Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
August 1, 2021
Hello All – August brings with it many painful memories of war and the atrocities of war. The events of August 1914, when the First World War was launched, are now increasingly viewed by historians as the self-inflicted suicide of European "civilization." Closer to our own time are the August-moments of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution" of 1964 that gave congressional approval to Lyndon Johnson's escalation and expansion of the Vietnam War. In both cases, the failure of truth-telling, or presidential lying, was deeply connected with these disasters. "Fake news" did not begin with Trump.
In the case of the atomic bombings, the story manufactured by President Truman to justify the bombings claimed that the alternative was a US invasion of the Japanese home islands, scheduled for November 1945, with an estimated one million US casualties. This is the version I learned in college in the early 1960s. In fact, historians now know that Japan was seeking to surrender as early as April 1945, and that Truman and his main adviser James Byrnes rebuffed and delayed diplomacy until the atomic bomb was tested and available for use, thus extending the war for several months, resulting in tens of thousands of additional Japanese and American casualties. After my college years, as critical documents became available, historians put together the story of how being able to demonstrate the power of the atomic bomb was considered essential to dominate the Russians, who were gaining control of Eastern Europe in the early innings of the "Cold War." Historians also learned that the Japanese decision to surrender was not because of the horrors of the atomic bomb on August 6th (Hiroshima) and 9th (Nagasaki), but because the Soviet Union ended their neutrality pact with Japan and invaded Manchuria (August 9th), thus ending the hopes of the Japanese military for a negotiated surrender. And – finally – it is simply a myth that the US military leadership expected casualties from any invasion of the Japanese home islands to be in the order of one million (more like 30,000); this story was put together by Truman and his advisers (and written up by the young McGeorge Bundy) to combat the feeling of revulsion against the use of the Bomb that gained some media traction in 1946. The best source for all of this is the 1995 book by Gar Alperovitz, The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb and the Architecture of an American Myth. And it was this myth that helped to float the US nuclear buildup and the nuclear arms race that is now so out of control that human civilization is threatened every day.
The case of Vietnam concerns not the ending of a war, but its beginning, or escalation. On the night of August 2nd, 1964, US naval ships operating off the coast of North Vietnam (what were they doing there?), were attacked by small North Vietnamese ships, and a second attack was (mistakenly) reported on August 4th. President Johnson used these "incidents" to demand that Congress support a Resolution giving him power to pursue the war against North Vietnam, the closest we came to a declaration of war in that conflict. Just as President Bush used 9/11 to get a blank check for war from Congress, so President Johnson used the Tonkin Gulf Incidents to open the war floodgates in Vietnam. Only two Senators, Wayne Morse of Oregon and Ernest Gruening of Alaska, voted against the Resolution. And so each year we pause to remember and honor them for their courage in opposing war. And as Senator Morse eloquently articulated in this televised encounter, the ability of the government to pursue depends on lying and covering up the facts, while – Morse believed – given the facts, the US people would make intelligent decisions about war and peace.
There will not be a Newsletter next week, as I am on vacation.
News Notes
In 2020, for the first time, US renewable-energy sources – hydro, wind, and solar – generated more electricity that either coal or nuclear power. (The leading source of energy generating electricity remains gas.) Renewables were also responsible for 78 percent of all new electric-generating units/plants. For info and some charts, go here.
As almost all new hospitalizations of Covid-19 victims are people who are unvaccinated, there is a debate/discussion about who is unvaccinated and why. Two interesting studies show a distinction between "wait and see" and "definitely not" cohorts. As the debate now focuses on mandatory vaccinations (or not), very useful is "America Is Getting Unvaccinated People All Wrong" in The Atlantic [Link] and "Why people resist vaccines — and how to change their minds" on Alternet [Link].
The national eviction moratorium expired yesterday, as Congress failed to legislate anything. The Supreme Court has already signaled that additional executive orders from the CDC or the White House would not be sustained on a legal challenge. More than six million US renter households are behind on their rent; but the major scandal is that states/governors have failed to distribute 90 percent of the $47 billion authorized by Congress under the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. [Link]. New York is one of nine states that have a state moratorium, and in our case it will expire at the end of August. An interesting article in The New York Times, showing a county-by-county breakdown of the national picture, finds that Westchester has 18 percent of 145,000 renter households – or about 26,000 – owing an average of $5,000 in rent. Thus the national crisis will hit the courts on Monday, and New Yorkers will have a month to figure out what to do.
