[pjw] REPORT BACK: Afghan exit misdirection: Friday rally #68 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Iraq Affinity Group Supporters

Perhaps in a sign of the thawing of the pandemic, we were back up to our 
highest number of participants at last night's Friday Rally for Peace and 
Justice. Seven of us were there, masked up and distanced (awaiting all 
mask mandates to be lifted by the feds), including a longtime participant 
whose work schedule just happened to allow this one-time visit; it was 
good to have him back!

As with last week, there were a lot of people out and about but not a 
whole lot more honking horns or thumbs ups. One man came by asking 
questions and said he would read some of our literature.

Here's some of what we talked about at the rally:

--President Biden has now set August 31 as the firm end date to the 
"military mission" in Afghanistan, but better reports continue to note 
there will be 650 troops at the embassy and probably more at the Kabul 
Airport as well.

  https://news.yahoo.com/u-military-mission-afghanistan-end-134300858.html

--In Iraq, militants continue to target US bases in the wake of Biden's 
airstrikes in Iraq and Syria a few weeks back.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/iraqs-hezbollah-forbids-fighters-from-attacking-us-embassy-amid-worsening-conflict/ar-AALVQ5a?li=BBnbfcL

--It's not 100% clear who is responsible for the assassination of the 
President of Haiti, but many of those who were arrested and/or killed 
appear to be US citizens.

  https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2021-07-08/haitis-future-uncertain-after-brazen-slaying-of-president

--Speaking of how the US may be responsible for crimes, General Haftar, 
who was trained in America, is now going to face war crimes allegations in 
court thanks to a recent ruling.

  https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/haftar-given-july-20-deadline-respond-us-lawsuit

--In the ongoing efforts to make a cold/hot war with Russia, the US is 
supporting the UK and the Netherlands for their aggressive military 
presence in the Black Sea, as a "message" to Russia.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-navy-defends-essential-black-sea-drills-as-russia-threatens-violent-response/ar-AALS5f7?li=BBnbfcL

--On Venezuela's independence day, rather than congratulate, I don't know, 
their leader, President Biden sent congratulations to opposition leader 
Juan Guaido, who's not the head of state.

  https://www.batimes.com.ar/news/latin-america/biden-reaffirms-support-for-venezuela-opposition-leader-juan-guaido.phtml

--In local news I noted that it seems that the investigation into the 
latest police shooting (of Michael Townsend on June 24) will not get 
investigated by veteran Detective Erik Kammerer, because Kammerer himself 
is being investigated by the state DOJ for violence at last year's 
protests.

  https://www.wweek.com/news/courts/2021/07/07/an-investigator-of-police-shootings-now-faces-possible-criminal-indictment/

When we got to the "Israel/Palestine corner" I noted that recent news shows 
Israel used "drone swarms" during their attacks in May; these are drones 
which use artificial intelligence to talk to each other without human 
interaction. Be afraid, be very afraid.

  https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/07/israels-drone-swarm-over-gaza-should-worry-everyone/183156/

The "Money for Human Needs, Not War" headline yesterday was about the $2 
billion being given to Raytheon to develop nuclear cruise missiles-- so 
soon after Biden and Putin agreed there's no way to win a nuclear war.

  https://www.military.com/daily-news/2021/07/02/air-force-gives-raytheon-2-billion-nuclear-cruise-missile-development.html

We tried a more elaborate grounding mechanism for the Ann Huntwork Peace 
Memorial Sign, but it only got us about 1/2 block into the Gucci Store 
block on SW 4th before the sign turned off. I should add here that we may 
have lost a layer of protection as the plywood has started to come down 
from the windows there, and the "no justice/no peace kitties" are gone. 
That's sad. Replacing progressive graffiti with upscale storefronts seems 
like a sign of something.

We continue to invite people to join the Friday rallies. Though we have no 
size limit now under the Governor's orders, to stay distanced we likely 
will still split onto two sides of the street if we get enough people. We 
continue to educate the public and bring good vibes to our fair city.

thanks

dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group