Tag: Anti-War

What Do Americans Think Of War?

My regular visitors will know that I am a staunch opponent of war…..after serving in Vietnam for 2 and half years I saw the obscenities of war close-up and personal…..once I returned to the US I became a hardcore anti-war activist and protester……but that is just me.

But it will be interesting just what do Americans think about war…..and the site fivethirtyeight.com took a great ;look at the question.

It’s hard to remember now that it’s over, but the war in Afghanistan was overwhelmingly popular when it began. 

Merely a week after Sept. 11, then-president George W. Bush signed a joint resolution from Congress authorizing the use of force against those responsible, and the U.S. and British, with international support, began bombing Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces Oct. 7. The American public almost universally approved this rush to war: A Gallup poll conducted soon after found that 90 percent supported the war and only 5 percent opposed it. 

The circumstances, of course, were very particular: There had been an attack on American soil. When Bush’s war on terror expanded to Iraq in 2003, more Americans questioned the reasoning behind going to war — skepticism that turned out to be justified — and there were high-profile protests against the Bush administration, but still an overwhelming majority supported the effort: About 76 percent approved and 20 percent disapproved, according to Gallup.

With time, though, both wars became less popular. A Pew Research Center survey conducted last August, after the U.S. had fully withdrawn from the country, found that a majority of Americans supported the decision to leave Afghanistan, even as a plurality thought the Biden administration had handled the withdrawal badly, while a July 2021 Gallup poll found that 47 percent of Americans thought the war had been a mistake. Many younger Americans had grown up entirely during the war’s 20-year duration and so hadn’t formed an opinion at the war’s inception, while many older Americans had changed their minds as its costs multiplied over time.

What Do Americans Think About War?

Almost daily we hear one pundit after another telling us all about the horrors that the people of Ukraine are suffering….but I do not remember there being that much concern for others that we had fought in the past and what it did to the civilian population.

To be honest there was reports scattered around the news cycle….but nothing like the 24 hours of constant visual theater.

Personally, to answer the question I do not feel that the American people really care about war…..as long as they can continue to go to Starbucks for $10 coffee all is well in the world.

Turn The Page!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

MLK And War

February is officially Black History month….and MLK.Jr is black history….we all know this giant for his work in civil rights and voting but few Americans know him for the anti-war activist that he was.

As an anti-war activist myself I was most impressed with his speech against the Vietnam War….

This is the speech that I refer to….read and learn…..

Mr. Chairman, ladies and gentlemen:

I need not pause to say how very delighted I am to be here tonight, and how very delighted I am to see you expressing your concern about the issues that will be discussed tonight by turning out in such large numbers. I also want to say that I consider it a great honor to share this program with Dr. Bennett, Dr. Commager, and Rabbi Heschel, and some of the distinguished leaders and personalities of our nation. And of course it’s always good to come back to Riverside church. Over the last eight years, I have had the privilege of preaching here almost every year in that period, and it is always a rich and rewarding experience to come to this great church and this great pulpit.

I come to this magnificent house of worship tonight because my conscience leaves me no other choice. I join you in this meeting because I’m in deepest agreement with the aims and work of the organization which has brought us together: Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam. The recent statements of your executive committee are the sentiments of my own heart, and I found myself in full accord when I read its opening lines: “A time comes when silence is betrayal.” And that time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt, but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government’s policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one’s own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover, when the issues at hand seem as perplexing as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict, we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

And some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation’s history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movements and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us.

https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/mlkatimetobreaksilence.htm

Sadly his words fell on deaf ears….as anti-war seem to always accomplish.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Pentagon Papers Turns 50

This may have been the best eye-opener for people on the subject of the Vietnam War…..I still have my copy and remains in my “old Books” section of my library…..

2021 is the 50th anniversary of the publication of the “Papers” and the feed it gave tom the anti-war movement….

This article is from the NYT…..

