Saturday AM Poetry

Please click through on the title to read more about the poet, and the poem.

^{after Bulund al-Haidari}

To the hostages of our policies, my apologies—
the petty stenographers of the crooked rulers
in the once fancy now crumbling cities
of our fading Empire lied then.
They lied then and they lie now.
Everything they say and write is a lie,
about law and freedom, about equality
and justice, in the rubble of the bombs
we make and sell, in the silent cries
of limbless orphans, in the night
lit by white phosphorous and the
relentless sound of buzzing drones.
They tell us we used to have things of
value, even things we ourselves made,
and that it was a place like no other.
All I know is that Sinbad once sailed
to Gaza and so to Gaza he’ll sail once again.

Peace & Justice History 12/7

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december7

News

Yesterday I was reading Oliver Willis’s Substack (with a great photo of Kal El, as always,) and he’s begun a news aggregator for liberals/progressives called Breaking News USA. Oliver Willis knows of what he speaks, so I’ve bookmarked it to look at every day. Today, I ran across 2 I want to post here today.

I am always up for a dance party!

(Instagram)

Women walking into the bathroom on Capitol Hill Thursday morning found a buoyant dance party in progress: A group of trans artists and activists staged a protest in a women’s restroom in the U.S. Capitol, dancing to the song “Meeting in the Ladies Room” by the all-women pop and R&B band Klymaxx.

Thursday’s dancing protesters include trans actor James Rose, nonbinary influencer Jerome Trammel, comedian Elizabeth Booker Houston, influencer Alexis Rose, transgender model June Raven Romero and activist Hope Giselle-Godsey. A video posted online starts with a panorama of the Capitol building’s interior before panning to a nearby restroom filled with dancing women. Some wear shirts with the colors of the transgender pride flag, pink, blue and white, and slogans like, “Flush the Hate, Not Our Rights” and “Trans People Are NOT Dangerous. You Are!” (snip-MORE)

2. “King Trump Is Not Inevitable”

The campaign is over; the election is done. The cases against Donald Trump—for the theft and improper storage of sensitive and classified government materials; for the effort to obstruct election administration in Georgia; for the attempt to overthrow the government of the United States on January 6, 2021—are wrapping up, unfinished in some cases and never really started in others. His sentencing for the 34 felony counts where he was found guilty of falsifying business records to hide election interference has been postponed indefinitely. In the executive branch, the transition is underway, complete with smiling photo ops and assurances from President Biden that he won’t stifle or undermine the incoming administration the way he was hampered—by the very man Biden is welcoming back to power. Everything is on track for January 20, 2025: the day that Joe Biden will cease to be president, and Donald Trump will be crowned as king.

There is no question that Donald Trump will not be limited by the Constitutional strictures on the presidency. Not only has the Supreme Court granted his absurd and expansive view of executive power as per Trump v. U.S., but Trump has spent the last four years out of office actively campaigning for the right to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants, however he wants, without consequences. The incoming Republican Congress won its power on much smaller margins than Trump took the presidency, and he is barely two million votes ahead of Harris in the popular vote. Neither the slim and chaotic majority in the House nor the thoroughly Trumpified Senate will reject his whims, either because they’ll agree with his interests or they’ll be too cowardly to object if they don’t. Trump’s early appointments—sex pests and conspiracy theorists, incompetents, lackeys, bootlickers, and sycophants—reveal the nature of what this administration will be. These aren’t people put into place to work for the American people; they will be installed to preserve, protect, and defend the interests of one Donald J. Trump, damn the country.

Yet King Trump, first of his name, is not an inevitability.

It’s his blatant disregard for the Constitution, the disinterest and disrespect for its limitations, checks and balances, that provides us with one last chance to derail the coming coronation. On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump stood at the Capitol of the United States and swore an oath to the country, the one every president has taken, as prescribed in Article 2, Section 8 of the Constitution. And on January 6, 2021, Donald Trump broke that oath in an attempt to overturn the election, overthrow the duly-appointed government of the United States, and install himself as dictator. It was, in word and deed, an insurrection. And, despite our republic’s long history of peaceful transfers of power, we have an answer for that, if we will only ask the question.

