Some upcoming events are posted at: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2026/08/some-anti-war-and-other-events-and-news.html , durhamspark.blogspot.com/2026/06/some-astronomical-and-other-events.html , durhamspark.blogspot.com/2026/04/update-for-week-16-of-2026-palestinian.html , and durhamspark.blogspot.com/2026/04/update-for-week-15-of-2026-anti-war.html ; some anniversaries are posted at: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/08/summer-came-in-with-buzz-and-whirr-goes.html , durhamspark.blogspot.com/2025/07/deep-river-riverkeeper-founded-upcoming.html , durhamspark.blogspot.com/2024/04/some-additional-events-and.html , etc.
Volume 8, number 2 of Towards Marxist-Leninist Unity: A Journal of Discussion and Debate was published by the evening of Saturday, August 22nd and will be posted at: mltranslations.net Contributions and criticisms are welcome, they say. The next issue should come out in October and materials will need to be sent in by mid-September.
Contents:
[September 13th – from Grover Furr –
A new book: The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact Explained: The Soviet Struggle for an Anti-Nazi Alliance
A discount will be posted later in September (?).
www.amazon.it/-/en/dp/B0HJBP3K4S/
The Fraud of the 'Testament of Lenin'
msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/fraud_test_lenin.html
Trotsky and the Military Conspiracy, 2021
msuweb.montclair.edu/~furrg/research/tm_talk_2021.html
www.amazon.com/dp/0578816032 ]
[From the NLG September 2nd –
HAPPENING NOW: NLG President Speaks to Congress
Dear [ ], Suzanne Adely, NLG President, is currently speaking to Congress about the blockade against Cuba, and the current crisis facing the Cuban people because of increased U.S. aggression. The live stream is scheduled from 12:30 P.M. EST to 2 P.M. EST. Click here to watch the live stream of the hearing! The NLG was invited to speak by Americas Without Sanctions, as a part of a congressional hearing on Cuba, led by Congresswomen Delia Ramírez and Ilhan Omar. Later today, there will be a press conference and public event about the hearing at St. Stephen and the Incarnation church, 1525 Newton St. NW, Washington, DC 20010, at 5 P.M. EST. Local NLG members and non-members are encouraged to attend! In solidarity, |
[There was a G20 (financial?) meeting in Asheville, NC recently and a side meeting on technology has been going at the Carolina Inn at UNC-Chapel Hill the week of September 1st. Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg were in attendance. WRAL says that there will be or was a march by students from the Old Well (?) on Cameron Avenue, opposite the administrative South Building, to the venue in the afternoon on September 2nd, protesting against "AI" and its impact on higher education. [Coverage: www.wunc.org/education/2026-09-02/protest-chapel-hill-unc-g20-innovation-technology-sam-altman-elon-musk-artificial-intelligence ]
WRAL also reported that a Love Island Reunion (?) watch party organized by student groups in UNC's Greenlaw Hall, just north of the Undergraduate Library, was disrupted by a man (alleged to have been Keegan Carlisle Wilson) yelling "slurs" and armed with a flammable aerosol can and a lighter one night recently (Monday, August 31st?). WRAL got comments from the BSM and the UNC chapter of the National Society of Black Engineers.]
[An American Doctor documentary Q and A with Dr Mark Perlmutter from the first screening at Chapel Hill's Chelsea Theatre on Friday, September 11th. – we.tl/t-dSma1SRLjXnMsbUx Reportedly showing for a week, three times a day; see their website or call 919 929-8428; tickets are available online or at the Theatre.]
[International Owl Awareness Day is at the beginning of August – a Google search brought up www.internationalowlcenter.org/owlawarenessday.html , eagles.org/international-owl-awareness-day/ , internationaldays.co/ (?), etc.]
[立秋 is August 7th-23rd in 2026. – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liqiu ]
[Islamic Unity Week was around August 30th?]
[NC Big Sweep is every September? Vulture Day 2026 was in the first week of September? –vultureday.org ] [The 30th Annual California Condor Release at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument will be September 26th. – peregrinefund.org/help-condors ]
[Venus and the relatively bright star Spica in the constellation Virgo were about 1 1/2 degrees apart in the west after sunset on September 1st.
h.
The waning but still very bright (60 percent full) Moon will appear to be very close to the Pleiades star cluster (M45) in the constellation Taurus early on September 3rd the 13th; from Alaska and nearby regions of Russia and Canada the Moon will occlude some of the Pleiades. Binoculars are recommended. There will be another Moon-Pleiades conjunction (about 5 1/2 degrees apart) September 30th, this time in the evening, but the Americas won't have a good view (?).
