We Need A New John Brown

by C.A. Matthews

You never know what you’ll come across at your local library. I’m just surprised we didn’t come across this DVD earlier. You may have seen The Good Lord Bird, a mini-series of seven episodes based on the novel by James McBride of the same name. It played on Showtime about six years ago, but we hadn’t seen it, and it sounded like an interesting title.

As we watched the series, I started thinking about the state of things today and how it’s a good time to watch a show about an abolitionist who literally shook up a nation. John Brown is often credited with being one of the main catalysts that started the American Civil War. I think his experiences as an activist could teach us a lot.

Ethan Hawke gives a stunning performance as a man who wouldn’t take no for an answer when it came to doing whatever he deemed necessary to end slavery. A self-described “militant Christian,” Brown wasn’t afraid to use force if he felt it would gain the freedom of the enslaved. But was he as “crazy” and dangerously impulsive as he’s been described? We’ll never know for certain, but Brown was both revered and feared in equal measure throughout his lifetime—and even beyond—so much so that he often warrants only a short footnote in a high school history text.

It seems American activists who aren’t afraid to stand up to the immoral powers-that-be in Washington DC aren’t people we’re supposed to learn about. Funny that.

The Good Lord Bird is a fictionalized account of John Brown’s last days, but the show stealer is a precocious enslaved boy, Henry a.k.a. “Onion”, portrayed to perfection by Joshua Caleb Johnson. Somehow Henry is mistaken for a girl after his father is killed in one of Brown’s shoot outs with slave owners. Contrite, Brown “adopts Henrietta” as his own child. Henry is an excellent narrator of the saga, telling us all he experiences with innocence and passion. He follows the resolute John Brown and his sons, along with an “army” of a dozen or so whites, blacks, and even a Native American to their ultimate confrontation with the pro-slavery government troops at the Harpers Ferry federal armory.

Watching this story of John Brown’s life got me thinking: We really could use a “new John Brown” in the US. We need a compassionate and courageous leader who isn’t afraid to tell truth to power. It doesn’t have to be an middle-aged, white male, either. It could be a “Joanna Brown” or a person of any age, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender identity. And why settle for one when we could use dozens of John Browns spread across the country? Americans definitely need charismatic and decisive leaders who aren’t afraid to take their “troops” into battle against the evil foe of the oligarchy.

What characteristics should we look for in this new John Brown(s)? I say that one thing in activism that has been ignored in recent years is...

 

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Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. —Martin Luther

What Are You Thankful For?

words and holiday parade photos by C.A. Matthews

About this time of the year in the good ol’ USA there comes a national holiday that pretty much is celebrated by all Americans (except for Jehovah Witnesses, of course). It seems a benign enough harvest-time holiday with no overtly religious overtones, but with some covertly religious ones for those who partake. Americans of all persuasions and socio-economic backgrounds celebrate this holiday, with or without help from their local food pantry or soup kitchen.

This national holiday is called “Thanksgiving.” It was supposedly the brain child of English colonists who invited the local Native Americans over for a grand meal in thanks for the Native’s assistance they unwittingly gave their white invaders. If it hadn’t been for the kindness of the Native Americans, the English colonists would have completely died off their first winter at the Massachusetts Bay colony. Later, the Natives would come to regret their good manners when the Europeans stole their land and passed small pox on to them, but white historians conveniently leave out all those unpleasant details.

Instead, historians have chosen to emphasize the happier aspects of the Thanksgiving feast—good food, togetherness, neighborliness, and sharing leftovers with anyone who’ll take them off your hands so you’re not stuck eating turkey for the next three weeks. These aspects make it a pretty nifty national holiday to celebrate in the short, dark, and damp days of late autumn in North America—as others called “Canucks” also celebrate this harvest festival about a month earlier. (Apparently they forget the calendar includes months after October.) Thus, border families of mix American-Canadian heritage have the chance to eat two Thanksgiving dinners, with the added bonus of putting on enough blubber to survive the arctic onslaught of the coming winter.

While everyone sits around the dinner table feasting on the traditional meal of roast turkey and stuffing—which is no where close to the supposed original Thanksgiving feast of venison and seafood—guests are supposed to share what they are thankful for in their lives. This is when the problems begin.

