Wow! The world really needs this! https://www.psr.org/blog/2020/04/23/un-secretary-general-calls-for-a-global-ceasefire/?emci=346b1ed8-7085-ea11-a94c-00155d03b1e8&emdi=ad7b151a-8f89-ea11-86e9-00155d03b5dd&ceid=135885
This song parody about the USA’s politics is smart and funny. It runs less than 5 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eR0ckpJ3bk
On May 13, 2020, a smart, savvy non-profit organization that works for peace — World BEYOND War (www.worldbeyondwar.org) — urges us to persuade Congress to pass the Stop Arming Human Rights Abusers Act. HERE IS WHAT THEY SAID (edited here for brevity): The U.S. government, according to its own reporting, accounts for 66% of all the weapons exported to the least democratic quintile of nations on earth. Of the 50 most oppressive governments identified by a U.S.-government-funded study, the U.S. arms 82% of them. The Stop Arming Human Rights Abusers Act (H.R. 5880) would prevent U.S. weapons sales to nations […]
You already know that Trump and his entire Executive Branch have utterly refused to deal effectively with the Coronavirus pandemic. The reason is NOT ONLY because they are stupid and incompetent. Another crucially important reason for their failure is that Trump and Republicans believe the government should NOT solve problems and should NOT help people. They have been SYSTEMATICALLY DESTROYING GOVERNMENT bit by bit. We see it especially now. I wrote a SHORT ARTICLE explaining this: Our society is suffering in many, many ways. The problems are all around us — and they are interconnected. They are rooted in […]
A recent issue of The Progressive magazine (www.progressive.org) (I didn’t write down which month in late 2019 or early 2020) reported this during the timer when Trump’s impeachment was underway: “Donald Trump and his allies like to throw around terms like ‘witch-hunt’ when talking about the ongoing impeachment probe. In fact, there are innumerable instances in which the President appears to have actually broken existing laws. Here are some of them: U.S. Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause: It is illegal for any U.S. federal office-holder to accept anything of value from any foreign official or government: Trump, who calls this […]
Recently a man sent this anti-Muslim tweet: You think COVID-19 is bad? Give me a break. Wait until Mislims hit critical mass in America. You’ll look back on these times fondly. A Muslim woman replied with this tweet: Sweetie everyone’s already washing their hands five+ times a day, covering their face, not shaking hands + avoiding bars. Not only are we already here, you’re all Muslim. Salam brother.
Everybody knows the old story about putting a frog in water and warming it slowly enough that the frog won’t notice the change from one moment to the next, so it won’t jump out of the water, but after a while the frog has been cooked to death. That familiar story seems to pertain to the U.S. under Trump and his loyal supporters in the Executive Branch and Congress. Here are some alarming stories about what Trump and Trumpism are doing to our nation: How Trump is turning the American presidency into a dictatorship: https://thefulcrum.us/balance-of-power/donald-trump-dictator The U.S. is […]
Amnesty International has about 60 years of experience working worldwide for human rights. Among their many concerns, they have a long history of opposing the death penalty. In 2020 they produced this report on death sentences and executions WORLDWIDE: https://www.amnesty.ca/sites/default/files/Amnesty%20Death%20Sentences%20and%20Executions%202019%20WEB%20-%20EMBARGO%2021%20April.pdf
TOO MANY PEOPLE ARE IN PRISON! A sensible approach would be to REDUCE THE NUMBER of people in prison. Instead, a plan is underway to BUILD A BIGGER PRISON for women, to be located in the southern part of Thurston County. The attached information summarizes reasons for opposing a NEW PRISON for women in southern Thurston County WA. The meeting this attachment announces has passed, but we still need public opposition. See information in this attachment: New prison in Thurston County for women
The U.S. wastes our tax dollars on militarism and nuclear weapons, when we should be funding better health. You cannot defeat Coronavirus with nuclear weapons or any kind of military violence. This article by David Swanson urges us to think differently – and to push our government to act more wisely and effectively: A Department of Actual Defense in a Time of Coronavirus By David Swanson https://davidswanson.org/a-department-of-actual-defense-in-a-time-of-coronavirus/
Commonly people think about the environment in purely rational ways (science, etc.) — or in political ways (governmental decisions, etc.) — or in emotional ways (feeling good about being in nature, etc.). In addition, some people draw strongly from their religious and spiritual groundings in order to motivate their environmentalism and also to help them organize for the environment by connecting through their local congregations and larger religious denominations. See a variety of faith-based environmental organizing efforts, resources, etc., at www.greenfaith.org In addition, we have some regional non-profit organizations who are doing this kind of work. I recommend these: […]
In the past few years all of us have seen how Trump and Republicans and the right wing have been threatening democracy. We’ve even seen constitutional crises based on Trumpism and related power grabs. Now here is a new, related worry. Legal scholars discussed the real possibility that Trump and Republican-dominated states might screw around with the November 2020 presidential election in ways that could result in them claiming victory even if the Democrats have legitimate grounds for claiming victory. See this long, but interesting article: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/265025541/what-happens-if-bush-gore-result-happens-again-with-trump-biden
MOST members of Congress are millionaires: The Center for Responsive Politics (www.OpenSecrets.org) is a smart, effective watchdog that works largely through their award-winning website, www.OpenSecrets.org, which is the most comprehensive resource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere. I subscribe to their e-mail list. Their e-mail on April 24, 2020, they reported that MOST members of the current (116th) Congress are millionaires. Their e-mail stated: “Much of the wealth in Congress is concentrated at the top. The top 10 percent of wealthiest lawmakers have three times more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.” Read more at this […]
My workshop in my series on “Nonviolent Grassroots Organizing” recognizes problems and helps people accomplish successes for a variety of issues (peace, environment, climate, human rights, economics, etc.) We actually have accomplished MANY SUCCESSES in preventing oil export facilities and coal export facilities along our region’s Pacific coast. We worked at the grassroots for close to a decade and stopped nearly all of the proposals for exporting the U.S.’s coal and oil from ocean ports in Washington and Oregon. The odds were decidedly against us when we started, but we organized in strategically smart, vigorous ways and defeated nearly all […]
I’m sharing this truly inspiring and compelling information from the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) widely with you and other people who want to make a better world by working for peace, protecting the climate, and persisting with a positive “can-do” attitude to make the world better in other ways. I supported NAPF when its founder David Krieger was leading it, and now under its current leader, Rick Wayman. NAPF’s current leader Rick Wayman started when he was young, and now he persists boldly with what they call “shameless idealism” and the confidence that – if we organize effectively – […]
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