Free Free Palestine!

UPDATE: Israel bombs Gaza hospital killing 500, ignites protests across Middle East: Israel accused of committing a 'crime of genocide' after hospital massacre

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-palestine-war-gaza-invasion-live

photo by Amjad Doumani

Free Free Palestine!

words and some photos by C.A. Matthews

“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free! Free, free Palestine!”

I had thought about writing a piece this week about war propaganda after being inundated with the stuff (almost to the point of overdosing on it) via the mainstream media. I would have talked about how I once wrote a paper for a college sociology class on the effects of propaganda during World War I, and how these very same propaganda techniques carry on today with our government’s selling of the Ukraine proxy war and now this current ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

Then I attended a local peace demonstration—and then another a day later—to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people who are being bombed and starved out of existence by the Israeli government, and I changed my mind. The following photos and memes tell their story better than my words could break through the Western pro-war propaganda.

A picture paints a thousands words—and engenders empathetic feelings that only sociopaths can deny. Alas, the United States of America is a country run by sociopaths and their followers.

But propaganda alone cannot wipe away unforgettable images from the human brain. That’s why the mainstream media and many Western governments—France and Germany leading the way—are banning protests and any mentions of sympathy with the Palestinian cause on online platforms to keep the public away from seeing inconvenient photos and videos. Watching the Israeli Defense Force wipe out entire apartment blocks and destroy hospitals and schools doesn’t quite sell the Western viewpoint that Israelis are “innocent” occupiers of the Palestinian homeland.

Those little Palestinian boys and girls lying in morgues in Gaza just “accidentally” ran into an IDF bullet or bomb, right? They deserve what they got coming to them according to the Israeli defense minister with the laughable name of “Gallant.” He ungraciously labeled the Palestinian people “human animals.” Animals that needed to be put down, in his opinion.

The racism doesn't stop there. In the US, MSNBC suspended three Muslim anchors during Israel’s Gaza assault because it didn’t want Muslims reporting on the violence against the Palestinian people. Can you imagine why an American propaganda outlet wouldn’t want a Muslim face talking about how the IDF is committing genocide? Maybe MSNBC thought it would upset their Islamophobic American audience?

Being forced to live in a concentration camp like Gaza should bring back painful memories to Americans. Unfortunately, it doesn’t for the white majority. Unless your immediate relatives or ancestors have been forced to live on a reservation like Native Americans, or been locked up in an internment camp like Japanese-Americans were during the 1940s, or held in the bonds of slavery for over two centuries because you came from Africa, then you’ve probably no real idea what it means to be held prisoner with members of your ethnic group. You lucked out because of your skin color, religion, money, and/or connections with power. You should be eternally grateful that such great fortune has smiled upon you and yours.

I’ve noticed sometimes it’s those who have been blessed with the most “freedoms” who are the stingiest and meanest when it comes with sharing freedom with others. I wonder why is that?

The modern state of Israel isn’t yet one-hundred years old, and already it’s made a mess of the Middle East by attempting to exterminate indigenous peoples. The modern state of Israel was created by those who survived the Holocaust and then discovered that their governments didn’t particularly want them in Europe anymore. These survivors decided to guilt-trip the powers-that-be after the war to allow them to take over the British Mandate of Palestine, and it worked. Europe was free of Jews, and the Palestinians’ worst nightmare had just begun.

Excuse me for thinking this was a terrible idea from the start. The Europeans who harmed their Jewish citizens during WWII should have made reparations to them and given them their original homes, lands, and businesses back in their home countries—not just send them into another people’s country on another continent. The Holocaust survivors were Europeans after all, not Middle Easterners.

White European powers are always looking for some “empty land” (like North America in 1492 or Palestine in 1947) to give out to those they’ve hurt. It helps to kick out people you don't want to see anymore so you don’t have to keep looking directly into their hurt faces and feel guilty for what you did. Sending those you hurt off on a boat to a far distance shore is a convenient way out of dealing with your crimes against your fellow countrymen and women, isn’t it?

It’s not so convenient for the innocent people whose lands and resources are to be taken away by those you hurt though, is it? The survivors, the hurt ones have taken on the role of European colonizers now, and they don’t want to see the faces of the indigenous peoples they’re displacing because it’s only adds to their guilty feelings. It’s best just to wipe the indigenous peoples off the map completely so their faces will be no more. Once the Palestinians are gone, the Israelis can rest easy knowing that they’ll never come back to haunt the land.