CFOW Nuts & Bolts
Please consider getting involved with Concerned Families of Westchester. We meet for a protest/rally each Saturday in Hastings, at 12 noon at the VFW Plaza (Warburton and Spring St.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil takes place every Monday from 6 to 6:30 pm in Yonkers at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. If you would like to join one of our Zoom meetings, each Tuesday and Thursday at noon, please send a return email. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. If you would like to support our work by making a contribution, please send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
A few weeks ago our Rewards for stalwart readers included some music from Taj Mahal and the artist known as Keb' Mo'. I liked this (and hope you did too), and so here is a full concert of their sparkling collaboration. Enjoy!
Best wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW WEEKLY READER
Drone Whistleblower Gets 45 Months in Prison for Revealing Ongoing US War Crimes
By Marjorie Cohn, Truthout [July 28, 2021]
---- On July 27, a federal district court judge in Alexandria, Virginia, sentenced former U.S. Air Force intelligence analyst Daniel Hale to 45 months in prison for revealing evidence of U.S. war crimes. In 2015, Hale, whose job involved identifying targets for drone strikes, provided journalist Jeremy Scahill with secret military documents and slides that exposed shocking details about the U.S. drone program. Hale's revelations became the basis of "The Drone Papers," which was published on October 15, 2015, by The Intercept. Although the government admitted it had no evidence that direct harm resulted from Hale's revelations, in 2019, the Trump administration charged Hale with four counts of violating the Espionage Act and one count of theft of government property. Facing up to 50 years in prison, Hale pled guilty to one count that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years. The leaked documents disclosed the "kill chain" the Obama administration used to determine whom to target. …During one five-month period during January 2012 to February 2013, nearly 90 percent of those killed by drone strikes were not the intended target, according to The Drone Papers. But civilian bystanders were nonetheless classified as "enemies killed in action" unless proven otherwise. [Read More]
Also illuminating about Daniel Hale and Drones – "Drone Whistleblower Daniel Hale Is a Truth-Teller in a Time of Systemic Deceit and Lethal Secrecy" by Jeremy Scahill, The Intercept [July 30, 2021] [Link]; and (an in-depth profile) "Call Me a Traitor" by Kerry Howley, New York Magazine [July 20, 2021] [Link]. To follow Daniel Hale's next steps, and to send him letters of support, go to www.standwithdanielhale.org. For more information about militarized and surveillance drones, go to www.bankillerdrones.org.
Stuck in the Smoke as Billionaires Blast Off
By Naomi Klein, The Intercept [July 23, 2021]
---- Climate inaction in the rich world was never really about denial. Belgians and Germans knew climate change was real; they just thought poorer countries would bear the brunt of it. And up until recently, they were right. A few years ago, a well-known meteorologist in Belgium told me that her biggest challenge in communicating the urgency of the climate crisis was that her viewers actively looked forward to having a warmer climate, which they imagined as something closer to the Burgundy region of France. Similarly, Oregon and Washington state, just a couple of years ago, were coping with skyrocketing housing costs as throngs of Californians moved north. Many believed the predictions that the Pacific Northwest would be a big climate winner, with some mapping suggesting that the region would be protected from the drought, heat waves, and fires that were tormenting the southwestern U.S. — while a little more heat and a little less rain would make Washington's and Oregon's chilly, wet climates more like California in its glory days. It seemed not just safer but, to many flush with tech cash, also like a smart real estate move. Well, it turns out that a planet going haywire doesn't behave in linear ways that are easy for real estate agents or ultrarich doomsday preppers to predict. [Read More]
The Time Tax: Why is so much American bureaucracy left to average citizens?
By Annie Lowrey, The Atlantic [July 27, 2021]
---- In my decade-plus of social-policy reporting, I have mostly understood these stories as facts of life. Government programs exist. People have to navigate those programs. That is how it goes. But at some point, I started thinking about these kinds of administrative burdens as the "time tax"—a levy of paperwork, aggravation, and mental effort imposed on citizens in exchange for benefits that putatively exist to help them. This time tax is a public-policy cancer, mediating every American's relationship with the government and wasting countless precious hours of people's time. The issue is not that modern life comes with paperwork hassles. The issue is that American benefit programs are, as a whole, difficult and sometimes impossible for everyday citizens to use. Our public policy is crafted from red tape, entangling millions of people who are struggling to find a job, failing to feed their kids, sliding into poverty, or managing a disabling health condition. [Read More]
The Climate Crisis
We Need Genuine International Cooperation to Tackle the Climate Crisis
An interview with Noam Chomsky, Truthout [July 30, 2021]
Q: "The extreme weather conditions even have climate scientists surprised, and they are now wondering about the accuracy of prediction models. What are your thoughts on these matters? It appears that the world is losing the war against global warming.
