Remembering the redneck rebellion

Plutocracy from Scott N on Vimeo.

Plutocracy a film by Scott Noble

Plutocracy is the first documentary to comprehensively examine early American history through the lens of class. A multi-part series by filmmaker Scott Noble, Part I focuses on the the ways in which the American people have historically been divided on the basis of race, ethnicity, sex and skill level.

I will be showing various segments of this series over the next few weeks.  This is important history that most people in the US know nothing about.

Thanks to Will Griffin for letting me know about the work of Scott Noble.

Bruce

Bob Klotz: This Issue latest guest

The latest edition of This Issue features Bob Klotz from South Portland.  He is a climate change activist and was a key organizer in the recent GD corporate welfare bill campaign. 

We do an overview of the campaign to stop LD 1781.  Bob works as a Physician Assistant and specializes in addiction and psychiatry.

No Syria war protest in Bath

About 30 of us gathered in Bath yesterday for what was initially intended to be a celebration and reunion of our key folks who worked on the recent GD corporate welfare bill in Augusta - LD 1781.

But with the US blitzkrieg on Syria the night before we added a solemn 45-minute march thru the heart of Bath's downtown area and over to the Bath Iron Works shipyard where Navy destroyers are built.  We were generally pleased with the reception we got as we walked.  People silently moan about another US war but most feel powerless to do anything.  Seeing us out on the street encourages others to express their own feelings - no one likes to feel politically isolated.

Before everyone had arrived I was on the computer listening to a Pentagon statement about the attack.  The general doing the briefing reported that all US-British-French weapons hit their targets.

A Russian briefing stated that a total of 71 missiles out of 103 launched by the US-led 'coalition of the killing' were intercepted by Syria's air defenses while approaching their targets.

Following the massive US strike on Syrian targets, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Washington was "locked and loaded" to conduct new strikes against the war-torn Middle East country.

Haley said on Sunday to Fox News that the United States was not going to pull its troops out of Syria until its goals in the country were accomplished. She said that Washington's main goal is "to see American troops come home," but it is not going to leave "until we know we have accomplished those things."

My interpretation of Haley's comments:  the US is not leaving Syria until we are confident we've turned the country into a chaotic and failed state like has been done to Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and Somalia.

While listening to the Pentagon briefing on this 2018 rendition of 'shock and awe' I learned that four of the Navy ships that fired cruise missiles into Syria were the USS Monterrey, USS Laboon, USS Higgins and USS Cook - all built at the Bath Iron Works shipyard.  This fact gives many of us in Maine a clear understanding that we have a special responsibility to protest against the building of these deadly warships at BIW and to call for the conversion of the shipyard.

Following our march thru Bath we returned to the Addams-Melman House for our long-planned pot luck lunch (and it was a good one).  John Morris graced us with a new song he had written the night before for the occasion (see it on my Sunday song just below).

One big surprise was when Orlando Delogu (retired USM professor of law and expert on state tax policy) walked into the house.  Orlando was a key adviser and active helper in our recent campaign to defeat the corporate give-a-way to General Dynamics.

We all know that America is addicted to war and violence.  Particularly our economy has become addicted to perpetual war in order to fuel the voracious appetite of the weapons industry. 

Fortune.com reports:

Raytheon stock surged Friday morning, after 59 of the company’s Tomahawk missiles were used to strike Syria in Donald Trump’s first major military operation as President.

The Tomahawk missile used in the strike is made by Raytheon (rtn, +0.49%), whose stock opened 2.5% higher Friday, adding more than $1 billion to the defense contractor’s market capitalization.

The shares of other missile and weapons manufacturers, including Boeing (ba, -2.45%), Lockheed Martin (lmt, -0.08%), Northrop Grumman (noc, -0.40%) and General Dynamics (gd, +0.08%), each rose as much as 1%, collectively gaining nearly $5 billion in market value as soon as they began trading, even as the broader market fell.

So this is the deep sickness that now inhabits the soul of the American nation.  We've become killers for hire - a taxpayer funded war machine which serves at the behest of the corporate criminal syndicate that rules the United States and much of the world.  This is the reason why Washington is so hated around the world.

But Mr. Big wants it all - including Syria, Iran, Russia and China.  Those nations remain committed to resisting Washington's plan for regime change and domination.

What each of us does in the coming days will help determine the outcome of this timeless struggle to make the world a slave to the greedy and those who hunger for power.

Bruce

Photos by Regis Tremblay (click on a photo for a better view)

Sunday song

Shots heard round the world....

Here is a collection of comments I have taken off the Internet as people react to the middle of the night illegal and immoral US led attack on Syria.  

• The silence coming from Upstate " resistance " groups is deafening. Trump's biggest crime yet, but there is only silence. These groups and individual so called activist are nothing but proxy representatives of the Democrat party. A huge part of the war conglomerate itself. Until you stand against the purest evil known to human existence your endeavors are incomplete and indeed fraudulent.

• A one time thing? I wouldn't bet on it. Trump has established a dangerous new precedent. Now, terrorists can carry out fake chemical attacks without fear of any investigation, and expect American missiles to do their dirty work for them. We haven't seen the last of this by a long shot.

• We are now entering uncharted territory sparring with the likes of Russia and Iran.

• So we don't care that Saudi Arabia is killing a bunch of YEMENI children , and we don't care that Israel is mowing down Palestinians who are unarmed , but apparently we've had a surge of moral compassion for the Arabs in Syria. It's just so bizarre to me.

• Yeh... they WANT you confused, kiddo - that's what they're shooting for (no pun intended). They want EVERYONE in the U.S. confused and wondering who is REALLY the villain in the scenario they've orchestrated. Their goals are largely blown - taking out Iraq, Libya, now Syria, then Iran... but they're convinced they can get away with it anyway - because 'the people' are THAT fucking stupid.... the sad part is that they're probably right....

• Every time Assad and the Syrian army gain more control of their lands and succeed to kick ISIS out, Assad decides to gas some women and children. How convenient? Please, people use your brain cells.