In presidential election years, Americans with big mouths not filled with mashed potatoes and gravy might make mention of how thankful they are their favorite presidential candidate won the recent contest. Others, who are not feeling quite so happy about this outcome, will then attack the sanity of the first party and call them some rather nasty names. The atmosphere of Thanksgiving thankfulness will immediately evaporate. Thrown bread rolls and tossed turkey drumsticks can be turned into semi-lethal weapons if calmer heads don’t quickly prevail.

This is why on pain of having a pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream thrown in their face that most Americans do their best not to bring up politics at Thanksgiving. No one is more thankful than the hosts of the traditional meal that politics have been left where they belong—in the trash can out back—before entering their home. With dinner table small talk limited to sports, the latest Hollywood blockbuster, and how everyone will go about losing all the weight they’ll gain from gorging on turkey and several desserts, the day proceeds much more smoothly than things did ultimately between the Native Americans and the English colonists.

So, here it is another US presidential election year and Thanksgiving approaches. This begs the question for Americans and Non-Americans alike: What are you thankful for?

 

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Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. —Jesus of Nazareth, Matthew 17:20

Moving Mountains

by C. A. Matthews

“How do we do this? How do we make things right?” a friend earnestly asked me the other day.

I had just bombarded her with facts about what’s actually happening in Palestine and Lebanon. I told her the latest death toll estimate in Gaza—approximately 200,000+—and emphasized that it was probably on the low side since so many are still missing under the rubble and so many have been shredded by bombs into unrecognizable bits. I could tell that she was distressed at the news, but I told it to her anyway. I felt like she really needed to know.

After I got home, I regretted overwhelming my friend with so much information at once. She probably hadn’t been following the genocide in Gaza over the past year as closely as I had. She probably gets her information from mainstream media sources, not independent journalists like I do.

Hearing too much bad news at once can be quite a shock to the system. I owe her a big apology. I’ll try to make it up to her somehow, but how? I can’t change the statistics or the stories of whole families being wiped out in Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon, can I?

How do we make things right?

This haunting question echoes in my mind...

 

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Happy Co-Dependence Day, America (Boiling Frogs)

 

Happy Co-Dependence Day, America

(Boiling Frogs)

by C.A. Matthews

The story goes that you can boil a live frog, but you have to go about it the right way or else the frog will jump out of the pot. So, you start with the frog not sitting in boiling water, but sitting in a nice, relaxing bath of lukewarm water instead. Then you slowly, slowly turn up the heat under the pot. Since the frog enjoys sitting in their mini-hot tub, they don’t react and just stay there, slowly falling asleep in the hot water until it’s too late. They boil alive.

Not a very pretty picture, is it?

The boiling frog analogy keeps coming to mind whenever I contemplate this past week’s 100 degree plus Fahrenheit temperatures and hazardous 300 air quality index forecasts in the continental US. Americans are definitely in the second frog scenario. We’re happy to sit and relax in our gradually warming hot tub until we’re boiled alive or choked on the dust and pollutants from firestorms. We’re not even trying to hop out of the pot.

Worst yet, we completely trust our boilers, that is, our corrupt status quo politicians. We let them do whatever they like—and they love to please their corporate masters. We all acknowledge that burning fossil fuels has caused this global warming that is, in turn, intensifying the forest fires in Canada and elsewhere.

But we boiling frogs are happy to let our rulers take lobbyists’ money and pass legislation to allow BP, Chevron, Exxon and all the rest to drill for more oil. We’re not fighting back. We’re not hopping out of the pot, even though they’re slowly killing us.

Americans are acting as foolishly as those fatalistic frogs sitting in a pot of boiling water.

What’s wrong with us, America? Did our so-called “Founding Fathers” raise a bunch of wimps? A bunch of collaborators with corporatists? A bunch of Stockholm Syndrome sufferers?

On July the Fourth, this our supposed “Independence Day,” we act like we’re okay with not being...well, independent.

Americans seem to enjoy force-fed propaganda from our government's own version of the dystopian novel 1984’s Ministry of Truth. We’re good listening to and accepting outright lies as long as we’re comfortable in our hot water bath that isn’t quite boiling—yet.