But they will come back to haunt you… Those faces should haunt you if you possess an ounce of humanity. The sociopaths and psychopaths of the modern War Machine aren’t particularly haunted by those they’ve slaughtered unfortunately. There’s simply too much money to be made in armament sales. Once you mix European colonizers’ enthusiasm for stealing land from indigenous people with the psychopathology of the Endless War crowd, then you have the perfect recipe for ethnic cleansing or genocide.

Caitlin Johnstone states it succinctly:

Stop calling it the “Israel-Hamas war”. It’s the Israel-Gaza massacre. Calling it the Israel-Hamas war creates the false impression that this is a war that is directed exclusively at Hamas when it’s really an ethnic purge that’s directed at all Palestinians in Gaza.

The child body count alone makes it clear that this isn’t a war against Hamas; I saw an anonymous account point out on Twitter that the number of children killed in this onslaught after one week already exceeds the total number of children killed after a year and a half of fighting in Ukraine, per the United Nations.

Laying complete siege to a civilian population and bombing anything that stands would be an extraordinary abomination in any war. And this is not a war, it’s an enclosed shooting range with military explosives and human targets. --It’s Not the Israel-Hamas War, It’s the Israel-Gaza Massacre

Guess what’s not happening in the modern state of Israel? They’re not following the human rights laws of the United Nations. Worse yet, they’re not even following the commandment, “Thou shall not kill,” either. No one can convince me the modern state of Israel is based upon religion and morality. Recent surveys show how modern Israelis are extremely prejudiced against Palestinians and wouldn’t dare let their son or daughter date or marry one. Kill a Palestinian to take his homeland, yes, but marry one? No.

So, don’t kid a kidder who was born in the South and has witnessed racism up close. Israel is all about racism and white European settler colonialism, pure and simple. It's not about the Jewish religion. My American Jewish contacts support the Palestinians and their desire to have their homeland back, and they don’t disown their family members who marry outside the faith. That’s not was being an observant Jew is all about, I’m told.

I’m not falling for the cultish propaganda circulating on the internet about how Israel's massacre of the Palestinian people is all about “The End Times” or Armageddon and Jesus returning. As if! The Netanyahu government is taking their cues from the Ku Klux Klan or the Third Reich, not the Bible. After all, the book of Genesis states all human beings were made in God’s image. Why should we destroy God’s own handiwork--our fellow human beings-- if we truly believed in what the Bible says? Wouldn’t that make God sad and angry?

The saddest part of all is the US military helping Israel commit war crimes and not helping save the innocents. Not only are the US “Ministry of Truth” propagandists tasked with convincing the public that “Ukraine is winning the war against Russia,” they’ll have to convince us that simultaneously starting a war with Iran (that says it backs Hamas) is a good idea. Billions of dollars of armaments sent to two hot spots on the globe that is raising the risk of setting off a nuclear world war…

Settler colonialism seems to be at the root of many problems in the world. Diplomacy and peace talks could help solve these problems. Bombing innocent children, starving them, preventing them and their families from getting to safety, and then stealing their homeland won’t solve anyone’s problems.

When has genocide ever solved anyone’s problems?

Chris Hedges says it well:

This is not a war. It is the obliteration of civilians trapped for 16 years in the world’s largest concentration camp. Gaza is being leveled, flattened, destroyed, reduced to rubble. Hundreds of thousands of its impoverished residents will be killed, wounded or left homeless without food, fuel, water and medical help. Nearly 600 children are already dead. (As of today, it’s 1250 Palestinians killed.)

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been forced to close 14 food distribution centers leaving half a million people without food relief. Gaza’s only power plant has run out of fuel. The United Nations says 12 of its staff have been killed by Israeli air strikes, 21 out of 22 UNRWA health facilities in Gaza have been damaged and hospitals lack basic medicines and supplies.

 Israel, as it has in the past, will block the dissemination of independent reporting and images once some 360,000 soldiers launch a ground assault. It cut internet service in Gaza on Saturday. The brief glimpses of Israeli atrocities that make it out will be dismissed by Israeli leaders as anomalies or blamed on Hamas.

The West refuses to intervene, as 2.3 million people, including 1 million children, are deprived of food, fuel, electricity and water, see their schools and hospitals bombed and are butchered and rendered homeless by one of the most advanced military machines on the planet.  – This Way for the Genocide, Ladies and Gentlemen

 Free, free Palestine! NOW. Tomorrow may be too late.