• Ever notice how the NY Times calls Russian billionaires "oligarchs" and Western billionaires "entrepreneurs"? Such totally biased "journalism", if we can actually call it that. Likewise Trump is referred to as "President Trump" meanwhile Assad is referred to as "The Assad regime" I mean really, what dishonest, hypocritical scumbags.  

• Tomahawk missiles strikes into Syria last night were reportedly launched from a warship built at Bath Iron Works: the USS Donald Cook. [Four of the US Navy destroyers that fired cruise missiles at Syria were built at Bath Iron Works - USS Monterey, Laboon, Higgins and Cook]

• Wherever they were built - the blood is on all of our hands.

• A total of 100 cruise and air-to-surface missiles were launched at targets in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry stated, noting that two US warships carried out the attack from the Red Sea, as well as tactical aviation over the Mediterranean Sea and B-1B bombers from al-Tanf area.

• What is clear is that the Neocon-run Trump administration is willing to risk WWIII just to save it’s face, to look “tough” and to maintain the illusion of its relevance. It is also willing to commit the most odious crime under International Law, the crime of aggression, it is does that brazenly, with the supine, cowardly, silent support of almost all the western political leaders. Yes, the US is clearly spitting in the face of Russia daring her to “do something about it”, but Russia-haters should not hurry to rejoice. Because by ignoring the UN and entire corpus of International Law, the AngloZionists are also spitting into the face of every single human on the planet and proudly declaring “we are the Hegemon, we are above everything and everybody, above you and above any of your laws or principles. We are even above facts or logic. Bow down and worship me!“. It is now for each and every one of us to decide how to respond. Or not. Your choice. You will have to live with the consequences of your choice.
• Democrats are going to praise Trump for the attack on Syria.
• Can someone explain how the U.S. can claim that last night's bombing of Syria is a "one-time attack" when there were 100 air strikes?

• I am crying in anger because of the US actions towards beautiful Syria. I want out of this country now.
• I think I get it now. The Axis of Evil is aiming bombs at the Douma area, in order to destroy evidence. This is the same thing as shipping the WTC steel off to China, the same thing as dumping Bin Landen's body in the ocean, the same thing as demolishing the house of the Skripals and the restaurant they ate at. The US tried to get the UNSC to stop the OPCW inspectors from going to Syria and collecting evidence, but they failed.

• Will there be no parades in Greenville against war? I'll stand by myself!  Street lamps or not I'll be there!
• Apart from anything else, Trump's speech tonight just confirms that the US, along with its European lackeys, is the supreme danger to the world, and that US foreign policy should be the main issue of all progressives. Americans do not have the "luxury" of picking and choosing "their" issue. War is the only issue that matters now.
• Despite the scale of the recent US attack, it was clearly an attack made out of desperate frustration - an attempt to "fall forward" - tripping over its clumsy pretext while trying to advance its agenda. In the process, it has compromised its agenda further, and further dulled the propaganda tools it has overused in relation to its floundering proxy war in Syria. Managing the eviction of the US from the Middle East will be a slow, arduous, and dangerous process that will require maximum patience and persistence. The Syrian government and its allies' weathering of this recent attack once again proves that time is on their side and their collective discipline in the face of America's increasingly reckless foreign policy will continue to confound and complicate US objectives.
• There is no such thing as “strikes against the Assad regime.” The bombs are dropping on SYRIAN PEOPLE. Human beings.

'Shock and awe' all over again - U.S. is an outlaw state

Civilian casualties are being reported in Damascus as at least 2 residential areas have been struck by the US-led force's missiles.

These cruise missiles are likely being fired from Navy Aegis destroyers - some of which are built at Bath Iron Works here in Maine.

USAF B-1 bombers were reported to have also been involved in the blitzkrieg along with planes and warships from France and England. It is notable that Germany, Italy, Canada and likely other nations refused to be involved in the 'coalition of the killing'.

This is a war crime.

Who will stop the fascist US government from starting World War III?  

Bruce

See early Russian statement here

Call to prayer in Damascus ringing out as Syrian air defences targeted incoming US-led strikes. pic.twitter.com/6UK2QZghHR

— Haidar Sumeri (@IraqiSecurity) April 14, 2018

 

What does Putin want?

Sky News Australia hosts Ross Cameron and Rowan Dean chat to Emeritus Professor Stephen F. Cohen (Princeton and NYU) on the Skripal poisoning, the expulsion of Russian diplomats, NATO, Syria, Putin’s agenda and Hippocratic Oath.

“They say Putin personally directed this – I can’t think of a single motive…” said Cohen.

Statement from Syria

Syria-based British journalist Tom Duggan tells the truth.

Even the war-mongering New York Times is admitting that there is no confirmed pretext for war.  In an article called Pentagon Urges Greater Caution on Imminent Strike Against Syria they report:

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sought on Thursday to slow down an imminent strike on Syria, reflecting mounting concerns at the Pentagon that a concerted bombing campaign could escalate into a wider conflict between Russia, Iran and the West.

In the White House meeting, according to three administration officials, Mr. Mattis said the United States, Britain and France must provide convincing proof that the Syrian government used chemical weapons to attack the rebel-held town of Douma, where more than 40 people died and hundreds were sickened.

I've seen this same story reported by Newsweek and other media.  It's clear that calmer heads are slowing down this out-of-control administration.

Please do what you can to help.

Bruce

Corbyn makes strong peaceful statement on Syria

Parliament must be consulted... the Cabinet on its own should not be making this decision': Amid threats to bomb Syria Jeremy Corbyn offers a calm and more measured approach.

JC tweet: "It's vital that Parliament has the chance to debate & decide in advance on any govt proposals to support a new US-led military intervention in Syria, which risks a dangerous escalation of the conflict"

More Trump razzle-dazzle

Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 12, 2018

With an attack on Syria looking imminent, YouGov reveals only 22% of Brits would support missile attacks on the Syrian military - almost twice as many (43%) are opposed https://t.co/Fsa01RCi4t pic.twitter.com/Yy9QxSSBR1

— YouGov (@YouGov) April 12, 2018

Keep building the opposition - I am certain that the popular will is against attacking Syria.

