Days before his nomination for Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo said, "there will be no concessions made during ongoing negotiations with North Korea." Refusing to make any concessions in the normal process of negotiations is a sure way to doom the diplomatic process before it begins. Supporting withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal will dramatically undermine efforts to negotiate an agreement with North Korea.
Pompeo advocated for military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities at the height of delicate (and ultimately successful) nuclear negotiations with Iran, arguing that it would take "under 2,000 sorties to destroy the Iranian nuclear capacity," which he characterized as "not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces." Pompeo also called for congressional action to foment regime change in Iran.
Last July, Pompeo implied that he supports regime change in North Korea, saying that Kim Jong-Un has to be separated from his nuclear weapons and that the people of North Korea "would love to see him go."
Mike Pompeo has a history of Islamophobia. He once said that Muslim leaders across America are "potentially complicit in acts of terrorism that they do not specifically condemn." He supported legislation that would have labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization. Presumably in response to reports that the Trump administration was considering making such a designation, CIA analysts released an internal memo in January 2017 warning that labeling the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization "may fuel extremism," and noting that the Muslim Brotherhood has "rejected violence as a matter of official policy and opposed al-Qa'ida and ISIS."
Pompeo has strong connections to some of the most well-known anti-Muslim voices in the country such as Frank Gaffney, who has promulgated conspiracy theories about President Obama being a Muslim, and Brigette Gabriel, who believes that Muslim-Americans should not be allowed to hold public office, and has said that "a practicing Muslim... cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America." This record of Islamophobia makes Pompeo ill-suited for the task of working with leaders of Muslim-majority nations around the world, a critical responsibility for the Secretary of State.
While he was director of the CIA, Pompeo said that he couldn't remember if President Trump asked him to speak against the Russian investigation. He couldn't remember the conversation but he would surely remember if Trump had asked him to do something that was improper. Anyway, Pompeo would not reveal what Trump had told him in a private conservation. Pompeo joined several other high officials in the Trump administration who have refused to reveal conversations with Trump, even when Trump has not invoked executive privilege.
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
Deaths in Gaza Protest Call for Investigation
Peace Action has called for an independent investigation into the deaths in the Gaza protests and asks U.S. politicians to stand up for human rights. A Human Rights Watch statement reported:
"[T]he Israeli government presented no evidence that rock-throwing and other violence of demonstrators seriously threatened Israeli soldiers across the border fence. The high number of deaths and injuries was the foreseeable consequence of granting soldiers leeway to use lethal force outside of life-threatening situations in violation of international norms, coupled with the longstanding culture of impunity within the Israeli army for serious abuses."
"We here in the U.S. have to recognize that this protest was directly related to recent moves by the Trump administration. In fact, these protests, which are planned for six weeks, are designed to culminate around the same time when the U.S. embassy in Israel relocates to Jerusalem in mid-May. The embassy move has angered not only Palestinians, it has generated protests in many Muslim nations. At the march last week that turned violent, protesters carried signs critical of Donald Trump, who has slashed $65 million in aid funding for the Palestinians in addition to deciding to move the embassy. All of that, on top of the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, added up to a combustible situation.
The violence in Gaza was not only indiscriminate and disproportionate, it was predictable and avoidable. Senior Israeli officials gave an unlawful green light to use lethal force against the protesters. When the Israeli Defense Forces announced ahead of time that they were deploying 100 sharpshooters along the border, human rights advocates warned about what should have been obvious -- stationing sharpshooters at the site of a political protest and march was a recipe for human rights violations. In fact, a headline Newsweek article said succinctly" 'TRUMP'S JERUSALEM EMBASSY COULD CAUSE A BLOODBATH IN GAZA AS ISRAELI MILITARY DEPLOYS SHARPSHOOTERS.' Tragically, these predictions were right.
Peace Action joins the calls of many, including U.N. General Secretary Antonio Guterres, for an independent and effective investigation into the shootings. Accountability for the decisions that went into this tragedy is critical. We also call for an end to the blockade pf Gaza, which is contributing to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world right now.
It's critical that members of Congress speak up and stand for human rights. Members of Congress should condemn the use of live fire against protesters, should oppose the U.S. efforts to block an investigation of the protesters' deaths at the U.N., and should call for an end to the tragic blockade of Gaza. The handful of members of Congress who have spoken out against the Israeli military's disproportionate use of force already, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Betty McCollum, deserve thanks and they will hopefully be joined by others. People who are concerned abut the violence should call their member of Congress and ask them to speak out against the violations of human rights.
