Trump’s Putin Autopen by Ann Telnaes
It saves time for his ballroom, arch, and golf course renovations Read on Substack
Who really wrote that initial 28-point deal?
A Fine Bit Of Art
Tag: Human Rights
Volunteering With W. Kamau Bell
I so enjoy W. Kamau Bell’s many talents. Here’s one of his substack posts. There is video along with text. Enjoy!
Who’s With Me… at the Food Bank? Episode 2 by W. Kamau Bell
I’m talking to a Food Bank volunteer about why it is awesome to be a food bank volunteer! Read on Substack
snippet:
In the second episode of Who’s With Me… at the Food Bank?—our new shortform series on Substack—I’m back at the Alameda County Community Food Bank in Oakland, CA. I’m talking to Audrey Curbo, one of their lead volunteers. Audrey began volunteering at the food bank during the early days of COVID, a period that she (unsurprisingly) calls a “dark time”. Audrey has been volunteering there ever since and is now a part of leading and organizing volunteers, including those with disabilities. Audrey does all this work with a smile on her face, a song in her heart, and American Sign Language in her fingers. Audrey talks about learning ASL from Youtube, just so she could better communicate with deaf and hard of hearing volunteers. She is one of those people who makes you feel better about the world when you are done talking with them. Audrey comes of less like a volunteer and more like the host of children’s show. I loved talking to her. Let me know what you think in the comments below. (snip-go see the video!)
Music For Peace
Just a short bit with the video for today from Bee. Same from me, below hers.
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I choose this one, because the music of it brings me peace. I bet I’m not the only one. It’s a peaceful song.
Music For Peace
Bee brings us the Black Pumas, and a bit of commentary that begins, “One aspect of a peaceful existence is to consider our fellow humans as our family not our enemies.” Precisely!
My selection is this story, with The BeeGees performing Bob Dylan and then their own peace music. It’s an excellent story, and very good performances! Their own song is equal, at least, to Bob Dylan’s, but Barry Gibb discusses Bob Dylan’s influence on his music.
Barry Gibb recalls brave Bee Gees TV performance of Bob Dylan song to protest the Vietnam War
In 1962, the Australian Army began its formal military commitment to the U.S war in Vietnam. Two years later, young men were required to register for the National Service scheme and forced to fight in a bloody war that would enlist over 80,000 Australians. Over the next 11 years, 523 Australians died in battle and nearly 2400 were wounded before the country withdrew.
The fear of being sent to Vietnam to kill or be killed for the government struck fear into the hearts of many young Australians in 1963. That’s why three teenage boys, Barry (17), Robin (14), and Maurice (14) Gibb, The Bee Gees, took their big moment on Australian TV to speak truth to power by singing Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.” The Bee Gees were relative unknowns that night on Bandstand, but by the end of the decade, they would be among the biggest acts in the world.
The Bee Gees sang ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ on Australian TV in 1963
“Blowin’ in the Wind,” released earlier that year, asks fundamental questions about war, racial justice, and whether humanity will ever live in peace and equality. The song would become one of the most important anthems in the Civil Rights and peace movements of the ‘60s and beyond.
Barry Gibb, now 79, says that even as a teenager, he completely understood why Dylan’s song needed to be heard. “I was rapidly approaching the time when I would have to register for the draft,” he told Upworthy in an exclusive interview. “It’s hard to explain that period, except that everyone was very worried, very worried, and Bob Dylan was our hero.”
“The Vietnam War was such chaos to the Australian people that it shadowed everything. I wrote a song called ‘And the Children Laughing’ because of what Bob Dylan had written. It’s about life and dying, and the idea that you would die for your country or go and kill people you don’t know. And I don’t want to go kill people. It was not on the table for me. So everything he wrote touched me deeply,” Gibb continued.
Why don’t you get on your feet
It’s about time you got to think
Whatever happened to peace?
