Tomgram: Andrea Mazzarino, (Un)Civil War?

This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Here’s your “Who said that?” quiz of the day:

1. He called on the president, should he lose to Joe Biden, to declare martial law by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, arrest Bill and Hillary Clinton (of course), Mark Zuckerberg, and other prominent figures and simply take control of the country.

2. Of Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old Trump fan who shot three people read more

Conversion to Peaceful Industries Just Happened

The greatest impediment to doing anything, for homo sapiens, is often that it hasn’t already been done. “Well, sure, that sounds easy enough, but I just don’t know. I’ve never seen it done and my cousin’s friend heard it was impossible.”

The greatest means of smashing through that impediment is for the thing that needs doing to have already happened. “Impossible or not, we just did it 3 feet from where you are standing, while you were standing there. Here’s the video.”

The best read more

Talk Nation Radio: Lisa Savage on What Maine and the United States Could Do Better

Lisa Savage is a longtime educator from Solon, Maine, currently running for U.S. Senate. In a life dedicated to public service, Savage has worked to make Maine and the United states more equitable, more peaceful, and more aware of the looming climate crisis.

Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Music by Duke Ellington.

Download from LetsTryDemocracy.

Download from Internet Archive.

Pacifica stations can also download from Audioport.

Syndicated by Pacifica Network.

Please read more

WWII was not fought to save anyone from death camps

By David Swanson, excerpted from Leaving World War II Behind.

 If you were to listen to people justifying WWII today, and using WWII to justify the subsequent 75 years of wars and war preparations, the first thing you would expect to find in reading about what WWII actually was would be a war motivated by the need to save Jews from mass murder. There would be old photographs of posters with Uncle Sam pointing his finger, saying “I want you to save the Jews!”

In reality, the U.S. and British read more

Six Reasons Julian Assange Should Be Thanked, Not Punished

By World BEYOND War, September 18, 2020

1. The effort to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange for journalism is a threat to future journalism that challenges power and violence, but a defense of the media practice of propagandizing for war. While the New York Times benefitted from Assange’s work, its only reporting on his current hearing is an article about technical read more

What Does WWII Have To Do With Military Spending

By David Swanson, September 16, 2020

“I’m going to perform a magic trick by reading your mind,” I tell a class of students or an auditorium or video call full of people. I write something down. “Name a war that was justified,” I say. Someone says “World War Two.” I show them what I wrote: “WWII.” Magic![i]

If I insist on additional answers, they’re almost always wars even further in the past than WWII. read more

Peace Crimes


Photo by Kristian Laemmle-Ruff

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War, September 16, 2020

A new book by Kieran Finnane has the title “Peace Crimes.” It refers to acts of civil disobedience against war, or civil resistance to war. My hope is that the phrase continues to sound as absurd as it does now, and that someday the phrase “war crimes” joins it in sounding outrageously ridiculous. “Peace crimes” should sound ludicrous because acting peacefully for peace is the most anti-criminal action read more

Unvanquishable Number

On September 21, the International Day of Peace, you will be able to watch online the new film “We Are Many,” and you darn well should. The topic is the single biggest day of activism on earth: February 15, 2003 — an unprecedented statement against war, too often forgotten, and far too often misunderstood.

On every continent (yes, Antarctica included) in 72 countries and 789 cities people turned out by the tens of millions. In many cases, this was by far the largest demonstration ever seen read more