From Twitter/X:

RECAP #Israel #Palestine (as of 21:00 GMT, 15 October) 1. The death toll in Gaza has exceeded 2,450 people with over 60% of the victims being children and women 2. At least 1,000 are still missing under the rubble and over 9,600 have been wounded 3. In Israel, the death toll has reached 1,400 people while 3,400 are wounded, with scores of captives still being held in Gaza 4. At least 12 journalists have been killed since the start of the war, 10 of them Palestinian and one Israeli, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists 5. Israel dropped equivalent to “a quarter of a nuclear bomb” according to the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor 6. 47 families have been “entirely wiped out from the civil registry” 7. Gaza’s healthcare system is “taking its last breath amid Israeli massacres” 8. Gaza’s hospitals are overwhelmed with wounded patients which they can no longer cater for, and people seek shelter in the hospital corridors. 6 hospitals in Gaza have shut down after being bombed 9. Fire exchanges between Israel and Lebanon have escalated, as Hezbollah vowed to react if Israel’s aggression on Gaza does not end 10. The Palestinian health ministry says one Palestinian is killed every five minutes in Gaza, while an emergency mass grave has been established to cater for the high number of dead 11. Israel is seeking to close down Al Jazeera’s bureau in the country, with their journalists facing harassment 12. Palestinians in Gaza are in danger of mass ethnic cleansing, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, warned

 

Related Articles and Links

MSNBC Suspends Muslim Anchors Amid Israeli War in Gaza https://www.arabnews.com/node/2391271/media

This Way for the Genocide, Ladies and Gentlemen https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/this-way-for-the-genocide-ladies

I Wish Americans Could See the Humanity of Palestinians as They Do With Israelis https://truthout.org/articles/i-wish-americans-could-see-the-humanity-of-palestinians-as-they-do-with-israelis/

Israel’s Colonial Revenge Genocide in Gaza is only the latest in a Long History of such Massacres https://www.juancole.com/2023/10/colonial-genocide-massacres.html

Big Lies and Gaza https://julianmacfarlane.substack.com/p/big-lies-and-gaza

Source of Dubious ‘Beheaded Babies’ Claim is Israeli Settler Leader Who Incited Riots to ‘Wipe Out’ Palestinian Village
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/12/source-of-dubious-beheaded-babies-claim-is-israeli-settler-leader-who-incited-riots-to-wipe-out-palestinian-village/

Palestine Today https://palestinetoday.quora.com/Baby-beheadings-and-Rape-are-All-Israeli-Lies-Repeated-by-West-to-Justify-Genocide-in-Gaza-and-Incite-Rage

 ‘A Massive War Crime’: Israel Begins Total Blockade Of Gaza Strip
https://popularresistance.org/a-massive-war-crime-israel-announces-total-blockade-of-gaza-strip/ 

re Obscuring Settler Colonialism in Their Gaza Coverage https://truthout.org/articles/corporate-media-outlets-are-obscuring-settler-colonialism-in-their-gaza-coverage

Palestinians Speak the Language of Violence Israel Taught Them
https://unac.notowar.net/2023/10/09/palestinians-speak-the-language-of-violence-israel-taught-them/

'Genuinely Shocked They Aired It': CNN Interview Cuts Through Pro-Israel Propaganda on Gaza https://www.commondreams.org/news/cnn-interview-palestinian

Who is responsible for the violence in Israel and Gaza? https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/10/10/ytol-o10.html

What Preceded the Killings in Israel and Gaza Was Not “Peace” — It Was Apartheid https://truthout.org/articles/what-preceded-this- bloodshed-in-gaza-was-not-peace-it-was-apartheid

The US Is Just As Culpable As Israel For The Atrocities Committed In Gaza https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/the-us-is-just-as-culpable-as-israel

People Have A Serious Case Of 9/11 Brain Right Now, And It's Scary https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/people-have-a-serious-case-of-911

Built on the Bodies of Native Californians https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/10/built-on-the-bodies-of-native-californians/

Boston Demands Indigenous Peoples Day! https://popularresistance.org/boston-demands-indigenous-peoples-day/

John Kiriakou: A Victimizers’ Memorial https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/12/john-kiriakou-a-victimizers-memorial/

“An Irreversible Torture”: The Global Call to End Capital Punishment on 21st World Day Against the Death Penalty
https://scheerpost.com/2023/10/10/an-irreversible-torture-the-global-call-to-end-capital-punishment-on-21st-world-day-against-the-death-penalty/
 

Seen on X/Twitter:

Israel is one of the most racist countries in the world.

While Israel works hard to play the victim, it’s actually a racist, Jewish supremacist state that aims to ethnically cleanse Palestine.

BT’s @KeiPritsker explains how racism is the core of Israel’s national identity pic.twitter.com/71JY6OggEv

— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) October 12, 2023

https://twitter.com/BTnewsroom/status/1712606372813066586

 

Today was one of the worst days in Gaza

So far:

—2,800 Palestinians, incl 800 children and 900 women, killed by Israel. That's double the israeli death toll.

