Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
September 24, 2017
Hello All – This is a week that many people will remember for President Trump's speech to the United Nations, at the opening of its new session. In June 1945 the United States was one of a 26 countries that brought the United Nations into being. In the shadow of World War II, which saw 50-60 million people die and hundreds of millions of people made homeless or otherwise having had their lives ruined, the founders of the United Nations saw their main task as the prevention of another such war. Thus, right up front, the United Nations Charter says: "All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations." NB we're not just talking about war here, but also "the threat of force." Thus "President" Trump, standing at the rostrum of the opening session of the United Nations and threatening to "destroy" North Korea, was in especially bad taste, even for a know-nothing ruffian.
But another memorable event this week was on the PLUS side. Bernie Sanders made a speech on war and foreign policy in Fulton Missouri, the same place where Winston Churchill made his double-bad speech in March 1946 in which he talked about "an iron curtain" coming down across Europe, thus helping to crystallize/energize what came to be called "the Cold War." So Fulton, MO was a good place for Sanders to break his relative silence about war and foreign policy. The whole speech is linked below in the "Featured Essays": please read it. For me, the memorable sentences are these:
Foreign policy is directly related to military policy and has everything to do with almost seven thousand young Americans being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tens of thousands coming home wounded in body and spirit from a war we should never have started. That's foreign policy. And foreign policy is about hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan dying in that same war.
That is to say, opposing war – and opposing some of the specific wars of post-9/11 USA – is the right thing to do not only because the wars are very expensive, apparently unwinnable, and kill thousands of Americans, BUT ALSO because they kill thousands and thousands of people who have the bad luck to live in the countries that the United States is Liberating and to which we are bringing Democracy. Let us fervently hope that the "Sanders wing" of the Democratic Party picks up his antiwar message and insists – impeachable offenses! – that President Trump desist from threatening countries with whom we disagree and end military action and the wars of aggression in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, Libya, and Somalia, and ixnay on war with Iran or North Korea.
Coming Attractions/Things to Do
Monday, September 25th - The Westchester Board of Legislators will vote Monday evening on whether to override County Executive Astorino's veto of the Immigrant Protection Act. The Board voted 10 to 5 to pass the Act, with two legislators absent. Twelve votes are needed to override Astorino's veto. How can you help? – First, call two possible "yes" votes:
- County Legislator Corcoran: District 2 (Bedford, Lewisboro, Mt. Kisco, N. Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers) # 914-995-2810 aide # 914-995 2883 Email: ftc9@westchestergov.com
- County Legislator Tubiolo: District 14 (Yonkers, Mt. Vernon) # 914-995-2815 aides # 914-995-2815 & # 914-995 3277 Email: djt4@westchestergov.com
Just ask them/leave a message (with your name and town) to vote YES for the Immigrant Protection Act. (If you live in their district, make sure you tell them that.) – Second, attend the meeting on Monday at 7 p.m. on the 8th floor of the Michaelian Building (148 Martine Ave. in White Plains). Bring a small sign, e.g. "Vote Yes!" A big turnout will show legislators that people care about this issue.
Sunday, October 1st – CFOW Monthly Meeting, 7 to 9 p.m. at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society, 12 Elm St. in Dobbs Ferry.
Thursday, October 6th – To mark the 16th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, there will be a demonstration at noon in front of the Trump Tower in White Plains. (10 City Place, near Martine Ave. and Mamaroneck Ave,)
Saturday, October 28th – This will be the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. The People's Climate March will hold an event on this day to demand that our government take serious steps to stop global warming/climate breakdown. More news when I have it.
Sunday, November 19th – Save the date for WESPAC's "night of comedy, dance, and music," "Made in Palestine." It's at the Tarrytown Music Hall; doors open at 5 p.m. For more information, including ways you can help support/sponsor this program, go here.
