Why Piñons, Why Now?

So far our Piñon Pine Tree Project has raised $1,400. towards a preliminary budget of $10,000, the cost of a memorial grove commemorating the 30 Afghan civilian piñon pine nut harvesters assassinated by drone fired by U.S. forces in September 2019.  Contributions have come from New York State, Oregon, Illinois, Colorado, Arizona, and Berkeley, San Francisco, and Petaluma in California.

The grove will be planted in Cactus Springs at  36°34′37″N 115°43′34″W just west of highway 95, about 60 miles northwest of Las Vegas at the southern tip of Western Shoshone land. The project has the backing of the Western Shoshone Council and its representative Chief Johnny Bobb, whom many of us have met during the times we’ve occupied Creech. Sharing the site will be a Western Shoshone Museum whose theme will  be nuclear contamination of Western Shoshone land.

Piñon pine tree

Two of our subscribers have raised important questions. One $100 donor asked why the cost of the project seemed high, another asked why we were planting piñons which normally thrive at elevations of 4,500-6,500 feet in Cactus Springs with a lower elevation of  3,500 feet.. And that’s what links the two questions together. At 3,500 feet, those little piñon saplings need to be irrigated. An artesian well on site is allowed to draw 500 gallons per day. A solar pump will draw well water and distribute it through irrigation lines to the trees. Solar pump and irrigation lines represent a sizeable percentage of the project.

Planting a grove is especially appropriate now. Many of the latest drone victims were under 18, some even young children. The farmer hiring them had gone out of his way to alert the governor of the province that harvesting activity would be happening in Nangahar, a heavily occupied zone. (A U.S. investigation of the crime has been called for.)

Piñon nut bearing cone

If you haven’t already, please send your contribution either by check or money order to 2550 Dana Street, 5-B, Berkeley, CA  94704 payable to the Cecile Pineda Newsletter. You may want to add Piñon Pine Project in the memo line, or just PPP. Even small amounts are welcome. $5 or $10 adds up pretty fast, especially when so many of us are drone resisters and have been for so long. You will receive a letter at your return address acknowledging your contribution.

We intend our memorial to occupy Creech long after we are gone.

Join the Global Day of Protest Saturday, January 25^th.

Sign up to protest in your city at

https://www.codepink.org/01252020?utm_campaign=iran_national_tues_j7&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink,

Demand McConnell recuse himself from any impeachment trial at

https://go.fightforequality.org/page/s/McConnell-Recusal?source=MS_EM_PET_2020.01.10_B1_McConnell-Recusal_X__F1_S1_C1__NS_RS

Support Veterans for Peace war powers resolution to prevent war with Iran at

https://veteransforpeace.salsalabs.org/warpowersresolution/index.html?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=8f681290-1d67-4632-8c5c-5e13f23792b3

Read more on Soleimani’s Assassination at

https://popularresistance.org/the-deeper-story-behind-the-assassination-of-soleimani/

UN orders Canada to halt work on Trans Mountain Pipeline.

25 people occupy Chase Branch in D.C. to launch a major new campaign targeting the financial industry and its underwriting of fossil fuel industry.

Poll sows Americans just don’t buy Trump’s lies about Iran.

For further reading: Today’s ICH newsletter and Popular Resistance at

https://popularresistance.org/the-deeper-story-behind-the-assassination-of-soleimani/

Citing betrayal of oath, watchdog group files formal ethics complains targetting McConnell over #45 impeachment.

AOC’s revolt against the DCCC by forming her own PAC and refusing to pay the DCCC is exactly what progressives need.

40 U.S. cities in the crosshairs are pushing back against nuclear weapons.

Six states reconsider Medicaid work requirements.

#JoeVotedForTheWar trends after Sanders camp fires back at Biden’s denial of support for Iraq invasion.

Black alliance for Peace in Baltimore demands end to policing surge.

Minneapolis activists ask local leaders to invest in communities, not cops.

Consumer safety groups sue USDA over #45 effort to privatize pork industry inspections.

Community newspaper The Devil’s Strip becomes reader-owned cooperative in Akron, Ohio.

N.Y.C. major asks for criminal investigation into Trump taxes.

Defying threat of termination, 1,200 Florida teachers rally to save public education.

Progressives slam Texas GOP Governor Abbot’s decision to refuse new refugees.

Chef José Andrés relief workers team with local group to assist asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico.

HOW DUMB CAN A NEWSLETTER GET?

Judging from the evidence, pretty dumb. Our recent issue listed two salient reasons why the U.S. government in all its munificence chose to target assassinate Iran’s second in command, Qassem Soulemani, as well as other Iranian and Iraqi top functionaries.  It made no difference that Soulemani was on a peace mission to Iraq at the time, if anything, peace is a deterrent to U.S. “interests.” We listed two probabilities: that the attack came because Soulemani had been a successful adversary of ISIS and Daesh, both U.S. funded proxy armies destabilizing the Middle East, and that the Great Cheeto used the attack to guarantee his future election(s) as in “You  can ‘t change a horse in the middle of the Stream.” We might also have listed the attack as a distraction to downplay ongoing impeachment proceedings in the Congress.