I've been very encouraged to see on Fazebook the last couple of days that among my 'friends' (admittedly I've sorted out many of the 'talkers' - I'm interested in the 'doers') there has been a dramatic rise in efforts to stop the Syria attack.

Even one year ago many people were reluctant to really get into the Syria issue due to the power of the recycled anti-Putin red-baiting being done by the Democrats in Washington which has frozen many activists in place.  But that is steadily wearing off and Trump's mental instability has also moved alot of folks off the fence.  So that is all good.

What is needed now is more calls for an immediate cut in the Pentagon budget by 50%, the disbanding of NATO, closure of US bases around the world, and the conversion of the military production process across the nation to help us deal with global warming.  That is a unity agenda that should link labor, social justice, environmental, and peace movements.  This would create more jobs and help dial down Washington's imperial insanity.

But none of that will happen unless there is a unified and determined demand along with serious organizing toward this end.  This will require many groups to get outside their single-issue silos and make links and cooperate with other organizations.  We all have failed to do enough of this kind of work.

We have to dump the 'business model' of organizing that so many of us have swallowed.

Bruce

U.S. empire - heading into 'post primacy'

Video by Will Griffin - Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran and board member of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

The Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) has published a study on the Pentagon, funded by the Pentagon itself, which concluded that the American Empire is collapsing. The Strategic Studies Institute is the U.S. Army’s institute for geostrategic national security research and analysis. It is part of the U.S. Army War College. The study is called, "At Our Own Peril: DoD Risk Assessment in a Post-Primacy World". 

The kind of collapse is the open question.  Will it be graceful or in a flash of flames?  So far we are off to a bad start.

We all owe it to the world, that we are currently destroying, to work harder back here in the US of A to help accelerate the collapse of the empire.  Each time we fight for the environment, Social Security, against racism and poverty we help create the internal dynamic to slow Washington's bad behavior down.

The corporate syndicate that is running Washington does not care what we say but they can't handle a unified nation.  They keep us distracted, at each other's throats, and depressed as much as possible but our own personal resignation is also a big factor in why we are in such a mess. 

The American people have lost their fighting spirit (which is good when it comes to endless war) but doesn't help when we have to dethrone the criminal mob now in control.

Resignation has never changed the course of history but determination has.

We need each other more than ever.  Get organized.

Bruce

Trump threatens Russia - 'missiles coming soon'

Donald Trump today threatened Russia by tweeting:

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia,  because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2018

Fort Russ reports:

The US Navy P-8A Poseidon, which is a reconnaissance aircraft able to penetrate deep into enemy territory is carrying out a multi-hour flight near the coast of Syria, where the Russian air base Khmeimim and the logistics base of the port of Tartus are located.

The spy plane with the onboard number 168439 flew from the Sigonella airbase on the Italian island of Sicily and is now at an altitude of 8,000 meters, circling the distance of 40 kilometers from the air base of Khmeimim and the Russian Navy base in Tartus.

Its flight path passes over the international waters of the Mediterranean Sea. According to the Turkish press, 100 kilometers from the Russian base in Tartus there is also the American destroyer Donald Cook, equipped with 56 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the White House is preparing to strike Syria in response to reports that allegedly on April 7, in the vicinity of the city of the Douma, chemical weapons were used. Washington accused Damascus officially – but Russia had warned of a rebel attack being planned a number of days prior.

Maybe Trump is bluffing the way he did with 'Little rocket man' in North Korea but I'm not so sure about that.  The US-NATO have been itching for a pretext to take on Russia for a long time and they know their 'window of opportunity' is closing fast as the Moscow and Beijing economic and military alliance gets stronger by the day.  So if the Pentagon is going to attack they could figure that now just might be the time.

RT reports:

The US' reaction to the alleged chemical incident in the town of Douma has clearly shown it was the long-sought pretext to attack Syria, which was finally provided by the “White Helmets’ provocateurs,” the Russian UN envoy said. 

The alleged chemical incident in Douma was only beneficial for the militants, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, said, urging his Western counterparts to explain why Damascus would decide to do so. The purported attack was reported on Saturday, amid the evacuation of militants from the besieged town.

“This provocation was like a breeze of the fresh air needed by militants who received such timely support from the US and other Western countries,” Nebenzia said at the UNSC meeting on Tuesday. He warned the US and its allies against launching a military action in Syria, bypassing the UN.

“If you made a decision to carry out an illegal military endeavor, we hope, hope that you will come to your senses. You will be responsible for it yourselves,” Nebenzia said.

There is alot of dread out in the public.  People feel resigned to the possibility of the destruction of the world.  Our plumber was just at our house and he and I talked about Trump's threat to attack Russian bases in Syria.  He told me, "I have always thought that we'd blow up the world during my lifetime."

It's sad that the sick and pathetic people now running things in Washington-London-Paris-Brussels are contemplating doing such a thing.  One must wonder are there any sane adults left in the western capitals?  Where are their voices as we teeter on the edge of oblivion?

One can also wonder about the voices of the so-called 'liberals' who say they are for peace but these days are often the ones leading the anti-Russian demonization.

Now is the time to speak out - to make calls - to get others to react.  I am not ready to give up on life.

Bruce

More from Tucker challenging the two-party line on Syria.....

Tucker questions intervention in Syria, so Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) suggests he is supporting Putin.

Goes to prove that most of those 'elected officials' in Washington are carrying water for the Israeli lobby - they always talk about defending Israel and opposing Iran.

Thank goodness that usually conservative Tucker Carlson has figured out that this Syria attack plan is a false flag for more war.  This might just help slow down the war mongers a little bit.

Please share this video and check out this analysis from The Saker here

Bruce

Former Republican congressman opposes U.S. Syria policy

The assertion by White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders that Washington is "confident" that Syrian President Bashar Assad is culpable for the alleged chemical attack on the Damascus suburb of Douma does not stand up to scrutiny, Ron Paul, former congressman and founder of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, told RT.

Call Trump - No Syria attack!

Call Trump and your US senators and representatives.

