[pjw] REPORT BACK: tacit approval: Friday rally #214 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

IAG supporters:

One of our regulars missed the Friday rally on the 12th and arrived last 
night saying "I'm gone one week and look at what happened to the world 
while I wasn't here." Yeah... I think you know most of what he was 
referring to. Overall seven of us rallied and eight marched on a warm but 
breezy (dry) evening. We had a lot of people interested in taking 
literature or having conversations, honking horns and general support.

One man saw my "Police Accountability" sign and said "you know, we were 
supposed to have some kind of committee for police accountability but the 
City dissolved it or something." I played along to find out how much he 
knew-- which was the basic gist of the City dismantling the plans of the 
Police Accountability Commission, though admittedly the details are hard 
to track. After we talked a bit I told him I'd been on the commission and 
handed him a Copwatch newsletter. (By the way, the new one will be out in 
time for next week's rally...)

Fair warning that I'll be sending another email later today regarding the 
JROTC at Portland Public Schools.

In the meantime, here's some of the mess that's been made in this past 
week:

--Following the Iranian retaliatory strike on Israel last weekend (which I 
wrote about during the week), Israel bombed Iran yesterday in the early 
morning. The US said emphatically that they were not involved and did not 
approve of it... but said that Israel had to avoid killing civilians or 
hitting nuclear facilities. Hmm. Sounds like "green light" to me. Oh and 
for Iran's part, they say there were no injuries or real damage so maybe 
they won't respond???

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/18/middleeast/isfahan-iran-explosion-intl-hnk/index.html

---Hey, the UN security Council generated 12 yes votes and 2 abstentions 
to recognize the state of Palestine! (The UK and Switzerland abstained.) 
Oh, but the US vetoed it saying now's not the time, the Palestinians need 
to negotiate with the Israelis, and other bogus excuses.

  https://www.axios.com/2024/04/18/us-oppose-palestine-un-security-council-membership

---On the other hand a UN agency has stated clearly that Israel is still 
imposing illegal restrictions on aid (which of course the US and Israel 
deny).

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-still-imposing-unlawful-restrictions-on-gaza-aid-un-rights-office-says/ar-BB1lI7sC

---Apparently Israel has build a road that splits the Gaza strip in two 
parts and is populating it with military bases that they intend to occupy 
("pun" intended) for a long while.

  https://archive.fo/daOLx
  https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/security-aviation/2024-04-18/ty-article-magazine/.premium/housing-showers-electricity-these-are-the-outposts-the-idf-is-building-in-central-gaza/0000018e-f1da-dbb3-a3bf-f5df02120000

---On Friday, the House voted 316-94 to allow a vote on aid packages to 
Ukraine (61 B), Israel (26 B) and Taiwan/anti-China (8B). All six Oregon 
representatives voted to forward the bill for the vote.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/19/95-billion-foreign-war-bills-move-toward-house-vote/

***FOLLOW UP/SPOILER FOR NEXT WEEK: The house has voted on the aid and 
they all passed, Ukraine with 210 Ds +101 Rs yes, 112 Rs no), Israel with 
a 366-58 vote (no details on party lines) and anti-China 385-34). Sigh.***

  https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/house-vote-ukraine-israel-taiwan-aid-04-20-24/index.html

--Meanwhile, the US is unhappy with the elections process in Venezuela so 
reimposed oil sanctions, signaling a return to sour relations.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/4/18/us-reimposes-oil-sanctions-against-venezuela-over-election-concerns

--A whistleblower in the US Air Force has said that America staying in 
Niger endangers troops.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/17/whistleblower-says-us-is-putting-troops-in-danger-by-refusing-to-leave-niger/

--The US sent assurances to the UK that they will not impose the death 
penalty on Julian Assange. They still want to prosecute him for telling 
the truth though.

  https://thedissenter.org/us-government-rejects-australias-call-to-end-assange-case/

--As noted earlier this week, the Iraqi Prime Minister's visit with 
President Biden did not lead to a timeline to get the last 2500 US troops 
the heck out of Iraq. I was kind of hoping that knowing US bases are easy 
targets for future Iranian retaliation would speed up this process.

  https://www.newarab.com/news/us-iraq-security-partnership-affirmed-no-troop-exit-yet


In local news, the anti-camping ordinance I wrote about last week got 
delayed because Commissioner Rene Gonzalez, who's running for Mayor, wants 
to take away City Council's right to legislate rules for camping... and 
give them all to the Mayor. Hmm. The vote is now scheduled for Wednesday 
at 4 PM.

  https://www.portland.gov/council/documents/ordinance/320-updated-manner-regulations

By the way the Council documents don't clearly show what Gonzalez was 
proposing to change in the already too-draconian law, so I generated a 
"redline" version using an online tool.

  https://tinyurl.com/GonzalezCamp

Along the march route, I added information about the US sanctioning two 
organizations for sending financial support to violent settlers in the 
West Bank. But they're perfectly OK continuing to support the IDF which has 
killed over 450 people just since October!

  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-sanctions-fundraisers-for-extremist-west-bank-settlers-attacking-palestinians/

And recalling last week's discussion about where your tax money goes
and this week's report about the aid packages for more war, I relayed to 
folks an article I read where the Navy only wanted to build one new 
nuclear submarine, but congress is insisting that they build two. You 
know, much better than building houses or providing jobs or health care!

  https://www.defensenews.com/naval/2024/04/18/lawmakers-push-for-two-submarines-despite-us-navy-seeking-just-one/

The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign made it around the corner at 
Pioneer Place Mall again, but there's some weird ghostly 
interference under the former MAX station that keeps making it turn 
off on Yamhill...

We're out every week in case you want to join us. This handy website says 
that 173 people died from COVID this past week in the entire country, 
which seems to be about the ongoing average now...

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

so stay safe but join us when you can!

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