Whenever a politician on a cable news network says, “The economy is doing great!” we take him at his word although we’re struggling to pay bills. Like good little boiling frogs we’ll even consider voting for the idiot! No push back, no demand for him to stop gaslighting us—we’ve convinced ourselves that the status quo always knows what’s best for us, even when it knows jack-shit.

And trust the evil sycophants of the mainstream media to chime in and give their stamp of approval to every half-ass thing our billionaire-bought-and-owned public officials try to pull over on us. Just watch them as they never question these fallacious statements:

“War is peace!” the warmongers claim as the bodies of soldiers and innocent civilians pile up.

“We had to cancel the election/primary in order to save democracy!” the politicians state because they can’t risk an upstart entering the race who could overturn their apple cart of lobbyist money.

“The US has the best medical care in the world!” (That money can buy, that is. Big Pharma lobbyists gave Biden $41 million in 2020 to run for office. Don’t worry—they gave Trump $21 million!)

“What homelessness? What horrible rents?” say the status quo sycophants who have never been hungry or without a bed to sleep in and would never be caught associating with poor Americans who have experienced such a perilous situation.

These quasi-journalists can’t wait to soft pedal their interviews with bigwig politicos and make brownie points with the establishment so they, too, can become a permanent part of that bourgeoisie class. And boiling frogs—I mean, Americans—just keep eating these lies up.

What is wrong with us? Didn’t our ancestors 247 years ago tell British soldiers to get the hell off their land and let them be their own bosses? Americans of today seem to want others to do all the thinking for them, even if it means others’ thinking is boiling us alive. We apparently give no thought to how silly or mentally-incompetent we appear to others, either.

Observing videos of the protests and riots in France this past week, I’m impressed at how much the French don’t act like Americans. They don’t act like boiling frogs (no offense intended) waiting to be eaten. A young man of Algerian descent was killed by police in a suburb of Paris on Tuesday, and the response was explosive before the end of the week. 

There are fires and protests in every major city in France. Cars burning. Mayor’s mansions burning. Town halls burning. Police stations burning—as well they should. Seventeen year old Nahel's cold-blooded murder by police was part of a well-established pattern. In recent times, French police have arrested and killed persons of color at an alarming percentage compared to the majority white populace. No one in leadership has addressed this terrible issue. Perhaps now they will.

Three years ago, Americans marched and shouted “Black lives matter!” for a couple of months after the death of George Floyd and then stopped. Why? There are just too many deaths to mourn and protest. After a while they all start to blur together, don’t they? We just send our thoughts and prayers now and get back to sitting in our pot-shaped hot tubs like good little frogs waiting for the water to boil. 

Americans don’t stand up for themselves against the corrupt system. We don't want to cause our corporate masters any problems it seems. We don't burn nearly as many things as the French do, or the Belgians, or the Dutch, or the Swiss, or the...

Banks are burning in France.

Can you imagine Americans actually striking back at the bastards at BlackStone who have made it impossible for them to buy a home? I can hear the excuses now:

“Nah, we’re fine with the real estate investment mavens sticking it to us. We’ll just live in our mother’s basement for a few more years until our bankruptcy clears. Hopefully we’ll be able to save up enough money to afford a down payment on a tiny apartment. That is, if we don’t experience a medical emergency that wipes out all our savings before then.”

For pity’s sake, little froggies! Hop out of the pot before you boil and show some backbone!

https://stopcop.city/

Mercifully, not all Americans are afraid of their shadow. They do demonstrate courage. The brave protesters of Atlanta’s Cop City (Weelaunee Forest) aren’t acting like boiling frogs. They're in the streets and under the cops’ noses, making their point known. They won’t forget the senseless murder of Tortuguita, one of their own. And yes, the corporate-owned politicians (who have made millions of dollars off this Cop City scheme—don’t let them tell you otherwise) are instructing their bully boys in blue to arrest and charge the protesters with “domestic terrorism.”

Ha! What’s a charge of “domestic terrorism” to a warrior trying to save the planet from the “frog-boilers” of the police/military-industrial complex?

Americans have got to stop being such co-dependents before we cease to exist as a people. Face it—our government and its corporate henchmen don’t give a flying f*** about our collective health and well-being. They’re only in politics for the money. They figure they'll catch a ride on Bezos’ or Musk’s rocket later after they’ve completely destroyed the planet.

