Saturday, November 30, 2024

ADC statements on the ceasefire in Lebanon and the November 20th Senate vote on blocking weapon shipments to Israel

Hezbollah is claiming victory, while the US and Israel claim that the agreement allows Israel to bomb Lebanon as it wishes, it just has to say that Hezbollah is violating the agreement.  And, when inevitably Israel violates the agreement?  I think it was reported that lawless Israel shot at returning refugees and carried out another major bombing, during the "ceasefire," because it can do as it wishes.  Will the war resume after Trump is sworn in?  Suddenly Hezbollah is an 'Iran-backed militant group' in every report again.  The BBC makes sure to talk to Lebanese figures who want Hezbollah to disarm and be weakened, and neither the BBC nor NPR covers the actual war, only the passive suffering of the poor civilians in Lebanon and Palestine, caught in a war, backed by Iran, that has nothing to do with them.  Nothing abut people fighting back against what the "Western" powers and their Israeli operative have been doing to them for many decades, following direct British and French rule between the world wars and Ottoman Turkish rule before that.  No explanation of why the Lebanese military is unable to stop an Israeli invason.  Biden's Amos Hochstein ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amos_Hochstein ), who served in the Israeli military (in a tank?), though he is apparently not a dual citizen, has been in the news a lot over the past few days, on how the Biden-Harris administration wants a similar agreement in Gaza.  Israel claims that it doesn't have a disageement with Lebanon and is open to a peace treaty, after it tore up the country.  I think Hezbollah claims that Israel has long been occupying Lebanese territory.    I recently noticed that a Bible shows Israelite territory in modern southern Lebanon, western Jordan, [Egypt's Sinai Peninsula,] and probably Syria, and I think Zionists have even claimed that they should rule some part of Iraq, the Zionist "from the river to the sea," though that is also the homeland of IS.  Israel reportedly got along with Islamist rebels during the Syria civil war.  November 30th, conveniently during a major holiday weekend in the US, it was reported that Israel bombed a World Central Kitchen vehicle, claiming that just one of about five people in it had been involved in al-Aqsa Flood October 7, 2023.   Five or more people were killed and I think more injured.  Earlier this year it was a big scandal for the Biden-Harris administration when Israel attacked a WCK vehicle, and the US forced Israel to make a few gestures at reform.  There was a report that Gazans are camping on a beach and being inundated by tides or storms, in cold weather, without winter gear, and that there are enough supplies near Gaza, but at the current rate it will take two years to distribute the aid.  I think it was NPR that failed to explictly note why this is happening.  For example, private Israelis and their government are preventing humanitarian aid shipments into Gaza, with defacto US support, and the report said that gangs are stealing aid that gets into Gaza -- which could be expected, given that Israel targets the Hamas-associated security forces and probably any Palestinians who try to take charge of the security situation in Gaza.  Is Israel now doing to WCK what it did to UNRWA and the UN force in Lebanon, and the US government does nothing or very little in response?  It is being reported this weekend that a coalition of Turkey-backed Islamist rebels led by a 'formerly' al Qaida affiliated group has just launched an offensive out of Idlib in Syria, retaking parts of the major city of Aleppo, and that recent Israeli bombing of Syrian government forces and the wars in Lebanon and Ukraine are factors in the sudden rebel successes.  Again the Syrian government is being called a "regime" on the BBC and NPR,  to be overthrown by the "West," whether as in Ukraine in 2014 or in Iraq in 2003.  Is this weekend reminiscent of the rapid expansion of ISIS about a decade ago, and the plan if the war in Ukraine is "frozen" for a few years?  There are also reports of a worsening crisis in the Republic of Georgia, reminiscent of the coup in Ukraine, and around November 29th NPR had a report on plans for a "January 6th" to overthrow the Venezuelan government on I think January 10, 2025, Venezuela's inauguration day.  RT is reporting that an Iranian consulate in Aleppo was attacked, but none of the diplomatic staff were harmed.  Only "Western" and allied diplomatic facilities are inviolable in "the rules-based international order."



