More items will be added over coming weeks.
NASA launched the uncrewed Artemis 1 rocket to the vicinity of the Moon November 16th. Ordinarily I would be supportive and it is a great technological accomplishment, though NASA is already supposed to know how to send humans to the Moon, but this also seems like part of a US attempt to seize space resources for "Western" corporate enrichment. There was a discussion of the related US-backed Artemis Accords on a BBC program earlier this year that gave that impression, though the guests supported the Accords. There are alternative treaties such as the 1979 Moon Treaty. Maybe WW3 or 4 will start over resources on the Moon or near-Earth orbit asteriods. At least Artemis l isn't a corporate-owned and operated space taxi.
Around Friday, November 18th there was a story on NPR about water-quality problems in Lake Mattamuskeet, the largest natural lake in North Carolina, on the peninsula between Pamlico and Albemarle sounds, and near the Alligator River, in the Tidewater region. The Lake is near sea level and only a few feet deep and was drained in the early 20th century. I think I once went up a tower at the old pumping facillity, reportedly once having the largest capacity in the world. I had not heard of this issue, but it seems like some connections were left out. The report said that there is an algae problem, connected to the loss of submerged aquatic vegetation ("SAV") and the high population of non-native common carp. Native bluegill sunfish will be stocked in the spring to eat carp eggs and there will be a program to actively remove carp, with the meat potentially being used in pet food. Apparently there were similar problems in the 40's and 50's and carp removal improved water quality. Based on a court decision from around the same time nearby farmers have the right to drain their low-lying fields into the Lake. The reporter specifically mentioned a 2-foot gar and bowfin, ancient and large predatory fish that can tolerate low oxygen levels. Do they prey on the carp, though people might prefer to fish for bass, bluegills, and other sunfish? Common carp were originally introduced in North America for human consumption, but are now considered poor quality fish. Other species of Eurasian carp have been introduced to consume aquatic vegetation, and are now a problem. If there are alligators, they would presumably eat common carp, as would otters. I think I've seen the remains of large carp eaten by otters in this area, where they are also abundant. No explicit connection was made between fertilizer and agri-chemical-laden runoff draining into the shallow Lake and eutrophication, etc., though there is a plan to build an artificial wetland to filter incoming water. Is the problem primarily the carp, or are they more of a symptom, and why was this left? Farmland is already being lost in coastal NC due to rising sea levels and salt infiltration, and I wonder how long these coastal natural and human landmarks I have seen will last.
Stop US Wars: Next Step -->> MLK Week of Actions - January 13 - 22
The United National Antiwar Coalition is calling for another week of action in the New Year. To endorse the call or to announce an event, contact: UNACpeace at gmail
The NC Division of Water Quality has a Cape Fear River basin residents' survey here.
Some articles
Capitalism and imperialism seek a beachhead in space in this decade, or it could merely be a fantasy of the rich; NASA's new Moon rocket might be test launched this month:
newleftreview.org/sidecar/posts/privatized-universe
The peace encampment across from the White House since 1981, mentioned in my post about the Women's March on the Pentagon in fall 2018: covertactionmagazine.com/2022/08/12/meet-the-man-jesse-ventura-called-the-bravest-man-in-washington/
The Democratic Party funds and promotes the right of the Republican party, after Hillary Clinton wanted to run against Trump and then lost:
www.counterpunch.org/2022/08/26/the-democratic-party-is-a-fifth-column-for-right-wing-lunacy/
The Ukrainian parliament has apparently increased the pay its members receive:
This article by 2020 Green Party presidential candidate Howie Hawkins covers what is going on in NC and other states, through legal and other means, to remove third parties and independent candidates from ballots and some recent history. It is apparently not very difficult for independent candidates to get on ballots in the UK, India, Canada, and Germany, while some US states have electoral rules like Russia's - or even more restrictive. It raises the question of what should be done if a view held by many people is banned from electoral politics. The NC Green Party followed the law, but then had to turn to the courts to force the Democrats in the State Board of Elections to grant the party state recognition and ballot access this summer, and there is still time for the Democrats to use underhanded means to influence the election this November.
www.counterpunch.org/2022/07/15/the-democrats-third-party-massacres/
The repression and criminalization of left parties and views in Ukraine
Some articles from the British newspaper Morning Star on the banning of a number of left opposition parties by the USA-EU installed government in Ukraine following the 2014 coup and the denunciation (via chatbot) and criminal prosecution of people for alleged activities such as online speech, collaboration with Russia, or for spying for Russia or Belarus. It could be asked whether the alleged 'average' Ukrainians quoted in the mainstream media are speaking freely, besides the issue of who "Western" journalists deem fit to talk to and where they report from; and what does it mean if "collaboration" is common? I haven't heard the "Western" media ask how alleged "collaborators" are treated. Recently an NPR correspondent was talking to a Ukrainian official about how they would go in and round up "collaborators" before civilians could return, without any questions about how these people are being identified or treated.
Communist Party of Ukraine banned and all its assets seized by the state
Woman jailed for five years in Ukraine for posting communist symbols on social media
NPR's information warfare for the US government
Back from broadcasting US imperialist propaganda from Ukraine, on Morning Edition Sunday, September 18th NPR's White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez said something like the Venezuelans flown to Martha's Vineyard "are fleeing communism," and that many or most of the migrants at the border are from Nicaragua, Cuba, and Venezuela. The Democratic Party flavor of neoliberalism lauds immigrants once they get here, but strangles them economically and plots coups and violence in their home countries. Immigrants who don't turn themselves in at the border are funnelled into the desert Southwest where many die and it has been made illegal to offer them water or other life-saving assistance and the government actively destroys supply stations. Others drown in the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo del Norte.