Well, open your eyes and you’ll see children laughing
Voices singin’, hearts a-beatin’ ah…
Barry Gibb has always believed in peace
(snip-there MORE; it’s not too long, but this is a long post with the music)
11/21 Is A Newsy Day In Peace & Justice History
| November 21, 1945 200,000 members of the United Auto Workers went on strike against General Motors, the first major strike following World War II. The UAW’s demand for a 30% wage increase was based on the increase in the cost of living during the war (28% according to the Department of Labor), the wartime freeze on wages, and the cut in the average workweek with the disappearance of overtime pay in manufacturing.   But the UAW also considered profits and prices a subject for negotiation, a position rejected by GM. The union did not merely say that labor was entitled to enough wages to live on. It also said that labor was entitled to share in the wealth produced by industry. “… Unless we get a more realistic distribution of America’s wealth, we won’t get enough to keep this machine going.”–Walter Reuther, UAW President More about the strike |
| November 21, 1973 President Richard Nixon’s attorney, J. Fred Buzhardt, revealed the existence of an 18 1/2-minute gap in one of the subpoenaed White House tape recordings of Watergate conversations made by President Richard Nixon in the days after the Watergate break-in.The erasure was blamed on an accident by Nixon’s private secretary, Rose Mary Woods, but scientific analysis determined the erasures to be deliberate. White House Chief of Staff Alexander Haig later attributed the gap to “sinister forces.”  Rose Mary Woods, demonstrating how she might have created the Watergate tape gap More about Rose Mary Woods |
| November 21, 1974 Both Houses of Congress voted to override President Gerald Ford’s veto of updates to the Freedom of Information Act. Originally passed in 1966, it required federal agencies to release information upon request to citizens and journalists.The amendments put an end to governmental resistance to compliance, including excessive fees, bureaucratic delays, and the need to sometimes resort to expensive litigation to force the government to share copies of documents. Ford advisors Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, his deputy Dick Cheney, and government lawyer Antonin Scalia advised him to veto it.  Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld, President Gerald Ford, and Deputy Chief of Staff Richard Cheney April 28, 1975 What was the dispute? (Verified the story is there.) |
| November 21, 1975 The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, led by Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho), issued a report charging U.S. government officials were behind assassination plots against two foreign leaders – Fidel Castro (Cuba) and Patrice Lumumba (Congo), and were heavily involved in at least three other plots: Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic), Ngo Dinh Diem (Vietnam), Rene Schneider (Chile).  Senator Frank Church, left, chairman of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, displays a poison dart gun as co-chairman Senator John Tower (R-TX) watches. The committee, a precursor to the Senate Intelligence Committee, was established to look into misuse of and abuse by intelligence agencies, particularly the CIA and FBI, some of which had been revealed by the Watergate investigations.      Fidel Castro / Patrice Lumumba / Rafael Trujillo / Ngo Dinh Diem / Rene Schneider Read more |
| November 21, 1981 More than 350,000 demonstrated in Amsterdam against U.S. nuclear-armed cruise missiles on European soil. |
| November 21, 1985 A full-scale summit conference, the first of five between the President Ronald Reagan of the U.S. and General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union concluded. There was optimism over beginning a more productive and cooperative relationship between the two countries, each of which had thousands of nuclear warheads targeted at the other.The U.S. had proposed building a space-based anti-ballistic missile system, commonly known as “Star Wars,” which the Soviets had strongly opposed as an escalation of the nuclear arms race.In an unofficial meeting the previous evening, President Reagan had noted that he and Gorbachev were meeting for the first time at this level and had little practice. Nevertheless, having read the history of previous summit meetings, he had concluded that those earlier leaders had not accomplished very much. Therefore, he suggested that he and Gorbachev say, “To hell with the past, we’ll do it our way and get something done.” Gorbachev concurred.  Reagan and Gorbachev at their first summit |
| November 21, 1986 National Security Council member Oliver North and his secretary, Fawn Hall, began shredding documents that would have exposed their participation in a range of illegal activities regarding the sale of arms to Iran in an attempt to free hostages, and the diversion of the proceeds to an insurgent Nicaraguan group known as the contras.  Fawn Hall  Oliver North More on Fawn Hall |
