Category: Military

Peace & Justice History for 12/24

December 24, 1865
Months after the fall of the Confederacy and the end of slavery, several veterans of the Confederate Army formed a private social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, called the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). Its first priority, declared in its creed, was “to protect the weak, the innocent, and the defenseless from the indignities, wrongs, and outrages of the lawless, the violent, and the brutal.”
In fact, the Klan terrorized and killed former slaves, sympathetic whites and immigrants.

Three Ku Klux Klan members, September 1871.
The building where it happened still stands with a bronze plaque reading, “Ku Klux Klan organized in this, the law office of Judge Thomas M. Jones, Dec. 24, 1865.” When the building was purchased in 1990, the new owner, Don Massey, instead of removing the plaque, simply reversed it, showing the smooth back side.
More on the Klan 
December 24, 1924

Costa Rica indicated its intention to withdraw from The League of Nations to protest lack of progress on regional issues, particularly U.S. dominance of the hemisphere.
The Monroe Doctrine, declared by President James Monroe in 1823, established the U.S. sphere of influence encompassed the entirety of North and South America, as well as the Caribbean island nations.
Read more 
December 24, 1947
President Truman pardoned 1,523 of the 15,805 World War II draft resisters who had been convicted and served time in prison for their offense. Five years later on the same day, shortly before leaving office, he granted full pardon and restoration of civil and political rights to former convicts who had served in the peacetime army or who had not been covered by his earlier pardon, as well as all convicted peacetime deserters.
Read more 
December 24, 1991
Parents of reservists from Grocka protested at Army headquarters in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, worried their sons would be caught up in the war threatened by Serbian nationalist expansionism.
December 24, 1992
President George Herbert Walker Bush pardoned six Reagan administration appointees in the Iran-Contra case, among them former Secretary of Defense Casper Weinberger, and Robert McFarlane, the President’s former national security advisor.He did so with less than one month to go in his presidency, and one week before Weinberger’s trial on four felony charges was to begin.
These people and others were responsible for selling arms to the revolutionary government of Iran in hope of the release of hostages held in Lebanon, despite then-President Ronald Reagan’s repeated pledge not to negotiate with hostage-takers.

The Iran-Contra Boys

Otto Reich /Elliott Abrams /John Poindexter/Edwin Meese George H.W. Bush/Casper Weinberger/Oliver North/Robert McFarlane

The money raised through the arms sales was used to fund the Contra insurgents in Nicaragua, who were violently trying to overthrow the government. This support was in violation of an explicit legal ban on such activities under the Boland Amendment [see December 21, 1982].

Text of Bush’s Grant of Executive Clemency
U.S. presidential pardon history: 
More about presidential pardons: 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december24

Peace & Justice History for 12/23

December 23, 1943
A 135-day strike by 23 conscientious objectors (COs) ended dining hall segregation at Danbury Federal Penitentiary in Connecticut.
The number of conscientious objectors had increased from 15 in early 1941 to 200 by the time of the strike.
December 23, 1944
General Dwight Eisenhower endorsed the finding of a court-martial in the case of Eddie Slovik, who was tried for desertion, and authorized his execution. It was the first such sentence against a U.S. Army soldier since the Civil War, and Slovik was the only man so punished during World War II.
He made no secret of his unwillingness to enter combat, but his pleas to be reassigned to noncombat status were rejected.
Eisenhower ordered that Slovik’s execution be carried out to avoid further desertions in the late stages of the war.

Eddie Slovik
Read more 
December 23, 1946
University of Tennessee refused to play Duquesne University, because they might have used a black player, Chuck Cooper, in the basketball game [see July 14, 1887].
Cooper went on to be drafted (the first black player ever) by the Boston Celtics, playing his first NBA game on the same day as the debut of head coach Red Auerbach, guard Bob Cousy, and center “Easy” Ed Macauley.