They are all crazy in Washington.  Don't just sit back and wait for the worst to happen.  Do something now before it is too late.

An attack on Syria could trigger a much wider war with Russia.  Make the call now.

Tell them you are not buying the war talk on the TV.

Bruce

No Syria war!

Tucker Carlson is surprisingly decent on this video clip.

Make some noise and help build opposition to another war that could very possibly turn into WW III.

Don't believe the war mongering hype coming from both parties in Washington.

Russia is being pushed into a corner and eventually they will have to defend themselves.

Take a look at this article by Michael Klare entitled: The Pentagon Is Planning a Three-Front ‘Long War’ Against China and Russia.

Bruce

Trump's Syria "Withdrawal" Was Textbook US Deception

By Tony Cartalucci 

The US media is now priming the global public for US intervention in Syria following alleged "chemical attacks" carried out in the remaining pocket of US-backed militants in Douma, just northeast of Damascus.

This follows comments made by US President Donald Trump just 3 days ago in which he claimed he had instructed the US military to prepare for a withdrawal from Syria.

US forces had illegally invaded and have since occupied Syrian territory for years, with the Washington Post in its April 4, 2018 article titled, "Trump instructs military to begin planning for withdrawal from Syria," placing the current number of US troops at approximately 2,000.

The Washington Post also claimed that:

President Trump has instructed military leaders to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria as soon as possible and told them he wants Arab allies to take over and pay for stabilizing and reconstructing areas liberated from the Islamic State, according to senior U.S. officials.

However, just days after President Trump expressed a supposed desire to leave Syria, allegations of Syrian government chemical attacks on Douma have provided not only the prefect pretext to delay any withdrawal, but to in fact justify a US-led military intervention directly against the Syrian government.

While some have attempted to portray this as "Trump vs. the Deep State," it is in fact a textbook example of US deception described in US policy papers - a deception President Trump played a central role in creating.

Feigning Withdrawal Before Greater Conflict is Documented US Policy 

In the 2009 Brookings Institution policy paper titled, "Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran" (PDF), everything from supporting terrorists in a proxy war to staged provocations and full-scale war were planned in excruciating detail.

Included among the US policy think-tank's schemes was the description of a deception similar to the one now playing out in Syria.

The paper would state (emphasis added):

...any military operation against Iran will likely be very unpopular around the world and require the proper international context—both to ensure the logistical support the operation would require and to minimize the blowback from it. The best way to minimize international opprobrium and maximize support (however, grudging or covert) is to strike only when there is a widespread conviction that the Iranians were given but then rejected a superb offer—one so good that only a regime determined to acquire nuclear weapons and acquire them for the wrong reasons would turn it down. Under those circumstances, the United States (or Israel) could portray its operations as taken in sorrow, not anger, and at least some in the international community would conclude that the Iranians “brought it on themselves” by refusing a very good deal.

For Syria, the "offer" was a US withdrawal and Damascus and its neighbors "given" the responsibility to humanely end the conflict and stabilize the region. The "rejection" inviting the US to intervene is the staged chemical attacks in Douma the US is now citing.

Regarding staged provocations, the Brookings paper mentions them as well, claiming (emphasis added):

...it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it. (One method that would have some possibility of success would be to ratchet up covert regime change efforts in the hope that Tehran would retaliate overtly, or even semi-overtly, which could then be portrayed as an unprovoked act of Iranian aggression.)

Nothing could be more "outrageous" or "deadly" than using chemical weapons on civilians.

That such allegations of a chemical attack already served as a successful pretext for US military aggression in the form of cruise missile strikes across Syria under President Trump before, is precisely why the Syrian government wouldn't have carried out such chemical attacks then, and most certainly would not carry them out now - especially if the US was allegedly seeking to exit Syrian territory.

Chemical Weapons Good For Only One Thing: A Pretext for US Aggression 

The Syrian military with the support of Russia and Iran, have soundly defeated US-backed militants across Syria with conventional weapons. The only significant territory Syria has yet to retake is that being occupied by the US and NATO-member Turkey.

As it has been mentioned before, the extensive use of chemical weapons during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War - by the US military's own assessment - proved such weapons to be highly ineffective and inferior to conventional weapons.

Added to the fact that the US has sought to use the deployment of chemical weapons as a pretext for direct military intervention in Syria toward long-sought after regime change in Damascus makes the likelihood that Damascus is using chemical weapons all the more impossible.

There is also the fact that Syria has already turned its chemical weapon stockpiles over under a Russian-brokered deal which was overseen by the United Nations itself.

Reading through the 2009 Brookings document, the US has gone through all possible options prepared for Iran - but against Syria - several times over, but to no avail. Even the prospect of Balkanizing Syria appears tenuous. An attempt to revisit accusations of "WMDs" yet again, signals desperation across Western policy circles.

For those who have invested hope into President Trump - his role in a documented scheme to deceive the global public and make US military aggression appear as a last resort after apparently withdrawing from confrontation - is sufficient evidence that it is not "Trump vs. the Deep State," but that "Trump is the Deep State."

It should be remembered that recent appointments to President Trump's administration included prominent pro-war advocates including John Bolton and Mike Pompeo - both eager for a US-led military intervention in Iran which makes President Trump's recent calls for a withdrawal from Syria all the more questionable. 

Terrorists are Gassing People to Advance Washington's Agenda 

It is also worth noting that US-backed militants in Douma are essentially gassing people to advance the West's political agenda. This comes as the UK's case against Russia regarding the alleged assassination attempt on Sergei Skripal and his daughter unravels.

Considering Washington and London's history regarding false accusations surrounding chemical weapons - as well as policy papers plotting to stage provocations, the US and UK emerge as the prime suspects in serial crimes against humanity involving so-called "weapons of mass destruction."

It is becoming abundantly clear that in addition to the West fueling the very terrorism it claims to be fighting globally, it is also the West that poses the primary threat to the globe regarding the use of chemical weapons.

Plowshares action at Kings Bay, Georgia nuclear sub base

Seven Catholic plowshares activists were detained early Thursday morning, April 5 at the Kings Bay Naval Base in St. Mary’s, Georgia.