The Moon, Mars, Gemini, and Jupiter will appear together in the east before dawn on the 7th.
The Moon and Jupiter will be about 3 1/2 degrees apart early on the 8th and closing, with a daytime occultation visible over Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and most of Canada, the US (but not from the Southwest and West Coast?), and the Caribbean (but a telescope is required [of course Jupiter and the Moon can be seen at night without any special equipment]). It will begin around 3-3:30pm here, but around 1pm from the Mountain states. There will be monthly occultations to May 2027, but only the occultations in September (the 1st) and October [at night on the morning of the 6th] will be visible for North America. – from the September issue of Sky & Telescope magazine.]
[Mars (now only magnitude 1.2, but a brighter -1.2 by February) was under a degree from the relatively dim (magnitude 3.5) star Wasat (delta Geminorum) on one 'side' of Gemini early on September 9th and they still appear close together, but Mars can be seen to be slowly moving east night by night.] [Mars will enter the constellation Cancer September 25th.]
[At dusk on September 13th Venus (magnitude -4.7) and the (9 percent full?) Moon will be about 5 1/2 degrees apart and the Moon will be about 3 1/2 degrees from Spica in the western sky.]
[The thin crescent waning Moon was near and above the relatively bright star Regulus in the constellation Leo near dawn on the 9th.]
[Yellow tickseed flowers (Bidens) opened here around the 10th. Perennial black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia; biennial black-eyed Susans finished?), elephant's foot, yellow and orange Coreopsis (?), etc. opened earlier. Many more crape myrtle flowers in 2026? Orange sicklepod flowers soon? More katydids and other orthopterans, butterflies, and sphinx/hawk moths. A large stag, a few owls, more woodpeckers, etc. have been around. Two black rhinoceros beetles or one came in twice. A large toad on the wet morning of Sunday, September 13th. Many more notes. Pawpaws probably started ripening in early August here, persimmons and pears in September, and mast nuts in October. Few? Saw a few persimmons on the large tree around the 12th. Drought early and late, but abundant rain in July-August.]
[Rowan Creek Week 2026 in Rowan County, NC is September 12-19th – rowancreekweek.org or www.rowancountync.gov/1464/Creek-Week and www.facebook.com/rowancreekweek/ ]
[The 19th annual Pepperfest is today, September 13th (?) {12-6pm] in Pittsboro, NC – www.theplantnc.com/event-details/19th-annual-pepperfest Also – www.theplantnc.com/event-details/from-seed-to-story-the-malagueta-pepper-and-the-roots-we-carry , www.theplantnc.com/event-details/yamauka-my-ancestors-still-sit-here-documentary-sneak-peek-q-a , www.theplantnc.com/event-details/plants-read-too-outdoor-book-festival , etc, The Eno River Association had its 60th anniversary events September 12th.]
[The near quarter Moon and the relatively bright star Antares in the quickly setting summer constellation Scorpius will appear about 5 1/2 degrees apart in the southwestern sky September 17th.]
[The 2026 NC Folk Festival will be September 18-20th in Greensboro.]
[Astronomy Day (fall?) is September 19th – AstronomyDay.astroleague.org ]
[Centerfest 2026 will be September 19-20th in downtown Durham.]
[The Northern Hemisphere's fall equinox will be September 22nd (at about 8:05pm).]
[I had planned post to around August 17th or 21st, etc. and September 22nd but I don't know if it will work out.]
[The traditional Libra period begins around September 23rd (or with the equinox?), replacing Virgo and followed by Scorpio; Charleston, SC, along with Antwerp; Frankfurt; Lisbon; Rome; Vienna; Aethiopia; Alsace; Austria; India; Italy; Livonia; Portugal; and Savoy, and the west wind Zephyrus were apparently associated with the sign Libra (see the book Star Names).] [ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_(constellation) and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libra_(astrology) ; RH Allen's book, now digitized and online, is much more detailed, though old.]
[Neptune (magnitude 7.8) will reach opposition September 23rd [or on the 25th at about 10pm?]; it can be found near Saturn and the Moon on the 23rd; [Neptune is in Pisces, on a line going south down the east side of the great square of Pegasus;] I think the anniversary of the discovery of Neptune is also around now.] [September 23, 1846 – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neptune ] [ 海王星 , etc.]
[Watch for copperheads on roads at night in the Triangle around now (I haven't seen any in 2026 so far, but I did see a few right here last summer and stepped near one one cool morning after sunrise; I have a photo of the very nicely patterned snake: durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/09/watch-for-copperheads-on-roads-in-fall.html and durhamspark.blogspot.com/2023/09/living-with-snakes.html ] [ triangleland.org/news/snake-ssseason-is-here ]
[Jupiter will enter the constellation Leo September 24th.]
