79,000 Deaths and counting

PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, first authorized by Bush in 2003, has saved millions of lives, by one estimate over 20 million.  In one of his first executive orders Trump suspended PEPFAR for 90 days.  All sorts or program shut down.  Then they were partially restored, but the chaos had done its work and PEPFAR was broken.  Finally Trump formally closed USAID which ran the PEPFAR program.

The result has been terrible, murderous.  The site  PEPFAR Impact Tracker cited in an article in The Atlantic  has a live counter for the number of deaths caused.  As of July 8 the number was over 79,000.

This is but a fraction of the deaths expected from an ending of the USAID program. A peer-reviewed article in the esteemed British medical journal The Lancet says the expected number of deaths by 2030 would be 14 million!  No typo there.  14 million, over two Holocausts worth of human beings.  Read about the report in an article on a UCLA site.

Click here to see the 6/24/25 video with Iranian socialist Yassamine Mather.  Mather is in Britain.

Some Takeaways

• The concern about about a nuclear Iran is phony. The treaty that Obama made with Iran completely stopped the possibility of a nuclear armed Iran
• The IAEA does numerous inspections in Iran and even under Fordrow.
• During the bombing the people rallied around the nation, though not the Islamic Republic.
• The regime in Iran could very well disguise its incompetence by attacking on supposed “Israeli agents.” They did this during the Iraq-Iran war and killed thousands of Leftists.
• Russia and China have close relations with Israel and did nothing for Iran but say a few empty words.
• The son of the Shah has no intention of returning to Iran no matter of what Netanyahu tells.
• The sanctions against Iran has benefitted the Iranian Mafia capitalists.
• Warnings were not given by the state to hide during bombings.
• Local self-help groups did function and are a basis for organization.
• The attack on Iran crudely violated international law and the U.S. Constitution.
• Hundreds of thousands took to the streets in London to protest the war.

New 6/25  700 arrested in new repression

[our comment - How did the regime know whom to arrest?  They didn't know

to prevent agents to set up drone launching sites WITHIN IRAN. 

Trump’s Midnight Hammer - Tom Stevenson  LRB  6/24

"As for the 400 kg of highly enriched uranium that was supposedly the reason for the US joining the attack, neither Israel nor the US knows where it is, and they don’t much care."

...And do remember that Biden could have reinstated Obama's agreement on nuclear with Iran, but he tried to appease Israel/Republican objections and never got a new agreement done.  That made it much easier for Trump's strategy.

BBC shows protest worldwide

30 MEMES about the US Bombing or Iran.

Best one "The Constitution is very clear no war shall be declared except through an announcement on truth social a few minutes after an attack"

NYC 6-22-25 and this

 CT Senator Murphy Says Trump Bombing "Illegal"

The same old lies. We heard it all with Gaza. Israel will ONLY bomb ….. and now they bomb everything.

Israel says it will deal with the supposed Iranian nuclear threat by blowing up its nuclear capacity. So they attack nuclear sites. BUT then they assassinate generals and civilian nuclear scientists and destroy airplanes and gas fields and bomb a TV station.

Trump lied that this was purely Israeli warfare knowing full well that it’s US planes and US “intelligence” that makes Israeli attacks possible. Now he has made a demand   for "unconditional surrender" making the U.S. a full partner in this aggression.   On June 17 Trump said all of Tehran should evacuate ‘immediately’.  What kind of immense war crime is being planned?

Read about the definition of the legal crime of aggression.  It's the use of armed force against another state.  It's sometimes considered the supreme war crime because it brings on all the others.

But what about the supposed existential threat from Iran to Israel's existence?  [Even Trump "Intelligence chief" Tulsi Gabbard says Iran isn't building a bomb.] International law allows the use of force to repel an actual attack or a plainly imminent one. But a country  can't just CLAIM it feels threatened and take military action.    India and Pakistan both have nuclear weapons.  Both know it's a danger, but does that mean that each has the right to go invade the other country?

WE NEED PROTEST.

