters had penetrated the institutions of the state, and what they had planned next. > > Jan. 6 was phase one of a coup attempt > > By the capitalist class? own legal codes, this was a textbook example of seditious conspiracy: using ?force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law.? A mob led by fascists, incited by the President in a carefully choreographed rally near the Capitol Building, marched to and then overran the Congress, using violence and intimidation not as a protest but to physically prevent the lawfully mandated transfer of power after an election. Even if the fascist-led mob lacked a plan for how to hold the building and simply intended to ?await further instructions? from the President, this was a catalytic moment for an unleashed far right. > > At stake was not the passage of this or that bill but who would control the whole government and its repressive apparatus. They were looking for Mike Pence, Nancy Pelosi and other top politicians with the intent of capturing them and holding them hostage, forcing them to change their vote ? or killing them. They beat a Capitol Police officer to death, injured 50 others and apparently targeted Black police officers. Five people died during the siege. > > While some officers resisted the takeover of the building, other Capitol Police were facilitating it. Notably, the Capitol Police union held its annual party at Trump?s International Hotel in 2019. There seemed to be none of the normal protocols in place to defend the building and some of the agency?s high command were reportedly missing without explanation. Those of us who have organized mass protests in D.C. for years know the enormous array of police agencies and vast weaponry at their disposal, which is frequently deployed to guard federal buildings. It had been obvious for weeks that a far-right mobilization on the Capitol was planned for Jan. 6 and yet numerous advanced appeals for backup went unanswered. > > Not all the facts are available about how the seizure of the building took place, but when they come out, the White House and Defense Department will prove to be as culpable as the Capitol Police. For instance, the Chief of the Capitol Police made an urgent appeal to Trump?s recently appointed Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller at or about 2:22 p.m. that day to send National Guard units to reinforce the Capitol Building. Miller only gave formal approval to send the Guard reinforcements over three hours later, at 5:45 p.m., according to the Pentagon. One can only assume that in failing to act earlier Miller was following the directive of Trump himself. > > While the fascists temporarily dispersed the Congress in early afternoon and prevented it from certifying the Electoral College vote at that moment, the fascist-led operation began to falter after about two hours. Trump promised them that he would meet them at the Capitol Building but he did not show up. Instead he went to the phones and started calling members of Congress, who were then hiding or sheltering in place, instructing them to delay or overturn the certification process. Trump apparently was waiting to see what might develop but got cold feet as the scene devolved into bedlam, chaos and death and he retreated, releasing a televised video message telling the mob that he loved them but it was time to go home. > > The attack was instigated by the President and organized with the obvious complicity of elements of Capitol law enforcement and the Pentagon. It would be absurd if the punishment for this unprecedented attack on the Capitol would be for Trump to simply lose his Twitter account. Even while a new ruling-class consensus is forming against Trump, no one from the political class or within the command structure of the police and military has yet been criminally implicated. > > Lessons from the rise of fascism in the 1920s and 30s > > At a moment like this, it is crucially important to study history. Fascism?s rise is an organic feature of capitalism?s degeneration. By the end of 1940 ? and just a decade after the stock market crash of 1929 that inaugurated the Great Depression ? fascism dominated not only Germany and Italy but almost every country in continental Europe. In the period before Hitler became Chancellor in January 1933, Germany was considered the most progressive country in Europe. It had a huge socialist party, communist party and trade union movement as well as the most advanced women?s rights movement for its time and the first pioneering movement in history for what decades later became a global gay rights struggle. Yet Germany succumbed to Nazism and all those movements were destroyed. Fascism must be actively fought by a united front of those forces in society who will be destroyed if it is victorious. The origins of fascism are capitalism and the final dissolution of fascism lies in the victory of socialism. > > Of course the political, economic and international