DESPAIR

What are the challenges faced by a writer when she sees her country committing suicide and a great part of the rest of the world following like lemmings leaping off a cliff. For one thing, it requires staying a few footfalls away from the bog of despair.  In this weeks news  Lord High Judge of England and Wales Ian  Duncan Burnet, will now share the bench  with lesser Judge Timothy Holyroyde to hear the U.S. case for extradition of Julian Assange.  Why is that significant?   The case itself received a black eye when revelations exposed the CIA plot to assassinate Assange, and because Judge Burnet has adjudicated similar high profile cases, informed by a sense of greater humanity. That seems to indicate that in Very High Places, the UK government may privilege humanitarianism over state conflict.

 

 

Judge Ian Burnet

 

Common  Dreams reports that in an ironic twist of coal-baron-Manchin fate, China is now positioned to become the champion of solar energy with one desert site that by 2015 will produce more electricity than twice of all U.S. solar combined. But recently we have learned that 5133 acres are being leased for the “Indian Springs Solar Right of Way” in the Nevada Desert. The principal is registered as “Bonanza Solar LLC” located in Dan Diego. Other solar energy concerns are housed at the same location, a fact which has piqued this writer’s curiosity.  Can it be that a shadow entity is saving the U.S. from itself?

 

Collaboration by the U.S. with Saudi Arabia, one of the principle agents in the events of 9-11, has probably produced the worst humanitarian catastrophe on Earth now with famine seriously threatening the people of Yemen.  Compounding the danger,  a recent New Yorker article, “The Dead Ship”  chronicles the decay of an floating oil tanker terminal parked on Yemen‘s coast only a few miles south of Hodeidah, the sole port through which humanitarian food supplies to Yemen can enter the country. A spill would effectively close the port of Hodeidah and block the narrow Bab el Mandeb straight through which most of the Middle East’s shipping must pass.  And a spill is inevitable. The only question is when. Meantime the U.S. has sided with Tigray in the current war in Ethiopia. More money for insatiable munitions makers, Lockheed Martin and the rest of  the pack, and more yummy for Congressional portfolios..

 

Our good Congress is all too happy to pass the Pentagon another shady $29 billion, committing grand larceny against American citizens, and the 500,000 unhoused of them forced to live in tents along highways and railroad rights of ways during a pandemic while the state police continues to dump their meager belongings into trucks to be hauled away to the city dumps as they “clear” the area of human detritus.

 

 

And it was very these homeless, this writer was planning to cover this week, all the more so because as of now, the Bay Area is several hours into a winter rain and wind storm guaranteed to soak, freeze, and demoralize these shelterless souls, many of them children, some of them sometimes working two or more jobs, but unable to afford landlord and real estate shysters’ inflated rents.  Against the juggernaut of State indifference, I juxtaposed the efforts of a few home-(non-government) based projects: in Portland, fed up with the do-nothing blather of her City Council, Mimi German is one of a number of souls who builds tarpees for unhoused people.  A tarpee is a teepee made of tarpaulins.  It saw it first light of day at Standing Rock (where AOC got the dawning idea that she could run for Congress). As a housing solution, tarpees first hit Seattle as a temporary solution to homelessness, and from there migrated to Portland where Mimi German takes some credit for putting them up, one by one, each at a cost of some $127. Each has a chimney which allows its occupant to cook. Although the parks have not “allowed” them, a handful of them have appeared in one city park and, so far at least, they have eluded police sweeps. 

 

On the West Coast we are seeing Enclosures as part of the State’s response. The police sweep a homeless camp void of its occupants and impound their meager possessions, and the grass is shaved. Such sweeps are followed by Enclosures, sturdy cyclone-fenced-in areas, constructed, unlike most jails, to keep people out. (The tradition of Enclosure harks back to 17^th and 18^th century England, where bit by bit the public commons grazing lands were taken back from the common people by the gentry.)

 

But this sad state of affairs is not part of the East Coast landscape, at least not in New York which still can't properly house 10% of the nation’s homeless, the minimal 50,000 homeless human beings identified by the current body count because,  according to Marc Greenberg  of the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing who has been doing advocacy work for the homeless for the past 40 years,  half of New York’s shelters are substandard. He describes the moment when the subject of homelessness actually entered the conversation as his big triumph. 

 

Recently it was my good fortune to run into Deborah Matthews, Secretary of Oakland and the World Enterprizes, a 79 unit housing project slated to break ground this fall on land purchased in 2014 by Elaine Brown, former Black Panther, and present CEO.  Their mission is to offer housing and jobs to formerly incarcerated and other people facing extreme barriers to economic survival. This they plan to do with a constellation of profitable businesses linked to the project, such business as a food truck in a grocery ghetto, an urban farm, a tech center, and a fitness center.  What drew my interest to this project is the inclusion of voices of the very people it is designed to help.  They speak for themselves here.  It is all too rare to hear the voices of people such good intentions are actually meant to serve.