Brandishing a captured Chinese machine gun, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara appeared at a televised news conference in the spring of 1965. The United States had just sent its first combat troops to South Vietnam, and the new push, he boasted, was further wearing down the beleaguered Vietcong.
“In the past four and one-half years, the Vietcong, the Communists, have lost 89,000 men,” he said. “You can see the heavy drain.”
That was a lie. From confidential reports, McNamara knew the situation was “bad and deteriorating” in the South. “The VC have the initiative,” the information said. “Defeatism is gaining among the rural population, somewhat in the cities, and even among the soldiers.”
Lies like McNamara’s were the rule, not the exception, throughout America’s involvement in Vietnam. The lies were repeated to the public, to Congress, in closed-door hearings, in speeches and to the press. The real story might have remained unknown if, in 1967, McNamara had not commissioned a secret history based on classified documents — which came to be known as the Pentagon Papers.
 
It is a shame that the American people cannot muster the passion to end destructive and deadly wars we fight all over the globe….
 
The book failed to have a lasting effect on our proclivity to war……

The Pentagon Papers should have spawned permanent, radical skepticism concerning the candor and competence of U.S. foreign interventions. Philosopher Hannah Arendt observed that the Pentagon Papers revealed how “sheer ignorance of all pertinent facts and deliberate neglect of postwar developments became the hallmark of established doctrine within the Establishment.” That internal study also revealed how deceit became institutionalized. Daniel Ellsberg, who wrote a portion of the papers, noted that the documents reveal “a general failure to study history or to analyze or even to record operational experience, especially mistakes. Above all, effective pressures for optimistically false reporting at every level, for describing ‘progress’ rather than problems or failure, concealed the very need for change in approach or for learning.” Georgetown University professor Derek Leebaert observed that the U.S. military floundered in Vietnam in part because “it had forgotten everything it had learned about counterinsurgency in Korea.” The accolade of “The Best and the Brightest” received far less derision than it deserved.

Ellsberg, a former Pentagon official, risked life in prison to smuggle the report to the media after members of Congress were too cowardly to expose it. The Nixon Justice Department speedily secured a court injunction blocking the New York Times from continuing to publish excerpts. The Washington Post and other newspapers quickly began publishing additional classified excerpts, setting up a Supreme Court showdown on the First Amendment.

Pentagon Papers Failed to Cure Servile Pro-War Media

Sadly they are few that push back against the control of the M-IC on our foreign policy……until we get a grip and demand that these endless countless wars cease….we will have the body counts grow and grow….

Pay F*cking Attention People!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–30Dec20

The year id 1970…..the height of the antiwar movement….the location is Kent State…..Four Kent State University students were killed and nine were injured on May 4, 1970, when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd gathered to protest the Vietnam War. The tragedy was a watershed moment for a nation divided by the conflict in Southeast Asia. In its immediate aftermath, a student-led strike forced the temporary closure of colleges and universities across the country. Some political observers believe the events of that day in northeast Ohio tilted public opinion against the war and may have contributed to the downfall of President Richard Nixon.

I bring up this short history because one of the survivors of that shooting spree has died….

Alan Canfora, who was one of nine students who were wounded in the 1970 Kent State shootings but survived, has died. He was 71.

Canfora died Dec. 20 at home from an illness unrelated to COVID-19, according to a Facebook post by his sister, Chic Canfora.

“It is with immense sadness that I share news of the passing of my beloved brother, Alan Canfora — a devastating loss to our family, friends and the Kent State/May 4 community,” she wrote in the post as reported by the Akron Beacon Journal.

As a junior at Kent State, Canfora was one of the hundreds of students who protested at the Ohio campus May 1-4. They were demonstrating against the Vietnam War and the National Guard’s presence on their campus.

The Guardsmen fired on unarmed protesters May 4. Canfora was shot in the right wrist in the first 13 seconds. Four students — Allison Krause, Jeffrey Miller, Sandra Lee Scheuer and William Schroeder — were killed.

(thehour.com)

This may not mean much to some but to me it was a turning point in our protests against the Vietnam War….

It is a crying shame that this country cannot muster a protest movement against our many wars and especially our endless wars of Iraq and Afghanistan.