They entered on Wednesday night, April 4.  Calling themselves Kings Bay Plowshares, they went to make real the prophet Isaiah’s command: “beat swords into plowshares”.

The seven chose to act on the 50th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,  who devoted his life to addressing the triplets of militarism, racism and materialism. In a statement they carried with them the group quoted King, who said: “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world (today) is my own government.”

Carrying hammers and baby bottles of their own blood, the seven attempted to convert weapons of mass destruction. 

Kings Bay Naval base opened in 1979 as the Navy’s Atlantic Ocean Trident port.  It is the largest nuclear submarine base in the world.  There are six ballistic missile subs and two guided missile subs based at Kings Bay.

[The base was built during the administration of President Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia.  During his presidential campaign Carter hypocritically said, "The arms race is a disgrace to the human race."]

The activists went to three sites on the base: The administration building, the D5 Missile monument installation and the nuclear weapons storage bunkers.  The activists used crime scene tape, hammers and hung banners reading: “The ultimate logic of racism is genocide, Dr. Martin Luther King”, “The ultimate logic of Trident is omnicide” and “Nuclear weapons: illegal – immoral.”  They also brought an indictment charging the U.S. government for crimes against peace.

The activists at the nuclear weapons storage bunkers were Elizabeth McAlister, 78, Jonah House, Baltimore, Fr. Steve Kelly SJ, 69, Bay Area, California and Carmen Trotta, 55, New York Catholic Worker.

The activists at the Administration building were Clare Grady, 59, Ithaca Catholic Worker and Martha Hennessy, 62, New York Catholic Worker.

The activists at the Trident D5 monuments were Mark Colville, 55, Amistad Catholic Worker, New Haven, Connecticut and Patrick O’Neill, 61, Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker, Garner, North Carolina.

All activists were detained and will be handed over to custody of the Camden County Sheriff on charges of trespass and defacing government property.  No one was injured.

This is the latest of 100 similar actions around the world beginning in 1980 in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.



UPDATE: The seven disarmament activists are being held at the Camden County Jail in Woodbine, Georgia. They are currently charged with three Georgia state crimes – misdemeanor criminal trespass and two felonies: possession of tools for the commission of a crime and interference with government property.

APRIL 6 UPDATE, from the support team: At this morning’s bond hearing, we learned that our seven friends are being denied bond. This is bad news and we will explore an appeal. Based on what we saw, it seems that the judge sets excessive conditions of release for many defendants.

Find more information here

Sunday Song

Students and workers striking across France

By Richard Greeman

Montpellier, France
April 1, 2118

Not an 'April Fool' joke. Here are the facts:

Four days ago, (March 29) the ultra-conservative Dean of the Montpellier University Law School was summoned to police headquarters, interrogated, hauled into court, and held over in jail for arraignment by the Chief Prosecutor – all on the complaint of nine student strikers, who claim to have been brutally assaulted with Dean Philippe Pétel’s active complicity while ‘occupying’ a school auditorium.

The students, backed by live videos, described Dean Pétel encouraging masked thugs with wooden staves to burst into a Law School auditorium and violently expel a few dozen students who were ‘occupying’ it as part of the University-wide student strike. The thugs were videoed brutally beating students, even on the ground, and several were injured. The thugs then returned to the antechamber, where a counter-demonstration of conservative anti-strike law students including Pétel and several other faculty, was waiting. The Dean was videoed congratulating the bulked-out masked aggressors, whom no one was able to identify as students. The building was locked, but Pétel had the key to the antechamber from which the attackers issued. The complicity of other faculty members present is under police examination, and one has been arrested.

Within hours, the Law School attacks were all over the social networks, and student strikers, human rights groups, civil rights lawyers were busy organizing demonstrations and protests for the next day, framing it as a ‘fascist aggression.’ This epithet is less of an exaggeration then it may seem, as the tradition of law students supplying the thuggish muscle for extreme-right groups here in France goes back for over a century (as I recall from my student days in Paris opposing the Algerian War). As we all know, student striker complaints of police brutality normally go unheeded, and protests against them may bring down even more police punishment. Deans who ‘stand firm’ against occupiers get promoted. How then to explain this “man bites dog” reversal in Montpellier University (founded 1279)?

Today in France, twelve universities are already on strike, and the social and labor situation is heating up rapidly. Here in Montpellier, Université Paul Valéry, the Liberal Arts University, just voted an open-ended strike and blockade of classes at an outdoor General Assembly attended by over 2,000 students. So far, the mood has been temperate. Support for the strike is near unanimous, but there is deep division over the tactic of blocking classes, especially among first-year students who are worried about their exams (which will probably now be put off). Some profs are offering their courses on line and a radical ‘free university’ called “Vincennes2.0” in memory of Paris in May 1968 has been set up. The local high schools are also full of agitation, with two or three “on strike” and riot cops hanging around and making arrests. The situation is tense.

What’s At Stake for the Macron Government?

The paradox in this story is not the Dean Pétel’s more-or-less traditional role in the attack , but the Prosecutor’s outlandish decision to hold a venerable Law Dean in the clink. To be sure, Pétel, a youngish cocksure neo-conservative, was ‘asking for it.’ He at first openly bragged of his role, oblivious to circumstances and the consequences, and made the national TV news and the front page of the big Paris papers. But my guess is that the order to lock him up came from Paris. In centralized, hierarchical France the Prosecutor answers to the Prefect who answers to the Minister of Justice who answers to the President. President Macron, who has laid down a major long-term challenge to both the students and public service workers, wants to push through his reforms as quickly and as smoothly as possible. The social situation is heating up, and Macron is too smart to polarize the situation further and waste political capital on a far-right loser. He also wants to be seen as impartial and as willing to strike his enemies on the Right as on the Left (as he no doubt will when the student and worker struggles really heat up).