"Evaluating Lebanon ceasefire deal:"  www.workers.org/2024/11/82220/


www.workers.org/2024/11/82216/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=resistance-praises-hezbollah-for-forcing-israels-ceasefire-in-lebanon


November 2nd:  www.workers.org/2024/11/81868/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=hamas-says-temporary-truce-wont-stop-genocide-in-gaza


"November Photo Review:  No Letup in Steadfast Support for Palestinian Resistance" -- cpcml.ca/Tmlm2024/TS5446.HTM






["Snippy" (Lady?), an Appaloosa pony kept at the Harry King Ranch on Sand Dunes Road in Alamosa, in the San Luis Valley, in central southern Colorado, near Great Sand Dunes National Monument, was apparently noticed to be missing September 7, 1967 and was found dead, possibly under mysterious circumstances, September 9th; the saddle horse's head and neck had been completely defleshed, etc.; the exact details and what happened to the skeleton afterward are unclear, maybe nothing truly unusual happened to the horse and it had been shot and killed by a third party, possibly after getting very ill; a "purple pup tent" was reportedly seen in the area, but the implication is that it was not really a tent; the horse's owner, Nellie Lewis committed (was driven to?) suicide in March 1976:  history.denverlibrary.org/news/western-history/ufos-and-horse-called-snippy , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutilation_of_%22Snippy%22_the_horse , www.alamosanews.com/stories/after-50-years-snippy-still-a-mystery,36843 , and Weird America:  A Guide to Places of Mytery in the United States by Jm Brandon, 1978.]


A black, triangular UFO was reportedly seen in Carrboro, NC November 3, 2012 shortly before 9pm; looking north or northeast (?); large aircraft, or any type of airplane, seem to be rare, or only high in the sky in Orange County:  www.dailytarheel.com/article/2012/11/triangle-seen-in-carrboro-sky and nuforc.org/sighting/?id=94140 ,  an interesting database.   And there is:  www.dailytarheel.com/article/2013/02/e-t-may-be-phoning-home-more-often


[There were UFO reports in Durham January 25 and 27 (?) in 1954, according to Durham journalist and history writer Jim Wise, in his book Durham Tales:  the morris street maple, the plastic cow, the durham day that was and more.  There was another UFO report in Carrboro around January 26th in 2013 (see the DTH link above)?  The NUFORC has a number of reports from Carrboro, not all, maybe few, covered by a media outlet.  They have received reports over the years from locales big and small -- Durham, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Siler City, Silk Hope, Bear Creek, I think Carthage, Morrisville, Avon out on the OBX, etc.]


[An acorn-shaped something is supposed to have crashed in Kecksburg, in southeast [correction:  southwest] Pennsylvania, somewhat close to Pittsburgh [southeast of Pittsburgh], and been taken by the US government December 9, 1965; allegedly it could have been Kosmos 96 a Soviet 3MV-4 launched toward Venus that November 23rd, but it apparently failed; a violent haunting was reported by newspapers in the area December 12, 1892:   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg_UFO_incident , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kosmos_96 , www.stangordon.info/wp/kecksburg/ , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kecksburg,_Pennsylvania#Unexplained_phenomena  The Kecksburg UFO Festival was apparently around July 22-24 in 2024, having survived coronavirus closures:  kecksburgvfd.com/ufo-festival-latest-news/ , www.facebook.com/kecksburgvfdclub/posts/2024-ufo-festival-event-schedule/1076880370647012/ , www.facebook.com/groups/1333355653437428/posts/7582361825203415/ , whereandwhen.com/events/kecksburg-ufo-festival/ , www.latrobebulletinnews.com/news/local/kecksburg-ufo-festival-held-friday-to-sunday/article_6e810cbc-4480-11ef-a6be-9be37ec63751.html , and see www.google.com/search?q=kecksburg+festival+2024  Written twice.]


[I thought it was around May, but my notes seem to say that it was November 15, 1996 when a partly cloudy sky was full of sundogs, various arcs, and other atmospheric optical phenomena around noon in Durham.  Maybe there were also contrails, but it was the most spectacular and varied display I have ever seen.  These ice crystal-based effects would be more likely in November than May, though they can be seen throughout the year.  They are common at the beginning of the year.  I might have seen a faint sundog in some icy clouds December 13th in 2023 and I saw a halo around the Moon in late November 2023.  Haloes often appear around the Moon before January snowstorms, etc.  March 6, 2021 around 2:15pm I saw a rainbow-like circumzenithal arc high in the sky [Did I see one in 2024?].  Another halo or arc was January 10, 2017, also [around] 2:15pm.  I haven't seen a rainbow in a long time, though I've looked during thunderstorms and showers with sunlight visible.]


Japanese writer and rightist Yukio Mishima (Kimitake Hiraoka) committed seppuku (hara-kiri) at the Camp Ichigaya military base in Tokyo November 25, 1970. 



Fidel Castro, retired at the time, passed away November 25, 2016, having outlasted the many US administrations that tried to assassinate him or overturn the Cuban revolution.  The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) posted a tribute for the 5th anniversary:  cpcml.ca/211124-fidel-will-always-be-a-shining-example-of-humanity/ 


November 26, 1919-September 2, 2013:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederik_Pohl 


Professor of religion and theology and prominent 9/11 truth author David Ray Griffin was born August 8, 1939 in Wilbur, Washington and passed away November 26, 2022:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Ray_Griffin 



The Battle of the Washita, against the Cheyenne, was November 27, 1868.



