Bulletin N° 967

Past & Present Social Structures

 

 

 

Subject:  The Impossible Mystification of Being.

 

 

April 10, 2021

Grenoble, France

 

 

Dear Colleagues and Friends of CEIMSA,

   

The second part of Neil Postman’s book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business (1985, 2005) focuses on our post-oral and post-typographic culture, which he calls “The Age of Show Business” and represents the “and now . . . this” world view of discontinuity embodied by Television culture, an “offspring of the intercourse between telegraphy and photography.” (p.79)

There is no more disturbing consequence of the electronic and graphic revolution than this: that the world as given to us through television seems natural, not bizarre. For the loss of the sense of the strange is a sign of adjustment, and the extent to which we have adjusted is a measure of the extent to which we have been changed. Our culture’s adjustment to the epistemology of television is by now all but complete; we have so thoroughly accepted its definition of truth, knowledge, and reality that irrelevance seems to us to be filled with import, and incoherence seems eminently sane. And if some of our institutions seem not to fit the template of the times, why it is they, and not the template, that seem to us disordered and strange.


     It is my object in the rest of this book to make the epistemology of television visible again. I will try to demonstrate by concrete example that television’s way of knowing is uncompromisingly hostile to typography’s way of knowing; that television’s conversations promote incoherence and triviality; that the phrase ‘serious television’ is a contradiction in terms; and that television speaks in only one persistent voice – the voice of entertainment. Beyond that, I will try to demonstrate that to enter the great television conversation, one American cultural institution after another is learning to speak in its terms. Television, in other words, is transforming our culture into one vast arena for show business. It is entirely possible, of course, that in the end we shall find that delightful, decide we like it just fine. That is exactly what Aldous Huxley feared was coming fifty years ago.(pp.79-80)


Postman begins Part 2 of his book by making a distinction between technology and medium.


We might say that a technology is to the medium as the brain is to the mind. Like the mind, a medium is a use to which a physical apparatus is put. A technology, in other words, is merely a machine. A medium is the social and intellectual environment a machine creates.


     Of course, like the brain itself, every technology has an inherent bias. It has within its physical form a predisposition toward being used in certain ways and not others. Only those who know nothing of history of technology believe that a technology is entirely neutral.

. . .

Every technology has an agenda of its own. It is, as I have suggested, a metaphor waiting to unfold. The printing press, of example, had a clear bias toward being used as a linguistic medium. It is conceivable to use it exclusively for the reproduction of pictures. And, one imagines, the Roman Catholic Church would to have objected to its being so used in the sixteenth century. Had that been the case, the Protestant Reformation might not have occurred, for as Luther contended, with the word of God on every family’s kitchen table, Christians do not require the Papacy to interpret it for them. But in fact there never was much chance that the press would be used solely, or even very much, for the duplication of icons. From its beginning in the fifteenth century, the press was perceived as an extraordinary opportunity for the display and mass distribution of written language.  Everything about its technical possibilities led in that direction. One might even say it was invented for that purpose.


     The technology of television has a bias, as well. It is conceivable to use television as a lamp, a surface for texts, a bookcase, even as radio. But it has not been and will not be so used, as least in America. Thus, in answering the question, What is television?, we must understand as a first point that we are not talking about television as a technology but television as a medium. There are many places in the world where television, though the same technology as it is in America, is an entirely different medium from that which we know.

. . .

Our television set keeps us in constant communication with the world, but it does so with a face whose smiling countenance is unalterable. The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matters but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining, which is another issue altogether.
To say it still another way: Entertainment is the supra-ideology of all discourse on television. No matter what is depicted or from what point of view, the overarching presumption is that it is there for our amusement and pleasure.

. . .

The single most important fact about television is that people watch it, which is why it is called ‘television.’ And what they watch, and like to watch, are moving pictures – millions of them, of short duration and dynamic variety. It is in the nature of the medium that it must suppress the content of ideas in order to accommodate the requirements of visual interest; that is to say, to accommodate the values of show business.

. . .

Our priests and presidents, our surgeons and lawyers, our educators and newscasters need worry less about satisfying the demands of their discipline than the demands of good showmanship. Had Irving Berlin changed one word in the title of his celebrated song, he would have been as prophetic, albeit more terse, as Aldous Huxley. He need only have written, There’s No Business But Show Business.(pp.84-98)

 

Chapter 7, bares the title, “Now . . . This,”  an announcement which postman explains is central to the thesis of this book.


     The American humorist H. Allen Smith once suggested that of all the worrisome words in the English language, the scariest is ‘uh oh,’ as when a physician looks at you X-ray, with knitted brow says, ‘Uh oh.’ I should like to suggest that the words which are the title of this chapter are as ominous as any, all the more so because they are spoken without knitted brow – indeed, with a kind of idiot’s delight. The phrase, if that’s what it may be called, adds to our grammar a new part of speech, a conjunction that does not connect anything to anything but does the opposite: separates everything from everything. As such, it serves as a compact metaphor for the discontinuities in so much that passes for public discourse in present-day American.


     ‘Now . . . this’ is commonly used on radio and television newscasts to indicate that what one has just heard or seen has no relevance to what one is about to hear or see, or probably to anything one is ever likely to hear or see. The phrase is a means of acknowledging that fact that the world as mapped by the speeded-up electronic media has no order or meaning and is not to be taken seriously. There is no murder so brutal, no earthquake so devastating, not political blunder so costly – for that matter, no ball score so tantalizing or weather  report so threatening – that it cannot be erased from our minds by a newscaster saying, ‘Now . . . this.’

. . .

     I should go so far as to say that embedded in the surrealistic frame of a television news show is a theory of anticummunication, featuring a type of discourse that abandons logic, reason, sequence and rules of contradiction. In aesthetics, I believe the name given to this theory is Dadaism; in philosophy, nihilism; in psychiatry, schizophrenia. In the parlance of the theater, it is known as vaudeville.


     The result of all this is that Americans are the best entertained and quite likely the least well-informed people in the Western world.

. . .

Much depends here, of course, on what is meant by being informed.  . . . [I]n America everyone is entitled to an opinion, and it is certainly useful to have a few when a pollster shows up. But these are opinions of a quite different order from eighteenth- or nineteenth-century opinions. It is probably more accurate to call them emotions rather than options, which would account for the fact that they change from week to week, as pollsters tell us. What is happening here is that television is altering the meaning of ‘being informed’ by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation. I am using this word almost in the precise sense in which it is used by spies in the CIA or KGB. Disinformation does not mean false information. It means misleading information – misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information – information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing. In saying this, I do not mean to imply that television news deliberately aims to deprive Americans of a coherent, contextual understanding of their world. I mean to say that when news is packaged as entertainment, that is the inevitable result. And in saying that the television news show entertains but does not inform, I am saying something far more serious than that we are being deprived of authentic information. I am saying we are losing our sense of what it means to be well informed. Ignorance is always correctable. But what shall we do if we take ignorance to be knowledge? (pp.99-108)


The author concludes his discussion in this chapter of the “Now … this” world of television, where “the fundamental assumption . . . is not coherence but discontinuity, [and where] contradiction is useless as a test of truth or merit, because contradiction does not exist” with an observation of the effect it has had on the public mind. (pp110)


     My point is that we are by now so thoroughly adjusted to the ‘Now … this’ world of news – a world of fragments, where events stand alone, stripped of any connection to the past, or to the future, or to other events – that all assumptions of coherence have vanished. And, perforce, has contradiction. In the context of no context, so to speak, it simply disappears. And in its absence, what possible interest could there be in a list of what the president says now and what he said then? It is merely a rehash of old news, and there is nothing interesting or entertaining in that. The only thing to be amused about is the bafflement of reporters at the public’s indifference. There is an irony in the fact that the very group that has taken the world apart should, on trying to piece it together again, be surprised that no one notices much, or cares.