Would you buy a used car from these guys?
#45 meets secretly with "democratic" Saudi leaders
prior to targeted assassinations by drone

Underwear marathon 

 

How deplorably wrong we were. How sadly mistaken to suppose that the U.S. government made determinations from a rational point of view when the evidence points to something much simpler: the burning desire by some in high government places to hasten the Rapture. In case readers are baffled (or hold vestigial beliefs in separation of church and state) the Rapture is defined as a kind of marathon wherein the last trumpet acts as the start gun and the chosen (prominently among them are the very same high government functionaries) defy the laws of physics to be swept (decently clad in their underwear) into heaven’s high portals. 

 

As #45 chief influencer in Iranian matters, we draw your attention to  Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. We refer to one of a number of articles, this one appearing in The N.Y. Times of March 30, 2019.  Reporter Edward Wong refers to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s evangelical Christian orientation. Just back from his swing through the New Jerusalem (the U.S. engineered relocation of Israel’s capital) heady from visiting the grounds where Christ was supposed to have been crucified and buried, Mr. Pompeo held forth.

Asked if #45 had been “raised for such a time as this,” Mr. Pompeo replied without hesitation: "As a Christian(sic) I certainly believe that’s possible.” And when Mr. Pompeo talks about keeping Israel safe from victimization he refers to it as “a never-ending struggle until the Rapture." Evidently there will be territorial gains associated with the Rapture as well, according to Mr. Pompeo. One of his initiatives was to rid Israel of a diplomatic consulate in Jerusalem for Palestinians, and merging its work into that of the new embassy.

And to keep our readers in the know, just before leaving for Kuwait, Mr. Pompeo hosted a conference call with just “faith-based” media, excluding other journalists who cover the State Department, which refused to say who was on the call, or release a transcript of it, not unlike the Great Cheeto’s latest move to meet with Saudi officials secretly to talk about Iran.  

Endorse Global Day of protest. Turn out for the January 25^th call at

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNrf_CDr9uilSQtUvnbcxNIaC29QwMnEqVPlPFane8ktEtqA/viewform

No war with Iran. Sign up to protest in your city at

https://www.codepink.org/01252020?utm_campaign=iran_national_tues_j7&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink

Stop #45 from more adventurism in  Iran at

https://www.codepink.org/nowarwithiran?utm_campaign=iran_national_tues_j7&utm_medium=email&utm_source=codepink

Urge your reps to support efforts to invoke Congressional powers through a war power resolution (202) 224-3121.

Demand McConnell recuse himself from any impeachment trial at

https://go.fightforequality.org/page/s/McConnell-Recusal?source=MS_EM_PET_2020.01.10_B1_McConnell-Recusal_X__F1_S1_C1__NS_RS

ROSES

Foreign

World leaders call on #45 to end warmongering and resume diplomacy with Iran.

In a victory for Hawaii’s indigenous people, the 30 meter telescope slated for Mauna Kea will not be built and Gov. Ige has ordered law enforcement to stand down.

In Argentina, 8 days of protest force reversal of cyanide law.

Huge strike of millions .shakes up India’s Modi government.

French unions battle Macron in make-or-break pension  protest.

Sea Watch to resume its operations in Central Mediterranean. Italian courts rule that saving lives is not a crime.

Finland ends homelessness and provides shelter for all in need.

In Canada, chiefs  of five Wet’suweten clans issue notices and enforce eviction  of Coastal GasLink liquefied national gas pipeline workers from their territory.

Australian political leaders urge end to Assange prosecution.

Thunberg and 20 youth climate activists call on Davos attendees to ‘abandon fossil fuel economy’

Tens of thousands join ‘sack ScoMo’ protests against government inaction as bushfires rage across Australia.

In huge win for activist coalition as Palestinians reclaim water source after 15 years.

London and N.Y.C. mayors call on world’s cities to divest from climate-destroying fossil fuels.

Domestic

Coal Train protesters target one of New England’s last big coal power plants.

Shutting U.S. coal plants saves more than 26,000 lives over past decade.

Move by Olympia, WA to create zero fare public transmit called a ‘beautiful thing.’ to combat climate change.

Because ‘money is the only language fossil fuel industry speaks,’ climate movement takes aim at Wall Street.

National Lawyers’ Guild condemns illegal targeted assassinations by U.S. and increased repression  of Iranian nationals at U.S. borders.

Poll shows nearly two-third Americans support wealth tax to fund universal programs.