Statement from Iranian Intellectuals Against Israel-Iran War

Statement from an Iranian collective of independent organizations. [That oppose Iran's repressive government.]

Very worth reading, the Facebook posts of Iranian Siyâvash Shahabi.  Here's one.

 A  View from an Afghan/Iranian group, Anarchist Front - English at very end

Kavita Krishnan displays the writing of an Iranian leftist named Sahar Delijani 

India and Pakistan are attacking each other. Nuclear weapons possession is NOT DETERRING either side.

The dream of the far-right is for strongmen to rule with an iron fist all over the world. They say this will bring world order.  Instead it's a recipe for war.

 Military dominated Pakistan and semi-fascist India are at each others throats.

Here are three anti-war analyses from leftists in India.

Nobel peace prize winning ICAN calls for de-escalation.

An analysis of the terrorist attack that was the spark for this warfare on the site of Workers Voice.

This India-Pakistan Skirmish Is Not Like the Others - New York Times 5-7

Two Billion Could Die in an India-Pakistan Nuclear War (2022)

 A presentation & interactive discussion  with Dr. Ira Helfand on  The Current Nuclear Threat and Preventing Nuclear War  Sunday, January 12, 2025 (noon to 1 pm)  At the New Haven Friends Meetinghouse,  225 E. Grand Avenue, New Haven

Dr. Ira Helfand has held numerous positions in his work   to rid the world of nuclear weapons:   

 • Member of the Steering Committee for Back from the Brink (BftB) - a U.S. -  based grassroots coalition of individuals, organizations and elected officials who  are working together on a multi-year campaign to rid the world of nuclear  weapons. https://preventnuclearwar.org/ 

• Past President of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War  (IPPNW), the founding partner of ICAN.  Both groups were winners of the Nobel Peace Prize (in different years)

   • Co-Founder and Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, IPPNW’s  US affiliate.   

If you would like to attend this presentation by Zoom, please contact  nhquakers@gmail.com by January 11, 2025 to receive the link, Meeting ID  and password. 

After murdering and arresting his medical staff the IDF forced the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital to walk through these ruins and surrender.  There are two tanks at the top of the photo.  What incredible bravery.  The IDF confirms they have him but won't say where.

#FreeDrHussamAbuSafiyah

Click here for footage of the arrest from Middle East Eye

Protest in Danbury, CT at noon Eastern on Sat. 1/4 in front of the Danbury Hospital, 30 Hospital Avenue (parking up the block)   Bring signs and keffiyehs.

Click here to see some of the signs for January 4.

Immense celebrations all across Syria.  The tyrant, mass murderer Bashar Assad ran away to Moscow.  The picture at the right is Dr. Sahloul Gandhi Peace Award winner 2020.

Good article by Joseph Daher

https://tempestmag.org/2024/12/understanding-the-rebellion-in-syria/

“Neither the U.S.nor Israel had a hand in these events….Netanyahu said Israel would only act against perceived threats, such as Iran and Hezbollah’s forces and influence, explaining, “We haven’t had a problem with the Assad regime, for 40 years not a single bullet was fired on the Golan Heights.” 

Looking at HTS and SNA’s policies in the past, they have not encouraged a democratic space to develop, but quite the opposite. They have been authoritarian

The Tankies: Ali Abunimah, Julian Assange, Mate, Max Blumenthal, Rania Khalek, and their delusions

Yassin Al Haj on Democracy Now on Monday

https://youtu.be/1ZwQiUVBaAw?si=5kbmTgEIk6xYlK6K 

Sean O'Brien will speak on Sat., December 7 about the tech "everybody" is talking about and using AI.   The talk will take place at 2 p.m. in the Community Program room of the New Haven Public Library (opposite the Green) at 133 Elm St.

Free       Refreshments

Title of the talk  "AI Isn't Funny"

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has introduced disruptive technology into the fabric of our society. This presentation examines the intersection of AI with issues of privacy, cybersecurity, environmental sustainability, and human creativity. We'll discuss the growing surveillance structure of both corporate and state actors and examine specific cases of AI-powered targeting of populations. 