. . .

     I do not mean that the trivialization of public information is all accomplished on television. I mean that television is the paradigm for our conception of public information. As the printing press did in an earlier time, television has achieved the power to define the form in which news must come, and it has also defined how we shall respond to it. In presenting news to us packaged as vaudeville, television induces other media to do the same, so that the total information environment begins to mirror television.

. . .

     And so, we move rapidly into an information environment which may rightly be called trivial pursuit. As the game of that name uses facts as a source of amusement, so do our sources of news. It has been demonstrated many times that a culture can survive misinformation and false opinion. It has not yet been demonstrated whether a culture can survive if it takes the measure of the world in twenty-two minutes. Or if the value of its news is determined by the number of laughs it provides.(pp.111-113)

 

In Chapter 8, Postman discusses the negative effect evangelical television programs has had on spiritual growth, and in Chapter 9 he looks at the extent to which television commercials have shaped political discourse in the US.


Among those lessons [learned from TV commercials] are that short and simple messages are preferable to long and complex ones; that drama is to be preferred over exposition; that being sold solutions is better than being confronted with questions about problems. Such beliefs would naturally have implications for our orientation to political discourse; that is to say that we may begin to accept as normal certain assumptions about the political domain that either derive from or are amplified by the television commercial. For example, a person who has seen one million television commercials might well believe that all political problems have fast solutions through simple measures – or ought to. . . . Or that argument is in bad taste.  

. . .

     Although it may go too far to say that the politician-as-celebrity has, by itself, made political parties irrelevant, there is certainly a conspicuous correlation between the rise of the former and the decline of the latter.(pp.131-133)


This chapter ends with the warning that, today, we have more to fear from information disseminated by corporations than from government restraints.


The fight against censorship is a nineteenth-century issue which was largely won in the twentieth. What we are confronted with now is the problem posed by the economic and symbolic structure of television. Those who run television do not limit our access to information but in fact widen it. Our Ministry of Culture is Huxleyan, not Orwellian; it does everything possible to encourage us to watch continuously. But what we watch is a medium which presents information in a form that renders it simplistic, nonsubstantive, nonhistorical and noncontextual; that is to say, information packaged as entertainment. In America, we are never denied the opportunity to amuse ourselves.(p.141)

 

Chapter 10 is devoted to a discussion of the state of public education, under the assault of ubiquitous television commercials.


     We face the rapid dissolution of the assumptions of an education organized around the slow-moving printed word, and the equally rapid emergence of a new education based on the speed-of-light electronic image. The classroom is, at the moment, still tied to the printed word, although that connection is rapidly weakening. Meanwhile, television forges ahead, making no concessions to its grand technological predecessor, creating new conceptions of knowledge and how it is acquired. One is entirely justified in saying that the major educational enterprise now being undertaken in the United States is not happening in its classrooms but in the home, in front of the television set, and under the jurisdiction not of school administrators and teachers but of network executives and entertainers. I don’t mean to imply that the situation is a result of a conspiracy or even that those who control television want this responsibility. I mean only to say, like the alphabet or the printing press, television has by its power to control the time, attention and cognitive habits of our youth gained the power to control their education.


     This is why I think it accurate to call television a curriculum. As I understand the word, a curriculum is a specially constructed information system whose purpose is to influence, teach, train or cultivate the mind and character of youth. Television, of course, does exactly that, and does it relentlessly. In so doing, it competes successfully with the school curriculum. By which I mean, it damn near obliterates it.(pp.145-146)


Postman concludes his book with an essay entitled “The Huxleyan Warning,” in which he focuses on the “hidden” ideological content of technology, as opposed to explicit ideological writings, of say Marx or Hitler. In this brief treatise on technological determinism, he writes:


Who could have suspected then that the automobile would tell us how we were to conduct our social and sexual lives? Would reorient our ideas about what to do with our forests and cities? Would create new ways of expressing our personal identity and social standing?


     But it is much later in the game now, and ignorance of the score is inexcusable. To be unaware that a technology comes equipped with a program for social change, to maintain that technology is neutral, to make the assumption that technology is always a friend to culture is, as this late hour, stupidity plain and simple. Moreover, we have seen enough by now to know that technological changes in our modes of communication are even more ideology-laden than changes in our modes of transportation. Introduce the alphabet to a culture and you change its cognitive habits, its social relations, its notions of community, history and religion. Introduce the printing press with movable type, and you do the same. Introduce speed-of-light transmission of images and you make a cultural revolution. Without a vote. Without polemics. Without guerrilla resistance. Here is ideology, pure if not serene. Here is ideology without words, and all the more powerful for their absence. All that is required to make it stick is a population that devoutly believed in the inevitability of progress. And in this sense, All Americans are Marxists, for we believe noting if not that history is moving us toward some preordained paradise and that technology is the force behind that movement.(p.157-158)


Postman checks his pessimism at the end of the book: The only hope he sees is to engage in the attempt to make print-based public education relevant to the crisis at hand.


The desperate answer is to rely on the only mass medium of communication that, in theory, is capable of addressing the problem: our schools. This is the conventional American solution to all dangerous social problems, and is, of course, based on a naive and mystical faith in the efficacy of education. The process rarely works.

. . .

It is the very principle of myth, as Roland Barthes pointed out, that it transforms history into nature, and to ask of our schools that they engage in the task of the de-mythologizing media is to ask something the schools have never done.


     And yet there is reason to suppose that the situation is not hopeless. Educators are not unaware of the effects of television on their students. Stimulated by the arrival of the computer, they discuss it a great deal – which is to say, they have become somewhat ‘media conscious.’ It is true enough that much of their consciousness centers on the question, How can we use television (or the computer, or word processor) to control education? They have not yet got to the question, How can we use education to control television (or the computer, or word processor)?But our reach for solutions ought to exceed our present grasp, or what’s our dreaming for? Besides, it is an acknowledged task of the schools to assist the young in learning how to interpret the symbols of their culture. That this task should now require that they learn now to distance themselves from their forms of information is not so bizarre an enterprise that we cannot hope for its inclusion in the curriculum; even hope that if will be placed at the center of education.(pp.162-163)

 

   

The 24 + items reflect, among other things, the communication crisis which we are now undergoing with a ruling class suffering a collective nervous breakdown in the face of multiple crises, left with an obscene quantity of money which they, of course, cannot eat and furthermore which only symbolizes their homicidal greed. This "legitimacy crisis" within the corporate capitalist class serves as a warning to all humanity: the imbalance is palpable and threatens us all.

 

We have never had greater need for quality education and commitment to authentic communication.

 

 

 

Sincerely,

Francis Feeley

___

Professeur honoraire de l'Université Grenoble-Alpes
Ancien Directeur de Researches
Université de Paris-Nanterre
Director of The Center for the Advanced Study
of American Institutions and Social Movements
(CEIMSA-in-Exile)
The University of California-San Diego
http://www.ceimsa.org  

 

 

 

a.

 « Science Says »

https://www.corbettreport.com/sciencesays/

with James Corbett

(1:11:54)

 +

On Totalitarian America

https://youtu.be/BesbZDeZeTE

with Dr Sheldon Wolin

(1:27:20)

 

===========

 

b.

 

Des réponses sur http://totum.page

+

"Elle est Pfizer"

(en trio mais à quatre)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6u64wRbZGk

par Les Goguettes

(4:35)

+

The Covid-19 Celebrity Humanitarianism – Sean Penn and the Great Reset

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/11/investigative-reports/the-covid-19-celebrity-humanitarianism-sean-penn-and-the-great-reset-funded-by-bill-gates-and-the-clinton-foundation/

by Vanessa Beeley

+

“Lab-Leak Hypothesis Could Reveal EPIC Screwup Of US, Fauci AND China”

https://youtu.be/zbKll37uA5U

with Saagar Enjeti

(10 :22)

 

===========

 

c.