Constitutional amendment to overturn Citizens United (sic) introduced in both House and Senate.

House progressive say Congress must act because #45 is acting like arsonist and fireman on Iran.

House votes to limit #45’s war power in Iran.

Thousands across U.S. send #45 message: no threats, no bombs, no war with Iran.

Sanders leads in ‘gold standard’ Iowa poll for first time.

Sanders vows to reverse #@45 attack on disability benefits.

For grasping scope of climate crisis and fully embracing Green New Deal, youth-led Sunrise Movement endorses Bernie Sanders.

Claiming he will change the country, Dream Defenders, a racial justice group, endorse Bernie Sanders.

Study shows Medicare for All could save as much as $600 billion annually on bureaucratic waste alone.

Judge fines DeVos and Dept. of Education #100,000 for violating curt order too ceases collecting borrowers of student loans for now-defunct for-profit college.

Appeals court keeps in place nationwide Trump discriminatory ‘public charge’ rule.

Automatic voter registration passes N.Y. Senate.

In unprecedented move, NYC  bar association calls for Congress to probe Attorney General Barr for partisan bias.

Fresh calls to #raisethewage after peer-reviewed Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health study shows $1 increase (you read that right) could prevent thousands of suicides.

Sacramento youth activists push to get cops out of schools.

More than 25 cities light up the night against prisons and Migrant Detention Camps.

House approves right to earn legal status for undocumented farm workers.

New Illinois law clears way for undocumented and transgender students to access state financial aid.

Addressing extreme racial and economic segregation between city of Hartford and surrounding suburbs, LDF’s Senior counsel Deuel Ross, Assistant counsel Cara McClellan, and co-counsel reach landmark agreement in longstanding school desegregation case. 

And best of  all: Oakland women take over vacant lot, rename it the 37MLK encampment to house the homeless. Tents sit in neat rows behind white picket fence, fairy light glow overhead and chickens cluck on the grounds.

Home at last: an address to be proud of

Emergency: Changing a Horses’s Ass In Midstream

Saturday, I joined a crowd of thousands massing at the Powell-Market cable car intersection where Answer in coalition with Code Pink, and many other groups called for an emergency protest of #45’s latest folly.  Regardless of what the royal adviser Pompeo might think, you don’t tangle—ever—with folks who are clever, and armed to the teeth. Not unless you want a full scale war. Apparently, judging from the turnout in 90 American cities, even Americans, not exactly famous for their pacifism, don’t want war anymore, although as usual the lame-stream media says to the contrary as it beats the tired old drums for war.

Saturday's S.F. demonstration. credit: Ruthie Sackheim

Zaiqi Ye, a stringer working for Xinhua News, the official press agency of the People’s Republic of China, interviewed me and a few of my cohort. Because the loudspeakers were turned up full tilt, I could barely think  and speak only briefly. This is what I said: "I am here for peace, and I have worked for peace all my life (a very long life by now with lots of wrinkles in it).

"This decision by #45 was undertaken for a number of reasons, but the most prominent  two  seem self evident: Qassem Suleimani was a very effective adversary against ISIS and Daesh, both of them not-so-secret U.S. proxy armies. If you need to make huge profits off your main industry, munitions, you need perpetual wars. You need plenty of fake adversaries to de-stabilize a region as large and densely populated as the Middle East, and you need plenty of proxy mercenaries if you wish to put some muscle into your portfolio.

And two, Americans have an iconic saying: “You Don’t  Change Horses in the Middle of the Stream” by which they mean that, once an incumbent makes war, declared or undeclared, it guarantees election results."

I could have referred to #45’s racist hatred of his black predecessor as another motivating factor, but I tend to be a person of few words, and I let it go at apocalypse.

Meantime, massive resignations have been reported under Pompeo’s watch and lawmakers and experts tell #45 he can’t declare war by tweet. But the Persians are not known for their bashfulness. They iconized Suleimani. Assassinating him might be the equivalent of taking out one of our own foremost killers, McChrystal, say, or Petraeus. We can expect retaliation by ruse and by stealth, cyberattacks that shred our economy, ground our air lines, paralyze our electric grid, bring our banking to a standstill. There will be no exceptionalism this time to save us.

As with all wars, declared or undeclared, the people are the ones who pay.

Please sign Win Without  War petition at

https://act.winwithoutwar.org/act/stop-war-with-iran-now?source=em20200103&t=5&akid=5977%2E586616%2E5pX1tn

Signing another can’t hurt. Please sign Move On’s petition at

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/no-war-with-iran-11?akid=254064.25649514.VfN1x6&rd=1&source=mo&t=7

And Demand Progress and Jewish Voice for Peace at

https://act.demandprogress.org/sign/prevent-a-war-on-iran/

And Daily Kos at

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/letters/sign-and-send-a-petition-to-congress-act-immediately-to-stop-a-catastrophic-war-with-iran?detail=emailaction&link_id=3&can_id=447ac5b0d7a5124338b20f2bb702d0f8&source=email-congress-must-repeal-trumps-authority-to-wage-war&email_referrer=email_693799&email_subject=congress-must-repeal-trumps-authority-to-wage-war

Be there January 25!

