Chris Hedges: Europe’s War on Refugees

The persecution and abuse of refugees is becoming policy, including in Europe, Great Britain, Australia and the United States. It does not matter that the U.S. bears a direct responsibility for the more than 37 million people who have fled the wars in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan since 2001, not to mention the U.S.-backed wars Central America.

The U.S. proxy war in Ukraine has only exacerbated the crisis. The EU is providing money to Greece and Turkey to detain and prevent refugees from seeking asylum in other European countries. The EU is testing sound canons to blast at asylum seekers trying to cross into Greece from Turkey.

Dandelion Salad

Image by Fotomovimiento via Flickr

Dandelion Salad

with Chris Hedges

TheRealNews on Dec 30, 2022

In their book, Map of Hope and Sorrow, co-authors Helen Benedict and Eyad Awwadawnan trace the stories of five refugees trapped in Greece’s brutal refugee camps.

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Christmas Party Ideas For A Troubled Time

Antisemitism was on the rise, fascists were taking over Europe, before the coming of a world at war.

Envisioning The American Dream

Many have drawn parallels between our troubled times and the late 1930s, and it might be helpful to see how they celebrated during the festive Christmas season.

Anti Semitism was on the rise, fascists were taking over Europe, and a world at war was just around the corner, but in 1938, there was plenty to celebrate at Christmas time for Americans.

And plenty of suggestions on how to have fun.

Life was just a bowl of cherries when you don one of these fun rubber masks sure to add some spice and laughs at your Christmas party.

Is that Hitler I see kissing a Glamor girl under the mistletoe? Do I spy Mussolini having a tete-a-tete with an ape over the welsh rarebit?  Uh oh, looks like Stalin is getting a bit tipsy from too much eggnog! Can’t take that Uncle Joe anywhere!

These fun masks were made in 1938…

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New law ends COVID-19 vaccine mandate for US troops | AP News

As a veteran who served in the US Army many years ago, I was required to be vaccinated against a number of different diseases as a condition of my employment

Rcooley123's Blog

This law is not in the best interests of US military personnel or anyone who comes into contact with them here or abroad. As a veteran who served in the US Army many years ago, I was required to be vaccinated against a number of different diseases as a condition of my employment. Singling out COVID-19 as an exception while it is still a major threat to the health and welfare of military personnel and all those they come in contact with unnecessarily endangers both their cohorts and innocent people abroad who have not had access to this preventative measure.

School children and employees for many institutions and corporations also have been mandated to be vaccinated for such diseases as smallpox ( I seem to recall this was required of all troops serving under George Washington) , polio, typhoid, measles and various other serious illnesses for many decades. Turning COVID-19…

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Hundreds of US rabbis pledge to block extremists in Israeli government from speaking in their communities

The letter outlines five Religious Zionist proposals that it says “will cause irreparable harm to the Israel-Jewish Diaspora relationship”: changing the Law of Return to keep out non-Orthodox converts and their descendants; eroding LGBTQ rights; allowing the Knesset to override Supreme Court rulings; annexing the West Bank; and expelling Arab citizens who oppose Israel’s government.

Rabbi John Rosove's Blog

By Ron Kampeas December 22, 2022

(JTA) — More than 330 American rabbis, including some who occupy prominent roles in major cities, are pledging to block members of the Religious Zionist bloc in Benjamin Netanyahu’s new government from speaking at their synagogues and will lobby to keep them from speaking in their communities.

An open letter now circulating says they will not invite members of the bloc “to speak at our congregations and organizations. We will speak out against their participation in other fora across our communities. We will encourage the boards of our congregations and organizations to join us in this protest as a demonstration of our commitment to our Jewish and democratic values.”

Netanyahu announced his proposed new government including the Religious Zionists late Wednesday, although its details have yet to be finalized.

Israeli government ministers sometimes speak at American synagogues to drum up support for…

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Christmas 1914: When Rank and File Imposed Truce During Imperialist War, by Henry Hagins + John McCutcheon: Christmas in the Trenches + Balls To War

The many hardships and grotesque horrors of trench warfare fed the nagging desire for peace by rank-and-file soldiers on both sides of Europe’s Western Front, on the eve of Christmas, 1914. Begun, first, by German soldiers singing Christmas carols, they were later joined by English, French and Belgian soldiers responding in kind. These war-weary combatants, singularly and collectively, made peaceful gestures toward each other across the devastated terrain called “No Man’s Land.”

Dandelion Salad

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Dandelion Salad

by Henry Hagins
Workers World, Dec. 16, 2014
Originally published Dec. 24, 2015
December 22, 2022

The “Christmas Truce of 1914” was a short-lived, unofficial lull in combat between two antagonistic rival forces, determined to exercise military, political and economic supremacy over each other in Europe and in the colonized world, to which these imperial powers lay arrogant false claim. One of the bloodiest episodes in human history, World War I was largely played out on the battle-scarred lands of France and Belgium, starting in August of 1914.

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Sold Straight

Recently a 14-year-old girl that lives in Texas came out last year as bisexual. A few weeks ago she attempted suicide. This is what the ugly, hateful laws against LGBTQ do to children. This child is Ted Cruz’s daughter.