This Newsletter
One goal of the CFOW newsletter is to provide links to articles and essays illuminating CFOW's action priorities, which are currently antiwar and climate breakdown, but also including issues such as social and economic justice. In addition to the excellent "Featured Essays," please check out the sets of articles explaining the possible civil war on the horizon in Spain, and the background to Burma's horrible ethnic cleansing of its Royhingya ethnic minority. Also in this newsletter are an extensive interview with Naomi Klein and good articles about Ken Burns' documentary series of Vietnam, the Trump administration's Pentagon budget now making its way through Congress, some of the non-meteorological issues connected with climate breakdown and hurricanes, and some of the broader issues connected with the BDS movement. Finally, way down in the "Our History" section is a death notice about Stanislav Petrov, a man you probably never heard of who saved the world by refusing to launch a nuclear war in 1983. Like so many heroic unknowns, he will be remembered in our hearts, if not in history books. As George Eliot wrote at the conclusion of her novel Middlemarch, "… for the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the number who lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs."
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a vigil/rally each Saturday in Hastings, from 12 to 1 p.m., at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) Our leaflet and posters for our vigils are usually about war or climate change, but issues such as racial justice or the Hudson River barges are targeted from time to time, depending on current events. We meet on the first Sunday of each month, from 7 to 9 p.m., at the Dobbs Ferry Historical Society. Our weekly newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. And of course we welcome contributions to support our work; please make your check out to "CFOW" and mail it to PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
Last week I had the good fortune to be part of a CFOW expedition to hear a Roy Zimmerman concert. He is a very funny guy, but also serious, and his topical songs hit the ground running. You can see/hear lots of his music videos here. My favorite of the evening was "Hope, Struggle, and Change," something he wrote for the start of the Obama presidency, but is still pretty relevant. Another favorite among our delegation talked/sang about the people Roy encountered on his "Blue Dot" tour, where he visited the "Blue Dots" of stalwarts struggling to do their best in otherwise nasty red states. Here it is: "I Approve This Message." Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
FEATURED ESSAYS
Building a common humanity
By Bernie Sanders, ZNet [September 24, 2017]
---- I strongly believe that not only do we need to begin a more vigorous debate about foreign policy, we also need to broaden our understanding of what foreign policy is. So let me be clear: Foreign policy is directly related to military policy and has everything to do with almost seven thousand young Americans being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tens of thousands coming home wounded in body and spirit from a war we should never have started. That's foreign policy. And foreign policy is about hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan dying in that same war. Foreign policy is about U.S. government budget priorities. At a time when we already spend more on defense than the next 12 nations combined, foreign policy is about authorizing a defense budget of some $700 billion, including a $50 billion increase passed just last week. [Read the Speech] For some commentary, read: Mehdi Hasan, "Bernie Sanders To Democrats: This Is What a Radical Foreign Policy Looks Like," The Intercept [[Link]; and Stephen Miles, "Bernie Sanders Just Gave the Progressive Foreign-Policy Speech We've Been Waiting For," The Nation [September 21, 2017] [Link].
---- I strongly believe that not only do we need to begin a more vigorous debate about foreign policy, we also need to broaden our understanding of what foreign policy is. So let me be clear: Foreign policy is directly related to military policy and has everything to do with almost seven thousand young Americans being killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and tens of thousands coming home wounded in body and spirit from a war we should never have started. That's foreign policy. And foreign policy is about hundreds of thousands of people in Iraq and Afghanistan dying in that same war. Foreign policy is about U.S. government budget priorities. At a time when we already spend more on defense than the next 12 nations combined, foreign policy is about authorizing a defense budget of some $700 billion, including a $50 billion increase passed just last week. [Read the Speech] For some commentary, read: Mehdi Hasan, "Bernie Sanders To Democrats: This Is What a Radical Foreign Policy Looks Like," The Intercept [[Link]; and Stephen Miles, "Bernie Sanders Just Gave the Progressive Foreign-Policy Speech We've Been Waiting For," The Nation [September 21, 2017] [Link].