An iron meteorite landed in Mazapil (small deer in Nahuatl, mazatl/deer plus pilli/small?  Traditional homeland of the Chichimec Guachichiles) in Zacatecas, in northern Mexico not far from Texas November 27, 1885, during the Andromedid meteor shower (stemming from Biela's Comet, discovered February 27, 1826), but the meteorite and the Andromedids are now thought to be unrelated.]









Artist and music collector Harry Everett Smith, known for compiling the Anthology of American Folk Music, released August 9, 1952, passed away November 27, 1991 in New York City:  americanroutes.wwno.org/archives/show/1341/Who-was-Harry-Smith-The-Great-Delineator-and-his-Anthology-of-American-Folk-Music and folkways.si.edu/anthology-of-american-folk-music/african-american-music-blues-old-time/music/album/smithsonian 


Marxist philosopher and writer Friedrich Engels was born November 28, 1820 in what is now Wuppertal, Germany.  His writings can be found online at:  redstarpublishers.org, marx2mao.com, marxists.org, neodemocracy.blogspot.com, etc.


William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake ; The UK-based Blake Society had or has events this week.


Founded November 28, 1905:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_Party_(Ireland) 


French structuralist anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss November 28, 1908 – October 30, 2009


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/  


The Natchez and other indigenous groups rebelled against French colonialism in the lower Mississippi Valley, starting November 29, 1729.  Other indigenous nations fought on the side of the French.  The governor feared that a wider Indian and possibly slave rebellion was planned, so he ordered a force of African slaves to massacre the peaceful Chaouacha tribe living near New Orleans, for which he was apparently criticized at the time.  Ultimately the Natchez were driven out of their homeland or enslaved by the French, but still exist as a people.  Complex Natchez society is supposed to have been the only example of the Mississippian culture to continue into historic times.


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 ).


The Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia was declared November 29, 1945, and the 29th was the country's national day until 2002; the name was changed to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1963, becoming the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1992, the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or Serbia and Montenegro February 4, 2003, and in June 2006 Montenegro and Serbia separated and the idea of a South Slavic union ended. 



The UN's International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People has been November 29th  since 1977:  www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-of-solidarity-with-the-palestinian-people  November 29th is the anniversary of the 1947 UN General Assembly resolution for the partition of Palestine.


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 slashing across the continent could finish the job of exterminating the USA's few remaining jaguars, a 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/ ). 


Recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize and accused war criminal Henry Alfred Kissinger (Heinz Alfred Kissinger) passed away November 29, 2023.  He was born May 27, 1923 in the German city of Fürth, in northern Bavaria.


The Manhattanhenge effect in New York City is November 30th every year?


November 29th is supposed to be the 25th anniversary of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.




"The father of meteoritics" German physicist Ernst Florens Friedrich Chladni November 30, 1756 – April 3, 1827




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.


November 30, 1858-November 23, 1937:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagadish_Chandra_Bose 


November 30, 1861 -- the French gunboat warship Alecton, 40 leagues from Tenerife, reportedly captured a giant squid -- In the Wake of the Sea-Serpents by Bernard Heuvelmans, translated from French by Richard Garnett, drawings by Alika Watteau, 1968 edition.



The Winter War between the USSR and Finland began November 30, 1939. 


November 30, 1954, around 12:46pm CST/18:46 UT, the 8.5 pound Sylacauga or Hodges meteorite broke through the roof, bounced off of a radio, and hit Ann Elizabeth Fowler (Hewlett/Huelitt) Hodges (February 2, 1920 – September 10, 1972), who was sleeping, on the left side, in the Sylacauga or Oak Grove area of Talladega County in northeast central Alabama.  The police and fire department were called and Mrs Hodges went to a hospital the next day over stress and her life was apparently changed for the worse by this unusual event.  This ordinary H4 group chrondite meteor had been seen as a fireball over three states and an explosion was reported.  Reportedly it might have come from the asteroid 1685 Toro as it moved away from the Sun.  Officials from Maxwell Air Force Base took possession of the meteorite, but it was eventually returned.  Then there was an ownership lawsuit with the owner of the Hodges' house.  The mayor wanted to put the meteorite in the Alabama Museum of Natural History, at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, and there were large offers for it, but it ended up being sold to the Museum for $25.  In 2005 the radio was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History.  Julius Kempis McKinney found a 3.7 pound fragment December 1st and an Indianapolis lawyer bought it for the Smithsonian.  Another piece might have come down in nearby Childersburg, northwest of Oak Grove and the site of a Coosa town visited by Hernando de Soto for a month in the fall of 1540.  Incidentally, Oak Grove has an illusory Gravity Hill Road in the west going towards Childersburg.  


