DAVID SWANSON – I don’t propose comparing the horrors of the so-called longest U.S. war — as if the wars on Native Americans aren’t real — with World War II or Iraq. I propose comparing them with the people of Crimea voting to make their little piece of land part of Russia again. Which is more barbaric, immoral, illegal, destructive, and traumatic?
Category: July 2018
It’s a Miracle We Have Not Destroyed Ourselves Yet
KARY LOVE – Given we are still here, and the history of close calls, I concluded on the road to understanding the “Damascus†disaster, that only a loving god, watching out for drunkards and fools, can account for the many unexplainable “miracles†that have occurred along the way. As has been said, man has killed god, fortunately god is more merciful. Let us pray.
Russophobia Does Not Serve Our Self Interest
WINSLOW MYERS – With the executive branch demonstrably willing to gallop bareback off the established foreign policy reservation, the knee-jerk adversary of progressives for decades, the so-called “deep state,†with its reflexive fear of Russian totalitarian infiltration and its perpetuation of military dominance in all earthly spheres, may at least be providing a sorely needed element of restraint and integrity.
More Recycling Won’t Solve Plastic Pollution
MATT WILKINS – The only thing worse than being lied to is not knowing you’re being lied to. It’s true that plastic pollution is a huge problem, of planetary proportions. And it’s true we could all do more to reduce our plastic footprint. The lie is that blame for the plastic problem is wasteful consumers and that changing our individual habits will fix it.
Trump’s Space Force: Military Profiteering’s Final Frontier
HARVEY WASSERMAN – The Commander-in-Chief, President Donald Trump, has announced a new mission into the realm of martial excess. It is one is that will surely enrich the aerospace industry while spreading the global battlefield to a new dimension.
Trump is calling for the creation of a new Space Force as a sixth branch of the U.S. military, to militarize the heavens.
“It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space,†Trump told a meeting of the National Space Council in mid-June. “We must have American dominance in space.â€
Using Humor As Nonviolent Action
Humour, in the forms of chants, performances, satire, cartoons, theatre, jokes, memes and puns has a long tradition in protest movements.
Climb Down From the Summit of Hostile Propaganda
By Norman Solomon Throughout the day before the summit in Helsinki, the lead story on the New York Times home page stayed the same: “Just by Meeting With Trump, Putin Comes Out Ahead.†The Sunday headline was in harmony with the tone of U.S.…
Chaos or Community in Immigration Policy
If you scan the Internet for immigration-related news stories following the Trump administration’s May 7 announcement of its “zero tolerance” border policy, you’ll find the word “chaos” coming up time and time again.
Can We Learn from Heinrich Himmler’s Daughter? Should We?
Despite the ability to destroy civilization several times over with our existing nukes, America is embarking on an expenditure of $1.7 trillion to “make more and more usable†nuclear weapons. The US Senate just approved an $82 billion increase for the Pentagon that alone exceeds the entire annual defense budget of Russia.
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty at 50 – Still Awaiting Good Faith
ROBERT F. DODGE – 50 years ago on July 1, 1968 the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was signed. This landmark nuclear arms control treaty brought the world’s nuclear powers together with the ultimate goal of eliminating nuclear weapons by engaging in good faith efforts toward that end.
Hungering for Nuclear Disarmament
KATHY KELLY – In the state of Georgia’s Glynn County Detention Center, four activists await trial stemming from their nonviolent action, on April 4, 2018, at the Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay. In all, seven Catholic plowshares activists acted that day, aiming to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command to “beat swords into plowshares.†The Kings Bay is home port to six nuclear armed Trident ballistic missile submarines with the combined explosive power of over 9000 Hiroshima bombs.
Valuing Life More than Borders
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – “We are people who believe in the worth of every human being,†Elizabeth Warren said the other day, and I wondered for a moment what life would be like if that were true. The more crucial question, however, is: How can we make it true?
Support Ocasio-Cortez for Congress Now
DAVID SWANSON – Within 30 minutes of my publishing this complaint that peace had vanished from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s website, the following appeared on her website.
Trump’s War on the Poor: An Impeachable Offense
MEL GURTOV – Were it not for the source, it would hardly be news to learn that the United States can’t take care of its most needy—that it may be the richest country, but it is also increasingly, appallingly, unequal in how its wealth and opportunities are shared. When the various dimensions of human security are examined, critics have long noted that the US falls short, whether in treatment of children, poverty rates, income gaps between rich and poor, or even life expectancy. All this has been amply documented in annual reports of the United Nations Development Programme.
What can be Learned from a Mass Shooting that didn’t Happen?
MICHAEL NAGLER – Nonviolence is spread out all around us, yet we so often fail to see how it can be used to stop some of today’s worst atrocities. Take school shootings, as just one example. It’s telling that the idea of arming teachers has been seriously debated in the media, while nonviolent approaches to conflict resolution remain largely unknown. That’s why the recent film “Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story†is so unique. It tells the true story of Antoinette Tuff, an elementary school accountant in Decatur, Georgia, who prevented a mass shooting in 2013 by talking would-be killer Michael Hill into putting down his assault weapon.
Trump’s Getting Us Ready to Fight a Nuclear War
LAWRENCE WITTNER – Although many people have criticized the bizarre nature of Donald Trump’s diplomacy with North Korea, his recent love fest with Kim Jong Un does have the potential to reduce the dangers posed by nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula. Even so, buried far below the mass media coverage of the summit spectacle, the reality is that Trump―assisted by his military and civilian advisors―is busy getting the United States ready for nuclear war.
The Resistance Ramps Up as Pro-immigrant Direct Action Breaks Out Nationwide
L.A. KAUFMANN – Quite suddenly, over the last week or so, something crucial has shifted in the mood of the grassroots resistance to Donald Trump. You can time it, more or less, to the release of that devastating recording of migrant children weeping for their parents after having been ripped from their arms, or the widely circulated photographs of children being held in cages. The unfolding horror of Trump’s family separation policy, and his administration’s plans for indefinite immigrant detention, is galvanizing people to fight back in a way that hasn’t yet happened under this presidency — specifically, with mass direct action.