(Video) Democracy Now! interviews Naomi Klein
FB – Earlier this week, Democracy Now! conducted an hour-long interview with Naomi Klein. You can see the whole thing starting here, or view its separate parts:
Part 3: No Is Not Enough: Naomi Klein on Bernie's Medicare-for-All Bill & Future of Democratic Party
Unmasked: Trump Doctrine Vows Carnage for New Axis of Evil
September 22, 2017]
---- This was no "deeply philosophical address". … One should allow the enormity of what just happened to sink in, slowly. The president of the United States, facing the bloated bureaucracy that passes for the "international community," threatened to "wipe off the map" the whole of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (25 million people). And may however many millions of South Koreans who perish as collateral damage be damned. … The Trump Doctrine has finally been enounced and a new axis of evil delineated. The winners are North Korea, Iran and Venezuela. Syria under Assad is a sort of mini-evil, and so is Cuba. Crucially, Ukraine and the South China Sea only got a fleeting mention from Trump, with no blunt accusations against Russia and China. That may reflect at least some degree of realpolitik; without "RC" – the Russia-China strategic partnership at the heart of the BRICS bloc and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – there's no possible solution to the Korean Peninsula stand-off. [Read More]
Can Black Lives Matter Win in the Age of Trump?
By Dani McClain, The Nation [September 19, 2017]
---- Despite reports to the contrary, the national constellation of racial-justice organizations loosely referred to as the Black Lives Matter movement is alive and well. It would be easy to think otherwise: BLM appears less frequently in the news than it did between 2013 and last year, when the movement responded forcefully in the streets and online to a string of black deaths at the hands of police. Now, when BLM is mentioned at all, it's often because a member of the Trump administration is issuing a dog whistle to the president's supporters. … But conversations with just over a dozen people in the movement suggest otherwise. BLM organizers are still in the streets in places like Charlottesville and Boston, where white supremacists mobilized this summer. From St. Louis, Missouri, to Lansing, Michigan, they're engaging with electoral politics in new ways. And they're taking the time to reflect on and develop new strategies for moving forward given the changed political terrain. [Read More]
Empire of Madness: Fiddling Through the Smoke in 2025 [Dystopian Vision]
By Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch [September 21, 2017]
By Tom Engelhardt, Tom Dispatch [September 21, 2017]
---- It's January 2025, and within days of entering the Oval Office, a new president already faces his first full-scale crisis abroad. Twenty-four years after it began, the war on terror, from the Philippines to Nigeria, rages on. In 2024 alone, the U.S. launched repeated air strikes on 15 nations (or, in a number of cases, former nations), including the Philippines, Burma, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, the former Iraq, the former Syria, Kurdistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Mali, and Nigeria. [Read More]
Civil War in Spain?
Sparking Something Bigger
By Ignasi Bernat and David Whyte, Red Pepper [UK] [September 24, 2017]
---- Across Barcelona and the towns and cities of Catalonia, spontaneous demonstrations are breaking out, with people chanting 'No Pasaran', 'We are not afraid' and singing anti-Francoist resistance hymns. If this feels distinctly like a scene from Spain dark past, that's because political repression of this scale has probably not been witnessed in Catalonia since Franco. It has been a remarkable week in which the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) have seized leaflets, pamphlets and ballot papers in their million, to try to stop Catalonia's independence referendum on 1 October. Government buildings have been forcibly entered and senior government officials arrested and charged. In some places, like Vitoria in the Basque Country, police have raided and terminated meetings addressed by Catalonian politicians. The Guardia Civil have closed down websites that provide information or commentary on the referendum, and Spanish judges have ordered mobile phone networks Vodafone and Movistar to block access to the official referendum website ref1oct.eu. The repression has even extended to the Spanish Post Office, ordered to open 'suspicious' mail to check if it contains referendum-related material. [Read More] For more analysis and commentary, read Dick Nichols, "Catalonia: Mass resistance greets Spanish state coup," Green Left Weekly [Australia] [Link]; Thomas Harrington, "Forced Takeover of Catalan Government Institutions by Spanish Police Ahead of Oct. 1 Vote," Antiwar.com [September 20, 2017] [Link]; and from the Washington Post, "As Catalan independence vote nears, Europe supports keeping Spain intact," [September 22, 2017] [Link].
