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Rolla Peace News

November 26, 2019
Dear Friends:

Note from webperson: If you are having trouble reading this, it is posted at

http://tomsager.org/Peaceletters/peaceletter112619.html

          In this newsletter is:

1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2019
2. ROLLA FOR BERNIE 2020 TO MEET SUNDAY DECEMBER 1
3. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY TO MEET TUESDAY DECEMBER 3
4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Pope Francis: Nuclear Weapons are “An Affront Crying Out to Heaven”
          b) Pope Francis: Destroying the Earth is a Sin and Should Be a Crime

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1. NOON VIGIL FOR PEACE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2019

Because Thursday is Thanksgiving Day, this week only, we vigil for Peace in front of the Rolla Post Office on WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, FROM NOON TO 1:00 PM. We will return to Thursday vigils next week (and most subsequent Thursdays until Peace is established). Please try to join us. The temperature is predicted to be in the 40s. 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. ROLLA FOR BERNIE 2020 TO MEET SUNDAY DECEMBER 1

Rolla for Bernie 2020 will meet in Panera at 7:30pm Sunday, December 1. Join the group on Facebook here.

3. CITIZENS CLIMATE LOBBY TO MEET TUESDAY DECEMBER 3

The Rolla chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby will meet at 6:00pm on Tuesday, December 3 in the meeting room of the Phelps County Courthouse.

4. THE MISFIT MATHEMATICIAN (Tom's column, http://tomsager.org)
          a) Pope Francis: Nuclear Weapons are “An Affront Crying Out to Heaven”
          b) Pope Francis: Destroying the Earth is a Sin and Should Be a Crime

Pope Francis: Nuclear Weapons are “An Affront Crying Out to Heaven”

Last Sunday Pope Francis visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the only two cities ever destroyed by nuclear weapons and declared nuclear weapons “an affront crying out to heaven” and called for a world free from nuclear weapons.

And Monday, Antigua & Barbuda became the 34th country to ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Perhaps the Pope's visit to Japan and his outspoken call for a world free of nuclear weapons will encourage 16 more countries to ratify the Treaty making the 50 necessary for the treaty to go into force.

Earlier this month Nauru became the 80th nation to sign the Treaty; but has yet to ratify it.

But sadly none of the nine nuclear weapon states: US, Russia, China, UK, France, Israel, India, Pakistan and North Korea have shown any interest in the Treaty except to discourage other countries from joining it.

Meanwhile, here in the belly of the beast, the Kings Bay Plowshares 7 have been convicted of breaking into the Kings Bay Naval Base in a symbolic protest against nuclear weapons and face possible 25 year sentences.

And the Marshallese, who were used as human guinea pigs for early US radiation experiments and had large parts of their land destroyed in early nuclear weapon tests have been left with a leaking sarcophagus full of radioactive waste for which the US refuses to take responsibility.

The nuclear age is 74 years old. It is long past the time to end it. Indeed, it is an “an affront crying out to heaven” and should have never begun.

Pope Francis: Destroying the Earth is a Sin and Should Be a Crime

Pope Francis has recommended adding ecocide as a “fifth category of crime against peace.” and including it in the Catholic catechism. The Pope defined Ecocide as “the massive contamination of air, land and water resources, the large-scale destruction of flora and fauna, and any action capable of producing an ecological disaster or destroying an ecosystem.”

Meanwhile... The world burns and floods, the concentration of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere continues to increase, and global temperatures continue to rise.

And as our “civilization” collapses, here in the belly of the beast we remain engrossed with a Congressional dog and pony show over the President purportedly trying to trade the Ukraine “a squid for a cow.”

I am very thankful that the world has an activist Pope working to abolish nuclear weapons and prevent further climate change. We should do no less ourselves.

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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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Wage peace,

Helen
helenm (at) fidnet.com

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