These people we brave beyond compare….something that is sadly missing in our society these days.

Will we ever see the antiwar movement re-born?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

War, What’s It Good For?

Yep I am one of those….. a devout antiwar supporter….having seen the obscenity of war up close and personal has lead me to reject it in most forms…we need to teach our children about our wars…..

“I’m always surprised by how schools in America teach. I mean there’s wars all around us and the teachers here act like they don’t exist and then don’t directly teach the wars they do teach.” The other students in the discussion agreed. “Yeah, it’s like they teach that war is bad…but we already know that…we never teach in depth. I mean I know 1939 and Eisenhower and all that…I got an A but I feel like I know it skin deep. We never really talk about anything.” Another student agreed providing an example of when they did go in depth. “When we studied the Atomic Bombs being dropped on Japan we had a two-day seminar examining documents but it wasn’t really anything different from what was in our textbooks. I mean we all know that atomic bombs are bad, but didn’t anyone speak out against them besides like Einstein? I didn’t know there was like an anti-war movement for like always until this unit.”

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/01/20/teaching-war-so-it-matters

We need an antiwar movement once again…..it is difficult because the corporate media will use all its power and influence to make these things acceptable to the population.

So there are 10 messages of antiwar….READ THEM!

1) “We should never have been there in the first place.” By the end of the Vietnam War, this straightforward idea was popular anti-imperialism and it challenged the US role as cops of the world. It was stock wisdom among millions of everyday anti-war Americans. We should have never been in the Middle East, or anywhere else, in the first place.

2) Empire abroad means empire at home. War and empire do not defend democracy but destroys it. It was the empire that undermined what little remained of representative democracy once the Executive Branch took over all war-making powers and everyone else fell into line. When the Military-Industrial-Complex and the secret police became major players in the government and media, democracy gave up its last ghost. Proof? We have not had a constitutional declaration of war since WWII. If the highest law of the land is routinely violated for 70 years — so much for the rule of law.

3) Stop the Poverty Draft! The lack of decent wages, universal health care, and free higher education are the main recruiters for the poverty draft. The 1.2 trillion we spend annually for war enforces austerity at home by diverting funds and resources. Only the 1% get rich on war. The war machine thrives on and creates poverty.

4) Hate and fear of the “other” is the culture of war. Hate and violence abroad and the culture of hate and violence at home exist in a vicious feedback loop. It’s not a coincidence that the hate demanded by the wars inflicted upon black and brown people abroad find a direct domestic parallel in the militarized penal system aimed at black, brown and poor and the attacks on immigrants of color.

5) And make no mistakes, its war that drives climate change. Not only is the military the largest consumer of fossil fuels, its the enforcer of an oil empire. War captures resources and forces countries to submit to a global regime where the US dollar is the only acceptable currency for trading fossil fuels. Stand outside of the oil empire –refuse to pay imperial tribute —  and its regime change time for you.

6) Defend democracy and national sovereignty. Not only does the US routinely violate the national sovereignty of other countries but also attack legally elected governments. This is not debatable but plain fact — know the history.

7) “We are sick of being lied to.” We have decades of proof that the war-makers lie — the Afghanistan Papers being the most recent. Every claim made by every political official should be judged in that light. The public record is clear — war is based on lies and deception. Remember: “In War Truth is the First Casualty.”

8) Listen to anti-war soldiers and veterans. The greatest challenge to war is anti-war soldiers and veterans because they completely upset the empire’s narratives and are the most effective of all protestors. The peace movement from within the military’s ranks is a bridge between some hard-won, down and dirty knowledge about war and millions of people who do not currently define themselves as anti-war. Support About Face, Vets for Peace and Veteran’s Power.

9) Empires rise and empires fall — without exception. American Exceptionalismhas conditioned us to see the US as a moral force outside of history. Exceptionalism is a master narrative of war that blinds us to the dangers of an empire in decline. The liberal aspects of Exceptionalism are the hardest to see but they encourage us to understand war as a morality play with the US acting as a force for good in the world.