---- Across Barcelona and the towns and cities of Catalonia, spontaneous demonstrations are breaking out, with people chanting 'No Pasaran', 'We are not afraid' and singing anti-Francoist resistance hymns. If this feels distinctly like a scene from Spain dark past, that's because political repression of this scale has probably not been witnessed in Catalonia since Franco. It has been a remarkable week in which the Guardia Civil (Spanish police) have seized leaflets, pamphlets and ballot papers in their million, to try to stop Catalonia's independence referendum on 1 October. Government buildings have been forcibly entered and senior government officials arrested and charged. In some places, like Vitoria in the Basque Country, police have raided and terminated meetings addressed by Catalonian politicians. The Guardia Civil have closed down websites that provide information or commentary on the referendum, and Spanish judges have ordered mobile phone networks Vodafone and Movistar to block access to the official referendum website ref1oct.eu. The repression has even extended to the Spanish Post Office, ordered to open 'suspicious' mail to check if it contains referendum-related material. [Read More] For more analysis and commentary, read Dick Nichols, "Catalonia: Mass resistance greets Spanish state coup," Green Left Weekly [Australia] [Link]; Thomas Harrington, "Forced Takeover of Catalan Government Institutions by Spanish Police Ahead of Oct. 1 Vote," Antiwar.com [September 20, 2017] [Link]; and from the Washington Post, "As Catalan independence vote nears, Europe supports keeping Spain intact," [September 22, 2017] [Link].
The Rohingya Crisis
Rohingya crisis: this is what genocide looks like
By Alicia de la Cour Venning, The Conversation [September 15, 2017]
---- The world is witnessing a state-orchestrated humanitarian catastrophe on the Myanmar-Bangladesh border. The latest UN figures show a staggering 370,000 Rohingya have fled into Bangladesh since August 25. An unknown number have perished. Around 26,000 non-Muslims have also been displaced. … The Myanmar state has historically adopted strategies of "othering" the Rohingya, dehumanising them as "illegal Bengalis". The Rohingya have been isolated from society, forced into squalid open-air prisons, confined to villages, and denied livelihood opportunities. They have been harassed though disenfranchisement and violent intimidation. They suffer from destitution, malnutrition, starvation, and severe physical and mental illness as a result of restrictions on movement, education, marriage, childbirth, and the ever-present threat of violence and extortion. This is what genocide looks like, just prior to the mass killing phase. [Read More]
The History of the Persecution of Myanmar's Rohingya
By
---- Some 420,000 Rohingya Muslims, a religious and ethnic minority community in Myanmar, have fled to neighboring Bangladesh since August this year. The United Nations has called the Rohingya the world's most persecuted minority group and described the atrocities by Myanmar's authorities as "ethnic cleansing," whereby one group removes another ethnic or religious community through violence. But the persecution of the Rohingya is not new. My research on the Rohingya Muslim experience in Myanmar shows that this pattern of persecution goes back to 1948 – the year when the country achieved independence from their British colonizers. [Read More]
Also interesting/useful on the Rohingya crisis – John Feffer, "Muslim Nations Are Rallying to Protect the Rohingya. What About the Rest of Us?" Foreign Policy in Focus [September 20, 2017] [Link]; and from Democracy Now! (Video) "Advocates Warn All Rohingya May Be Driven Out of Burma If Military's Ethnic Cleansing Continues" [September 20, 2017] [See the Program]
WAR & PEACE
Masters of War
By Ben Dangl, ZNet [September 22, 2017]
---- The US Senate passed a $700 billion defense policy bill on Monday that puts the US on track to have the largest military budget since the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), had enormous bipartisan support in a vote of 89-9. It includes $640 billion for the Pentagon – $37 billion more than Trump requested – and $60 billion for US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and beyond. The NDAA approves an $80 billion annual increase for military spending, and authorized the production ninety-four F-35 jets, twenty-four more than the Pentagon requested. … In such a climate of war, eighty-nine senators voted for the NDAA on Monday, and only eight voted against it, including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). [Read More] For an interesting analysis of how the mainstream media view this record-breaking military budget, read Adam Johnson, "Outlets That Scolded Sanders Over Deficits Uniformly Silent on $700B Pentagon Handout," Fairness and Accuracy in the Media [FAIR} [September 21, 2017] [Link].