In suicide-bent societies, we hear the continued blather of politicians who try to convince their electorate their intentions are exactly the opposite of what they really want as this last column  of Charley Reese describes.

 

Finally, this week saw the funeral of Megan Rice, 91-year-old anti-nuclear weapons activist who at the age of 84 was condemned to serve three years hard time for trespass at Y-12, the Tennessee locus of U.S.’s. plutonium stockpile. Sentencing a fragile 84-year-old woman with heart disease to  three years for trespass is Court Misconduct.  Finally  we have allowed “police misconduct” to enter the conversation.  This week over 600 people were arrested demanding of their government appropriate response to catastrophic global warming, a stunning example of police misconduct. It’s high time, the dam gates opened to allow conversation about the flood of “Court Misconduct.” 

 

And to cheer you up,  here’s the column I wish I’d written  this morning.

 

 

To my readers:  A colleague has offered to help me sift through ten years of newsletters with a view to creating a collection of posts worthy of publication. To that end I want to enlist my readers’ help by asking you  if one or more issues come to mind which in your view either may have sharpened or changed your way of  thinking. Please let me have their titles and date of publication. Use the “contact” button on my web site: cecilepineda.com, or e-mail me at cecilep@sonic.net.

 

While I am engaged by this new project, I will be publishing irregularly. I propose sharing my subscriber list with my colleague Lisa Savage, who ran on the Green ticket for U.S. Senate from Maine in 2020; and who publishes an extremely well written and well-researched blog, Went 2 the Bridge. Once you have had a chance to become its recipient if you find her newsletter inappropriate,  you may unsubscribe directly or if you prefer, please let me know you object.

 

Thank you,

 

Cecile Pineda

 

 

 

                                            MORE ACTIONS

 

DEMAND the Department of “Justice” drop extradition and prosecution of journalist Julian Assange at 202 353-1555.  Call as often as you can.

 

URGE your Senators and Representatives to read “Why reducing risk of nuclear war is hidden in plain sight.”

 

PUNCTURE Pentagon bloat.

 

DEFEND women’s rights to own their own bodies.

 

EXPRESS your outrage that Bank of New York Mellon is funding Carmichael Coal Mine.

 

JOIN 74% of Americans who support striking workers.

 

 

Chief Justice of England and Wales joins bench for Assange hearing.

 

24 rights groups call on Garland to #freeAssange.

 

Europe’s largest pension fund announces fuel divestment.

 

Over 30 countries agree to cut methane by 30%. Why can‘t we?

 

Climate movement hails mind-blowing $40 trillion in fossil fuel divestment pledges.

 

Australian research team devises cheap and scalable way to break up CO2 into C and O2

 

Chile at dawn  of new political era with death of neoliberalism.

 

Brazilian Senate commission accuses Bolsonaro of crimes against humanity  for COVID recklessness.

 

Nicaragua the exception as journalist reports a government actually looking after ordinary people!

 

Quebec declares end to fossil fuel extraction  in province.

 

Irish writer Sally Rooney shuns apartheid  Israel  after recent human rights reports

 

Palestinians protest in support of prisoners on hunger strike.

 

Half a million Korean workers walk off job  in general strike. Why can ‘t we?

 

Finland’s public childcare system  puts Britain (and U.S.) to shame. 

 

International Tribunal seeks to charge U.S. govt. with crimes against humanity.

 

‘March of million’ in Sudan revives spirit of December revolution.

 

New study finds that indigenous  U.S. and Canadian activists stop and delay greenhouse gas pollution equivalent to at least one –quarter of annual U.S. and Canadian emissions.

 

U.S. donates 3.6 million  doses of Pfizer vaccine to Nigeria.

 

Supreme Court commission  signals support for term limits.

 

Guantanamo: U.S. court rules inmate’s detention ‘unlawful.’

 

People vs. fossil fuels mobilization ends with youth-led civil disobedience and over 655 arrests.

 

Biden Administration ramps up offshore wind plans.

 

House intelligence (oxymron) committee seeks answers from CIA on plot to assassinate Assange.

 

Arizona groups demand Sinema ‘stop obstructing’ on Medicare expansion.

 

Postal Banking now reality in DC, Baltimore, Falls Church and the Bronx.

 

Small business organizations call for filibuster carveout  to start debate on Freedom to Vote Act.