The protests in Gaza are scheduled to continue over the next few weeks so there is a danger of continued violence. In fact, the Israeli response seems calculated to take the wind out of this period of protest. It is critical that U.S. leaders engage to hold the Israeli government for its violations of human rights. These violations are not unique to the Israeli reaction to this particular protest but are part of a long history of the Israeli military using disproportionate violence against the Palestinians.
Beyond holding the Israeli government accountable for disproportionate acts of violence, the U.S. has both the capacity and the responsibility to demand an end to the host of oppressive policies employed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people, and to facilitate a peace process that upholds the rights to dignity, sovereignty, and security for all people. The Palestinians deserve to be free and to enjoy their own sovereignty, and until then their right of self-expression and protest without violent repression deserves strong support."
"[T]he Israeli government presented no evidence that rock-throwing and other violence of demonstrators seriously threatened Israeli soldiers across the border fence. The high number of deaths and injuries was the foreseeable consequence of granting soldiers leeway to use lethal force outside of life-threatening situations in violation of international norms, coupled with the longstanding culture of impunity within the Israeli army for serious abuses."
"We here in the U.S. have to recognize that this protest was directly related to recent moves by the Trump administration. In fact, these protests, which are planned for six weeks, are designed to culminate around the same time when the U.S. embassy in Israel relocates to Jerusalem in mid-May. The embassy move has angered not only Palestinians, it has generated protests in many Muslim nations. At the march last week that turned violent, protesters carried signs critical of Donald Trump, who has slashed $65 million in aid funding for the Palestinians in addition to deciding to move the embassy. All of that, on top of the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza, added up to a combustible situation.
The violence in Gaza was not only indiscriminate and disproportionate, it was predictable and avoidable. Senior Israeli officials gave an unlawful green light to use lethal force against the protesters. When the Israeli Defense Forces announced ahead of time that they were deploying 100 sharpshooters along the border, human rights advocates warned about what should have been obvious -- stationing sharpshooters at the site of a political protest and march was a recipe for human rights violations. In fact, a headline Newsweek article said succinctly" 'TRUMP'S JERUSALEM EMBASSY COULD CAUSE A BLOODBATH IN GAZA AS ISRAELI MILITARY DEPLOYS SHARPSHOOTERS.' Tragically, these predictions were right.
Peace Action joins the calls of many, including U.N. General Secretary Antonio Guterres, for an independent and effective investigation into the shootings. Accountability for the decisions that went into this tragedy is critical. We also call for an end to the blockade pf Gaza, which is contributing to one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world right now.
It's critical that members of Congress speak up and stand for human rights. Members of Congress should condemn the use of live fire against protesters, should oppose the U.S. efforts to block an investigation of the protesters' deaths at the U.N., and should call for an end to the tragic blockade of Gaza. The handful of members of Congress who have spoken out against the Israeli military's disproportionate use of force already, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Betty McCollum, deserve thanks and they will hopefully be joined by others. People who are concerned abut the violence should call their member of Congress and ask them to speak out against the violations of human rights.
The protests in Gaza are scheduled to continue over the next few weeks so there is a danger of continued violence. In fact, the Israeli response seems calculated to take the wind out of this period of protest. It is critical that U.S. leaders engage to hold the Israeli government for its violations of human rights. These violations are not unique to the Israeli reaction to this particular protest but are part of a long history of the Israeli military using disproportionate violence against the Palestinians.
Beyond holding the Israeli government accountable for disproportionate acts of violence, the U.S. has both the capacity and the responsibility to demand an end to the host of oppressive policies employed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people, and to facilitate a peace process that upholds the rights to dignity, sovereignty, and security for all people. The Palestinians deserve to be free and to enjoy their own sovereignty, and until then their right of self-expression and protest without violent repression deserves strong support."
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
The Trump Watch on the Environment
President Donald Trump proposes cutting EPA funding by 23 percent and funding for Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay restoration programs by 90 percent. He wants to bankrupt maintenance in national parks by expanding oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters.
Trump imposes 30 percent tariffs on solar panels from Asia.
Trump says he "didn't really care" about opening up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling until a friend in the oil industry asked him to.
For the third time, Trump waives environmental regulations for construction of his proposed border wall, drawing a lawsuit from the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program. Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump once derided for his Mexican heritage, sides with the government.
Ten of 12 members of the National Park System Advisory Board resign.