10) Imperial wars are unwinnable wars. Eighteen years in Afghanistan and over 25 years of on-again-off-again war with Iraq prove that these wars are unwinnable. Unwinnable wars are just permanent military occupations — the hallmark of empire. Sooner or later the facts become obvious to the people under US control and they want their countries back.

I firmly believe that any diplomacy is far superior than war…..any moron can start a war but it takes a real statesman to prevent one.

One of my favorite antiwar people was Gen. Smedley Butler…..

There once lived an odd little man — five feet nine inches tall and barely 140 pounds sopping wet — who rocked the lecture circuit and the nation itself. For all but a few activist insiders and scholars, U.S. Marine Corps Major General Smedley Darlington Butler is now lost to history. Yet more than a century ago, this strange contradiction of a man would become a national war hero, celebrated in pulp adventure novels, and then, 30 years later, as one of this country’s most prominent antiwar and anti-imperialist dissidents.

Raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and educated in Quaker (pacifist) schools, the son of an influential congressman, he would end up serving in nearly all of America’s “Banana Wars” from 1898 to 1931. Wounded in combat and a rare recipient of two Congressional Medals of Honor, he would retire as the youngest, most decorated major general in the Marines.

Where Have You Gone, Smedley Butler?

“I hate war as only a soldier who has lived it can, only as one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity.”  Eisenhower

Orwell made a great point…….”War against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it.”  And this is why we have the wars we have today……

All I am saying is….Give Peace a Chance!

And that is what the UN may be attempting….

With the world in the throes of the calamitous COVID-19 pandemic, UN Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres is pushing for a global ceasefire, seeing a planet-wide halt to war as a chance to allow an all-out effort to fight the virus.

This is getting some interest beyond NGOs and the Pope. As of Friday, 11 countries have endorsed the idea, including Cameroon, Central African Republic, Colombia, Libya, Myanmar, the Philippines, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen.

…

Recognition that the wars would only make their situations worse, these nations are backing the global ceasefire, and while it’s still a long way from stopping any huge wars, it shows promising understanding that war and pandemic are two distinct priorities.

(antiwar.com)

At least one think tank has come out on the side of reason and the UN resolution on war……

Crisis Group has joined other non-governmental organisations in backing the Secretary-General’s initiative. It represents the clearest formulation of the need to limit deadly conflict in the face of COVID-19. The disease has the potential to undermine weak states, aggravate social tensions, give unscrupulous leaders an excuse to repress dissent and distract major powers from diplomacy and crisis management. But there are also historical precedents for major natural disasters (such as the 2004 Asian tsunami) creating conditions for peacemaking in affected regions. This Secretary-General’s initiative offers a useful reference point for international efforts to find similar opportunities as the coronavirus spreads. It could also act as a simple framing device for the Security Council, which has been split over how to handle the pandemic, to take a common stance on its emerging security implications.

https://www.crisisgroup.org/global/global-ceasefire-call-deserves-un-security-councils-full-support

At least one major nation has signed onto the idea of a UN ceasefire….France……

French President Emmanuel Macron says he hopes that “in the coming days” the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council can discuss and endorse U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ call for a cease-fire to all conflicts in the world in order to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

Macron, who has been pushing for more international cooperation in fighting the virus, said in an interview with French radio RFI broadcast on Wednesday that he is only waiting for agreement from Russian President Vladimir Putin to hold the 5-country video conference.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/france-urging-top-powers-endorse-213349036.html

One more time….All I’m saying is give peace a chance….

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

South Carolina Leads The Way

Closing Thought–04Feb20

I could be writing about the upcoming Iowa caucuses for the Dems….but I am not….they lead the way in another way.

I have been a very vocal critic of our many undeclared wars….and it gets worse every year……I have tried to get the government to try and end these endless conflicts but I have not been successful……

Now South Carolina has done something that could be the start of something big….

