Open Windows, Ann Telnaes
Tag: Human Rights
Peace & Justice History for 7/9
| July 9, 1917 During World War I, Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman, leaders of the No-Conscription League, spoke out against the war and the draft. Both were found guilty in New York City of conspiracy against the draft, fined $10,000 each and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment with the possibility of deportation at the end of their terms.  Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman in New York, 1917, awaiting trial on charges of opposing the draft during World War I. Emma Goldman’s address to the Jury “History is a Weapon” |
July 9, 1955 Albert Einstein Albert Einstein, Bertrand Russell and nine other scientists warned that the development of weapons of mass destruction had created a choice between war and survival of the human species.  Bertrand Russell The Russell-Einstein Manifesto was published in London and became the basis for the Pugwash Conference of scientists two years later. “Here, then, is the problem which we present to you, stark and dreadful and inescapable: Shall we put an end to the human race; or shall mankind renounce war? People will not face this alternative because it is so difficult to abolish war. The abolition of war will demand distasteful limitations of national sovereignty….” “We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves … what steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous to all parties?” Text of the manifesto |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july9
More what the fuck are they doing … and why?
Let’s start with the grifter in chief. I am old enough to remember when the office of president had a grave dignity that each resident of the office did their best to uphold. Now we have a carnival barker in the overall office using the presidency to hawk everything he can think of to separate his cult rubes from their money to make him profit. The presidency has become not a job to guide the nation but a profit seeking center of a crime family. But right wing media crowed non-stop about the Biden crime family over an alleged 20 thousand dollar payment. Meanwhile it was reported that tRump made almost 600 million in just the time he has been in office on a crypto scheme. And no one is stopping him. So much for the emolument clause of the constitution. Hugs
Speaking of trying to buy votes, here is another criminal trying to steal an office. Hugs
And speaking of hate for those no white …. what is the death of brown children worth these days compared to billionaires getting a tax cut to keep more money they will never need other than to claim to have it. Hugs.
It was all about not having a ship named after a gay navy hero because to these bigots somehow gay means weak. However some of the greatest military heroes are members of the LGBTQ+ community. They just needed the cover of claiming these other ships would be renamed also. There is no inclusion and diversity with these white supremacist haters. If someone thinks different from them, looks different from them, or has a different religious view from them that person must be destroyed by them. Such a person is a threat to them. Weird way to think. Hugs
Let’s talk about the attempt to whiten the US. That is what the entire goal is. It is not about removing criminals as the government just gave two convicted traffickers felon gang members asylum for at least one year and removed from jail just so they could accuse an innocent man the government deported “by accident”. These concentration camps and ICE actions are because people like Stephen Miller hate anyone not white especially if they speak Spanish which Miller can not understand which makes him sure that they are insulting him. It is about older white people scared that the brown people will do to the whites what they did to the brown people while they were in charge. Hugs
Add in the capitalist all the profit must be for us people who hate for a democratic socialist that wants to make live better for the lower incomes, along with the Christian freak out the man is Muslim claiming he will install his religious laws instead of theirs on the public, and the weirdest right wing shit like he will authorize killing all Jewish people and go on a terrorist campaign on the city, but the worst thing is corporate democrats are terrified to support the elected Democratic Party nominee because their corporate over lords don’t like he is going to do stuff for the public, for the people instead of shifting all possible profit to the wealthy like the corporate Democratic Party leadership republican lite members. Hugs
It’s rather telling that they’ve chosen to go after CNN, and NOT Apple nor the app creator. If they were serious, they’d attempt to stop it immediately by going after the app creator first and then Apple for allowing it to be available in their App Store and compatible with their iOS. (Apple could install a patch that would hinder the app.)
This is clearly about intimidating, censoring & controlling the media, and the fat fascist is just itching to destroy one of these entities.
tRump and crew do not care how many people lose their coverage. They claim those “able-bodied people” should get a job so they have healthcare. That is how out of touch most wealthy republicans are if they honestly believe that companies routinely offer health care now. Most companies either don’t or have strict requirements to qualify. The thing is republicans have been trying to cancel health care of the public, for the people since forever. Look how many times they tried to repeal the ACA / Obama care. This bill they just passed will let them roll back the subsidies and throw millions off the ACA rolls. Why? Because they don’t care, they got their healthy care so you can fuck off as it costs profits. You’re not wealthy enough to pay for care yourself than you don’t need or deserve it. Just suffer and then slink away and die. Hugs
This is the person who the cult felt was so much smarter and better than Joe Biden? I often ask how his cult could be taken in by him and the reply comes back “he speaks like we do, he hates who we hate”. WTF. Hugs
With all that is happening it is hard to keep up but we are in the land of nonsense where people with the least understanding of a subject override the advice and judgment of experts. Real scientists make judgments based on medical data / studies while these people run on emotional high that conspiracies give them. Dunning-Kruger effect. Hugs
At what point can we start calling and admitting tRump is not acting as a president of the US but as an authoritarian dictator trying hard to cement his power / authority to crush any dissent. When will our eyes be opened wide enough to see that time is short to stop the erosion of our rights and due process. The Democratic Party is not doing enough to get the message out. Hugs
As was widely reported during the 2022 and 2024 elections, hundreds of seasoned local and state election officials fled their jobs due to threats of violence by the cult. The statement below is from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State.
