Concerned Families of Westchester Newsletter
July 9, 2023
Hello All – For those keeping score at home, last Monday was the hottest day in human history. That is, the last 120,000 years. Averaging all the temps taken around the world, North Pole to the Antarctic and in between, humans had never seen a hotter day. But this record stood for only 24 hours, and the next one didn't last the week. This can't be good.
Every day we learn of new dangers. The "threat" of Canadian wildfires was probably not on your frontal lobe before a few weeks ago. Can cities really run out or water? Something I hadn't thought much about until recently. A reputable journal estimates that this summer's extreme heat will result in, for just the USA, 235,000 emergency room visits and 56,000 hospital admissions. The Nation has a good article this week warning that "our warming planet is beoming a hotbed of violence." Climate-driven refugees are part of the tsunami of humans seeking to enter Europe and North America, upending political stability for many bad reasons.
Today grandson Julian turns one year old. I can no longer think of the "climate crisis" the way I did a few years ago. When Julian's parents were born, the relevant figure for the concentration of carbon dioxin in the atmosphere was about 350 parts per million (ppm). After Julian's first spin around the sun, the number is 430 ppm. When Julian is about 25 and thinking about career and a new family for himself, it is likely that the concentration of greenhouse gases will have caused global warming of perhaps 4 degrees Fahrenheit. When Julian approaches the age that his grandfather is now … Will our coastal cities be under water? Will large parts of the planet be uninhabitable? Or will we humans have risen to the danger/challenge and found ways to restore Earth to a habitable home? It's personal.
Some useful reading about our warming Earth
No Human Has Ever Seen it Hotter
By Bill McKibben [July 5, 2023]
----The best estimate of climate scientists is that Monday was the hottest day since sometime in the last interglacial period 125,000 years ago, right about the time that other scientists think humans etched the first symbols onto bone and started wearing shells as decorations. In other words, a pretty significant record. A pretty significant record that lasted 24 hours. [Read More]
Extreme Heat Is Deadlier Than Hurricanes, Floods and Tornadoes Combined
By Terri Adams-Fuller, Scientific American [July 1, 2023]
---- Between 1880, when precise recordkeeping began, and 1980, average temperatures worldwide rose by about 0.13 degree F every 10 years. Since 1981 the rate of increase has more than doubled, and for the past 40 years global annual temperatures have increased by 0.32 degree F per decade. Although the pace of the increase might seem relatively slow, it signals a dramatic shift, and the cumulative effects on the planet are huge. The 10 hottest years on record have occurred since 2010. The summer of 2022 was the hottest in known history for segments of the U.S. [Read More]
Average Earth Temperature this week was Highest in at least 120,000 Years, When Modern Homo Sapiens was a Young Species
---- We've put so many greenhouse gases up there that they aren't letting the heat of the sun's rays dissipate back out to space the way they used to, so we're stuck with that heat on earth. … If we get to zero carbon by 2050, we could get back down to 350 parts per million of CO2 in our atmosphere in a century and a half. The year 2200 sounds science fictiony and as though it is beyond our concern. But my maternal grandfather was born in 1889, and he told me things when I was young about his early education and the routine of memorization that I still remember. Those are memories from 125 years ago. The past seems much closer than the future, but it is an optical illusion. [Read More]
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.) A "Black Lives Matter/Say Their Names" vigil is held in Yonkers on Monday from 5:30 to 6:00 pm at the intersection of Warburton Ave. and Odell. Our newsletter is archived at https://cfow.blogspot.com/; and news of interest and coming events is posted on our CFOW Facebook page. Another Facebook page 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 send your check to CFOW, PO Box 364, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY 10706. Thanks!
Rewards!
This week's Rewards for stalwart readers are some new (to me) tunes from my fav New Orleans band Tuba Skinny. I think you will enjoy "Hot Town," "Savoy Blues," and "Weary Blues." Tuba Skinny has hundreds of videos on-line.