 

Ultraviolet slams Senate after failing to pass Freedom to Vote Act, says results will directly harm women  of color.

 

House Progressives call on Biden to declare a climate emergency – Now.

 

House panel votes to hold #45 adviser Bannon in criminal contempt.

 

‘We’re appalled by your failure’: 5 vets resign from Sen. Sinema’s advisory council.

 

‘And maybe more’: Biden says he’s open  to reforming filibuster to win voting rights.

 

‘Like it never happened’: federal judge tosses #45 attack on  clean water rule.

 

Dartmouth College formally announces plan  to divest from fossil fuels.

 

Enbridge Line 5 shut down in accordance with Michigan governor’s order.

 

Forest defenders continue to block destruction of rare forest habitat within Humboldt Redwoods State Park.

 

Diné organization files petition against the U.S. citing human  rights violations.

 

Tulalip fishermen to appear in Skagit court defending treaty rights.

 

Mi’kmaq grandmothers and water protectors celebrate Alton Gas decommissioning.

 

SEPTA workers in So. Philly votes to authorize strike.

 

Taxi drivers plan  hunger strike for debt relief.

 

Amazon workers in Staten Island to file for union vote.

 

Workers at beverage giant Refresco defeat notorious union  buster.

 

Michigan expands maternal and post-partum care for people in prison .

 

Reno transit workers holding form in second strike since August.

 

John  Deere strike shows tight labor market ready to pop.

 

Low age workers take power back in ‘Great Resignation .’

 

A ‘shoot to incapacitate’ policy puts Lagrange,  Georgia chief and town in spotlight.

 

Former Black Panther Russell Maroon Shoatz freed from prison after 49 years.

 

Man jailed in solitary for over a year fist to due private prison  company under recent state law.

 

Facebook papers spur more calls to “break them up.”

 

Advocates say they hope new California law protecting unaccompanied kids gets duplicated nationwide.

 

Megan Rice (1930 – 2021)

My friend Megan Rice is dead at 91 years of age after a life time of helping others, part of it protesting nuclear weapons—weapons of mass destruction.

 

The account of her life can be read in this Washington Post article,  a canned obit that manages to keep the truth of what went on at Y-12, the U.S. nuclear facility in Oakridge, TN, away from the eyes and minds of its readers.

 

I first met Megan in Nevada, the first year I went to protest the horror of drone warfare, and its destruction, not only of civilians, but of the entire social fabric of the many countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, Libya, Yemen among them) drones target to this day. One of many protesters offering court support that day in 2010 at the trial of what came to be known as The Creech Fourteen, I witnessed the trial judge sentencing all fourteen resisters for time already served.  Judge William Jansen had called for a recess of one month prior to that sentencing.   During that time, despite the enormous pressure he must have felt from many government entities, he limited his sentencing to time served. Then he made a fatal mistake. He asked the defendants, many of whom are nationally prominent figures, all of them highly articulate people,  if any of them had statements to make!

 

         Megan Rice flanked by her compatriots, Boertje-Obed and Walli

 

Megan Rice spoke first.  We had been given a list of the fourteen, and brief biographies.  From that list I knew Megan was a nun.  I knew nothing more about her. But the fiery vigor by which she leaned in toward the judge and affirmed her belief that the use of drones by the U.S. government amounted to war crimes, overawed me. Who was this woman, I wondered?  I had to find out.

 

Later that day, at lunch at the Nevada Desert Experience, Megan was one of many still sitting at table. I horned my way in next to her.  I knew I had only the briefest time. I got right to the point. “I was educated by nuns.” “What Mother House?” Megan asked me. Mother House?  I knew nothing of Mother House, so I said “I went to school with George Carlin.” “So did I,” said Megan, which is how we discovered we had been schoolmates two years apart at Corpus Christi elementary school, a progressive Manhattan grammar school, based on the learn-by-doing, collaborative ideas of John Dewey and the brain child of Father George B. Ford.

 

From that time on, Megan greeted the appearance of various of my newsletters with “How proud Father Ford would be that Corpus Christi graduated such a voice of resistance!”

 

I got to know more of Megan’s life when I took her to breakfast one time when she made a brief visit to Oakland.  She told me of her 40 years in Africa, teaching children math and science. Meantime, morning traffic swarmed outside us.

“Slow down, slow down!” cried Megan.  Over those 40 years she had done much more than teach, she had learned African time!