Chuck Cooper, graduate of Duquesne University
December 23, 1961

James Davis
James Davis of Livingston, Tennessee, was killed by the Viet Cong, the insurgents in South Vietnam, and became the first of some 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed during the Vietnam War.
Lyndon Johnson later referred to him as “the first American to fall in defense of our freedom in Vietnam.”
Over two million Vietnamese would die before the end of the war.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december23

Peace & Justice History for 12/22

December 22, 1944
African-American women during World War II had difficulty volunteering to serve in the war effort. Negro enlistment in the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) was limited to 10% of enlistees (reflecting the black proportion of the U.S. population and known as “ten-percenters”). Only the officers were trained in integrated units but all served in racially segregated units, and lived and ate in “colored only” facilities. During the war, 6,520 black women served as WACs.Black women were completely banned from the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) until the last year of the war. Through the efforts of Director Mildred McAfee and Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, Secretary of the Navy (and later the first Secretary of Defense) James Forrestal pushed through their admittance. The first two black WAVES officers, Lieutenant Harriet Ida Pikens and Ensign Frances Wills, were sworn in this day.
Of 80,000 WAVES, only 72 black women served.
December 22, 1969
The original Radio Free Alcatraz, a pirate radio station, broadcasted for the first time through Berkeley, California’s Pacifica radio station, KPFA. The voice of Alcatraz was Johnny Trudell, an ally of the American Indians who had occupied Alcatraz Island, the site of the former prison in San Francisco Bay.

John Trudell speaks with news media representatives regarding negotiations with the federal government for title to Alcatraz Island.
Trudell, known as “the voice of Alcatraz: Listen and learn more
December 22, 1993
Operation “Toys for Guns” was begun in New York City through the efforts (and $10,000) of I.M. Rainmaker, CEO of an electronics company. Conceived in cooperation with local police concerned about crime fed by too many guns and the glorification of violence, the program offered a $100 voucher redeemable at Toys ‘R’ Us for a firearm turned in to the police.
How it happened 
December 22, 1997
Paramilitaries associated with the ruling PRI party in Mexico massacred 45 peasants in the village of Acteal in the state of Chiapas. The federal government then occupied the territory with over 70,000 troops and expelled the humanitarian observers who were stationed in the area to monitor the treatment of the indigenous people who lived there.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december22

Three Sam Seder clips that are important to watch

Before I share the clips a personal note.  I spend the morning with Ron.  We went to get blood work done.  Then we did some other things.  Then he went shopping while I did housework.  Then after he got home I started working on a computer project a friend asked me if I would do for him as he couldn’t do it.  I agreed to.  I still have a lot of work on it but I will get it done today I think.  

The lab work came back and I think I have a reason while I have been so tired, short of breath, and not able to concentrate or think clearly.   My blood work shows I am very anemic again.  I once had it get so bad I collapsed as I was entering my allergist office.  They thought I was having a heart attack and I ended up in the hospital.  Turned out my heart is great, but my damaged large bones don’t produce enough red blood cells.  Their solution was to eat more red meat and take iron supplements.  For a long time they watched for it but as I always managed to stay right inside the ok zone they stopped worrying about it.  But my diet changed, red meat got too expensive and I just don’t eat much anymore.  But my lab work showed my hematocrit is very low.  So I imagine the doctor will ask me to do some more tests.  I hope I don’t need a blood transfusion, that sucks.  Now on to the clips, enjoy.

From The Bee

I wish…

Peace & Justice History for 12/20

Vermont Freedom To Marry Passes, and more on this date:

December 20, 1946
The morning after Viet Minh forces under Ho Chi Minh launched a nighttime revolt in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, French colonial troops cracked down on the communist rebels. Ho and his soldiers immediately fled the city to regroup in the countryside.
That evening, the communist leader issued a proclamation that read:
Ho Chi Minh, Paris 1946

“All the Vietnamese must stand up to fight the French colonials to save the fatherland. Those who have rifles will use their rifles; those who have swords will use their swords; those who have no swords will use spades, hoes, or sticks. Everyone must endeavor to oppose the colonialists and save this country. Even if we have to endure hardship in the resistance war, with the determination to make sacrifices, victory will surely be ours.” The first Indochina War thus began.
December 20, 1960
North Vietnam announced the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of the South (usually known as the National Liberation Front or NLF), designed to replicate the success of the Viet Minh, the umbrella nationalist organization that successfully liberated Vietnam from French colonial rule.