We’ve got to treat these villains like our ancestors treated the British soldiers on their soil: We fight them; we push back; we don’t take “no” for an answer. Take hints from the “domestic terrorists” at Cop City, the French, and others. It won’t be easy, but at least we will be choosing life over the slow boiling death these billionaire bastards have planned for us.

Happy Co-Dependence Day, America. Get yourselves out there and start acting like an American Revolutionary from 1776! Learn what true independence is all about. You know you want to, because now you realize you have to. There’s no excuse for us destroying our children’s future. It's time to free the frogs from the pot before it's too late.

Related Articles and Interesting Links: 

Sabby Sabs: MACRON'S FRANCE ON FIRE https://www.youtube.com/live/g8oNhXo2PhM 

Unbelievable Images of France Burning! https://youtu.be/2XV9MdrcNF8

‘Stop Cop City’ Week Of Action Day 5 https://popularresistance.org/stop-cop-city-week-of-action-day-5

Stop Cop City Week of Action Showed Movement’s Strength Amid Rampant Repression https://truthout.org/articles/stop-cop-city-week-of-action-showed-movements-strength-amid-rampant-repression

Mobilize the working class against French police murders and state repression! https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/07/01/mcrf-j01.html

Are Migrants Really Burning Down France? https://youtu.be/9p2HOVKvUIg 

Cities burn across France as cops assault protests against police murder of youth https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/30/ivwt-j30.html

As Movements Like Stop Cop City Gain Power, Police Treat Free Speech as a Crime  https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/29/as-movements-like-stop-cop-city-gain-power-police-treat-free-speech-as-a-crime/

FRANCE RIOTS: 40,000 Police Deployed by Macron, Cities on Fire
https://www.youtube.com/live/A8Brb73OpjE

France is at War with its own People https://councilestatemedia.substack.com/p/france-is-at-war-with-its-own-people

New Docs Link CIA to Medical Torture of Indigenous Children and Black Prisoners  https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/01/new-docs-link-cia-to-medical-torture-of-indigenous-children-and-black-prisoners/

UN Expert Demands Immediate Shutting Down of Guantanamo Prison, Apology to Inmates
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2023/06/27/un-expert-demands-immediate-shutting-down-of-guantanamo-prison-apology-to-inmates/

Mexico Refuses To Bow To US Sanction Threats
https://popularresistance.org/mexico-refuses-to-bow-to-us-sanction-threats/

PSOE-Podemos enforcement of EU “Let them drown” policy kills another 37 migrants in Spain
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/06/28/knlq-j28.html

Supreme Court Keeps Navajo Nation Waiting For Water
https://popularresistance.org/supreme-court-keeps-navajo-nation-waiting-for-water/

Breaking: Supreme Court Ends Affirmative Action for Colleges
https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/29/breaking-supreme-court-ends-affirmative-action-for-colleges/

Systemic Racism and the US War Machine
https://scheerpost.com/2023/06/29/systemic-racism-and-the-us-war-machine/

US Supreme Court Strikes Down Student Debt Relief
https://popularresistance.org/us-supreme-court-strikes-down-student-debt-relief/

We can use stem cells to make embryos. How far should we go?
https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/04/07/1071121/stem-cells-make-embryos-how-far-should-we-go/

The Latest Honest Government Ad: Labor (The Shit-Lite Party) https://youtu.be/fHB0vDhdM3c 

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To Die On The Job Is To Die For America

To Die On The Job Is To Die For America

by C. A. Matthews

The only things certain in life are death and taxes--and dying struggling to make ends meet while paying those taxes.

Okay, I made up that last part, but it works, particularly for Americans. We've been indoctrinated (programmed) to believe we must give everything of ourselves to our employer--our time, our creativity, our talent, our family life, our social life, our health. It's sad when you consider that in other parts of the world workers don't have to make such difficult choices. They don't have to decide between whether to keep the heat on this winter or pay for a family member's vital medications like Americans routinely do. Workers in most other countries can do both and still have money left over to spend on their guaranteed six weeks of yearly paid vacation.