The immediate issue for the university students is President Macron’s educational ‘reform,’ which like all of his ‘reforms’ will be imposed buy administrative decree, rather than through the legislative process (which normally includes lengthy discussion and amendments). Macron seems to prefer ruling by decree, although he has a solid majority of followers in the National Assembly, having split and evinced the parties of both the Left and the Right. All his moves seem carefully timed, and perhaps he fears delay. Macron prefers the ‘fast track’ method, and his authoritarian, technocratic style definitely pisses off many many French people, but especially “the people,” who have long been fed up and are suffering cutbacks while the super-rich get subsidies (sound familiar?)

France now has five million students, and thanks to constant cutbacks, there aren’t enough places for about 20% of the incoming class. Hence the creation of ‘competition’ and U.S.-style admissions offices at each school. Moreover, although all French universities are under the administration of the national Ministry of Education, Macron wants to make them ‘competitive’ with each other, like in the U.S. So some schools will be “easier” to get into, but their degrees will be “worth” less. Both these ‘reforms’ are obviously unfavorable to underprivileged students, and favorable to the privileged. They are by definition “unpopular.”

Macron has also laid down the gauntlet to public service workers including to the venerable CGT railway workers union whose militancy is legendary. Last Spring, despite militant protests, Macron succeeded in pushing through, by decree, his reformed Labor Code, taking away seniority rights and legal protections enjoyed by private sector workers and making it easier and cheaper for bosses to fire them. This Spring, instead of relying on the traditional divide-and-rule precept, Macron proposes to take on both the five million students and the five million public sector workers (about 20% of the total labor force) together. He may have bit off more than he can chew, especially with the general population in a hostile anti-government mood and ready to support these popular struggles.

For in attacking the public sector workers’ alleged ‘privileges’ and proposing to dismiss them in large numbers, Macron is effectively attacking precious, popular public services which are used by the large numbers among the popular classes. Trains, subways, hospitals, social services, public offices, roads, etc. These services have all been subject to cutbacks, which make life harder and lines longer for regular folk, and now it is obvious to all that Macron is downgrading them in preparation for privatizing them to sell off cheap to corporations, as has already happened to the French Electric Company, the French Gas Company and to most of the French Post Office. They fear he will privatize the SNCF French railroad as Margaret Thatcher, his spiritual guide, did to British Rail (which is now expensive, dangerous and mostly late).

“From One Wild May to Another?”

Fifty years ago, in 1968, the highpoint of the French May Revolt was the conjuncture of the student movements occupying the universities and the organized working class occupying the factories under the discipline of the Communist CGT and other unions: the “student-worker uprising”, as it came to be known. But to those who lived it, the conjuncture never quite jelled, as the union leaderships mostly kept the workers barricaded inside the occupied and their student supports outside, minimizing contact and exchange. A big disappointment, as recalled by a number of 1968 activists questioned by Mitchell Abidor in his lively just-published book of interviews May Made Me (PM Press, US; Pluto, GB). Perhaps today’s student and worker activists are ahead of the game and will not let themselves be ‘divided-and-ruled’ like previous generations. Also, today they have the advantage of social media which allows them to bypass the establishment media, get out their information and organize themselves in real time.

Ironically, both this first mass demonstration and the Montpellier Law School incident took place on March 22. That date marks the 50th anniversary of the 1968 student occupation of the Administration building of Nanterre University which eventually set off a national general strike that shook de Gaulle’s authoritarian regime and send the General scurrying to Germany for Army support. Might something similar be in store for Macron’s France today? The public mood is somber, after long years of high unemployment, stagnant wages, neo-liberal chipping away of hard-fought social support systems and privatization of social services under Sarkozy (now also on trial!) and the “Socialist” government of François Hollande.

The echoes of the May 1968 uprising reverberate in the air. A website calling itself lespaves (cobblestones) has issued an international “call to converge in Paris on May 1st” with the slogan: “They are commemorating May ’68. We are re-starting it!”

What is your question to the general?

Suzanne Hedrick last night had the audacity to make a statement about US endless war at an event where retired Lt. Gen. Castellaw was on a panel at the University of Southern Maine.

The general is obviously not used to old women challenging the imperial project - which he says he was proud to serve - and you can see he had to work hard to keep his trigger finger in check as he berated her for daring to challenge the three-stars that used to sit atop his shoulders.

But congratulations to Suzanne - we need alot more citizens to rattle their chains against the profit making war industry and the huge (#1) carbon bootprint the Pentagon dumps onto our fragile planet.

The general should be reminded that the public is not required to salute him.

His bio reads:

For 36 years he led Marines around the world while flying more than two dozen different aircraft. Castellaw participated in humanitarian operations in Africa, the former Soviet Union, and the Philippines; served with the United Nations (UN) during the Siege of Sarajevo; commanded the American forces in the multi-national security operation in East Timor; and was the chief of staff of the U.S. Central Command at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His last tours were in the Pentagon where he oversaw Marine Aviation and then the Marine Corps budget.

Bruce

BIW/GD story still has legs....

I discovered this letter yesterday on the Local S6 Machinists union Facebook page.  Immediately after the state legislature in Maine approved the General Dynamics (GD) corporate welfare bill of $45 million the company laid off 31 shipyard workers.  The union is not happy about it.

S6 is the largest union at BIW (representing over 3,500 workers) and they refused to endorsed the bill to give corporate welfare to GD after workers were evenly divided on the issue at a membership meeting.

Then in this morning's Bangor Daily News they have a top of the mast front page of the State section article entitled: As [Governor] LePage OKs $45M tax break, BIW union lashes out about layoffs.

The article states in part: 

One day after Gov. Paul LePage signed into law a $45 million tax break for Bath Iron Works, leaders of the shipyard’s largest union blasted the management for laying off 31 employees while hiring for new positions.

In a leaflet distributed Thursday at the shipyard, leaders of Local S6 of the Machinists Union wrote that the 31 layoffs announced Friday are in addition to 27 employees still out of work due to previous layoffs, whom Local S6 president Mike Keenan said Thursday have been denied new positions.

“It’s time they look at it through the eyes of the folks getting laid off,” Keenan said. “It’s easy making a decision when you’re the guy sitting behind the desk. Try being the person who’s receiving the pink slip … maybe they should look back at the words they said in Augusta.”