---- The US Senate passed a $700 billion defense policy bill on Monday that puts the US on track to have the largest military budget since the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill, known as the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), had enormous bipartisan support in a vote of 89-9. It includes $640 billion for the Pentagon – $37 billion more than Trump requested – and $60 billion for US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and beyond. The NDAA approves an $80 billion annual increase for military spending, and authorized the production ninety-four F-35 jets, twenty-four more than the Pentagon requested. … In such a climate of war, eighty-nine senators voted for the NDAA on Monday, and only eight voted against it, including Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ron Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Bob Corker (R-Tenn.). [Read More] For an interesting analysis of how the mainstream media view this record-breaking military budget, read Adam Johnson, "Outlets That Scolded Sanders Over Deficits Uniformly Silent on $700B Pentagon Handout," Fairness and Accuracy in the Media [FAIR} [September 21, 2017] [Link].
(Video) Amid Tensions with North Korea, 51 Countries Sign Ban on Nuclear Weapons Despite U.S. Opposition
From Democracy Now! [September 22, 2017]
---- Amid tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, 51 countries have signed the world's first legally binding treaty banning nuclear weapons. It prohibits the development, testing and possession of nuclear weapons, as well as using or threatening to use these weapons. It was first adopted in July by 122 U.N. member states, despite heavy U.S. opposition. None of the nine countries that possess nuclear weapons signed the measure, including Russia, Britain, China, France, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel. We speak with Susi Snyder, nuclear disarmament program manager for the Netherlands-based group PAX and author of the report "Don't Bank on the Bomb." [See the Program]
U.S. Bombs Falling in Record Numbers In Three Countries
By Paul McLeary, Foreign Policy in Focus [September 18, 2017]
---- U.S. planes are dropping more bombs in Afghanistan than at any point since Aug. 2012 — when there were 90,000 U.S. combat troops there — and are hitting more targets in Iraq and Syria than at any point in the three-year campaign, fruit of the Trump administration's looser guidelines for authorizing strikes on Islamic State fighters in all three countries. New airstrike totals issued by the Pentagon show that American aircraft have dropped over 2,400 bombs in Afghanistan this year, far above the 1,337 dropped in 2016, as U.S. warplanes seek to roll back gains by the Taliban and incursions by the Islamic State in the country's East. In Iraq and Syria, U.S. planes dropped a total of 5,075 bombs in August, more ordnance than had been dropped in any month prior since the campaign against the Islamic State kicked off in August 2014. That pace has been kept up all year: Through the first eight months, 32,800 bombs have hit ISIS targets, more than the 30,743 dropped in all of 2016. In an often overlooked battlefield, the Trump administration's more aggressive approach is also on display in Yemen, which has seen over 100 U.S. strikes against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) this year, up from just 38 strikes launched in 2016. [Read More]
War with North Korea?
It's Time To Make a Deal With North Korea
September 23, 2017]
---- The United States faces a new nuclear power ruled by a communist dictator. Washington is worried that the leadership of that country is crazy enough to use its new weapons – even against the United States. Meanwhile, other countries fear that the "madman" in the Oval Office might just launch a preemptive nuclear attack. This description captures the situation today, with US President Donald Trump facing off against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. But it also describes a similar conflict in the late 1960s, between the United States and China. That confrontation ended not in war but in détente and a close economic relationship between the two countries. It's an important reminder that diplomacy can work even in seemingly intractable situations. [Read More]
Trump Moves to Widen U.S. Sanctions on North Korea
---- President Trump ordered a widening of American sanctions on North Korea on Thursday to further choke off its trade with the outside world, in what some experts described as perhaps the most sweeping set of punitive economic measures enacted by the United States in many years. A new executive order signed by Mr. Trump aimed to cut North Korea out of the international banking system while targeting its major industries and shipping. The move suggested that for now, at least, the president was still committed to applying economic pressure rather than military action, despite his vow this week to "totally destroy North Korea" if the United States were forced to defend itself or its allies. [Read More]
GLOBAL WARMING/CLIMATE CHAOS
(Video) Trump Admin Doubles Down on Plans to Withdraw from Paris Deal as UNGA Makes Climate Top Priority
From Democracy Now! [September 21, 2017]