Judging from NPR's Here and Now Tuesday, September 20th around 1pm, the Biden administration said something like the majority of immigrants at the Southern border are "fleeing failed communist regimes," so Republican state governments should support the migrants, and Robin Young and other staff at supposedly high-brow NPR aren't going to "push-back" on that incorrect labelling of Venezuela.
On NPR's Fresh Air Thursday, August 18th host Terry Gross interviewed Robert Draper about his article in the New York Times Magazine, "The Arizona Republican Party's Anti-Democracy Experiment," and the way"far right" Republicans call opponents "communist" and praise Joe McCarthy came up. Gross referred to "a communist country, Russia" supporting these Republicans online and next Draper implied that President Putin is a communist ("...the one great promoter of that ideology..."). Earlier Gross said "...communism in America doesn't seem to me like a particularly real threat. Who supports communism in America?" The online transcript was later corrected regarding capitalist Russia, and around the weekend of August 20th more was added, that Gross "meant to say that Putin was the head of the KGB during the communist era" which doesn't seem to be true either. Putin could be called an anti-communist. At some point a third correction was added, that Putin was only "a KGB officer." Other people noticed these false claims: www.counterpunch.org/2022/08/25/npr-host-and-nyt-guest-stress-that-russia-is-communist-while-vilifying-uninformed-republicans/ Also at consortiumnews.com/2022/08/25/the-fact-checking-liberal-media/
In the interview Draper also said that Arizona Republicans tried to get "Democrats" to vote for Green candidates, implying that the Democratic Party owns anyone who has ever voted for one of its candidates or is in a generally pro-Democrat demographic.
On August 24th Dave Davies interviewed Michael Beckley about the book he and Hal Brands, both senior fellows at the American Enterprise Institute, wrote about the threat posed by "peaking" China. There was actually mention of US imperialism, probably referring to a century ago, but they ignored what the US has done to create the possibility of an inter-imperialist war at one or both ends of Eurasia. There was also mention of Modi's India as one of the "democratic powers" forming a "military barrier" around China. The far away was also mentioned UK. China is a scary threat, in economic decline (it isn't the USA that is in decline and desperate to hold on to its power), and might lash out, and it has nothing to do with the US openly seeking to repress China or the general dynamics of the capitalist system wherever it exists: www.npr.org/2022/08/24/1119214761/danger-zone-author-warns-of-growing-tension-between-china-and-the-u-s
[The week of November there were more anti-China interviews. I think Gordon Guthrie Chang was on Here and Now pushing a hawkish view of China and Thursday, November 17th Dave Davies interviewed reasonable-sounding reporter Dexter Filkins of The New Yorker about his recent article on the Taiwan issue, which had some true information about the history, but portrayed the situation as Xi's China causing a crisis, unreasonably claiming "democratic," "self-governing" Taiwan and building up its military, while the USA is an innocent party. Small, "democratic" Israel is also innocent in the Middle East, but for some reason Taiwan doesn't have a "warrior" culture like that of the Israelis. It sounded like Taiwan no more foresees a war than Ukraine did last fall, as reported by the mainstream media. Nancy Pelosi did nothing wrong, she was just shoring up her legacy as an imperialist. Allegedly China has the largest army and navy in the world, and the US isn't trying to surround China. There was talk of "freedom of navigation" through the Taiwan Strait and the waters around China, backed by treaties, through which a massive amount of trade travels, much of it probably to or from China itself. I think it was mentioned that China is a signatory - but it was left unsaid that the US government hasn't signed, and would probably react badly if the apparently huge Chinese navy started doing "freedom of navigation" exercises in the Western Hemisphere.
In related news, are the new anti-China micro-chip production export controls, imposed October 7, 2022, the anniversary of the start of the Afghanistan War in 2001, similar to the resource embargoes that led to the Pacific theatre of WWII? More recently Tom Clancy and others imagined a Soviet oil crisis leading to a US-Soviet world war in the late 20th century. Biden seems to be out doing Trump in effectively sinking US-China relations and there is no more talk of anti-Asian hate crimes in the mainstream media.]
The August 27th episode of WNYC's On the Media discussed Russian media. A segment with someone from BBC Monitoring blamed Russian media for using exactly the same tactics as NPR and other "Western" media, such as delegitimizing state enemies. Russian media is accused of delegitimizing Ukraine, but NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro, now working for the NYT, habitually referred to "Qaddafi forces" during the Libya War; NPR ridiculously oscillated between Syrian "regime" and "government" ever few weeks or days, and now sometimes even calls China a "regime;" China is governed by the "CCP," when the preferred abbreviation is CPC; until recent years Myanmar was usually referred to as Burma, also the name used when the country was a British colony;etc. I'm sure NPR must have referred to "Saddam loyalists" around 2003, Iraqi or allegedly Iran-backed "insurgents" and "terrorists;" and further back there were the "Viet Cong." Given how pro-war NPR is today, I wonder how it covered the late Vietnam War when it was founded. Many journalists and media companies enthusiastically backed the "War on Terror" and its continuation under Obama or were afraid to say otherwise, they didn't refrain from backing Trump administration warmongering, and today they enthusiastically back Biden's proxy war with Russia over Ukraine, the planned cold to hot war with China, the overthrow of governments targeted by the US, etc. The link is: www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/russian-state-tvs-false-narratives-on-the-media
At the end there was an interview with Russian-American journalist Anastasiia Carter, who basically said she that had to be deprogrammed (not her wording) after growing up with Russian propaganda and reprogrammed with US propaganda, and that done, she can now work as a mainstream journalist in this country: www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/escaping-kremlins-propaganda-machine1-on-the-media She is still working on convincing her parents back in Russia to believe US narratives. If someone, such as Carter, accuses part of the Russian government of committing terrorism against its citizens, the US media doesn't bat an eye, but they claim the US government lacks both the will and ability to carry out false flag attacks and keep them secret, though terrorist acts have been suggested by the military and deadly experiments have been carried out on Americans without consent. The mainstream media avoids such talk and in my experience the primary education system rarely talks about recent decades in history classes, maybe not even the Vietnam or Korean wars. High US government officials have suggested assassinating dissidents. Carter is probably too young to remember Russia's deep economic and political crisis around the 90's, which resulted in many unnecessary deaths and misery in the former Soviet states, and allowed the US to have its way as the dominant superpower or hyperpower, for example in Iraq and Yugoslavia, resulting in further unnecessary civilian deaths, especially in Iraq. Even in 2011 Russia was unable or unwilling to stop the US and EU aggression against Libya, but it did stand up over Syria, so the government survived and foreign powers only occupy part of the country. I'm not claiming that Russia is anti-imperialist, but the USA and its allies and satellites are having more trouble dominating the world these days. "Western" world rule isn't as great as the mainstream media portrays it, and the US and EU don't act on global issues like climate change. Putin has probably been deeply influenced by the struggles of the USSR and Russia, even if he is a 'capitalist roader' and imperialist.
