the funnies

China just exposed Europe’s biggest weakness

Europe is facing one of the most important strategic decisions in decades. As Brussels considers tougher trade measures against China, deep divisions are emerging inside the European Union itself.  

Germany and Spain are warning against measures that could damage exports and investment, while France and other countries are pushing for stronger action against Chinese competition. Meanwhile, Beijing has issued a direct warning that any discriminatory restrictions will be met with retaliation.

In this GVS Deep Dive, we examine:

✔ Why the EU believes its trade relationship with China has become “unsustainable”

✔ China’s electric vehicle export boom and growing manufacturing dominance

✔ Germany’s record trade deficit with China

✔ Why BASF is investing €10 billion in China despite rising tensions

✔ The battle over telecom networks and Chinese technology

✔ How deteriorating US-EU relations are influencing Europe’s China policy

✔ Whether Europe can realistically reduce dependence on China

✔ Why Beijing sees an opportunity in Europe’s growing divisions

Is Europe preparing for economic confrontation with China, or discovering that its dependence on Chinese markets runs deeper than many policymakers expected?   

Pentagon protest court decision

Our appearance yesterday in district court in Alexandria, Virginia indicated how the Pentagon fears protests at the home of the newly declared 'Department of War'. 

We began the morning at 8:00 am holding vigil in front of the courthouse that was set in a part of the city that looked like it belonged to the elite class. Not a blade of grass was out of place. The buildings were grand - whether the court, hotels or apartment blocks. No trash was anywhere to be seen, which is unusual in most urban centers across America these days. 

I chose to take my banner that read 'Countdown to Insanity' and stood on a nearby corner where lots of traffic was busily heading to and fro.  Several older women out walking stopped to ask me what was going on with the crowd of just over 50 people (24 of whom were those of us who had the court appearances for our March 27 Pentagon protest and arrests).

Three of our original group of 27 were earlier excused from appearing due to a stroke by Patrick O'Neill, who led our March 27 civil resistance action at the Pentagon. Patrick is now in the hospital near his home in North Carolina and it sadly appears he has a long road to recovery. His wife and one of his daughters had also been arrested and were excused by the government from appearing.

Just after 9:00 am we were called into the court and sat through an hour of traffic violation cases before the prosecutor informed the judge that the government was dropping the charges 'without prejudice'. This phrasing is confusing but it actually means that the government can at any time re-charge the 24 of us and haul us back into court. (It's really a threat, a scare tactic, to keep us from coming back.) But the judge, a rather uptight middle-aged man, made sure to tell us that it is not usually likely that this would happen.

We also were told that the two Pentagon 'police' in uniform standing in the back of the court were going to hand us a letter telling us we were banned from all Pentagon 'reservation' lands for an 'undetermined' time. 

One of our leaders asked for a list of these so-called off-limits 'reservation lands'. We got no response. We were told we would be given this ban letter but did not have to sign it - but it would still be in force anyway. After things were all over we left the building and all of our 24 'now free' people refused to take the letter from the Pentagon police.

But before we left the court our dialogue with the judge carried on for more than 30 minutes. Essentially he told us that we were free to do as we wished but we'd suffer penalties if we continued to 'break the law'. If we wanted to really change things he suggested we go and vote. I yelled out from my seat in the courtroom 'Tell that to Thomas Massey in Kentucky' - the Republican Congressman who was just defeated for re-election by Trump and AIPAC. They spent $32 million against him because he had the temerity to repeatedly speak out against Trump's wars and his failure to release all the Epstein files.

It's more than obvious that the Pentagon did not want the 24 of us, from all over the country, to go on trial. They knew that we would attempt to put the war machine on trial for its many crimes. 

One of my favorite moments was when one of the men in our group made a loud statement that we the taxpayers were not trespassing - it was the Pentagon that is now trespassing in Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and ...... 

So much for democracy in the land of freedom and justice. 

There is already talk amongst some in the Catholic Worker community about returning to the Pentagon again for another such action. I'll be sure to let folks know what comes of this.

We were proud to be part of the March 27 protest and despite the long trip from Maine it was an honor to stand with the other determined peacemakers as we demanded that the Pentagon stop its daily killing of people around the globe and toxifying lands which its more than 800 unwanted bases currently occupy.

Bruce  

Malcolm X : Expanding Civil Rights to Human Rights

While touring Africa soon before his assassination in 1965 Malcolm X was urging leaders throughout Africa to help black people in the US by reframing the struggle in the US as one being about Human Rights. 