How did it ever come to this? When did Americans become so brainwashed that they actually believe their employers have their best interests at heart? Why are Americans willing to work until they drop over dead in their tracks? This odd behavior didn't happen overnight. It was centuries in the making. But now that the corrupt economic system called "capitalism" has become a part of American secular religion, why haven't more apostates cropped up?

My thought is that our limited public educational system has made sure young Americans are taught that "democracy" is synonymous with "capitalism," but perhaps the confusion between these words is changing in large part due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The propaganda line that our employers (and our government) are somehow always looking out for us has crashed and burned in the most spectacular fashion over these past two years of needless death and illness. 

Waking up from centuries of brainwashing in such a rough manner has thrown lots of people for a loop. But it's not as hard to convince workers in the year 2022 that their bosses are selfish, greedy bastards. The news--or at least the social platforms--abounds with stories of bosses firing workers for not reporting in to work while suffering from a potentially lethal illness. The Centers for Disease Control blithely changing their "tested positive, stay 10 days at home policy" to only five days at the request of Delta Airlines (among others corporations) further demonstrates that the federal government exists only to serve the capitalists at the expense of the workers.

"Essential" workers like nurses, janitors, daycare workers, teachers, grocery cashiers, restaurant workers, etc., have discovered they are "expendable" workers now that mandatory lockdowns are a thing of the past. If employers can't make the profits they'd like from their workers, then bosses threaten to hire other workers to take their place. Forcing sick employees back to their stations while forcing young students back into plague pits (a.k.a. "schools") so their parents can go back to work in person has fueled the pandemic and sent more adults and children into ICUs. 

Is it any wonder why the US hasn't vaccinated 100% of our population? Why should American workers trust government officials who change COVID policy at the whim of an airline CEO whose lobbyists keep stuffing filthy cash into these same government officials' pockets? Why should anyone trust private Big Pharma corporations who are making billions from selling life-saving drugs and vaccines when they won't even share the formulas with the rest of the world, especially the Global South? Are workers simply guinea pigs to test out new forms of pharmaceuticals and new forms of work coercion on?

The only bright side to this horrible mess we're still in after almost two years is this: More and more Americans clearly see how capitalists do not care one measly bit about the welfare of their workers or their workers' families. And more and more Americans want to see the capitalists pay their fair share of taxes, stop exploiting their workers, and stop destroying the planet with their insane need for profits over peace and life itself.  And some Americans are using their skills to provide a patent-free vaccine with the world.

That it had to come to this to open so many eyes is sad, but at least perhaps now we can all rest easy knowing that the almost one million American COVID-19 victims didn't die in vain.

 The CDC Says It's Okay For Workers To Die...

The “individual responsibility” narrative of vax, mask, shut up, and work is beneficial for the ruling class as it exploits our labor and our deaths for profit. In addition to vaccination, there are other safety measures that could reduce risk of infection in a pandemic, such as providing people with housing, workers’ democratic organization of their own schedules and working conditions, and paying workers to stay home if exposed. The ruling class, however, would never allow any of these options because they would cut into their profit margin. --Ending a Global Pandemic Should Not Rely On Individual Responsibility, Mike Pappas and Adnan Ahmed https://truthout.org/articles/ending-a-global-pandemic-should-not-rely-on-individual-responsibility/

Politicians of both parties have jumped on the COVID-19 money train. According to Business Insider, “as the pandemic raged, at least 75 lawmakers bought and sold stock in companies that make COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and tests.” That includes Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who grandstands as an anti-vaxxer while buying vaccine manufacturer stocks. --Should Biden Resign Over COVID-19 Deaths? Peter Dao  https://peterdaou.substack.com/p/daou-memo-should-biden-resign-over

Related articles: 

Texas Team Applauded for Giving What Big Pharma Refuses: A Patent-Free Vaccine to the World https://popularresistance.org/texas-team-applauded-for-giving-what-big-pharma-refuses-a-patent-free-vaccine-to-the-world

Delta Cuts Paid Sick Leave for Workers With COVID After Lobbying for CDC Change  https://truthout.org/articles/delta-cuts-paid-sick-leave-for-workers-with-covid-after-lobbying-for-cdc-change

Flight Attendant Union Criticizes CDC For Decision Pushed by Corporate America  https://popularresistance.org/flight-attendant-union-criticizes-cdc-for-decision-pushed-by-corporate-america

Seen on Twitter:

"They don’t give a fuck about you. They don’t give a fuck about you. They don't care about you at all -- at all -- at all."