Faced with ICC Investigation, Apartheid Israel Asserts Moral Superiority

Over The Victims of Its Terror

https://www.mintpressnews.com/faced-with-icc-investigation-israel-asserts-moral-superiority-over-victims/276490/

by Miko Peled

+

An Old Green Colonial Trick: Israel Masking Land Grabs as Environmental Conservation

https://www.mintpressnews.com/israel-masking-al-walaja-land-grabs-environmental-conservation/276441/

by Jessica Buxbaum

+

OUTCRY TO THE WORLD, FROM ISRAEL!!!

https://youtu.be/WMsn0bj_P6o

with Ilana Rachel Daniel

(25 :48)

 

Ilana Rachel Daniel came with an emotional outcry for international help from Jerusalem, the capital of Israel. At record speed, the government is vaccinating the entire population - including pregnant women and children - against the coronavirus. "Civil rights are put aside and people are not allowed participation in multiple places in society unless they've been vaccinated or in some places of work, after repeated PCR testing every 2-3 days," told Ilana to Flavio Pasquino in the BLCKBX studio via a live stream connection, who tracked down Ilana after an - even - more emotional audio clip on Telegram. Ilana talks about the Green Pass, the Freedom Bracelet, the mRNA vaccine and human rights violations. "Reminiscent of Fascism," said Ilana Rachel who emigrated from the US to Jerusalem some 25 years ago.Ilana Rachel is active in Jerusalem as a health advisor, activist and information officer for a new political human rights party (Rappeh) that is heavily opposed by the regime. Censored ruthlessly in both mainstream and social media and with members of the party thwarted in their daily lives.

+

Isabel Maxwell: Israel’s “Back Door” Into Silicon Valley

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/07/investigative-reports/isabel-maxwell-israels-back-door-into-silicon-valley/

by Whitney Webb

+

Halte à la criminalisation du mouvement de solidarité avec la Palestine

 

Date :  Fri, 2 Apr 2021

 

Communiqué Collectif National pour une Paix Juste et Durable entre

Palestiniens et Israéliens (CNPJDPI) : Halte à la criminalisation du

mouvement de solidarité avec la Palestine

 

https://www.france-palestine.org/Halte-a-la-criminalisation-du-mouvement-de-solidarite-avec-la-Palestine

 

Le député Patrice Perrot, de La République En Marche, a adressé une

question écrite à Gérald Darmanin, ministre de l'Intérieur, afin de

demander la dissolution du Collectif Palestine Vaincra de Toulouse.

 

Cette demande est un copier / coller d’une demande de dissolution de ce

collectif adressée notamment au ministre de l’Intérieur et au ministre

de la Justice, émanant de NGO Monitor, officine de l’État d’Israël.

 

Cette demande sans fondement fait écho au fait qu'Israël vient

dedéclarer "terroriste" le réseau Samidoun (dont fait partie le

Collectif Palestine Vaincra), organisation internationale qui lutte pour

la  libération des milliers de prisonniers politiques palestiniens.

 

Cette démarche est directement inspirée par la stratégie et les propos

du gouvernement israélien et de ses relais en France. Elle s'inscrit

dans le cadre des ingérences répétées et scandaleuses d'Israël  dans les

affaires de la France. Un autre exemple récenten est le courrier envoyé

par l'ambassadeur d'Israël à la Maire de Strasbourg qui vient,

courageusement, avec son Conseil municipal, de refuser  d'adopter la

définition IHRA de l'antisémitisme qui vise à empêcher la critique de la

politique  israélienne et les actions de solidarité avec le peuple

palestinien.

 

Le CNPJDPI (Collectif National pour une Paix Juste et Durable entre

Palestiniens et Israéliens) dénonce cette attaque indigne contre la

liberté d'expression et d'association et demande au gouvernement

français de ne pas y donner suite.

 

Il dénonce les ingérences inadmissibles d'Israël, qui viole

régulièrement le droit international et qui  veut dicter sa loi en

France. Trop souvent, des députés français se font les relais de ces

ingérences. Le CNPJDPI demande qu'il soit mis fin à ces pratiques.

 

Le CNPJDPI rappelle que l'impunité d’Israël et les complicités dont il

bénéficie trop souvent sont les  principaux appuis d'une occupation et

d'une colonisation qui s'aggravent depuis des décennies.

 

Paris, le 2 avril 2021

 

Membres du Collectif national pour une paix juste et durable entre

Palestiniens et Israéliens signataires :

Agir Contre le Colonialisme Aujourd’hui (ACCA) – AFD International –

AILES Femmes du Maroc - Alternative Libertaire (AL) - Américains contre

la guerre (AAW) - Association des Travailleurs Maghrébins de France

(ATMF) - Association des Tunisiens en France (ATF) - Association France

Palestine Solidarité (AFPS) - Association Nationale des Elus Communistes

et Républicains (ANECR) - Association pour la Taxation des Transactions

financières et pour l’Action Citoyenne (ATTAC) - Association pour les

Jumelages entre les camps de réfugiés Palestiniens et les villes

Françaises (AJPF)  - Association Républicaine des Anciens Combattants

(ARAC) - Association Universitaire pour le  Respect du Droit

International en Palestine (AURDIP) - Campagne Civile Internationale

pour la Protection du Peuple Palestinien (CCIPPP) –

ConfédérationGénérale du Travail (CGT) - Cedetim / IPAM - Collectif des

Musulmans de France (CMF) - Collectif Faty Koumba : Association des

Libertés, Droits de l'Homme et non-violence - Collectif

interuniversitaire pour la coopération avec les Universités

Palestiniennes (CICUP) - Collectif Judéo-Arabe et Citoyen pour la

Palestine (CJACP) - Collectif Paix Palestine Israël (CPPI Saint-Denis) -

Comité de Vigilance pour une Paix Réelle au Proche-Orient (CVPR PO) -

Comité Justice et Paix en Palestine et au Proche-Orient du 5e arrt

(CJPP5) - Droit-Solidarité – Ensemble ! - Europe Ecologie les Verts

(EELV) – Fédération des Tunisiens pour une  Citoyenneté des deux Rives

(FTCR) - Fédération Syndicale Unitaire (FSU) – Forum Palestine

Citoyenneté - Génération Palestine - La Courneuve-Palestine - le

Mouvement de la Paix - les Femmes en noir - Ligue Internationale des

Femmes pour la Paix et la Liberté, section française de la Women’s

International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) (LIFPL) - Mouvement

contre le Racisme et pour l’Amitié entre les Peuples (MRAP) - Mouvement

Jeunes Communistes de France (MJCF) - Organisation de Femmes Egalité

Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste(NPA) - Parti Communiste des Ouvriers de

France (PCOF) - Parti Communiste Français (PCF) - Parti de Gauche (PG) -

Parti de  l'émancipation du peuple - Participation et Spiritualité

Musulmanes (PSM) – Socialistes pour la Paix – Sortir du colonialisme -

Syndicat National des Enseignements de Second degré (SNES/FSU) - Une

Autre Voix Juive (UAVJ) - Union Juive Française pour la Paix (UJFP) -

Union des Travailleurs Immigrés Tunisiens (UTIT) - Union Nationale des

Etudiants de France (UNEF) - Union syndicale Solidaires

+

Israel lashes out as ICC okays

war crimes probe

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/israel-lashes-out-icc-okays-war-crimes-probe

by Maureen Clare Murphy

 

Palestinian human rights groups welcomed the ICC’s determination of territorial jurisdiction as a “critically important step” towards ending Israeli impunity.

+

Make HUMAN CLONING

Great Again

https://www.bitchute.com/video/I8bO_jjPKl8/

with reallygraceful

(8:02)

+

Cold War On Trial: Truth Commission Details Horrible Crimes Akin to Native American Genocide and Slavery

https://mailchi.mp/covertactionmagazine.com/breaking-news-from-covertaction-magazine-11190410?e=361aa6282e

by Jeremy Kuzmarov

 

===========

 

d.