And please call Congress at 202 224-3121 and ask your Rep and Senators to

•Use the War Powers Act to block #45 attacks on Iran

•Cut the Pentagon off at the purse strings to end any funding for such attacks.

Share this message on twitter and on facebook.

Actions in 90 cities as new anti-war movement bursts onto the scene.

Pelosi announces war powers resolution as #45 tries to bypass Congress to start war with Iran.

Iraqi parliament to votes to expel all American troops.

This is what eating crow looks like: “U.S. troops leaving Iraq," according to U.S. general. (statement later backwalked by the Pentagon).

Exodus of top “defense” officials as 5 senior Pentagon officials, and Secy Mark Esper’s chief of staff, and former Army intelligence Eric Chewning resign.

Majority of U.S. vets and public both say wars in Iraq and Afghanistan not worth fighting.

Bolton (“the Mustaache’) agrees to testify before Senate IF subpoenaed.

In New York thousands march in unity against anti-Semitism and recent attacks.

Bolivian electoral court rejects attempt to annul Evo Morales party  from participating in elections.

Venezuela foils total of five coups in 2019.

Venezuela’s opposition reject Juan Gaidó’s leadership by ousting him as National Assembly chief.

EPA’s Trump-appointed board scolds it for actions ignoring science. 

Pennsylvania delivers on election security as stat es  become tip of 2020 spear.

Michiganians demand earned credits for prisoners at criminal justice reform town hall.

Climate advocate call for fossil fuel companies to foot Australia fires bill.

Australian grandma leaps from car to save burning koala.

Celebrating 2019

Readers may be startled by this week’s heading. But we did have at least one thing to celebrate in 2019: Resistance.  And resistance took on the spectacular color of disruption Sept. 25, 2019 when intersections and three blocks of Montgomery Street, San Francisco, the Wall Street of the West, a street normally given to banking and underwriting planet-destroying fossil fuels were shut down, and became the scene of life-affirming joy.

In a country that enshrines its Puritan approach, joy is an act of civil disobedience: Color, Music, Dancing, the celebration of creativity itself are joyous expressions frowned on by the dominating ethos of Numero Uno. Under such a world view, people are meant to suffer world-over. And they do: Emiseration and death by torture, gunfire, by drones, by bombs, anything that makes a profit for the munitions industry, the U.S. chief export.

But the Sept. 25 Montgomery Street Celebration said ‘no’ to all that, we need a Green New Deal.  It reminded us there is a better way. And way more fun. Many groups and thousands of people took part: painters, musicians, dancers, clowns, locked down protesters blocking inersections and the entrances of five war-profiteering banks. Journalists, photographers, sign bearers, even shameless old ladies took part.

We must not let 2019 go by without acknowledging the scope of this extraordinary, day-long event. It shows what a group of imaginative and determined people all working together in flawless coordination, can accomplish.

And credit must be given to photographer Cheryl Guerrero who captured much of it for Hoodline where you can view her images.

When completed, this is what Montgomery Street looked like from the air:

 

  

 

 

Coming soon:  Roger Herried shares a take on the PTSD that brings mental exhaustion to so many deniers, reluctant to face the reality of global climate collapse. 

 

More to celebrate

Already on the Newsletter's Piñon Pine Project there’s something to celebrate. Barely started we’ve already managed to raise $1250 dollars.  And if you feel impelled to join the stampede, here’s how. Send your cheque or money order made payable to The Cecile Pineda Newsletter at our address of record: 2550 Dana Street, 5-B, Berkeley CA  94704. You’ll get a letter thanking you for becoming part of our exciting project: planting trees for the planet while engaging in the non-violent civil disobedience of commemorating the lives of those killed by drone.

Join a climate strike near you or step up to the plate and stage one of your own.

Supreme Court of the Netherlands rules citizens may use the courts to compel their leaders to fight climate change, forcing the Dutch government to cut national carbon emissions.

Denouncing corporate climate profiteers, comedy icon, Lily Tomlin arrested at #FireDrillFriday D.C. protest.

New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo takes executive action to ban chlorpyrifos, one of the most insidious bee-killers out there.

Despite halting progress, UN pushes for nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.

Madrid bans smartphone use in classrooms.

An enormous step towards holding Israel accountable for its criminal treatment of Palestinians as ICC chief prosecutor announces a “reasonable basis to believe” that war crimes were committed.

Beyond the Bomb announces it secured over 40 House co-sponsors on No First Use, and demands all presidential candidates back #Futurefirst!