On some other show Masha Gessen spoke about the unimaginative Soviet elite, who believed in historical determinism - but until recently Americans thought "free market" capitalism, "liberal democracy," and world subservience to the US government and superior American culture in an English-speaking Pax Americana or an "American Century" was the end of history. The media frequently talks about how McDonald's opened branches in the former USSR, and has now left Russia and Ukraine. Many still think the greater Pacific is an "American Lake," and intend to fight China over it. Biden recently said that the US will go to war if China attacks Taiwan, but his statement was overshadowed by British news.
There was also Steve Inskeep's apparent glee at the assassination of journalist Darya Dugina on Morning Edition, probably on Monday, August 22nd. There would be a very different reaction if the US mainstream media were targeted over the Iraq War.
[Except in the context of the Vietnam War, the US media avoids noting that there are such things as US anti-war views, organizations, events, and maybe even an anti-war movement, but when Russia announced something like a draft there was suddenly talk of Russian "anti-war" feeling and actions, including the use of deadly violence (I think there was just a major "mass shooting" in Russia in mid-October, possibly related to the war in Ukraine, and earlier there was a school shooting, also dropped from the news, which might have demonstrated that 'otherized' Russia and the USA have similar social problems, leading to "gun violence"). Now the word has just as suddenly vanished from the media. Maybe they don't want to give people the idea that they can oppose wars and militarism in the "West." In recent years it has also been very striking how the local NPR station WUNC highlights protests it seems to agree with, presumably increasing the turnout, while it rarely even mentioned larger anti-war demonstrations. There was talk of Republican 'isolationist' views during the Trump administration, but US anti-war feeling allegedly doesn't exist, the US isn't involved in any wars since withdrawing its soldiers from Afghanistan, and issues like the vast military and "intelligence community" spending, nuclear weapon issues, the continuing legacy of the torture programs, etc aren't anything to be concerned about. The mainstream media probably doesn't believe in something like MMT or Modern Monetary Theory, so where is the money to deal with increasingly apparent climate change, etc supposed to come from? Dominating the world like an empire is expensive and now the US government wants to fight Russia and China simultaneously.
What might be called isolationist views were only lauded on NPR a few years ago when Iranian protesters wanted to abandon their government's Middle Eastern allies, a view that would aid US and Israeli foreign policy. Military support for the governments of Haiti and Saudi Arabia is being criticized now, in mid-October, when it suits those in power in the US and Canada.
[11/27 - Turkey just bombed Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan, not for the first time, but NPR gave more attention and condemnation to bombing by Iran in Iraqi Kurdistan. Today it was reported that a Turkish airstrike killed Syrian soldiers at an outpost in Kurdistan. The US is still bombing Iraq and both the US and Israel bomb Syria. Turkey and the US both occupy parts of Syria and are accused of stealing oil, while sanctions are being used to inhibit Syria's post-war recovery.]
Information on Durham's new ShotSpotter project
ShotSpotter, a private system that uses acoustic sensors to detect and locate what are thought to be gunshots, is being installed in an area of downtown Durham, with operation expected to begin September 15th. It is also being used in some other parts of NC.
Events
Keep Space for Peace Week will be October 1 - 8: space4peace.org
The annual Durham Big Sweep trash cleanup is happening throughout October: keepdurhambeautiful.org/big-sweep
Into the Fairy Hill: Classic Folktales from the Scottish Highlands will be October 4th 6 - 7pm at the NC Botanical Garden online and in-person; free with registration: ncbg.unc.edu/learn/adult-programs/
There will be a Carolina Public Humanities program Productive and Counterproductive Police Reform October 5th 4:30 - 6pm: humanities.unc.edu/event/productive-and-counterproductive-police-reform/
The Fall 2022 Shakkori Hills GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance will be October 6 - 9 in Chatham County: www.shakorihillsgrassroots.org
The annual UNCC Botanical Gardens' Fall Plant Sale will be October 6 - 8th: gardens.charlotte.edu/fall-plant-sale/
Chapel Hill-based Camellia Forest Nursery's annual Fall Fest open house will be September 30 - October 2, 7-9, November 4 - 6, and 11 - 13; there will be other open houses in February, March, and April: camforest.com/pages/open-house and Fall Tea for All will be October 30th, 10am - 4pm (tea comes from the leaves of Camellia sinensis) : camforest.com/collections/workshops/products/fall-tea-for-all
Chapel Hill's annual Festifall Arts Market and More will be held on three days, October 8, 15, and 22 in 2022: www.chapelhillfestifall.com
SOA Watch's annual On the Line: Border Convening will be October 8 - 9 in Nogales, Arizona and Sonora, Mexico:
The Haw River Assembly will hold a Jordan Lake Paddle October 8th.