situation is very different today for the U.S. ruling class compared to the German ruling class of the early 1930s. In general, the U.S. ruling class prefers a democratic form for the stability of bourgeois rule. They oppose Trump as a destabilizer and disrupter to their system. > > Nazi Germany took inspiration from and studied the legal codes of the Jim Crow South, the American germ of fascism. Nazi jurists took inspiration not only from the Jim Crow south, but the genocide and internment of Indigenous peoples and the segregation of Asian peoples in the West. Records reflect high-level meetings where Nazi officials clearly considerd the American example as the most relevant legal model for their new state. The admiration went both ways. The New York Bar Assocation feted a delegation of Nazi legal officials just after the infamous Nuremburg rally and all types of high officials and leading industrialists associated themselves with Hitler?s new regime. > > It cannot be lost that the core of the Jan. 6 mobilization was to force Congress to unconstitutionally throw out the election results of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania by overwhelmingly invalidating Black and Latino voters. Even though it was the suburbs of major metropolitan areas that statistically made up the difference for Biden, the far right?s false claims of fraud are fundamentally built around the urban centers. This was a racist, Jim Crow voter suppression effort of a whole new scale and type. > > Impunity emboldens fascism > > It is noteworthy that the U.S. ruling class was at first so hesitant or paralyzed in the face of fascist and far-right attempted insurrection. The U.S. government showed no hesitation in using extreme repression this summer, for instance, when protests swept the country against the racist killings of Black people by police. Under the supposedly liberal Obama administration, the Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011 was crushed in a federally-coordinated police crackdown even though it was a peaceful movement which federal authorities acknowledged at the time. During the anti-Iraq War movement, marches to the Capitol that were orders of magnitude larger than the fascist mob were stopped with ease by the same police force that served as co-conspirators in the Jan. 6 assault. If any of these progressive movements had engaged in a genuine attempt to overthrow the government like on Jan. 6, they would have been massacred by the forces of the state. > > If the ruling class and its soon-to-be governing neoliberal wing go back to the path of inaction, the growing fascist movement in the United States will grow stronger. Fascist politics has always required a charismatic leader. While Trump is not exactly an ideological fascist, he has been engaged in a mutually beneficial relationship of convenience with far-right and fascist forces since he launched his political career. He is using them and they are using him. Without Trump as the unifying figurehead, the fascist movement would fragment and it would end the Trump takeover of the Republican Party apparatus. > > Biden says that in response to the events at the Capitol he supports the passage of a new law on domestic terrorism. This is just a maneuver to dodge the core of the issue and would inevitably create a new mechanism for the state to target people?s movements by falsely linking them to terrorism. With the laws already on the books, a criminal prosecution against Trump and his co-conspirators in the Jan. 6 putsch could be initiated right now ? crimes that carry heavy prison sentences. > > But arresting Trump would not by itself end the threat of fascist violence or the far-right political current in the United States. Polls suggest at least half of the 75 million Trump voters believe the election was stolen, and tens of millions of them back the attack on the Capitol. This is an enormous base of people to build a movement from, united around a grievance. > > This makes it all the more necessary for socialists to take up as a top priority the organization of an independent, working class movement against fascism. The fight against the far-right racists and fascists cannot be separated from the struggle for rent and debt cancellation, universal healthcare, guaranteed jobs and income, and so many other critical social demands. The Biden administration?s opposition to such a working-class program will only give space to the far-right to demagogically collect the grievances of poor and working people in the period ahead. The need for a genuine working-class alternative, and a new system, has never been clearer. > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Jan 21 00:02:44 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 20 Jan 2021 18:02:44 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Biden signing in Message-ID: An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From divisek at yahoo.com Sun Jan 24 16:31:34 2021 From: divisek at yahoo.com (Dianna Visek) Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2021 16:31:34 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] from Wired: Special Series: A History of the Next World War References: <1895211613.4716139.1611505894694.