Embedded Files
Myanmar protests continue amidst deadly crackdown - April 2
It's been two months since a military coup in Myanmar toppled the elected government of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi on the basis of unsubstantiated claims of irregularities in an election that Suu Kyi's party had won in a landslide. Over 500 people have been killed in protests against the military junta, which has limited internet communications and filed charges against Suu Kyi. Sanctions are being imposed against the military rulers but Myanmar's military has been resistant to attempts at isolation. READ
A final opportunity to save the Iran nuclear agreement - April 9
The first week of talks to restore Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers concluded Friday with all sides hopeful of continuing the discussions. It may be the last, best chance to salvage the agreement. Iranian elections are in June. Without an end to the brutal US sanctions before then, Iranian hardliners will likely win and replace the moderate government of Hassan Rouhani. As for the US, the Biden Administration needs to stand up to those trying to sabotage the President's efforts including Iran hawks, the Israel lobby, and the Netanyahu government of Israel. READ
Democracy under attack: the "minority-rule doom loop" and the assault on voting rights - Apr 14
The definition of democracy that I learned during my grade school history lessons was "majority rule with the protection of individual rights." The United States is on a path to the exact opposite - minority rule with the suppression of individual rights, particularly the bedrock democratic right to vote. The perpetrators of this assault on democracy are the politicians and strategists of the Republican Party, aided and abetted by a conservative, partisan judiciary, enabled by a 233 year old Constitution, and weighted with racist and white nationalist overtones. READ
PLEASE STOP - - it is time to put an end to America's gun violence - Apr 17
This past week, three more gun tragedies reached national attention - a traffic stop killing in Minnesota, a mass shooting in Indiana, and the release of body cam footage showing a 13 year-old boy with his hands in the air before being shot dead in Chicago. Lax gun laws and police shootings are related. The prevalence of guns is responsible for the arming of police, and police training emphasizes the dangers faced, with officers trained to shoot before a threat is fully realized. We know the minimum steps that we need to take to stop gun violence but have been stymied by a powerful gun lobby and cowardly politicians. It is time to also consider more far-reaching measures including national re-registration of all guns, stacking the Supreme Court, and repealing the Second Amendment. READ
An Earth Day pledge, an "American Jobs Plan" and a climate refugee bill - Apr 23
On Earth Day, President Biden opened his virtual Climate Summit of world leaders by pledging to cut US CO2 emissions 50% from their 2005 peak by 2030. It was his latest step in the effort to reverse Trump environmental policies and return the US to a global leadership role in the effort against global warming. Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass) and Representative Nydia M. Velázquez (NY-07) reintroduced legislation that would establish a national strategy to address global climate-driven displacement and provide the support needed to implement durable solutions for climate-displaced persons. READ
Biden's Transformative Plans - May 10
The components of Biden's "Build Back Better" program - the American Rescue Plan, the American Jobs Plan, and the American Families Plan - would be transformative. They would reverse decades of Reaganomics "trickle down theory", which has left behind many Americans while increasing our nation's economic inequality.
As the days of the Democratic majority in Congress tick down, only the American Rescue Plan has been approved by Congress. That legislation passed without a single Republican vote in either chamber, and Se. Mitch McConnell has said that Biden's infrastructure proposal will likewise not get a single Republican vote. Without an end to the filibuster, the remaining components will not see the light of day. READ
Calls for restraint as Holy Land violence threatens to spiral out of control - May 13
World leaders are calling for restraint from Israeli armed forces and Hamas militants in the recent round of violence, which has so far killed at least 152 Palestinians and 8 Israelis. Israel's bombardment of Gaza has entered its sixth day with civilian casualties there over 100, including 36 children. Worried that the region’s worst hostilities in years could spiral out of control, the United States is sending an envoy, Hady Amr. The tinderbox that is the Israeli-Palestinian relationship was lit after hundreds of Palestinians were injured during protests over the expulsion of Palestinian families and in Israeli raids on the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound during Ramadan. READ
Israel and Hamas agree to ceasefire, but has Biden learned anything? - May 21
On Thursday May 20, Hamas and Israel agreed to a ceasefire. President Biden finally brought enough pressure on Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu to end Israel's 11-day assault on Gaza which left at least 248 Palestinians dead, including 66 children. On the Israeli side, 12 people, including two children, have been killed. The Israeli bombing campaign devastated Gaza's civilian infrastructure and left 58,000 people homeless. Even after the ceasefire, Biden continued to emphasize "Israel's right to defend itself", but Israel's massively disproportionate response is not, by any reasonable definition of the term, defending itself. Disproportionate response is not self-defense. It is a war crime. Even as the magnitude of the Israeli assault on Gaza became clear, the Biden Administration blocked Security Council action and announced a $735 million sale of precision missile equipment to Israel.... READ
Policing Reform: one year after the death of George Floyd - May 27
Last spring the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police set off waves of protest across the country and around the world. There were calls for criminal justice system reform, particularly in police training, practices, and accountability. "Black Lives Matter" and "systemic racism" once again entered the national conversation. As did "Defund the Police", an unfortunately chosen slogan to denote an excellent intention - moving moneys from military grade weaponry and over-policing into social programs aimed at mitigating the root causes of crime... A look at where we are one year after the murder of George Floyd...READ
A "Trump-lite" foreign policy is unacceptable - June 3
President Biden's foreign policy and defense budget are failing progressives and peace activists. Biden's proposed increase to an already obscenely bloated defense budget and his failure to quickly reverse all of Trump's odious policies are warning signs of a same-old, same-old status quo approach to foreign affairs. Just as Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam War became Richard Nixon's Vietnam War more than 50 years ago, Biden will own Trump's policies if he does not abandon them soon....READ
Iran nuclear talks resume this week - June 9
What was supposed to be the fifth and final round of talks in Vienna to revive the JCPOA (aka "Iran nuclear deal") ended with negotiators returning home to their respective countries last week. The talks to bring the US and Iran back to the original terms of the landmark 2015 agreement are to resume on June 10...prospects for an agreement, key remaining issues, Iran presidential election...READ
The greatest attack on voting rights since the end of Reconstruction - June 17
America is at a turning point. The bedrock rights of a democracy, the right to vote and the right to have that vote counted, are under attack across the country. Vote nullification has now been added to vote suppression. Triggered by Trump's Big Lie and attempt to undo an election he lost, the current assault on voting rights is a continuation and expansion of the voter suppression effort perpetrated by Republican politicians and strategists since Obama's election.
World News Update - June 18
Ethiopia's national elections being held as the humanitarian crisis in the Tigray region reaches a tipping point; Colombia's violent suppression of protests against the right-wing regime; Israel's Netanyahu out after 12 years in power and an ultranationalist "Flag March" through Jerusalem
Speaking truth: in praise of whistleblowers and journalists - June 24
The 50th anniversary of the release of the Pentagon Papers was a reminder of the dangers faced by whistleblowers and journalists. Daniel Ellsberg was charged with espionage and faced life in prison for telling the truth about the Vietnam War. In the decades since, his actions inspired others to come forward and expose war crimes and other perfidy. Globally, 937 journalists have been killed over the past decade - many of them deliberately targeted. Before we breathe too easily here in the United States, we would do well to remember the January 6 attack on the Capitol initiated by a president who had called the press "an enemy of the people"...READ
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