Brennan Center announces voting rights victories in Ky, and N.J.; and budget deals including $425 million for election security.

Federal judge blocks NC’s voter ID law, citing state’s sordid history of racist voter suppression.

Humpback whales sing on return to Salish Sea.

U.S. court upholds ruling on vast marine monument established by Obama.

Death penalty on hold in Indiana.

Responding to citizens’ demands, Chile’s president Piñera signs decree calling for constitutional referendum to change constitution generated under Pinochet.

Bolstered by people-powered W. Virginia Can’t Wait campaign, governor hopeful Stephen Smith proposes first state-level wealth tax.

‘New Day’ for Queens, N.Y. Democratic machine as Sanders and Warren supporters defeat attempt to ram through Biden endorsement.

Sanders vows to create national clean drinking water standards to end corporate contamination.

Chobani yogurt announces it will pay off all RI Warwick School District’s lunch debt.

Illinois governor pardons over 11,000 on eve of recreational cannabis legalization.

Tamaca, Mexico becomes town refusing to drown as residents’ years-long organization stops El Zapotillo Dam project.

Say what? Australian PM hosts fire-works party while Australia burns. 

PEACE and PLANET

It’s never foolish to hold out some hope for peace because there’s precedent. On Christmas eve, World War I trenches disgorged their soldiers as both sides met in "no man's land" to exchange greetings and carols. Maybe they understood in that moment that they’d been sent to defend interests other than their own, and that the people that needed to be there in their place were the bankers, and corporation heads and company directors, and all the heads of state who profit off war without risking their lives.  

2019 has been a year of hand wringing for this newsletter, and for the world (excluding the .0001 precedent). But we’re not neutral. We advocate, and will always advocate for PEACE and PLANET and remind our readers the two are linked. How? Because the U.S. military consumes more fossil fuel than any country on the globe. If PEACE reigned, we’d slow down global warming.

After 8 years of publishing, for the first time this newsletter is launching a project for PEACE and PLANET. We are planting trees. Last Fall, just before we left for Creech AFB in Nevada, news sources carried the story of 200 piñon nut harvesters in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, many of them children and adolescents, hired by a local farmer to bring in the crop. A U.S. drone strike killed 30, wounded 40, with many not unaccounted for.

Piñon nut harvesters - photo credit Reuters

We want to plant 30 piñon pine saplings in Cactus Springs to commemorate those murdered harvesters. This monument and our fund-raising campaign is a tangible way to “Re-Earth” by planting trees for the planet, and for our children’s future and future generations. We are also committing an act of non-violent civil disobedience by commemorating these 30 victims and all victims of U.S. wars. We are keeping our hope alive, and joy has got to be a big part of that.

If any of our 1,000 readers would like to join us by contributing, we'd be delighted of you could help us make this happen. 

Please mail us a check to our listed address 2550 Dana Street, 5-B, Berkeley, Ca. 94704. And please be sure to include your name and address so that we can acknowledge your gift.

And please consider forwarding this newsletter to others who may want to become part of our support. Peace and planet thank you.

 

Stop big oil from destroying the Arctic at

https://action.foe.org/page/15801/action/1?ea.tracking.id=Email&ea.url.id=357803&forwarded=true,

Tell Congress: Our House is in Fire: stop wasting time and money on Nuclear Energy at

https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/5502/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=26943,

Everyone has a right to safe, accessible and affordable housing. Sign petition at

https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/housing-is-a-human-right-sign-the-petition-demand-congress-pass-a-homes-guarantee-for-all?source=20191204_HomesGuarantee_ACRE&referrer=group-action-center-on-race-and-the-economy&link_id=4&can_id=655968a96e1bce05c463b2f640bf633c&email_referrer=email_683759&email_subject=no-more-slumlords-please-read

40% elementary Fresno children are without housing. End child poverty in California at

https://www.dailykos.com/campaigns/forms/join-the-movement-to-end-extreme-child-poverty-in-california-for-good?detail=emailaction&link_id=1&can_id=655968a96e1bce05c463b2f640bf633c&source=email-join-dolores-huerta-and-thousands-of-californians-to-end-child-poverty&email_referrer=email_683681&email_subject=join-dolores-huerta-and-thousands-of-californians-to-end-child-poverty

Tell U.S.D.A. stop attacks on food assistance programs for hungry Americans at

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/tell-usda-stop-the-attacks-on-food-assistance-programs-for-hungry-americans?akid=252175.675518.eVHIRE&rd=1&source=mo&t=6

South Korea gets uppity, refuses to pay U.S. military  “protection service’ fee.

Xi issues warning to U.S. not to meddle in  China’s affairs.

Italy’s ‘sardines’ climate youth movement is a wakeup call for the left.