—1,200 Palestinians, incl 500 children are missing, suspected to be under the rubble.

—Over a million Gazans displaced

— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) October 16, 2023

https://twitter.com/richimedhurst/status/1714036369058635897

 

Stick With Love (#StrikeOutHate)

Stick With Love 
(#StrikeOutHate)

by C.A. Matthews
protest photos by Adrian J. Matthews

This past week, a group of  Toledo area activists took to the streets across from a neighborhood bowling alley with one mission in mind: #StrikeOutHate 

The owner of the bowling alley had a history of posting racist, Islamophobic, homophobic, transphobic, and misogynistic comments on his business' Facebook page and Twitter account. He had been repeatedly called out for his hateful behavior, but he refused to stop the postings. He eventually went as far as to accost a woman wearing a hijab in retaliation for what he felt were Muslims following him in a shopping mall.

Area activists decided enough was enough and a demonstration was planned. It was delayed by one week after the bowling alley owner was interviewed in the newspaper and on local TV news. He claimed he was "sorry" for saying what he said, but he did not apologize to the victims of his hateful postings. He even went on to use further racial slurs in his remarks. A multi-faith council asked to speak with the bowling alley owner and his wife and their faith leader to see if the situation could be resolved positively, but he declined. 

With business dropping off, his Facebook page shut down, and the public and press looking more closely into the bowling alley owner's hateful actions, the owner and his wife said they'd be willing to speak to only one faith leader from the community he wronged. The #StrikeOutHate demonstration was postponed for one week in hopes a full apology was forthcoming. Alas, it was not.

The evening of the demonstration was sunny and windy, but the activists were

strong in their convictions and strong in voice. The vast majority of traffic passing by the bowling alley and the demonstrators honked and gave thumbs up when they saw the signs and heard the chants. Many in the neighborhood had earlier expressed dismay and anguish that such an individual was allowed to operate a business in their ethnically diverse area. What did it say about their community?

Police cars were plentiful just in case of retaliation by white supremacists who had issued death threats and trolled some of the organizers' social media pages. At the start of the event, four individuals wearing mostly black were seen standing diagonally across the street from the protest. They glared sullenly for about fifteen minutes--one of their group carrying a hockey stick--but eventually they walked away. It's telling that white supremacists are rather timid creatures who slink away when it becomes apparent the rest of the neighborhood doesn't approve of racists or racism and death threats.

In this season of re-birth, it is fitting a revival of Dr. Martin Luther King's Poor People Campaign is  now underway. Fifty years on, the same evils King fought against--racism, militarism, poverty--are still with us, more prolific and onerous than ever before. In 1968 (the year of King's assassination) there were 40 million Americans of all colors living in poverty. Today there are over 140 million poor Americans. The campaign labels itself as a "National Call for Moral Revival," and it is seen as a continuation of the campaign King had planned before his death.

Dr. King saw the interlocking nature of poverty, ecological destruction, systemic racism and militarism. It is impossible to get rid of one of these ills without ridding ourselves of the others. King and many others realized that America's problems were not caused by a scarcity of wealth, rather they are caused by a "scarcity of will." The campaign's six week agenda begins the week after Mother's Day and will focus on key issues in a "season of moral resistance" that isn't so much about "left or right, but right and wrong."

Week 1 will focus on children, women and the disabled in poverty. Week 2 considers the connection of systemic racism and poverty, voting rights and attacks on immigrants. Week 3 features Memorial Day, and so it will focus on veterans' issues. Week 4 will look at ecological devastation and how it affects the poor, as well as the right for all to have access to health care. Week 5 covers the topics of wages, guaranteed income, housing issues and social services. Week 6 concludes the campaign with a discussion of America's "distorted moral narrative."

More information about local and statehouse rallies, teach-ins, and cultural events will be posted online at the Poor People's Campaign web site for your state. The national website is https://www.poorpeoplescampaign.org/

As the #StrikeOutHate activists understand, our society's problems don't go away simply by us refusing to face them head on. We all need to challenge the status quo. We must expose discriminatory practices and business people such as the bowling alley owner who thinks attacking women wearing head scarves is a good thing and leaving racist/homophobic/Islamophobic/misogynistic comments online is entertaining and not hurtful. We must model the justice and compassion we wish to see in the world. Only by standing up to hate and sticking with love can we ever hope to bring about the future Martin Luther King Jr. gave his life fighting for.