So this guy who never served in the military and has no background in law enforcement will lead the army and the ATF, but is convinced he alone is smart enough and needs no help? No I think what this is about is they don’t want the civilians to find out planes to illegally use the military and to either try to stop it or tell people about it. Think on it, tRump wants complete unfettered control to use the military / Army to enforce tRump’s decrees. Maybe his taking over local or state elections apparatus to declare republicans
won when they clearly did not, to enforce voter suppression acts, or simply to back him as he demands a third
On Friday, Driscoll notified the 115 members of the Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army program, or CASA, an all-volunteer group that serves as the secretary’s eyes and ears in communities across the country, that their roles were being terminated.
Just last month, in a virtually unprecedented move, the service granted direct commissions at the rank of lieutenant colonel to a group of wealthy tech executives from firms including Palantir, Meta and OpenAI. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Army planners are quietly trimming down, or outright dismantling, programs seen as peripheral to the service’s high-tech future.
as the service doubles down on its push to modernize with a Silicon Valley-style lensI can imagine where that’s headed.
Roy Wilkins, Nuke Use Illegal, & More, in Peace & Justice History for 7/8
| July 8, 1777 Vermont became the first British colony in America to abolish slavery when adopting its first constitution following its breaking away from New York. Read more on slavery in Vermont More on slavery in the northern states |
| July 8, 1917 The Women’s Peace Crusade organized a protest against the first world war in Glasgow, Scotland. Processions from two sides of the city, accompanied by bands and banners, wound their way toward the Glasgow Green where they merged into one demonstration of some 14,000 people. Read about the Women’s Peace Crusade |
July 8, 1958 “Omaha Action” protestors march from Lincoln, Nebraska to the Mead ICBM construction site in 1959. Source — NSHS. In an effort called “Omaha Action,” by the Committee for Nonviolent Action (CNVA), anti-nuclear activist Don Fortenberry was arrested after climbing a fence to protest against the building of ICBM sites in Nebraska. Also arrested during this series of actions was internationally known peace activist A. J. Muste. More about Omaha Action |
| July 8, 1959 Vietnamese guerillas ambushed two U.S. advisors, Major Dale Buis and Sgt. Chester Ovnand, are killed by Viet Minh guerrillas at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, making them the first U.S. casualties in Vietnam since 1946. |
| July 8, 1965 Roy Wilkins became the executive director of NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. He had edited the organization’s magazine, Crisis, for fifteen years, and was one of the most articulate of civil rights leaders.  Roy Wilkins  the Roy Wilkins Memorial in Minneapolis |
| July 8, 1996 The International Court Of Justice declared that, in almost all circumstances, use of nuclear weapons is illegal. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july8
FEMA & Health Care & Epstein, Oh, My!
Epstein Client List by Clay Jones
Don’t write checks you can’t cash Read on Substack
Today, the Justice Department posted a memo saying there is no evidence that the late pedophile and Trump party buddy Jeffrey Epstein was murdered or that he kept anything amounting to a much-anticipated “client list.” A DOJ spokesgoon told CNN that the department does not plan to release any new documents on the matter.
If you’re not surprised that there’s not a list of Epstein’s clients, that’s probably because you know New York City’s medical examiner had ruled Epstein’s death (hanging himself in jail) a suicide. The attorney general in Trump’s first term, Bill Barr, said the same thing, despite his suspicions of something more sinister. A Justice Department Inspector General report also pushed back on the idea that the death was anything but a suicide, while criticizing staff failures for allowing it to happen.
The Miami Herald’s Julie K. Brown, one of the best-sourced reporters on the Epstein case, reported earlier this year, “Those who have worked with the FBI on the case for decades say there is no evidence Epstein kept a ledger or a list of clients who were involved with his sex trafficking operation.”