The night of October 3, 2021 a meteorite harmlessly landed on pillow next to a sleeping woman in Golden, British Columbia, Canada.  In the summer (??) of 1992 a 3 gram meteorite hit a tree and then a young boy, who survived, in Mbala, Uganda.  A Milanese monk at the Convent of St Mary is supposed to have been hit in the thigh and killed in 1577, according to a text from Tortona:  www.futilitycloset.com/2010/01/12/zeus-displeased/  In June 1911 a meteor is supposed to have hit and vaporized (?) a dog belonging to Mohammed Ali Effendi Hakim in Alexandria, Egypt:  www.futilitycloset.com/2007/03/23/the-nakhla-dog/ ; Sylacauga:  www.futilitycloset.com/2007/05/23/wake-up-call/ and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylacauga_(meteorite)  See the October 5, 2023 calendar post for the October 9, 1992 Peekskill, New York meteorite, which was seen coming down as a fireball and hit the back of a parked car:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/10/some-events-and-anniversaries-in-fall.html , and other posts list more notable meteorites.


The Marxist People's Democratic Republic of Yemen was founded November 30, 1970 in the formerly British-ruled Aden colony in South Yemen; Southern secessionists fought in the recent war in Yemen:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Yemen


Alfonso Caso y Andrade (February 1, 1896 – November 30, 1970):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_Caso 


January 17, 1977 French mercenaries under Bob Denard attempted to overthrow the People's Republic of Benin or the Popular Republic of Benin (around November 30, 1975 to March 1, 1990) under President Mathieu Kérékou.


November 30, 1981 the Reagan administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Strategic Cooperation, making Israel a strategic partner of the US.  The partnership was suspended after Israel annexed the Golan Heights December 14th, but it came back into force in 1983.  This is described in Fifty Years of Israel by Donald Neff, published in 1998.  This could bring to mind US government intentions regarding Ukraine and the Republic of Georgia in recent years.  More recently, the US military began training with the Israelis in territory held by Israel.    

A few years ago the Democrats in the House of Representatives proclaimed Ukraine a vital partner and there were the similar proposals regarding the Republic of Georgia and Moldova.


In 2022 the US media constantly denounced Russia for illegally seizing territory from Ukraine by force – but it is rarely if at all mentioned as a great problem when Israel extends sovereignty over territory seized from its neighbors and is rewarded by the US, such as with a new embassy in disputed Jerusalem; the UK seizing Indian Ocean islands from Mauritius for the US military; the US occupation of parts of Cuba and Syria (with Turkey) against the wishes of those countries; the US-created border across Korea; NATO redrawing borders in the Balkans by force; and there was the fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the issue of Kashmir.  There are some differences, but these examples are at least similar to what Russia is accused of doing.  The UK and Portugal eventually had to return their colonies in China, though there is still the issue of Taiwan.


Tens of thousands of people, many anarchists, protested the World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference of 1999 in Seattle November 30th - December 1st, sometimes called the Battle of Seattle and N30.  It was a major event of the anti-globalization movement, later overshadowed by the need for anti-war organizing after 9/11.  There was a lot of organizing against sweatshops and globalization at UNC-Chapel Hill around then, by groups such as Students for Economic Justice (later called Demand Economic Justice), and some concessions were gained from the administration.  The Battle of Seattle also had the black bloc, heavy police repression, bans on protesting, etc. to become common features of large protests. 


The UN's Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare is November 30th:  www.un.org/en/observances/international-days-and-weeks 


Chinese leader Jiang Zemin passed away November 30, 2022.


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 its remains have since been lost:  web.archive.org/web/20150215071011/http://www.petermaas.nl/extinct/speciesinfo/labradorduck.htm


Oglala Lakota Heȟáka Sápa or Black Elk, the source of the book Black Elk Speaks, was born December 1, 1863.


North Carolina's red brick Currituck Beach Light on the northern coast, one of a few lighthouses in the State, began operating December 1, 1875.


The St Augustine, Florida carcass washed up around December 1, 1896 and was examined by Dr AE Verrill; it was thought to be a giant octopus.


Russian revolutionary Sergei Kirov was born March 27, 1886 in what is now Kirov Oblast.  He was assassinated December 1, 1934.


Rosa Parks refused to yield her bus seat December 1, 1955 in Montgomery, Alabama.  Her trial began December 5th and there was a bus boycott for over a year. 