The Sierra Club and others sue the Department of Energy for ignoring five Obama-era energy efficiency rules for air conditioners and other appliances. A federal court orders the agency to publish the rules.
The Trump administration ignores so many Freedom of Information Act requests from the Sierra Club that Club attorneys file a FOIA request asking for details on FOIA procedures. The administration refuses, and the Environmental Law Program sues it again.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt deletes from his Twitter feed a picture of himself with the proprietors of a Florida nursery (whom he called "#TrueEnvironmentalists") after it is revealed that they grow medicinal cannabis.
ADDENDUMS:
*Matthew Hoh says that the Veterans Administration has known since 1990 that guilt over killing human beings is the best predictor of suicide. Hoh has struggled with guilt, PTSD, brain injury and substance abuse.
*The U.S. is using more than 5,500 contractors to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon revealed in the quarterly report issued last month. Most of the contractors are focused on supporting the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.
*Trump tweet: "Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept."
*Dozens of Wyoming's grizzly bears are on the verge of being baited, hunted, and killed as trophies. Even female bears are being targeted. Estimates are that only 700 remain.
*In 2017 alone, 19 states passed 63 anti-adoption restrictions.
*The Kentucky legislature passed an 11-week abortion ban last month. The ban affects a specific procedure called dilation and evacuation used in about 16 percent of cases. Mississippi now bans all abortions after 15 weeks.
*An Associated Press analysis found that six big Wall Street banks made an additional $3.59 billion so far this year thanks to the new tax law.
*The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the new tax law will increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion from 2018 to 2028, and adding the cost of paying interest on this new government debt created by the tax law, increases the deficit by $1.9 trillion.
*Trump on Stephen Cohen: "From what I see he did absolutely nothing wrong. There were no campaign funds going into this which would have been a problem."
*Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said: "For the resident to describe a leader who stands incredibly accused of starving his own people, violently executing his political opponents, and murdering members of his own family as very open and very honorable is beyond comprehension."
*A Quinnipiac University survey taken April 20-24, found 55 percent saying Trump has made the world less safe and 37 percent saying the opposite.
*18 U.S.House representatives are mounting a campaign to get the Nobel Peace prize for Trump.
*President Trump has created a White House Faith and Opportunity and Initiatives office but without any details being provided.
Trump imposes 30 percent tariffs on solar panels from Asia.
Trump says he "didn't really care" about opening up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling until a friend in the oil industry asked him to.
For the third time, Trump waives environmental regulations for construction of his proposed border wall, drawing a lawsuit from the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program. Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump once derided for his Mexican heritage, sides with the government.
Ten of 12 members of the National Park System Advisory Board resign.
The Sierra Club and others sue the Department of Energy for ignoring five Obama-era energy efficiency rules for air conditioners and other appliances. A federal court orders the agency to publish the rules.
The Trump administration ignores so many Freedom of Information Act requests from the Sierra Club that Club attorneys file a FOIA request asking for details on FOIA procedures. The administration refuses, and the Environmental Law Program sues it again.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt deletes from his Twitter feed a picture of himself with the proprietors of a Florida nursery (whom he called "#TrueEnvironmentalists") after it is revealed that they grow medicinal cannabis.
ADDENDUMS:
*Matthew Hoh says that the Veterans Administration has known since 1990 that guilt over killing human beings is the best predictor of suicide. Hoh has struggled with guilt, PTSD, brain injury and substance abuse.
*The U.S. is using more than 5,500 contractors to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon revealed in the quarterly report issued last month. Most of the contractors are focused on supporting the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.
*Trump tweet: "Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept."
*Dozens of Wyoming's grizzly bears are on the verge of being baited, hunted, and killed as trophies. Even female bears are being targeted. Estimates are that only 700 remain.
*In 2017 alone, 19 states passed 63 anti-adoption restrictions.
*The Kentucky legislature passed an 11-week abortion ban last month. The ban affects a specific procedure called dilation and evacuation used in about 16 percent of cases. Mississippi now bans all abortions after 15 weeks.
*An Associated Press analysis found that six big Wall Street banks made an additional $3.59 billion so far this year thanks to the new tax law.
*The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the new tax law will increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion from 2018 to 2028, and adding the cost of paying interest on this new government debt created by the tax law, increases the deficit by $1.9 trillion.
*Trump on Stephen Cohen: "From what I see he did absolutely nothing wrong. There were no campaign funds going into this which would have been a problem."
*Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said: "For the resident to describe a leader who stands incredibly accused of starving his own people, violently executing his political opponents, and murdering members of his own family as very open and very honorable is beyond comprehension."
*A Quinnipiac University survey taken April 20-24, found 55 percent saying Trump has made the world less safe and 37 percent saying the opposite.
*18 U.S.House representatives are mounting a campaign to get the Nobel Peace prize for Trump.
*President Trump has created a White House Faith and Opportunity and Initiatives office but without any details being provided.
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Feeding the Insatiable Pentagon
The U.S.Navy is scrambling to spend the billions of dollars in extra spending that the Trump administration and Congress lavished on it as part of the Pentagon's 2018 budget. For many of the roughly 5,000 workers at a major aircraft-repair facility in San Diego, that means overtime -- lots of it. In a mandatory effort to spend the entire 2018 budget and justify equal or higher spending in 2019, some workers at the North Island naval air facility are browsing the Internet, socializing with co-workers, and even sleeping on the job. Many workers have little choice but to kill time while on the clock. Even before the new overtime requirement -- supervisors had warned employees that not working at least 15 percent overtime could face "an appropriate penalty... for an act of employee misconduct" -- some North Island employees were only working at half-capacity due to bottle necks in other parts of the Navy's aircraft-maintenance process.
So-called budgetary burn-offs are not confined to the military, because it is general knowledge in government agencies that it's important to "use it or lose it." Not only does the federal government require agencies to return any unsent money at the end of the fiscal year, administration officials and congressional appropriators tend to adjust budgets upward or downward depending upon how fully a given agency spent its previous allocations.
The mandatory overtime at North Island, which began on March 11, could continue until the facility spends every dollar the administration requested and Congress appropriated for 2018. This year the Navy asked for $1.4 billion for aircraft maintenance at depot facilities including North Island -- a $200 million increase over 2017. Congress appropriated $640 billion for the Defense Department for 2018, a nearly $40 billion boost compared to 2017.
When President Trump began to speak about a "hollowed-out" military and many Republican lawmakers joined in that out-of-tune chorus, the major priorities were identified as training for military personnel to meet their mission, and replacing military hardware used up in the many military conflicts the U.S. has been engaged in after 9/11. Trump revealed how false were these justifications when he asked for $25 billion to be taken from the Pentagon budget and used to help finance a border wall. Then, when Trump was schooled on the proposition that money appropriated for one purpose cannot be expended for another purpose, he decided to have the military help guard the border between Mexico and the United States. With his usual lack of precision and detail, Trump wants 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to perform largely undefined functions. And, of course, the money to pay for the National Guard will come from the Pentagon's apparently starved budget.
The U.S., with about five percent of the world's population, now accounts for almost 40 percent of the world's military spending, and with the very large additions to Pentagon spending over this year and the next, that percentage will undoubtedly climb well into the 40s. We spend more on the military than the next nine nations combined, which include China and Russia. Military spending now accounts for 55 percent of discretionary spending, and will undoubtedly climb into the 60s with the two-year spending increases.
When House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his retirement, he mentioned as his two most important accomplishments, the passage of the tax plan and building up the U.S. military. The money that has been shoveled to the Pentagon has been a major cause of the huge budgetary deficit and the subsequent starving of the domestic economy.
ADDENDUMS:
* Kellyanne Conway's tweet of October 29, 2016: "Astonished by the all-out assault on Comey by Team Clinton. Suggesting he is a partisan interfering with the election is dangerous & and unfair."
*After Nikki Haley promised that new sanctions on-Russia would be imposed the next day, President Trump put on the brakes.
*Number of Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S.: 2016 - 15,479; 2017 - 3,024; and 2018 - 11.
* Andrew Wheeler, former coal mining lobbyist, was confirmed by the Senate as deputy administrator of the EPA. He served as an adviser to Sen. James M. Inhofe (R- Okla.), a high-profile critic of climate science.
*More than 70 meetings between Trump staffers and Russian operatives have taken place, many of them initially denied.
* Trump signed an executive order strengthening work requirements or low-income Americans who receive government assistance through programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and welfare.
So-called budgetary burn-offs are not confined to the military, because it is general knowledge in government agencies that it's important to "use it or lose it." Not only does the federal government require agencies to return any unsent money at the end of the fiscal year, administration officials and congressional appropriators tend to adjust budgets upward or downward depending upon how fully a given agency spent its previous allocations.