― George Carlin

— General Strike (@WhiskersCrowley) December 30, 2021

BREAKING: The Federal Trade commission has approved a merger between the CDC and Delta Airlines. The new entity will be known as the Centers for Delta Cash and will offer free mileage points for every 5 boosters you receive.

— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) December 30, 2021

If I die from Covid after being vaxxed, boosted, quarantined, and masked, please put “capitalism” as my cause of death.

— Tyler M. Tully (@TylerMTully) December 29, 2021

pic.twitter.com/1DWeW429oU

— genxgmom (@genxgmom) December 30, 2021

***

You’re in good company.

You are standing with fellow parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles around the country, committing to protect our families and kids.

We are part of a large majority of Americans who are worried and support meaningful action to stop pollution and address global warming.

Together, we have the power to make our elected leaders act with the speed and scale required to protect a safe future for kids.  

Families For A Future will help you connect with resources and opportunities for meaningful action, however much (or little) time you have. There are many we can have an impact if we come together in our communities, and across the country.

But it’s up to you to be a part of building a call for action that is so visible and loud, it is impossible for lawmakers to ignore.  

Here are four things to know, right now.

• Global warming is simple. There’s too much heat-trapping pollution from burning oil, gas, and coal to make energy. Lawmakers have the power to stop pollution by rapidly replacing fossil fuels with clean energy. They need to act immediately!

• We have the technology to create a future without pollution. And it will be vastly better. Transitioning to clean energy will save lives, save money, and provide huge economic benefits, without sacrificing the lives we lead today.

• It’s ok to feel confused. Polluters spent 30+ years and billions of dollars lying to us and blocking solutions. They want us to feel guilty, overwhelmed, and paralyzed. But every one of us can take action and make sure others know they can, too.

• It’s not just about what you do, it’s about who you bring. We need more people creating loud and visible pressure on lawmakers. You know lots of people who care about their kids’ future! Talk to them. Get them involved.

Here are two things to do, right now:

• Follow @afuturedotorg on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. Like and share, but most importantly, be part of this conversation.

• Talk to your friends, family, and community over the holidays. Talking about it and is one of the most important things that everyone can do. As families gather to celebrate and make our resolutions for next year, this is a great opportunity to talk about concerns, solutions, how others can be part of building pressure for action. Here's a quick guide to help you have an easy and meaningful conversation.

We can do this. We have to.

- Families For A Future 

***

From Friends of the Earth:

The Biden administration has given Big Oil permits to drill on our public lands at a rate of 334 permits per month. That’s a higher monthly rate than the Trump administration gave out in his last two years in office. Take action now.

Candidate Biden promised to stop all new oil and gas leasing on our public lands and protect the people and wildlife that call it home. But President Biden broke his promise to the people that elected him.

There’s still time to reverse course, C.A.. I’m counting on you to remind President Biden who put him in office. You have the power to stop oil and gas leasing on our public lands -- starting with next month’s proposed sale. Will you use it? 

Hold President Biden accountable to the people: Demand he keeps Big Oil off our public lands! 

Sign Now

Soaring mountains. Singular rock formations. Desert landscapes. Countless geological wonders. These are just some of the marvels that make up our public lands. And right now, they’re all under threat. 

On your next trip to see America’s impressive landscape, you might find a massive oil rig blocking your view of the mountain peaks. Rock formations may be roped off to keep people out of a drilling site. You might notice the wildlife that lives on our public lands has been scared off by loud fossil fuel projects. 

Our public lands from Alabama to Montana are at risk of Big Oil’s destruction. But this fight isn’t over yet. It’s not too late for President Biden to stop oil and gas leasing. The only way to make sure he acts is by ramping up public pressure ahead of the next 300,000-acre lease sales in February. 

Demand the Biden administration stop selling off our public lands to Big Oil!

Sign Now

If the fossil fuel industry takes over our wild places, they will never be the same. Bulldozers will uproot and destroy native trees and terrain. Wildlife will be displaced. And the air and water will be polluted. 