Best Wishes,
Frank Brodhead
For CFOW
CFOW Weekly Reader
Featured Essays
The Green New Deal in the Cities – Boston
By Jeremy Brecher, Labor Network for Sustainability [July 2023]
---- In April 2019, shortly after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey submitted their Green New Deal resolution to Congress, the Boston City Council passed 9-3 a resolution supporting it. Lead sponsor City Councilor Michelle Wu said, "The climate crisis is here now. We see it in Boston every single year." Wu also posed a question to the Boston climate community: "What could the city do in the vacuum of federal leadership?" Her answer came in the form of the report "Planning for a Boston Green New Deal and Just Recovery." … The plan proposed comprehensive rezoning to increase neighborhood density; building cheap cooperative housing; adding parks; free-to-ride electric buses; and intersecting bike lanes and car-free walking districts. The plan included a "justice audit" of city programs and spending. Green bonds and taxes on predatory landlords would help fund it. The Boston Green New Deal built on more than a decade of research and grassroots organizing around climate and justice issues. It was also the program for Wu's anticipated run for Mayor of Boston. [Read More]
The Journey to Medicare's 58th Anniversary
By
---- The most successful U. S. health insurance program, Medicare, was enacted in July 1965 to provide health insurance for people ages 65 and older and the disabled regardless of income or medical history. In the 58 years since, Medicare has become living proof that public, universal health insurance is superior to private insurance in every way. Medicare is more efficient than private health insurance and is administered at a cost of 3 percent to 4 percent, as opposed to private, for-profit health insurance, which has for-profit/administrative costs above 15 percent. … Although health insurance affordability for the majority of US citizens still remains elusive, President Biden's health insurance plan still wants to shift many more dollars into private, Wall Street insurance industry hands. The takeover of public health insurance, as with Medicare Advantage plans, REACH plans and others, by private Wall Street entities continues apace as Democrats/Biden propose to increase taxes and give it to the private profit insurance industry. [Read More]
When Foreign Policy Elites Manipulate the Public into War, the First Amendment is the First Casualty
---- In 2023, the public has come weary of American adventurism abroad in the name of democracy promotion and/or humanitarianism. 2023 survey results defy the liberal, neoconservative narratives in justification of US military interventionism in the name of American unilateralism and "democracy promotion." … Why does the American public continuously support US foreign military interventions while remaining ignorant of or disinterested in foreign relations, and despite the values and principles enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution? Freedom of speech and expression implies access to facts and awareness in making sound judgments. Conversely, constructed narratives based on selective, half-truths and partisan journalism mean narrow views and self-censorship, resulting in false conclusions. The American public is being failed by its smug and manipulative foreign policy elites and by news corporations that act as their echo chamber. [Read More]
The War in Ukraine
The mainstream media published relatively little about the war this week, focusing more on the coming week's NATO meeting in Lithuania. Headlining topics included what additional weapons would be sent to Ukraine, and whether Ukraine would be put on a fast track to join NATO soon. Today President Biden announced that the answer to the last question was No.
An interesting/useful article this week by Patrick Lawrence addressed the question of the news blackout on the actual war going on in Ukraine. Virtually nothing is printed about the progress/lack of progress of Ukraine's "counter-offensive"; war news is about civilians killed by missiles, rarely about front-line action. Lawrence's article, "The War We're Finally Allowed to See," is in praise of an article published in The New Yorker in May by Luke Mogelson, "Two Weeks at the Front in Ukraine." Both articles are well-worth reading, both for a better understanding of the war itself and for making us more aware of why we know so little about the war that has cost the USA $130+ billion so far.
One issue that did receive a lot of attention this week was the decision by the Biden administration to send thousands of cluster bombs to Ukraine. Cluster bombs have been deemed illegal by more than 100 nations (though not by the USA), because some proportion of the small bombs released from the missile/canister fail to explode, and become essentially landmines, waiting for civilian feet to detonate them. The Times portrayed Biden's decision to send these murderous weapons to Ukraine as "difficult" (poor thing), noting that "with Ukraine burning through stockpiles of conventional artillery, President Biden concluded that he had little choice to provide the weapons." Though the annual National Defense Authorization Act contains a clause forbidding the export of such weapons, the Biden administration claims that a legal loophole allows him to ignore Congress. This was a bad thing when Trump did it, but now it is a sign of bold statesmanship.