Assange gives evidence in Spanish case against security contractor who spied on him in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Colombians launch national cacerolazo against tax ‘reform’ that would lower duties on businesses.

‘Cutting social security’ is murder: flood of public outrage greets Trump proposal to slash lifesaving disability benefits for hundreds of thousands.

City of Los Altos Council denies Verizon, and AT&T cell node appeals.

Resisting 5 G technology, City of Berkeley’s Wired flies cease and desist order.

With federal minimum stuck at $7.25 for more than a decade, 32 jurisdictions across the U .S. will raise wages to or above $15 in 2020.

After Obama tells Progressives ”go slower,” one of his insiders confirms former president ready to back whoever wins 2020 nomination—even—horror of horrors—Bernie Sanders.

 

Mr. Klein

Looking to the past as today’s guide helps people understand and recognize the present under its camouflage, for what it really is. An example in point is Joseph Losey’s Mr. Klein, which he shot in  France in 1976.

Prompted by a review in  the September 9, 2019 New Yorker, I made sure to attend what turned out to be its last screening at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. (It screened earlier in New York).

Briefly the plot outline features an indifferent, ultra manicured Alain Delon who plays an art dealer happy to take advantage of anyone selling artwork, especially those Jews, fleeing 1942 German-occupied France, fearing for their lives. The arrogance with which he’s shown throwing 300 Louis d’ors at his Jewish client feels like a slap in the audience’s face.

But disaster awaits Klein when a Jewish newspaper is slipped under his door. He discovers that, if he wants to cancel his subscription, he will need to go to the collaborationist Prefecture de Police. And so doing, he becomes the author of his own destruction: a “person of interest.” His wheelchair bound father (played by a stellar Louis Seigner) assures him “We’ve been French and Catholic since Louis the XVI!” but Klein’s true roots remain remain amorphous. He discovers that Paris holds another Robert Klein, this one probably a member of the French Resistance.  His discovery is the seed of a new obsession. To rid himself of his shadow he must discover the true identity of the other Robert Klein.

Here the film takes a decidedly noirish turn, a signature of Losey’s story telling art, but in my view, it is quite enough to observe routine arrests of Jews as the unaffected population of Paris carries on its daily rounds of cafes, race courses, promenades, the opera, and so forth while in the background we see scenes where arrests, and round ups are plotted by men in suits on a wall-sized enlargement of the city, and the Gestapo’s sinister Citroens and antiquated buses go about their deadly work.

Trapped in the Vel D'Hiver

But it is the scene of their final destination where Klein is trapped alongside the original Jewish client he treated with such contempt that speaks loudest: the “Vel d’Hiver." Throughout my years-long friendships with Parisian Holocaust survivors, the Vel d’Hiver (Winter Velodrome) features prominently in their stories of survival, but I had yet to see the actual scene: rivers of humanity herded behind bars, children separated from their mothers. The Right! Left! of the Final Solution. 

Never known for anything other than its temporizing and camouflaging views, for once the New Yorker does not disappoint. Writes reviewer, Anthony Lane: “How blessed we are to live in a decent and democratic age where such things could not possibly occur.”

Some recent headlines:

William Barr says “communities’ that protest cops could lose “the police protection they need.”

Eyewitness describes troubling police shooting at 23^rd and Mission.

Video reveals police shot Jamaica Hampton while he was tuning, not while he was allegedly “assaulting officer.

Harmed by SFPD: Tana demands to see her son, Jamaica.

Why don’t more immigrants arrive legally? For many the doors are barricaded.

Homeless swept from Polk St. alley despite lack of shelter beds.

Data shows 40% of elementary kids homeless in Salinas.

U.S. government drops case against Max Blumenthal  after jailing journalist on false charges.

Edward Snowden: “If I came back to the U.S. I would likely die in prison for telling the truth.”

”‘Shameless racism’: 13 countries change long-standing position on Palestine at UN.

Reports: Israel occupation used flechette shells in Gaza.

Israeli military orders used to deprive Palestinians of human rights says HRW report.

U.S. constructing two new basses in Syria’s oil-rich region.

Nine kids dead in immigration detention. The time for immigration reform is now. Please sign at

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/the-time-for-immigration

Foreign

Iraq protesters form ‘mini=state’ in Tahrir Square.

100 doctors demand Julian Assange receive safe passage to Australian hospital ‘Before it’s too late.’

Lawyer holds in court Assange cannot be extradited to U.S. because extradition treaty bars extradition for political offenses.

Finland general strike saves postal service.

George Galloway launches workers party of Britain.

France records 391-mile traffic jam as public transport brought to halt by third week of strikes over pension changes.

ICC prosecutor says Israel committing war crimes (duh) and opens investigation.

‘Gas war’ averted as Russia and Ukraine agree to crucial transit deal.