---- At the United Nations, President Trump's chief economic adviser, Gary Cohn, said Monday the U.S. would withdraw from the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord as planned. His comments came as U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said climate should be a top priority at this year's General Assembly. Our guest, economist Jeffrey Sachs, notes that the "agreement is completely symmetrical for all 193 countries," and also argues that chemical and oil companies should help pay for recovery efforts after extreme weather related to climate change. [See the Program]
The Pentagon's Next War: Extreme Hurricanes & other Climate attacks on US Borders
By Michael T. Klare, Tom Dispatch [September 18, 2017]
---- Until Trump moved into the White House, senior military officers in the Pentagon were speaking openly of the threats posed to American security by climate change and how that phenomenon might alter the very nature of their work. Though mum's the word today, since the early years of this century military officials have regularly focused on and discussed such matters, issuing striking warnings about an impending increase in extreme weather events — hurricanes, incessant rainfalls, protracted heat waves, and droughts — and ways in which that would mean an ever-expanding domestic role for the military in both disaster response and planning for an extreme future. That future, of course, is now. [Read More]
Hurricanes, Wildfires, and Climate Breakdown
In the Caribbean, colonialism and inequality mean hurricanes hit harder
[By Author], The Conversation [September 20, 2017]
---- Hurricane Maria, the 15th tropical depression this season, is now battering the Caribbean, just two weeks after Hurricane Irma wreaked havoc in the region. The devastation in Dominica is "mind-boggling," wrote the country's Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit, on Facebook just after midnight on September 19. The next day, in Puerto Rico, NPR reported via member station WRTU in San Juan that "Most of the island is without power…or water." Among the Caribbean islands impacted by both deadly storms are Puerto Rico, St Kitts, Tortola and Barbuda. … These are not isolated instances of random bad luck. As University of the West Indies geographers who study risk perception and political ecology, we recognize the deep, human-induced roots of climate change, inequality and the underdevelopment of former colonies – all of which increase the Caribbean's vulnerability to disaster. [Read More]
(Video) Environmental Disaster Looms in Puerto Rico, Lashed by Hurricane Maria & Left Without Power
From Democracy Now! [September 21, 2017]
---- Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico Wednesday as a Category 4 storm, bringing record rainfall and catastrophic flooding, destroying power lines and leaving the entire country in the dark. This comes as many homes on Puerto Rico were still dark two weeks after Hurricane Irma cut electricity to hundreds of thousands. The storm also raised concerns about potential environmental disasters. Puerto Rico is home to 23 Superfund sites, including on the island of Vieques, site of a former U.S. naval test range, which took a near-direct hit from the storm. It is also the site of a coal-fired power plant owned by the private company AES. Residents across the island have been demanding the plant be closed and that the company stop dumping toxic coal ash into their community, saying the waste is poisonous to their health and the environment. We speak with Emily Atkin, staff writer covering the environment at the New Republic, who writes, "Puerto Rico is Already an Environmental Tragedy. Hurricane Maria Will Make It Even Worse." [See the Program]
This Season, Western Wildfires Are Close By and Running Free
---- Extreme fire behavior — difficult to predict and dangerous to fight — has been the watchword of the 2017 season across the West. More large, uncontrolled wildfires were burning in 10 Western states in early September than at any comparable time since 2006. … Still, at least so far, the year is not a record, with 8.3 million acres burned as of mid-September. More than 10 million acres burned in 2015, the worst fire season in decades. But much of that land, as in previous years, was far from population centers, in remote areas of Alaska or western rangelands. [Read More]
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Who Are the "Alt-Right"? On the Rise of Reactionary Hatred and How to Fight it
, Counterpunch [September 22, 2017]
---- With the rise in public visibility of far-right-wing militants in the U.S. following the events in Charlottesville, much of the public is scrambling to understand just what this movement is and what forces are driving it. With much of the public discussing strategies for how best to fight right-wing extremism, the need for constructive solutions is greater than ever. First and foremost, it's important to point out that public support for far-right extremists is miniscule. The vast majority of Americans reject this movement's violence and hatred. … Sixty-three million American adults voted for Trump in 2016 – about 25 percent of the adult public. By comparison, white nationalism and supremacy are supported by just 4 percent of Americans. While there's significant overlap between support for white supremacy and for Trump, these two phenomena are not synonymous. [Read More] Also useful/interesting on the "Alt-Right": Leighton Akio Woodhouse, "After Charlottesville, The American Far Right Is Tearing Itself Apart," The Intercept [September 21, 2017] [Link].