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <1895211613.4716139.1611505894694@mail.yahoo.com> This has to do with avoiding war with China. https://link.wired.com/view/5cc9dffefc942d13eb1e6ed8djap3.26hz/e381ec9a From divisek at yahoo.com Sun Jan 24 16:34:01 2021 From: divisek at yahoo.com (Dianna Visek) Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2021 16:34:01 +0000 (UTC) Subject: [Peace] an exceptionally scary article about surveillance References: <348792313.902336.1611506041461.ref@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: <348792313.902336.1611506041461@mail.yahoo.com> https://www.wired.com/story/palantirs-gods-eye-view-of-afghanistan/?bxid=5cc9dffefc942d13eb1e6ed8&cndid=53828112&esrc=WIRED_CRMSeries&hasha=3752a6298f0c224fe35e3683423a7370&hashb=1066603b6d1f279a75c76dc3ad89443c06509b7d&hashc=5f526a71c1e0454d2a10ca14d078814f510645b4987043d57f9912481fce25df&utm_brand=wired&utm_campaign=aud-dev&utm_mailing=WIR_PaywallSub_012221_StevenLevy&utm_medium=email&utm_source=nl&utm_term=WIR_PaywallSubs_Active From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Jan 24 20:15:28 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2021 14:15:28 -0600 Subject: [Peace] from Wired: Special Series: A History of the Next World War In-Reply-To: <1895211613.4716139.1611505894694@mail.yahoo.com> References: <1895211613.4716139.1611505894694.ref@mail.yahoo.com> <1895211613.4716139.1611505894694@mail.yahoo.com> Message-ID: Dianna Not to deter anyone from the series, but avoiding war with China is very simple. Stop our provocations by: 1) Removing our warships from the S. China Sea, placed their during Obama?s ?Pivot to Asia,? along with 2) Closing down our many military bases in the Chinese environment, around 400-600, I believe. We have between 800-1,000 US military bases outside the US, while China has only one recently built in Djibouti. 3) We could also stop our military air and sea provocations in and around Taiwan. Selling weapons to Taiwan is another provocation. 4) Stop our interventions by way of NGO?s etc. in H.K. and surrounding nations. 5) Stop the insulting rhetoric and accusations alone would certainly ease tensions. There is more which I?ll leave to others if so inclined. According to Alfred McCoy in his ?Shadows of the American Century,? the Rand Corp.Think Tank,? has claimed we will be at war with China in 2030. While I find it difficult to believe any nation would be so public in reference to planned attack, we have certainly been provoking China, in hopes they will do a first strike, they won?t. Do we really want war with China? According to some Pentagon Officials, every military game has us losing to China, and given they are nuclear armed, it would be insanity. We are likely hoping for ?regime change,? with our provocations, etc. but that is unlikely as they continue to flourish economically in spite of our sanctions, covid, coming of AI, etc. What we have to fear is ?accidents,? which could put us on the path to war and oblivion. > On Jan 24, 2021, at 10:31, Dianna Visek via Peace wrote: > > This has to do with avoiding war with China. > > https://link.wired.com/view/5cc9dffefc942d13eb1e6ed8djap3.26hz/e381ec9a > _______________________________________________ > Peace mailing list > Peace at lists.chambana.net > https://lists.chambana.net/mailman/listinfo/peace From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Jan 25 15:14:33 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2021 09:14:33 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Jimmy Dore interviews Boogaloo guy, very important to recognize the need for unity. Message-ID: https://www.rt.com/usa/513514-boogaloo-dore-interview-reactions/?fbclid=IwAR3iLmYh_Bt-tofWULEnwUfRkcPVWIKwBjBtmZw02W3CLYwIvr8Zu8Nx4 Jimmy Dore has found himself at the center of an ideological internet feud after the left-wing pundit suggested that progressives share many common causes with the Boogaloo movement, often denounced as a far-right militia. The popular political commentator and comedian interviewed a self-described ?Boogaloo Boi,? Magnus Panvidya, after seeing a video of the gun-toting radical denouncing US wars and corporate power during a speech in front of the Michigan State Capitol. Noting that he couldn?t find anything in the speech that he disagreed with, Dore explained that he decided to invite Panvidya onto his show to ?explore his beliefs further.? Panvidya described himself as an anarchist who had a long history of environmental activism, rejecting the claim that the Boogaloo Bois were white supremacists or right-wing extremists. He described the movement as a ?libertarian/Green Party militia,? arguing that it