This week our nation will observe the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attack on the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the attempted attack on the White House or the Capitol. Some 3,000 people died, and for weeks and months “9/11” dominated our waking moments. It is often forgotten how so much of the original response of New Yorkers was one of sorrow, but not of vengeance. “Not in our name” was a common refrain, coming most pointedly from those who themselves lost family members on 9/11. Some of these latter formed themselves into September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, and some of these went to Afghanistan to meet with the widows and family members of those killed in the US bombing of Afghanistan. Posters were placed everywhere in downtown NYC – “Have you seen ….?” So much tragedy, so much pain, and so much thinking that the coming murders must be stopped, we don’t want we have experienced to be borne by anyone else.
It was in this new world that Concerned Families of Westchester came into being. After 9/11, we had our 9/12, a meeting of a few Dobbs families to talk about what was happening, what might happen to us, and what should we do? The group met two days later, bringing friends for another discussion, and then again and again. A great many of those who assembled to share and to talk were veterans of the River Town’s work for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. And many were newcomers to the town. After the bombing of Afghanistan stopped, about the end of October, we talked about what to do. We held a forum at the Dobbs Library about “What is Islam?” We had one or two fundraisers at South Church for front-line peace activists like the aforementioned Peaceful Tomorrows. As summer headed into fall, we began a weekly peace vigil in Dobbs Ferry in front of the Stop and Shop, drawing a few dozen supporters and experiencing positive and negative comments from those passing/driving by. By the late winter of 2003, as the attack on Iraq became more likely, we grew quite large. On February 15, the day of the one-million person march against the war, it seemed we were many dozens – perhaps hundreds – on the Metro North arriving at Grand Central and struggling through dense crowds to try to make it to the rally near the UN.
Being a part of an activist peace organization has made a vital difference in the lives of many of us over the past quarter century. It is now clear that the trajectory of the world is towards fascism, and perhaps towards self-annihilation. The madness of militarism, the tragedy of climate destruction at the hands of the wealthy and the wealthy nations, the genocide against Palestinians, the consequences of a hardening of nationalism that erects walls and borders against those desperate for refuge and a chance for a good life, the attack on science and rational thinking itself – all these things and more are prelude to some very difficult times ahead. It’s a good time to be part of a group trying to think together about what’s happening and where all this going. We have room for a few more; please join us.
NEWS NOTES
The number of US casualties in its war on Iran is climbing towards one thousand. According to the Pentagon’s “casualty base,” 18 Americans have been killed and 794 have been wounded since the US attacked Iran on February 28, 2026. There are various estimates of the number of Iranian casualties. A UN agency (OCHA) estimates 3,000 killed and 34,--- wounded. About half of those killed are said to be civilians.
On Thursday the House of Representatives passed legislation “that would put federal funding at risk for universities that participate in certain boycotts of Israel, despite warnings from critics that the measure could chill political expression and effectively extend anti-boycott protections to Israeli settlements in occupied territories.” The bill passed 237-169, with several dozen Democrats voting “yes” along with the Republicans. Our rep. George Latimer was among the Democrats voting “yes.” The language of the Bill seems chaotic, but it was generally framed in the congressional debate as threatening universities that did not take action against BDS organizations and activities. As stalwart readers will recall, Latimer received $19 million in 2024 to help him defeat Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the Democratic primary. To read more, go here.
Investigative reporter Kevin Gosztola continues his 9/11 film series, giving some deep thought to films that came out around 9/11 and reflected the public anxiety and fear for the future that surrounded those times. The film he discusses this month is “V For Vendetta,” available in the WLS and on-line. I watched it last night; full of family-friendly ideas for resisting tyranny.
CFOW NUTS & BOLTS
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. Weather permitting we meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) The Northwest Yonkers Neighbors for Black Lives Matter holds a Monday afternoon vigil at 5:30 pm at the corner of Warburton Ave and Odell. The CFOW newsletter can be read on Substack, and is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook group. Another Facebook group focuses on the climate crisis. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email for the link. If you would like to support our work by making a CONTRIBUTION, please make out your check to “Frank Brodhead,” write “CFOW” on the memo line, and send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks.
REWARDS!