Although we don’t know specifically why she engaged in self-harm, it is important to note that bisexual youth are at a disproportionate risk of suicide attempts. Teens need support, not recrimination from our government.

Imagine having a father who made a political career out of being anti-LGBTQ.

When it comes to who we love Ted Cruz along with many Republicans wants us all to “Don’t Say Gay.” They would like to keep us all closeted in the mid-century world of conformity and concealment. hen same-sex desires were often constricted by conflict and went unexpressed.

Envisioning The American Dream

Being 14 is a confusing time no matter what time period you lived in.

Understanding the facts of life can feel confusing. Especially when the facts of life you are taught aren’t even facts at all. In fact, they are lies.

When I was growing up and well into my late teens it was a “Fact” that homosexuality was a form of mental illness.

The American Psychiatric Association said so. In fact, it wasn’t until December 15, 1973, that homosexuality was eventually de-pathologized by the association and removed from its list of mental disorders.

NY Times Dec. 16, 1973 Beneath the fold on the front page. “Psychiatrists in a Shift, Declare Homosexuality No Mental Illness”

Mental Fitness

Printed Jan 1964

In 1969 when I was 14 my Junior High required us to take health class. The premise was to provide us with the facts of life in order to prepare…

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Human and Environmental Rights Come With Mutual Responsibilities, by David Gallup

World law institutions are one component to realizing universal rights. The other component is empowering individual action by recognizing our legal status as world citizens. With the right to vote directly in world referendum or through world parliamentarians on issues that affect the entire world, we would increase our individual engagement and our personal responsibility.

Dandelion Salad

Image by Friends of the Earth International via Flickr

by David Gallup
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 19, 2022

If we want a world where our human and environmental rights are elevated, we must place as much importance on our responsibilities to humanity and the planet as we put on our rights.

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drive-by winter photos

All of the photos here are drive-by photos. They were shot through the passenger side window (which, of course, was closed because it’s fucking winter here). There’s always a part of me that wishes the window was perfectly transparent, and a conflicting part of me that likes the fact that the window conditions change and the photos change accordingly. The window might be a tad foggy with condensation, or it might be streaked with water or melting snow, or even spattered with mud or road grime. It all finds its way into the photo.All of the photos here are drive-by photos. They were shot through the passenger side window (which, of course, was closed because it’s fucking winter here). There’s always a part of me that wishes the window was perfectly transparent, and a conflicting part of me that likes the fact that the window conditions change and the photos change accordingly. The window might be a tad foggy with condensation, or it might be streaked with water or melting snow, or even spattered with mud or road grime. It all finds its way into the photo.

Beyond Razor Wire: A Connected Planet, by Robert C. Koehler + American Scar: The Environmental Tragedy of the Border Wall

The Great Green Wall, envisioned and financed by some twenty international organizations, including the African Union, the World Bank and the U.N., is a “wall” of biodiversity that is nine miles wide and 4,831 miles long, running across the Sahel region of Northern Africa, just south of the Sahara Desert. It runs across eleven countries — Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Mauritania and Senegal — who “have joined to combat land degradation and restore native plant life to the landscape,” according to National Geographic.

Dandelion Salad

Image by Ignatian Solidarity Network via Flickr

by Robert C. Koehler
Guest Writer, Dandelion Salad
December 17, 2022

“Ducey insists Arizona holds sole or shared jurisdiction over the 60-foot strip the containers rest on and has a constitutional right to protect residents from ‘imminent danger of criminal and humanitarian crises.’”

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Sandy Hook and School Shootings -Reading, Writing, and Remembering

Looking into her eyes, I knew the fear of gun violence was part of her day-to-day experience despite living in a protected suburban community. Tentatively she opened up to me about her school lockdowns, describing how she is taught to hide during active shooter drills.

School lockdowns are now as normal as school lunches. But because it is normal, it isn’t any less scary.

It is so scary in fact her school doesn’t refer to it as a lockdown preferring to use a euphemism called “Mr. Lock.” When “Mr. Lock, come to the office!” blares out from the school public address system, every teacher and student springs into action.

Pupils make a dash for a classroom, library, or any supposedly safe area. Teachers slam and then barricade the classroom door with a desk or a file cabinet and turn off the lights. Pupils crouch behind a wall or hide under a desk in absolute silence in case they hear a gunshot.

Envisioning The American Dream

Ten years ago a stunned nation said never again.

A decade ago when 20 innocent first graders and 6 brave staff were killed by an assault rifle at a suburban Connecticut elementary school, we said enough is enough.

But keeping children safe still seems beyond our grasp.

Today there are children who never knew school life before Sandy Hook. I recently spent time with one of them, a 10-year-old girl, born the same year as that tragedy in Newtown. With every birthday this little girl has had, the death toll from mass shootings has kept rising.

Discussing my collage with a viewer at the Heckscher Museum

Our meeting was particularly poignant. One Sunday afternoon a few weeks ago, I was at the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington to give a talk about my work that is on exhibit.  Afterward, I noticed a family huddled in conversation around one of…

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