More drilling = more fossil fuels being burned = worsening the climate crisis. There’s no excuse for leasing public lands to the fossil fuel industry while wildfires, storms, and flooding are devastating communities -- and we’re running out of time to stop it.  Demand that President Biden put wildlife, people, and the planet ahead of Big Oil.

Tell President Biden to keep Big Oil’s destruction out of our public lands!

Sign Now

Standing with you,
Nicole Ghio,
Senior fossil fuels program manager,
Friends of the Earth

 

 

 Great Americans?

by C.A. Matthews

 

"The Great Man" theory of history says that history is made by certain charismatic individuals. They inspire and lead others into creating a better country, world, and/or universe. Or not.

It got me to thinking... Who are the "Great Americans" who have shaped our recent history? Surely they'd be mentioned quite a bit in the media. So I thought I'd take a stab at it by scanning the headlines of my Facebook and Twitter feeds this past week. These are the names of "Great Americans" I came across.

Donald Rumsfeld

A lot has been written about the late Secretary of Defense--some of it flattering and some of it quite disturbing. Here's a typical summary of this civil servant's life:

Donald Rumsfeld just died at the age of eighty-eight. Obituaries at outlets like the New York Times and CNN consistently mention the same memorable but pointless bits of trivia. He was America’s youngest secretary of defense (in the Ford administration) and the oldest (in the George W. Bush administration). He wrote so many memos about so many subjects that they came to be known as “snowflakes.” Arriving at the Pentagon in the 1970s, the Times tells us, he became famous for “his one-handed push-ups and his prowess on a squash court.”

To see the full absurdity of this, imagine an obituary of Slobodan Milosevic that lingered on innocuous details of his office management style and fondness for soccer, or an obituary of Saddam Hussein that focused on how young he was when he formally became president of Iraq in 1979 and his favorite dessert in his Baghdad palace.  -- Ben Burgis, from Donald Rumsfeld, Rot in Hell https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70238-donald-rumsfeld-rot-in-hell

Here are some other articles reminiscing about Mr. Rumsfeld:

Donald Rumsfeld's Legacy Is Defined by the Disastrous Iraq War and America's Disgraceful Use of Torture  https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70199-donald-rumsfelds-legacy-is-defined-by-the-disastrous-iraq-war-and-americas-disgraceful-use-of-torture

Rumsfeld Was Not “Controversial.” He Played a Leading Role in Mass Murder  https://truthout.org/articles/rumsfeld-was-not-controversial-he-played-a-leading-role-in-mass-murder

Rumsfeld's Much-Vaunted 'Courage' Was a Smokescreen for Lies, Crime and Death
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70219-rumsfelds-much-vaunted-courage-was-a-smokescreen-for-lies-crime-and-death

What do you think? Is Donald Rumsfeld a "Great American"?

Mike Gravel

The late senator from Alaska made a name for himself when he boldly read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record. Straight-talking and peace-promoting, Gravel's most recent run for the presidency was actually started by his "fans" on Reddit.

There are many stories and videos detailing the life and times of Senator Gravel, and last week's blog featured one of them. Here's another:  Courageous Anti-War Truth Teller --Mike Gravel RIP  https://youtu.be/nmahus6SSfc 

What do you think? Is Mike Gravel a "Great American"?
 
The next one causes me great personal distress, but it's a name that came up repeatedly.

Bill Cosby

Mr. Cosby made the news again recently when his sentence for rape was overturned by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Apparently openly admitting in a civil case to drugging and sexually assaulting 60+ women can be easily dismissed on a technicality.

I grew up watching Bill Cosby on television most days. I loved his Cosby Kids cartoon series and especially enjoyed his "Fat Albert" character. Later on, he became even more famous as a doctor and family man on another long running TV series. That this "bastion of family values" could get away with rape--not once but dozens of times--makes me furious and sick to my stomach.

Cosby's release is more than a slap in the face to his victims--it sets a dangerous precedence that famous men of wealth can expect to receive a different form of justice.