According to Wikipedia the Morning Star flag of West Papua (on the island of New Guinea) was first raised December 1, 1961 and this is a traditional day to protest for independence from Indonesia; displaying the flag is harshly punished by Indonesia and people have been sentenced to over a decade in prison.  Independence activists declared the Republic of West Papua July 1, 1971.


December 1st to 8th in 1997 Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto were lined up in the evening (?) sky.  If I'm thinking of the right event, I memorialized the visible planets in a red cedar carving and I must have noted the date somewhere.


December 1st is World AIDS Day, the first global health day:  www.un.org/en/observances/world-aids-day


Former US ambassador to Bolivia Victor Manuel Rocha was arrested in Miami December 1, 2023 and charged with alleged spying for Cuba:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Rocha 



A woman, 27, who has not been identified in the mainstream media burned herself with gasoline (?) outside Israel's consulate in Atlanta, Georgia December 1, 2023.  "Jane Doe" apparently survived and was treated at Grady Memorial Hospital, an "unperson" for the media, as Sam Husseini put it, though maybe it can be justified to protect her privacy.  It was mentioned that she had a Palestinian flag with her or a burned flag was found by the first responders.  Afterward her home was searched or ransacked by the Atlanta police – in a 'normal' way, or is she being treated like a terrorism suspect?  How "authoritarian" is government in the Atlanta area? – husseini.substack.com/p/jane-doe-who-immolated-herself-at , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation_of_Aaron_Bushnell , and durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/03/responses-to-self-immolation-for.html


[A New Moon was December 1st and there will be a second on December 30th.  The waxing quarter Moon will be December 8th, the Moon will be full on the 15th, and the waning Moon for December will be 22nd.  Two strong meteor showers peak in mid-December [(the major Geminids) December 13th and (the Ursids from the Big Dipper) 22nd (and the Quadrantids on January 3rd)].]


[The Moon and Venus were close in the southwest in the evening December 4th; Venus entered Capricornus on the 6th and will enter Aquarius on the 31st.  Venus will be at greatest eastern elongation from the Sun January 9th and by Saturn on the 17th.  Around the morning of the 7th bright Mars will be near M44, the Beehive or Praesepe in the center of Cancer, between Gemini and Leo, for much of the night to dawn, and "stationary" at 4pm.  I have trouble finding Cancer, but I looked for it and M44 with binoculars around the morning of December 4th or 5th.  I'm missing the chance, with a 'pointer,' now.  I think I saw the Praesepe many years ago, with binoculars.  Mars and the Moon will be close December 18th, peaking at 4:36am, especially further north.  The Moon will cover Mars at 9pm January 13th.  Mars will be at opposition January 15th, at 10pm EST.  Saturn, above the star Fomalhaut, and then much brighter Jupiter, between Auriga and Taurus, currently rise in the evening.  Saturn and the Moon will be close December 7th. Saturn is in Aquarius.   Jupiter will be at opposition (technically at 4pm) and very bright on the 7th.  Jupiter and the Moon will be close December 14th, and the Moon and beta Tauri on the 15th.  Neptune is in Pisces, and will be four degrees northeast of the Moon around December 8th; Neptune is retrograde until the 8th.  Uranus is about 7 degrees southwest of the Pleiades, and will be 4.5 degrees southeast (?) of the Moon around December 12th.  Jupiter and the Moon will be close December 14th, related to Jupiter's opposition status, and asteroid Eunomia will be at opposition that night at 1am.  "Evening star" Mercury will be "stationary" at 4pm on the 15th, near Antares on the 21st.  Its greatest western elongation will be on the 26th, but brighter in January (?).  The Moon, Mercury, and Antares will be nearby the morning of December 28th.  Mercury will cover part of the Pleiades the evenikng of January 9th, but I dont know how visible it will be here. M20, M8, and Comet C/2024 G3 (ATLAS) will appear by Mercury the morning of January 7th.  The greatest western elongation of Mars will be fateful February 24th? -- from Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines.


I might have been able to see the star Naos in Puppis to the south through the trees at home around December 3rd or 4th and maybe stars in Vela before that, towards relatively bright and isolated Alphard in Hydra.  Other, dimmer parts of Puppis are easy to see on the east side of Canis Major, the Great Dog, well above the horizon, near Orion.  The Big Dipper, Arcturus, and Spica are now well up before dawn, soon to be joined by Vega, Draco, Hercules, and probably Scorpius, above the nearby woods.