CIA Pressured Yemen to Release al-Qaeda Leader From Prison

https://www.mintpressnews.com/leaked-cia-pressured-yemen-release-al-qaeda-anwar-al-awlaki/276327/

by Alexander Rubinstein

+

Vanessa Beeley Interview Inside The West's Illegal Yemen Occupation And CIA Caught Rescuing al-Qaeda

https://www.bitchute.com/video/ddLdVBFwdd1Y/

with Vanessa Beeley

(1:08:11)

+

Kremlin says situation in Donbass ‘frightening’ as Ukraine calls on NATO

https://www.rt.com/russia/519963-kremlin-situation-donbass-conflict/

 

===========

 

e.

Deep American Roots of the

Atlanta Shootings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_BiS9ozDUM

with Chris Hedges and May Jeong

(26:31)

 

May Jeong's op-ed The Deep American Roots of the Atlanta Shootings - The victims lived at the nexus of race, gender and class, was published in The New York Times on March 19, 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/19/op...

+

"The New Feudalism"

https://youtu.be/n-2TEwdRnX0

with Anand Giridharadas and Rob Johnson

(20:42)

 

===========

 

f.

Politics After Trump

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69pEzsfX8Aw

with Chris Hedges

(1:28:34)

+

"AOC Calls Biden Critics "Bad Faith Actors" To Shield Establishment"

https://youtu.be/CAlFVlpLL3o

with Jimmy Dore

(22:37)

+

Exposing Biden’s SECRET Plans !!!

https://www.corbettreport.com/episode-397-exposing-bidens-secret-plans/

with James Corbett

(55:54)

+

Joe Biden a “WARMONGERING, SOCIOPATHIC LIAR', Media Owned by Military-Industrial Complex”

https://youtu.be/xGISMOhpas4

with Jimmy Dore

(14:54)

+

Biden's Infrastructure Plan: A Critique” 

https://youtu.be/-AoH229MT3s

with Richard Wolff

(8:05)

+

 

Hypocrts and Frauds:

Kamala Meets With Bill Clinton About Women's Issues ?!?!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlwymP1Lpu8

with Jimmy Dore

(11:08)

 

The ‘Obamanauts

are rebranding as evil

https://mailchi.mp/jacobinmag.com/m4a-551046?e=997d6d360e

by Luke Savage

 

===========

 

g.

Hell hath no fury like a superpower in decline

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56489.htm

by Graham E. Fuller

+

Thoughts On The Iraq Invasion

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56486.htm

by Caitlin Johnstone

+

The US Weaponizes ‘Human Rights’ Against Nations Like China

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56494.htm

by Caitlin Johnstone

+

China, Russia agree to work together against ‘illegitimate’ sanctions

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3126655/china-russia-agree-work-together-against-illegitimate

by Amber Wang

+

The Urgent Need for

a Biden-Putin Summit

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56496.htm

by Norman Solomon

+

China & Iran sign MASSIVE 25-Year $400BN infrastructure for oil deal"

https://youtu.be/SAXasW8nP7E

The Duran

(37:19)

+

Chinese Defense Spending Games

https://youtu.be/N7G6qixIfCY

with Richard Wolff

(7:05)

+

What is behind China and Iran's 'strategic' deal?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBdyFY6isP8

with Dareen Abughaida

(25:00)

 

It's been in the works since 2016, and dubbed a 'comprehensive strategic partnership'. The deal signed between China and Iran is expected to boost their long-standing economic and political alliance. The cooperation will cover a wide range of Chinese investments in Iran's most important sectors, including energy and infrastructure. It's the first long-term agreement of its type to be signed by Iran with a major world power. And comes at a tough time for Iran's economy that's been devastated by U.S. sanctions. What do both countries stand to gain? And should people be worried, in the Middle East and beyond?

 

===========

 

h.

A Brief List Of U.S. Official Russia Claims That Proved To Be Bogus

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56468.htm

by Matt Taibbi

+

Really Graceful on Syria

https://www.bitchute.com/video/6eO0YreGI7Z8/

(14:47)

+

How Do Big Media Outlets So Often "Independently Confirm" Each Other's Falsehoods?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56461.htm

by Glenn Greenwald

+

Biden Picks Kamala Harris to Carry the Carrot and Stick in Central America

https://www.mintpressnews.com/biden-picks-kamala-harris-to-carry-carrot-stick-central-america-migrant-crisis/276510/

by Raul Diego

+

 “Did the US Slow Japan's Economy?”

https://youtu.be/7JJEbwWrv94

with Richard Wolff

(8:29)

 

===========

 

i.

Chomsky on Terence McKenna, Sam Harris, GPT3, Cryptocurrencies, Kierkegaard, Neuralink, & Hofstadter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6MU5zQwtT4&t=482s

(1:14:48)

 

Noam Chomsky talks about group selection, his own death, the Piraha language, and more, it his widest varied interview yet.

+

Gaslighting” : How Leftists Demonize And Demoralize Their Opposition

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/gaslighting-how-leftist-psychopaths-demonize-and-demoralize-their-opposition

by Brandon Smith

 

We have all heard this time honored cautionary mantra: “All governments lie”.

It’s not a theory, it is a fact that history has proven time after time.

I would only expand on the rule and say this: All governments, all corporations, all corporate media, all think tanks, and all corporate funded activist groups lie. There is a reason why public trust is at all time lows for the majority of these organizations, and it’s not because they are managed by good and honest people.

If you operate on the assumption that these groups are lying to you most of the time then you will find yourself on the right side of history.

+

 “Julian Assange EXPOSED The Media Machinery Behind The Wars!”

https://youtu.be/hKp0glFSCdg

with Fidel Narvaez

(13:23)

 

===========

 

j.

Hidden in Plain Sight: The Shocking Origins of the Jeffrey Epstein Case

(Investigative series, Part 1 of 4)

https://unlimitedhangout.com/

by Whitney Webb

 

Epstein is only the latest incarnation of a much older, more extensive and sophisticated operation that offers a frightening window into how deeply tied the U.S. government is to the modern-day equivalents of organized crime.

+

Epstein Victim Maria Farmer Speaks with Whitney Webb

https://www.bitchute.com/video/LXHXDNDFVCNS/

with Whitney Webb

(2:43:20)

 

Whitney Webb has moved from -Mint Press News- to -The Last American Vagabond-. She and Maria bring us this bombshell. Sound's been improved for these recordings: connection hiccups, dead air, and unrelated conversation have been edited out where possible--ending on a note that ought inspire us all to fight where and how we can regardless how much darkness distends around us.

 

===========

 

k.

All Roads Lead to Dark Winter

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/04/investigative-series/all-roads-lead-to-dark-winter/

by Whitney Webb

 

The leaders of two controversial pandemic simulations that took place just months before the Coronavirus crisis – Event 201 and Crimson Contagion – share a common history, the 2001 biowarfare simulation Dark Winter. Dark Winter not only predicted the 2001 anthrax attacks, but some of its participants had clear foreknowledge of those attacks.

+

We are living through a time of fear – not just of the virus, but of each other

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56492.htm

by Jonathan Cook

+

After a Year Under Lockdown, Will Our Freedoms Survive the Tyranny of COVID-19?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56499.htm

by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

+

Developers of Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Tied to UK Eugenics Movement

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/12/investigative-series/developers-of-oxford-astrazeneca-vaccine-tied-to-uk-eugenics-movement/

by Jeremy Loffredo and Whitney Webb

 

The developers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine have previously undisclosed ties to the re-named British Eugenics Society as well as other Eugenics-linked institutions like the Wellcome Trust.