 

 

After much prayer, with her two compatriots, Greg Boertje-Obed (r) and Michael Walli (l), and despite her growing heart problems, all three determined to break through four of Y-12 security perimeters, and pour blood on the unre-enforced, earthquake-vulnerable brick building housing the uranium stockpile of the U.S. government as an act of civil disobedience against war, nuclear weapons, and the criminal diversion of enormous resources to support its war making technology. To quote the Post, “the United States is currently spending over $1 trillion to modernize its nuclear forces.” (A full analysis of the U.S. Nuclear Budget can be found on the Tri-Valley Cares website.) It is a government that, even despite a pandemic, still refuses either to house, feed, or offer a universal health plan to its citizens, more than half a million of whom are now homeless—many of them veterans, 17 of whom commit suicide every day.  The Post says nothing of that.

 

Numbers of homeless in the U.S.

 

 

Megan was 85 when she was condemned to serve three years time, part of that in Ocilla, GA, one of the United States most notorious prisons.   When she was transported to the Manhattan House of Detention, her warm underwear was taken from her. She had to endure the van trip from Georgia to New York in freezing conditions, without the protection of the underwear her loving friends had joined together to provide her.

 

But no matter what, Megan’s great grace was her never-ending smile, and her twinkling blue eyes. No matter what, with her faith, she had so much to be thankful for. 

 

 

 

Sign the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapaons.

 

Oppose war and the war making that speeds global warming,

 

Nix the “Blue Angels” war making publicity stunt.

 

 

 

Global religious leaders issue joint call for ‘radical’ climate action.

 

House passes amendment to cut U.S. complicity in Saudi bombing of Yemen.

 

Veterans for Peace organize a march and rally to protest Japan’s planned release of million of gallons of radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific.

TITUS’ FEAST:

how we wasted 20 years fighting the “Global War on Terror” instead of climate change.

 

 

Among the rash of 9/11 articles, this one from the Intercept caught my eye. “General Failure: How the U.S. Military Lied About the 9/11 Wars” by Peter Maas purports to line up the culprit chain of command:

 

•The generals Lloyd Austin, now Secretary of Defense, and David Petraeus who both lied to Congress about how well the war was going;

 

•Politicians complicit with the generals sustaining overseas bloodshed.

 

So far so bad. What about the people who elect those politicians and who, along with lobbyists given a free hand with Citizens United, back them with obscene PAC bribes? What about the lobbyists and war profiteers? For the most part, from presidents on down, Americans love war, the Ur-baseball of the culture where all is staked on “winning.” But Peter Maas is not a cultural writer.

 

 

The military also happens to be the biggest burner of fossil fuel in the world, far outstripping even nations. From the start of the grandiosely titled "Global War on Terror,” from 2001 to the present, the U.S. military’s emissions amount to ½ billion metric tons of greenhouse gasses related directly to war-generated fuel consumption. To better grasp the scope of the miasma produced, below is a graphic  from Brown University’s Cost of War Project:

 

 

But because Peter Mass is not an environmental writer he overlooks addressing  the Ur-Crime of the Anthropocene which results in the inability of our planet to continue sustaining life. 

 

The criminal chain of command from the generals on down to the war profiteers and the people who elect U.S. politicians, aided by the oil and gas corporations with their oiligarch CEOs, the Talking Heads, the satraps like Bremer and Wolfowitz, all are responsible for bringing us the fires in the West, Southwest, and Mediterranean Europe; the floods in Germany and Tennessee and Iowa, the walls of water in New York and New Jersey, the hurricane that destroyed the energy grid in New Orleans, snows that burst the pipes in Mighty Texas where nothing ever goes wrong, displacement of millions of the world’s populations through drought, and now famine and starvation in Madagascar.

 

Proportionality

 

If we were bent on retribution, what form might it take? What commensurate punishment might we fix for the loss of our planetary habitat? Such a scene was set some 450 years ago by Shakespeare in Titus Andronicus. (Why, they are…baked in that pie whereof their mother daintily hath fed. - Titus Andronicus, V. 3)

 

 

 

Picture a cosmic banquet to which all miscreants are invited. The vengeful cooks have spent days baking pies. It’s evening now. The table is set. Generals sit at the head, the politicians and oiligarchs sit within reach of the salt, the war profiteers have a table all their own, all the little people sit at the low tables. The banqueters chow down. The meat is tough, half raw; it cries in pain. In the sauce, little arms and legs appear. The banqueters eat undeterred.

 

Heaving and retching begin when they find the limbs of their own children.

As for the peacemakers, they have had the taste of this banquet in their mouths for a very long time.

 

 

 

 

Tell Biden: enough wars.

Send a letter to the Intercept at 114 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10011

 

Support climate bills in two licks.

 

Build back fossil free.

 

Hold fossil fuel corporations accountable.

 

Make polluters pay.

 

Join Squad to stop Line 3.

