“Howl”ing Peace & Justice History for 10/6

I’m so glad the newsletter is back! I’d missed it in my Inbox. Although, we can see all of it anytime we want to, at The Year In Peace & Justice History. That’s where I got them for a few months before I took a break on them. I figure it’s a sign I should pick it back up, that I’m getting newsletters again.

October 6, 1683
Thirteen Mennonite families from the German town of Krefeld arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Concord. Having endured religious warfare in Europe, the Mennonites were pacifists, similar to the Society of Friends (often known as Quakers) who opposed all forms of violence. The first Germans in North America, they established Germantown which still exists as part of Philadelphia.
Modern Mennonite peace activism:  (The page is from Quaker History.)
More about the Mennonites in America 
October 6, 1955
Poet Allen Ginsberg read his poem “Howl” for the first time at Six Gallery in San Francisco. The poem was an immediate success that rocked the Beat literary world and set the tone for confessional poetry of the 1960s and later.
“Howl and Other Poems” was printed in England, but its second edition was seized by customs officials as it entered the U.S. City Lights, a San Francisco bookstore, published the book itself to avoid customs problems, and storeowner (and poet) Lawrence Ferlinghetti was arrested and tried for obscenity, but defended by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).


Working on Howl in San Francisco, circa June, 1956
Following testimony from nine literary experts on the merits of the book, Ferlinghetti was found not guilty.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti outside City Lights 
More about City Lights 
Read Howl 
Read more about Allen Ginsberg
October 6, 1976
An airliner, Cubana Airlines Flight 455, exploded in midair, killing 73 mostly young passengers including the entire Cuban youth fencing team. The plot was engineered by Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban former CIA agent, who was based in Venezuela at the time.

The Posada Carriles file from the National Security Archive  (It’s still there!)
October 6, 1978
346 protestors were arrested at the site of the proposed Black Fox Nuclear Power Plant in Inola, Oklahoma.
In 1973 Public Service of Oklahoma announced plans to build the Black Fox plant about 15 miles from Tulsa.
It was also near Carrie Barefoot Dickerson’s family farm. She became concerned, as a nurse and a citizen, about the potential health hazards.

Carrie Barefoot Dickerson
Through her group, Citizens’ Action for Safe Energy (CASE), and the consistent opposition of informed and persistent allies, the project was canceled in 1982. There are no nuclear plants in the state of Oklahoma, and no nuclear plant has been built in the U.S. since then.
Carrie Dickerson Foundation 
October 6, 1979

Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant protest – late 1970s
Over 1400 were arrested at Seabrook, New Hampshire, the construction site of two new nuclear power plants. The occupation was organized by the Clamshell Alliance.
Clamshell history 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryoctober.htm#october6

Now Here’s A Thing We Can Use, From Carl Sagan, Bless Him!

Three clips from The Majority Report on the replublicans hate to tax the wealthy, how tRump’s policies hurt farmers, and the illegal Israeli attacking aid flotillas

 

Clips from The Majority Report on the failures of democratic leadership and messaging

Right wing lies, misinformation and hate for the truth.

tRump’s authoritarian fascist dictatorship government.

Professor of immigration and citizenship law at the University of Virginia, Amanda Frost joins the show to discuss her book You Are Not American: Citizen Stripping from Dred Scott to the Dreamers. Live-streamed on September 22, 2025.

 

 

 

Jamaal Bowman Reacts To Thug Stormtroopers Raiding Chicago Neighborhood | Jamaal Bowman | TMR

 

Kash Patel fires FBI agent trainee for displaying gay pride flag

https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/news/kash-patel-fires-fbi-agent-trainee-displaying-gay-pride-flag-rcna235306

The FBI employee was fired on the first day of the government shutdown as President Trump threatened more terminations.
President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel

President Donald Trump and FBI Director Kash Patel in the White House briefing room on Aug. 11.Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file

FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday fired an agent in training for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk while appointed to a field office in California last year, according to three people familiar with the matter.

