[pjw] REPORT BACK: who'll stop the rain?: Friday rally #232 since stay-at-home orders

[Peace and Justice Works]

Hello peaceful people

Creedence Clearwater Revival asked this week's subject line question and 
were literally thinking about the rain on the Woodstock music festival but 
it figuratively was asking how to stop the Viet Nam war.

Last night the rain was pretty heavy as we began the Friday Rally for 
Peace and Justice-- but it stopped in about 10 minutes. So maybe, we can 
stop the rain?

There were four of us at the rally, with a fifth who joined a short time, 
and then all four full time ralliers went on the march. We had a good 
amount of honking horns and thumbs-ups. At first I thought the "Keep 
Oregon's Guard in Oregon" sign I had was provoking that response, but in 
fact I had turned my signs around and it was the IRAQ US OUT sign instead.
That's ok, we'll take it.

We handed out a bunch of copies of the Guard Home letter to Gov. Tina 
Kotek with the original 11 signatures from groups up and down the 
Willamette Valley. Since that went out, another six (or, kind of nine) 
groups have signed on. You can see the updated letter online here:

https://pjw.info/guardhomeletter2024.html

I talked about the letter and then went on to discuss topical news, such 
as:

--Secretary of More War Antony Blinken demanded that Palestinians accept 
the already-deemed-unacceptable demands from Israel for a ceasefire, 
including that the Israelis want to control the border crossing with Egypt 
and the corridor they built to split Gaza's north from south.

  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/antony-blinken-bungled-hamas-israel-ceasefire-talks-comments-reports

---74 of our antiwar comrades were arrested among at least 1500 who were 
protesting the US support for the war on Gaza at the Democratic National 
Convention in Chicago. From what I heard Bernie Sanders and, to a lesser 
extent, Kamala Harris were the only people who addressed the war from the 
stage. (The Dems would not let a Palestinian American speak.)

  https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/chicago-dnc-protests-arrest-totals/

---Continuing its expanded war, Israel killed 10 people in airstrikes in 
Lebanon this week.

  https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2568577/middle-east

---... and their attack on Yemen in July is being called a potential war 
crime by Human Rights Watch.

  https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/19/yemen-israeli-port-attack-possible-war-crime

---This week someone warned of cataclysmic consequences after the 
assassination of a Hamas leader in Iran a few weeks ago. No, it wasn't 
Iran, it was the US warning Iran not to attack Israel. Who's more 
belligerent?

  https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2024/08/16/us-warns-iran-faces-cataclysmic-consequences-if-it-strikes-israel

--Over in eastern Europe, Ukraine used a 250-lb American made bomb to 
attack a Russian military post over the border. Remember when the US said 
not to use their weapons to attack Russia as it will draw in NATO into a 
larger war? Hmm. Seems like just a few weeks ago that was still true.

  https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-it-used-us-made-bomb-hit-target-russias-kursk-region-2024-08-22/

--Even farther east, the US sent another warship through the Taiwan 
Strait to tweak China's nose. This article says it's happening about once 
a month.

  https://www.reuters.com/world/uss-ralph-johnson-made-routine-taiwan-strait-transit-says-us-navy-2024-08-22/

--President Biden has approved new plans for nuclear war which include 
bombing Russia, North Korea, and for the first time, China. Remember when 
there was going to be a peace dividend when the Berlin Wall came down? It 
seems like just 35 years ago.

  https://news.antiwar.com/2024/08/20/biden-approved-nuclear-strategy-to-prepare-for-nuclear-war-with-russia-china-and-north-korea/

--Mildly hopeful news is that the Saudi Foreign Minister visited Iraq to 
continue talks about better relations, such as the Saudis' intent to 
invest $6 billion to help with energy needs. This is important since Saudi 
Arabia and Iran have been at odds (to say the least) including through the 
war in Yemen, but since they came to a ceasefire (despite US efforts to 
undermine it) there may be peace brewing with Iraq in the middle of it.

  https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2024/08/saudi-fm-makes-unannounced-visit-iraq-meets-sudani-what-we-know

In local news, federal judge Michael Simon may or may not find that the 
City and the US Dept of Justice have made "fair, adequate and reasonable" 
proposed amendments to the Settlement Agreement regarding police use of 
force which are solely focused on setting up the new oversight system. 
Portland Copwatch will be joining others who say that the vague language 
about bias for or against police, requirements to go on ridealongs and 
other aspects mean these amendments don't meet those goals. Read more 
about the hearing, which is coming up Thursday 8/29 at 9 AM, here:

  https://albinaministerialcoalition.org/DOJ.html#fairness2024

Along the march route I expressed frustration that the US-backed Israeli 
Defense Forces used drones on a West Bank refugee camp this week, killing 
three people. They're illegally occupying the territory and killing people 
regularly (probably with US funds) and... nobody's stopping it.

  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/three-palestinians-killed-by-israeli-strike-in-west-banks-tulkarm-camp-ministry-says/ar-AA1peAUn

--I had to dig around this week to find news about "Money for Human Needs, 
Not War," but as usual US policy shows skewed priorities. Among the plans 
for military spending this year are $3.7 billion to create new 
missile silos. Not schools, houses or healthcare facilities mind you.

  https://247wallst.com/military/2024/08/18/the-future-weapons-the-us-is-spending-billions-in-rd-on-2/

The Ann Huntwork Peace Memorial Sign made it about 20 feet past the 
"mystery spot" by Louis Vuitton/Apple Store. It's not clear whether the 
cloudy skies and rainsoaked sidewalks had anything to do with it.

Hey in case you've missed the other stories I sent previously about the 
uptick in COVID, the feds are getting wise to it and will be making test 
kits available for free again... at the end of September.

  https://www.npr.org/2024/08/24/nx-s1-5088623/free-covid-tests-by-mail

OK, if you're up for it and are ready for any kind of weather, come on 
down and rally and march with us some Friday. Next week is supposed to be 
90 degrees again!!! Ah, climate change.

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