The role of major US arms manufacturers in both benefiting from the war and pushing for sending advanced armaments to Ukraine has been widely noted. In a news interview last week, Ukraine's Defense Minister noted the war as an "ideal testing ground" for Western weaponry. "For the military industry of the world, you can't invent a better testing ground," he said. [Read More]
Finally, a Democracy Now! segment last week focused on the death of Victoria Amelina, a Ukrainian novelist and human rights icon who was killed when the restaurant in which she was meeting with human rights people from Colombia was destroyed by a Russian bomb. Ukrainian author and Amelina's friend Andrey Kurkov remembers her in an insightful and moving short program.
The Supreme Court
Look at What John Roberts and His Court Have Wrought Over 18 Years
July 9, 2023]
---- Yes, democracy survived, and that's a good thing. But to settle on that theme is to miss the point of a term that was in many respects the capstone of the 18-year tenure of Chief Justice John Roberts. To understand today's Supreme Court, to see it whole, demands a longer timeline. … To appreciate that transformation's full dimension, consider the robust conservative wish list that greeted the new chief justice 18 years ago: Overturn Roe v. Wade. Reinterpret the Second Amendment to make private gun ownership a constitutional right. Eliminate race-based affirmative action in university admissions. Elevate the place of religion across the legal landscape. Curb the regulatory power of federal agencies. … My focus here on what these past 18 years have achieved has been on the court itself. But of course, the Supreme Court doesn't stand alone. Powerful social and political movements swirl around it, carefully cultivating cases and serving them up to justices who themselves were propelled to their positions of great power by those movements. The Supreme Court now is this country's ultimate political prize. That may not be apparent on a day-to-day or even a term-by-term basis. But from the perspective of 18 years, that conclusion is as unavoidable as it is frightening. [Read More]
Interesting overviews of the Roberts court – "'Race Neutral' Is the New 'Separate but Equal'" by Uma Mazyck Jayakumar and Ibram X. Kendi, The Atlantic [June 2023] [Link]; and "The Supreme Court Picks Its Battles," by David Cole, New York Review of Books [July 4, 2023] [Link].
(Video) "Time Is of the Essence": Astra Taylor on Student Debt Relief Setback at Supreme Court, Biden's Plan B
From Democracy Now! [July 5, 2023]
---- The Supreme Court has blocked President Biden's student debt relief plan, which sought to cancel up to $20,000 in individual loans, adding up to over $400 billion of federal student debt. The decision comes as a major blow to some 40 million qualified borrowers. Biden has announced his administration will pursue a "new path" for debt relief. "It was a blow to debtors," says Astra Taylor, organizer with the Debt Collective and advocate for debt abolition. "It was a blow to anyone who cares about democracy." Taylor says the ruling raises major concerns over the constitutional jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, and explains why groups like the Debt Collective are placing the moral culpability of debt onto creditors. [See the Program]. Also of interest is "The Unforgiven" [The Supreme Court and student loans] by Trevor Jackson, New York Review of Books [July 8, 2023] [Link].