+

A neuroscientist writes on AstraZeneca fears

https://euobserver.com/opinion/151344

by Nayef Al-Rodhan

+

Truth about mortality rates

https://www.bitchute.com/video/y3IoIaNoOcFM/

Tony Robbins interviews Dr. Michael Levitt, Nobel Laureate and Stanford Professor

(21:18)

+

Smoking gun #1: ‘The SPARS Pandemic Scenario,’ crafted in 2017, foretells EXACTLY all that we’ve been going through

https://markcrispinmiller.com/2021/04/smoking-gun-1the-spars-pandemic-scenario-crafted-in-2017-foretells-exactly-all-that-weve-been-going-through/

by Mark Crispin Miller

+

Smoking gun #2: UK government used ‘covert tactics’ to terrify the British people into locking down against ‘the virus’

https://markcrispinmiller.com/2021/04/smoking-gun-2-uk-government-used-covert-tactics-to-terrify-the-british-people-into-locking-down-against-the-virus/

by Mark Crispin Miller

 

 ===========

 

l.

Freedom Talk with Dr Kaufman, Tom Cowan & Co.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/d3zczXW17B6b/

with Tom, Stefen, Andy and Dean – Zoom Meeting on March 4, 2021

(1:08:12)

+

Dr. Andrew Kaufman in Extremely Meaningful Interview

https://www.bitchute.com/video/Kv0RbCEB2HtY/

with Ryan Cristian – March 15, 2021

(1:37:16)

+

“Don't Get The 'vaccine' Until You See This”

https://www.bitchute.com/video/5GTr2npKFgji/

with Dr. Reid Sheftall

(45:07)

+

Pfizer’s Experimental Covid-19 Vaccine—What You’re Not Being Told

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/11/reports/pfizers-experimental-covid-19-vaccine-what-youre-not-being-told/

by Johnny Vedmore

 

Pfizer’s long history of scandals, and the fact that they have never been held to account for their crimes, continues to be ignored by the media, even as its experimental mRNA vaccine candidate for Covid-19 draws ever closer to US government approval.

+

10 Facts From the UK Government Pfizer Vaccine Guidance that Promote “Vaccine Hesitancy”

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/12/reports/10-facts-from-the-uk-government-pfizer-vaccine-guidance-that-promote-vaccine-hesitancy/

by Johnny Vedmore

 

Official government guidance has been released in the United Kingdom to assist healthcare professionals in administering the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine BNT162b2. While the UK government goes to war against supposed misinformation, the official narrative is clearly based on very little to no supporting data from incomplete clinical trials. This article examines the document “Reg 174 Information for UK Healthcare Professionals” and narratives being pushed in the mainstream media that directly contradict that document.

+

Daniel Korski: The Intelligence-Linked Mastermind Behind the UK’s Orwellian Healthtech Advisory Board

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/10/investigative-reports/korski/

by Johnny Vedmore

 

As a futuristic, hi-tech dystopia increasingly takes shape around us, the concept of the Panopticon is more relevant than ever as it functions as the underpinning of the ever-growing mass surveillance grid.

+

SAGE Document Reveals 'Covert' Propaganda to Scare British Into Staying Home in Lockdown

https://21stcenturywire.com/2021/04/06/sage-document-reveals-covert-propaganda-to-scare-british-into-staying-home/

+

Rand Paul "Pages" Fauci With CDC Confirmation That Vaccinated And Recovered Cannot Pass On COVID

https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/rand-paul-pages-fauci-cdc-confirmation-vaccinated-and-recovered-cannot-pass-covid

by Steve Watson

 

Senator Rand Paul shared video Wednesday of CDC Director Rochelle Walensky announcing that new data suggests vaccinated and recovered people do not carry Covid-19.

Paul directed his comments at White House chief medical advisor Anthony Fauci, writing “paging Dr Fauci:  please end the mask theater now that cdc admits evidence that the vaccinated do not carry the virus.”

+

What Doctors Don’t Tell You:

“Study finds Covid-19 is no random killer”

(Only people who have one of four chronic health problems is likely to die from the virus, a major new study has confirmed.)

https://www.wddty.com/news/covid-19-is-no-random-killer-study-finds/

from JAMA Network

The ‘big four’ are heart disease, breathing or kidney (renal) problems, or cancer—and these risks are magnified if the person is also obese, or is suffering from several of the diseases at the same time. Age also plays a part, but again only if the patient has one of the four health problems.

 

Researchers from the University of East Anglia reviewed 52 studies—involving more than 100,000 Covid patients—to discover that the four diseases were common in the most serious Covid cases, either needing intensive care, ventilator support or went on to die.

People with more than one of the chronic problems were the most likely to need emergency care. Obesity acted like a magnifier, and further increased the risk of death in those with one of the four diseases.

 

Lead researcher Dr Vassilios Vassiliou says the study is the largest that has so far been carried out on severe Covid cases. The research “gives us the really big picture. . .it is the most comprehensive study of its kind to date,” he said.

 

===========

 

m.

What Newsweek Conveniently Failed to Mention About

“Continuity of Government”

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2020/03/reports/what-newsweek-conveniently-failed-to-mention-about-continuity-of-government/

by Whitney Webb

+

The U.S. Intelligence Community, Flouting Laws, is Increasingly Involving Itself in Domestic Politics

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56498.htm

by Glenn Greenwald

+

The Native Land of the Hypocrite

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56500.htm

by M. Reza Behnam

+

“Emergence of the Global Police State”

https://youtu.be/G4mDx2XitJw

with Chris Hedges and William I. Robinson

(27:22)

+

WEF Warns of Cyberattack Leading to Systemic Collapse of the Global Financial System

https://unlimitedhangout.com/2021/04/investigative-reports/wef-warns-of-cyber-attack-leading-to-systemic-collapse-of-the-global-financial-system/

by Whitney Webb

+

When Economic Systems Fail

https://youtu.be/ujIBM04z-RE

with Richard Wolff and Rob Urie

(28:50)

+

Why Amazon Unionization Failed in Alabama

https://youtu.be/lHGQhnYhwSg

with Richard Wolff

(6:48)

+

Corporate Capital Used Immigration to Undercut US Working Class Power

https://youtu.be/3PXhNbGBheE

with David Harvey

(5:22)

+

Militarism is tied to the capital's profit motive

https://youtu.be/fRRYuRweWZM

with Rob Urie & Richard Wolff

(2:57)

 

===========

 

n.

Join the #ExposeBillGates day of action - The time to stand against this technocrat

ic tyranny is now

https://www.bitchute.com/video/Ul6CDMPcppip/

with Ryan Christian and Derrick Broze

(8:37)

+

You Wouldn't Take The Vaccine If You Knew GATES History

https://www.bitchute.com/video/0UycSt2a3iuH/

with Dekara Adil and Shuva Das

(40:32)

+

You Can’t Win. Don’t Even Try!

https://www.corbettreport.com/you-cant-win-dont-even-try/

by James Corbett

 

===========

 

o.

The Illusion Of Safety Trials, COVID Isolation, Vaccine Side-Effects

https://www.bitchute.com/video/sSe24mvny1vu/

with Ryan Cristian

(2:26:32)

+

After a Year Under Lockdown, Will Our Freedoms Survive the Tyranny of COVID-19?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56499.htm

by John W. Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead

 

==========

     

p.

Palestine in Pictures: March 2021

https://electronicintifada.net/content/palestine-pictures-march-2021/32666

+

Does Israel flood Gaza's farms?

https://electronicintifada.net/content/does-israel-flood-gazas-farms/32611

by Amjad Ayman Yaghi

+

Butler University blocks Angela Davis event

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/butler-university-blocks-angela-davis-event

by Nora Barrows-Friedman

 

===========

 

q.