Bill Cosby's Release Is Exactly Why Rape Survivors Don't Come Forward https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70200-bill-cosbys-release-is-exactly-why-rape-survivors-dont-come-forward

There's One Man to Blame for Bill Cosby's Release https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70207-theres-one-man-to-blame-for-bill-cosbys-release

Bill Cosby, Britney, and a Tale of Two American Justice Systems https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70254-bill-cosby-britney-and-a-tale-of-two-american-justice-systems

 What do you think? Is Bill Cosby a "Great American"?

Edward Snowden

Edward Snowden periodically makes the news with his writings, podcasts and video interviews. Of course he's most famous for spilling the beans on how the US government spies on its own citizens.

Exiled to Russia, if Mr. Snowden ever steps a foot again on American soil they'll lock him up the same as they have other whistleblowers. Our government wants to protect us from nasty truths about itself, after all. It's for our own good that we remain in the dark, don't you know.

Edward Snowden: Why Do Conspiracy Theories Flourish? Because the Truth Is Too Hard to Handle https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/70229-why-do-conspiracy-theories-flourish-because-the-truth-is-too-hard-to-handle

What do you think? Is Edward Snowden a "Great American"?

I realize that those who make the headlines aren't always worthy of the praise--or the slurs--they incur. Americans really need to start thinking hard about how they want our nation to be remembered by future generations of Americans (if there are any). Do we want to be remembered for Rumsfeld or Gravel? Cosby or Snowden?

Or perhaps the real question is, "Will we be remembered at all?"

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The 26th United Nations "Conference of the Parties" (COP) conference -- of parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change -- is scheduled to be held in Glasgow, Scotland, November 1-12, 2021. Click here to tell participants to stop excluding military pollution from climate agreements.
Here's the text of our petition: As a result of final-hour demands made by the U.S. government during negotiation of the 1997 Kyoto treaty, military greenhouse gas emissions were exempted from climate negotiations. That tradition has continued. The 2015 Paris Agreement left cutting military greenhouse gas emissions to the discretion of individual nations. The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change obliges signatories to publish annual greenhouse gas emissions, but military emissions reporting is voluntary and often not included. NATO has acknowledged the problem but not created any specific requirements to address it. There is no reasonable basis for this gaping loophole. War and war preparations are major greenhouse gas emitters. All greenhouse gas emissions need to be included in mandatory greenhouse gas emission reduction standards. There must be no more exception for military pollution. We ask COP26 to set strict greenhouse gas emissions limits that make no exception for militarism, include transparent reporting requirements and independent verification, and do not rely on schemes to "offset" emissions. Click here to add your name. -- The RootsAction.org Team www.RootsAction.org

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The fate of the open internet is in the hands of two Trump appointees -- unless Joe Biden acts now. Ajit Pai, who as Federal Communications Commission chair under Donald Trump led the repeal of net neutrality, resigned from the FCC when Joe Biden became president. Nearly half a year later and the fifth FCC seat remains empty. Meanwhile, two of Trump's appointees are still on the FCC. With a 2-2 deadlock, they can continue to block key priorities until the vacancy is filled. In order to reinstate net neutrality and protect internet users from corporate control, we need President Biden to fill the fifth seat.1 Sign the petition: appoint a fifth FCC member and restore net neutrality! ADD YOUR NAME The FCC has a long list of initiatives that can help ensure an open internet for everyone.2 It includes reviving the long-neglected Lifeline program, which helps ensure internet access for low-income customers. As the pandemic made clear, this is a critical priority.3 It also includes guiding federal funds for building broadband infrastructure in an equitable, effective manner. And it includes restoring net neutrality rules dismantled by the Trump administration. But the commission can't move any of these efforts forward without a fifth member appointed by the president. Congress has a limited number of days in session left this year, which means the Senate needs to get that member confirmed and the FCC up and running immediately. Tell President Biden: Help restore a free and open internet by appointing a 5th commissioner to the FCC! Thank you for speaking out, Tal and the team at Watchdog -- a project of Demand Progress DONATE Sources: 1. The Hill, "50 groups urge Biden to fill FCC opening to reinstate net neutrality rules," June 16, 2021. 2. Demand Progress Education Fund, "57 groups call for fifth FCC commissioner," June 14, 2021. 3. FCC, Lifeline program for low-income consumers, June 17, 2021.
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