National Liberation Front flag 
Ho Chi Minh biography (two separate links.)
December 20, 1990

Kansas reservist Dr. Yolanda Huet-Vaughn refused orders to serve in the first Gulf War (Desert Storm) and was later sentenced to prison. The Kansas medical board withdrew her hospital privileges.
“The issue was not whether I belonged in the military but whether the military belonged in the Middle East waging war. I did not want to focus on the personal decision. I was trying to focus on the decision for which each and every American would have to be responsible.” — Yolanda Huet-Vaughn
What if they gave a war and nobody came? 
December 20, 1994
100,000 Chechnyan civilians linked hands in a 65 km-long human chain (40 miles) to protest the Russian invasion of their country and attack on their capital, Grozny.
Read more  OR TRY HERE if you don’t have an account with the NYWT.
December 20, 1999
The Vermont Supreme Court rulled in Baker v. State of Vermont that homosexual couples were entitled to the same benefits and protections as wedded couples of the opposite sex.
History of the Freedom to Marry 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december20

Some Bluesky posts. I recommend reading the links to the anti-trans stories.

Yesterday, 37 Democratic Senators voted to pass the anti-trans NDAA.Those same Dems refused to allow Senator Baldwin to advance an amendment to remove anti-trans provisions from the bill.EITM has released an easy to read list of Senators who voted for it.Subscribe to support our journalism.

— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2024-12-19T15:34:29.396Z

This follows the Queensland and French reviews into care that found care to be safe and effective. The Cass Review was a political hatchet job. Guarantee the NYT and US media doesn't cover this.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T13:18:58.565Z
https://bsky.app/profile/georgetakei.bsky.social/post/3ldo6yyf7sk2c

In 2024, several New Hampshire Democrats, afraid that anti-trans attacks would work, voted in favor of a trans surgery ban and bathroom bill.They lost more seats than most other states. Now the R majority is ramping up targeting us.Capitulation didn't work.National Dems, take note.

— Erin Reed (@erininthemorning.com) 2024-12-19T05:05:53.670Z

There is no joy in taking health insurance coverage away from any of our constituents, including trans children of active duty service members here in Virginia.You can’t support our troops by making it harder for families to afford medically necessary health care prescribed by their doctors.

— Sen. Danica Roem (@pwcdanica.bsky.social) 2024-12-18T19:09:58.939Z

This is the trans athletic scare that has half the nation in a tizzy. It’s manufactured fear, playing off of ignorance and bigotry.

— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T17:38:11.087Z

The result of puberty blocker bans means trans youth are just skipping to grey market hormones, not managed by a healthcare provider. So the result of bans is care that is not managed and worse for everyone involved. This is why gatekeeping doesn't work. People will get access anyways.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:47:29.073Z

The only thing you do is make it less safe for trans people. Trans teens taking grey market hormones has been a thing for decades and had been declining until bans started kicking in. You'd think these idiots would learn that prohibitions never actually stops anything, you just make it less visible.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:47:29.074Z

I still haven’t been sued.

— Mueller, She Wrote (@muellershewrote.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T16:45:53.137Z

Rand Paul becomes the first to call for Elon Musk to replace Mike Johnson as Speaker. Which, if you listened to my podcast Uncovered yesterday, you already knew was going to happen before it just happened.

— Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T13:06:10.248Z

Mitch McConnell ran a playbook of total opposition after the 2008 election and it resulted in Republicans flipping 6 senate seats and 63 house seats two years after the biggest Dem victory since LBJwhat the fuck are you people doing

— Micah (@rincewind.run) 2024-12-18T16:16:00.341Z

The government is going to get shut down because this oligarch dipshit believes blatant lies from the dumbest person on Twitter.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T04:16:58.141Z

I don't think we're prepared for just how stupid things are about to get. The dumbest people on earth high on conspiracy theories will be making policy decisions like pandemic response based on disinformation from twitter.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T04:21:54.369Z

We’re all going to have to continue to push back on this lie from Trump that he won a “mandate” of historic proportions.

— George Takei (@georgetakei.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T18:30:01.228Z

"2025 Will Be the Year of Trump's Crackdown on Islam"What Trump’s hawkish anti-Muslim appointees mean for the Middle East – and beyond, writes @attackerman.bsky.social for @zeteo.com

— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T18:16:23.849Z

Jeffries: That bipartisan agreement has now been detonated because House Republicans have been ordered to shut down the government and hurt the very working-class Americans that many of them pretend to want to help

— Acyn (@acyn.bsky.social) 2024-12-19T16:53:20.945Z

The police exist to protect property, not people.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:06:02.492Z

This is why police unions are not real unions and no one should view them as such. They exist to protect power and property. That's it. There's no solidarity to be found there.

