I wrote an insightful article in 2017, and it is still valid, so I updated it only a little and posted it here. I’ll write another proposing remedies for how to get out of this crisis. Look for that within the next few weeks. How We Got into Our Current Crisis
Technically, the Korean War never ended. A ceasefire occurred in the early 1950s, but the war never officially ended. The De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) has been the most heavily militarized border for more than half a century. Unlike many nations, the people of Korea – North and South – are all THE SAME ethnic group. The boundary is a cruel Cold War relic that divided families. Virtually all Koreans want to be together. This article notes the one-year anniversary of an important joint statement for peace and reconciliation. Since the early 1950s the U.S. government has arrogantly played politics instead of […]
In case anyone wants VERY THOROUGH information about the “Iran Nuclear Deal” (the JCPOA), you might click this link and read all or some of the 64-page booklet produced by the Arms Control Association, an expert organization. Or you might want to save it for future reference. We need to educate the public and Congress in order to prevent Trump from actually starting the war against Iran that he is eager to provoke. https://www.armscontrol.org/sites/default/files/files/Reports/ACA_Iran-BB_2015%20Aug6_FINAL.pdf
Previous posts on this blog have explained how the Electoral College frustrates honest democracy by over-weighting low-population states (which tend to produce Republican majorities) and under-weighting high-population states (which tend to produce Democratic majorities). This partisan imbalance has caused several Republican presidents to get elected by Electoral College majorities, even though they lost the popular vote. Trump is the latest example. Fortunately, a number of people and non-profit organizations have been pushing to replace the Electoral College with a National Popular Vote. Changing the U.S. Constitution is a horrendously huge, slow process that is not likely because the Senate (which […]
This article expresses alarm but shies away from impeachment. I say IMPEACH NOW!!! https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-constitutional-system-is-not-built-to-resist-trumps-defiance-of-congress
Trump keeps threatening war against two of the world’s largest oil-producing nations: Venezuela and Iran. In each case, WE MUST DEMAND THAT CONGRESS TAKE STRONG ACTIONS TO PREVENT Trump’s reckless, violent actions, which are illegal under international law. Other blog posts deal with Venezuela. Here is information about Iran. Trump has been LYING about Iran and DELIBERATELY ESCALATING TENSIONS in order to PROVOKE WAR. Sign this petition (starting on May 16, 2019) to the top Democrats in the House (Pelosi) and Senate (Schumer) to tell them to PREVENT Trump’s war against Iran: https://act.winwithoutwar.org/act/pelosi_schumer_stop_war_with_iran?source=em20190516&t=4&akid=3577%2E763336%2Eg_4_Km Sign this petition urging several members of […]
Sometimes each of the big political parties does things intended to serve their own partisan interests instead of the nation as a whole. But in recent decades the Republican Party has become so extremely hyper-partisan that they have been violating the Constitution and constitutional principles in many ways (e.g., suppressing the voting rights of constituencies who favor Democrats and refusing to hold Senate hearings on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland). This article exposes Mitch McConnell’s cynical partisanship and rule-breaking. He thinks winning for partisanship is all that counts. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/06/mitch-mcconnell-senate-republicans-donald-trump-judges
Joe Biden has publicly agreed that the climate crisis is an EXISTENTIAL crisis. It is so extremely serious that it is a life-or-death crisis. However, he thinks timid steps and compromising with Republicans are sufficient. He was Obama’s Vice President, and Obama tried for 8 years to compromise with Republicans, but Republicans absolutely refused to take reasonable steps. Now Republicans are vigorously repealing all of the very moderate steps that Obama took. Republicans are NOT a reasonable group to negotiate with. Biden is utterly unrealistic to think that a policy of yielding to them will produce good results for the […]
The U.S. military is an ENORMOUS waster of oil and an ENORMOUS factor in causing and perpetuating the climate crisis. To reduce carbon emissions, we absolutely must reduce all kinds of military flights, ships, and vehicle traffic. The Military-Industrial Complex hires troops and workers who build weapons. The Green New Deal must move them away from climate-killing jobs into jobs that solve our problems and create a sustainable future. A militaristic foreign policy is NOT SUSTAINABLE!!! Militarism is DESTROYING OUR FUTURE! PEACE must be a strategic part of the Green New Deal!!! See this article, which promotes the Green New […]
Here are several interesting new articles in early May 2019: As Capitalism Fails, We Need a Roadmap to Survive Climate Change. This article says that the climate crisis ALSO challenges us to think about economics in bold, fresh ways. The economics that allowed the climate crisis to occur are NOT sufficient to get us out of that mess. Fossil fuels have fueled our long run of industrial and economic growth. But that is coming to an end. Now we need new economics for a post-fossil fuel future. There are many dimensions to this. The article at this link is […]
The non-profit organization World Beyond War (www.worldbeyondwar.org) takes a bold stance: War is not necessary and is never good. We need to debunk the myths that keep war and militarism going. We can indeed choose peace. Debunking Myths of War See their powerful new PowerPoint presentation at this link: Debunking-the-Myths-of-War1 On April 29, WBW’s Organizing Director Greta Zarro presented a talk on “debunking the myths of war” for the Beyond War & Militarism Committee in Syracuse, NY. In making the case for war abolition, the talk dispelled the myths that war is inevitable, necessary, beneficial, or just.
Way back in March 2002 (during the George W. Bush administration) a New York Times article said the U.S. is a “rogue” nation regarding nuclear weapons. See the editorial at this link: US as Nuclear Rogue 3-02 NYTimes editorial
Watch this short video supporting science in the face of deliberate anti-science stupidity. (It includes some foul language.) Here is the link: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/george-clooney-donald-trump-jimmy-kimmel_n_5cd28489e4b0e524a47cf276?ncid=newsltushpmgnews_Politics_050819&guccounter=1 In May 2019 this petition came out. Please sign it to urge Congress to pass the Scientific Integrity Act: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/scientific-integrity-act?t=4&akid=32516%2E8825164%2EeUnek6 Credo Action (www.credoaction.com) provided information about this. I’ve quoted some parts of their message and summarized other parts: “As climate change grows increasingly dangerous, the last thing the government should be doing is censoring its own scientists. But the Trump administration is firing and reassigning scientists, preventing the release of key reports, altering findings, and stacking […]
The Winter 2019 issue of the Veterans for Peace publication (at this link — http://www.classwars.org/PeaceTimesWinter2019.pdf ) — ends with an amazingly smart article about liberation as the core message of what Christianity is supposed to be about. The article starts on the final page (page 24) and continues two pages earlier (page 22). This article — https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/1/22/1828233/-What-kind-of-Christian-was-the-Rev-Martin-Luther-King-Junior?detail=emaildkcs — supports the kind of Christianity that MLK believed and practiced. The article’s beginning starts slow, but it improves when it lays out seven principles. The author cites an article by someone else, and it is in the context of being an “evangelical.” […]
For much of the U.S.’s long war in Vietnam the mainstream news media obediently reported the official propaganda that the war was necessary and going well. Only when the truth became blatantly obvious did the news media start covering it more thoughtfully and accurately. Mainstream news media obediently promoted the propaganda that the older George H.W. Bush and the younger George W. Bush promoted in order to justify their wars against Iraq. The same pattern happens over and over, and this pattern is persisting in support of Trump’s utterly unjustifiable efforts to overthrow Venezuela’s democracy by severe economic disruption and/or […]
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