 

Tell Senators stop giving White House authority to wage endless war.

 

Fossil fuel lobbyists out of U.S. politics

 

Push two California climate bills.

 

 

 

 

Momentous moratorium on deep sea mining adopted at Global Biodiversity Summit.

 

Indian farmers stage huge rally against agricultural laws.

 

In London, continued Extinction Rebellion protests include animal rights protesters and more than with 500 arrests.

 

Australian union calls for boycott of General Mills products.

 

Calls for impeachment as Bolsonaro incites far-right rallies in Brazil.

 

In unanimous ruling, Mexican Supreme Court decriminalizes abortion.

 

Groups call on Trudeau and RCMP to protect Secwepemc activists calling on Canada to halt construction of the TransMouuntian pipeline.

 

Applause as Australia backs COVID vaccine patent waiver.

 

With the escape of six high-profile Palestinians, Israel’s prison break has Palestinians celebrating.

 

More than 200 health journals call for urgent action on climate crisis.

 

Climate activists rally outside Biden’s Queens visit.

 

Climate groups tell Dems: Don’t fuel hydrogen hype.

 

Sunrise movement responds to Biden’s comments at press briefing in N. Jersey.

 

110 groups across 4 states tell key senators; Pass clean  electricity program through reconciliation now.

 

300+ groups demand clean electricity payment program exclude fossil fuels and false solutions.

 

Water protectors shut down major U.S.-Canadian tar sands terminal.

 

Biden administration to re-examine #45’s plan for more Western Arctic oil leasing.

 

Campaigners urge Dems to exclude ‘false solutions’ from U.S. clean energy standard.

 

Reps. Mondaire Jones, and Jasmine Crocket  together with MOVE Texas tell Biden: end filibuster and pass voting rights & court expansion legislation.

 

Anger mounts over Dems refusal to address jobless crisis.

 

Judge temporarily blocks one of the largest forced-birth groups and vigilante pals from sing the nation’s largest provider of reproductive healthcare.

 

Some corporations stand up to Texas abortion law.

 

New Mexicans fight for abortion access and win.

 

Biden offers possible path against Texas abortion bounty law.

 

AG Garland dues Texas over unconstitutional abortion law.

 

Greg Abbotts’ approval rating sinks to all-time low as COVID rages across Texas.

 

As Biden tours Ida damage, protesters demand end to fossil fuels.

 

After Hurricane Ida, mutual aid provides safety and survival.

 

Globally politicians call on Biden to drop prosecution against Assange.

 

Biden: Republican governors vowing to sue over vaccine rules “cavalier” about constituent’s health.

 

Public health experts praise Biden’s new vaccination requirements.

 

Federal judge blocks Florida GOP’s anti-protest law.

 

Ex-prosecutor indicted for misconduct in Ahmaud Arbery death.

 

Missouri teacher resigns after school district orders him to remove pride flag from class.

 

Largest Confederate statue left in U.S. to be removed this week in Richmond

 

10,000 UAW members gear up for strike vote at john Deere.

 

McDonald’s employees walk out in Bradford, PA.

 

Farmworkers invite all 100 Senators to work alongside them for one day: two, Cory Booker and Alex Padilla accept.

 

Prison abolitionists target architectural firm in St. Louis Park, MN.

 

 

 

SANCTIONS

 

sanctions, n. - sanctions can be either comprehensive or selective, using the blocking of assets and trade restrictions to accomplish foreign policy and national security goals.

 

 

This week we look at three dates:

 

Labor Day –   Sept 7 when 35 million Americans are slated to lose their unemployment benefits.

 

Oct. 3 – when national eviction moratorium officially ends.

 

Aug. 27 – when Supreme Court ends Biden’s eviction moratorium.

 

In theory, sanctions are supposed to reduce a population to such dire straights that it will rise up, and overthrow its government, thereby producing the regime change that will allow a foreign government the opportunity to replace it with a compliant dictatorship which will stand by while it plunders its treasury, and seizes its natural resources.

 

As of June, 2021, countries subject to U. S. sanctions include the Balkans, Belarus, Burma, Burundi, Central African Republic, Cuba, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine/Russia, Venezuela, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

 

Now, what might sanctions look like when they come home to roost?

At present, the U.S. government is controlled under the Democratic leadership of Joe Biden. If we wanted to replace that government with an authoritarian government, would we throw an additional 35 million more citizens out on the streets to live in tents, while simultaneously tossing them out of the money economy?

 

With what authoritarian government might we be planning to replace the present administration?

 

Does a duck look like a duck to you?