Join one of the first statehouse rallies in Columbus, Ohio:

More about the #StrikeOutHate protest (and how some in the local media seemed more worried  about the owner's lost business than in human rights):

http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2018/04/24/Twin-Oaks-Lanes-owner-draws-fire-for-anti-Muslim-comments.html

http://www.13abc.com/content/news/Toledo-businessowner-in-hot-water-after-Facebook-posts--480764511.html

http://www.wtol.com/story/38034128/west-toledo-business-owner-receives-backlash-for-past-derogatory-social-media-posts-towards-muslims

***

As the Poor People's Campaign points out, ecological devastation affects the poor first and foremost. Oil pipelines that leak and threaten water supplies is one such issue that needs calling out. A new protest song epitomizes how First Nations People of Canada have taken on the Kinder Morgan pipeline. Listen to the lyrics to "We Don't Want Your Pipeline" and sing it at your next protest.
https://youtu.be/2bKxATTtVaM 

Jordan Chariton interviews anti-pipeline activists, mother and daughter Red and Minor Terry. Keep a tissue handy while listening to their harrowing story of what's happening to their ancestral home in Virginia. Corporations and governments simply don't care about your health, your civil rights or your  land when they believe there's money to be made exporting fracked natural gas overseas. They'll  destroy pristine woodlands and archeological finds, and then sell you bottled drinking water after they've polluted your well.
https://youtu.be/BPnJsMMIi5M

 ***

Our net neutrality could be under attack this week.  Go to https://www.battleforthenet.com/ to join the battle 

by sending an email to your representatives.

***

We have just one week until our 40 Days of Nonviolent Direct Action begin and we need to be ready. 

With thousands of supporters poised for action at dozens of locations around the country as part of our growing moral fusion movement, we have to be prepared for everything. 

That’s why we created the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival Legal Defense Fund—to ensure the rights of those on the front lines in the fight to reclaim our nation’s soul are protected. 

Donate to the fund today to make sure everyone joining our fight on May 14 and beyond has the legal support they need.
 
Poor and disenfranchised people, clergy and advocates will be protesting at more than 30 statehouses across the country, hosting teach-ins and demanding policies that lift up the 140 million Americans living in poverty. This isn’t about left and right, it’s about right and wrong. 

This fund and those who contribute to it are our last line of defense and a vital part of our movement.


Support the nonviolent direct action at the heart of our call for a moral revival in this country. Contribute now.
 
Thank you for everything you do,
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival


GIVE NOW

***

From Credo:

With average payday loan interest rates as high as 338 percent and check-cashing shops charging exploitative fees, more struggling Americans get trapped in inescapable cycles of debt every single year.¹

It's no accident: It's the deliberate strategy of Wall Street-backed lenders that vacuum billions of dollars out of low-income communities every year.² To break the grip of the predatory financial industry we need tough enforcers, strict rules – and a public option like postal banking to serve as a low-cost alternative.

Progressive champions like Sen. Elizabeth Warren have championed postal banking for years and pushed the U.S. Postal Service to use its existing authority to launch pilot programs. Now, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has expanded the fight by introducing new postal banking legislation.³

Tell Congress: Postal banking, not payday lending. Click here to sign the petition.

The dirty secret of the payday lending industry is that there is no money in people repaying their loans on time. The key to the whole profit-making engine, the one that makes lenders’ Wall Street backers rich, is tricking people into taking out a loan and then locking them into months or years of debt. Charging hidden fees and demanding sky-high interest rates, payday lenders are little more than legal loan sharks.⁴

A full postal banking system would offer a low-cost alternative to the most predatory companies. Low-income neighborhoods often lack commercial bank branches, and many struggling families without access to mainstream banks have little choice but to turn to check cashers and payday lenders. Postal banking would offer basic services like check cashing, savings accounts and cheap loans so that one unexpected expense doesn't trap someone in debt for life.⁵

The USPS has done this before, from 1917 until 1967. In 1947, the post office held nearly 10 percent of commercial savings in the United States.⁶ The USPS can do a lot to bring back postal banking on its own and many progressive allies have been pushing for just that. Sen. Gillibrand's new bill adds to those efforts by putting postal banking back on the agenda in a big way.

Tell Congress: Postal banking, not payday lending. Click here to sign the petition.

Some have looked to postal banking as a way to increase revenue for the USPS. But Sen. Gillibrand's bill focuses solely on providing an alternative to payday lenders, thus helping the most vulnerable Americans. The reality is that the USPS's supposed budget woes stem from a deliberate right-wing attempt to sabotage a vital government service by mandating that the agency pre-fund its retiree health care and pension benefits for 75 years – something that no other government agency or private company is forced to do.⁷

Sen. Gillibrand's bill keeps the attention where it belongs: keeping low-income Americans out of the clutches of a predatory financial industry that wants to trap them into debt and exploit them for all they are worth. Postal banking is an idea whose time has come again, and a big show of support for this bill will provide momentum to every effort to make it real.