Noam Chomsky: You probably remember that three years ago, Oxford physicist Raymond Pierrehumbert, a lead author of the just-released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, wrote that "it's time to panic…. We are in deep trouble." What has been learned since only intensifies that warning. An IPCC draft report leaked to Agence France-Presse in June 2021 listed irreversible tipping points that are ominously close, warning of "progressively serious, centuries-long and, in some cases, irreversible consequences."… The frightening news has a good side. It may awaken global leaders to recognition of the horrors that they are creating. It's conceivable that seeing what's happening before their eyes might induce even the GOP and its Fox News echo chamber to indulge in a glimpse of reality. … Returning to your question, humanity is quite clearly losing the war, but it is far from over. A better world is possible, we know how to achieve it, and many good people are actively engaged in the struggle. The crucial message is to panic now, but not to despair. [Read More] Also useful is "Critical measures of global heating reaching tipping point, study finds" by Katharine Gammon, The Guardian [UK] [July 27, 2021] [Link].
Israel/Palestine
Here in Jerusalem, we Palestinians are still fighting for our homes
By Mohammed El-Kurd, The Guardian [UK] [July 28, 2021]
[FB – Mohammed El-Kurd is a Palestinian writer and poet. His fight to save the homes of his family and neighbors in the Sheikh Jarrah section of East Jerusalem has been featured several times on Democracy Now! – For example, "Poet Mohammed El-Kurd Detained in Sheikh Jarrah After Condemning Israeli Apartheid on U.S. TV" [May 13, 2021] [See the Program].
---- A few months ago, the world's attention was on Sheikh Jarrah, my neighbourhood in occupied Jerusalem. For decades, Israeli settlers, backed by their state, have been trying to displace us from our homes and colonise our neighbourhood. The UN called these forcible expulsions a war crime. I call this theft – because it is. In May, our efforts to resist this takeover received a surge of solidarity from Palestinians across Jerusalem and further afield, in what became known as the Unity Uprising. Palestinians were subjected to Israeli violence across the eastern part of Jerusalem – not only in Sheikh Jarrah, but outside the Damascus gate (itself a focus of protests), and in and around the al-Aqsa mosque – which escalated into attacks on besieged Gaza. Palestinians mobilised and resisted, and around the world people demonstrated in support of the Palestinian right to liberation and decolonisation. But after the ceasefire, the world's attention has moved away. The reality for Palestinians, however, has not changed. … Impunity and war crimes will not be stopped by statements of condemnation and raised eyebrows. We Palestinians have repeatedly articulated what kind of transformative political measures must be taken – such as civil society boycotts and state-level sanctions. The problem is not ignorance, it is inaction. [Read More]
Our History
Remembering Bob Moses: Civil Rights Leader
By Charles M. Payne, The Nation [July 29, 2021]
---- For Moses, it was always all about people growing, learning, becoming more confident and competent, transforming themselves into the kind of people who could make their voices heard. His deep reverence for people the world calls ordinary owed much to his father, who on their wanderings around Harlem taught Bob to see the events of the day through the eyes of the person in the street. His father's tutelage, he said to me once, is what made him so receptive to the teaching of Ella Baker, the great advocate of grassroots democracy who organized the conference at Shaw University in 1960 which led to the founding of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). I am convinced, too, that some of Bob's regard for common folk was just intellectual; he believed that some of those relegated to the margins learned to see with a clarity seldom available to those befuddled by privilege, and he often acted as if time were better spent listening to them than to the learned. Those of us working with him to establish the Algebra Project in Chicago learned that if we needed to maneuver him into doing something, it was best to get a community person to do the asking. He would listen to them. [Read More] For reminiscence, also read Herb Boyd, "Bob Moses, Civil Rights legend and mathematician, dead 86," ZNet [Link].