There will be a Carolina Public Humanities program Edible North Carolina: Exploring our State's Food Cultures October 8th 10:30am - 1:30pm: humanities.unc.edu/event/edible-north-carolina-exploring-our-states-food-cultures/
Duke Gardens' Harvest Festival will be Sunday, October 9th 1 -4pm: gardens.duke.edu/self-discovery-story-circle
Kids in Nature Day will be October 9th 2 - 5pm at Shelter 4 of Reedy Creek Park in Charlotte.
The 2022 NC State Fair will be October 10 - 23 and is currently hiring seasonal staff: www.ncstatefair.org The NCGP, STN, and other organizations have had booths there in the past.
Native Gardens at Playmakers Repertory Company will be in Chapel Hill October 12 - 30: playmakersrep.org/show/native-gardens-3/
Wing Haven Garden's annual plant sale will be October 12 - 15th in Charlotte: winghavengardens.org/happenings-plants-sales
The first West End Poetry Festival was held in Carrboro Octiber 14 - 15: westendpoetryfestival.org
The United National Antiwar Coalition is calling for an anti-war week of action October 15 - 22: unac.notowar.net/register-your-action-no-to-u-s-wars/ [There will be an event in Raleigh October 22nd; see above]
Anime USA 2022 will be October 14 - 16 in Arlington, Virginia: animeusa.org/ Edward Snowden is supposed to have been a congoer once.
Anime Weekend Atlanta will be October 27 - 30th: awa-con.com/
The National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation is marked every October 22nd: revcom.us/en
There will be a Zoom talk on conserving rare plants in the Uwharrie Mountains October 27th 12 - 1pm: ncbg.unc.edu/learn/adult-programs/
Halloween will of course be Monday, October 31st. Large crowds gather, or used to, on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill, but the town wanted to reduce the numbers long before the lingering coronavirus.
The 80th Annual NC Gourd Arts and Crafts Festival will be at the NC State Fairgrounds in Raleigh November 5 - 6th.
The NCBG's annual Jenny Elder Finch Memorial Lecture will be November 6th, 5:30 - 6:30, in-person and online: ncbg.unc.edu/learn/adult-programs/
Abundance NC's 7th annual Death Faire will be Saturday, November 5th ~10am - 7:30pm, tickets are required, from $22.22 dollars: abundancenc.org/10847-2/ It will be at The Plant, 220 Lorax Lane, Pittsboro.
There will be a general election November 8th [with Democratic, Green, Libertarian, Republican, and maybe other candidates running for local, State, and Federal offices]: www.ncsbe.gov/voting/upcoming-election
The Haw River Assembly will hold an Advocacy Training at the NC Botanical Garden Wednesday, November 9th.
Leave the Leaves November 10 12 - 1pm online and in-person at the NCBG: ncbg.unc.edu/learn/adult-programs/
Workers World Party - Durham is organizing an online Zoom class / discussion on the Marxist concept of imperialism Thursday, November 10th at 6:30pm EST
The Orange County Artist Guild's 28th annual Studio Tour is November 5 - 6th and 12 - 13th: www.ocagnc.org/
The annual Durham Pottery Tour will also be November 12 -13th: durhampotterytour.com/
The Haw River Assembly's annual membership meeting will be held at the Seaforth access' picnic shelter at Jordan Lake State Recreation Area the afternoon of Sunday, November 13th 12 - 4pm, with lunch and the opportunity to paddle: www.hawriver.org
There will be two meetings and there is an online survey regarding Pittsboro's Land Use Plan Update. The meetings will be Tuesday, November 15th at 3 and 6pm at 65 East Chatham Street, Pittsboro, and are open to those who live beyond the town limits: pittsboronc.gov/387/Land-Use-Plan-Update
There will be a showing of Angel of Alabama, about Branda Hampton's campaign against PFAS pollution, and a panel of women waterprotectors, including HRA's Emily Sutton, Thursday, November 17th at 6pm in NCSU's Parks Shop Auditorium.
7 Directions of Service will hold a Rights of Nature / River Convening / Community Information Session, in part on upcoming legislation, Friday, December 16th at 5:30pm in Saxapahaw; more meetings are planned early next year in Chatham, Forysth, and Guilford counties: actionnetwork.org/events/rights-of-natureriver-convening
The 17th annual Carrboro Film Fest will be November 18 - 20th: www.carrborofilm.org
The NC Museum of History is holding its 27th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration Saturday, November 19th: www.ncmuseumofhistory.org/aihc-2022
7 Directions of Service will hold a free event, Truthsgiving 2022, Sunday, November 20th 3 - 5pm in the Saxapahaw Amphitheater, with indigenous-centered storytelling, panels, performances, art, and food: 7directionsofservice.com/
The Chatham Artist Guild's 2022 30th Annual Studio Tour will be December 3 - 4 and 10 - 11th: chathamartistsguild.org/studio-tour/
Tell Governor Cooper: No More Death Row! march and rally Saturday, December 10th 12 - 2pm. The march will be from Central Prison to the Governor's Mansion, in Raleigh: nccadp.org/events/
Library booksales
The Friends of the Durham Library's Books Among Friends has a new location, at 3825 South Roxboro Road, #131, zipcode 27713. There are satellite sales at each library. For more information and the membership form, see: fodlnc.org/book-sales/ The Friends of the Durham Library's online store is at: shopfodlnc.org [There will be an in-person sale November 10 - 11th.]
