 home
archives
last week
feedback
Rolla Peace News May 18, 2021 |
Dear Friends:Editor's note: Please consider writing for our newsletter. It's always very exciting to be able to publish submissions from our readers.In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Autonomous Robo-Armies: The Wave of the Future b) Israel: Mass Murder, Paid For by YOUR Taxes c) Israel: Its Own Worst Enemy d) Oh, I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain e) Big Pharma Puts Profits Before Life f) Cuba Begins COVID-19 Mass Vaccination g) Aerosol or Droplets: How Does COVID-19 Spread? 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office, THIS THURSDAY, MAY 20, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please join us this Thursday in saying NO WAR AGAINST PALESTINE or any other country. The temperature is predicted to be in the 70s. 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. Note 1: Since there are so few of us, generally only 2, no need to cancel; but let's maintain social distancing. Note 2: In case of inclement weather, vigils may be canceled or terminated early. 2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Autonomous Robo-Armies: The Wave of the Future b) Israel: Mass Murder, Paid For by YOUR Taxes c) Israel: Its Own Worst Enemy d) Oh, I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain e) Big Pharma Puts Profits Before Life f) Cuba Begins COVID-19 Mass Vaccination g) Aerosol or Droplets: How Does COVID-19 Spread? Autonomous Robo-Armies: The Wave of the Future Militarists are moving closer to Robo-War. Indeed, the question of whether it is even necessary to have a “human” in the loop is being debated. If you have never read one of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker stories; now would be an excellent time. Saberhagen writes about a future when Berserker Ships, remnants of a long forgotten war, ply the Galaxy with a single objective: Destroy all life. Israel: Mass Murder, Paid For by YOUR Taxes Nobody says it like Chris Hedges. If you read only one article on this one-sided Israeli massacre in Palestine, let it be this article by Chris Hedges. Here's a short quote: Here are two more important articles:“The failure of the United States to stand up for the rule of law, to demand that the Palestinians, powerless and friendless, even in the Arab world, be granted basic human rights mirrors the abandonment of the vulnerable within our own society.” Israel destroys Gaza's only COVID-19 testing site. Attacking a people's health-care infrastructure is always a War Crime. Patrick Gathara discusses the many similarities between Israel and other European colonialist enterprises. He writes: And:“Colonial occupiers have long claimed a ‘right’ to defend themselves from the resistance of native communities, including by committing mass murder. The history of African colonisation is littered with the corpses and mass graves of those who dared to resist the militarily superior Europeans.” Israel: Its Own Worst Enemy“The idea that imperial land grabbers have the right to terrorise, brutalise, torture and murder those whose land they steal under the rubric of ‘self-defence’ flies in the face of UN General Assembly Resolution 37/43 of 1982 which recognised ‘the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle’. That resolution specifically reaffirmed this right in the case of the Palestinian struggle.” While rockets fired from Gaza have killed 10 Israelis; 45 Israelis died in a “stampede” at a religious ceremony last month. Little Israeli children were crushed to death by berserk Israeli adults. Two more Israelis died this week when bleachers in a synagogue, built in the illegal settlement of Giv'at Ze'ev, collapsed. Eventually, violence always turns inward, upon the perpetrators. But, this is still a pittance compared to the more than 200 killed thus far in May by Israeli air strikes, using weapons paid for by the USA . In my opinion, Israel has made a tremendous miscalculation. It Ass-U-Me(d) that it could always rely on The United States and that the United States would always remain the world's primary hegemonic power. We now live in a multi-polar world, in which The United States is in retreat. United States support for Israel is fraying. Many in Congress are now demanding an end to unqualified support for Israeli atrocities, a demand practically unheard of in Congress previously. But I think this may be true of all colonialist enterprises. Empires rot from the inside out. I keep coming back to this line from Leonard Cohen, “Steer your way past the palaces that rise above the rot.” Oh, I've Seen Fire and I've Seen Rain The southwestern United States and much of Mexico remain in terrible drought. California Fires have started early this year. Through the end of April, fires in California have consumed eight times more land than they did in the record-breaking 2020 season. Drought has been predicted to intensify in the coming months. An above average North Atlantic hurricane season has also been predicted. Big Pharma Puts Profits Before Life Lee Fang at The Intercept documents how big pharma spends millions lobbying to keep vaccine out of the hands of poor countries. Cuba Begins COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Cuba begins a mass vaccination campaign using its own homegrown vaccines — even before they clear final hurdles. What I find most interesting here is the popular support the Cuban people have for their health-care workers and vaccines. Contrast this to the United States where 40% remain unvaccinated in spite of mass availability, nurses are leaving the profession over abuse and threats from the public and distrust of science and the medical establishment is rampant Aerosol or Droplets: How Does COVID-19 Spread? This article from Wired reads like a mystery thriller: How the medical establishment got it so wrong about how COVID-19 is spread and how a small group of mavericks finally got the establishment to listen, but not before millions died. 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 Rollaites for Peace: 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, Tom yushasager (at) yahoo.com |