A bipartisan group of Afghanistan and Iraq war era veterans praised S.C. State Rep. Stewart Jones (SC-14) on Monday for introducing legislation requiring that South Carolina’s National Guard units cannot be deployed for foreign combat or combat support duties unless Congress has formally adopted a declaration of war as provided by the U.S. Constitution.

“As veterans, we strongly support the U.S. taking strong military action when necessary to defend American lives and interests,” said former Idaho Army National Guard Sgt. Dan McKnight, founder of BringOurTroopsHome.US, who served 18 months in Afghanistan. “We thank Rep. Jones for acting to ensure that when South Carolina’s men and women in uniform are involved, it’s done the right way, the way the Constitution provides.

“Rep. Jones’ bill simply says that before ordering South Carolina’s National Guard personnel to leave their families and do their job, Congress should first accept responsibility in the comforts here at home of doing their job. We shouldn’t ask National Guard personnel to have the courage to put their boots on the ground, unless Congress at least has the courage first to put their names on the line.”

http://www.golaurens.com/news/rep-jones-introduces-bill-to-keep-s-c-guard-home/article_3a988e9c-4148-11ea-87f0-f77b72d52912.html

A small step but an important step……maybe others will follow…our continuous war needs to come to an end…..we need that cash here where it belongs.

KUDOS SOUTH CAROLINA!  Even if you do have one of the biggest warmongers in the country….

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Did Trump Have An Antiwar Moment?

Trump’s speech about the pulling of US troops out of Syria has been met with condemnation especially by the MSM……Maj. Sjursen has written about how Trump’s “antiwar” speech was met…..

That’s right, sandwiched between Trump’s standard braggadocio about how he single-handedly secured “a better future for Syria and for the Middle East,” and his cynical pivot to decry his opponents’ supposed desire to accept “unlimited migration from war-torn regions” across the U.S. border, was one of the strongest blasts of antiwar rhetoric delivered by a sitting U.S. president since Dwight Eisenhower.

If any other president—think Obama—or major liberal political figure had spoken so clearly against endless war and so poignantly diagnosed the current American disease of military hyper-interventionism, CNN and MSNBC would’ve gushed about Nobel Peace Prizes. It must be said, of course, that Trump has hardly governed according to these peacenik proclamations—he has, after all added more troops in the region, especially in Saudi Arabia, and merely reshuffled the soldiers from Syria across the border to Iraq. Nevertheless, even if the president’s actions don’t match his words, the words themselves remain important, especially from a 21st century, post-9/11 commander in chief.

Trump’s Antiwar Speech Deserved a Better Reception

As a person who is antiwar I like hearing that anyone especially a president that talks like there is an end to our countless endless wars…..but then I see Trump making a conflicting and contradictory statement about war…..

President Donald Trump on Monday offered a confusing description of his foreign policy priorities as commander in chief — insisting that he is working to bring home American soldiers, while warning the U.S. may soon enter into new military conflicts.

“I’m trying to get out of wars. We may have to get in wars, too. OK? We may have to get in wars,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

“We’re better prepared than we’ve ever been,” he continued. “If Iran does something, they’ll be hit like they’ve never been hit before. I mean, we have things that we’re looking at.”

The remarks from the president come as his administration confronts escalating tensions across the Middle East and navigates new troop movements in the region.

https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/21/trump-united-states-wars-iran-053341

As usual a president talks but does NOT deliver and it is not just Trump….they all promise then back away….and soldiers die….and for what?

I will believe the president, whoever that may be, on ending these wars when I see the troops returning home and not to some location for easy access.

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

Closing Thought–15Oct19 #2

50 years ago today…..15 October 1969…….

Moratorium Day involved mass protests across the US. Religious services, rallies and meetings were held, aiming to bring the war to an end.

By this point, US troops had been fighting the Communist Viet Cong in Vietnam since 1965. About 45,000 Americans had been killed in action by the end of 1969.