The Friends of the Chatham County Library had a booksale in late September: www.friendsccl.org/ [There will be in-person sales March 30 - April 1 and September 21 - 23, 2023.]
The Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library has an online store at: friendschpl.org/online-book-store and there will be an in-person sale December 2-4, 2022: friendschpl.org/FCHPLevents
The Friends of the Lee County Libraries has sales at open libraries: library.leecountync.gov/friends
There is a sale every Monday 2-4pm at the Warren County Memorial Library: www.wcmlibrary.org/friends-of-the-library-book-sale/
Granville County: granville.lib.nc.us/friends-of-the-library/ and www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheGranvillePublicLibrarySystem/
Person County: www.personcountync.gov/departments-services/departments-i-z/library/friends-of-the-library-1603
Vance: www.facebook.com/friendsperrymemoriallibrary/
Moore County: www.facebook.com/moorecountylibrary/
Caswell: www.caswellcountync.gov/blog/categories/library-programs
Alamance County: www.facebook.com/AlamanceLibraries , www.alamance-nc.com/library
The Friends of the High Point Library: www.highpointnc.gov/927/Friends and www.facebook.com/HighPointPublicLibrary/
Forsyth: www.facebook.com/groups/105298719513537 , www.forsyth.cc/library/ www.facebook.com/FCPublicLibrary , www.facebook.com/GSOLibrary , library.greensboro-nc.gov
See also Book Sale Finder: www.booksalefinder.com/NC.html
Calendar
The Soviet probe Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to travel around the Moon, and carried several plants and animals. There was also a fake radio transmission, as if cosmonauts were onboard, to perturb the Americans. The mission was September 14 - 2l, 1968.
The International Day of Peace is September 21st: www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/
The Northern Hemisphere fall equinox was Thursday, September 22nd in 2022.
In the Vela Incident on September 22, 1979 a possible nuclear test was detected in the Indian Ocean between South Africa and Antarctica. It might have been a joint test by South Africa and Israel. Israel is generally thought to have hundreds of nuclear weapons today and South Africa developed and then dismantled its nuclear weapons.
Copperheads get stuck on roads at night in the Triangle in late September and possibly into October if it is warm.
National Hunting and Fishing Day is September 24th.
The International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons is September 26th: www.un.org/en/events/nuclearweaponelimination/ The USA, Russia, and other major nuclear powers demand that smaller countries completely and unilaterally denuclearize, and not develop rockets that could carry nuclear weapons, while they have thousands of nuclear weapons ready to destroy humanity and instead of beginning to get rid of them, they spend huge amounts to maintain their current weapons and develop new ones. The USA is currently spending trillions of dollars refurbishing its nuclear stockpile. The US also engages in nuclear proliferation, by giving other countries nuclear weapons and by shielding weapon development by its allies. China apparently considers the US-Australia nuclear submarine deal another form of proliferation.
Iraq was falsely accused of developing nuclear weapons, and was invaded in late March 2003, killing many civilians and leading to sectarian conflict and the creation of ISIS, following years of punitive and murderous economic sanctions that wrecked the once relatively prosperous country.
Libya gave up its weapons program and but was then attacked in March 2011, on the anniversary of the Iraq War, creating a "failed state" and a flood of migrants through Libya to the EU.
Democrats and Republicans accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and it is under severe pressure and faces war, despite not developing nuclear weapons while under threat from nuclear powers. Iran agreed to abide by the JCPOA, which Trump unilaterally rendered void and Biden can't manage to restore it, though trading with Iran might reduce fuel costs and improve the Democrats' electoral prospects. Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The DPRK developed nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles, and seems relatively safe from attack by the USA and other countries, though that is not only because of its nuclear status, and nuclear weapons give the US another justification for its Korean policies. On the other hand, the US doesn't mind when its allies, such as the UK, Israel, India, develop nuclear weapons and even helps them. Under Biden tensions are increasing again in Korea and East Asia, and DPR Korea has launched short range missles recently and at the beginning of October launched a long range missile over Japan for the first time in 5 years, leading the warmongering Japanese government to send a possibly unnecessary warning to residents of Hokkaido.
British artist Edith Blackwell Holden was born September 26, 1871 in Kings Norton, Birmingham, England, in the UK; her illustrated nature journal of 1906 was published posthumously as The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady in 1977 and there was a TV film about her life.
World Maritime Day is also September 26th: www.un.org/en/events/maritimeday/
Toughie, the last known Rabbs' fringe-limbed treefrog, died September 26, 2016 at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. The species had been scientifically discovered in 2005 in a small area of cloud forest on the Pacific side of Panama.
The planet Jupiter reached opposition September 26, 2022, and also happens to be close to the Sun in its orbit now, so it is physically close to the Earth, at 367 million miles, the closest since October 8, 1963. The next time will be October 7, 2129. Jupiter is easy to see, a bright object visible for much of the night around the celestial equator in or near the otherwise very dim constellation Pisces, in the southern sky below the rectangle of Pegasus the Winged Horse. Saturn is not as bright, further west in or near also dim Capricornus, with the relatively bright star Fomalhaut in Piscis Austrinus, the Southern Fish, in between. There aren't many bright stars low in the south for much of the night at this time of year. Mars is bright in or near Taurus, east of Jupiter. Neptune reached opposition September 16th in Aquarius. Asteriod 3 Juno, discovered by Karl Ludwig Harding September 1, 1804, is nearby and shines with the same low magnitude as Neptune, and reached opposition September 8th. Uranus, a future destination for NASA probes, is in Aries and will reach opposition in November. Venus might still be visible in the morning while the new Moon will be up in the evening.