In addition I received a message this morning from Rhode Island journalist Alex Nunes (who broke the GD buybacks story and DeChant emails with BIW) who wrote:

Maine folks, I have signed a legal agreement with the Law Office of David Sinclair, which has generously agreed to represent me pro bono in challenging the Bath Police Department's denial of my Freedom of Access Act request seeking documents related to the planning of policing protests at the Bath Iron Works shipyard. As many of you recall, Maine Superior Court Justice criticized police in open court for allowing the department to be "outsourced" to the company. Police Chief Michael Field said he could not disclose information relevant to this case, citing a law that exempts documents related to planning for possible terrorist activity. David Sinclair told me recently there is "no applicability of the terrorism exemption with respect to your request." Sinclair is a former Bath City councilman and a passionate defender of Freedom of Access. This article I posted previously summarizes the details of the case.

See a Nunes background article on this story here

So on it goes here in Maine as BIW/GD can't stay out of the media.  Can there be any doubt that the Bath Police Department, some local media, and the state legislature have been outsourced to BIW/GD?

Expect more as the ripples keep coming....

Bruce

Remembering the U.S. directed April 3 massacre on Jeju island

The Jeju Island April 3rd incident broke out during the US military occupation at the end of WW II and lasted for seven years.  The Jeju April 3rd massacre resulted in the loss of more than 30,000 lives due to the US Army directed counter-insurgency campaign.

After gaining independence from Japan in 1945, Korea was in turmoil due to the failure of the policies of the US military administration.  The US placed former Koreans, who had collaborated with the previous Japanese fascist occupation, in charge of the country.  Army officer Lt. Col. Dean Rusk (who later became US Secretary of State) made the arbitrary decision where to put the dividing line between North and South Korea.  The US then tried to force elections in the south but people who wanted real democracy in Korea rose up in protest.  The US painted all these protests as communists and began the counter-insurgency campaign that killed more than 100,000 people throughout the country.

On Jeju Island the largely independent-minded peasant population was targeted by the US Army which directed a massive round-up of the people.  Jeju people were also protesting the US forced election in the south saying they had been betrayed as their demand for true democracy and real independence had been denied.  The US directed the newly formed 'Korean Constabulary' (largely made up of right-wing forces) and began the slaughter of the people on Jeju.  Villages were burned to the ground, people were forced into concentration camps, and over the next several years the extermination campaign began.

The story of the Jeju massacre was kept quiet and most people throughout Korea knew nothing about the tragic events until the full history finally emerged during the pro-democracy movement in the 1990's.  On Jeju Island families were severely punished if they ever spoke of the April 3 massacre so the truth was essentially covered up for generations.

The tragic story of the April 3 massacre takes on even greater meaning when you consider the forced construction of the Navy base in Gangjeong village which now ports Pentagon warships in the 'pivot' of 60% of US military forces into the Asia-Pacific to encircle China and Russia.  The resistance to the Navy base, now in its 13th year, is truly an outgrowth of the long-simmering resistance on Jeju Island to the US brutal colonization and domination of Korea which still continues to this very day. 

Bruce

Our killing culture in the U.S. started with the indigenous people

Agneta: Age is not a ticket out of the struggle......

Agneta Norberg lives in Stockholm, Sweden and is a board member of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space.

Please enjoy this important and wonderful documentary film about her life and her work.

This film shows protests against the ongoing US-NATO takeover of significant regions of the Nordic high-north country for military exercises in preparation for war with Russia.  Most people think of the Nordic nations as neutral but that is no longer the case. 

It is a timeless and universal story about peace activism.

I loved it and love Agneta's spirit.

Bruce

Weapons R us - the western allies

The Australien Government just released an ad about its plan to become one of world's top exporters of arms and it's surprisingly honest and informative 🇦🇺🔥 pic.twitter.com/bDKZU9KyzZ

— theJuiceMedia (@thejuicemedia) April 4, 2018

Israel's apartheid system against kids

This is purely a tactic to destroy Palestinian culture - it's genocide and illegal under international law, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Israel is an outlaw state and so is the United States that helps fund Israel.  The US enables all that Israel does that is illegal.

Where do we go from here?

media taken over  - Sinclair broadcasting

Political parties taken over
the lobby
now pushing the agenda

courts largely gone

jails

teachers on strike
books so old
falling apart
masking tape on them

'entitlement reform'
social security
medicare
medicaid
what's left of welfare
all to be
taken down

No corporate welfare

don't call military
'defense'
it's offensive

they want our
dumbed down kids
to go die
for
resource extraction

stop the killing
No little guns
or big guns

No corporate control

rolling the dice
for world domination
before Russia
and China
form a
wall of defiance
getting hot

it hurts so bad
to see the daily
cultural disintegration
people imploding
and exploding

everything falling apart

saw this story
in Vietnam,Yugoslavia, Iraq,
Afghanistan,
Libya, Honduras,
Congo,
Syria, Ukraine
among others

destabilize
controlled chaos
by Mr. Big

No corporate domination

They are bringing
it on home now
breaks my heart
see it coming
ear on railroad tracks
hear the train
everyone
going onto rez
population
thinning time

money trumps
everything
sanity, goodness,
protecting Mother Earth
honesty
fairness
$$$ is a sickness

No corporate lies

The world
these greedy
psychopaths
want to take us into
is a ring of fire
like Gaza

I can't
go along
with the show
and you shouldn't
either

change
in the streets
can you spare
some change?

Bruce 

Talking heads: Corporate media consolidation in the U.S.

The mainstream media is extremely dangerous to our democracy.

One voice - one message- one agenda - the total takeover of the US by the corporations. 

It's happening here in Maine as well - one man now owns virtually all the newspapers in the state except for the Bangor Daily News.

See more here 
and here

Alternative media is more important than ever.

Strong words from a Maine senator.....