has been regularly mischaracterized by inaccurate media reports. Known for their Hawaiian shirts, the Boogaloo Bois have been spotted at demonstrations across the United States following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police in May. The group has called for a revolution in the United States, peaceful or otherwise. According to Panvidya, armed Boogaloo members have provided security at numerous Black Lives Matter protests sparked by Floyd?s death, stressing that the movement was similarly opposed to police brutality. He added that, despite claims to the contrary, the group is anti-discrimination and supports LGBTQ+ rights. He insisted that some people who affiliate with the movement do not accurately represent its values, adding that crackdowns on their social media accounts have made it more difficult to coordinate activities and weed out troublemakers. ?Being libertarian and being in this weird middle ground? We?re used to all sorts of people claiming a bunch of things about us that aren?t true,? Panvidya told Dore. Later tweeting about the interview, Dore said that he was ?completely floored? to learn that Panvidya and his comrades shared many political and social views held by progressives and wanted ?unity? with the Left. Unsurprisingly, the discussion split social media, with some insisting that the Bois have been unfairly slandered by the media, while others took the polar opposite view and accused Dore of giving favorable news coverage to ?white supremacists.? Right-wing commentator Michael Malice gently chided Dore for expressing surprise about the interview, suggesting that it was no secret that the movement was tolerant and libertarian. Others said they were pleasantly surprised by Panvidya, even while expressing concerns that he may not be an accurate representation of what the movement stands for. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Mon Jan 25 15:14:33 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2021 09:14:33 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Jimmy Dore interviews Boogaloo guy, very important to recognize the need for unity. Message-ID: https://www.rt.com/usa/513514-boogaloo-dore-interview-reactions/?fbclid=IwAR3iLmYh_Bt-tofWULEnwUfRkcPVWIKwBjBtmZw02W3CLYwIvr8Zu8Nx4 Jimmy Dore has found himself at the center of an ideological internet feud after the left-wing pundit suggested that progressives share many common causes with the Boogaloo movement, often denounced as a far-right militia. The popular political commentator and comedian interviewed a self-described ?Boogaloo Boi,? Magnus Panvidya, after seeing a video of the gun-toting radical denouncing US wars and corporate power during a speech in front of the Michigan State Capitol. Noting that he couldn?t find anything in the speech that he disagreed with, Dore explained that he decided to invite Panvidya onto his show to ?explore his beliefs further.? Panvidya described himself as an anarchist who had a long history of environmental activism, rejecting the claim that the Boogaloo Bois were white supremacists or right-wing extremists. He described the movement as a ?libertarian/Green Party militia,? arguing that it has been regularly mischaracterized by inaccurate media reports. Known for their Hawaiian shirts, the Boogaloo Bois have been spotted at demonstrations across the United States following the killing of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police in May. The group has called for a revolution in the United States, peaceful or otherwise. According to Panvidya, armed Boogaloo members have provided security at numerous Black Lives Matter protests sparked by Floyd?s death, stressing that the movement was similarly opposed to police brutality. He added that, despite claims to the contrary, the group is anti-discrimination and supports LGBTQ+ rights. He insisted that some people who affiliate with the movement do not accurately represent its values, adding that crackdowns on their social media accounts have made it more difficult to coordinate activities and weed out troublemakers. ?Being libertarian and being in this weird middle ground? We?re used to all sorts of people claiming a bunch of things about us that aren?t true,? Panvidya told Dore. Later tweeting about the interview, Dore said that he was ?completely floored? to learn that Panvidya and his comrades shared many political and social views held by progressives and wanted ?unity? with the Left. Unsurprisingly, the discussion split social media, with some insisting that the Bois have been unfairly slandered by the media, while others took the polar opposite view and accused Dore of giving favorable news coverage to ?white supremacists.? Right-wing commentator Michael Malice gently chided Dore for expressing surprise about the interview, suggesting that it was no secret that the movement was tolerant and libertarian. Others said they were pleasantly surprised by Panvidya, even while expressing concerns that he may not be an accurate representation of what the movement stands for. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Jan 28 00:02:53 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 18:02:53 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Fwd: Join 30+ Cities to Demand Cancel the Rents! References: <6011f2e6a41d8_11e1762f5010371@asgworker-qmb3-17.nbuild.prd.useast1.3dna.io.mail> Message-ID: > > > Home About Join Us Support Sign up > > Jan. 29-31 Join 30 Cities in the > National Days of Action to Demand: > Cancel the Rents and Mortgages! > > The $600 stimulus check is not enough and Biden's proposed $1,400 just adds insult to injury. One-time stimulus checks of any amount are not sufficient, we need consistent replacement income for those who cannot work. One-third of people are struggling to pay their bills and are unable to catch up with rent. The eviction moratoriums nationally and locally have paused millions of evictions but rent debt is still piling up. The looming eviction crisis will hit oppressed communities, already especially affected by the pandemic, the hardest. > > Big landlords are abusing loopholes and filing eviction lawsuits against families regardless of the moratoriums. Despite all their claims to the contrary the government can immediately cancel rents and mortgages, house the homeless and stop evictions. Yet they choose to bail out the corporations and the banks. The money is there to give the people what they need to survive this pandemic. The money is there to help people keep their homes without accumulating debt. We must and can build the movement to defend our communities and stop all evictions and foreclosures. > > Join the an action near you and demand they cancel the rent and mortgages! Help build the movement to ensure housing for all! > > Click here to register your own action. > > FIND AN ACTION NEAR YOU: > > > Friday, January 29 > > Cedar City > > SUU Sherratt Library - W University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720 > > 2:00 pm > > Indianapolis > > Lugar Plaza- E. Washington St./Delaware St. Indianapolis, IN 46204 > > 2:00 pm > > Provo > > South University Avenue, West Center Street Provo, UT 84604 > > 4:30 pm _________ > > > > > > Saturday, January 30 > > Albany > > 311 Delaware Ave, Albany, NY 12208 > > 2:00 pm > > Atlanta > > Ashby Marta Transit station - Near 958 Lena St NW Atlanta, GA 30314 > > 1:00 pm > > Boston > > 2343 Washington Street (Nubian Station), Roxbury, MA, 02119 > > 1:00 pm > > Dallas > > Kiest Park - 3080 S Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75224 > > 1:00 pm __ > > Denver > > 3815 Steele St. Denver, CO 80205 > > 2:00 pm _________ _________ > > East Harlem > > E 116th St and Lexington Ave. New York, NY > > 1:00 pm _________ > > Geneva > > Geneva Housing Authority, 41 Lewis Street Geneva, NY 14456 > > 3:00 pm > > Kennett Square > > New Garden Center - 345 Scarlet Rd. Kennet Square, PA 19348 > > 1:00 pm > > Lancaster > > E King St & N Duke St, Lancaster, PA 17602 > > 11:00 am > > Los Angeles > > Parking Lot - 3701 Santa Rosalia Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90008 > > 11:00 am > > Los Angeles > > Parking Lot - 3701 Santa Rosalia Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90008 > > 11:00 am > > Manchester > > Derryfield Park Manchester, NH 03104 > > 12:00 pm > > Middletown > > Middletown Green Middletown, CT 06457 > > 12:00 pm > > New Haven > > Kimberly Triangle (Kimberly Ave & Lamberton St) New Haven, CT 06519 > > 12:00 pm > > Portland > > Colonel Summers Park, SE Belmont & SE 20th Portland, Oregon 7214 > > 12:00 pm > > San Diego > > Balboa Park Boulevard and Presidents Way Lawn, San Diego CA 92101 > > 2:00 pm > > > Urbana > > Lincoln Square Mall Parking Lot, Race St. Urbana, IL 61801 (Corner of Illinois & Broadway) > > 2:00 pm > > > > > > > Sunday, January 31 > > Bronx > > White Plains Rd & E Gun Hill Rd The Bronx, NY 10467 > > 1:00 pm > > Brooklyn > > Dekalb Ave and Franklin Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205 > > 1:00 pm > > Chicago > > 2210 W Pershing Rd. Chicago, IL 60609 > > 12:00 pm > > Pasco > > Volunteer Park, 1125 N 4th Ave Pasco, WA 99301 > > Queens > > Parking Lot of 73-01 Northern Blvd Flushing, NY 11372 > > 12:00 pm > > San Francisco > > FedEx Ship Center - 1875 Marin St, San Francisco CA 94124 > > 2:00 pm > > St. Louis > > The McGuire Building - 1333 N 6th St., St. Louis, MO 63106 > > 12:00 pm > > State College > > Allen Street Gates Penn State University (at S Allen St.) University Park, PA 16802 > > 2:00 pm > > > donate now > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Thu Jan 28 00:08:12 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 18:08:12 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Cancel the Rents and Mortgages References: <20210128000625.5A2506C0@ivan.mayfirst.org> Message-ID: > > > > >> >> >> Home About Join Us Support Sign up >> >> Jan. 29-31 Join 30 Cities in the >> National