 

 

 

EXTRA: WAR = CLIMATE COLLAPSE

 Imagine an EXTRA edition of the New York Times, where the font size takes up the ENTIRE TOP FOLD of the FRONT PAGE screaming:

 

WAR = HUMAN EXTINCTION

 

The above  equation is the MAIN ISSUE, the ONLY  ISSUE.

 

Fossil fuel consumption added up:

 

Afghanistan: fossil fuel providing air transport of all war materiel, including army battalions, airplanes. Countless on-the-ground forays of gasoline-powered half tracks and tanks, armored vehicles and drones operated remotely from half-way around the globe. And all the burning  toxic waste fire pits.

 

Iraq: All the oil fields around Basra set on fire burning for weeks (Gulf I). Fossil fuel providing air transport of all war materiel, countless forays on-the-ground of airplanes, armed personnel vehicles, half tracks and tanks and drones operated remotely from half-way around the globe. And all the burning toxic waste fire pits.

 

Add to that colossal fossil fuel consumption behind military operations in Libya, Yemen, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Pakistan; and satellite operations in Ukraine and secret wars in Somalia and others the American public doesn’t even hear about.

 

Add to that all the fossil fuel consumption in the nearly 1,000 U.S. Military bases worldwide, many engaged in support services of the Middle Eastern conflicts.

 

WAR = EXTINCTION OF ALL LIFE

 

Against total military pollution weigh:

 

•Katrina, and all subsequent hurricanes and typhoons exceeding “normal” wind velocities;

•catastrophic floods in China, Germany, Iowa, lower Manhattan, Tennessee

•fires in California, the South West, and Southern Mediterranean,

•the imminent failure of the Gulf Stream current,

•melting of the Polar Icecaps,

•displacement of whole populations affected by climate collapse,

•drought,

•famine,

•pandemics,

•Technical remediation failing under stress of climate collapse

•OTHER: all else overlooked here.

 

EITHER/OR

 

EITHER it's war OR climate that supports life and happiness on Earth.

 

YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH.

 

The rest is DISTRACTION: last-minute Kabul airport scrambling, petty discussion of who to pin blame on, hand wringing following yet another defeat of the Empire’s mighty armies by farmers with guns (who haven’t yet lost their connection to the Earth).

 

More distraction

 

Project for the New American Century (PNAC) has mostly been scrubbed from the internet. It advanced the plan that 7 Middle Eastern countries in 7 years ought to be the next U.S. foreign policy objective.  That is those 7 Middle Eastern countries that could be destabilized to failed states, all to become part of an American Empire, governed by U.S. appointed satraps, in that short span of time.

 

One section especially reads: “Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event—like a new Pearl Harbor.” (from Rebuilding America’s Defenses, “Creating Tomorrow’s Dominant Force”).

 

None of its related websites points out that a goodly number of its signatories hold dual U.S.-Israeli citizenship. Notice how a politically disempowered cordon of failed states surrounding Israel might be of benefit to preserving its own chancy U.S.- taxpayer-supported hegemony?

 

Still wanna pin the donkey tail of blame? Take a look at that PNAC rogues gallery of some 25 tiny little men, and two or three non-female-identified women, one hiding under the name Thomas, later changed to Giselle. Even PNAC hides under a new name: The Foreign Policy Institute. ‘Nuff said.

 

War = Project of the New American Century = Climate Collapse brought to you by hard working U.S. taxpayer money. Still wanna contribute?

 

STOP excluding military pollution from climate agreements

 

PROTECT planet from lead pollution

 

BLOCK Line 3

 

TAX Big Oil polluters

 

STOP arming human rights abusers

 

END threats of nuclear war

 

CUT Navy nuke from Pentagon budget

 

 

 

Extinction Rebellion London erects giant pink table blocking intersection which media calls “stunt.”

 

India bans long list of single-use plastics starting next July

 

25 national and local organizations launch extreme weather ads calling for end to fossil fuel subsidies

 

Extreme weather ads target Dems defending fossil fuel subsidies

 

Climate activists target banks greenwashing in nationwide #DefundLine3 Protests

 

Defying war hawks, Biden plans to stick with Afghan exit deadline

 

Supreme Court halts reinstating ‘remain in Mexico’ policy

 

New bill proposes cutting Pentagon spending to fund vaccines for poor nations

 

Biden administration announces rule that could speed u asylum process for some vulnerable people

 

Federal Trade Commission launches investigation into Bezos and Amazon $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM studios

 

Pelosi runs over right-wing Dems as House approves $3.5 trillion budget blueprint

 

Right-wing Dems begin caving as progressives hold their own on reconciliation vote.

 

Professional athletes and climate activists call for climate finance action from mountaintop.

 

63 percent of U.S. vets support Afghanistan withdrawal.