Global Britain, Global Delusions

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56479.htm

by Finian Cunningham

+

14 signs the UK is becoming a modern fascist state

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56474.htm

by Steve Topple

+

The 'Rules-based international order' is dead & unless West finds new way to accommodate Russia & China, it will reap a whirlwind

https://www.rt.com/russia/518885-international-order-west-relations/

by Glenn Diesen, Professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway, and an editor at the Russia in Global Affairs journal

+

France hid impact of French Polynesia nuclear tests, report says

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/3/10/france-hid-impact-of-french-polynesia-nuclear-tests-report-says

Gregory Boissy/AFP

 

Almost ‘entire population’ of the territory infected by tests carried out from 1966 to 1996, investigation claims.

+

Presentation of Adams Award & Stephen Cohen Tribute

https://consortiumnews.com/2021/03/21/watch-presentation-of-sam-adams-award-stephen-cohen-tribute/

with Annie Machon and Ray McGovern

(32:27)

+

From: CovertAction Magazine [mailto:info@CovertActionMagazine.com]
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2021
Subject: Still Unsolved: the Great Crime that Triggered the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

 

View this email in your browser

 

Still Unsolved: the Great Crime that Triggered the 1994 Rwandan Genocide

By Jeremy Kuzmarov on Apr 06, 2021

After 27 years, strong evidence implicates Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame and the CIA in the downing of Hutu President Juvénal Habyarimana’s airplane.

Just after 8 p.m. on the night of April 6, 1994, two surface-to-air missiles, fired from a location near Kigali airport, struck the Dassault Falcon 50 private jet of Rwanda’s Hutu President Juvénal […]

The post Still Unsolved: the Great Crime that Triggered the 1994 Rwandan Genocide appeared first on CovertAction Magazine


Read in browser

 

Sincerely,
Chris Agee
Executive Editor
CovertAction Magazine

Our mailing address is:

CovertAction Magazine

55 Gerard St # 1323

Huntington, NY 11743-8252

 

===========

      

r.

Interview With: Broc West - Video Editor of The Corbett Report & The Last American Vagabond TLAV

https://www.bitchute.com/video/EQ1yQ8ZPrJ31/

with Nicholas Peter Urgero

(55:44)

+

Economic Update: Dems' Self-Promotion VS Hard Economic Realities

https://youtu.be/HSHHzFYc2Ic

with Richard Wolff and Bob Hennelly

(29:50)

+

 “Time to Rethink Market Capitalism?”

https://youtu.be/1g0nLGZIzhc

with Steve Paikin and Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England

(27:53)

+

Debunking Myths About China's Economy

https://youtu.be/XepCi0I_g6I

with Yukon Huang

(1:05:18)

+

“Life and Life Only”

https://www.corbettreport.com/interview-1627-james-corbett-on-life-and-life-only/

with Antony Rotunno and James Corbett

(1:24:13)

 

===========

 

s.

"Just block out the sun, what could go wrong?"

https://youtu.be/N7wrJ0pcKSk

with reallygraceful

(7:10)

 

This video is about solar geo-engineering and the June 2021 plans to “spray millions of tonnes of chalk into the stratosphere, in an attempt to ‘dim the sun’ and cool the Earth", and the latest update on this project, as it's been cancelled for Sweden. dear fact checkers: no one is alleging anyone is completely blocking out the sun.

+

April Open Thread

https://www.corbettreport.com/april-open-thread/

by James Corbett

+

Stand in the Park – #SolutionsWatch

https://www.corbettreport.com/stand-in-the-park-solutionswatch/

with James Corbett

(5:06)

It is a sign of a sick society when people are told to stay indoors, avoid breathing fresh air and receive experimental medical interventions for their health. If the benefits of fresh air and natural sunlight for human health has to be debated, is their any hope left for our civilization? After watching me stand in the park in today's episode of #SolutionsWatch, I highly recommend you turn off your electronic device and try it for yourself.

 

===========

    

t.

From: Veterans For Peace [mailto:vfp@veteransforpeace.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 06, 2021
Subject: VFP eNews: Shut Down Creech!

 

Anti-war/anti-drone demonstrators from the East and West coasts are converging April 4-10 to hold daily protests at the U.S. Drone Base at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

 

April 6 - Shut Down CreechWebinar: The Historic Vietnam Veterans Protest in Washington: Lessons for Today, Remove the Stain Act Re-Introduced, Save Our VA-Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act, War Tax Resistance Resources for Tax Season 2021, Teach-In on Climate and Militarism, Full Disclosure Podcast, Int'l Day of Action on Afghanistan

 

SHUT DOWN CREECH

Anti-war/anti-drone demonstrators from the East and West coasts are converging in Las Vegas  April 4-10 to hold daily protests at the U.S. Drone Base at Creech Air Force Base in Nevada.

Many military veterans, now members of Veterans for Peace, will be joining. The event is co-sponsored by CODEPINK and Veterans for Peace.

At Creech, U.S. Air Force personnel, coordinating with C.I.A. officials, are, regularly and secretly, killing people remotely using unmanned armed drone planes, primarily the MQ-9 Reaper drones. Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured, in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, and elsewhere, since 2001, according to the activists.

In the aftermath of the recent and tragic U.S. massacres by lone gunmen in Georgia and Boulder, activists will hold daily two hour vigils between 6:30-8:30 a.m. and 3:30-5:30 p.m., during commute hours to underline the connection between mass violence at home and the "normalized" mass violence of the U.S. covert drone program and U.S. military.

Over the last 20 years, U.S. armed drones have been used to commit horrible atrocities that have included strikes on wedding parties, funerals, schools, mosques, homes, farm laborers, and in January, 2020, included direct hits on high level foreign military and government officials from Iran and Iraq.

These drone massacres have, at times, resulted in the deaths of dozens of civilians with a single drone attack. Not a single U.S. official has ever been held accountable for these ongoing atrocities, yet, an important drone whistleblower, Daniel Hale, who leaked truths about these atrocities faces potentially harsh sentencing later this July.

See more information

Read the press release from their first week!

 

The Historic Vietnam Veterans Protest in Washington: Lessons for Today

Apr 23, 2021 - 3:00pm (e), 2:00pm (c), 1:00pm (m), 12:00pm (p)

Many veterans came home from Vietnam with a mission: to tell the truth about the wartime atrocities being committed and demand an immediate end to the killing. In April 1971, a group of more than 1,000 veterans launched the Dewey Canyon III operation, a “limited incursion into the land of Congress.”  April 23 marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most influential anti-war actions of the era.

Now, 50 years later, what lessons can we learn from this historic protest? How can the issues that motivated an earlier generation speak to veterans and soldiers today? Join us for a panel discussion highlighting the voices of veterans past and present. Featuring key archival footage and scholarly analysis, this conversation will show how issues of peace and justice raised a half-century ago remain timely and relevant today.

Find out more

This discussion is presented by the Keough School of Global Affairs and its Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and is co-sponsored by Veterans For Peace and the Vietnam Peace Commemoration Committee.

 

MASS Peace Action: An essential Teach-In on Climate and Militarism

War and ecological devastation go hand in hand. Beyond the death and destruction suffered by millions the world over, militarism scars the land and pollutes the water and air.

But what of its relationship to global warming and the alarming destabilization of the climate? Could militarism be  causally connected to the climate emergency? Is working for peace an absolute requirement for us to stave off its worst effects and realize a sustainable future?

To take a deep dive into these issues, register for this 4-part Teach-In on Climate & Militarism that starts this Saturday. Over the next 4 weekends, Nick Rabb will lead a discussion examining how the climate crisis and militarism are intertwined. Nick is in Sunrise Boston and a member of the MAPA Peace & Climate working group.

The teach-in series will be held on four consecutive Saturdays that started on April 3rd

Read more!

 

This week in Pictures!