Days of Action to Demand: >> Cancel the Rents and Mortgages! >> >> The $600 stimulus check is not enough and Biden's proposed $1,400 just adds insult to injury. One-time stimulus checks of any amount are not sufficient, we need consistent replacement income for those who cannot work. One-third of people are struggling to pay their bills and are unable to catch up with rent. The eviction moratoriums nationally and locally have paused millions of evictions but rent debt is still piling up. The looming eviction crisis will hit oppressed communities, already especially affected by the pandemic, the hardest. >> >> Big landlords are abusing loopholes and filing eviction lawsuits against families regardless of the moratoriums. Despite all their claims to the contrary the government can immediately cancel rents and mortgages, house the homeless and stop evictions. Yet they choose to bail out the corporations and the banks. The money is there to give the people what they need to survive this pandemic. The money is there to help people keep their homes without accumulating debt. We must and can build the movement to defend our communities and stop all evictions and foreclosures. >> >> Join the an action near you and demand they cancel the rent and mortgages! Help build the movement to ensure housing for all! >> >> Click here to register your own action. >> >> FIND AN ACTION NEAR YOU: >> >> >> Friday, January 29 >> >> Cedar City >> >> SUU Sherratt Library - W University Blvd., Cedar City, UT 84720 >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> Indianapolis >> >> Lugar Plaza- E. Washington St./Delaware St. Indianapolis, IN 46204 >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> Provo >> >> South University Avenue, West Center Street Provo, UT 84604 >> >> 4:30 pm _________ >> >> >> >> >> >> Saturday, January 30 >> >> Albany >> >> 311 Delaware Ave, Albany, NY 12208 >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> Atlanta >> >> Ashby Marta Transit station - Near 958 Lena St NW Atlanta, GA 30314 >> >> 1:00 pm >> >> Boston >> >> 2343 Washington Street (Nubian Station), Roxbury, MA, 02119 >> >> 1:00 pm >> >> Dallas >> >> Kiest Park - 3080 S Hampton Rd, Dallas, TX 75224 >> >> 1:00 pm __ >> >> Denver >> >> 3815 Steele St. Denver, CO 80205 >> >> 2:00 pm _________ _________ >> >> East Harlem >> >> E 116th St and Lexington Ave. New York, NY >> >> 1:00 pm _________ >> >> Geneva >> >> Geneva Housing Authority, 41 Lewis Street Geneva, NY 14456 >> >> 3:00 pm >> >> Kennett Square >> >> New Garden Center - 345 Scarlet Rd. Kennet Square, PA 19348 >> >> 1:00 pm >> >> Lancaster >> >> E King St & N Duke St, Lancaster, PA 17602 >> >> 11:00 am >> >> Los Angeles >> >> Parking Lot - 3701 Santa Rosalia Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90008 >> >> 11:00 am >> >> Los Angeles >> >> Parking Lot - 3701 Santa Rosalia Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90008 >> >> 11:00 am >> >> Manchester >> >> Derryfield Park Manchester, NH 03104 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> Middletown >> >> Middletown Green Middletown, CT 06457 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> New Haven >> >> Kimberly Triangle (Kimberly Ave & Lamberton St) New Haven, CT 06519 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> Portland >> >> Colonel Summers Park, SE Belmont & SE 20th Portland, Oregon 7214 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> San Diego >> >> Balboa Park Boulevard and Presidents Way Lawn, San Diego CA 92101 >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> >> Urbana >> >> Lincoln Square Mall Parking Lot, Race St. Urbana, IL 61801 (Corner of Illinois & Broadway) >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> >> >> >> >> >> Sunday, January 31 >> >> Bronx >> >> White Plains Rd & E Gun Hill Rd The Bronx, NY 10467 >> >> 1:00 pm >> >> Brooklyn >> >> Dekalb Ave and Franklin Ave. Brooklyn, NY 11205 >> >> 1:00 pm >> >> Chicago >> >> 2210 W Pershing Rd. Chicago, IL 60609 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> Pasco >> >> Volunteer Park, 1125 N 4th Ave Pasco, WA 99301 >> >> Queens >> >> Parking Lot of 73-01 Northern Blvd Flushing, NY 11372 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> San Francisco >> >> FedEx Ship Center - 1875 Marin St, San Francisco CA 94124 >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> St. Louis >> >> The McGuire Building - 1333 N 6th St., St. Louis, MO 63106 >> >> 12:00 pm >> >> State College >> >> Allen Street Gates Penn State University (at S Allen St.) University Park, PA 16802 >> >> 2:00 pm >> >> >> donate now >> >> > > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 30 15:15:06 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2021 09:15:06 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Car Caravan today in Lincoln Mall 1:00pm Message-ID: Event by Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana Lincoln Squre Mall Parking Lot, Race St Today at 1 PM CST