Keeping in the spirit of Labor Day, the rewards for stalwart newsletter readers this week come from the very deep grab bag of labor and union songs. So many songs written during the 1930s and the CIO organizing period are now welcome standards at our rallies.. First up, pride of place, goes to Pete Seeger and “Solidarity Forever,” composed in 1915 by IWW (“The Wobblies) poet Ralph Chaplin. Next up is Marcia Diehl and the New Harmony Sisterhood with “Union Maid.” And do you know Utah Philips and “There is Power in a Union”? And finally we have Woody Guthrie’s wonderful song, “The Deportees, (Plane wreck at Los Gatos.)” It has been sung by many, but apparently this is the only recording of Woody singing it. It is interesting to me that in the song he sings himself, the story is told in the first person – “I” am a deportee, not “you” as in the other versions. I think Woody’s version is powerful. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
Plaguing the Americas with Misery in the Name of Liberty
By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies, Code Pink [August 31, 2026]
---- Simon Bolivar, the great liberator of South America, famously observed, “The United States appear(s) to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.” For 200 years, US leaders have never proved him wrong. In the early 1800s, Bolivar led what is now Venezuela and five other countries to independence from the Spanish Empire. But the United States still refuses to recognize the independence of other countries in the region. Wannabe emperor Donald Trump even refers to Canadian prime minister Mark Carney as a “governor,” as if Canada was merely another US state. The US-backed despots replacing popular democratic and socialist governments across Latin America today are indeed doing so in the name of liberty, as Bolivar warned. But in practice this means only the liberty of traditional ruling classes to exploit, impoverish and kill their less privileged neighbors, formerly as conquistadors and compradors for the Spanish Empire and now as agents of the US government and transnational corporations. [Read More]
The Land Remains [Palestine]
By Molly Crabapple. New York Review of Books [July 6, 2023]
---- I spent the end of May and the beginning of June in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, first as a guest of the Palestine Festival of Literature, and then documenting daily life in my sketchbook. It had been eight years since my last trip to Palestine, and on the face of it, everything had gotten worse. The contradictions that plague any ethnonationalist project had all come to a bloody head with the reelection of Netanyahu last fall and his appointment of openly fascist ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have been encouraging settler rampages across the West Bank. Yet in some ways the oppression is just more obvious now. The checkpoints still resemble cages. The bombs still fall on Gaza. The West Bank Wall, that monument to cowardice erected after the second intifada, still defaces the land. [Read More]
Saluting a Matriarch—25 Years After Nickel and Dimed - [Barbara Ehrenreich]
By Alissa Quart and Nation Contributors [September 1, 2026]
---- Barbara’s book helped us to stop “unseeing” low-wage workers. It also showed us what anyone who has ever made a pizza or taken care of a child already knew but had perhaps not articulated: that there is no such thing as “unskilled” work. As Barbara wrote, “The ‘working poor,’ as they are approvingly termed, are in fact the major philanthropists of our society.” And Nickel and Dimed also helped precarious creatives like me and my ilk—freelance writers, art handlers, grad students, bookstore clerks, paid hourly and shabbily—see themselves more clearly, as on a continuum with other working people. Barbara showed us the label “unskilled work,” which divided underpaid hyper-educated freelancers I think of as “black turtleneck workers” and underpaid blue-collar was a false distinction. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “Is the Israel Lobby Doomed?” by Daniel Levy, The Nation [September 3, 2026] [Link]; and “Something Alarming Is About to Happen in Germany,” by Hans Kundnan, New York Times [September 4, 2026] [Link].
THE US-ISRAEL WAR AGAINST IRAN
The War on Iran: Six Months of Epic Failure
By Joe Cirincione, Truth Dig, [September 5, 2026]
----Trump seems to believe that he can achieve through intensified economic strangulation what six months of war could not, Iran analyst Sina Toossi of the Center for International Policy, told The New York Times. But to do that Trump needs other nations — now deeply alienated by his actions over the past 20 months — to agree. Most importantly, China, which buys 90% of Iran’s oil, would need to cooperate. However, China has said that it will not, vowing to combat what it called “illegal, unilateral sanctions.” By the end of the week “D-Day” was dead. Iran has survived the U.S.-Israel war it long feared. Its economy is damaged, but the regime is more determined than ever to resist U.S. demands. “The capacity to hurt Iran is clear,” Toossi said. “The path from pain to capitulation or collapse is not.” Trump’s real strategy seems to be to ignore the war. To let it drift unresolved past the November elections. Given the impulsive, fact-free nature of his rule, Trump could lash out again, ordering more fruitless strikes. Or the war could widen. Hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen could flare into full-scale war again. Iran could launch new attacks. None of this will change the basic calculus. [Read More]
From Hormuz to the Red Sea: How Yemen’s Houthis Could Extend the U.S.-Iran War
By Zvi Bar’el, Ha’aretz [Israel] [September 6 2026]
--- Beyond the direct damage and loss of life, the Houthi military campaign around Mocha is already having serious strategic consequences as it threatens to reignite Yemen’s full-scale war, set the Red Sea front ablaze and shift the military confrontation from the Strait of Hormuz to a new battlefield. The Houthis have already dealt a significant blow to Saudi Arabia’s oil exports, imposing a crippling naval blockade on maritime trade in the Red Sea in July. The route was intended to provide an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, using the oil pipeline that links Abqaiq in eastern Saudi Arabia with the port of Yanbu on the country’s western coast. … The real danger for Saudi Arabia, the United States, and even Iran is that Yemen may no longer be merely a secondary front in the confrontation over the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, it could become an independent battlefield, regardless of what happens in the Gulf. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “Trump’s Saudi Nuclear Agreement May Prolong the Iran War,” by Trita Parsi, Substack [September 4, 2026] [Link]; and “In War Crime, Trump sinks Civilian Iranian Tanker, disables 2 Others,” by Juan Cole, Informed Comment [September 6, 2026] [Link].