1.    David Cooley writes, "Independent VFP at Line 3 demonstration, 3-31-21.  I and a friend joined MN- Indivisible for a Line 3 demonstration at the Ridgedale mall entrance today (cold).  I ask my congressional delegation to do more in putting pressure on Biden and our governor, Walz, to bring this travesty for the environment to a halt.  It, like the DAPL pipeline in the Dakotas was put through on less than legal grounds.  Minnetonka, land and lake are on Dakota lands, imagine the people in this area with more money than it knows what to do with, would do if a pipeline where to be put through this land and under this lake!  It would never be allowed, why should it be allowed in northern Minnesota and in violation of treaties with the Native Nations that call it home.  If you have children, grand or great grand children, you can not be for this tar sands oil."

2.    Bruce Barry and Dave Logsdon at the Govt. Plaza in Minneapolis outside the trial of Derick Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.

3.    VFP members join CodePink at New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez at his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey house saying that it's time for the U.S. government to resume the Obama era nuclear arms deal with Iran and lift sanctions. VFP members holding the VFP banner from left to right are: Rose Mcpartland, Bergenfield, Ed Doogan, Philadelphia, Jules Orkin, Bergenfield and Reggie Regrut, Phillipsburg 

 

Leave No One Behind Mural Project: Find out how you bring a mural to your community!

The Leave No One Behind Mural Project is embarked by a coalition of veteran support groups, immigrant organizations, and academics. Through a multi-sited public art project entitled "Leave No One Behind," the coalition urges the Biden-Harris administration and Congress to enact immigration policy to repatriate Deported Veterans, protect Childhood Arrivals, end family separation, and reunite families.
Through a multi-sited public art project, the project seeks to uplift the stories of Deported Veterans, Dreamers, childhood arrivals, and permanent residents.

Installation sites will be prioritized to the cities in which community storytellers lived while in the U.S. For many, this is the place where they were raised, grew exclusive roots to the country and where their immediate family lives.

Click here for more info and how your chapter can bring a mural!

 

Take Action to Hold the U.S. Accountable in Okinawa

For over a quarter century, troubles in Okinawa surrounding a project to build a replacement facility for the obsolete USMC Air Station at Futenma, Okinawa have dragged on and show no signs of letting up. Not only is this project opposed by the great majority of Okinawans, this new base affronts the Okinawans’ dignity as an indigenous people (recognized by the U.N.) and their anti-war convictions.

Veterans For Peace urges the General Accountability Office to launch its own investigation of this situation, to determine the merit of these allegations, and to judge whether attempting to force this project through will be worth the cost – or, more ominously, the risk.

Take Action!

Also in case you missed it, you can watch VFP-ROCK's most recent webinar

 

 

Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act

SOVA activists,

Here is a sample letter on S.437 The Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act, reintroduced on February 24, 2021 by Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Dan Sullivan (R-AK) This legislation will provide what is termed a concession to veterans who served in areas where they were exposed to the toxic effects of burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan. Practically, this means veterans who served in specific areas and at certain times that exposed them to the toxic effects of burn pits will be presumed by the VA to be entitled to medical treatment and compensation. (The locations and times will be determined by the Department of Defense and the armed services). Currently veterans are obligated to prove exposure to burn pits. This bill will express the sense of the Senate that the VA should presume veterans who were in burn pit areas have been adversely affected and are entitled to treatment.

This is an important piece of legislation. We are reminded how long it took the VA recognize the impact of Agent Orange on Viet Nam veterans, who often suffered for years, if not decades, before receiving medical care and compensation. This should not be allowed to happen to veterans of our wars in the Middle East. 

Click the link to encourage your Senators to co-sponsor and support this important bill.  Personalized letters are much more effective.  Click on the letter to add information such as, “I am Bruce Carruthers, a service-connected Viet Nam veteran living in North Carolina.” Or, “I am Sally Jones and my husband/brother/uncle is a veteran, and I am worried about the future of the VA healthcare system.”  Sign the letter before closing.  

Questions about this email may be directed to Bruce Carruthers at bcarruthers1@charter.net. 
Jeff Roy on behalf of the SOVA Outreach Committee
VFP SAVE OUR VA National Campaign 

 

Full Disclosure Podcast: “We started to unite” – Cleve Andrew Pulley

Mr. Pulley was one of the "Fort Jackson 8" GI resistance defendants and has been a socialist and international solidarity activist since.

This is the first Vietnam Era podcast I've produced since October, but we've done a few Gulf War and post 9/11 episodes during that time, available at: https://couragetoresist.org/podcasts

Listen Now!

 

 

War Tax Resistance Resources for Tax Season 2021

Tax Day is a holiday of sorts for war tax resisters. Local war tax resistance groups often take to the streets on Tax Day to promote their displeasure with about 50% of the federal budget dedicated to past, present, and future military expenses. The National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee (NWTRCC) is providing more online resources as part of a Tax Season 2021.

READ MORE

 

Join the Int'l Day of Action on Afghanistan

May 1, 2021, is the deadline for the United States to pull troops out of Afghanistan, per the U.S.-Taliban agreement, also known as the Doha agreement. Will the Biden-Harris administration abide by the terms of this agreement brokered in 2020? Demand the United States end all involvement and pull its troops, so the Afghan people can determine their collective fate.

Join the International Day of Action on Afghanistan on Thursday, April 8, to raise the public's awareness!
WAYS TO TAKE ACTION

1.    Download social media graphics

2.    Use the hashtag #MayDayAfghanistan

3.    Hold a teach-in

4.    Write a letter to the editor

5.    Publish an op-ed

All materials needed to participate can be found at bit.ly/bapafghanistan

 

Remove the Stain Act Re-Introduced

United States Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Congressman Kaiali'i Kahele (D-Hawaii) reintroduced the Remove the Stain Act. The bill would revoke the Medal of Honor from the soldiers who perpetrated the Wounded Knee massacre on December 29, 1890, when U.S. soldiers slaughtered hundreds of Lakota men, women, and children-most of them unarmed-on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Twenty soldiers in the regiment received the Medal of Honor-the highest military decoration-for their actions at Wounded Knee. 

"Veterans For Peace is proud to offer our endorsement of the Remove the Stain Act," said Garett Reppenhagen, Veterans For Peace Executive Director. "It is long past time for this country to recognize the terrible violence that U.S. militarism has done to Indigenous communities. As veterans we believe that revoking these medals is a continuation of the work currently being done by some in Congress to no longer glorify acts of racism and white supremacy."

Sign our Petition!

 

Member Corner

Reclaim Armistice Day

·         VFP chapters have been organizing in their communities to have their mayors or city councils sign proclamations reclaiming the name "Armistice Day."  If you would like to be involved in this effort as a chapter or member of VFP, by doing similar work in your community, please fill out this form

·         If you want to help with this effort, our next meeting is April 15th!

Important Dates!

·         Our convention will be August 12-15th, so make sure to save that date in your calendars!

·         Nuclear Abolition Working Group's next meeting is April 8th.  Get info by contacting Helen Jaccard at helen.jaccard@gmail.

·         Climate and Militarism Project meets every other Wednesday!  To be included, email climate@veteransforpeace.org.

Become a Member!

·         As always we welcome anyone to join our ranks!

 

 

Calendar

Every Wednesday- StandDownLiveevery Wednesday at 4pm (C), 5 pm (E) for our weekly episode of StandDownLive on FB Live or the Veterans For Peace YouTube channel.  

Every Thursday - Veterans For Peace Social Hour!  every Thursday at 6 pm. (EDT) | 5 p.m. (CST) | 4 pm (MST) | 3 pm (PST)  To Join Social Hour, click here.  Or go to Zoom and click join meeting and enter in Meeting ID: 324 812 650  

Every Friday- Open Mic Night! (every Friday)  Click here for submission information! 

April 4-10 Shut Down Creech

April 7 - Gamers For Peace DnD game!  Watch on Twitch!