Does the 14th Amendment apply to Donald Trump? (snip-MORE)

Peace & Justice History for 12/6

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december6

A Poem on Friday

How Some of Us Survived Cuando El Mundo Did Not Want Us

(Find out more about this poem and this poet by clicking above.)

Emanuel Xavier

In the shadows of city lights, we dwelled,
untold stories, almas olvidadas,
enduring streets where dreams were bought and sold.

Corazones—like broken glass,
reflecting pain, the sting of scorn,
searching for love en la oscuridad.

Walking the piers—our runway, steps unsure,
inocencia pérdida seeking solace, grace,
amidst the chaos, makeshift homes.

Voices silenced, cries ignored,
por un mundo that turned a blind eye,
yet we found familia in our souls.

Remember these legends,
children marked by endless strife,
love soaring entre el odio.

In this lucha, there was truth,
in this love, there was vida,
in this survival, there was hope.

Peace & Justice History for 12/5

(Barfbag alert for the 2002 entry. But it is US history.)

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistorydecember.htm#december5

And now the unions who supported Republicans see what they get for that-

‘Gut punch’: Trump upsets local union leaders by opposing U.S. Steel-Nippon deal

RYAN DETO | Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024 2:28 p.m.

On Monday night, President-elect Donald Trump reiterated his opposition to the proposed $14.9 billion sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel Co., vowing to block the deal when he takes office.

Some steelworkers in Pittsburgh’s Mon Valley who support the deal — and Trump — weren’t happy.

“I am very frustrated with the news that came out last night,” United Steelworkers Local 2227 Vice President Jason Zugai said during a panel discussion Tuesday in Washington, D.C. “I didn’t expect that to come out. So that was like a gut punch.”

The local represents hundreds of workers at U.S. Steel’s Irvin Works in West Mifflin.

Zugai, Local 2227 President Jack Maskil and West Mifflin Mayor Chris Kelly met with politicians Tuesday to lobby them to approve the sale, which has come under scrutiny from Republicans and Democrats alike.

Leaders in both parties, including President Joe Biden and both of Pennsylvania’s U.S. senators, oppose the deal on national security grounds. Many believe the iconic Pittsburgh company should remain domestically owned.

Also standing in opposition is the leadership of the United Steelworkers. Its president, David McCall, told TribLive last month that despite fractures among his membership, he remains firmly against any deal.

McCall said he has little faith that Nippon will make good on promises to pour $1 billion into the Mon Valley Works, which some analysts say needs at least that much money to remain competitive.

Maskil, the local president, acknowledged that when the U.S. Steel-Nippon pact was first proposed in December 2023, he and other steelworkers were skeptical. Those concerns began to fade, however, after Nippon Vice Chairman Takahiro Mori met with local steelworkers and Mon Valley elected officials in October.

Maskil told the panel convened by the Hudson Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, that 95% of the employees at the Irvin Works now support the Nippon purchase. He suspects that a majority of workers across all three Mon Valley facilities back the deal.

There are more than 3,000 union steelworkers across the three facilities in the Mon Valley Works.

Outreach to Shapiro

Zugai said he attended Trump rallies in Westmoreland County and Pittsburgh in the run-up to the election, even meeting with the president-elect at one, and helped organize steelworkers to attend.

Trump did not mention any opposition to the U.S. Steel-Nippon deal at those rallies. Zugai said Trump told him then that he would take another look at the deal after he won the election.

Zugai said he was hopeful Trump would eventually support it after speaking with Mon Valley workers and members of Mon Valley communities.

Kelly, the West Mifflin mayor, poked fun at Trump for not coming around to their side. He said he has yet to hear from any national politician about a plan to invest in the Mon Valley plants if the deal with Nippon is blocked.

“Maybe he has concepts of a plan,” Kelly said about Trump, referencing an often-mocked line from Trump during the September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris when discussing health care.

The Trump transition team did not respond to a request for comment.

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a body responsible for evaluating the national security implications of foreign investments in American companies, is weighing the sale.

The committee’s deadline to issue a determination on the sale is Dec. 23.

In the meantime, Zugai said, local supporters like himself have been trying to persuade politicians to back the deal.

He said he spoke with Gov. Josh Shapiro’s office and came away feeling that the governor is trying to help push the deal through.

Shapiro, at a stop in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, confirmed that Zugai has met with members of his team.