Join us in demanding that rent and mortgages be cancelled! Biden's call for a moratorium on evictions is not enough. The jobs have not come back, so we should not have mounting bills to pay! When the system puts profits over people, it's us workers and oppressed people who suffer. We won't take it any longer, we need a new and better system. Demand the cancellation of rents and mortgages with us on Saturday January 30th at 1pm! In addition, this event will also launch the campaign of Colin Dodson, a long time community member and organizer in Urbana, for their run for Urbana City Council, representing Ward 2. If you live in Urbana, especially in Ward 2, stay for their campaign announcement speech, and join in the discussion for how Urbana can benefit us all. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sat Jan 30 15:15:06 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2021 09:15:06 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Car Caravan today in Lincoln Mall 1:00pm Message-ID: Event by Party for Socialism and Liberation - Champaign-Urbana Lincoln Squre Mall Parking Lot, Race St Today at 1 PM CST Join us in demanding that rent and mortgages be cancelled! Biden's call for a moratorium on evictions is not enough. The jobs have not come back, so we should not have mounting bills to pay! When the system puts profits over people, it's us workers and oppressed people who suffer. We won't take it any longer, we need a new and better system. Demand the cancellation of rents and mortgages with us on Saturday January 30th at 1pm! In addition, this event will also launch the campaign of Colin Dodson, a long time community member and organizer in Urbana, for their run for Urbana City Council, representing Ward 2. If you live in Urbana, especially in Ward 2, stay for their campaign announcement speech, and join in the discussion for how Urbana can benefit us all. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From karenaram at hotmail.com Sun Jan 31 23:55:38 2021 From: karenaram at hotmail.com (Karen Aram) Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2021 17:55:38 -0600 Subject: [Peace] Biden taps William Burns to head Central Intelligence Agency Message-ID: Biden taps William Burns to head Central Intelligence Agency Jacob Crosse 11 January 2021 President-elect Joe Biden announced Monday that he had selected longtime US State Department official William Burns to head the Central Intelligence Agency. Burns was a 33-year veteran of the US diplomatic corps, rising to Deputy Secretary of State from 2011 to 2014 in the Obama administration. He retired in 2014 to head the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a major foreign policy think tank in Washington. As a top-level State Department official through the administrations of Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II and Obama, Burns is implicated in virtually every crime of US imperialism over the past three decades, including the war in Iraq, the US-NATO attack on Libya, the military coup that drowned the Egyptian Revolution in blood, and the US intervention in Syria. William Burns (US?Japan Council) Burns specialized in the Middle East and Russia, moving up the ladder from US Ambassador to Jordan (1998-2001) to Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs (2001-2005), where he was responsible for State Department operations in conquered Iraq, ruled as a virtual US colony, as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In 2005, George W. Bush named him Ambassador to Russia, one of the top US diplomatic postings. He returned to Washington in 2008 to be undersecretary of state for political affairs, and was maintained in that position when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state under Obama. In 2011, Obama promoted him to deputy secretary of state, the number two position, where he was the day-to-day leader of the State Department, first under Clinton, then John Kerry. After such a career, as the saying goes, Burns knows where all the bodies are buried. Now he is assigned to head an agency that is probably responsible for more killing, torture and mass suffering than any other on the planet: the CIA. He will be replacing current CIA Director Gina Haspel, herself a former spy, notorious for running a ?black site? torture prison in Thailand. Largely because of this and her subsequent role in destroying evidence of the criminality she and fellow agents engaged in, Trump elevated Haspel to head the agency in 2018, after he promoted his first CIA director, Mike Pompeo, to secretary of state. Burns?s trajectory is in the opposite direction, but the close connection of the CIA and State Department signaled first by Pompeo and now by Burns demonstrates the overlapping role of both these institutions as agencies of American imperialist violence and political subversion. On Monday, Biden released a statement and short video announcing the selection of Burns. In his statement