I still need to go look for bright star Canopus, in Carina the Keel, south of Canis Major, Puppis, and Vela; I might travel nearby to find it, but I'm not currently planning to go very far to look for it; maybe in winter 2026 if necessary.  Canopus is supposed to be visible here at I think latitude 35 degrees north, but it doesn't rise very high, and trees and hills might be covering it up.


A BBC correspondent or observer in Homs (?), Syria early on December [7th]6th, 'copying' what NPR did regarding Libya in 2011 -- "Assad forces."  They don't refer to 'Zelensky' or 'Biden forces,' or even 'Putin' or 'Maduro forces'.  They are that hateful and eager to take imperial control of Syria or have it languish under anarchic warlordism?]


The UN's International Day for Abolition of Slavery is December 2nd:  www.un.org/en/observances/slavery-abolition-day


Tens of thousands of people were killed or injured, along with livestock and other animals and even plants, the night of December 2-3, 1984 in Bhopal, India when gases were released from a pesticide plant at the time owned by Union Carbide India Limited and more recently by the Dow Chemical Company.  The land was left contaminated and there are lingering health effects.  Beginning February 27, 2012 WikiLeaks posted leaked documents (labelled the Global Intelligence Files) indicating that the intelligence company Stratfor had spied on activists for Dow, as well as spying on Occupy Wall Street.  It also reveals that Stratfor employees advocated bankrupting and torturing Julian Assange and charging him with crimes in several countries, which is similar to what happened to him (he was charged with a crime in Sweden and held by the UK following the years he spent besieged in Ecuador's London embassy, and the US government wanted him extradited, which Stratfor knew).  


The pivotal Battle of Austerlitz was December 2, 1805, during the Napoleonic Wars, Austerlitz is now in the Czech Republic:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Austerlitz 



Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (December 1485 – December 2, 1547)




John Brown (May 9, 1800 – December 2, 1859):  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist) 



December 2, 1931-June 25, 2014:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigel_Calder 



North Carolina Regulator leader Herman or Harmon Husband was born December 3, 1724 in Cecil County, Maryland.




Japan's Hayabusa2 space probe (はやぶさ2, 'peregrine falcon 2') was launched December 3, 2014 and was the first asteroid sample return mission:  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayabusa2 



December 3rd at 1pm -- an online webinar (?) "Birdman of the Senate: Senator George P. McLean and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act" with Will McLean Greeley:  foresthistory.org/events/ 



December 4, 1934  -- the Farmville, NC (the renamed Coalglen, in Chatham County or the Farmville in Pitt County?) meteorite



President Ford signed Executive Order 11905 February 18, 1976, among other things banning "political assassination."  Similar executive orders were signed by Carter on January 24, 1978 and by Reagan on December 4, 1981.



[There will be big book sales in Durham December 6-7th ( fodlnc.org/events/ ) and in Chapel Hill December 6-8th ( friendschpl.org ).]


[The Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Cary will hold their holiday parades Saturday, December 7th; Raleigh's parade, back to the old style, was around a week or two ago, on a Saturday.  Durham usually has a holiday parade, but I'm not sure about the 2024 date.]  [December 12th on WRAL:  Durham [10am?] and Cary [2pm?] will both hold their holiday parades the morning of Saturday, December 14th?]




[The 32nd annual Chatham Artists Guild Studio Tour will be December 7-8th and 14-15th, with around 52 artists with 39 studios:  chathamartistsguild.org/studio-tour/ ]


[The 32nd annual Boylan Heights ArtWalk in downtown Raleigh near NCSU will be December 8th 12-5pm: www.boylanheights.org/art-walk ]


["Martial Law Interrupted:  Views from South Korea" with Jeong-eun Hwang of the Justice Party, Haeyoung Lee of the Multipolar Forum and Hanshin University, Wol-san Liem of ITF, Daehan Song of ISC, and Sung-hee Choi of Jeju -- December 8th at 7pm EST; 4pm PST, December 9th at 9am KST; notification by the Korea Policy Institute:  docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSexsBcyy81NcVUJ4br_wK-hPDJNr454pgVRXo7lLjkVUTRttg/viewform?pli=1  


Tell the South Korean consulate: Yoon must go! -- www.kpolicy.org ]


[Another Saturday Roxboro Community Canvass against "Duke and Enbridge’s proposed gas expansion in Person County:"  act.sierraclub.org/actions/National?actionId=AR0497191 and 7directionsofservice.com/events ]


[Saturday, December 21st 2-3pm, hybrid format, at Yesa Farms in Mebane, NC or online -- "Planning Meeting: Inclusion of Indigenous Voices in Mebane City Plans (allies welcome!):"  actionnetwork.org/events/planning-meeting-hybrid-virtual-and-in-person-inclusion-of-indigenous-people-in-the-city-of-mebane-plans/ and 7directionsofservice.com/events ]




[From ICSS: 

 

 

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Sunday, December 15, 2024: 10:30am-12:30pm Pacific Time

 

SYRIA: What is happening and what comes next?