But the problem for Trump 2.0 is that the regime promised to expose everything upon taking power, even promising to produce Epstein’s “client list.” Even an insider in Trump’s DOJ said there was a “client list.” Now, who in the Justice Department would jump the gun so badly when there’s not a client list? Who, who I ask? Who? Who? Who? Oh, it was the Attorney General, Pam Barbie Bondi. That’s who.
Remember, Bondi was Florida’s Attorney General who was going to investigate Trump University’s fraud in that state, but pulled the investigation after being paid off by Trump, who funneled it through his fake charity, the Trump Foundation. Later, she defended Trump in his impeachment trials, and was his second choice to be his AG after Matt Gaetz.
Imagine being the second choice after Matt Gaetz. If I were the second choice to Matt Giggity Gaetz, I’d probably hang myself. (snip-MORE, and it’s really good)
The Republican idea of a healthcare system by Ann Telnaes
It really is about life and death Read on Substack
Between their medicaid cuts and an anti-vaccine HHS secretary, this is the Republicans’ idea of a healthcare system. And as I’ve said before, Americans don’t have a healthcare system, they have a healthcare insurance system. Contrary to what politicians say, it is not the best in the world- far from it. There are many, many other countries which provide superior preventive care to all (which is the foundation of a healthy society).
FEMA Fiend by Clay Jones
Trump is once again doing something he accused Biden of Read on Substack
I told you that you were getting two blogs today. This is the second.
I’ve heard more than one liberal say that because they support Trump and other horrible Republicans, Texas parents deserve to have their children die in these floods. Folks, no. Hell no. Cut that crap out. Let the GOP and MAGAts be the heartless ones. Do NOT emulate them. We must always be better than them. It’s not hard.
Last September, Hurricane Helene hit the southeast Atlantic coast, being one of the strongest storms on record. It brought devastation to Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas, and even landlocked Tennessee. Naturally, Republicans politicized it.
First, they claimed the Biden administration wasn’t providing any recovery aid to areas that voted Republican. Of course, this was a lie.
Marjorie Taylor Greene showed a map of Republican congressional districts hit by the hurricane, and claimed Democrats manipulated the weather and sent the hurricane to those districts. These idiots don’t believe in science but believe a hurricane can be shot at a target.
Then, Donald Trump, who was running for president, claimed that Joe Biden spent all the FEMA funds on “illegal immigrants. He said the Biden administration “stole the FEMA money just like they stole it from a bank.” If anyone knows anything about stealing from a bank, or taxpayers, grifting his own supporters, or being a felon, it’s Donald Trump.
Of course, what Trump said was a lie…at least about Biden, because there has been a president (sic) stealing from FEMA.
As we’ve all come to learn, unless you’re a MAGAt living in denial, any accusation Trump makes is projection. (snip-MORE, and it’s sizzling hot!)
Mother Jones with The Mill Children, & More, in Peace & Justice History for 7/7
| July 7, 1863 The first military draft was instituted in the U.S. to provide troops for the Union army in the American Civil War. Once called, a draftee had the opportunity to either pay a commutation fee of $300 to be exempt from a particular battle, or to hire a replacement that would exempt him from the entire war. |
July 7, 1903 The March of the Mill Children watch a video – highly recommended Labor organizer Mary Harris “Mother” Jones led the “March of the Mill Children” over 100 miles from Philadelphia to President Theodore Roosevelt’s Long Island summer home in Oyster Bay, New York, to publicize the harsh conditions of child labor and to demand a 55-hour work week. It is during this march, on about the 24th, she delivered her famed “The Wail of the Children” speech. Roosevelt refused to see them. “Fifty years ago there was a cry against slavery and men gave up their lives to stop the selling of black children on the block. Today the white child is sold for two dollars a week to the manufacturers.” –from Mother Jones’s autobiography  Read more about Mother Jones |
| July 7, 1957 Convened at the onset of the Cold War, a group of scientists held their first peace conference in the village of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, Canada. The mission of the Pugwash Conference was to “. . . bring scientific insight and reason to bear on threats to human security arising from science and technology in general, and above all from the catastrophic threat posed to humanity by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction . . . .”  Bertrand Russell Wealthy industrialist and Pugwash son Cyrus Eaton had invited the world’s greatest minds to his family home in Nova Scotia and address the emerging threat of nuclear war. The Conference became the basis for an ongoing organization that deals with issues of weapons of mass destruction. The 1995 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Joseph Rotblat (one of the original signatories of the Pugwash Manifesto) and to the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs.  Albert Einstein Pugwash home Fifty years later . . . 