We’ll talk about how AI is being used by the military and the massive energy AI requires, accelerating problems with fossil fuel and nuclear energy. 

AI may be able to tell jokes, but it's not funny.  

Check out his website   IvyCyber.com

To learn about his expertise click here

Here are some useful articles about AI

Massive Energy Use of AI and Blockchain - Democracy Now November 19, 2024

‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza - 972mag

 As Use of A.I. Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires - Yale 360

AI Poses Risk of Extinction - Industry Leaders Warn - NYT, May 2023

Obscene Energy Demands of AI - Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, March 2024

ChatGPT reaches 100 million users two months after launch - Guardian (UK) 2/2023

Staggering Variety of Clandestine Trackers Found in  Android Apps - The Intercept

Merely changing from fossil fuels  to electric cars is not a winning strategy. For one thing, right now electricity is mostly produced by natural gas and in many places by coal.  For another a massive demand for lithium and other minerals may cause a “green colonialism” as the powerful countries ravage poorer countries and indigenous areas for what they need. The 20th century idea of prosperity being a “new car in every garage” is a now a mistake and a danger. For the sake of a livable climate for humans and other animals we need mass transportation.  The most energy efficient electric vehicle is the bus.  Big buses for long trips and small buses or vans to pick up people from their homes.

Click here  for Simon Pirani's remarks about  a free bus campaign in London

The state of Karnataka in southwest India has a population of 61 million.  It  started a program in 2023 where women can travel on its buses for free.  Here's a video about it. [For some reason everyone uses the word "scheme" when talking about the program.  In the U.S. a "scheme" is something crooked.  ]

https://youtu.be/7m55bWD59_E?feature=shared

Here's three videos about electric powered buses.

Finland

https://youtu.be/mF-Tw0BsaxE?si=ITh6TG-g4EzwWYfo

London

https://youtu.be/1kJf0-lUoRw?si=4C3nDx6_g4DhVaLu

Top 10 Electric Buses 2021

https://youtu.be/jghNvTW6zqE?si=C_16UcrPLzRqLW7_

Now just going to free electric buses would cause problems.  A number of places had free buses after COVID moderated as a way to get people to use buses again.  It was a mixed blessing.  To some extent the buses became a place where people would go who were unhoused, unemployed or having psychological problems.  They could ride around on a warm bus not really going anywhere.  There were sometimes physical attacks on bus drivers.  Piecemeal efforts to make reform have this limitation.  There has to be big efforts on all sides of climate and social problems all at once.

Vocabulary note.  We're talking about vitally needed carbon zero not the "net zero" scam whereby companies can burn fossil fuels while supposedly paying for planting trees  or some other green scheme. 

The City of Nagasaki would not invite representatives from Israel for the annual ceremony.  This led the U.S., the U.K. and a few others to boycott the ceremony.  Why would Nagasaki do this?  Is it overly sensitive to genocide?  Or is it that Israel won't sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty?  Biden-Harris, of course, stands behind imperialism's attack dog.

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Putin has said that he could respond with nuclear weapons if any of Russia was invaded.  Well, Ukraine just attacked and occupied in the Kursk region.

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From the site WorkersVoiceUS.org

" In “Hiroshima Notes,” Oe Kenzaburo writes of a moment in the midst of the Korean war when the United Press bureau chief in Tokyo asked a blind A-bomb victim, “I suppose we could end the war if we dropped two or three atomic bombs on Korea; as an A-bomb victim, what’s your opinion?” 

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Click here for Program Friday 8/9 at 6:30 p.m. in Quaker Meeting House

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From the Hiroshima Declaration of the World Conference against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs - Hiroshima August 4, 2024

On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings in 2025, let us launch a grand campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons:

 The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is a "beacon of hope". It embodies the cause of human survival, and despite obstructions by nuclear powers, 93 countries have signed and 70 have ratified or acceded to the treaty.  