In the frigid fall of 1969, more than 500,000 people marched on Washington to protest U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. It remains the largest political rally in the nation’s history. While President Richard Nixon was said to have spent the day watching college football inside the White House, to the rest of the world, the protests successfully proved that the antiwar movements comprised more than just politicized youth. The November rallies were part of a string of demonstrations that took place around the world in 1969, with groups from San Francisco to Boston and London petitioning for peace. Despite their cries, the war toiled on for six more years, ending with the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975.

(Time)

Check out the Great photos from this antiwar protest……

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49893239

Or for those that cannot read…..

See photos of the history of the peace symbol.

This was when the nation had a soul…..and the deaths of so many Americans for no reason was unacceptable….I miss those days.

And now for Country Joe……

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

Class Dismissed!

I Read, I Wrote, You Know

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

My Candidate Is Still Tulsi

The slate was set for the third debate and the DNC/DCCC got their desire….only the corporatist candidates with a couple of progressive to make it interesting and all others must just sit and watch the charade play out….and make no mistake it was a charade.

My candidate Tulsi Gabbard did not make the cut….I blame her active duty service kept her from making that bizarre cut. Yes. she still serves in the military (something most candidates have NOT done at all)…..there may be others that feel differently but like I said…it is what I believe.

Tulsi is antiwar that is all I need to know to support her. She is focusing her candidacy on US foreign policy the area that most 2020 candidates are overlooking to make points with the deep pocket donors.

I wrote recently about the 2020 Dems and their foreign policy stands…..most candidates but not all…..https://lobotero.com/2019/08/28/2020-dem-candidates-on-foreign-policy/

Tulsi is the lone voice for the lies and betrayal of the American people……..

congresswoman from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard. She alone on the Democratic stage has made criticism of American militarism central to her candidacy. A veteran of the Iraq war and a highly decorated major in the Hawaii Army National Guard, Gabbard offers an intelligent and humane perspective on foreign affairs. She’s called the regime change philosophy “disastrous,” advocated for negotiation with hostile foreign powers, and backed a reduction in drone strikes. She pledges if she becomes president to end American involvement in Afghanistan.

When Chris Matthews asked Gabbard about Biden’s support for the Iraq war, she said, “It was the wrong vote. People like myself, who enlisted after 9/11 because of the terrorist attacks, were lied to. We were betrayed.”

Tulsi: A Living Reminder of Iraq’s Liars and Apologists

She is criticized heavily because of her visit with Assad in Syria…..a move that I defend…..Tulsi is still defending that move and her antiwar position while the media pulls NO punches to discredit her…even other Dem candidates take cheap shots….especially the supporters of Harris….their petty parthetic attacks are troubling to me……

A two-week hiatus in the midst of a presidential campaign? It seems risky — especially as the Democratic field winnows — but fourth-term Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard left for an Army National Guard training trip in Indonesia and has been off the grid for more than 10 days.

VICE News followed the congresswoman and Iraq War veteran while she campaigned in the key primary state of Iowa right before the trip.

“I’m grateful for that privilege of being able to serve in this way. Some people are saying, ‘Well, gosh, you know, your campaign is going to take a hit.’ You know, if that’s the case, so be it,” she said in Ames ahead of a meet-and-greet at a local coffee shop.

Service — in particular, her own military experience — shapes much of her worldview.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/d3avqw/tulsi-gabbard-is-extremely-anti-war-and-still-defending-her-visit-with-assad

Even though she may not be polling well she still has and will continue to have my support.

This illustrates just how much of a true candidate over most others…..

But I am thrilled that she made the cut for them 4th debate…..

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) became the 12th Democratic presidential candidate to qualify for the party’s October primary debate on Tuesday after a new poll showed her with 2 percent support in New Hampshire.

To qualify for the October debate, candidates have to collect contributions from 130,000 unique donors and register at least 2 percent in four Democratic National Committee-approval polls. Gabbard met the donor benchmark weeks ago but has struggled to notch enough support in a fourth poll to put her over the polling threshold.

That changed on Tuesday after a Monmouth University poll showed the Hawaii congresswoman with 2 percent support among registered New Hampshire Democrats and unaffiliated voters who are likely to vote in the crucial first-in-the-nation primary on Feb. 11.