THE WAR ON PALESTINE
Israel Isn’t Debating a Palestinian State. It’s Preparing for Expulsion
By Amira Hass, Ha’aretz [Israel] [September 1, 2026]
---- What is at stake today is not a “diplomatic solution,” but the very existence of the Palestinian people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The Israeli forces striving to “erase” them recognize no limits or restraints. Their supporters are too numerous for us to rely solely on the steadfastness and resilience of a people that has already endured expulsion plans carried out by Israel. The world stands by. The left is tiny, weak and hoarse from sounding too many warnings. The anti-Bibi opposition oscillates among downplaying the danger, remaining indifferent to it and outright supporting expulsion. The sporadic condemnations, prompted mainly by something the U.S. ambassador posted on X, are about as useful as a sieve in a rainstorm. The Jewish Phalangists attack constantly and everywhere, not only in Qusra. The debate over one state, two states or a federation is more theoretical than ever. Any agreed-upon solution requires first acknowledging the problem and agreeing on what it is. Too many Jews in Israel have been conditioned to believe that the problem is the very presence in this land of a Palestinian people with roots, historical and economic continuity, cultural capital and material assets, a rich agricultural heritage and a profound love of homeland. [Read More] – ALSO OF INTEREST - “International condemnation of settlements does not target Israel’s colonial plan,” by Ramona Wadi, Middle East Monitor [August 27, 2026] [Link].
These Generals Fought for Israel. Now They See ‘Jewish Terrorism’ as the Threat.
By Azam Ahmed, et al., New York Times [August 31, 2026]
---- Maj. Gen. Eyal Ben-Reuven spent his life fighting for Israel. He survived the Arab-Israeli war of 1973, when his platoon was nearly wiped out, then went on to command a division in the West Bank and lead Israel’s ground forces in the 2006 war against Hezbollah. But in recent months, he has returned to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, touring the territory with retired generals and former Israeli officials like himself. He has walked through the remains of a Palestinian school looted by Israeli settlers, and listened to Palestinian shepherds and farmers describe being tortured by settlers who seize their livestock and land. Now, General Ben-Reuven says he has an entirely different understanding of the risks facing Israel today. … But in the shadows of those conflicts, a quieter front has emerged in the West Bank. Armed Israeli settlers, emboldened by the most right-wing government in the nation’s history, raid and torch Palestinian homes, mosques and villages with seeming impunity, openly trying to drive them out of the territory. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “‘It’s déjà vu’: Israel moves to seize land in Bil’in — once again,” by Oren Ziv. +972 Magazine [Israel/Palestine] [September 2, 2026] [Link]; and “To Save My Home, I Fly the American Flag,” by Lou Ridi, New York Times [September 2, 2026] [Link]
THE CLIMATE CRISIS
Is Nepal a Turning Point in Climate Coverage?