 

240+ organizations sign letter opposing subsidies for nuclear power in infrastructure bills.

 

Key milestone in pandemic fight as FDA rants full approval to Pfizer’s Covid vaccine.

 

Israel report shows booster shots significantly lower infection risk

 

Federal judge Jorgenson rules that Dept. of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection violated federal law by failing to analyze potential environmental harms from escalating militarization along  the U.S.-Mex. border.

 

Human Rights Watch declares Israel bombing of Gaza high rises possible war crimes.

 

Incredible news as NC court restores voting rights to 55,000 formerl incarcerated people.

 

A victory for gig workers as California rules Uber can’t hack labor laws to call them contractors.

 

 

Russia’s atomic agency, Rosatom to protect African rhinos from poachers by making their horns radioactive

 

Why Investors Need to Divest from Corporations Backing Jan 6 Insurrection

Many of my readers do not know—yet—that major U.S. corporations are still giving to RAGA, The Republican Attorney’s General of America. Why does that matter? Because RAGA linked to the January 6 coalition that stormed the Capitol. You can read about it here.

 

My readers may find it hard to boycott a corporation, but if you are an investor, you can make sure to divest any of these corporations from your portfolio, no matter now small your position may be.

 

Here’s the list with contribution amounts:

 

Donor	Amount (year-to-date)
The Concord Fund	$2,500,350
Rule of Law Defense Fund	$228,464
Gray, C. Boyden Amb.	$200,000
Americans For Prosperity	$130,000
AT&T Services, Inc.	$125,000
Koch Industries, Inc.	$125,000
Las Vegas Sands Corp	$125,000
MBX Capital LLC	$110,000
Anheuser-Busch Cos., Inc.	$105,265
The Anschutz Corporation	$100,000
Schumacher Auto Group Inc.	$75,000
Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina	$62,500
National Rifle Association of America	$60,000
Pfizer Inc	$51,225
1-800 Contacts Inc	$50,615
Consovoy McCarthy PLLC	$50,265
Continental	$50,265
Amer. Property Casualty Insurers Assoc. Pol	$50,000
American Bail Coalition Inc	$50,000
American Petroleum Institute	$50,000
Association of Dental Support Organizations	$50,000
Astellas Pharma US Inc	$50,000
AWL, Inc.	$50,000
Cameron, Ronald Mr. (Mountaire Corp.)	$50,000
David Nutt and Assoc PC	$50,000
Elevate Credit Service LLC	$50,000
HCA Management Services	$50,000
Iacovelli, Karen (PI Holdings)	$50,000
Orexo US Inc.	$50,000
Pharmaceutical Care Management Association	$50,000
Rent-a-Center	$50,000
Smith and Wesson	$50,000
Starpoint Resort Group	$50,000
The Capital Corporation	$50,000
Willoughby and Hoefer P.A	$50,000
Postmates	$40,000
Community Choice Financial	$31,250
Husch Blackwell LLP	$30,665
Daniel Defense Inc	$30,350
Global Teen Challenge Sober Peer	$30,000
Jones Day	$25,700
Holland and Knight LLP	$25,350
Abbott Laboratories	$25,000
ADT	$25,000
Alticor, Inc.	$25,000
American Electric Power Service Corporation	$25,000
Boeing Company Political Action Committee	$25,000
Brownells	$25,000
Charter Communications	$25,000
Dentons US LLP	$25,000
Foley and Lardner LLP	$25,000
Grant and Eisenhofer P.A.	$25,000
Herbalife International of America, Inc.	$25,000
Holland and Knight LLP	$25,000
HPUL Project Operations	$25,000
MasterCard International, Inc.	$25,000
National Shooting Sports Foundation, Inc.	$25,000
Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company	$25,000
Nucor Corporation	$25,000
Schaerr Jaffe LLP	$25,000
Services Group of America	$25,000
Sig Sauer	$25,000
TC Energy	$25,000
Teladoc Health Inc	$25,000
The GEO Group, Inc.	$25,000
TitleMax	$25,000
Venable LLP	$25,000
Vistra Corporate Services Company	$25,000

 

 

 

 

 

It is within your power to write the CEOs of these corporations to let them know why you are divesting. You will have to look up their CEOs names and addresses on the internet. What might you care to tell them?  A sample letter is provided below:

 

Albert Bourla CEO

Pfizer Corporation

235 East 42^nd Street

New York, N.Y. 10017

 

Mr. Bourla,

 

I have divested my portfolio of a Pfizer position recently.  I have also divested from other companies. And I will urge the thousands of investors on my mailing lists to do likewise. I need to tell you why.  According to these articles, “Major Companies Donate to Republican Group Despite Its Role in Jan. 6” published by Truthout August 4, 2021, and “These Companies Still Donate to Jan. 6 seditionists in Congress” published by AOL July 27, 2021. (links below) Pfizer Corporation continues to donate to RAGA, the Republican Attorneys General Association named as a coalition “partner” on the website of the Jan. 6 insurrection that preceded the riots at the Capitol. 