The mandatory overtime at North Island, which began on March 11, could continue until the facility spends every dollar the administration requested and Congress appropriated for 2018. This year the Navy asked for $1.4 billion for aircraft maintenance at depot facilities including North Island -- a $200 million increase over 2017. Congress appropriated $640 billion for the Defense Department for 2018, a nearly $40 billion boost compared to 2017.
When President Trump began to speak about a "hollowed-out" military and many Republican lawmakers joined in that out-of-tune chorus, the major priorities were identified as training for military personnel to meet their mission, and replacing military hardware used up in the many military conflicts the U.S. has been engaged in after 9/11. Trump revealed how false were these justifications when he asked for $25 billion to be taken from the Pentagon budget and used to help finance a border wall. Then, when Trump was schooled on the proposition that money appropriated for one purpose cannot be expended for another purpose, he decided to have the military help guard the border between Mexico and the United States. With his usual lack of precision and detail, Trump wants 2,000 to 4,000 National Guard troops to perform largely undefined functions. And, of course, the money to pay for the National Guard will come from the Pentagon's apparently starved budget.
The U.S., with about five percent of the world's population, now accounts for almost 40 percent of the world's military spending, and with the very large additions to Pentagon spending over this year and the next, that percentage will undoubtedly climb well into the 40s. We spend more on the military than the next nine nations combined, which include China and Russia. Military spending now accounts for 55 percent of discretionary spending, and will undoubtedly climb into the 60s with the two-year spending increases.
When House Speaker Paul Ryan announced his retirement, he mentioned as his two most important accomplishments, the passage of the tax plan and building up the U.S. military. The money that has been shoveled to the Pentagon has been a major cause of the huge budgetary deficit and the subsequent starving of the domestic economy.
ADDENDUMS:
* Kellyanne Conway's tweet of October 29, 2016: "Astonished by the all-out assault on Comey by Team Clinton. Suggesting he is a partisan interfering with the election is dangerous & and unfair."
*After Nikki Haley promised that new sanctions on-Russia would be imposed the next day, President Trump put on the brakes.
*Number of Syrian refugees admitted to the U.S.: 2016 - 15,479; 2017 - 3,024; and 2018 - 11.
* Andrew Wheeler, former coal mining lobbyist, was confirmed by the Senate as deputy administrator of the EPA. He served as an adviser to Sen. James M. Inhofe (R- Okla.), a high-profile critic of climate science.
*More than 70 meetings between Trump staffers and Russian operatives have taken place, many of them initially denied.
* Trump signed an executive order strengthening work requirements or low-income Americans who receive government assistance through programs such as Medicaid, food stamps and welfare.
Monday, April 16, 2018
Restaurant Workers' Low Wages and Sexual Harassment Exposure
In a 2014 survey of 688 recent and former restaurant employees, the Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United and Forward Together found that about 80 percent said they had been harassed by co-workers or customers. Another two-thirds said they have been harassed by managers. Sixty percent of female and transgender workers said that sexual harassment was an uncomfortable aspect of their daily work lives, while about a third said that being inappropriately touched was a common occurrence.
The accommodation and food-service industry -- including bars, restaurants, and fast-food joints -- was responsible for the largest share of private-sector harassment charges filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2005 to 2015.
In most of the country, servers and bartenders can be paid a lower wage if their tips make up the difference between their pay and the federal minimum wage. The federal floor is just $2.13 per hour for tipped workers, versus $7.25 for everyone else. In a recent report, the National Employment Law Project found that tips account for nearly 60 percent of servers' earnings and more than half for bartenders.
ROC United found that female restaurant workers who live in states were employers can pay them a lower minimum wage if they work for tips are twice as likely to experience sexual harassment as those in the seven states where all workers are paid the same wage.
Sexual harassment is a fact of life for far too many women across the economy, with about 60 percent saying they've experienced it. But the food-industry is in a category all its own. In interviews with "The Nation," many industry veterans struggled with how to describe the harassment or even where to begin, given how pervasive it was.
There is a price to pay for employers to consider by high turnover, as staffers flee an abusive environment.
Sexual Harassment in the Food Industry
From 1997-2015 there were 23,570 charges but only 364 cases.
EEOC Sexual Harassment Cases
There were 268,610 charges filed from 1997-2017 for all industries. 24,544 charges, or 9% of total charges, were made against food-industry employers.
In 2017, the EEOC had a backlog of 61,621 complaints and an average wait time of 295 days.