Domestic

California DOJ cuts off ICE deportation officers from state law enforcement database.

Acting Department of Defense Inspector General Glenn Fine announces that his office will investigate the president’s use of troops at the Southern border.

Washington state attorney general sues Trump administration over courthouse immigration sweeps.

In win for native rights, Hawaii governor order cops at Mauna Kea to stand down.

New Jersey state legislature votes to grant all immigrants licenses.

Deportation relief extended for teen with cystic fibrosis.

Supreme Court leaves ruling barring prosecution of homeless in place.

Federal court uphold abortion access.

New Jersey restores voting rights of people on parole and probation.

Media taking notice as Sanders surges in new polls.

Moms reclaim vacant home amid national attacks on Homeless.

Atlanta moms show up when cops arrest mother of son with Down Syndrome.

Center for Constitutional Rights urges court to change ground rules for Guantánamo cases.

House spending package includes clear intent to keep fossil fuels out of clean energy program.

House approves first increase to public media in more than ten years.

Most Americans believe basic human rights under siege.

House Democrat from red district explains who she’s voting to impeach even if it ends her career.

Judge reverses vote in controversial first amendment case.

Anti-robocall bill passes.

Rep. Jeff Drew plans to make it official that he’s a Republican; staffers resign en masse.

After gaining full control of Virginia government, Democrats unveil bills to expand voting rights.

Goldman Sachs rules out funding for new coal projects, arctic oil drilling, making explicit mention of Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

New ag bill includes first-ever national factory farm moratorium.

New lawsuit challenges Trump failure to update slaughterhouse pollution guidelines.

California gives state protection to foothill yellow-legged frogs.

Diane Wilson wins $50 million lawsuit against cancer alley polluter Formosa, setting major legal precedent.

Nestlé’s go at privatizing town water shot down by Michigan appeals court.

Eastbayhills wins court victory  against pesticide sprayers.

Rainy day victory: homeless man shatters window to go to jail to escape the cold.

Poles Apart

Could looking at much less elaborated ways of living, and unsnarling the complications raised by our intensely overwound culture reveal something about our encounter with global warming which seems to have escaped us so far?

This writer has been reading ethnographies, ethnographies of the Ju/wasi, (some refer to them as the San) the world’s oldest people (that is, people descended directly from the original human inhabitants of  Earth), who once occupied almost all of East Africa, and more recently the Kalahari Desert; and ethnographies of the inhabitants of Zanskar, one of the world’s most inaccessible people living poles apart in the high Himalayas.

Uncomplicated living in Zanskar

 Why read about people living distantly from our supremely dominant global, “civilized” cultures in the great cities of London, Washington, Rome, Paris, Berlin, and other Great Capitals of the Western World? What can they possibly teach us that we don’t already know, and that we don’t need to know? What is to be learned there? And why does this writer keep gnawing away at the question: Why is it that Western Culture (and that includes coal-burning countries like China) seems hell-bent on destroying the home in which it lives?

What would it take for the dominant global culture to reverse itself 180 degrees? And what kinds of reversal are we talking about? And how can anyone refer to a dominant global culture monolithically, when it includes kids who “get it?” Are those kids a separate culture?  Why does it matter? If we are talking about the clash of fundamental ideas of being in the world, why do we talk about the proponents of those ideas in the same breath?

The Ju/wasi have inhabited Botswana for a known period of 60,000 years. Their oral cultural memory of the skies of 58,000 B .C. tell them where to look for constellations which the unschooled eye cannot possibly find (because over a geological time period, far beyond the scope of human time, the skies shift infinitesimally slowly). Gift exchanging is a huge part of their daily lives, a practice which guarantees that no individuals can ever amass great wealth to the imporverishment of others. They lived happily this way for 60,000 years.

Ju/Wasi building a fire from scratch

If the human race had lived an existence as uncomplicated as the Ju/Wasi have, the climate of this planet might still have been able to cradle human existence in a more benevolent way. 

Zanskar Buddhist monastery

The Buddhist inhabitants of Zanskar weave the fabric which becomes their one suit of clothes, which they patch, and re-sew over a lifetime. At 16,000 feet, well above the tree line, the inhabitants mostly subsist on a diet of barley and peas, wild and  cultivated; some onions, radishes, cucumbers and potatoes (grown in tiny kitchen gardens) and their yaks give them yak butter.  Of these they make tea (served with butter); tsampa (barley flour moistened and kneaded with water to make cakes, often eaten cold); and chang, a drink made of fermented barley which makes the drinker warm and quite happy. To guard their animals from wolves, they occasionally sleep outdoors in temperatures of minus 40 degrees. To plant grains above the snow line, they build piles of soil which they spread over the snow in early Spring. The darkness of that earth forces the snow to melt allowing them to plant their grains early enough to harvest them before the first freeze. In other words, they make use of the very feed back loop that’s now over heating our Earth such that, as polar ice melts exposing the dark sea to sunlight, it further warms an already overheating planet. They live happily this way and have lived happily for as long as they have inhabited their kingdom.