— Alejandra Caraballo (@esqueer.net) 2024-12-19T16:14:35.755Z

Peace & Justice History for 12/19

December 19, 1940
Civilian Public Service (CPS) camps were established for conscientious objectors following the institution of the first peacetime draft (a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor).
It was the first time members of peace-oriented religious groups (e.g., Quakers, Mennonites, Church of the Brethren) could legally avoid military conscription. 
 
Fire fighting. CPS 30, Walhalla, Michigan (Brethren)
Though they worked nine-hour days except Sundays, they had to pay their own room-and-board, and were not released from the camps until 1947.
Civilian Public Service  (Aside from the above working conditions, they were not paid at all, so nothing to send home, either. This link is a good read for info.)
December 19, 1962

Juan Bosch Gaviño
Juan Bosch Gaviño was elected President of the Dominican Republic in its first free elections in 38 years. The election of journalist and writer Bosch followed shortly after the end of 31 years of military dictator Rafael Trujillo who had been assassinated the previous year. Bosch was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup just seven months later.
Bosch’s brief political career 
December 19, 2010
Police in a provincial city in Tunisia used tear gas late on Saturday to disperse hundreds of youths who smashed shop windows and damaged cars, witnesses told Reuters. The beginning of Arab Spring.
 
Read more (Reuters) 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december19

Peace & Justice History for 12/17

The first entry may be a clue as to why Musk is supporting the Don; he could wish to turn the US into S. Africa. As hard as we worked when we were young until now, progress doesn’t seem to have stuck, here.

December 17, 1982
The U.N. passed a series of 4 resolutions attacking apartheid in South Africa: To organize an international conference of trade unions on sanctions against South Africa (approved 129 to 2); To encourage various international actions against South Africa (126 to 2); Support of sanctions and other measures against South Africa including international sporting events (139 to 1); Cessation of further foreign investments and loans for South Africa (138 to 1). The U.S. was the only country to have voted against all 4 resolutions (joined only by the United Kingdom on two).
December 17, 1990

Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a radical Roman Catholic priest and opponent of the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier who had been deposed in 1986, was elected president in the first free election in Haiti’s history. He was overthrown in 1991 in a military coup led by Brigadier-General Raoul Cedra.

More about Jean-Bertrand Aristide
Jean-Bertrand Aristide Fast Facts
December 17, 2010
In Tunesia jobless graduate Mohmad Bouazizi starts selling vegetables. When police seize his cart, he sets fire to himself and later dies.
This event believed to be the ignition of Arab Spring.
A UK Guardian interactive timeline 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december17

Peace & Justice History for 12/16

December 16, 1942
Heinrich Himmler, head of the German Gestapo, made public an order that Gypsies, or Roma, and those of mixed Roma blood already in labor camps be deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau.”Himmler was determined to prosecute Nazi racial policies, which dictated the elimination from Germany and German-controlled territories of all races deemed “inferior,” as well as “asocial” types, (hardcore criminals, homosexuals, Communists, Slavs, Catholic priests). Gypsies fell into both categories according to Nazi ideology and had been executed widely in Croatia, Poland and the Soviet Union.

Gypsy arrivals to the Belzec death camp.
The Porajmos (also Porrajmos) — literally Devouring — is a term coined by the Romani to describe attempts by the Nazi regime to exterminate most of their people in Europe.
Read more
Video 
December 16, 1950
President Truman proclaimed a national state of emergency in order to fight “Communist imperialism.” This followed major Chinese intervention in the Korean War, launching a counter-offensive with 300,000 men against Republic of Korea, United States and United Nations troops.The U.N. command, under General Douglas MacArthur, had attacked the North Korean Army at Inchon three months earlier, liberating Seoul, destroying three divisions and forcing a retreat by the North Korean People’s Army.

North Korean Leader Kim Il Sung (second from L) with the Korean-Chinese joint military command

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december16