Category: Violence

Peace & Justice History for 12/3

December 3, 1833
Oberlin College was founded in Ohio. It was the first college to enroll men and women on equal terms, and to accept African-American men and women on equal terms with white students.
December 3, 1965
An all-white jury in Alabama convicted three Ku Klux Klansmen for the murder of white civil rights activist Viola Liuzzo.
 
Viola Liuzzo
The mother of five from Detroit was shot and killed while driving a young black activist, Leroy Moton, back to the town of Selma following a protest march to the state capital in Montgomery. It was later learned that another Klansmen in the car, Gary Thomas Rowe, was an FBI informant.

Klansmen Collie Wilkins, Eugene Thomas and William Eaton at their trial

About Viola Liuzzo  Detroit Historical Society
Learn more Zinn Educational
A serious blogger considers a book about the FBI’s involvement 
December 3, 1969
Files were destroyed at eight New York City draft boards in protest
of the Vietnam War.
December 3, 1984
In the early morning hours, one of the worst industrial disasters in history began when American-owned Union Carbide’s pesticide plant located near the densely populated city of Bhopal in central India leaked a highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate into the air.
Estimates of the fatalities vary widely, but of the approximately one million people living in Bhopal at the time, 2,000 were killed immediately, at least another 8,000 within a short time, and hundreds of thousands were injured, many still suffering today.
The U.S. blocked extradition of Union Carbide officials facing criminal prosecution in India. Union Carbide has since been purchased by Dow Chemical which continues to refuse responsibility for the incident or its victims, and has yet to clean up the site.
Contemporary news report on the incident
bhopal.org 
December 3, since 1992
The International Day of Disabled Persons was declared by the United Nations. “The annual observance of the International Day of Disabled Persons … aims to promote an understanding of disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights and well-being of persons with disabilities . . . .”
2020 Theme: Building Back Better: toward a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post COVID-19 World. 
more info 
December 3, 1997

An international treaty banning land mines was signed by 122 countries. It comprehensively prohibits the use, production, trade or stockpiling of antipersonnel mines. Buried landmines kill about 15,000 people every year worldwide. The dangerous and time-consuming process of removal would take centuries at the current rate of landmine clearance.The United States and approximately forty other countries have yet to sign the treaty, and fifteen countries continue to produce land mines. The Pentagon requested $1.3 billion for research on and production of two new landmine systems—Spider and Intelligent Munitions System—between fiscal years 2005 and 2011, but Congress has resisted funding the programs under pressure from nearly
500 U.S.-based organizations opposing the weapons.
Comprehensive information from the International Campaign to Ban Landmines
 Recent U.S. policy on land mines:

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december3

Peace & Justice History for 12/2

December 2, 1914
 
Karl Liebnecht
Karl Liebknecht was the only member of German Parliament to vote against war with France and Britain. He was arrested shortly thereafter and conscripted into the German Army. Refusing to fight, Liebknecht served on the Eastern Front burying the dead.
More about Karl Liebnecht
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December 2, 1942
Enrico Fermi, the Italian-born Nobel Prize-winning physicist, directed and controlled the first self-sustaining fission reaction in his laboratory beneath the bleachers of Stagg Field at the University of Chicago.The result of this experiment made the atomic bomb possible and ushered in the nuclear age. Upon successful completion of the experiment, a coded message was transmitted to President Roosevelt: “The Italian navigator has landed in the new world.”

More on Fermi and the bomb 
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December 2, 1954
The U.S. Senate voted 65 to 22 to censure Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wisconsin) for “conduct that tends to bring the Senate into dishonor and disrepute.”The condemnation, with all the Democrats and about half the Republicans voting against him, was related to McCarthy’s controversial, abusive and indiscriminate investigation of suspected communists in the U.S. government, military, and civilian society. The House of Representatives and many states continued their own investigations.

Senator Joseph P. McCarthy with chief counsel Roy Cohn (L)
See a video clip of McCarthy reacting to the censure 
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December 2, 1961
 
Fidel Castro
Following a year of severely strained relations with the United States and his country, Cuban leader Fidel Castro openly declared that he was a Marxist-Leninist.
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December 2, 1964
Thousands who were part of the Berkeley Free Speech Movement gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall, the administration building at that University of California campus, to protest four students being disciplined for distributing political literature; Joan Baez performed in support. The next day, police arrested 773 who began a sit-in at Sproul Hall. 10,000 more students then went on strike and shut down the school.
photo: © Ron Enfield
The Free Speech Movement had begun in October, when three thousand students surrounded a police car for 36 hours. Inside the car was a civil rights worker, Jack Weinberg, who had been arrested for distributing political literature on the UC-Berkeley campus.
 