| November 21, 1995 China officially charged well-known human rights activist and political dissident Wei Jingsheng with trying to “overthrow the government.” Wei had not been seen for a year and a half after disappearing into police custody after meeting with a U.S. assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs.“If the people allow the power holders, in the peoples’ name, to violate and ignore the rights of some of the people then, at the same time, they are giving the power holders the power to violate the rights of all the people.” “ Most people wait until others are standing to make their move, very few are willing to stand up first or to stand alone. That’s why my friends call me a fool! But I don’t have any regrets.” – Wei Jingsheng  Wei Jingsheng He had been imprisoned previously for his involvement with the Democracy Wall movement, including years in solitary confinement. He had also spoken out on behalf of the Tibetans. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorynovember.htm#november21
Right-Wing’s Riley Gaines Grift Exposed
Riley Gaines turned a 5th place tie, not even in the top ranking, into a political money making bigot gig. She has made hundreds of thousands of dollars pushing people to hate trans athletes using misinformation and lies. She is a favorite of republicans to have testify in front of legislatures to help them justify making trans kids lives miserable. Wonder who is funding her? Religious bigots like billionaire Betsy DeVos. The DeVos made their money on pyramid schemes and selling Amway. All in the name of their god they lie, make things up, and misinform the public about trans people. I don’t understand the hate and bile they have for non-straight non-cis people. Makes their god look ugly. Hugs
POTUS’s Place In History
A Statement from Ty Jones Cox at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
Taking Away Food Assistance Puts the Trump Administration on the Wrong Side of History
If you care about federal food assistance, it’s been a head-spinning couple of months.
Earlier this year, the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans enacted the largest cuts in history in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and canceled the long-standing annual Department of Agriculture survey that would document the cuts’ harms. But when the government shutdown began, they started expressing concern about risks to SNAP and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).
It “helps no one” to cut SNAP benefits, said House Budget Committee Republicans. No one should “allow impoverished mothers and their babies to go hungry,” the White House Press Secretary opined — that is “so cruel.”
But as Maya Angelou said: when people show you who they are, believe them the first time.
And sure enough, as the shutdown went on, it became clear that President Trump was not concerned about the millions of people across the U.S. who need SNAP to help cover their grocery bills. They were just pawns in his political battle.
The Trump Administration became so determined to deny people their SNAP benefits that it fought all the way to the Supreme Court, even though the funds were available and it had the legal authority to use them.The Trump Administration became so determined to deny people their SNAP benefits that it fought all the way to the Supreme Court, even though the funds were available and it had the legal authority to use them.
The government has now reopened, and these nutrition programs are thankfully funded until the fall of 2026. The Administration hasn’t let up, though. Agriculture Secretary Rollins — after saying the government would be “failing” people if it didn’t provide SNAP benefits — has resumed her attacks on the program, falsely labeling it “corrupt” and ridden with “fraud.” In reality, SNAP has one of the most rigorous eligibility determination systems of any federal benefit program and SNAP participants must verify their eligibility regularly to stay connected to the program.
There’s a silver lining here: the public is more aware than ever of the value of programs like SNAP. There was a huge outcry and concern over the Trump Administration’s attempts to unlawfully and unnecessarily withhold SNAP benefits. The public won’t soon forget that SNAP benefits were suspended, and they won’t like seeing more people lose their benefits permanently as the food assistance cuts in the Republican megabill get implemented.
There is a long, proud tradition of bipartisan support for food assistance programs in the United States, grounded in a shared belief that no one should go hungry in a country with as many resources as ours. People from coast to coast and everywhere in between still deeply believe that cutting food assistance puts the Trump Administration and congressional Republicans at odds with broadly shared American values and on the wrong side of history.
Just One
I do want to add a content alert; there is little to nothing horrible in Annie’s post, but there is a link to testimony that could be at the least disturbing. This is such an important story, and it really is on us to make sure this stuff stays out front all the time until there is justice.
1st Indochina War Begins, Dr. Huet-Vaughn Refuses, 100,000 Chechnyans Link In Protest, & The State of VT Wins Over Baker, All In Peace & Justice History for 11/20
| 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 his 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 (2 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 (It’s a NYT; if you can’t get it see it at Wikipedia.) |
| 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
Scottie's Playtime 