Tell Congress: Postal banking, not payday lending. Click below to sign the petition:
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/postal_banking_payday?t=8&akid=28419%2E9999572%2EPYJ39d

Thank you for speaking out,
Josh Nelson, Co-Director CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

References:

1. David Dayen, “The Government is Finally Cracking Down on Legal Loan Sharks,” Fiscal Times, March 27, 2015.
2. Ibid.
3. Alan Pyke, "Gillibrand’s post office banking bill bypasses years of careful, quiet work to kill payday lending," ThinkProgress, April 27, 2018.
4. Dayen, “The Government is Finally Cracking Down on Legal Loan Sharks.”
5. Pyke, "Gillibrand’s post office banking bill bypasses years of careful, quiet work to kill payday lending."
6. Campaign for Postal Banking, "Know the Facts: Is Postal Banking a New Idea?" accessed May 1, 2018.
7. Pyke, "Gillibrand’s post office banking bill bypasses years of careful, quiet work to kill payday lending."

***

From Sierra Club:

This year's House Farm Bill is an absolute disaster and it must be stopped. Replete with partisan, anti-environmental provisions, the 2018 House Farm Bill represents Big Ag and pesticide companies over our food supply, wildlife, ecosystem, public health and small farmers -- we need to do everything we can to stop it.

Tell your representative to stop this toxic Farm Bill from ruining our food systems!

What kind of a Farm Bill cuts programs to develop farmer's markets and undermines sustainable farming? It offers subsidies and tax breaks to big corporations while failing our small family farmers, including those who are historically disadvantaged or veterans. It shrinks programs proven to promote soil health and fight climate change, while raising costs for organic farmers.

This bill continues to support big Caged Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) and strikes state rights to set their own food and animal standards, such as pesticide bans or cage-free egg requirements. It even dares to cut safety net programs for low-income residents, exacerbating hunger and food insecurity.

Please urge your House representative to vote down this dangerous bill now.

The House bill weakens critical protections to keep wildlife safe from toxic pesticides and unbelievably, seeks to exempt pesticide manufacturers from any liability for harming endangered wildlife. It even proposes a new office to advocate for the use of genetically engineered organisms around the world. This Farm Bill would log its way through our forests, gut water conservation programs and make it easier for corporate polluters to contaminate drinking water.

Act now and please alert your friends and family to do the same. This Farm Bill would cause immense damage and it must be stopped.

The public deserves safe and healthy food, water, wildlife and forests and the House needs to put the greater good before Big Ag's toxic agenda.

Sincerely,

Jordan Giaconia
Federal Policy Associate for Defense
Sierra Club

The D.C. "Bubble" Is Real

Mrs. Matthews Goes to Washington...

(And Discovers the D.C. "Bubble" Is Real)

words and photos by Cindy A. Matthews

It's been pointed out how our office holders in Washington D.C. live in a "bubble" and have little idea (or is it interest?) of what is happening outside of the bubble. They exist inside the small and cozy world of politics, busily wheeling and dealing with their peers. The struggles of ordinary Americans couldn't be further from their minds. To live "inside the beltway" is to ignore the rest of the country, its needs and desires. This disconnect with the voters could very well lead to dire consequences, as recent presidential election results demonstrate.

I caught a glimpse into this inside-the-beltway mindset recently on an "unpaid lobbying" trip to our nation's capital. I joined a citizens' activist group from Ohio along with others from West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky. We traveled to D.C. to meet with twenty-six congressional offices to help build support for the Return to Prudent Banking Act introduced by Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH, 9th District). Better known as the New Glass-Steagall, the bill would return American banking practices to the tenor of the original 1933 act signed into law by Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Glass-Steagall Act, which was repealed by Congress in 1999, made the big banks divest from the speculative, risky side of commercial banking, protecting the ordinary people's savings and home mortgages that had been lost in the devastating 1929 stock market crash, resulting in the Great Depression.

Congresswoman Kaptur at her press conference after the bill's introduction stated since the 2008 mortgage crisis the "mega-banks" (Citibank, Wells Fargo, Goldman-Sachs, etc.) have only grown in size. Their net worth has gone from being 17% of the gross domestic product to over 50%. All this wealth has been siphoned from ordinary Americans who lost their homes, their pensions and their 401Ks in the banking crisis, a frightening parallel to the situation that faced President Roosevelt. 