Jack Weinberg in police car.
What was the Free Speech Movement?  
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December 2, 1977
A demonstration erupted outside a South African court after a magistrate ruled that security police were to be exonerated in the death of black consciousness leader Steve Biko, who died while in their custody.
The demonstrators chanted, “They have killed Steve Biko. What have we done? Our sin is that we are black?”
Biko’s funeral

His funeral had been attended by more than 15,000 mourners, not including the thousands who were turned away by the police. He had been arrested for writing inflammatory pamphlets and “inciting unrest” among the black community.
Steve Biko

The news story
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December 2, 1980
Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke, Ursuline Sr. Dorothy Kazel, and lay missionary Jean Marie Donovan were raped, murdered, buried outside San Salvador, and unearthed shortly thereafter.


American Nuns Maura Clarke, Ita Ford, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Marie Donovan- killed in El Salvador in 1980.

U.S.-trained and -supported Salvadoran national guardsmen, widely known to act as death squads, were suspected.The Reagan administration, taking office seven weeks later, and relying in part on the Salvadoran military to rid Central America of communism, denied the National Guard’s involvement. General Alexander Haig, the president’s secretary of state, explained the churchwomen’s deaths to Congress as an accident caused by nervous soldiers who “misread the mere traveling down the road (of the nuns’ van) as an effort to run a roadblock.” The FBI and CIA later reported this as a total fabrication, and five national guardsmen were later convicted of murder.
More about the Maryknoll Sisters 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december2

Peace & Justice History for 12/1

December 1, 1891 
The International Peace Bureau was launched in Rome, Italy, “. . . to coordinate the activities of the various peace societies and promote the concept of peaceful settlement of international disputes.” The organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910 for its work, and is headquartered in Bern, Switzerland.
December 1, 1948 
Following a brief but bloody civil war in 1948, Costa Rican President Jose Figueres helped draft a constitution that abolished the military and guaranteed free election with universal suffrage (all adult citizens can vote).

Money not spent on a military allowed the country to adequately fund health care and education, yielding one of the highest literacy rates on the continent, ninety-six percent. This is judged to be a factor in the nation’s never having fallen prey to corruption, dictatorships, or the bloodshed that has marred the history of much of the region.
Costa Rica stands apart 
December 1, 1955 
Rosa Parks, a black seamstress active in the local NAACP, was arrested by police in Montgomery, Alabama, after refusing to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. Mrs. Parks faced a fine for breaking the segregation laws which said blacks had to vacate their seats if there were white passengers left standing. The same bus driver had thrown her off his bus twelve years prior for refusing to enter through the rear door.

Rosa Parks
Mrs. Parks had not been the first to defy the Jim Crow (the system of legalized or de jure segregation) law but her arrest sparked the year-long Montgomery Bus Boycott, organized by a young Baptist minister named Martin Luther King, Jr. The Montgomery bus company couldn’t survive without the revenue from its black passengers who, for the next year, created car pools and other means to avoid using the city busses.

The bus restored in Henry Ford Museum
The boycott was successful and Mrs. Parks became known as the “mother of the civil rights movement.“
The story of the bus 
Rosa Parks biography 
Arrest record of Rosa Parks 
December 1, 1959 
Representatives of 12 countries, including the United States and the Soviet Union, signed a treaty in Washington setting aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve, free from military activity. President Eisenhower said the treaty and its guarantees “constitute a significant advance toward the goal of a peaceful world with justice.”
December 1, 1966
 
Comedian Dick Gregory was convicted in Olympia, Washington for his participation in a Nisqually Native American fishing rights protest. 
 
Interview with Dick Gregory
December 1, 1969 
A lottery was held to determine which young men would be drafted into the armed services for the ongoing Vietnam War. A large glass container held 366 blue plastic balls each marked with a birth date. The drawing determined the order of induction for draft-eligible men between 18 and 26 years old, and was broadcast live nationally. The first draft lottery was held in 1942.