Biden assured, ?the American people? that they, ?will sleep soundly with him as our next CIA director.? In his video Biden praised Burns for his, ?honesty, integrity, and skill,? noting that is ?exactly how he?ll head the CIA.? The selection of Burns has drawn similar praise from former veterans of the military-intelligence apparatus responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Former CIA director and Iraq Commander General David Petraeus told Politico in a statement that Burns was, ?a truly inspired choice.? A subsequent successor to Petraeus at the CIA, John Brennan, infamous for his role in drone missile assassinations and illegal spying, called it an ?enlightened selection.? Brennan approvingly noted that Burns had, ?deep substantive expertise [and] extensive experience working with the Intelligence Community. The CIA will be most fortunate to have him at the helm.? While Burns has never formally worked for the CIA, his decades of work at the State Department required that he coordinate closely with the military-intelligence apparatus in carrying out the predatory aims of US imperialism. One of his less-publicized activities was helping suppress the revolutionary movement of the working class in Egypt which erupted in 2011, and was drowned in blood after the 2013 military coup. As Deputy Secretary of State, Burns traveled to Egypt before and after the July 3, 2013 military coup by dictator general-General Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi, who has remained in power ever since with Washington?s blessing and favor. Also in 2013, Burns headed a special high-level State Department detail that was sent to Russia to try to convince President Vladimir Putin to turn over National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden. He later chastised China for permitting Snowden to escape Hong Kong after his devastating revelations about systematic spying by the NSA against the world?s population, including Americans. The Chinese reluctance to detain?i.e., kidnap?Snowden on behalf of the US government ?was not consistent with the spirit... the type of relationship?the new model?that we both seek to build.? A preview of what to expect from a Burns-led CIA was given during an interview with National Public Radio?s Mary Louise Kelly on ?US Global Leadership? held June 19, 2019 at the Truman Center for National Policy in Washington, DC. In the extended conversation, Burns defended the US and NATO-led coup in Libya which ended with the grisly murder of Muammar Gaddafi, followed by an ongoing civil war, the torture and killing of refugees and the return of slave-markets. ?It was right to act in Libya in the way that we did,? Burns said. While the US government might have ?got some assumptions wrong,? he expressed no regrets, saying that he still thought Obama?s ?decision to act was unavoidable.? One of the few regrets Burns expressed in the interview was the ?failure to enforce the red line,? in regards to the attempted overthrow of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. In other words, Burns thought that Obama should have ordered a US military strike on Syria: a preview of the type of policy recommendations that he will provide to a President Biden. There is no doubt that as Deputy Secretary of State, Burns was well aware of the CIA effort known as Operation Timber Sycamore which flooded millions of dollars worth in military weapons to so-called ?moderate rebels? composed of remnants of al-Qaeda as well as al-Nusra in Syria to be used against the Assad government, beginning in 2012. On August 21, 2013, these forces staged a poison gas attack on Ghouta, which was used as a pretext for the US to begin bombing Syria. However, broad popular opposition to another imperialist war, as well as internal conflicts within the US government and its European allies, led Obama to back off from further military action and eventually negotiate a face-saving peace agreement with Putin. A Cost of Wars report from last year estimated that the ongoing conflict in Syria has led to the displacement of over 7 million people. This estimate, however, is on the low end, with some arguing it could be as high as 12 million people. Overall, some 380,000 Syrian civilians have reportedly died in the nine-year conflict. Unsurprisingly, during his interview, Burns expressed his support for the Democratic and CIA-led ?election interference? conspiracy theory against Russia, telling Kelly that Putin ?saw dysfunction in our system and took advantage ? and put the thumb on the scale [against] Hillary Clinton.? Biden?s appointment of Burns, far from allowing ?every American to sleep at night?? is a warning to the working class that imperialist war, illegal spying, and the persecution of whistleblowers such as Snowden and Assange, who remains imprisoned at Belmarsh in London, will continue under a Democratic administration. WSWS.ORG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: