We are entering and, in fact, are immersed in an era that is easily the most dangerous in human history. The four horsemen of nuclear apocalypse have saddled up and are galloping towards a humanity that is simply not aware of the impending global holocaust. The horsemen include a 30-year, trillion-dollar “nuclear modernization” plan that has already mushroomed in cost to $1.2 trillion with no end in sight. Riding along with the modernization plan is the damned and unspeakable belief among “planners” that nuclear weapons can be brought into and used in both conventional wars and even large scale cyber attacks. Our other two horsemen are US imperialism and a growing militarism that has seeped into and corrupted virtually every facet of American culture.
One daunting and damning example of imperial hubris is our aggressively staging war games and placing missiles right along Russia’s eastern borders. When the Berlin wall came down decades ago we gave the Russians our solemn promise that NATO would never expand Eastward. What has transpired since then showcases the regard US planners have for both international law and global peace. And regarding the entrenched militarism that Ike warned us about, it has reached a level unrivaled.
Today the US can actively starve a nation and a people — Yemen. We can destroy countries and leave them in ruins. Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan come to mind. We can put 6,000 soldiers in Africa that no one knows about. We have over 800 military bases worldwide, and possibly more. We use drone terrorism and murder with such a frequency that these operations have now become normalized and accepted. And worst of all, military aggression and foreign attacks do not even inspire a spirited debate or clarion call for a reckoning.
There is no such thing as failure. No thought is given as to who is in whose backyard. Every action we take is just and right and the thousands murdered cannot be mentioned. As Orwell said, such commentary “simply will not do.”
We, as a nation and as a race, are entering a perfect storm of militarization, imperialism, nuclear modernization and a damning nuclear hubris that advocates first use. Citizens worldwide would be wise to recognize and call out what has transpired in the United States. Left unchecked these forces will inevitably spiral out of control and the end result will be a nuclear Armageddon that was all along preventable. The choice is ours — and time is growing short.
Jim Sawyer, Edmonds, Wash.
The special prosecutor documents the methods used since 2014 in 37 pages that makes clear that Russia did indeed influence the 2016 presidential election in favor of Trump, but to what degree will never be possible to determine. Since release of the document Twitter has weeded out 50,000 accounts with ties to Russian operatives. In addition to what happened on Twitter, 126 million people were reached by fake news and false postings by such operatives on Facebook. Trump and his supporters will deny that it made any difference and Clinton supporters will argue that it did but instead of having a useless argument there is an indisputable way to settle the issue once and forever.
What can’t be denied is that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.9 million votes and lost the electoral count by 77 votes. She lost Wisconsin by 0.7% of the vote, Michigan by 0.2% of the vote and Pennsylvania by 0.8%, for a total of 56 electoral votes which, if reversed, would give Clinton the presidency by a margin of 32 electoral votes and probably the largest popular vote majority in history. Why not have at least these three states, if not all states with a close margin of victory either way, re-vote and make the results of that election official?
Nothing will get done in Washington because both legislative and executive branches are in the hands of a party that is anti-government, wants it to fail and Republicans will condone anything Trump does or says as long as he signs the bills designed to destroy government of, by and for the people that they send him. That leaves saving the country up to the states, which just might be possible given a big two step what if by all states in which the election was decided by less that 1%.
Step 1. All registered voters in said states are contacted and asked to respond yes or no to whether the 2016 presidential election should be declared invalid and redone due to involvement of Russian operatives in distribution of fake news and stories.
Step 2. If the majority respond yes, a new election shall be scheduled and held and results made official.
If the people of the states involved vote to keep Trump winning the electoral vote, so be it. Let the investigation as to whether the Trump campaign collaborated with Russian operatives end, because the people don’t care one way or the other, and let the pillars upon which our society is founded such as the free press, the legal system and civil rights groups harden and prepare themselves against the onslaughts from a solipsistic president. If, however the electoral vote changes and Hillary Clinton now wins, let Trump and Company vacate the White House and Capitol Hill. Let all his executive actions and appointments be null and void, including that Supreme Court judge, and let officials and department heads from the Obama administration, is available, fill in vacancies until the Clinton administration has time to do so.