The trainee, who previously worked as an FBI support specialist in Los Angeles, received a letter — dated Oct. 1 and signed by Patel — claiming he had displayed an improper “political” message in the workplace during his assignment in California under President Joe Biden, according to a copy of the letter shared with MSNBC.

The letter cited President Donald Trump’s Article II powers under the Constitution to dismiss federal agency career personnel, a justification used in several recent firings at the Department of Justice and FBI. The terminations are currently being challenged in several lawsuits.

“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office.”

FBI DIRECTOR KASH PATEL

“You are being summarily dismissed from your position as a New Agent Trainee at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and removed from the federal service,” read the letter, which was sent on the first day of a nationwide government shutdown that created job uncertainty throughout the federal workforce.

“After reviewing the facts and circumstances and considering your probationary status, I have determined that you exercised poor judgment with an inappropriate display of political signage in your work area during your previous assignment in the Los Angeles Field Office,” Patel wrote, without referencing a flag.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment about this story. MSNBC was unable to reach the fired trainee for comment and, therefore, is not identifying him. The termination over the pride flag was first reported by CNN.

Wednesday’s dismissal comes after Trump and Russell Vought, the White House director of the Office of Management and Budget, threatened widespread firings of federal employees in the event of a government shutdown.

The agent trainee, who had most recently been assigned to the FBI Academy in Quantico, won an Attorney General’s Award in 2022 in recognition of his work, according to a Justice Department news release.

News of the trainee’s firing spurred some agents in the FBI’s Washington field office to scour their work stations and social media accounts for signs or comments — anything that could be viewed as offensive to Trump, his top appointees and MAGA supporters, according to one person familiar with the reaction within the government.

FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors warned one another, ahead of Trump’s inauguration, to be careful about displaying information revealing their sexual orientation or support for LGBTQ rights.

When Trump was weeks away from inauguration in January, FBI agents and Justice Department prosecutors were warning one another to be careful about displaying information revealing their own sexual orientation or support for lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender rights. After the inauguration, one person said, FBI agents warned colleagues that they heard new pro-Trump appointees installed at the FBI were combing through internal employee files to find lists that identified employees as LGBTQ.

DOJ Pride, an LGBTQ employee resource group at the Department of Justice, shut down in late January, less than 10 days after Trump signed an executive order seeking to root out all diversity, equity and inclusion measures from the federal government.

The group “ceased to operate effective immediately,” DOJ Pride’s board wrote in an email sent to members at the time.

“In this time of uncertainty and concern, we have taken the extraordinary measure of ceasing operations of DOJ Pride,” the message said. “We have made this decision in the interest and for the protection of all members.”

The email, which was shared then with NBC News by two DOJ staffers, thanked members for their “understanding during this time” and expressed hope that the group could “rebuild in the future.”

The FBI’s firing of a trainee for displaying a gay pride flag on his desk last year came as more than a dozen federal agency websites trumpeted that the “radical left” had caused the government shutdown.

WATCH: Federal Agent Fatally Shoots Man in Raid, Bodycam Exposes Lies

An ICE agent’s lies were exposed in the fatal shooting of 38-year-old Silverio Villegas González. Dr. Rashad Richey and Jamie Lowe discuss on Indisputable. Tell us what you think in the comments below.

“The fatal shooting of a Mexican immigrant by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer has left a community “shaken” and in need of transparency, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said on Monday, after police bodycam videos of the incident emerged. “Two weeks ago, a man was shot and killed by ICE in Franklin Park, Illinois. Shortly after, ICE issued a statement justifying the killing, saying the federal agent was ‘seriously injured,’’’ Pritzker said, referring to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security.”

 

Broadview police chief says ICE agents making false 911 calls

Broadview village officials sent a strong message to the feds this week. They do not want U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operating its detention center in their town. On Thursday, Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said ICE agents are draining the resources of his department and the community by making false 911 calls.