By doing this it would give black people in the US the access to take the issue to the United Nations. 

Calling the struggle 'civil rights' limited their organizing avenue to the US Congress that was then heavily controlled by the southern racists.

Many believe this was one more key reason for the FBI to have killed Malcolm. He was turning the racism issue in the US into an international issue that people, particularly in Africa, could become more directly involved.

Candace takes on data centers

A data center twice the size of Manhattan just got approved in Utah — over 4,000 public objections. Candace Owens connects the dots between the sudden push for Trump's White House "ballroom," the surveillance state being built in plain sight, and Turning Point USA's increasingly strange ties to the military.

West Virginia data center fight

Mingo County, West Virginia, was once thriving, but the coal industry’s decline left it one of the poorest counties in the US. Now, multiple data centers could be built in the region.Are data centers a new extractive industry, or will they provide a much-needed economic lifeline?

This story was produced by More Perfect Union in partnership with 100 Days in Appalachia, an independent, non-profit digital news publication. 

On the way to court in Alexandria for Pentagon protest & arrests

On March 27 of this year I was arrested at the Pentagon along with 26 others for protesting against Trump & Hegseth's ugly endless war$.

Our date for appearance in the Alexandria, Virginia court room that handles Pentagon cases will be on June 4 at 9:00 am.

Our group of four from Maine (including MB, Lisa and Mark) will all be traveling to Alexandria. We have no idea what the court intends to offer us.

My daily war updates will be on hold until I get back over the coming weekend. (I've scheduled other posts here while away so please keep visiting.)

Many thanks and keep paddling.

Bruce

Media Advisory

WASHINGTON, D.C. 

Contact: Paul Magno, 202-321-6650, pmagno56@gmail.com

Peace Activists Arrested During Prayer Protest at Pentagon Appear in Court Thursday, June 4th

The activists are scheduled to appear at the Albert V. Bryan U.S. Courthouse, 401 Courthouse Square, Alexandria, Virginia.  An 8:00 am vigil in front of the courthouse will precede their court appearance.

On the morning of March 27, 2026, 27 activists, many of whom are members of the Catholic Worker Movement that shelters the homeless, processed to the Pentagon’s southeast entrance near the Metro stop. 

The group, which calls itself the 'Pentagon 27', carried signs that read: “Love your enemies,” “Put up the sword. -Jesus,” “Catholic Workers say: Peace Now!,” “War is a sacrilege.- Pope Francis,” “Support Peace!,” "Countdown to insanity," and “Your wars will kill us all.” 

They assembled on the right-hand side of the Pentagon entrance to protest, they said, the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran—a war His Holiness Pope Leo XIV declared unjust, immoral, in violation of international law, and against the Gospel. Standing or kneeling, they began to sing and pray for peace. All 27 were arrested without incident and charged with interfering with agency functions.

The Pentagon 27 will contend in court that their peaceful actions are protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act of 1993. They will also contend that nonviolent and prayerful means to promote peace are religious obligations for faithful Roman Catholics and other spiritual traditions.

POPE LEO XIV’S ENCOURAGEMENT TO ACTIVELY RESIST WAR. 

In his recent encyclical, Magnifica Humanitas, Pope Leo XIV condemned the increasing pervasiveness of the military industrial complex in our society and the use of AI in war. “AI does not remove the intrinsic inhumanity of conflict; indeed it can only bring about conflict more quickly and render it more impersonal, lowering the threshold for resorting to violence, transforming defense into threat prediction and thus reducing victims to data,” the pontiff wrote.

Magnifica Humanitas ¶198.

Consequently, Pope Leo encouraged people of goodwill to continue actively resisting war and injustice: “Even in the darkest nights, the Lord raises up men and women who refuse to give up, who persevere in doing good, who protect the vulnerable and open pathways to reconciliation. The memory of the saints, righteous people and the oft forgotten peacemakers, show us that grace does not magically eliminate conflict, but instead it inspires active resistance to evil and an astonishing creativity in doing good.” Id. ¶211.

The Pentagon 27 did exactly this on March 27, as an expression of their faith. 

Congo the most stolen from place on the Earth

 

Over six million people dead in Congo over the 30 year genocide. 

It's the most valuable piece of land on this Earth. 

The western imperial 'former powers' still can't let go of their dirty evil modus operandi. Thus they keep robbing and stealing and killing Africans and others around the globe that sit on vast resources. The US-NATO-EU-Israel-UAE are pirates.