[pjw] REPORT BACK: so little to do: Friday rally #229 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

IAG supporters
Today's subject line is a reference to Willy Wonka and the Chocolate 
Factory where the titular character says "So much time and so little to 
do. Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it."

On Thursday, and indeed at last night's Friday Rally for Peace and 
Justice, I reported that three Guantanamo prisoners had made a plea deal 
to avoid the death penalty. Apparently political pressures led Secretary 
of War, er, Defense Lloyd Austin to order the deal taken off the table-- 
even though in theory the court should have autonomy to make that 
decision. So, strike that, reverse it.

ANYWAY. Last night six of us rallied and marched, with a seventh person 
who wandered by, asked to hold a sign, did so for about five minutes while 
telling us their opinion about how money drives the wars (no argument 
here) and then walked away again.

We had a lot of people stopping by to thank us, and were able to hand many 
of them flyers for Tuesday's Hiroshima memorial. (I also added a promo for 
that event to the Ann Huntwork sign's scrolling messages.) We had a 
smattering of honking horns, too. Though it was hot out, the bank clock 
told us it was 86, not the 91 degrees that was apparently reached at the 
airport.

One veteran challenged our concern about the US using nuclear weapons, 
saying "they'll figure it out." Spoken like a true soldier who's asked to 
follow orders and not question authority...

OK, so you are probably saying, other than the now-changed story about 
Guantanamo, what did we talk about? Here's more than an inkling:

First, as I noted in yesterday's email, there's a connection between 
Hiroshima day and Iraq, which is that the sanctions were put on Iraq on 
August 6, 1990, exactly 45 years after the bomb dropped. As it happens, 
yesterday, August 2 was 34 years since Iraq invaded Kuwait (which provoked 
the sanctions). I reminded everyone, and remind you, that the memorial 
event will be Tuesday, August 6 at 6 PM at SW Couch and Naito.

  https://www.oregonpsr.org/hiroshima_nagasaki_remembrance

In the more immediate past:

--Israel appears to have planted a bomb in a location where a Hamas leader 
is known to stay when in Iran, and waited for him to attend the 
inauguration of the new president to set it off. Like they do with their 
nuclear program, Israel bats their eyes and say "maybe we did it."

  https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/01/middleeast/ismail-haniyeh-iran-explosion-bomb-planted-intl/index.html

---They also killed a Hezbollah leader in Beirut, after having told the 
Lebanese government that capitol city was off limits.

  https://apnews.com/article/israel-lebanon-strike-beirut-52c2a1711e274859b60daf8d2db3e0e2

---Instead of condemning these assassinations, the US, which of course is 
an expert at doing similar things, is pledging support for Israel and has 
sent 12 warships to the region.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/08/01/biden-tells-netanyahu-the-us-will-defend-israel-pledges-new-military-deployments/

---Meanwhile in Gaza (remember them?) Israel killed two Al Jazeera 
reporters during a recent attack.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestine-al-jazeera-journalists-killed-near-ismail-haniyeh-gaza-house

---The Qatar-based news outlet ran a story quaintly called "what countries 
has Israel attacked since October 7?" This is their tally: At least 10,389 
strikes on Palestinian territories, with over 40,000 dead; 6544 (!) 
strikes in Lebanon with 590 dead, 144 strikes in Syria with 360 dead, two 
strikes on Yemen killing six, and two in Iran killing the one Hamas 
leader. Outrageous.

  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/1/what-countries-has-israel-attacked-since-october-7

--Venezuela held its anticipated elections, and just like they did in 2019 
the US has declared the opposition leader as the winner. Now, admittedly 
there are questions about the outcome but still, the US kinda wanted that 
outcome and (who knows) may have influenced the vote.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/us-says-opposition-candidate-won-venezuela-election-as-anti-maduro-figurehead-says-she-s-in-hiding/ar-BB1r3oFd

--Speaking of sanctions, the slow moving form of warfare, a study says 
that one third of the world is under sanctions from the US. The article 
is about current sanctions and while Iraq doesn't make their list, Iran 
does, in the table showing how much harm the policies are doing.

  https://thecradle.co/articles/one-third-of-the-world-under-us-sanctions-report

--Oh yeah, and as if to further disprove President Biden's claim that the 
US is not at war anywhere, American forces struck targets in Iraq this 
week, prompting the militias who had agreed not to attack US targets to 
rethink their pledge.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/exclusive-iraq-militia-issues-warning-to-us-as-regional-tensions-soar/ar-BB1r3aXu

In local news, I think I wrote previously about how the Portland Police 
are now categorizing certain uses of force as "de minimis," meaning they 
are so minor they don't have to fill out force reports any more. It's not 
clear whether this means they will stop collecting demographic data as 
well, though about 30% of all force in Portland is against Black people. 
At the precinct meeting I went to on Tuesday, Chief Bob Day said the police 
had worked with the US DOJ on the change, claiming that body worn cameras 
will tell the story. No, they will show the point of view of the officers' 
chests. We need copwatchers to record the entire scene. Here's a link to 
the PPB's explanation for the change which comes with a dubious video 
claiming every officer has to spend seven hours on paperwork.

  https://www.portland.gov/police/news/2024/7/23/proposal-revise-category-iv-non-deadly-force-reporting-investigation-and

Along the march route I relayed the news that UNRWA (the Palestine 
refugee group under the United Nations) warned that the situation in the 
West Bank is deteriorating from the operations of the (US-backed) Israeli 
forces. (I added the "US-backed" if that wasn't clear.)

  https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/unrwa-warns-situation-in-occupied-west-bank-deteriorating-amid-ongoing-israeli-attacks/3293649

OK, I still am not 100 percent clear on this long dragged out process, but 
this week the Senate Appropriations committee voted to add $21 billion to 
the military budget, making it $852 billion. The fiscal conservatives-- 
led by the Republicans-- in the House are likely to push back.

  https://breakingdefense.com/2024/08/sac-passes-852b-defense-bill-breaking-budget-caps-and-teeing-up-budget-fight/

The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign went out right as we got to the 
"Mystery Spot" by the Apple store again. I should mention that means there 
are about 50 feet along that block where people in the glass enclosure 
should be able to see it while it's still running.

I mentioned the COVID national data last week. OPB and the Oregonian (at 
least) have both reported a spike in positive COVID tests here in Oregon, 
with 15% coming back an apparent near-high.

  https://www.oregonlive.com/coronavirus/2024/08/covid-infections-rise-in-oregon-west-coast.html

So do be careful out there. I'll be masking up at Hiroshima day and doing 
my best to stay distanced.

As you likely know, we're out at SW Yamhill and Broadway every darned 
Friday, rain, shine, heat, cold, snow, smoke, whatever, at 5 PM if you 
ever want to join us.

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