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Rolla Peace News March 27, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter032718.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THIS WEEK, THURSDAY, MARCH 29 2018 2. GOOD NEWS, MAYBE 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) On Gun Violence b) Hooray for Palestine and Venezuela! — Sixth and Seventh Nations To Ratify The Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons c) Stormy Daniels d) The Wall 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2018, (and all subsequent Thursdays until peace is established) from Noon to 1:00 PM. Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 50s. If you do not feel comfortable standing with us in front of the Post Office, please consider driving by and showing your support for our message by honking your horn and flashing a peace sign. 2. GOOD NEWS, MAYBE “The largest protests in American history are happening now. Expect them to get bigger.” So reads the title of Heather Dockray's article about the proliferation of huge turnouts to protest the many outrages that have been happening in recent years. The latest, the nationwide March For Our Lives rally, had over a million participants, including nearly half a million in D.C. Even larger were the Women's Marches of 2017 and 2018. The excesses and mayhem committed by the Trump administration has something to do with the massive resistance; Trump and his cronies are capable of pissing off nearly everyone, and many of the pissed-off are not just rolling over and playing dead. Another factor is undoubtedly the ubiquity of social media, which makes it easy to get the word out without expensive advertising. As the world seems more and more to turn against the ordinary citizens, and in favor of those who control the wealth and power, more and more people are resisting and protesting — and that's a good thing. There's only one problem with protests: The people in power DON'T CARE what you, the American people want. They don't care what you think about them, and they don't fear what you can do about it, because they are the ones that make the rules. They may be mistaken — I hope they are. Certainly what they are doing to the planet and the people who live on her is not sustainable; the one hope is that they can be stopped before it's too late. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) On Gun Violence b) Hooray for Palestine and Venezuela! — Sixth and Seventh Nations To Ratify The Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons c) Stormy Daniels d) The Wall ON GUN VIOLENCE On February 20, I wrote, “I think Parkland might have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back.” It appears this statement was correct. As Helen details above, a probable 1.25 million people marched this weekend to end gun violence, most of them young people. So far, their demands are rather small and subdued: pass a few common-sense laws controlling the availability of fast-firing large-capacity guns. Given the cool reception they have received in the Halls of Power, I would expect these demands to escalate; and indeed, why shouldn't they? After all, we old-timers have stolen their future and squandered their inheritance. A battle between age and youth can only have one outcome. We've been there before. How little we learned. HOORAY FOR PALESTINE AND VENEZUELA! — SIXTH AND SEVENTH NATIONS TO RATIFY THE TREATY ON THE PROHIBITION OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS Last week Palestine joined Cuba, Guyana, The Holy See (Vatican), Mexico and Thailand in ratifying the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; and just today, Venezuela ratified the treaty too. Palestine's ratification is particularly note-worthy as Palestine suffers under an illegal Israeli occupation that has gone on for over 50 years. Israel is one of the nine nuclear weapons states, all of which refuse to sign The Treaty and rid the world of the most horrendous of all weapons. STORMY DANIELS It seems that everyone has something to say about successful actress and movie star, Stormy Daniels (née Stephanie Clifford). Not wishing to be left out, I photo-collaged this cartoon. THE WALL I've written before about walls; but today I offer a reading of Margaret Leaf and Ed Young's “Eyes of the Dragon.” It's a story of how a village in ancient China sought security by building a wall. The illustrations are awesome. Rolla Peace News is distributed by email once a week on Tuesday evenings (except on rare occasions) and is posted on the web at http://tomsager.org (click on Grassroots Rolla: near the top of rightmost column). If you don't wish to get notices of peace events in the Rolla area, let me know and I'll take you off this list. If you want to be added to this list, let me know. Wage peace, Helen helenm (at) fidnet.com |