The Police
The Cancer in Blue: Cop Documentaries
---- Perhaps nothing illustrates the lawlessness of law enforcement in the USA more than the spectacle of cops in St. Louis shouting "Whose streets? Our streets!" as they arrested people protesting the not guilty verdict of white police officer Jason Stockley, who had been recorded telling his partner that "we're killing this motherfucker, don't you know," just minutes before firing five bullets into the body of an African-American youth named Anthony Lamar Smith in 2011. … Two recent films help to place this by now predictable outcome into perspective. Both put a spotlight on the police forces in Los Angeles and Oakland. Despite California's liberal reputation, its cops act as if they are reporting to Bull Connor. As Malcolm X once put it, "There's no such thing as a Mason-Dixon Line—it's America. There's no such thing as the South—it's America." Two recent films help to place this by now predictable outcome into perspective. Both put a spotlight on the police forces in Los Angeles and Oakland. Despite California's liberal reputation, its cops act as if they are reporting to Bull Connor. As Malcolm X once put it, "There's no such thing as a Mason-Dixon Line—it's America. There's no such thing as the South—it's America." [Read More]. For more about the USA police, read Kevin Johnson, "Trump lifts ban on military gear to local police forces," [Link]; and David M. Perry, "4 Disabled People Dead in Another Week of Police Brutality," The Intercept [September 2017] [Link].
Medicare for All?
The Political Genius of Bernie's 'Medicare for All' Bill
From The Nation [September 20, 2017]
---- Building from a presidential campaign that rocked the Democratic Party establishment by putting unabashedly progressive proposals front and center, Sanders has used his newfound stature to assemble an unlikely coalition of Democrats to back a "Medicare for All" bill. The basic premise isn't novel: Medicare for All has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman John Conyers for over a decade, as well as promoted by groups like Physicians for a National Health Care Program and the National Nurses United. Four years ago, when Sanders proposed a similar measure, he found exactly zero co-sponsors. Today he has 16, including prospective 2020 presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and Cory Booker. So what changed? [Read More] For more on the Sanders "Medicare-for-All-Bill," see the Democracy Now! segment (Video) "Pivotal Moment in American History": Sen. Sanders Unveils Medicare-for-All Bill with 15 Co-Sponsors" [September 13, 2017] [Link]; and John Nichols, "'Single Payer Is a Rational Health-Care System': An Exclusive Interview With Bernie Sanders on His 'Medicare for All' Plan," The Nation [September 13, 2017] [Link].
Getting High: A Crime Problem or a Health Problem?
How to Win a War on Drugs: Portugal treats addiction as a disease, not a crime.
By Nicholas Kristof, New York Times [September 22, 2017]
---- Decades ago, the United States and Portugal both struggled with illicit drugs and took decisive action — in diametrically opposite directions. The U.S. cracked down vigorously, spending billions of dollars incarcerating drug users. In contrast, Portugal undertook a monumental experiment: It decriminalized the use of all drugs in 2001, even heroin and cocaine, and unleashed a major public health campaign to tackle addiction. Ever since in Portugal, drug addiction has been treated more as a medical challenge than as a criminal justice issue. After more than 15 years, it's clear which approach worked better. The United States drug policy failed spectacularly, with about as many Americans dying last year of overdoses — around 64,000 — as were killed in the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars combined. In contrast, Portugal may be winning the war on drugs — by ending it. Today, the Health Ministry estimates that only about 25,000 Portuguese use heroin, down from 100,000 when the policy began. [Read More]
ISRAEL/PALESTINE
Why the split inside the Democratic Party over BDS needs to happen
By Philip Weiss, Mondoweiss [September 22, 2017]
---- The Israel Anti-Boycott Act was rolled out in Congress this summer by leading advocates for Israel, backed by the Israel lobby group AIPAC; but it is having trouble gaining Democratic support. "Democrats remain non-committal about anti-BDS bill," Aaron Magid reports at Jewish Insider. Senators Dan Murphy (CT) and Tammy Duckworth (IL) and Rep. Joe Kennedy (MA) are all dithering about the legislation. Their misgivings follow NY Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's celebrated withdrawal of her support for the bill, which the ACLU says threatens free speech with criminal penalties. The reason for the politicians' vacillation is obvious. The progressive Democratic base cares about Palestinian human rights, and progressives are generally not opposed to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions as a means of persuading Israel to abide by international law; polling shows a majority of Democrats support economic sanctions to counter Israel's settlement construction. Other polls show that young Democrats, blacks and Hispanics have more sympathy for Palestine than Israel. [Read More]
Why Jews Shouldn't Be Scared of the Palestinian Right of Return
By Rebecca Vilkomerson, Jewish Voice for Peace [September 17, 2017]
---- Throughout JVP's history, we have played the role of pushing and challenging the boundary of the conversations on Israel that are possible in the American Jewish community. We believe in the capacity of people to change, and we prioritize creating space for people and organizations to move and transform. In order to do our work well, we need to be in open conversation with those who do not (yet, we hope) agree with us. JVP's support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights is the most common barrier for many people who share a critique of Israeli policies towards Palestinians. Surprising as it may be to some, JVP did not always fully support BDS. We supported forms of economic pressure on Israel, including ending military aid, but it took us a full 10 years from the initiation of the call from Palestinian civil society for us to sign on as an organization. We endorsed the full call for BDS, including the Palestinian right of return, in 2015, following a multi-year organization-wide process of study and discussion. [Read More]
OUR HISTORY
Stanislav Petrov, Soviet Officer Who Helped Avert Nuclear War, Is Dead at 77
---- Early on the morning of Sept. 26, 1983, Stanislav Petrov helped prevent the outbreak of nuclear war.
A 44-year-old lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Air Defense Forces, he was a few hours into his shift as the duty officer at Serpukhov-15, the secret command center outside Moscow where the Soviet military monitored its early-warning satellites over the United States, when alarms went off. Computers warned that five Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles had been launched from an American base. "For 15 seconds, we were in a state of shock," he later recalled. "We needed to understand, 'What's next?' "
The alarm sounded during one of the tensest periods in the Cold War. … The Soviet leader, Yuri V. Andropov, was obsessed by fears of an American attack. Colonel Petrov was at a pivotal point in the decision-making chain. His superiors at the warning-system headquarters reported to the general staff of the Soviet military, which would consult with Mr. Andropov on launching a retaliatory attack. After five nerve-racking minutes — electronic maps and screens were flashing as he held a phone in one hand and an intercom in the other, trying to absorb streams of incoming information — Colonel Petrov decided that the launch reports were probably a false alarm. As he later explained, it was a gut decision, at best a "50-50" guess, based on his distrust of the early-warning system and the relative paucity of missiles that were launched. [Read More] For more on Petrov, read Linda Pentz Gunter, "Stanislav Petrov: the Ignominious End of the Man Who Saved the World," [Link]
The Killing of History [Ken Burns on Vietnam]
, Counterpunch [September 22, 2017]
---- One of the most hyped "events" of American television, The Vietnam War, has started on the PBS network. The directors are Ken Burns and Lynn Novick. Acclaimed for his documentaries on the Civil War, the Great Depression and the history of jazz, Burns says of his Vietnam films, "They will inspire our country to begin to talk and think about the Vietnam war in an entirely new way". … I watched the first episode in New York. It leaves you in no doubt of its intentions right from the start. The narrator says the war "was begun in good faith by decent people out of fateful misunderstandings, American overconfidence and Cold War misunderstandings". The dishonesty of this statement is not surprising. The cynical fabrication of "false flags" that led to the invasion of Vietnam is a matter of record – the Gulf of Tonkin "incident" in 1964, which Burns promotes as true, was just one. The lies litter a multitude of official documents, notably the Pentagon Papers, which the great whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg released in 1971. There was no good faith. [Read More] For a different view, read Robert Koehler, "Reclaiming the truth about Vietnam," ZNet [September 22, 2017] [Link].