Rep. Alexander Pirnie, R-NY, draws the first capsule in the
draft lottery held on December 1, 1969. The capsule contained the date, September 14.
December 1, 1997 
A silent march of women in Khartoum, Sudan, protesting conscription, was met by a police attack and the arrest of 37 women.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december1

Peace & Justice History for 11/29

November 29, 1864
A U.S. Army cavalry regiment under Colonel J. M. Chivington (a Methodist missionary and candidate for Congress), acting on orders from Colorado’s Governor, John Evans, and ignoring a white surrender flag flying just below a U.S. flag, attacked sleeping Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians, killing nearly 500, in what became known as the Sand Creek Massacre. Captain Silas Soule, however, not only refused to follow Chivington’s lead at Sand Creek, but ordered his troops not to participate in the attack.
The Indians, led by Black Kettle, had been ordered away from Fort Lyon four days before, with the promise that they would be safe. Virtually all of the victims, mostly women and children, were tortured and scalped; many women, including the pregnant, were mutilated. Nine of 900 cavalrymen were killed. A local newspaper called this “a brilliant feat of arms,” and stated the soldiers had “covered themselves with glory.”
At first, Chivington was widely praised for his “victory” at the Battle of Sand Creek, and he and his troops were honored with a parade in Denver. However, rumors of drunken soldiers butchering unarmed women and children began to circulate, and Congress ordered a formal investigation of the massacre. Chivington was eventually threatened with court martial by the U.S. Army, but as he had already left his military post, no criminal charges were ever filed against him
Eyewitness Congressional testimony of John S. Smith, a white Indian agent and interpreter
 
Two different paintings of the Sand Creek Massacre
November 29, 1963

Earl Warren and LBJ
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
More about The Warren Commission 
November 29, 1967
U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara announces his resignation during the Vietnam War.

Robert McNamara
The Fog of War a movie about the Vietnam War 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november29

Let’s talk about 3 developments with Russia….

Say it loud and proud again please!

EYup: Exactly Right …

Ten Bears has made me Jealous.  I wish I had found this first.   But to give credit I think he can do more with it.   If you don’t know ask him his work out regiment.  If anyone who claims to be male thinks their bigotry can out male his actual being … I hope they never tell that to him face to face.  I was in the military and even in my best fitness I don’t think I could have kept up with his regimen.   Hugs

Peace & Justice History for 11/25

November 25, 1913
Indians marching with Mohandas Gandhi for recognition of their religious and cultural legitimacy, and individual freedom, were attacked by police, leaving five dead (shot from the back according to the inquest) and nine wounded. He was marching with more than 2000 striking miners from Natal to Transvaal provinces in South Africa in violation of the law.
Gandhi in his publication, Indian Opinion, had advocated the end of a £3 tax on ex-indentured Indians. He had lamented the violence that had been inflicted on his peaceful marchers. 
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November 25, 1947

Film industry executives, meeting in New York, announced that the “Hollywood Ten” directors, producers, and writers who had refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) would be fired or suspended, and not hired in the future, thus “blacklisted.” 
Who were the Hollywood Ten?  
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November 25, 1986
President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that $30 million in profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to support the Nicaraguan contra insurgents in violation of U.S. law. What became known as the Iran-Contra Affair was revealed three weeks after a Lebanese magazine reported arms had been sold in violation of U.S. policy.

Reagan & Meese
The arms trade with the revolutionary government of the Islamic Republic of Iran was carried out in hopes of freeing some of the Western hostages held by Iran’s allies in the middle east. Reagan had repeatedly pledged never to negotiate with terrorists.
However, notes of an earlier meeting kept by then-Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger said, “President decided to go with Israeli-Iranian offer to release our 5 hostages in return for sale of 4,000 TOWs [U.S. missiles] to Iran by Israel.  [Sec. of State] George Shultz + I opposed — [CIA Director] Bill Casey, Ed Meese + VP [George H.W. Bush] favored — as did Poindexter.”
The Congress had specifically barred U.S. funds going to the contras (Boland amendment) who were terrorizing the Nicaraguan countryside.


John Poindexter
Reagan and Meese denied knowledge of the activity and named two subordinates — National Security Advisor Admiral John M. Poindexter and National Security Council staffer Colonel Oliver L. North — as responsible and being dismissed from their jobs as a result. “. . . [I] was not fully informed on the nature of one of the activities,” said President Reagan, referring to the fact that money from weapons sales to Iran was diverted to the contras.
Who’s who in Iran-Contra
Tom Tomorrow on Iran-Contra 
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November 25, 1988
2,000 marched in New York city to protest the sale of animal fur for clothing. Over 50 other cities held similar demonstrations.

