Speaking Event in Deerfield Beach

MB and I flew down to south Florida yesterday from Boston and this morning I spoke at the Deerfield Progressive Forum.  Her brother lives in Ft. Lauderdale so we are staying at his place right on the beach (on the 29th floor).

My talk was about Ukraine but I spent about half of my power point presentation showing how the US and NATO are encircling Russia and destabilizing eastern Europe.  More than 60 folks were in attendance (including three snow birds from Maine who come down here in the winter).

It was a great surprise to see longtime friend Will Van Natta walk into the room.  Will was a lifeguard in Palm Beach County back in 1997 when NASA's Cassini mission was launched with 72 pounds of deadly plutonium-238 onboard.  In order to help galvanize support for the campaign that I organized against the launch, while working at the Florida Coalition for Peace & Justice, Will decided to swim 13 miles in the ocean.  His effort drew huge local media and I have always admired Will for that monumental contribution.  It's a perfect example that we should always do what we are good at to help build our movements - and Will can really swim.

The reaction was generally good to my talk but there were a couple of naysayers in the audience who accused me of being pro-Tump and pro-Russian.  There is a constituency of liberals across the nation who find it hard to shake off the recycled red-baiting now daily coming out of the mouths of Congressional Democrats, the CIA, and the majority of the mainstream media.

Leaders from the Deerfield forum took MB and me to lunch after the event and our hosts felt good about how I handled the 'critics'.  I have to acknowledge that it is really hard for many Americans to wrap their heads around the fact that our government continuously lies to us in order to sell their wars.  But in my lifetime I've seen it done over and over again - from Vietnam to Panama to Yugoslavia to Iraq to Libya to Syria and now the current demonization of Russia.

The pattern is clear to me - the modus operandi by the corporate criminal syndicate that runs this country is as clear as a bell.

Bruce