The Democratic governor didn’t express outright support for the U.S. Steel-Nippon proposal but said he is trying to ensure a deal that keeps steel jobs in the Mon Valley.

“I have been where I have always been. I have been convening people to the table, with all the relevant parties, to try and see if there is some deal to be had that will protect the jobs in Western Pennsylvania and, importantly, have a future for steelmaking in the Mon Valley,” Shapiro said.

A report by Bloomberg indicated that Shapiro has spoken with Nippon’s Mori and Biden about the sale.

Shapiro didn’t confirm those reports and said he would rather not divulge the details of private conversations. He added, though, that he felt the need to get involved in the sale because he lacks faith in U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt.

“If we leave this just to Dave Burritt alone, he is going to do what he has been doing, and what he promises to do — and that is to move jobs out of Western Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “My approach all along has been to bring people to the table, see what we can do to find common ground, and see what we can do to protect these jobs and create future opportunities.”

Ryan Deto is a TribLive reporter covering politics, Pittsburgh and Allegheny County news. A native of California’s Bay Area, he joined the Trib in 2022 after spending more than six years covering Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh City Paper, including serving as managing editor. He can be reached at rdeto@triblive.com.

https://triblive.com/news/politics-election/gut-punch-trump-upsets-local-union-leaders-by-opposing-us-steel-nippon-deal/

#LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back

LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back

Peace & Justice History for 12/3

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

LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back

and neither are allies!

Good morning! Time to go to work, if we don’t want to go back. First, it is time to call and write our Congress critters to let them know we want no human thrown under the bus in the Republican rush to pick on people they think are less than or “other.” Their majorities in our federal legislative houses are thin; razor thin; so if we will let those legislators know what we want, enough of them will see to at least stemming the damage. They have their ways; plus, the Dem minority numbers are big enough to toss rocks in the works, especially with a few Republicans. For more on this, please see this Substack that Janet passed to me:

https://juliaserano.substack.com/p/planned-action-for-lgbtq-and-allies

For the click-adverse, here’s the snippet from which I’m working here today:

I am but one person and cannot speak for our entire community. But here’s what I propose in the spirit of Queer Nation, who in the 1990s carried out myriad protests under the same banner but with no singular leader or directive.

I propose that on Tuesday, December 3rd, 2024 (the first day that both the House and Senate are back in session), all of us who are invested in this issue and have a platform (whether it be a blog, newsletter, column, podcast, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc.) publish a piece with the shared title: “LGBTQ+ People Are Not Going Back.” Yes, I know, it’s a cheesy title, but it holds Democrats accountable to their own talking points and makes it clear that backsliding on LGBTQ+ rights is nonnegotiable for us.

What you write or say or express in your op-ed or article or video or podcast etcetera is up to you. I encourage you to make it personal and feel free to tailor it to your audience. My only request (other than all of us using the same title) is that you implore people to contact their Congressperson and Senators (and perhaps even local politicians) and tell them that 1) you will not tolerate any backpedaling on LGBTQ+ rights whatsoever, and 2) if they fail to strongly stand up against these attacks on LGBTQ+ rights, then you will take your vote elsewhere next election. (snip-More)

https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm , and https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative are where we can write and call our Congress critters. WordPress keeps capitalizing and separating that wonderful compound word, not me, btw. Anyway, there is that. It can be a thing, and it should be, and we can make it a thing. More on that in the Substack linked and snipped above.

So, as to allies going back. For myself, if my friends are somehow rolled back, I will have to resist in different ways than I did in the past, except for the bothering of Congress critters, which continues apace. The past was fun and dangerous and sometimes more fun because it was dangerous but none of us got hurt or even threatened with arrest, unlike some places we read about in history and more recent times. I wrote a whole thing about those experiences, but it seemed to overshadow this, so some other time. Meanwhile, I’m going to schedule this, then copy it to my Substack, then letter blast some Congress critters, then Go To Bed. I’ve stayed up late most of the long weekend, but that doesn’t work well for me, so.

I encourage Scottie and Randy to post something with this title, and to make a call or send an email if they have time. I encourage any other blogger who reads this to please post something with this title, and also to bother your Congress critters about treating people the way they want to be treated, and opposing bills and resolutions that divide and “other” We the People. I hope we all have a great day, and get something done! And, thank you Janet, for passing this along!