Many financial experts have stated a student loan debt crisis could dwarf the negative effects of the 2008 mortgage crisis and could happen anytime now. We must act quickly and decisively to prevent economic disaster by passing a New Glass-Steagall Act.

The heartening news is that both the Republican and Democratic Parties' Platforms say they want to reinstate Glass-Steagall regulations. Along with Kaptur, Representatives Walter Jones (R-NC), Tim Ryan (D-OH) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) are co-sponsoring the bill. Even Mr. Trump stated during his campaign that he supported a return to the Glass-Steagall. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer reiterated that Trump supported reinstituting the Glass-Steagall--not once, but twice at a press briefing. 

The citizen activists presented Congresswoman Kaptur with 637 signatures on letters addressed to President Trump reminding him of his campaign promise. At least three hundred more electronic signatures and comments were made online in the short span of a month, and the activists asked that these signed letters and electronic signatures be presented to Mr. Trump as a reminder of the thousands of others who would gladly sign if given a chance. Fifteen state legislatures have passed memorial resolutions supporting the tenets of the Return to Prudent Banking Act as well. 

Most Americans want real protections for consumers by prohibiting the transaction of banking activities by securities firms. With so much going for it, what could prevent the Return to Prudent Banking Act from becoming law? The banking and financial industries could spell the end of Kaptur's bill, as they have the greatest number of lobbyists on Capitol Hill and give the most contributions to campaign war chests of both Democrats and Republicans. Perhaps even more daunting is the inside-the-beltway mentality that affects our elected representatives' outlook on the situation. 

  

This was the most enlightening aspect of the entire trip--talking to the congressional staffers, the eyes, ears and brains of their bosses. I'm not kidding. Without these dedicated young people, our representatives would get nothing done (even if that's their real intent). The staffers we conversed with stated plainly that if they don't get a sense from their constituents that the New Glass-Steagall is important, then they will simply will advise their bosses not to waste time and energy supporting it, no matter how essential it could be for the good of our economy and the betterment of ordinary Americans.

This is true on any number of issues--fracking, health care, education, veteran's affairs, etc. If a congressperson or senator doesn't hear much on a particular topic, it doesn't register on their consciousness. They run (and I do mean run) in and out of the Capitol for votes and committee hearings all day long... They don't have time to waste on inconsequential things.

 

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) isn't on board yet with the New Glass-Steagall. Why? He's too busy obstructing Trump's appointments at this time. Yes, that was his answer to our question if he would support a senate version of Rep. Kaptur's bill. It was disappointing, to say the least, but if that's the main topic he's heard from his staff...

So, what can we ordinary Americans do? If we can get several thousands of our friends, family members, colleagues and neighbors to write post cards and letters to their congressperson or senator, the staffers will have to take notice of our concerns. They will be forced to bring up the subject with their boss. We learned that congressional offices receive anywhere between 50,000 to 60,000 letters per year . You can see where things can get lost and confused in the volume of correspondence, but a huge stack of letters on one subject--say, the Return of the Prudent Banking Act--will catch their attention. These staffers will then inform their boss how important this issue seems to be to potential voters. That could make all the difference in a bill gaining a new sponsor and increase its chance of becoming a law.

Showing up in person at your representative's  D.C. or local office when he/she is home and asking questions at town halls makes a big impression on them. Now is not the time to be shy. Now is the time to concentrate on focusing your elected officials' attention on  important issues. 

 

Sen. Portman's Coffee Meet & Greet

But is there anything we can do to break the "bubble" that keeps our elected officials separate from the rest of us unwashed masses once and for all? It's a question that haunts me. 

Everyone--and I do mean everyone--we met in D.C. was extremely polite and professional. Their manners, clothing, hairstyles, culture, the hallways... You name it and it's polite and professional. It is a cozy, little world where a representative or senator from a far distant state, homesick and lonely, has only his/her professional colleagues for companions in town. They hang out with their "co-workers" a lot after hours, you could say. (Congressional office suites are not separated by state or party affiliation, but by seniority and wherever they can squeeze you in. Literally. We met one staffer on the top floor that used to be used for storage until recent times. Their office suite is a renovated storage closet!)

 

The kindly Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) supports fracking.

Believe it or not, I didn't notice any animosities between staffers or representatives of the two establishment parties. It's all "one big happy family" in the Congressional offices in Washington D.C. They really do get along and treat each other with outward respect--no matter how tough they try to portray themselves standing against the opposition. This polite milieu is clearly evident and extends to all visitors. I shook hands with Republicans who want to get rid of the A.C.A.--something that's been keeping me alive these past few years--and I felt nothing but respect and admiration for these kind and genteel individuals, even knowing their voting records.