If the human race had lived an existence as simple as the Zanskaris, the climate of this planet might still have been able to cradle our existence in a more benevolent way.

What does all this suggest?

While our planet gets trashed, please ask this airline to reduce its carbon footprint with carbon offsets at

https://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/612/635/544/?z00m=32173990&redirectID=2961857305

Support Sunrise with your generous dollars by buying from their offerings at

https://sunrisemovement.myshopify.com/?link_id=0&can_id=655968a96e1bce05c463b2f640bf633c&source=email-picture-it&email_referrer=email_680877___subject_891580&email_subject=picture-it

Help the Union of Concerned Scientists sustain clean energy's winning streak while contributing at

https://secure.ucsusa.org/onlineactions/39PV17WhS02ClDcns6IuJA2?emci=65209166-a516-ea11-828b-2818784d6d68&emdi=c8046dcc-f01c-ea11-a601-2818784d6d68&ceid=1885334

Did you know 40% of  Fresno’s school children are unhoused? Please tell the USDA to stop the attacks on food assistance programs for hungry Americans at

https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/tell-usda-stop-the-attacks-on-food-assistance-programs-for-hungry-americans?akid=252175.675518.eVHIRE&rd=1&source=mo&t=6

Extra credit. Release an innocent black man from Missouri’s attorney general’s determination not to free him at

https://act.colorofchange.org/sign/lamar_johnson?t=3&akid=39700%2E1663833%2EjBlROA,

 

Can’t be stopped: young climate activists storm  COP 25 stage.

Thunberg named Time’s person of the year.

Calling for “Climate President,” more than 500 groups demand next administration take immediate action.

Timed to COP 25, and decrying EU proposal to address climate collapse by 2015 as too little, too late, Greenpeace activists stage spectacular House on Fire spectacle in Brussels.

Greenpeace sets the world on fire

Lavrov states Russia ready to extend new START treaty.

More war lies debunked: UN unable to link Saudi, Aramco attacks to Iran.

Supreme Court rejects “free speech” challenge by Wireless Association CTIA against Berkeley’s cell phone right to know about how cell phones harm you law.

House Democrats pass bill restoring Voting Rights Act after Supreme “Court” decision guts it.

Coal resupply train blocked in two states.

World’s big sleep out (some of it in rainy LA) as thousands world over spend night outside in solidarity with the homeless.

Environmental Health trust to take legal action challenging FCC that 20^th century techniques can't evaluate 21^st century technology.

Boston  suburb of Brookline first East Coast city to ban oil and natural gas infrastructure in new construction projects.

Do they know something we don’t:  100 Italian municipalities pass resolutions against 5G.

Never in America: Mexico’s government launches massive seized assets auction for “Robin Hood” program benefitting the very poor and destitute.

Indonesian steel craftsmanship revives as builders demonstrate the superior strength of bamboo.

Six hundred kilometers of roads blocked as French strikes urging withdrawal of pension “reform” draft law continue.

100 California cities reject PG & E’s bankruptcy proposal, demanding it be broken up.

Seven men sentenced for murder of visionary Honduran social movement leader Berta Cáceres.

NRA investigation widens as New York AG delivers new subpoena.

After House progressive push to strengthen drug pricing billPelosi eats crow.

Chipping away at the Little King: North Dakota county votes to accept refugees, defying #45 executive order.

School fights back after ICE detains Connecticut high school sophomore.

Small, predominantly black Georgia town gets election officials to reopen polling station closed in disenfranchising effort.

Houston cop gets in McConnell’s face: “You’re either here for women [victims of domestic violence] or you’re here for the NRA."

Texas sheriff’s deputy arrested for conducting unlawful strip searches of six women.

Packed Berkeley tenants union, reconvening on short notice, endorses Bernie Sanders.

After non-profit college forgives $141 million in student debt, Sanders points out there’s only $1,685,456,413,335 more to go.

U.S. government drops prosecution of Max Blumenthal after jailing journalist on false charges [covering Venezuelan Embassy protection events.]

Journalism is not dead yet as rank-and-file news writer wins CWA News Guild presidency.

Brian Eno launches Julian Assange campaign.

President of National Nurses United testifies at health care Congressional hearing re: passing Medicare for All!

Following budget cuts, S. F. City supervisors move to save CCSF classes. 

Methodist church nativity scene depicts Mary, Jesus and Joseph as separated and caged family.

ICE Nativity

Wisconsin high school senior opens mosque doors, sheltering over 100 peers during school shooting.

Pawn shop worker in Hurricane, Utah, saves falling infant while mom's busy shopping for shotguns.