April 7 - Climate and Militarism meeting at 8pm(e), 7pm (c), 6pm (m), 5pm (p), Zoom info

April 8 - Nuclear Abolition Working Group, 7pm (e), 6pm (c), 5pm (m), 4pm (p), 1pm (Hawai'i)  Zoom meeting

April 12 - New Member Orientation.  Email membership@veteransforpeace.org for details

Click here for more calendar information!

 

Veterans For Peace
3407 S. Jefferson Ave, #219  | St. Louis, Missouri 63118
(314) 725-6005 | vfp@veteransforpeace.org

 

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From: Le Mouvement de la Paix [mailto:communication@mvtpaix.org]
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2021
Subject: Proche-Orient : Visioconférence avec George Corm le 27 avril

 

Proche-Orient : Visioconférence avec George Corm

 

Mardi 27 avril de 19h à 20h30

 

 

Nous avons le plaisir de vous annoncer que Georges Corm a accepté de participer à une visioconférence à la demande du Mouvement de la Paix.

Son éclairage sur la situation au Proche-Orient est toujours intéressant, surtout dans le contexte actuel de désinformation, et notamment en ce qui concerne la Syrie. Cela fait déjà quelque temps qu'il n'a pas participé à des conférences en France.

Si vous avez des questions à lui poser, merci de nous les envoyer en retour d'e-mail et nous les lui transmettrons avant cette conférence, pour la bonne tenue de cette dernière.

 

Georges Corm est ancien ministre, économiste, historien, professeur à l’Institut de sciences politiques de l’Université Saint Joseph à Beyrouth.
Auteur de nombreux ouvrages sur l'histoire du Liban et du Proche-Orient, dont en particulier :

  • "Le Proche-Orient, éclaté (1956–2012)" / Ed. Gallimard/Histoire, 2007
  • "Orient-Occident, la fracture imaginaire" / Ed. La Découverte, 2002 et 2004

 

 

Pour assister à cette conférence qui aura lieu avec Zoom, il suffit de cliquer sur le lien ci-dessus (ou : https://zoom.us/j/7585066971)

 

 

Vous pourrez rejoindre la conférence avec un ordinateur, ou avec une tablette ou un smartphone. Si vous souhaitez intervenir, votre appareil doit être muni d'un micro et d'une webcam.

Il suffira de cliquer sur le lien plus haut et suivre les indications. C'est gratuit.

 

Si vous n'avez ni ordinateur, tablette ou smartphone, vous pourrez rejoindre la conférence par téléphone au 01 86 99 58 31 (prix d'un appel normal) en indiquant le n° de réunion 7585066971.

 

 

Notre activité repose sur le bénévolat de nos membres et le soutien de nos ami.e.s dont vous faites partie. C'est la raison pour laquelle nous faisons appel à vous connaissant votre attachement aux valeurs de paix.

Devenez membre du Mouvement de la Paix à travers une cotisation de base de 36 €, ou plus, ou moins selon vos moyens (66% de la somme donnera lieu à une déduction fiscale si vous êtes imposable).
 

 

 

Mouvement de la Paix
9 rue Dulcie-September
93400 SAINT-OUEN
01.40.12.09.12

www.mvtpaix.org
 

 

 

 

 

Le Mouvement de la Paix - 2021

 

 

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From: National Security Archive [mailto:nsarchiv@gwu.edu]
Sent: Thursday, April 08, 2021
Subject: Crises, Alerts, and DEFCONS, 1961-1976 – Part II

 

Berlin Crisis in 1961-62 Disclosed U.S.-European Gap on Nuclear Use, with French and Germans Supporting Early Use over U.S. Objections. B-52 Bombers Were Used for Shows-of-Force during Altercations with North Korea. During October 1973 War DEFCON 3, 99.5 Percent of U.S. ICBMS Were on High Alert. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

 

Crises, Alerts, and DEFCONS, 1961-1976 – Part II

Berlin Crisis in 1961-62 Disclosed U.S.-European Gap on Nuclear Use, with French and Germans Supporting Early Use over U.S. Objections

B-52 Bombers Were Used for Shows-of-Force during Altercations with North Korea

During October 1973 War DEFCON 3, 99.5 Percent of U.S. ICBMS Were on High Alert

Washington, D.C., April 8, 2021 – The United States and its European allies disagreed over the advisability of using nuclear weapons to signal resolve and deter war if a serious crisis with Moscow over West Berlin broke out, according to a review of declassified records posted today by the nongovernmental National Security Archive.

During a July 1962 Allied discussion of contingency planning, published today for the first time, a French diplomat argued that nuclear demonstration shots would send a message to the Soviets without triggering “all-out war.” Doing so “would bring to bear in Moscow the idea that their next move may be their last.” A West German official took a similar position.

Suggesting that early nuclear use could amount to a last move, Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze demurred, pointing to the terrible risks: the “dangers of preemption will multiply” once “nuclear bargaining” had begun. The Allies would be on “very unpredictable ground when we have gone this far.”

Just weeks after this discussion, Moscow and Washington found themselves on the verge of a dangerous confrontation over missile deployments in Cuba that brought U.S. strategic forces to DEFCON 2, the highest level of force readiness short of a decision to go to war.

The substance of the July 1962 discussion is one of the revelations in today’s publication, the second of a two-part collection documenting U.S. crisis responses during the 1960s and 1970s when U.S. strategic forces were alerted or when strategic bombers and aircraft carrier task forces were used for shows of force.

Such military operations amounted to business as usual for a global power with worldwide security and economic interests and a range of alliance commitments. The collection begins with the Berlin Crisis of 1961-1962 and concludes with the 1976 confrontation with North Korea over a deadly tree-trimming incident at the Demilitarized Zone.

 

THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental research institute and library located at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.

PRIVACY NOTICE The National Security Archive does not and will never share the names or e-mail addresses of its subscribers with any other organization. Once a year, we will write you and ask for your financial support. We may also ask you for your ideas for Freedom of Information requests, documentation projects, or other issues that the Archive should take on. We would welcome your input, and any information you care to share with us about your special interests. But we do not sell or rent any information about subscribers to any other party.

National Security Archive
Suite 701, Gelman Library
2130 H Street, NW
Washington
District of Columbia, 20037
202-994-7000
nsarchiv@gwu.edu

   

 

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The US Is Waging Neoliberal Forever Wars

https://jacobinmag.com/2021/04/forever-wars-biden-afghanistan-iraq-antiwar

an interview with Anand Gopal

 

As the US military increasingly outsources the most important parts of war, American imperialism has evolved into something that can’t be measured merely by counting the number of boots on the ground. But it’s still highly profitable for corporate elites and spreads death and misery around the globe — and it still must be dismantled.

 

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“A Brief History of Logic”

https://youtu.be/IBLzwKtfF0Y

with professors A.C. Grayling, Peter Millican, Rosanna Keefe

(BBC audio, 42:02)

 

Logic, the study of reasoning and argument, first became a serious area of study in the 4th century BC through the work of Aristotle. He created a formal logical system, based on a type of argument called a syllogism, which identified valid and invalid forms of argument and remained in use for over two thousand years. In the nineteenth century the German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege revolutionised logic, turning it into a discipline much like mathematics and capable of dealing with, expressing, and analysing nuanced arguments. His discoveries influenced the greatest mathematicians and philosophers of the twentieth century and considerably aided the development of the electronic computer. Today logic is a subtle system with applications in fields as diverse as mathematics, philosophy, linguistics and artificial intelligence. Melvyn Bragg discusses logic and its history in this BBC episode of In Our Time with guests A.C. Grayling, Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London, Peter Millican, Gilbert Ryle Fellow in Philosophy at Hertford College at the University of Oxford, and Rosanna Keefe, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield.

+

“An Investigation into the Dialectical Method of Karl Marx”

https://politicaleducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Dance-of-the-DialecticExcerpt.BertellOllman.pdf

by Bertell Ollman

 

Being extracts from Chapter 5 of “Dance of the Dialectic.”