 

Speaker: Rick Sterling. Rick is an investigative journalist based in the SF Bay Area. He has written many articles about Syria, traveled there five times, and has contacts on the ground.


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Sunday, Dec 22, 2024: 10:30am-12:30pm Pacific Time

 

U.S. and Israel are Pushing the World to the Brink of World War III

Speaker: Bahman Azad

 

Israel’s criminal violations of international law in Palestine, Lebanon, Iran, and other parts of West Asia has increased the possibility of a full-fledged regional war, which can easily escalate into a global, possibly nuclear, confrontation.


The U.S. is not in any way restraining the Zionist’s escalation of the war and the continuation of genocide. The imperialist project and the Zionist project are one and the same. Without active U.S. diplomatic, financial, and military support, Zionist Israel would not have been able to commit such crimes.


The ever-increasing U.S.-Israel military attacks on the regional resistance movement is based on the awareness of the fact that the defeat of Zionist Israel fundamentally threatens U.S. hegemony in the region and, through it, a shift in the global balance of forces against the empire itself.

Our speaker, Bahman Azad, is a retired professor of economics and sociology. His area of research includes the political economy of capitalism and socialism. He is the author of the book: Heroic Struggle, Bitter Defeat: Factors Contributing to the Dismantling of the Socialist State in the USSR. Bahman is currently the president of the U.S. Peace Council, a member of the secretariat of the World Peace Council, and representative of the World Peace Council at the United Nations. He is also a member of the administrative committee of the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC).

 


Bahman Azad is affiliated with the anti-imperialist, Iranian “10 Mehr” Group. He was co-chair of Venezuelan Embassy Protectors Defense Committee and is currently serving as the coordinator of the Coalition Against U.S. Foreign Military Bases and co-coordinator of the Hands-Off Syria Coalition.

 

 

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FOR  OUR FULL SCHEDULE OF UPCOMING PROGRAMS,

AS WELL AS PAST PROGRAMS, GO TO ICSSMARX.ORG

 

NOTE: Our past programs have been recorded, and placed on YouTube. For a listing of our past programs, see the "IcssmMarxist" channel on YouTube, and at icssmarx.org.]



[Uhuru 3 sentencing hearing December 16th in Tampa, Florida, events over the preceding weekend and that Monday, etc.:  handsoffuhuru.org  Targeted for opposing the Biden-Harris administration's foreign policy.]


[Together for Palestine fundraiser with live folk music December 29th 6-10pm at 740 SE Maynard Road in Cary:  @onebodyevents ? -- From VJP]


[NC PALI Inaurgural Roots of Resilience Banquet January 25th at 6:30pm at 740 SE Maynard Road in Cary]


[The Seagrove Area Potters Association Annual Holiday Open House will be December 7, 14, and 21 in 2024:  discoverseagrove.com/events/holiday-open-house-main-event/   Some studios have online stores:  discoverseagrove.com/online-shopping/ ]


[Bill of Rights Day is December 15th (the US Bill of Rights was ratified December 15, 1791).  

Durham City and County used to make annual proclamations for December 15th, thanks to a campaign

 by the Durham Bill of Rights Committee, but that might no longer be done.  The DBORDC no longer exists, but there might still be an Orange County BORDC, and there is a national organization 

(it changed names in 2016):  rightsanddissent.org/news/bill-rights-day-celebrate-mobilize-remember/  

Normally there is or was a public reading of the Bill of Rights at Chapel Hill's Peace and Justice Plaza. on the 15th.  There will be an event in Hillsborough December 15, 2024:  www.facebook.com/December15Bells and triangleonthecheap.com/bill-of-rights-day-hillsborough/ ]



[The Hillsborough Solstice Lantern Walk and Market will be at the Farmers Market Pavillion 5-8pm Saturday, December 21st, the Northern Hemisphere's 2024 winter solstice:  www.hillsboroughartscouncil.org/solstice ]


[Beginning January 2nd the NC Botanical Garden will begin opening at 9am instead of 1pm on Sundays.  The main, gated part of the Garden will be closed Monday, December 23rd to Wednesday, January 1st.  


There will be a Winter Craft Market December 8th 1-4pm, and the 2024 Sculpture in the Garden art exhibit ends December 8th.  


The Native People, Native Plants Symposium:  A symposium celebrating cultural relationships among Native American people and native plants will be Wednesday, December 11, 2024 9:30am-5pm.  


