[pjw] REPORT BACK: end of end-of-satire: Friday rally #194 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

IAG supporters

Last night at the the Friday Rally for Peace and Justice, we had eleven 
people and one dog participating. ! . In response to a number of factors 
including the early onset of night-time these days, I added a bracket to 
the little green wagon of peace to hold a gooseneck desk lamp, and used 
that to put light on my picket sign. Mildly effective.

The general public seemed more subdued than usual. There was at most a 
light drizzle so it wasn't the rain. One person across the street yelling 
at the "Free Palestine" signs said "Free the hostages!" I wish I could 
have talked to him about the below news story regarding the "prisoner 
exchange" between Israel and Hamas, but some people just like to yell and 
run. There were occasional horn honks and supportive comments though, 
enough to keep our spirits afloat.

By the way someone posted an interesting video of last week's tree 
lighting, contrasting the mainstream news pretending everything was totally 
normal and what it was like on the floor of Pioneer Courthouse Square 
where people were chanting "Ceasefire now."

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0E_jXfLaju/

I was able to announce that about 6 weeks from now on Friday January 12 we 
will once again commemorate the opening of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp 
at the Friday rally. I hope to have the official announcement and flyer out 
this week.

Now for some headlines that we talked about.

--War criminal Henry Kissinger has died at the age of 100. The BBC's 
obituary featured one of my favorite quotes about Kissinger, which was the 
comic songwriter Tom Lehrer saying that when Kissinger won the Nobel Peace 
Prize there was no longer such a thing as political satire. (and true to 
that, Lehrer stopped writing his acerbic tunes.)

  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-19872410

--Unable to suppress their violent urges for more than 7 days, the Israeli 
government resumed airstrikes in Gaza early Friday. This article talks 
about how despite the many "administrative detainees" Israel released 
during the truce, ___they arrested about as many in the same time frame.__

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/1/fighting-resumes-in-israel-gaza-war

---The Wall Street Journal counts that the US sent 15,000 bombs and 
57,000 artillery shells to Israel just since October 7.

  https://archive.is/UGngH
  https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-sends-israel-2-000-pound-bunker-buster-bombs-for-gaza-war-82898638

---The New York Times reports that Israel knew about Hamas' plans a year 
ago and shrugged it off. Though maybe it was more like they knew if it 
happened they'd solidify their power and be able to launch a violent 
"counteroffensive." Hmm. Pearl Harbor, Gulf of Tonkin, Iraqi Weapons of 
Mass Destruction, 9/11, all convenient excuses for such warfare.

  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/world/middleeast/israel-hamas-attack-intelligence.html

---Biden has agreed to lift restrictions on US weapons transfers to Israel 
which limit what weapons can go there and for what they can be used.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2023/11/26/biden-moves-to-lift-restrictions-on-israels-access-to-us-weapons-stockpile/

--Meanwhile in Iraq, militant groups held out on attacking US bases while 
the ceasefire was in effect, but repeated their calls for the US to get 
its (2500) troops out.

  https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iraq-sees-risk-regional-conflict-if-gaza-war-resumes-2023-11-27/

--Slightly similarly, there was only one strike against a US base in Syria 
during the week, nobody was hurt.

  https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2023/11/30/us-syria-rocket-strike/

---And speaking of "why the heck is the US in Syria anyway" (with 900+ 
troops), say what you will about him but Senator Rand Paul has introduced 
a War Powers Resolution to withdraw from Syria, which will force a vote 
probably sometime this week.

  https://responsiblestatecraft.org/pulling-out-of-syria-rand-paul/

In local news, on Thursday the City Attorney somehow convinced federal 
Judge Michael Simon that despite multiple groups testifying that the 
amendments being made to the US DOJ Settlement Agreement would negatively 
affect police accountability, the issues at hand were not related. And 
since an "officer of the court" (lawyer) would never lie to a judge, Simon 
OK'd cutting 40 paragraphs out of the agreement.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2023/11/judge-approves-changes-to-settlement-on-portland-police-use-of-force-paving-way-for-independent-monitor.html

Also, there's a special meeting Monday between the former members of the 
Police Accountability Commission (including me!) and the City to talk about 
how they're planning to gut PAC's proposal for the oversight system. You 
can sign up to attend virtually or attend in person, 5:30 PM Monday 12/4.

  https://www.portland.gov/wheeler/news/2023/11/28/public-meeting-be-held-december-4-2023-regarding-proposed-code-package

And here's a letter the former PAC sent to the City raising concerns. 16 
of the 19 active final PAC members signed it..

  https://tinyurl.com/PACletter112823updated

OK and one more local story: The City is planning to buy $3.4 million in 
new Tasers because the old ones aren't functioning properly any more and 
the manufacturer discontinued the older model anyway, a great scam to keep 
cities paying big bucks.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/axon-cew-2023-sole-source-contract

Along the march route, I talked about ANOTHER area of Israeli occupation 
that doesn't get as much attention as the West Bank and Gaza. The Golan 
Heights in Syria have also been under Israeli occupation since 1967. The 
UN general assembly voted 91-8-62 for Israel to get out. The only two "no" 
votes I saw reported were the US and the UK, if you know more let me know.

  https://dohanews.co/un-general-assembly-passes-resolution-on-golan-heights-demanding-israeli-withdrawal/

And as we headed back to the Square I talked about this 24/7 Wall Street 
article quoting President Biden saying "you can tell a lot about a person 
by their budget priorities." The author then points out the US military 
budget is ridiculously high, including $276 billion in 2023 just on 
weapons research, development and production.

  https://247wallst.com/special-report/2023/11/30/the-us-militarys-biggest-weapons-programs/

The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign conked out again by the Gucci Store. 
The desk lamp stayed on, proving what I think we already knew, that it's 
not an issue with the generator but the sign itself.

We always appreciate folks showing up at the Square, even if you can't 
make it every week. I may have mentioned that I've started a new list of 
people I know who've gotten COVID in the last few months, including 
several PJW folks, so we are still encouraging masking up for safety.

peace
--dan handelman
peace and justice works iraq affinity group