The EEOC litigates only a small fraction of all charges brought to the commission. In 2000 it was 22 cases out of 15,000 filed; in 2005 it was 38 out of 12,000 filed; in 2010 it was 16 out of 11,000 filed; and in 2015 it was 5 out of 10,000 filed. (Source: "The Nation," March 5, 2018.)
The accommodation and food-service industry -- including bars, restaurants, and fast-food joints -- was responsible for the largest share of private-sector harassment charges filed with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission from 2005 to 2015.
In most of the country, servers and bartenders can be paid a lower wage if their tips make up the difference between their pay and the federal minimum wage. The federal floor is just $2.13 per hour for tipped workers, versus $7.25 for everyone else. In a recent report, the National Employment Law Project found that tips account for nearly 60 percent of servers' earnings and more than half for bartenders.
ROC United found that female restaurant workers who live in states were employers can pay them a lower minimum wage if they work for tips are twice as likely to experience sexual harassment as those in the seven states where all workers are paid the same wage.
Sexual harassment is a fact of life for far too many women across the economy, with about 60 percent saying they've experienced it. But the food-industry is in a category all its own. In interviews with "The Nation," many industry veterans struggled with how to describe the harassment or even where to begin, given how pervasive it was.
There is a price to pay for employers to consider by high turnover, as staffers flee an abusive environment.
Sexual Harassment in the Food Industry
From 1997-2015 there were 23,570 charges but only 364 cases.
EEOC Sexual Harassment Cases
There were 268,610 charges filed from 1997-2017 for all industries. 24,544 charges, or 9% of total charges, were made against food-industry employers.
In 2017, the EEOC had a backlog of 61,621 complaints and an average wait time of 295 days.
The EEOC litigates only a small fraction of all charges brought to the commission. In 2000 it was 22 cases out of 15,000 filed; in 2005 it was 38 out of 12,000 filed; in 2010 it was 16 out of 11,000 filed; and in 2015 it was 5 out of 10,000 filed. (Source: "The Nation," March 5, 2018.)
Monday, April 9, 2018
Stats on Mass Shootings, Teacher Strikes and a Nuke Game Changer
Mass Shooting Numbers/Percentages
100 - Number of mass shooters (defined as individuals who indiscriminately kill three or more victims in a public place) in the United States since 1982, according to "Mother Jones."
97% - Percentage of mass shooters who have been male.
57% - Percentage of mass shooters who have been white and male.
69% - Minimum percentage of guns used by these shooters that were purchased legally.
816 - Number of people killed by mass shooters since 1982.
1,275 - Estimated number of people injured by mass shooters since 1982. (Source: The Nation, April 2, 2018).
Striking Teachers' Numbers/Percentages
34,000 - Approximate number of public-school employees who went on strike for nine days in West Virginia.
+5% - Amount by which teachers' pay will increase a a result of the strike (in addition to a freeze on health-insurance costs).
-8.6% - Amount by which, prior to the strike, teachers' pay in West Virginia had decreased over the past 15 years.
-3% - Amount by which teacher pay has fallen nationwide over the same 15 years.
29 - Number of states that now provide less school funding per student than they did before the 2008 recession, according to 2015 data. (Source: The Nation, April 9, 2018).
President Trump's Nuclear Posture Review as Game Changer
Trump's Nuclear Posture Review is a game changer because it repudiates the logic that had governed nuclear weapons under President Obama -- whose stated goal was to limit their use to retaliation for an enemy's nuclear assault -- and instead envisions their use for a wide range of purposes, including to blunt a Russian advance on NATO forces or to retaliate against a cyber assault on critical U.S. infrastructure.
President Vladimir Putin has signaled Russian determination to counter U.S. attempts to incapacitate Russia's retaliatory capacity by installing antimissile systems, deploying nuclear-powered cruise missiles and unmanned submarines.
This tit-for-tat assertions of weapons development "inevitably [sparks] reciprocal action in a perpetual arms race."
Michael T. Klare tells readers that they can help forestall precipitous action by urging their members in Congress to support the No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea Act. (Source: Michael T. Klare, "The New Cold War," The Nation, April 2, 2018).
100 - Number of mass shooters (defined as individuals who indiscriminately kill three or more victims in a public place) in the United States since 1982, according to "Mother Jones."
97% - Percentage of mass shooters who have been male.
57% - Percentage of mass shooters who have been white and male.
69% - Minimum percentage of guns used by these shooters that were purchased legally.
816 - Number of people killed by mass shooters since 1982.
1,275 - Estimated number of people injured by mass shooters since 1982. (Source: The Nation, April 2, 2018).
Striking Teachers' Numbers/Percentages
34,000 - Approximate number of public-school employees who went on strike for nine days in West Virginia.
+5% - Amount by which teachers' pay will increase a a result of the strike (in addition to a freeze on health-insurance costs).
-8.6% - Amount by which, prior to the strike, teachers' pay in West Virginia had decreased over the past 15 years.
-3% - Amount by which teacher pay has fallen nationwide over the same 15 years.
29 - Number of states that now provide less school funding per student than they did before the 2008 recession, according to 2015 data. (Source: The Nation, April 9, 2018).
President Trump's Nuclear Posture Review as Game Changer
Trump's Nuclear Posture Review is a game changer because it repudiates the logic that had governed nuclear weapons under President Obama -- whose stated goal was to limit their use to retaliation for an enemy's nuclear assault -- and instead envisions their use for a wide range of purposes, including to blunt a Russian advance on NATO forces or to retaliate against a cyber assault on critical U.S. infrastructure.
President Vladimir Putin has signaled Russian determination to counter U.S. attempts to incapacitate Russia's retaliatory capacity by installing antimissile systems, deploying nuclear-powered cruise missiles and unmanned submarines.
This tit-for-tat assertions of weapons development "inevitably [sparks] reciprocal action in a perpetual arms race."
Michael T. Klare tells readers that they can help forestall precipitous action by urging their members in Congress to support the No Unconstitutional Strike Against North Korea Act. (Source: Michael T. Klare, "The New Cold War," The Nation, April 2, 2018).
Wednesday, April 4, 2018
Pompeo Nomination and a Look Back at CPAC
Statement on Pompeo Nomination
In response to news of Rex Tillerson's firing and C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo taking his place as Secretary of State, Jon Rainwater, Executive Director of Peace Action, the nation's largest peace and justice grassroots organization, released the following statement:
"By tapping Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State, Trump is handing over the reins of U.S. diplomacy to one of the most hawkish members of his administration. For all of Tillerson's flaws, he served as a check on Trump's more hawkish positions. With Pompeo, Trump' worst instincts on Iran and North Korea will be reinforced. Pompeo [has] not only said his goal is 'rolling back' the 'disastrous' Iran nuclear deal, he earlier suggested military strikes as an alternative to diplomacy.
"In 2014, as part of his efforts to block President Obama's diplomacy, Pompeo promoted a military approach. Pompeo made clear that he preferred military strikes to the diplomatic efforts that had already resulted in an interim agreement, saying 'In an unclassified setting, it is under 2,000 sorties to destroy the Iranian nuclear capacity. This is not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces.'
"North Korea is likely the most high stakes diplomatic issue facing the U.S., but Pompeo's approach to North Korea is far from diplomatic. Pompeo recently said that 'there will be no concessions made' during negotiations. Pompeo has also signaled his interest in a policy of regime change in North Korea. Threatening regime change while ruling out the normal give-and-take nature of negotiations is a surefire strategy to kill the otherwise promising diplomatic progress on the Korean Peninsula in its crib.
"Secretary Tillerson presided over a shameful erosion of the diplomatic capacity of the United States. Critical positions remain vacant and morale among those left at the State Department is as low as ever, While Pompeo could end up being a more competent administrator, his extreme policy views threaten to gut U.S. diplomatic capacity further by making war the go-to option rather a last resort."
The U.S. military is certainly preparing to carry out a presidential order for war. Besides undertaking a host of war games with South Korea over the past year, it has moved long-range B-52, B-1, and "stealth" B-2 bombers to Guam, from which they can strike North Korea with nuclear or conventional bombs. The Defense Department has also been testing the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb, the 30,000 GBU-57, which has the capacity to plow through hundreds of feet of earth to destroy "hardened" weapons silos.
A Look Back at CPAC
Despite the Trump administration succeeding in implementing a hyperconservative agenda, CPAC favorites Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro acknowledged that they had no substantive disagreements with Trump. Nevertheless, the entire event was defined by victimhood and paranoia. The enemies are everywhere: Democrats, socialists,college professors, regulators, black athletes, reporters, "fake news," the FBI. "They try like hell, they can't stand what we've done," Trump said ominously.
Trump's speech was the climax of a CPAC defined by seething, spastic vitriol from nearly every featured speaker. National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch declared "many in the legacy media love mass shootings." Wayne Lapierre, the executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, claimed Democrats were conspiring to "eradicate all individual freedoms." Ben Shapiro, the right-wing polemicist who recently received a glowing profile in "The New York Times," repeated his familiar anti-transgender bigotry, to the delight of the audience. The anger was even more pronounced in the wake of the Parkland shooting, which was referenced regularly over the course of the conference.
Trump repeatedly warned the crowd that if Democrats were elected they would repeal the Second Amendment, and at one point asked the attendees to cheer if they preferred the Second Amendment or tax cuts. It was a bizarre moment, one of many, but suffice it to say that the Second Amendment received very loud support. That defensive posture in the midst of a seeming sea change in the gun-control debate was not a coincidence, and a clear sign that the CPAC doesn't see itself as responsible for the prevalence of mass shootings.
In response to news of Rex Tillerson's firing and C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo taking his place as Secretary of State, Jon Rainwater, Executive Director of Peace Action, the nation's largest peace and justice grassroots organization, released the following statement:
"By tapping Mike Pompeo to be Secretary of State, Trump is handing over the reins of U.S. diplomacy to one of the most hawkish members of his administration. For all of Tillerson's flaws, he served as a check on Trump's more hawkish positions. With Pompeo, Trump' worst instincts on Iran and North Korea will be reinforced. Pompeo [has] not only said his goal is 'rolling back' the 'disastrous' Iran nuclear deal, he earlier suggested military strikes as an alternative to diplomacy.
"In 2014, as part of his efforts to block President Obama's diplomacy, Pompeo promoted a military approach. Pompeo made clear that he preferred military strikes to the diplomatic efforts that had already resulted in an interim agreement, saying 'In an unclassified setting, it is under 2,000 sorties to destroy the Iranian nuclear capacity. This is not an insurmountable task for the coalition forces.'
"North Korea is likely the most high stakes diplomatic issue facing the U.S., but Pompeo's approach to North Korea is far from diplomatic. Pompeo recently said that 'there will be no concessions made' during negotiations. Pompeo has also signaled his interest in a policy of regime change in North Korea. Threatening regime change while ruling out the normal give-and-take nature of negotiations is a surefire strategy to kill the otherwise promising diplomatic progress on the Korean Peninsula in its crib.
"Secretary Tillerson presided over a shameful erosion of the diplomatic capacity of the United States. Critical positions remain vacant and morale among those left at the State Department is as low as ever, While Pompeo could end up being a more competent administrator, his extreme policy views threaten to gut U.S. diplomatic capacity further by making war the go-to option rather a last resort."
The U.S. military is certainly preparing to carry out a presidential order for war. Besides undertaking a host of war games with South Korea over the past year, it has moved long-range B-52, B-1, and "stealth" B-2 bombers to Guam, from which they can strike North Korea with nuclear or conventional bombs. The Defense Department has also been testing the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb, the 30,000 GBU-57, which has the capacity to plow through hundreds of feet of earth to destroy "hardened" weapons silos.
A Look Back at CPAC
Despite the Trump administration succeeding in implementing a hyperconservative agenda, CPAC favorites Ted Cruz and Ben Shapiro acknowledged that they had no substantive disagreements with Trump. Nevertheless, the entire event was defined by victimhood and paranoia. The enemies are everywhere: Democrats, socialists,college professors, regulators, black athletes, reporters, "fake news," the FBI. "They try like hell, they can't stand what we've done," Trump said ominously.
Trump's speech was the climax of a CPAC defined by seething, spastic vitriol from nearly every featured speaker. National Rifle Association spokesperson Dana Loesch declared "many in the legacy media love mass shootings." Wayne Lapierre, the executive vice president and CEO of the NRA, claimed Democrats were conspiring to "eradicate all individual freedoms." Ben Shapiro, the right-wing polemicist who recently received a glowing profile in "The New York Times," repeated his familiar anti-transgender bigotry, to the delight of the audience. The anger was even more pronounced in the wake of the Parkland shooting, which was referenced regularly over the course of the conference.
Trump repeatedly warned the crowd that if Democrats were elected they would repeal the Second Amendment, and at one point asked the attendees to cheer if they preferred the Second Amendment or tax cuts. It was a bizarre moment, one of many, but suffice it to say that the Second Amendment received very loud support. That defensive posture in the midst of a seeming sea change in the gun-control debate was not a coincidence, and a clear sign that the CPAC doesn't see itself as responsible for the prevalence of mass shootings.
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