The border between Colombia and Venezuela was reopened September 26th, after being closed due to the US and Colombian attempts to start a coup in Venezuela during the Trump years, not that the Biden administration doesn't want to overthrow the "communist" Bolivarian social-democrats. Even Bernie Sanders on the left of the Democratic Party called Hugo Chavez a "communist dictator." NPR previously blamed all of the border problems on Venezuelan 'authoritarianism,' rather than foreign powers led by the USA trying to impose a rightist puppet government on Venezuela, as Trump and Obama attempted with varying degrees of success in Cuba, Bolivia, and Honduras.
NASA attempted to move an asteriod, slightly, to test a method of "planetary defense" September 26th. On the one hand, a large asteriod hitting the Earth would probably cause a mass extinction, but humans are currently causing a mass extinction and not very interested in stopping it. Humanity probably couldn't have evolved without the extraterrestrial impact about 65 million years ago, or whatever caused the mass extinction that ended the age of the dinosaurs, an impact seeming to be the 'American,' Space Age theory. What if we were unlucky and something much larger was hurtling towards the Earth? I also recently read that if an alien civilization, perhaps upset by an intentional human signal, could fire off a weapon the size of a car, traveling near the speed of light, the force of the impact would devastate the Earth. I'm not sure if the claim was that the Earth would be destroyed or just damaged. There are natural forces that might send out rocky debris at high speed, though not near the speed of light. At some point China or some other new superpower might claim to be Earth's defender from cosmic dangers and humanity's representative; there is already a Chinese science fiction genre.
Mohammad Najibullah, of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan, was abducted from the UN compound in Kabul, tortured, and killed by the Taliban September 27, 1996.
September 28th is also the International Day for Universal Access to Information: www.un.org/en/observances/information-access-day
Japanese leftist Fusako Shigenobu, recently released from prison, was born September 28, 1945 in Setagaya, Tokyo: thefunambulist.net/magazine/decentering-the-us/fusako-shigenobu-an-open-ended-revolution See also throwoutyourbooks.wordpress.com/2022/06/17/reflecting-legacy-fusako-shigenobu/
World Rabies Day is September 28th: www.who.int/rabies/WRD_landing_page/en/ I heard from a local licensed wildlife rehabilitator that vaccination against this almost universally fatal virus is offered by the Durham County Health Department, and immunity usually lasts a long time, but vaccination is expensive.
September 28th is also the International Day for Universal Access to Information: en.unesco.org/commemorations/accesstoinformationday
October 1, 1984 five people went into the General Dynamics Electric Boat Quonset Point factory in North Kingston, Rhode Island and damaged six Trident II nuclear missile tubes. They also put blood and a Call to Conscience declaration on the tubes, put up a banner saying "Harvest of Hope - Swords into Plowshares, and left a pumpkin. They were arrested after less than half an hour and originally charged with possession of burglary tools (a felony with up to 10 years imprisonment), malicious damage, and criminal trespass. Their expert witnesses were qualified with the jury present, but their testimony was dismissed by the judge and a justification defense denied. The five viewed pleading guilty to the malicious damage charge as consistent with nonviolence, so the prosecution dropped the possession of tools charge. The trespass charge was dismissed. October 18, 1985 they were given a year in jail and a fine of $500 dollars. Four were freed after 6 months, while one protester was given an extra two months for refusing to tell the judge who drove them to Quonset Point. The first plowshares action was September 9, 1980. This account comes from Swords into Plowshares: Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, published in 1987.
The most recent referendum on Catalonian independence from Spain was October 1, 2017, and has been followed by Spanish government and rightist repression against Catalonian self-determination.
Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed and dismembered inside a Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey October 2, 2018. Among other roles, he was a columnist for the Washington Post. The Khashoggi assassination motivated parts of the US government and establishment to denounce and attempt to punish the government of Saudi Arabia, while they say little about the brutal Saudi-led war in neighboring and poverty-stricken Yemen. The US has materially aided the Saudi coalition's war under both Obama and Trump (and Biden?) and denounces alleged Iranian involvement, rather than the attacks by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others on the people of Yemen. There have been proposals in Congress to end US-support for the war, but the Democrats, right and left aren't really interested in this: www.counterpunch.org/2022/08/26/every-single-member-of-congress-is-willing-to-let-yemeni-children-die/ I think it was Gates during the Obama administration who said something about the Saudis wanting the US to fight to the last man against their rival Iran, and other countries want a US-Iran war. The Biden administration hasn't restored the JCPOA and might be involved in the recent demonstrations in Iran, hoping to carry out a coup. More about Saudi instability, adventurism, and attacks on neighboring countries: www.counterpunch.org/2019/10/04/a-year-after-khashoggis-murder-saudi-arabia-is-lurching-toward-chaos/
The German Democratic Republic was absorbed by the Federal Republic October 3, 1990, and continuing economic and political marginalization of the former East Germany has led to electoral support for the "far right." The previous "center right" prime minister and grew up in the GDR.
The US repeatedly attacked a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan early on October 3, 2015, killing 12 staff, 10 patients (3 children), and wounding 37. The US, NATO, and Afghanistan were all informed where the hospital was and the NATO command was called when the attack started: progressive.org/dispatches/u.s.-airstrike-doctors-without-borders-hospital-war-crime/ Eleven days after the attack a US tank forcibly entered the hospital compound. The media loudly accuses unfavored countries of deliberately attacking hospitals and medical personnel, but this story quickly dropped out of the news. In general when a government the US is hostile to allegedly commits a war crime, the media trumpets it as a planned atrocity that definitely happened, but when the USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Israel, Saudi Arabia, etc. do something it is an understandable accident due to the fog of war and is swept under the rug.