(thehill.com)

The DNC once again has upped the qualifications for the next debate…..the 5th debate…….

The Democratic National Committee is increasing the polling and fundraising requirements for presidential candidates to qualify for the primary campaign’s fifth debate in November, the AP reports. But in a nod to the potential for late-surging campaigns, the increases are not as steep as those from the first and second debates during the summer to the third and fourth debates after Labor Day. To make the November debate, candidates must have at least 165,000 unique donors, with at least 600 each in at least 20 states. That’s up from 130,000 donors—with 400 donors each in at least 20 states—for September and October. Candidates also must hit 3% in at least four national or early state polls—or hit 5% in two early state polls. The DNC has not yet announced the date or location of the November debate.

If you think our endless wars are in need of changing then Tulsi is the candidate you should be looking to for your vote.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

VOTE!

“Lego Ergo Scribo”

A Peace Race?

I am an unapologetic antiwar supporter.

I have been so for 40+ years…I have never supported a war after 1972……I believe there are other answers to the world’s problem beyond killing people to make a point.

Back in my days of protests there was a slogan that made the rounds….”War is good business….Invest your children”…..basically the war machine will use everything possible to keep the wars going…..but we should not believe the hype of the M-IC…..

Vice President Mike Pence was the commencement speaker at West Point. In part, he told the graduating cadets this: “It is a virtual certainty that you will fight on a battlefield for America at some point in your life. You will lead soldiers in combat. It will happen…And when that day comes, I know you will move to the sound of the guns and do your duty, and you will fight, and you will win. The American people expect nothing less.”

What Pence didn’t mention that day is why he could be so sure that this will come to pass. Or who the primary beneficiaries will be, if or when it does. Because the winners won’t be the American people, who see their taxes go to missiles instead of healthcare and education. Nor will they be the soldiers themselves—some of whom will return in flag-draped caskets while many more sustain life-altering physical and psychological injuries. The winners also won’t be the citizens of other countries who experience death and displacement on a horrific scale from our awesome military might. And our planet’s now-fragile climate won’t come out on top either, since the Pentagon is the single largest oil consumer in the world.

Give Peace a Chance: Don’t Believe the War Profiteers

To me it is way past time to stop and re-think all our endless wars of aggression…..

I read a piece in The American Conservative stating that war does not make sense anymore……

Trump and his group of mindless thugs have thumped their chests over Iran and few people actually want another war especially our combat vets…..

Majorities of veterans and the general public agree that the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan weren’t worth fighting, and hold similar views about the ongoing US military campaign in Syria.

The findings come from a new survey of American adults produced by the Pew Research Center. The Iraq war in particular was seen as futile, suggesting that public sentiment is in line with the conclusion of US military strategists who say the biggest beneficiary of the 2003 invasion was Iran.

https://qz.com/1662561/veterans-poll-says-iraq-war-wasnt-worth-fighting/

We are fighting wars that make no sense….other than to keep defense contractors in business and profitable……we always hear about the arms race….how about a new approach…a Peace Race?

In late April, the highly-respected Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reported that, in 2018, world military expenditures rose to a record $1.82 trillion. The biggest military spender by far was the United States, which increased its military budget by nearly 5 percent to $649 billion (36 percent of the global total). But most other nations also joined the race for bigger and better ways to destroy one another through war.

This situation represents a double tragedy. First, in a world bristling with weapons of vast destructive power, it threatens the annihilation of the human race. Second, as vast resources are poured into war and preparations for it, a host of other problems―poverty, environmental catastrophe, access to education and healthcare, and more―fail to be adequately addressed.

How About a Peace Race Instead of an Arms Race?

Peace is far more desirable than the death and destruction of war…..then why not take a chance and…….Give Peace A Chance!

Peacestock 2019: The Seeds of a Veterans’ Antiwar Movement

Time for all of us to get aboard the “Peace Train”……

“Lego Ergo Scribo”