- Never allow the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. let the humanitarian consequences of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as well as of nuclear tests conducted worldwide be widely known, and let public opinion for the abolition of nuclear weapons be greatly developed. Support Japanese and Korean Hibakusha and the victims of nuclear tests around the world, and cooperate with and contribute to activities to implement articles of the TPNW.

- Strengthen the campaign for the abolition of nuclear weapons and for participation in the TPNW in particular. Strengthen this movement especially in the nuclear-armed countries and countries that rely on “extended nuclear deterrence”.

- Make the 79th session of the UN General Assembly, the Meeting of the Parties to the TPNW, and the NPT Review Conference as milestones to develop these campaigns in each country and develop international joint actions and cooperation between governments and civil society movements.

- Refuse military expansion, dismantle foreign military bases, dissolve military alliances, provide compensation and support to victims of war such as by Agent Orange and eradicate war-damages, promote peace education, end the war in Ukraine based on the principles of the UN Charter and diplomatic solution of the problems, stop genocidal attack on and blockade of Gaze by Israel, oppose terrorism by Hamas, and demand immediate ceasefire, and build wide-ranging cooperation with various peace movements working on these demands.

- Turn the tide of global conflict, division, and military expansion to build inclusive peace and redirect resources to solving the problems facing humanity.

Venezuela President Maduro claims to be building socialism and most of the U.S. Left parrots that line.

Watch this interview with Venezuelan activist Simon Rodriquez.  In this 30-minute interview Rodriquez reveals:

• No Left candidate was allowed to be on the ballot
• Most of the "opposition" parties had been taken over by Maduro's people
• The ballot line of the Communist Party of Venezuela (which had only recently broken with Maduro) had Maduro's picture on it even though the CP supported another candidate
• The Venezuela government has violated its own election laws and has not even published the so-called final election results
• The protests after the election are centered in the barrios, the poor neighborhoods
• Maduro's government claims that most of the land of the country of  Guyana actually belongs to Venezuela and has sent troops to the border.
• U.S. "criminal" sanctions which became severe in 2019 have hurt Venezuela but the economy was already in deep crisis.
• Abortion is basically illegal in Venezuela which is still abiding by 19th  century laws.

Don't be fooled by rhetoric.  Just because a government uses Leftist words and slogans and rails against U.S. imperialism that doesn't mean it's for social progress and democracy.  As they say the proof is in the pudding.

Update August 2  Venezuelan leftist parties reject the dictatorship’s fraud and repression

Update August 3.   Read today's piece in the British paper The Guardian

 ‘Maduro has lost the streets’: in Venezuela’s barrios, former loyal voters risk all in protests | Venezuela | The Guardian 

It was great to see students supporting Palestinians this spring with encampments and marches.  One of their slogans was "Disclose, Divest and Reinvest". College students mostly have gone home but there's no lack of targets for them over the summer.  See this article by Stanley Heller in the CT Mirror calling for the special session called by the governor to include divestment of CT's $95 million invested in Apartheid and Genocidal Israel.   

Find out who is in charge of your state's investments (Treasurer? Comptroller?) and ask her/him how much in invested in Israel.  Put the investment spreadsheet through the American Friends Service Committee investigate app and find in seconds questionable investments.

Do the same thing with unions that you may be part of.  Here's a link to the contact page of the American Federation of Teachers.  Ask how much of AFT money is invested in State of Israel Bonds or other Israeli bonds and stocks.  Back in 2006 the AFT had $300,000 in Israel Bonds.  The New York City United Federation of Teachers probably has much more.

Over the past few years you've seen many pictures of Anas in Gaza working with Plant the Land.  We took part in a fund raiser to get him successful eye treatment in Egypt that grew out of sporadic access to insulin.  He has remained in Gaza City with as many as 300,000 others. We've told you  about  fundraisers for his organization since.