World Space Week is October 4th - 10th: www.un.org/en/observances/world-space-week
Party Foundation Day is October 10th in the DPRK, commemorating the 1945 founding of a predecessor to today's Workers' Party of Korea: www.naenara.com.kp/en/event/?part=20151010/
According to Wikipedia, October 10th is also Vietnam's Capital Liberation Day and Cuban Independence Day, commemorating the Grito de Yara at the beginning of the Ten Years' War in 1868. It took two more wars before Spanish rule was successfully overthrown in 1898, followed by a few years of direct occupation and decades of subservience to the USA.
The Outer Space Treaty, banning the placement of nuclear weapons in space, military activities on the Moon, claims of sovereignty over celestial bodies, etc., came into effect October 10, 1967. The US is now trying to create alleged rules or norms to cover US and other "Western" economic exploitation, expropriation, privatization, and seizure of bodies such as the Moon, competing with China and Russia, among the other peoples of the world with an interest in what goes on in space.
The Crimean War began October 16, 1853.
The Million Worker March was October 17, 2004 in Washington, DC. Thousands participated (and there were one or more buses from the Triangle and elsewhere in North Carolina) and while there were not actually one million people there, according to the Wikipedia article the endorsing unions represented about 3.5 million workers.
National Opossum Day is apparently also October 17th, celebrating and raising awareness of the USA's last marsupial, a possibly misunderstood beneficial animal frequently hit on roads during the winter. Being a marsupial, a female possum could have young in her pouch or riding on her back, and even if the mother is killed, the babies might be able to be saved by a wildlife rehabilitator. Various people who should know have informed me that opossums either can't get rabies or are very unlikely to, so a good Samaritan is unlikely to get infected helping injured opossums, though it would still be best to wear gloves, wash afterward, etc. Unfortunately a few species are barred by law from rehabilitation in North Carolina because of the danger of rabies, but opossums are not on that list and I have handled injured opossums without any problems. I'm surprised that none used their teeth or claws. In mid-October I have been seeing opossums going to a nearby persimmon tree most nights.
Samora Machel, president of Mozambique, was killed in a suspicious plane crash October 19, 1986, resulting in the country turning away from socialist construction.
The Soviet-Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 was signed October 19th, formally restoring peace between the two countries.
Christopher Columbus first encountered the New World early on October 21, 1492 [using the modern Gregorian calendar]; apparently October 12th is the date under the old Julian calendar.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators (maybe 50,000) participated in the March on the Pentagon October 21st, 1967, protesting the Vietnam War.
American journalist and revolutionary John Reed was born October 22, 1887 in Portland, Oregon. He wrote Ten Days That Shook the World, a first-hand account of the Great October Socialist Revolution, and he is one of three Americans honored with burial in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.
Disarmament Week is October 24th - 30th: www.un.org/en/events/disarmamentweek/ It begins with United Nations Day, when the UN was founded: www.un.org/en/observances/disarmament-week October 24th is also World Development Information Day: www.un.org/en/observances/development-information-day
The Greensboro Massacre was November 3, 1979. KKK and American Nazi Party members fired on a "Death to the Klan" demonstration organized by the now disbanded Communist Workers' Party, killing 5 people and wounding others. Some police were present and the local police and Federal agencies had infiltrated the KKK and neo-Nazi groups. For more information see: www.greensboromassacrelessonstoday.org/
Musician and recording engineer Malachi Ritscher burned himself to death in condemnation of the Iraq War November 3, 2006 near the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago. His final statement is included in: chicago.indymedia.org/archive/newswire/display/74806/index.php and he wrote his own obituary at: www.savagesound.com/gallery100.htm
The USSR launched Sputnik 2 Nobember 3, 1957.
British working class democratic reformer Thomas Hardy (not the famous author) was acquitted of High Treason on Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th) 1794, but at a high personal cost. Subsequently the other arrested radicals were also acquitted or prosecution was dropped. Who could vote or otherwise participate in British bourgeois democracy was very restricted until well into the 20th century. For more information see an article in Monthly Review: monthlyreview.org/2019/11/01/the-trial-of-thomas-hardy/ and Thomas Hardy's Wikipedia entry: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hardy_(political_reformer)
Business interests and the local American Legion attacked an IWW hall in Centralia, Washington November 11, 1919, using an Armistice Day parade as cover, resulting in several deaths on each side. Wesley Everest, a logger and International Workers of the World member, was taken from jail and lynched later that day. Only the IWW and supporters were prosecuted and convicted of crimes. Other attacks preceded the events of Armistice Day, including an attack on an IWW hall during a Red Cross parade April 30, 1918. For a more detailed account see: www.counterpunch.org/2019/11/11/class-war-violence-centralia-1919/ The US left was heavily repressed, by legal and illegal means, at the time, for example see: www.counterpunch.org/2022/10/07/what-you-dont-have-and-why/ , though organizing continued and the CPUSA was powerful in the 30's and the anti-war and other popular movements were influential during the Cold War.
American novelist Kurt Vonnegut was born November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis. See for example: thedailyvonnegut.com/ and blogs.cofc.edu/vonnegut/vonneguts-life/
Sun Yat-sen, a founder of the Republic of China, created by the Revolution of 1911, was born November 12, 1866.
November 12, 1984 four people entered a Minuteman II ICBM silo operated out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri. Using a jackhammer and air compressor, they damaged the silo's lid, offered Eucharist and left Christian and Native American condemnations of the US government and mainstream Christianity over nuclear war. An hour later they were arrested by military security authorized to kill and were held in preventive detention without bail. In a Federal jury trial they were convicted of destruction of government property, conspiracy, intent to damage the national defense, and trespass. They were sentenced to 8 to 18 years in jail, 3 to 5 years of probation, and each had to pay the government $2932.80. A few months later the 18 year sentence was reduced to 12 years, but when the others appealed they were denied.