 

Mr. Bourla, I suggest you take a serious look at your company’s donation policies. While Pfizer benefits from the infrastructure of this country, it needs to act like a better civic citizen upholding its Democratic values.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://truthout.org/articles/major-companies-donate-to-republican-group-despite-its-role-in-jan-6/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=a025c326-3580-4a07-8e14-e9e3c7890cbe__;!!F9svGWnIaVPGSwU!4W2QsOpCHadIRyMzpclZxS7D0Wg5oUdIGRy1BCtU7RPL4hR8vw46L--6wI7PkEMv1P8nIDES$

 

https://www.aol.com/news/companies-still-donate-jan-6-202108738.html

 

 

UN climate report could be a game changers for climate lawsuits.

 

Activists block UK drone factory in Braunstone Town, 3 arrested. 

 

Protesters topple statue of Canada’s First Prime Minister for horrendous crimes against First Nations.

 

Indian mining community shifts from coal to frits and flowers.

 

Guatemalans back on streets demanding presidents Alejandro Giammattei, and Genrl. of the Public Ministry Maria Consuelo Porras.

 

Council of Haida Nation, Feds, and Canadian province sign historic agreement recognizing Haida inherent land title and rights.

 

Group of doctors and nurses launch aggressive bill board campaign targeting British Columbia ferries for burning liquefied natural gas.

 

Diplomacy, not bombs: anti-war voices say Afghanistan shows need to stop any further march to war.

 

Caitlin Johnstone: Afghanistan proves U.S. military needs its budget slashed to ribbons.

 

In stunning victory for public interest groups, the U.S. D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals finds that the FCC 2019 decision to retain its 1996 safety limits for human exposure to wireless radiation was “arbitrary and capricious.,”

 

‘Victory for Environmental Justice’: Review ordered for Formosa, proposed Cancer Ally plastics complex.

 

Appalachian defenders of homes, hills, and heritage unite against Mountain Valley Pipeline.

 

Lawsuit seeks to regulate plastic as hazardous waste.

 

Resounding climate win as judge blocks Alaska drilling project defended by Biden.

 

Climate activists target bank’s greenwashing in nationwide #DefundLine3 protests.

 

Biden reverses Rump-era policy, bans pesticide linked to child illness.

 

Biden Education Dept. threatens GOP leaders with legal action, federal probes over mask mandate bans.

 

Biden administration announces largest increase to food stamps in program’s history.

 

Progressives say ‘Do this for everyone’ as Biden erases student debt for people with severe disabilities.

 

Round one of Dem child tax credit payments slashed hunger rates, U.S. data shows.

 

Interior Department announces federal coal review, first step toward ending federal leasing program.

 

‘DeJoy and Bloom are bandits’: top Dem calls for removal of postal service chiefs

 

Jayapal slams conservative Dems over threats to reconciliation bill.

 

Sanders, and Barbara Lee call for opening U.S. to refugees from Afghanistan.

 

Sanders travels to Indiana and Iowa to pitch $3.5 trillion spending plan to working Americans.

 

New bill proposes cutting Pentagon Spending to fund vaccines for poor nations.

 

Voting rights groups file federal lawsuit challenging AZ’s new voter suppression laws.

 

Nabisco workers in Oregon, Colorado and Virginia strike for 8 normal working hours (not the 12-16 hours demanded of them during the pandemic).

 

Gov. Abbott (TX) caves, drops mask mandate ban enforcement in public schools.

 

AZ schools suing state government over classroom mask mandate ban.

 

Tens of thousands sign petition calling for Gov DeSantis to be recalled.

 

U.S. PIRG supports FTC antitrust case vs. Facebook.

 

Chicago passes union-backed bill for civilian oversight of violent cops.

 

Santa Fe will send some parents $400/month, New Mexico may follow.

 

124 organizations demand Home Depot and Lowe’s immediately pull cancer-linked weed killer following Bayer’s announcement that glyphosate will remain in Roundup until 2023. 

 

Ooops: while locked in a contentious battle of tech staffers unionizing, Times management’s counsel mistakenly sent its game plan to the union. 

 

Boise taps into free, sustainable geothermal energy and other cities could follow.

 

Solar powered refrigeration trucks will cut pollution.