CHERI MOSSBURG and AMIR VERA – The San Jose, California, city council voted Tuesday night (January 25) to adopt a first-in-the-nation ordinance requiring most gun owners to pay a fee and carry liability insurance, measures aimed at reducing the risk of gun harm by incentivizing safer behavior and easing taxpayers of the financial burden of gun violence.
4 Good Reasons NOT to go to War in Ukraine
RIVERA SUN – How many reasons do we need to not go to war with Russia over the Ukraine? Instead of a foolhardy plunge into yet another military conflict, let’s look closer to home and take care of the many crises we face in the United States. Be sure to tell your elected officials this – they may not have gotten the memo.
A Citizen of the World – Still Speaks True
ROBERT C. KOEHLER – The speech, “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence,†is remembered and celebrated (or not) as MLK’s official condemnation of LBJ’s war, inappropriately “mixing peace and civil rights†and shattering ties with the country’s pro-war liberals. My takeaway after reading it: The speech is a lot more than that.
Corporate Sedition is More Damaging to America than the Capitol Attack
ROBERT REICH – The tsunami of money now flowing from corporations into the swamp of American politics is larger than ever. And this money – bankrolling almost all politicians and financing attacks on their opponents – is undermining American democracy as much as did the 147 seditionist members of Congress. Maybe more.
To Nuclear-Armed States: Nice Talk, Now Walk the WalkÂ
PETER BERGEL – We must build a movement strong enough to abolish nuclear weapons altogether. It will take a lot of work and will not happen overnight, but if we want to survive, it is up to the citizens of the nuclear-armed nations to demand that their governments conclude the nuclear disarmament agreements necessary to enable all of them to sign the nuclear ban treaty.
Why the Dutch are Closing Prisons – and What They’re Doing with Empty Ones
DEBORAH NICHOLLS-LEE – The Netherlands has reduced its prison population to such a degree that it’s now turning old prisons into socially useful buildings, such as schools and refugee centres. What went right?