War Is A Crime

By David Swanson, World BEYOND War

Shutdown or no shutdown, not a single war, base-construction project, or war ship has been halted in its course, and the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service released its “interim report” on Wednesday.

The report comes after a lengthy period of collecting public comments and holding public hearings. At World BEYOND War we encouraged people to submit comments on the following themes, and we know that a great many people did so:

1. End required selective service (draft) registration for men.
2. Do not begin requiring that women register.
3. If not ended, allow the choice of registering as a conscientious objector.
4. If there must be non-military service, make sure that its pay and benefits are at least equal to those of military “service.”

The interim read more

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

More than a week ago, Jayme Closs, a 13-year-old from Wisconsin, escaped her 21-year-old abductor who had killed her parents. When she turned up 66 miles from home, having been missing for almost read more

Dana Frank is the author of The Long Honduran Night: Resistance, Terror, and the United States in the Aftermath of the Coup. She is professor of history emerita at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Since the 2009 military coup, her articles about human rights and U.S. policy in Honduras have appeared in outlets including the New York Times, The Nation, and Foreign Affairs, and she has testified before the U.S. Congress and the Canadian Parliament.

Total run time: 29:00
Host: David read more

When talking about how to fund useful projects, or talking about the federal budget or the U.S. economy, talk as if U.S. military spending exists. With 67 percent of federal discretionary spending going to militarism, don’t talk about the “size” of the government as if only the other 33 percent exists. Be aware of the fact that military spending is an economic drain, not a jobs program, and speak accordingly.

Have a position on what a basic outline of the federal budget ought to look like. read more

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

Let me tell you a little story about Hiroshima and me:

As a young man, I was anything but atypical in having the Bomb (we capitalized it then) on my brain, and not just while I was ducking read more

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

Dahr Jamail, a TomDispatch regular, reported strikingly from Iraq in the years after the 2003 American invasion of that country. Since then, he’s read more

Rob Kajiwara is an Okinawan-Hawaian singer-songwriter and visual artist. In 2017, he was made a cultural ambassador for his ancestral village of Nakagusuku, Okinawa. In 2018 he was also made a cultural ambassador / special envoy for Ke Aupuni o Hawaii (the Hawaiian Kingdom) in order to share Hawaiian history, culture, and issues in Ryukyu. Rob Kijiwara recently organized a petition to the White House about Okinawa that many of us joined him in delivering there on January 7th.

Stand With Okinawa.

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