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november25

McBride To House Dems: Ignore Anti-Trans Attacks

McBride To House Dems: Ignore Anti-Trans Attacks

November 20, 2024 News, Politics

 

NOTUS reports:

House Democrats are brushing off Republican attacks on Rep.-elect Sarah McBride after some GOP members made clear they would attempt to keep McBride from using the women’s restrooms in the Capitol. That’s because McBride told them to.

By Tuesday morning, Democrats had a clear message: Republican attacks on trans people were a distraction from other issues. Sources told NOTUS that McBride had made obvious in meetings that she wanted her colleagues to talk about policy — and what Republicans weren’t doing — instead.

The congresswoman-elect, one lawmaker said, reiterated that Republicans’ messaging was a “distraction” and that this isn’t “her first rodeo” dealing with anti-trans rhetoric. Another House Democrat said they’ve personally talked “extensively” with McBride and “she doesn’t want to be seen as a victim.”

Read the full article.

SkokieDaddy5 days ago

McBride shows us what courage is.

Our incoming president elect remains butthurt over a Vanity Fair article (small hands) from over 30 years ago.

McBride brushes off direct personal attacks and wants us to focus on policy. Our incoming president wants SNL taken off the air because they told jokes.

Ron the Juan5 days ago

We just need to elect more trans people to office.

stuckinthewoods  Ron the Juan5 days ago

In 2018 Virginia’s Danica Roem was the first out trans person elected to any state legislature, as a Delegate. Last year she was elected as a state Senator, and when that happened she became the second in the US to be elected to a state Senate, after Sarah McBride’s election in 2020. Interesting both mid-Atlantic, soon everywhere hopefully.

DmR 5 days ago

Most people have more important things to be concerned about than what is or may have been between another’s legs!

CB5 days ago

Greene and her ilk are beyond pathetic. As it happens, I’ve worked with and written about more than a usual share of trans people.

Their journeys and, in some cases, what they’ve endured to live their lives authentically and with joy are far greater than this.

McBride can let them spin in the sewer of their ignorance, immaturity, and hatred while McBride focuses on being a grownup. I applaud her response, and I have to say I’m not the least bit surprised.

Todd20036 5 days ago

Democrats always play the mature opponent

Usually very noble, but that won’t help in a fascist government

Houndentenor 5 days ago

The problem is that Democrats can’t avoid talking about trans people because Republicans won’t let us. We aren’t bringing it up. I don’t think it’s a big issue. Yes, it affects trans people but no one else is harmed by a small percentage of our population being treated fairly and decently.

Texas is a good example. Ted Cruz made trans girls playing sports a core issue in the campaign. Allred tried to avoid that topic but had to address it. And it didn’t matter. Never mind that Cruz used images of cis-gendered girls from Oregon in his ad because this is just not a problem in Texas. Nope. That’s not scary enough for the knuckle-dragging redneck assholes that show up to vote in Texas.

I agree we shouldn’t bring it up, but it’s naive to think that it’s an issue we can just ignore because Republicans are not going to shut up about it because they think it helped them in this year. Look for several more rounds of this shit. Trans girls in sports is the new gay marriage.

Hatiest Hate Preacher Vs The Priesthood Of All Believers

Rev. Ed understands his position well.  It is about serving his people so that they won’t need him when he is gone.  It is not about ruling them.  In this video he talks about hate preacher Steven Anderson who glories in his hate for some people and take supreme joy in causing harm to other humans.  I know I have posted a lot of him and to tell the truth I may post a lot more.  I have 20 cued up as I reload the finial programs in the computers.   Finally everything is working as I desire it to.   By tomorrow morning or even tonight I should be back to full steam.  Hugs

Side note, the link to Owen’s channel is at the YouTube site of this video.  I will not link it here.  Years ago, maybe 6 to 8 years ago … maybe more, the atheist community fractured badly.  That was when trans kids became an issue.  Some supported kids understanding their gender as they understand who they are attracted to romantically / sexually at a young age.  Others were adamant that kids had no way to understand their gender until they were nearly adults.  Maybe around 17 or 18.  Owen was one of those that was staunchly anti – trans refusing to listen to anyone on what they had to say from their personal experience.  He also admitted he did not understand it and had reservations about the entire issue.    Granted that was a long time ago and his views could have changed.  His backstory is he was raised in the cult of Jehovah Witnesses.  His history as I remember it he got a girl pregnant and there were big issues between him and her family.    I know several of those I originally refused to watch did come around, it took them time and talking to people.  I just don’t know if he did.  Is he still anti-trans I don’t know?  But on the chance he is, I won’t post his blog link here.   Hugs

Try Rereading Sodom and Gomorrah Without Personal Bias