Monday, August 06, 2018

Chomsky on Russiagate: In most of the world, it's almost a joke

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Subject: [national] Chomsky on Russiagate: In most of the world, it's almost a joke
 
Noam Chomsky says on Democracy Now!
 
"Take the huge issue of interference in our pristine elections. Did the Russians interfere in our elections? An issue of overwhelming concern in the media. I mean, in most of the world, that’s almost a joke. First of all, if you’re interested in foreign interference in our elections, whatever the Russians may have done barely counts or weighs in the balance as compared with what another state does, openly, brazenly and with enormous support. Israeli intervention in U.S. elections vastly overwhelms anything the Russians may have done, I mean, even to the point where the prime minister of Israel, Netanyahu, goes directly to Congress, without even informing the president, and speaks to Congress, with overwhelming applause, to try to undermine the president’s policies—what happened with Obama and Netanyahu in 2015. Did Putin come to give an address to the joint sessions of Congress trying to—calling on them to reverse U.S. policy, without even informing the president? And that’s just a tiny bit of this overwhelming influence. So if you happen to be interested in influence of—foreign influence on elections, there are places to look. But even that is a joke."
...
"[Trump's] perfectly right when he says we should have better relations with Russia. Being dragged through the mud for that is outlandish, makes—Russia shouldn’t refuse to deal with the United States because the U.S. carried out the worst crime of the century in the invasion of Iraq, much worse than anything Russia has done. But they shouldn’t refuse to deal with us for that reason, and we shouldn’t refuse to deal with them for whatever infractions they may have carried out, which certainly exist. This is just absurd. We have to move towards better—right at the Russian border, there are very extreme tensions, that could blow up anytime and lead to what would in fact be a terminal nuclear war, terminal for the species and life on Earth. We’re very close to that. Now, we could ask why. First of all, we should do things to ameliorate it. Secondly, we should ask why. Well, it’s because NATO expanded after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in violation of verbal promises to Mikhail Gorbachev, mostly under Clinton, partly under first Bush, then Clinton expanded right to the Russian border, expanded further under Obama. The U.S. has offered to bring Ukraine into NATO . That’s the kind of a heartland of Russian geostrategic concerns. So, yes, there’s tensions at the Russian border—and not, notice, at the Mexican border. Well, those are all issues that should be of primary concern. The fate of—the fate of organized human society, even of the survival of the species, depends on this. How much attention is given to these things as compared with, you know, whether Trump lied about something? I think those seem to me the fundamental criticisms of the media. "
 
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Women’s rights legend Gloria Steinem calls out Wendy’s for failing to support farmworker women!


The New York action wasn’t amplified only on social media, but also caught the attention of traditional news media. The march was covered by La Jornada, one of Mexico City’s leading daily newspapers...
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Armistice Day, Not Weapons Day — Everything You Need for November 10th and 11th

Armistice Day, Not Weapons Day — Everything You Need for November 10th and 11th


Stop Trump’s Military Parade in Washington on November 10.
Celebrate Armistice Day and Peace Everywhere on November 11.
If you can be in Washington, D.C., to oppose the Trump military parade, also sign up here. There will be family-friendly, permitted, pro-peace events. There may also be opportunities to try to prevent the weapons parade. Or our public commitment to be there may discourage the parade planners from holding it. So it is important that we commit now en masse.
Join in the Women’s March on the Pentagon on October 21-22.
Come to a free peace concert in Washington D.C., November 9, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. planned by Code Pink.
We’ll also be part of Catharsis on the Mall, November 10-12, in Washington, D.C.
Veterans For Peace is planning a silent march to all the monuments in Washington, D.C., on November 11.
November 11, 2018, is Armistice Day 100, a century since World War I was ended at a scheduled moment (11 o’clock on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918). For decades in the United States, as elsewhere, Armistice Day was a holiday of peace, of sad remembrance and joyful ending of war, of a commitment to preventing war in the future. The holiday’s name was changed in the United States during the U.S. war in Korea to “Veterans Day,” a largely pro-war holiday on which some U.S. cities forbid Veterans For Peace groups from marching in their parades. Trump has planned for this year a super-pro-war weapons parade — a Trumparade — for Washington D.C. on Saturday November 10th, the day before Armistice Day.
Our goal is to get the weapons parade (now planned for November 10th) canceled but to carry through with our own peaceful Armistice Day celebration in Washington, D.C., and everywhere else on earth. If the Trumparade is not canceled, our goal is to be bigger and make a more impressive showing for peace and friendship than the weapons parade makes for war and hatred and profiteering greed.
We need your help planning Armistice Day / Remembrance Day events everywhere on earth, and adding our presence to those already scheduled. If you can start an event or a contingent to participate in a larger event, we can help you. The first step is: please enter it into our system so that it shows up on our map for people to find.
Event Resources:
https://img.4plebs.org/boards/pol/image/1463/88/1463889728102.gifFind speakers, videos, powerpoints, activities, and ideas here.
One activity for 11 a.m. wherever you are, or some other appropriate time, is bell ringing. Here’s a kit from a Veterans For Peace chapter on a past Armistice Day.
Flyers:
World BEYOND War flyers.
Posters:
Social Media:
A graphic you can use.
Another graphic.
Another graphic:

City Council hearing TODAY! Tax the big universities, fund affordable housing!


City Council Hearing!

Today at 2:00pm
City Hall, 5th Floor

Click Here for the Facebook Event Link
Join us today at City Hall to demand that the City Council take action and tax the big universities to fund affordable housing!

WE DEMAND:

  1. Tax the big universities to fund affordable housing! Strengthen PILOT!
    • The City Council should REQUIRE the big universities to make their PILOT payments. No more asking politely!
    • 25% is not enough! Mandate a 50% payment to build high quality public affordable housing in Boston.
    • No exemptions for community programs that should be provided for free!
  2. Bring back Rent Control, reverse the statewide ban! Implement Rent Control in Boston to protect our homes from greedy landlords and corporate developers!
  3. Scrap the Boston Planning and Development Agency! No more placing developers' interests above residents.
  4. The for-profit housing market cannot solve the housing crisis!
    • We need a system that provides publicly owned, democratically controlled, permanently affordable HOUSING FOR ALL!
Click here to sign the petition calling on City Council to Tax the Big Universities to Fund Affordable Housing!






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