Charles Leach, Lynchburg, Ohio
The old low-church Episcopalian in me was slightly uneasy at first with Seth Sandronsky’s “Cloning Monkeys: Are Humans Next?” (3/1/18 TPP). Nervous Nellies of both sexes may sense some misgivings concerning so seemingly bizarre a prospect.
Alas! almost everyone is a Darwinian nowadays. And accordingly science has a edge over medieval theology. Such has been the wayward tendency since the Protestant Reformation.
In his Outspoken Essays, Second Series (1922) William Ralph Inge said Man is halfway between an ape and a god—and traveling in the right direction. Let us accept his consoling supposition.
William Dauenhauer, Willowick, Ohio
President Trump is obsessed with the harm that has been done by “chain migrants,” and no doubt he can quote a couple of instances where such “chain migrants” have caused mayhem in this country. Most of the recent troubles are not caused by such migrants and should be blamed on citizens who have been living here for a long time — does Timothy McVeigh come to mind — anybody? The president wants to put an end to this system and he insists that he will veto the bill if a DACA proposal comes on his table.
Had it not been for successive citizens who have sponsored such immigrants, we would not have been so “great.” We cannot ignore the fact that such sponsorship has led to contributions in the field of technology, medicine, sciences, arts or music. Does the president really want to put an end to this?
G.M. Chandu, Flushing, N.Y.
While Donald Trump likes to energize his base by heaping scorn on immigrants, they are quietly saving our butts.
Social Security depends on worker contributions to remain solvent. Fortunately for us, immigrants have greatly expanded our working population. They now represent 17% of our labor force, and without this expansion we would be sunk.
The US will face a shortage of between 40,800 and 104,900 physicians by 2030, according to a new study commissioned by the Association of American Medical Colleges. We could be in worse shape, but our immigrants now represent 25% of our physicians and surgeons, a great help. Further, Trump’s now-silenced Muslim ban would have deprived us of 260 medical residents, which we greatly need.
By the way, Trump called South Africa a “s**thole country,” yet a South African immigrant named Elon Musk has created Tesla and Space X, both companies that the US benefits greatly from.
Lee Knohl, Evanston Ill.
Death, disfigurement, and the crippling wounds inflicted by gun use are a major public health problem.
More Americans have been killed by guns outside of war, than the total number of soldiers/sailors killed in all our wars combined.
Common sense solutions used by other countries:
1) Outlaw the purchase of all arms whose primary use is to kill humans, e.g. assault rifles, handguns, machine guns, hand grenades, land mines, nuclear bombs.
2) Forbid concealed weapons.
3) Make 21 the minimum age limit for weapon purchase.
4) Nationalize the manufacturing and distribution of all legal weapons.
5) Require hunters to register and store their guns with local law enforcement agencies.
6) Put a $5 tax on every bullet.
7) Block felons, children, spouse abusers and those subject to a restraining order, from bearing arms.
8) Require extensive gun use training before purchase is allowed.
9) Require liability insurance for gun owners.
James M. Krueger, Spokane, Wash.
With his inimitable clarity, Ralph Nader [in “The Paradox of Equal Justice,” 3/1/18 TPP], explains why the sudden hurricane of sexual accusations has destroyed the careers of numerous men in high places.
He also questions the paradox in our system of justice that allows criminals such as George W. Bush and corporate chiefs who have committed gargantuan misdeeds, to remain undisturbed in their luxurious pastures.
Then, with characteristic graciousness, he invites his readers to join the discussion and tell him what we think could have triggered the unprecedented speed of punishments that are being meted out as a result of the #Me Too campaign.
Well, this is what I think:
There’s nothing sexier than sex. And nothing attracts the distracted more than sex. Therefore, those who couldn’t care less about such boring matters as presidents launching illegal and immoral wars, and corporate criminals who cause thousands of deaths, or who have crippled our nation’s economy, will come to full and rapturous attention when they hear or read the word SEX.
David Quintero, Monrovia, Calif.
From The Progressive Populist, April 1, 2018
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