25 scientists, diplomats and former military officers from 15 countries gathered for a “Revitalizing Nuclear Disarmament” strategy workshop. The meeting was held near the Thinkers’ Lodge, the site of the first meeting in 1957. “Fifty years ago from Pugwash, Nova Scotia, nuclear scientists helped alert the world to the dangers of nuclear weapons, and especially the newly developed hydrogen bomb,” said Paolo Cotta-Ramusino, Secretary General, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. “Today, we are working with experts from around the world for global action to revitalize nuclear disarmament and the final elimination of nuclear weapons.” Senator Roméo Dallaire, Honorary Patron of the Pugwash Peace Exchange, said “It is appalling to observe the increasing potential for many regional nuclear arms races, shameless plans to modernize nuclear arsenals and bald-faced threats of pre-emptive nuclear use,” said Senator Dallaire. “Only by revitalizing discussion and implementation of disarmament leading to abolition can we ensure that these genocidal devices will never again be used.” |
| July 7, 1977 The United States conducted its first test of the neutron bomb. The neutron bomb was a tactical thermonuclear weapon designed to cause very little physical damage through limited blast and heat but was designed to kill troops through localized but intense levels of lethal radiation. A neutron bomb explosion at a test site  |
| July 7, 1979 2,000 American Indian activists and anti-nuclear demonstrators marched through the Black Hills of western South Dakota to protest the development of uranium mines on sacred native lands. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july7
Clay Jones
Bribed In 60 Minutes by Clay Jones
News outlets are supposed to expose corruption, not engage in it Read on Substack
The headline at Fox News blasted, “Paramount, CBS forced to pay eight figures, change editorial policy in settlement with President Trump.” Forced? Would Fox News use the word “forced” when they settled a lawsuit with Dominion for over $787 million? You may feel forced, but a settlement is a choice. It’s a choice not to go any further into a trial and shut that shit down, for whatever reasons. And yes, CBS has changed its editorial policy, which is that anytime Trump comes for a bribe, you pay it.
Usually, when someone settles a lawsuit, they’re trying to get off cheaper as they fear the result of the trial will cost them more. In Fox News’ case with Dominion, they were afraid the verdict in a trial would bankrupt them. They were guilty of spreading misinformation that they knew were lies. It’s why Tucker’s no longer on their payroll.
When CNN and the Washington Post settled with teenage Trumper Nicholas Sandmann, one of those smirky, obnoxious, entitled white privileged Catholic Covington kids who was in the center of a viral video controversy with an elderly Native American, they didn’t settle because they were guilty. They settled for what legal experts estimate to be a small portion of the $275 million they were sued for, in order to save on lawyer fees. They weren’t afraid of losing the trial because it had already been dismissed once, but felt they’d pay more to their lawyers than to the little asshole whose feelings got hurt. I hope the ugly little entitled priviliged fuck isn’t feeling too litigious today.
When Disney settled a lawsuit with Trump earlier last December, who sued because ABC news anchor George Stephanopoulos said Trump was “liable for rape,” it wasn’t because they were guilty of anything other than hurting TACO’s feelings because Stephanopoulos was technically correct. Disney, ABC’s parent company, settled because the judge was scary and said in her denial to dismiss that “a reasonable jury could interpret Stephanopoulos’s statements as defamatory,” despite the fact that Donald Trump is a rapist who also liked to pal around with rapists while also endorsing pedophiles for the United States Senate. Also, Trump put Alexander Acosta in his first cabinet. He was the prosecutor who saved Epstein from a criminal trial.
When Meta settled a lawsuit with Trump in January, it was to bribe Trump. Trump sued Meta for banning him from its platforms, Facebook and Instagram, in 2020 after his election denial and white nationalist terrorist insurrection attempt. Trump told Mark Zuckerberg that he would have to settle the lawsuit before he could be “brought into the tent.” I don’t think he’s talking the kind of tent migrants will be forced to sleep in at Alligator Alcatraz, but the MAGA tent. The settlement was for $25 million, and it was a bribe.
Even Elon settled a lawsuit with Trump, and was also to bribe Trump. As if the $275 million Elon paid to elect him wasn’t enough. Like with Meta, Trump sued Twitter for banning him, citing that his First Amendment rights were violated. A federal court in California tossed the case, saying only the government can deny First Amendment rights, not corporations. But Trump’s team took it to an appeals court, which was skeptical. Elon settled with Trump for $10 million. Why would you settle when you already won? Because it’s a bribe.
Also, do you like the irony of Trump claiming his First Amendment rights were violated, and now he’s trying to deport people for protesting? (snip-MORE)
Boca Refugee by Clay Jones
A cartoon for the Boca Raton Tribune Read on Substack
This cartoon was drawn for The Boca Raton Tribune, whose mayor went on Fox News and offered New Yorkers an escape from “socialist” New York City if Zohran Mamdani wins the mayoral race in November.