What we haven't talked about is the toll on his body of being totally without insulin since October.   In pictures he looks OK but HbA1c  is over 12.  We asked a doctor what the lack of insulin does to someone with his conditions.  Please at least skim this.  [Note, we put words in boldface for emphasis.]

"Normal blood sugar is about 70-100 mg/dL. When it is higher than that for extended or repeated episodes it causes deposits of sugar-based molecules on red blood cells. The level of these deposits, which are known as HbA1c can be measured and used to estimate what the average blood sugar has been over the previous weeks. A normal HbA1c should be around 5.5 or less. An HbA1c of 6.0 corresponds to an average blood sugar of 115. 9.0 corresponds to 215, and 12.0 indicates an average blood sugar of 315. 12.2 HbA1c is clearly in the danger zone and here’s why.

Blood sugars that are elevated cause damage to blood vessels, especially the tiny blood vessels that supply blood to nerves, the retina, and nephrons which are the functional units of the kidneys. Prolonged exposure to high blood sugars results in harmful deposits in these tiny arteries which over time causes them to get blocked up and quit supplying blood to the structures that they support.

·  In the retina this results in blindness. It also causes cataracts, malformations of the lens of the eye, and blurry vision even if the retina is still functioning relatively well.

·  In the kidneys there are 2 million nephrons. As their function progressively diminishes, the kidneys are no longer able to get rid of excess water and the normally occurring toxins that they filter from the blood. This results in kidney failure and is the number one cause for which people are on dialysis. In addition, the kidneys make a hormone that stimulates the bone marrow to make red blood cells and when it is gone, the person develops worsening anemia.

·  In the brain, overall blood supply is reduced resulting in decreased mental function. There is also damage to larger arteries which develop plaques that can cause sudden obstruction of parts of the brain resulting in strokes.

·  As individual nerves experience decreased blood supply they begin to malfunction resulting in the numbness and tingling of the extremities which is known as diabetic neuropathy. Over time, the loss of feeling in the feet results in increased injury even from minor causes resulting in poor healing, infection, and a high risk of amputation.

·  The heart also suffers from damaged blood vessels and people with poorly controlled diabetes have much higher risk of heart attacks.

These things can and do occur very frequently in people with poorly controlled diabetes. In someone who has diabetes with   no access to insulinand very limited access to clean drinking water, an HbA1c of 12 signifies the presence of a metabolic timebomb. A minor infection, a bout of diarrhea, or any other acute condition which can worsen dehydration and stress on the immune system can rapidly lead to a diabetic coma and death. This is a grave situation."

We have tried to get insulin to him through many different agencies but Israel controls north Gaza and lets very very little in.   What can be done?  First, get Israel to stop its war and get out of Gaza.  Then people can flood the area with food and medicine.  Please devote yourself to that cause.

In the meantime you can donate to the newest fundraiser as Anas uses the money to help others.  Click here for information.

Here we are at the start of 2024 and the climate news continued to be bad.  COP28 was a joke.  Temperatures for the year averaged just a hair under the 1.5 degree centigrade limit that climate scientists believe necessary to avoid catastrophic changes to world climates.  Parts per million of carbon dioxide last month where at 423, far above the 350 that should be the limit for that gas in our air.

The Biden Administration continues Obama's "all of the above" strategy, combining incentives to go electrical with continued oil drilling, pipeline and subsidies for oil exploration.

Groups like Climate Defiance, Extinction Rebellion, 350 and Greenpeace  in different ways are trying to rise to the challenge.

In Connecticut there will be a big climate march on February 2nd at noon starting at the Old State House.   The legislature promised to bring down emissions nearly in half by 2030, but is nowhere on track to do so.  In fact emissions are going up! The rally demands the state keep its promise.

We've updated the look on our climate countdown clock.  It counts down the time to  2030, the year the IPCC in 2018 said we MUST cut emissions by 45%.  We also link to some new article on climate and nature.  Click here to see the clock and the links.

And on a lighter note be sure to see Netflix' "Life on Our Planet" narrated by Morgan Freeman.  Spectacular!  This is the trailer.