Plowshares Number Four
November 14, 1982 seven people entered the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. Three hammered and put blood on several of the USS Georgia submarine's ICBM hatches. Four others hammered and put blood on parts in the south storage yard. They were soon placed under arrest. In a jury trial they were not able to make a justification defense and were convicted of criminal mischief, conspiracy, and criminal trespass, and sentenced to two months to a year in prison.
The Indians of All Tribes occupied Alcatraz Island November 20, 1969 to June 11, 1971.
President John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated November 22, 1963 in Dallas.
November 24, 1983 (Thanksgiving Day) seven people entered Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome, New York and proceeded to hammer and put blood on a B-52 bomber modified to carry cruise missiles and on some B-52 engines. They left a statement condemning Griffiss and the US government for nuclear war preparation and condemned the violation of constitutional rights and punishment of acts of conscience under what they called the state religion of "nuclearism." No one came to arrest them for hours, so they searched for the guards themselves. This was the first Federal trial of Plowshares activists. A justification defense and expert testimony were barred. The jury found them innocent of sabotage but convicted them of conspiracy and destruction of government property, with prison sentences of two to three years and an appeal was denied. This account and the others in this post come from Swords Into Plowshares: Nonviolent Direct Action for Disarmament, edited by Arthur J Laffin and Anne Montgomery, and published in 1987. There have been more recent actions.
The last known Labrador duck was a male killed in the fall of 1875 off Long Island, now preserved in Washington, DC. Another specimen was supposed to have been killed December 2, 1878 in Elmira, New York, but the remains have since been lost: web.archive.org/web/20150215071011/http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/labradorduck.htm
Bolshevik revolutionary and Soviet politician Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky was born November 23 or 24 in what is now Poltava, Ukraine. He was appointed as the USSR's ambassador to Spain but passed away December 26, 1933 in France. In 1932 he represented the USSR at the League of Nations.
Fidel Castro, retired at the time, passed away November 25, 2016, outlasting numerous US administrations that tried to assassinate him or overturn the Cuban revolution.
Albania has two national days, November 28, 1912, when Albania gained independence from the Ottoman Empire, and November 29, 1944, when Albanian partisans drove out the German occupiers. Subsequently the Albanians were unique in liberating their own country and then helping to liberate neighboring Yugoslavia. For a British account of the Albanian independence days as marked in 2021 in Gjirokaster, in southern Albania, Enver Hoxha's hometown, see: michaelharrison.org.uk/2021/12/independence-day-29th-november-2021-in-gjirokaster/ ]
Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov was born November 29, 1856 and was upheld as a founder of the Russian Marxist movement, but was an opponent of the Bolsheviks. For more information see marxists.org, etc.
In the Sand Creek Massacre, starting November 29, 1864, Federal soldiers attacked peaceful Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians camped along Big Sandy Creek in what is now Colorado (where the government had requested that they gather, displaying a US flag and a white flag), killing about 230 Indians, predominantly women, children, and elders, as well as committing torture and mutilation, before leaving the area December 1st. Some soldiers refused to attack the village, but the perpetrators received little punishment and no criminal prosecution (from Wikipedia as well as www.nps.gov/sand/learn/historyculture/index.htm ).
November 29th is also International Jaguar Day ( www.internationaljaguarday.org/ ); long ago these big cats might have included the Appalachian mountains in their vast range while today a border wall along an arbitrary boundary dividing the continent could finish the job of exterminating the USA's few remaining jaguars, as well as other species ( www.biologicaldiversity.org/species/mammals/jaguar/ ; www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2019/jaguar-04-24-2019.php ; biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/trump-bulldozes-new-wall-through-wildlife-refuge-jaguar-country-2019-10-31/ ) .
Mark Twain (Samuel L Clemens), acclaimed author as well as vice president of the American Anti-Imperialist League, was born November 30, 1835 in Florida, Missouri.
The Winter War between the USSR and Finland began November 30, 1939.
The People's Republic of Southern Yemen (South Yemen) gained independence from the UK November 30, 1967. North Yemen had been independent since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after WWI.
China's Chang'e 3 spacecraft carried out a soft landing on the Moon December 14, 2013, the first such landing since the USSR's Luna 24 in 1976 and making China the third country to carry out such a lunar landing. A rover, Yutu, was deployed.
The Moon Treaty was signed December 18, 1979, but not by any of the powers capable of human spaceflight. The Outer Space Treaty was created January 27, 1967 and came into effect October 10th that year.
Alex Saab was born December 21, 1971 in Barranquilla, Colombia.
The Northern Hemisphere's winter solstice will be [Thursday] December 22nd [[Wednesday] 21st] in 2022.
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched December 25, 2021 from the EU's equatorial spaceport in French Guiana, in eastern South America.
The USSR launched Luna 1, the first spacecraft to approach the Moon and the first in a heliocentric orbit, January 2, 1958. The next year Luna 2 became the first spacecraft to land on the Moon or any celestial body, and Luna 3, launched October 4, 1959, was the first spacecraft to image the lunar far side.
China's Chang'e 4 was the first spacecraft to carry out a soft landing on the lunar far side and deployed a rover, Yutu-2. Besides scientific instruments, the lander also carried a Lunar Micro Ecosystem experiment. The mission was launched December 7, 2018 and the landing was January 3, 2019. This mission was the first time the US and Chinese space programs were allowed to cooperate, following the April 2011 Wolf Amendment. Cooperation is probably even less likely with Obama's "Pivot to Asia" and Trump-Biden warmongering.
According to the website Prisoner Solidarity, Tsutomu Shirosaki might be released from prison in Japan February 20, 2027: prisonersolidarity.com/prisoner/tsutomu-shirosaki
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