The mayor, Scott Singer, has aspirations for higher office, and to do that as a Republican, you have to be a vile piece of shit. This is the kind of stuff MAGAts find amusing, like throwing migrants to alligators.
Being the mayor of a city in Florida, Singer should focus on being the mayor of his city in Florida. That’s the job he was elected to do, and not worry about who’s the mayor of New York City. Right now, Republicans are using Mamdani as red meat for their base, without even understanding what they’re talking about.
Sometimes, I think I should move to Florida just for the issues, and syndicate cartoons about them to Florida newspapers. But then, I’d be living in Florida. (snip-MORE)
Frickin’ With Medicaid by Clay Jones
The Big Beautiful Bill is evil Read on Substack
Trump’s $4 trillion (at least) “big beautiful bill” is giving seniors a tax credit of $6,000, which is great because they’re gonna need it.
The bill makes deep cuts to Medicaid, the government health insurer for the poor, which covers more than 60 percent of the nation’s nursing home residents.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the BBB will cut federal spending on Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) benefits by $1.02 trillion, due in part to eliminating at least 10.5 million people from the programs by 2034.
This will lead to benefit losses, increased paperwork requirements, and rural hospital closures that will hurt Americans, especially those with disabilities. It will also make nursing homes scramble to find resources for services they’re currently providing, or simply eliminate services.
Republicans like to say, or lie, that people who receive Medicaid aren’t going to notice any changes. But you can’t find one of the shitweasels who can explain how you don’t lose any services after cutting out over a trillion dollars. Find me one Republican, just one, who can explain that shit.
This will hit rural communities harder. Do you know which party rural communities mostly vote for? The one that just cut their Medicaid. Republican voters are stupid. Red states need the most federal support. Red states need the most welfare, which they also cut. (snip-MORE)
Irene Morgan, Anne Frank, & More, in Peace & Justice History for 7/6
| July 6, 1892 In one of the worst cases of violent union-busting, a fierce battle broke out between the striking employees (members of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers) of Andrew Carnegie’s Homestead Steel Company and a Pinkerton Detective Agency private army brought on barges down the Monongahela River in the dead of night. Twelve were killed. Henry C. Frick, general manager of the plant in Homestead, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, had been given free rein by Carnegie to quash the strike. At Frick’s request, Pennsylvania Governor Robert E. Pattison then sent 8,500 troops to intervene on behalf of the company. Read more (2 links) |
July 6, 1942 In Nazi-occupied Holland, thirteen-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family were forced to take refuge in a secret sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse under threat of arrest and deportation to a concentration camp by the Einsatzgruppen (Task Force), a part of the German Gestapo. The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect |
| July 6, 1944 Irene Morgan, a 28-year-old black woman, was arrested for refusing to move to the back of the bus eleven years before Rosa Parks did so. Her legal appeal, after her conviction for breaking a Virginia law (known as a Jim Crow law) forbidding integrated seating, resulted in a 7-1 Supreme Court decision barring segregation in interstate commerce.  Irene Morgan More about Irene Morgan June 3, 1946: Morgan v. Commonwealth of Virginia Zinn Ed Project |
| July 6, 1965 As many as 500 students in Berkeley, California, attempted to block trains carrying troops destined for Vietnam along the Santa Fe Railroad tracks; there were no casualties. Organized by the Vietnam Day Committee, this was the first civil disobedience at UC-Berkeley against the Vietnam War. |
https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryjuly.htm#july6
Reasons to Leave Christianity* in 2025
I have long liked this young YouTuber. I started following him when he was more into debunking stuff while also producing atheist content. I felt he understood what a lot of people were going through in that he was trying hard to hide being an atheist from his parents and family which gave him an idea what many in the LGBTQ+ community were going through with their families. He himself noted that similarity. One of the things I like about him is his calm quiet fact filled delivery. If others have not noticed I don’t like aggressive angry yelling videos, they are too close to what I grew up with and suffered in my childhood. Drew is not a fervent anti-Christian like so many atheists are. Instead he simply is against the bad stuff some people do in the name of religion / Christianity. I like that. At the end of this video he again says if you are getting something good from your faith, don’t leave it, just change it to make it better. I agree. He explains how Christianity was abused by corporations and wealthy people to get people to do things against their own interest they otherwise wouldn’t do. In the name of god work more at a lower cost to make money for your employer type stuff. Hugs
Hmmm.
(I think we’ve seen the long cut of this riff, before. This short popped up last night. Enjoy! -A.)
Scottie's Playtime 