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Rolla Peace News

September 22, 2020
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.

Webperson's note: If you are having trouble reading this, it is posted at
http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter092220.html

In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR THE CLIMATE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND PEACE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020
2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Suggested Reading for the Week
          b) From Our Readers: A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Irie Celeste.

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR THE CLIMATE, THE ENVIRONMENT AND PEACE: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2020

Friday, September 25 is the date of the Fridays for the Future Global Strike for the Climate. There will be no Thursday vigil this week. Instead, we vigil on Friday September 25 this week; Noon to 1pm in front of the Rolla Post Office, and make saving the climate the primary focus of the vigil.

Last year we had a great turnout. Photos are posted here.

Please bring signs; wear masks; and maintain social distancing.

Next week we return to Thursday vigils.

2. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Suggested Reading for the Week
          b) From Our Readers: A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Irie Celeste.

Suggested Reading for the Week

          i) Will Michele Flournoy Be the Angel of Death for the American Empire? by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies

Michele Flournoy, who is purported to be one of Joe Biden's top picks for Secretary of Defense should he win in November, is a long-time advocate of endless wars and unlimited war budgets. Benjamin and Davies write,
“[S]he suffers from the same chronic malady as the rest of the Washington foreign policy ‘blob.’ She pays lip service to diplomacy and multilateralism, but ... consistently supports the uses of military force ... [to her] every problem looks like a nail waiting to be whacked by a trillion-dollar, high-tech hammer.”
For the victims of US militarism and imperialism, the outcome of the November election may not matter much. Indeed, they may be better off under Donald Trump who has arguably weakened the United States more than any other president in the history of our country, and is likely to continue down that road should he prevail in November.

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          ii) ‘Collapse of civilisation is the most likely outcome’: top climate scientists by Asher Moses

This article makes me feel somewhat vindicated. After saying for over a decade that Collapse of Civilization is virtually assured, here is Will Steffen, one of the world's top climate scientists, saying essentially the same thing.

The passing of the old is always a time for reflection. Perhaps our grandchildren will do better than we have.

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          iii) Bill Gates' Global Agenda and How We Can Resist His War on Life by Vandana Shiva

Applying a holistic approach: Shiva explains:
“The health emergency of the coronavirus is inseparable from the health emergency of extinction, the health emergency of biodiversity loss, and the health emergency of the climate crisis. All of these emergencies are rooted in a mechanistic, militaristic, anthropocentric worldview that considers humans separate from—and superior to—other beings.”
And...
“Health is about life and living systems. There is no ‘life’ in the paradigm of health that Bill Gates and his ilk are promoting and imposing on the entire world. ... His ‘funding’ results in an erasure of democracy and biodiversity, of nature and culture.”
Apparently, money is still the “root of all evil.” A good reason to abolish billionaires. No, Ralph, the super-rich will not save us. We must do it ourselves.

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          iv) Allegations of Forced Sterilization in ICE Detention Evoke a Long Legacy of Eugenics in the United States by Maya Finoh

If you think forced sterilization is something that only happens in regimes like Nazi Germany, you can read here about the long history of this atrocity in the United States. Finoh remarks,
“At one point in the 1970s, at least one in every four Indigenous individuals capable of giving birth between the ages of 15 and 44 were sterilized. Over one third of women on the U.S. occupied island of Puerto Rico, mostly working-class, were sterilized between the 1930s and the 1970s. Although Black women were only 25 percent of North Carolina’s population in the 1960s, they made up almost 65 percent of all sterilizations of women during that period.”
In human society as in biologic ecosystems, “diversity is the key to health.” A sane society (which we are not) might encourage its minorities to reproduce.

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If you want more, let me know. I've got others that didn't quite make the cut.

From Our Readers: A Tale of Two Kingdoms, Irie Celeste.

I received some very nice comments on Simon Thougaard's article, “A Tale of Two Kingdoms,” comparing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark and Sweden. One reader writes:
“This was an amazing read! I enjoyed the diversity of topics in this week's article and am thankful, always for the knowledge I take away from the reading. A special thanks to Simon Thougaard, wonderful article, I kept confusing Sweden with the U.S. (smile). Also, a heartfelt recognition to Helen…for citing the words of Conrad. How powerful… ‘The thing was to know what he belonged to, how many powers of darkness claimed him for their own.’ This passage saddens me, as I think of the world as we know it. So many fall into the ploys of the enemy.”
And another writes: “Somebody needs to get this before a national audience.”

I also received some nice comments on my granddaughter, Irie Celeste, whose photo was in last week's newsletter under, “The Future We All Fight For.”

One reader writes, “She's so sweet!”

Yes, she is! Irie is pronounced like Irene without the “n” sound. It's a Jamaican name meaning positive and powerful. Irie is almost a month old now and doing very well. I think she will change the world for the better.

If you are fighting so that a special person in your life may have a good future, send me a photo and a short explanation. I'll get it into the newsletter.

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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: at the top of rightmost column).

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If you want to be added to this list, let me know.

Wage peace,

Tom
yushasager (at) yahoo.com

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