["Anti-War Activists Who Warned About Militarized Response to 9/11 Were Demonized and Blacklisted" – jeremykuzmarov.substack.com/p/anti-war-activists-who-warned-about
"Down with USA Imperial Attempts to Create a New War! (October 2001)" – mlrg.online/history/republication-down-with-usa-imperial-attempts-to-create-a-new-war-october-2001/
25th Anniversary of 9/11
• U.S. State Terrorism Twenty-five Years Later
– Statement of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) –
www.thewisewolf.club/p/why-nobody-talks-about-the-day-before
palestinewillbefree.substack.com/p/9-11-a-personal-history
thegrayzone.substack.com/p/cia-role-in-911-plot-omitted-in-new
www.rt.com/news/645535-cia-declassifies-911-intelligence-warnings/
And there are many more.]
[ fair.org/home/the-wall-street-journals-socialism-reporting-is-better-than-the-new-york-times/
fair.org/home/repeat-after-media-data-centers-are-wonderful-and-good/
From 2017 – fair.org/home/right-wing-foundation-scary-nuke-maps-drive-narrative-on-north-korea-threat/
[ triangleland.org/blog/why-moth-after-midnight
triangleland.org/blog/listening-for-the-sounds-of-summer-a-spotlight-on-north-carolinas-nightjars
The Moon and European nightjar behavior? Meanwhile the FCC approved space mirrors to reflect sunlight and turn night into day and there are the satellite constellations. Nightjars nest, or have nested, near the American Tobacco Trail at the south end of Durham County and probably at Medoc Mountain State Park far northeast of the Triangle.]
triangleland.org/news/gar-gut-mashes-joco ]
trlt.org/three-rivers-land-trust-conserves-225-acres-near-raven-rock-state-park/
www.wunc.org/2026-09-04/durham-union-worker-ends-40-day-hunger-strike-protest-amazon-work-conditions ]
[ triangleland.org/news/species-spotlight-nandina-domestica ]
[Stand for Palestine September 26th, 11am-1pm, at the 2026 Common Ground Fair in downtown Unity, Maine – from went2thebridge on substack.com September 13th
[From Bruce Gagnon September 13th –
Friday, October 2 at Bath Iron Works navy shipyard for Keep Space for Peace Week. We gather at 11:30 am on Washington Street. BIW builds Aegis destroyers now parked off the coasts of Iran, Russia and China with ‘missile defense’ interceptors on-board.
Saturday, November 28 in Brunswick at the intersection of Pleasant Street and US Hwy 1 across from the police department. We begin at 1:30 pm.
Saturday, December 5 at Xmas shopping mecca Freeport in front of L. L. Bean mega-store on Hwy 1 at 1:30 pm.
[September 26th is National Public Lands Day.] [The Three Rivers Land Trust, based in Salisbury, NC, is holding a week of events – trlt.org
[The 29th annual Carrboro Music Festival will be September 26-27th – www.carrboronc.gov/m/NewsFlash/home/detail/3282 ]
[The 30th Annual California Condor Release at Vermilion Cliffs National Monument will be September 26th. – peregrinefund.org/help-condors ]
[Mark Keep Space for Peace Week with leafletting Friday, October 2nd at 11:30am at the gates of General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works shipyard on Washington Street in Bath, Maine (?); organized by Smiling’ Trees Disarmament Farm and Peaceworks (?).
[Saturn (magnitude 0.3) and the Moon will be about 6 degrees apart and closing on the evening of September 26th. Saturn will reach opposition October 4th [(at about 8am EDT).]
[Asteroid 192 Nausikaa will reach opposition September 30th [at about 6pm]: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/192_Nausikaa ; the 'fiery' (?) mythological figure: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nausicaa ]
[Asteroid Pallas will reach opposition October 6th [(at about 7pm EDT).]
[October 10th – www.peoplestribunalusgaza.org/ ]
[The 2026 SC Korean Festival is coming up soon (see their Facebook page)??]
[Mercury's greatest eastern elongation (about 25 degrees) will be around 6am EDT on the 12th, but the 'elusive' planet still won't be very visible from the Northern Hemisphere.]
[Asteroid Vesta will reach opposition October 13th (around 2am).]
[The Orionid meteor shower is visible October 2nd-November 7th, and peaks on October 21st.]
[立冬 begins November 7th and goes to November 22nd. – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidong [
[From recent issues of Sky & Telescope and Astronomy magazines, etc.]
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