By Mark Hertsgaard and Covering Climate Now, The Nation [September 4, 2026]
---- It’s been slow coming, but news coverage of climate change may at last be turning a corner. For years, reporting on climate-related disasters—the superstorm Hurricane Helene that blasted the southeastern US in 2024, the mega-fires that torched Los Angeles in 2025, the record heat that has scorched Europe and Asia in 2026—rarely mentioned the term “climate change,” despite overwhelming scientific evidence linking such extreme events to human-caused global heating. This week, however, even formerly reticent news outlets are making the climate connection clear in their coverage of the deadly flooding in Nepal, where more than 1,100 are confirmed dead and an additional 4,000 are missing. More of these disasters are sure to follow: Even with unprecedented emissions reductions, global temperatures will rise to at least 1.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the UN Environment Programme announced yesterday. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “UNEP: World will Exceed 1.5º C., Bringing Catastrophes and Unknowable Risks,” by Juan Cole, Informed Comment [September 3, 2026] [Link]; and “The US military’s fatal stance on climate change,” by Neta C. Crawford, The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists [August 27, 2026] [Link]. Z
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Yes, the Democrats Have a Real Shot at the Senate This Time
By David Faris, The Nation [September 1, 2026]
---- More than a decade into the Trump era, dreaming of a major electoral breakthrough in hostile partisan territory based on the president’s manifest ineptitude, grotesque shenanigans, and unabashed corruption feels almost masochistic. But this time around, it really could be different. Subtle distinctions are emerging in the national political environment and polls that could put Democratic Senate candidates over the top in deep-red Alaska, Ohio, and Texas. Those Democratic incursions on the red Senate map, coupled with expected pickups in Maine and North Carolina and holds in Georgia and Michigan, suggest that Democrats could actually seize a 52-seat majority—and possibly a bigger one, if the president continues his hopeless standoff with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and further erodes his party’s standing. [Read More]
Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Coalition Is Cracking. Here’s What Could Come Next.
By Jean Guerrero, New York Times [September 3, 2026]
---- The anxiety from leaders in the anti-immigrant movement has received less attention than the outcry from Mr. Trump’s isolationist voters. But it could be more consequential because immigration is the president’s signature issue — the one he relies on to divide and conquer. The disillusionment reveals an extraordinary, if uneasy, window of possibility: working-class white Americans who are anxious about immigration could awaken to the fact that their interests are aligned with those of people of color across the world who want to stay in their homelands. They share an enemy: corporate and political elites who extract, exploit and expel across borders … If working-class white Americans can be persuaded that their real enemies are the oligarchs and warmongers enriching themselves at everyone’s expense, not the migrants fleeing the chaos those oligarchs create, a different kind of politics could become possible. [Read More]
ALSO OF INTEREST - “Muslim Americans Organize Amid Spike in Islamophobia,” by John Feffer, Informed Comment [September 3, 2026] [Link]; and “Bottom 90% of New Yorkers’ Incomes Stagnate As Very Richest See 58% Gain Since COVID,” by Kaitlyn Schwanemann, The City Reporter [September. 2, 2026] [Link],
OUR HISTORY
The CIA’s Student-Activism Phase
By Tom Hayden, The Nation [November 26, 2014]
---- Only once in a while does a book come along that sheds new light on the 1960s. Karen Paget’s forthcoming Patriotic Betrayal (Yale University Press) is just such a work, telling the inside story of how the Central Intelligence Agency corrupted the natural and democratic growth of students’ rights movement by infiltrating the National Student Association (NSA) and directing it to its Cold War ends. The story begins in the 1950s, which may leave some to wonder if it’s not a stale and useless tale by now. It’s relevant today, however, because of the cancerous growth of Big Brother surveillance and the proliferation of clandestine operations branded in the name of “democracy promotion,” from Cuba to the Ukraine. The pervasive rise of secret money in campaigns, moreover, makes it impossible to know whether operatives of our intelligence agencies have any role in harassing radicals or steering social movements, or whether such roles have been passed to private foundations. Democracy is increasingly in the dark. Any light from history can serve as high-beams to illuminate the future. My personal involvement in this story begins in the late 1950s, when I was a student editor at The Michigan Daily, the University of Michigan’s student paper. In those fallow years, I was a developing idealist who did not know that the CIA had begun recruiting students for its secret war against the Soviet Union [Read More]
White Supremacist Myths about Slavery
By Hugh J. Curran, Informed Comment [September 5, 2026]
---- The Trans-Atlantic slave trade appropriated slaves in West Africa, mostly in what was referred to as the “Slave Coast”. The Yoruba people of the Oyo Empire in West Africa were expanding in the 16th and 17th centuries and captives during their expansion were sold to Dutch and Portuguese slave traders. … Among the initial slave traders were the Royal African Company from Bristol and Liverpool which funded and dominated the Atlantic slave trade. Their “triangular trade” needed financial capital to outfit ships to purchase slaves on the West Coast of Africa, often bartering with ammunition, guns and metalware. The financial payback for a shipload of slaves to Caribbean and American plantations could bring up to $800 per slave, so that, (in current value), a ship with 300 slaves could make a profit of $7- $9 million, despite a 10% mortality rate. In this triangular trade the ships traveled to English plantations in the Caribbean and American colonies, returning with sugar, tobacco and cotton. [Read More]