A corporation wrote legislation to benefit themselves only. Classic. I guess that's just how it works around here. The legislature is being held hostage. Just because a corporation says jump, we don't need to say how high. So to recap the General Dynamics $45 million tax break:

~ Tax break isn’t designed to create jobs, in fact if thousands of jobs are lost, we are still picking up the tab
~ We don’t know how they will spend this $45 million handout because the corporation darts the question
~ Corporation hasn’t demonstrated financial need because they refuse to answer basic financial questions
~ Taking advantage of many state and local tax breaks already beyond this one
~ Parent company already has committed to at least a $100 million investment without this break
~ Profits have soared to $3 billion last year alone and CEO makes $20 million, this isn’t an emergency

I'm not against public investment to incentivize new job creation, but folks this is not it. There are better ways to create economic opportunity and better tax incentive programs that need resources.

By Maine Sen. Justin Chenette (D-Saco) who serves on the Taxation Committee that held public hearings on the GD corporate welfare bill.  Chenette was one of only two on the committee who voted against the bill and one of nine in the Maine Senate who voted NO.

Reflections on a hunger strike

I've had a request to share some words about my recent 37 day hunger strike.

I began the hunger strike on February 12, a few days after the first Taxation Committee work session on LD 1781.  I was laying in bed talking with MB and told her I had come back from Augusta so upset that I knew if I didn't calm down I was going to have a heart attack.  I knew the bill would be slow moving through the halls of the capital so I needed to do something.

Twice in the past I fasted for two weeks in solidarity with a hunger strike by Yang Yoon-Mo from Jeju Island, South Korea and another time in solidarity with friends in the Czech Republic who were opposing a US missile defense radar.  I always felt serene while doing them.  So the decision was made largely for that reason - to stay focused, sane and calm during this campaign.

I also knew that as an organizing strategy hunger striking can draw others closer to the effort which is something we needed to do if we hoped to have any impact.  When I worked for the United Farm Workers Union from 1978-1980 I learned how Cesar Chavez used fasting to drive the UFW's boycotts of grapes and lettuce across the nation.

When I first signed on to work with the UFW in Florida organizing fruit pickers I was sent to the union's headquarters in Keene, California for a month along with three other new staffers from Florida.  Cesar Chavez took an active role in our training while we were at La Paz and I've always remembered something he told us late one evening while in his office.

Cesar said, "We know our union is weak and that the agribusiness corporations know that the union is weak.  But none of that matters.  The only thing that matters is what does the public think about the way that farm workers are treated by the industry."  He said, we can beat them if we work hard at getting the public to listen to us and take our side in organizing campaigns against the corporations.

So it was the same with the bad corporate welfare bill for General Dynamics.

We didn't make threats or boasts that we could not deliver on.  We understood that the mainstream media would be reluctant to give us any coverage because of the power of BIW/GD.  So we had to find a way to get around the media blockage to reach the public.  We also knew that some number of workers at BIW were not happy with GD because of their last contract.  So that is where we began.

Another factor we discovered early on was that we were isolated within the 'progressive community' because of the fact that the bill was being sponsored and promoted by the Democratic party leadership.  Thus many liberal Democrats in Maine (including their activist groups like AFL-CIO, Maine People's Alliance, liberal churches and many environmental groups) were frozen because they would not go up against the Democrat's leadership. 

Instead we had to rely on the strong and widespread network of peace activists across Maine.  Because of our numerous peace walks over the years through the state we had friends from Presque Isle to Kittery - from Rangeley to Bath.  We reached out to all these folks and they began writing letters to local newspapers and before long others that we did not even know also began to write. (In the end we had at least 175 letters, Op-Eds, interviews, and articles in 35 different media outlets across Maine.  The letters to the editor are what really drove the issue home to the public and opened the door to other media.)

During the first two weeks of my hunger strike I went to BIW during the noon hour and at the 3:30 pm shift change to stand with my sign and hand out flyers.  Especially during lunch time I spoke with quite a few workers and began to hear their stories of frustration with GD.  As I started to weaken around the third week I stopped going to BIW at noon and just did the end of day shift change.  I noticed how at first some workers made snide comments but over time they became more subdued and respectful.  When I missed a day because I had to go to Augusta for another Taxation Committee work session some workers asked where I had been once I returned.  (Just yesterday when we were at BIW for the Lenten vigil during the noon shift change I saw one worker filming me with his phone as he walked out of the shipyard and heard him say, "This is the hunger striker" so I am certain that they were discussing my personal action as well as the bad bill during work hours.)

Along the way more than 30 others joined the hunger strike by fasting for a day or more.  Tom Ryan from Oquossoc fasted for 20 days and was a regular with us during the home stretch when we were spending so much time inside the state capital with our signs.

During the last two weeks of the hunger strike I stopped going to BIW because we were spending so much time in Augusta and I didn't have enough strength to do both.

People are surprised to hear that after the first week it was pretty easy for me to go without food.  MB kept me supplied with various fruit juices and fruit smoothies (twice a day) and friends were bringing me carrot juice and broths.  MB says I never got grumpy (I felt like I had one bad day during the hunger strike where I was impatient and such) but otherwise I was feeding on the collective spirit and energy of friends and supporters who were doing so much to help.  I was even amazed that after being in Augusta all day that when I came home I was eager to sit at the computer and blog about the day.

In the end our collective efforts made it possible for many in the public to consider taking a position against the powerful interests of BIW/GD.  We are increasingly finding in the US that the corporate agenda is dominating politics at the national, state and local levels.  We can't defeat that kind of power in one fell swoop so we have to be strategic about when and how we take these powers on.  I think our effort in Maine worked well for us - especially considering our weakness as compared to the money, political influence, and media power of BIW/GD.

I can't say enough how much I loved and appreciated the selfless efforts by so many Mainers who threw in with us on this campaign.  Thanks to all of you.

Determination and good spirit can take us a long way even when the odds are solidly against us.  We helped save Mainers $15 million (which isn't much to corporations like GD but to a struggling state like ours it is alot of money).

Keep the fires burning and always remember the most important job of a human being is to protect the future generations - our children, the animals, the plants, the waters, the air, the sacred lands.  Nothing could be more important especially as we increasingly face the coming ravages of climate change.

We've all got to find more courage to stand for what is right.  

Bruce

Sunday Song