The State of the Union
Caution: Children at Work - The Return of Child Labor Is the Latest Sign of American Decline
By
---- An aged Native-American chieftain was visiting New York City for the first time in 1906. He was curious about the city and the city was curious about him. A magazine reporter asked the chief what most surprised him in his travels around town. "Little children working," the visitor replied. Child labor might have shocked that outsider, but it was all too commonplace then across urban, industrial America (and on farms where it had been customary for centuries). In more recent times, however, it's become a far rarer sight. Law and custom, most of us assume, drove it to near extinction. And our reaction to seeing it reappear might resemble that chief's — shock, disbelief. But we better get used to it, since child labor is making a comeback with a vengeance. [Read More]
Israel/Palestine [The assault on Jenin]
Palestinian Resistance Will Not Be Snuffed Out by Israel
By Mohammed R. Mhawish, Jacobin Magazine [July 2023]
---- Cool morning breeze became suffocating as black smoke filled the air and tear gas blanketed Jenin camp on Monday, July 3. Ten Israeli air strikes targeted the densely populated West Bank area, followed by a brigade of two thousand soldiers. Armored bulldozers and heavy military vehicles also pushed into the camp. The Israeli military's large-scale operation in the refugee camp filled residents with fear. Health crews' mobility to rescue those stranded under fire were hindered by Israeli checkpoints at the camp's entrance. Two days later on Wednesday morning, the Israeli army finally announced the withdrawal of its forces, ending a two-day raid that killed twelve Palestinians and left over a hundred others injured. The raid has raised the death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces to 133 since the beginning of the year, in an increasing pattern of persistent attacks on the West Bank. For so long, the Jenin refugee camp has been a symbol of Palestinian resistance and social steadfastness. [Read More]
Jenin and Sharpeville: Systemic Colonial Violence in Apartheid Israel and South Africa
---- The relationship of the Jewish-dominated Israeli state to the Muslim and Christian Palestinians of the occupied Palestinian West Bank and the Gaza Strip has been characterized in many ways. Israeli sources depict the Palestinians as irrationally violent, as inveterate "terrorists," and characterize Israeli military operations in these territories as counter-terrorism. This is the frame almost universally adopted by European and American "news" broadcasts about the violence. Indeed, to listen to most of these reports, the Palestinians are besieging the Israelis rather than the other way around, and the Israeli actions are defensive or a matter of "clashes" between "two sides." Such vague, equivocating and context-free reporting on violent incidents is always a sign that we are in the presence of propaganda. In order to understand such incidents as the recent Israeli army attack on Jenin, we must understand the history and the circumstances. We need a framework for understanding. The framework is colonialism and apartheid. [Read More]
Also of interest – "From the Jenin Raid to Settlements, Biden Is Giving Israel's Far-Right Government a Green Light," by Mairav Zonszein, International Crisis Group [July 7, 2023] [Link]; "In Jenin, as Elsewhere, Netanyahu Knows He Can Count on Washington's Complicity," by James Bamford, The Nation [July 7, 2023] [Link]; and "In Jenin, Israel is unveiling the next phase of apartheid," by Amjad Iraqi, +972 Magazine [Israel] [June 30, 2023] [Link].
Also this week in Israel
Israelis Mobilize Largest Protest in Weeks Ahead of Monday's Knesset Vote on Key Judicial Coup Bill
From Haaretz [Israel/Palestine] [July 9, 2023]
---- Protesters against the Israeli government's judicial overhaul held rallies throughout the country Saturday evening for the 27th consecutive week. The protests, the largest seen for several weeks, took place ahead of Monday's Knesset vote on the cancellation of the reasonableness standard – a move which aims to prevent the country's High Court from blocking government decisions that it found to be unreasonable. In the main demonstration in Tel Aviv, tens of thousands of people participated, while around 15,000 protested in Haifa. Demonstrations with thousands of participants took place in Jerusalem, at Karkur Junction, and in Be'er Sheva. [Read More]
Our History
Chris Hedges Report: The Persecution Of Jeremy Corbyn
[FB - The campaign to oust Jeremy Corbyn from the UK Labour Party was accompanied by a purge of his supporters. Chris Hedges interviews Asa Winstanley, an investigative journalist whose recent book is Weaponising Anti-Semitism: How the Israel Lobby Brought Down Jeremy Corbyn.]
---- Jeremy Corbyn's ascendance to the leadership of the UK Labour Party in 2015 offered hope for a revival of the British left. With decades of experience and principled opposition to war and privatization under his belt, Corbyn was uniquely positioned to bring the Labour Party back from its neoliberal turn. But this was not to be—just five years later, Corbyn was ousted from the Labour Party and his supporters were purged. The political opposition to Corbyn was accompanied by a media villification campaign that conflated support for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism. Ultimately, the question of Labour's support for Israeli Apartheid was successfully wielded to isolate and expel Corbyn and his supporters. [Read More] Also of interest is Jonathan Cook's essay about more trouble in the UK, "Weaponised antisemitism crushed the political left. Now it's the cultural left's turn," Middle East Eye [July 4, 2023] [Link].