The new Birds of North Carolina: A Community Photo Exhibit will be January 7th-March 2nd, with an opening reception Sunday, January 12 from 2-4 pm, or January 26th.  


The annual (?) African American Legacy in Gardening and Horticulture Symposium will be March 29th at the Hayti Heritage Center in Durham.  


Some upcoming talks at the NCBG, possibly hybrid:


HYBRID LUNCHBOX TALK: THE CAROLINA PAROQUET (PARAKEET) AND RELATIVES: A LOOK AT SOME NATURAL, UN-NATURAL, AND CULTURAL HISTORIES

Thursday, December 12; 12-1 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information >
 

HYBRID LUNCHBOX TALK: THE HOME PATCH, WITH MARY SONIS

Thursday, January 23; 12-1 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information >
 

DARWIN DAY LECTURE - CELEBRATING CHARLES DARWIN'S 216TH BIRTHDAY:
DARWIN AND THE ART OF BOTANY

Wednesday, February 12; 7-8:30 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information >
 

ANNUAL EVELYN MCNEILL SIMS NATIVE PLANT LECTURE:
ADVENTURES IN ECOLOGICAL HORTICULTURE

with Rebecca McMackin, Ecological Horticulturalist
Sunday, April 6; 5:30-6:45 p.m. •  Free, preregistration required  More information > 



Conflict to Cultivation- Emilee's 14-Day Journey Advancing Therapeutic Horticulture in War-Torn Regions [Armenia and the Ukrainian border region

Tuesday, December 10th; 6:30 – 7:30 pm, virtual event]



[The 2025 Carrboro Film Festival will be January 13th and 24-26th:  www.carrborofilm.org/ ]



[March 14-16th in the mountains of WNC [Asheville, NC]:  www.organicgrowersschool.org/spring-conference]









Read Palestine Week is coming up, according to OR Books:  orbooks.com/reading-lists/the-palestine-list


Verso Books End of Year Sale 2024 -- November 18th-January 1st (has been extended in previous years?) -- www.versobooks.com/blogs/news/verso-end-of-year-sale-2024


A previous post on the Senate vote in November:  durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/11/from-adc-take-action-senate-to-vote-on.html






ADC Statement on Lebanon-Israel Ceasefire



For Immediate Release

ADC Contact: media[at adc org]

 

Washington, DC | www.adc.org | November 27, 2024 - The U.S.-led ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon showcases the government's ability to influence peace agreements when the political will exists. This begs the question: why hasn't the Biden Administration applied the same pressure to secure a ceasefire in Gaza? Israel's wars in Lebanon and Palestine demand permanent and decisive action, not futile, temporary ceasefire negotiations that have led to nothing except the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. 
 
President Biden remains blind to the reality that war is a losing strategy. The pursuit of "absolute victory" is a delusion that sustains cycles of violence and fuels the destruction of entire populations, as seen in Gaza. The international community has been clear: the entire world wants a permanent ceasefire both in Lebanon and Palestine, as anything less perpetuates an on-going genocide, ethnic cleansing, occupation, mass starvation, and desecration of holy sites that define Israel's wars. The people of Lebanon and Palestine both deserve peace—not conditioned, temporary truces, but an enduring commitment to justice, human dignity, and the right to live free from violence and oppression.
 
While the 60-day ceasefire in Lebanon offers a temporary reprieve, it fails to address underlying issues that fuel Israels ongoing actions. In fact, how can sustained peace be possible when Israeli airstrikes continued decimating Beirut as ceasefire negotiations were ongoing, and Gaza is continuing to get bombed as of this morning. The ADC is concerned about the implementation of the ceasefire and respect for Lebanon's sovereignty. Unrelenting war perpetuates suffering and instability, and we reaffirm our demand for a permanent ceasefire in both Lebanon and Palestine. 
 
The first steps in securing an end to the genocide and wars is the ending of all military aid to Israel, and the enforcement of the enforcement of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. 
 
Today, and always, the ADC remains committed to its values of advocating for an end of U.S. military assistance around the world, as history and the present day continue to prove its devastating impacts on targeted populations.



About the ADC 



The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is the largest Arab American grassroots organization in the U.S., founded in 1980 by former Senator James Abourezk.  ADC’s mission is to defend and promote the human rights, civil rights, and liberties of at least 3.7 million Arab Americans residing in the United States. Through its work, the ADC fights discrimination in the U.S., enhances public understanding of Arab history and culture, and partners with marginalized communities globally to advance social justice.






Breaking: Record Number of Senators Vote to Block Weapons to Israel



About the ADC



[Same as above]


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