It's a very nice feeling when everyone gets along and stays busy, but this is where the bubble or the inside-the-beltway mentality does its most damage, in my opinion. There's no need for our elected representatives to be accountable to us because they're accountable to their buddies on the Hill who they see daily and get along with so well. Yeah, that must be it. Why be worried or bothered about what people hundreds or thousands of miles away are thinking when your whole social world fits inside the tiny District of Columbia and its environs? (Surveys show that seven of the richest counties in the U.S. encircle our nation's capital. Rich and comfortable. What's not to love? Why ever go home and deal with those noisy constituents?)

Just as we voters need to make our physical presence known to our policy makers, they in turn need to get out of their gilded Congressional offices and see more of us in the flesh. They need to see the reality we deal with on a daily basis. Senator Bernie Sanders stated he didn't know half as much about the suffering of his fellow Americans until he started touring some of the poorest and hardest-hit-in-the-recession areas of the country during his presidential campaign--and he is humble enough to admit it.  

Think, what if we could make that  mind-opening experience of touring the country's economically hardest hit places mandatory for all elected officials? The bubble would burst and never reform. One would hope the wake-up call would change their hearts at least.

***

Speaking of Bernie Sanders... Here's a funny story about my futile attempts to meet him in person.

Desperately Seeking Bernie

by C.A. Matthews

I've been trying to shake Sen. Bernie Sanders hand  since May 2015. It's a mission of mine--sort of like seeking the Holy Grail was for King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. However, so far no success. 

After attending three presidential campaign rallies (one where I worked as a volunteer), one health care rally, a trip to Philadelphia during the Democratic National Convention (didn't see him in the flesh there, alas), and a visit to the inner hallways of the senate office buildings, surely now was the time I'd have my chance to shake my progressive idol's hand and tell him how much I admired him and all he's done for America.

But it wasn't meant to be.

It's not that we didn't actually see Bernie--because we did.  Yes, we saw him for a whole split second. We stopped by Sen. Sanders' senate office between our visits to see others in the same building to catch a glimpse of his name plaque and Vermont flag. Our group took numerous photos of his office--even posing with the large cardboard cut-out of a dairy cow courtesy of Ben and Jerry's. But our only glimpse of Bernie was when he darted into his "private entrance" door as we quickly waved at him in the hallway.

I shouted, "Hi! We're visiting from Ohio. We love you, Bernie!" And then he was gone.

We asked his office staffers if we could shake Bernie's hand quickly and snap a photo, but they said we'd have to make an appointment to do so since the senator was very busy. Next week sometime was the earliest opening. Since we were leaving the next day, we told them thanks, but no thanks.

I guess I should be happy. If I'd finally succeeded after so many attempts to shake Bernie's hand, the universe might have winked out of existence. So, my quest for the "Grail" will continue. Before we left the hallway, I lightly touched the door handle Bernie had last touched. Not quite a handshake, but it'll have to do for a Berner who'd traveled so far... Well that, and a snapshot of me beside a Ben and Jerry's cardboard cow.

 ***

Celebrating Diversity and Unity in Greater Toledo

The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo hosted the Unified Prayer for Peace event on a sunny Sunday afternoon, opening its doors to all to come and stand united in their commitment to peace and understanding in our country in the wake of the Trump administration's ban on those coming from primarily Muslim countries. Over five hundred were in attendance, including Representative Marcy Kaptur (D-OH, 9th District) and Toledo city council member Peter Ujvagi, a proud Hungarian immigrant.

A "Unified Prayer For Peace" was lead by Imam Talal Eid. Congregation president Nadia Ashraf-Moghul and Iman Eid both spoke about the support and love they've experienced from the surrounding community over the years. They felt recent actions by our government against immigrants and Green Card holders of Muslim descent did not reflect the true generosity of spirit most Americans demonstrate daily in the Greater Toledo area. 

After the short program, the public was treated to a free dinner featuring ethnic foods as well as coffee and doughnuts.  On their Facebook page, the ICGT stated: "The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo thanks you, our amazing Greater Toledo area friends who came out in great numbers to pray with us. We thank our gracious guests, our beloved Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, Councilman Peter Ujvagi, Ms. Joan Schroeder and TK Barger for speaking wonderful words of wisdom. To our guests, you are always welcome to your mosque and your mosque is always open to friends and neighbors. May God Bless you all and Bless our country."

Perhaps the idea of diverse communities cooperating and growing in tolerance and compassion toward one another seems impossible to some, but the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo and the Northwest Ohio area have proven once again how wrong that cynical outlook can be.