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Rolla Peace News Sept. 25, 2018 |
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Dear Friends: http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter092518.html In this newsletter is: 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPT. 27, 2018 2. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT TRUMP 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Update: Brett Kavanaugh b) Update: Hurricane Florence: 3.4 Million Dead Chickens Aren't Much Fun c) Update: Cody Wilson d) Drones: The Small Assassins e) Korean Detente f) Colin Kaepernick: the $6 Billion Hero 1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, SEPT. 27, 2018 We vigil for peace in front of the Rolla Post Office THIS THURSDAY, SEPT. 27, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM (and most subsequent Thursdays until peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the low 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. 2. IT'S NOT JUST ABOUT TRUMP Probably most of us get several emails a day describing some new Trump atrocity (and requesting donations to fight it) — I know I do. The news is dominated by the doings of Trump and his gang, and admonitions to resist with all our might (except for Fox News, which thinks he's great). Perhaps you have heard the saying, “What you resist, persists.” It certainly is true in this instance. All the energy put into fighting Trump's agenda is energy taken away from creating something positive to replace it. And while many progressives are being seduced into opposing the many things set out for them to fight, other Republicans, and many Democrats, are busy consolidating their control of the economy and the political process, as well as curtailing our civil rights. As for Trump himself, as long as he gets the attention, he's happy. Glenn Greenwald has written a very insightful review of Michael Moore's “Fahrenheit 11/9,” now playing in theaters far from central Missouri. Moore is one of the few movie-makers who sees through the belief systems that most of us have been conditioned with from childhood. He knows that governments don't always tell the truth, that wars are not always fought for noble causes, and our representatives don't always represent us. Feel free to substitute “hardly ever” for “don't always.” In this movie, Moore makes the point that Trump is not the cause of all this awfulness, but the logical result of what has been going on for decades. This is something that the political establishment does not want us to see. As Greenwald states, the ruling elites would like us to “Just look only at Trump. Keep your eyes fixated on him. Direct all your suffering, deprivations, fears, resentments, anger and energy to him and him alone. By doing so, you’ll forget about us ...” Please do read Glenn Greenwald's article — it will make you want to see the movie. You may have to wait till it comes out on DVD, though; I doubt it will be coming to Rolla. 3. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org) a) Update: Brett Kavanaugh b) Update: Hurricane Florence: 3.4 Million Dead Chickens Aren't Much Fun c) Update: Cody Wilson d) Drones: The Small Assassins e) Korean Detente f) Colin Kaepernick: the $6 Billion Hero UPDATE: BRETT KAVANAUGH When I wrote a short snippet on Brett Kavanaugh last week, I felt there was an important piece missing from the discussion of the Christine Blasey Ford accusation. Well, folks: Here it is. According to a former student at the elitist boy's school, Georgetown Prep, the school was filled with spoiled brats from wealthy families who felt entitled to do whatever they wanted with impunity: alcohol, drugs, sex, rape,... They never thought they would ever be held accountable for anything they did. This is the environment in which the attempted rape described be Blasey Ford takes place. As Kavanaugh has stated himself, “What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep. That’s been a good thing for all of us.” That's the Georgetown code. And this is a small-time mafia. Don't snitch; and if you do you could end up dead. Blasey Ford has received death threats. The former student interviewed in this article won't give his name for fear of what might happen to him. (And Donald Trump asks why Blasey Ford didn't come forward 35 years ago???) The fact that it was part of the Georgetown Prep culture and almost everybody there was doing it doesn't make it any more or less right or wrong. It does, however, mean that everybody who participated in this culture, particularly the “adults” who enabled it and looked the other way are accomplices and co-conspirators. And everybody who tries to sweep this accusation under the rug is simply perpetuating this culture of entitlement and unaccountability. UPDATE: HURRICANE FLORENCE: 3.4 MILLION DEAD CHICKENS AREN'T MUCH FUN Last week I wrote: “[Hurricane Florence's] most lasting effect may well be from all the pollution that it likely stirred up. The Carolinas are home to several nuclear power plants and superfund sites plus many other toxic waste sites.” Folks in the Carolinas are coming home to a cesspool of dead chickens, faecal wastes and toxic coal ash. I suspect we'll be hearing a lot more about the pollution stirred up by Florence in future weeks. Catawba Riverkeepers have posted these maps of CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) and Coal Ash disposal sites. Note that many lie in flood plains and given the number of severe hurricanes that have hit the Carolinas, this was all too predictable. UPDATE: CODY WILSON Since I wrote a snippet two weeks ago on Cody Wilson who made untraceable 3D-printed do-it-yourself guns available to the masses, Wilson has been arrested for — you guessed it — having sex with an underage girl. I'll bet 10 to 1 that this was a sting operation. If they can't get at you any other way, they get at you through sex. That's how they captured Mordecai Vanunu. That's how they tried to get Julian Assange. But, as I said two weeks ago, they are a dollar short and a day late. The cat's out of the bag and there is no stuffing it back in. DRONES: THE SMALL ASSASSINS Untraceable, do it yourself, guns are not the only weapons in the arsenals of the violent. Last month the enemies of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro tried to assassinate him with off the shelf drones loaded with explosives. Drone technology is readily available. Expect the range, load capacity and guidance systems of consumer drones to improve. Now suppose that Stephen Paddock also had a fleet of drones loaded with explosives when he shot and killed 59 at an open-air country music festival in Las Vegas. It could easily have been 559 or even more. KOREAN DETENTE Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-an made great progress toward Korean detente and the eventual reunification of the Two Koreas. Together they took steps to demilitarize the border and build peace on the Korean peninsula. “We have agreed to make the Korean Peninsula a land of peace that is free from nuclear weapons and nuclear threat,” declared chairman Kim. They also agreed to make a joint bid to host the 2032 Olympics. This is great news for the Korean people and the world. COLIN KAEPERNICK: THE $6 BILLION HERO Nike's new advertising campaign featuring NFL star quaterback Colin “take a knee” Kaepernick has been a great success. Nike stock has surged to the tune of $6.1 Billion. President Donald Trump was totally wrong when he tweeted, “Just like the NFL, whose ratings have gone WAY DOWN, Nike is getting absolutely killed with anger and boycotts.” Donald, I think if we held a popularity contest today: You v. Colin Kaepernick, Kaepernick would win in a landslide. Isn't it nice to have a president who is so completely out of touch with the people? Kaepernick is the latest in a line of celebrities that have bravely risked their celebrity status to oppose war and racism. 50 years ago world heavy weight boxing champion, Muhammad Ali, was stripped of his title for his opposition to the Vietnam War and famously drawing the crucial connection between war and racism, “no Vietcong ever called me nigger.” Fifteen years ago, Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks, told a London audience, “We don't want this war [Iraq], this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas.” The Dixie Chicks were boycotted and Maines forced to apologize. But you know what? Maines was right and you would be hard pressed to find anyone today who doesn't think the Iraq invasion was a terrible mistake. Many, such as myself, think it was a criminal enterprise and the perpetrators should be prosecuted. We've come a long way since 1967. The racist warlike cabal in Washington has been exposed for what it is — again and again. And Colin Kaepernick is a $6 Billion hero. 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 |