C-Span hosted conversations about Memorial Day.

8:40AM–caller–paraphrase–The military is good at transitioning citizens into soldiers but not the transition from a soldier into a citizen.

Several anecdotal observations about transitions pertaining to The Military-Industrial Complex–

*MSNBC repeatedly interviewed a “contributor” who was a muckety-muck during the Vietnam era, so he says, who expressed the FACT without the truth that during the Vietnam War, a large number of youngsters “volunteered”

*The Vietnam era included the draft in which, if a boy was drafted, meant he served in the army where were the greatest chances of dying 

*By “volunteering” a boy could go into the air force, navy, or marines, where survival chances were higher

*Vietnam-era callers to C-Span revealed a majority of those still traumatized, is a personal view

*Girls raised in the ’50’s were indoctrinated into so-called “Father Knows Best” ideals, only to find themselves dealing with Vietnam-era Vets who “transitioned well into being a soldier but hadn’t transitioned from being a soldier into being a citizen”

*The response from some girls may have been the ’70’s Feminist Movement”, in their own struggle to survive….surely a reaction rather than a well-thought-out plan for many

*Another response to the Vietnam War was to get rid of the draft

*The Military-Industrial Complex seems to have responded by building out a socialist military system and diminishing prosperity opportunities outside of the military via globalism, and therefore driving youngsters into the waiting arms of the military…..again to “volunteer”……

Listening to the trauma in some of the voices of the Vietnam-era callers this morning, in 2023, triumph of that for which was fought, which was capitalism, appears to be complete over human rights.  Remember that against which the US fought was communism, the other wide of the ideological coin from capitalism.  The Viet-Cong soldiers probably fared no better.

*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1A1GtUucKg     —

Joan Baez – Scarlet Tide (Lyrics) [HD]

–end of Scarlettide with Joan Baex—

Having considered a transition from domestic violence that is less state-sanctioned than in the past, and growing violence in the streets of the USA, is a discussion apt on the topic of government-sponsored training in warfare devoid of attention to actions of peace, stability, and harmony.

Not being the first to wonder that the USA has a Department of Defense but not a Department of Peace, one does however recognize the validity of this question.

https://marianne2024.com/issues/us-dept-of-peace/?emci=8f80465f-30fe-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=262220ca-32fe-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=755594  —

As its mission, the U.S. Department of Peace will; hold peace as an organizing principle; promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; coordinate restorative justice programs; address white supremacy; strengthen nonmilitary means of peacemaking; work to prevent armed conflict; address the epidemic of gun violence; develop new structures of nonviolent dispute resolution; and proactively and systematically promote national and international conflict prevention, mediation, and resolution. In short, we must wage peace. Large groups of desperate people should be seen as a national security risk.—-end of mariannewilliamson info–

PETITION–to sign if you wish, encouraging the democratic (small d) electoral-campaign integrity of discussion about policy——

https://www.change.org/p/uphold-democracy-insist-the-dnc-holds-2024-democratic-primary-debates?emci=bd3f8d11-82fd-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=3598c933-a7fd-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=755594      –As of May 10, 2023, we have three officially declared Democratic candidates (Marianne D. Williamson, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Joseph R. Biden) for the Presidential election in 2024.
The Democratic National Committee (DNC), has refused to hold any debates in the Democratic primary. 

In doing so, they prevent all candidates from making their case directly to the American people about why they should be elected as the nominee to beat the Republican presidential candidate challenger in 2024.

THIS IS BLATANTLY UN-DEMOCRATIC!

–end of mariannewilliamson invo–

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZDwK6lMb-Y     —

Alison Krauss – The Scarlet Tide – Cold Mountain Soundtrack

–end of scarlettide —

From panys.org—–(PeaceActionNYS)–Recent research has rediscovered the moving story of what is perhaps the first-ever Memorial Day commemoration, and it serves as a strong reminder that justice must always form the foundations of lasting peace. The first known of such commemorations was held by newly-freed African Americans on May 1st, 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina, in the immediate aftermath of the city’s defeat.

Discovering the atrocities committed at the Confederate prison camp there — a former racetrack hastily converted to an outdoor prison, where Union soldiers were held in deplorable conditions and buried in mass graves — the victorious Union soldiers who marched through Charleston knew that they needed to honor the lives lost during America’s deadliest war. Those first soldiers to march through the city (and to accept the city’s official surrender) were the 21st United States Colored Infantry, and it was newly-freed black workmen who carefully dug up the Charleston prison camp’s mass graves, reburied the Union dead properly, and erected a decorative archway bearing the inscription, “Martyrs of the Race Course.” Subsequently, it was the freedpeople of Charleston who staged a memorial parade which (by contemporary estimates) included nearly 10,000 people. Three thousand black schoolchildren led the procession, carrying roses and singing “John Brown’s Body.” A New York Tribune correspondent witnessed the event, describing “a procession of friends and mourners as South Carolina and the United States never saw before.”

–end of panys info—-

https://www.commonlit.org/en/texts/forgetting-why-we-remember?emci=aa3005bf-baf8-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&emdi=53205019-2afe-ed11-907c-00224832eb73&ceid=294197

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiLd-TvEe_c      —

I Dug Into The Largest Landlords!

–end of leecamp info–

From popularresistance–     https://mailchi.mp/popularresistance/popular-resistance-daily-digest-jvrnfxphi5?e=1b0a9c0541   —

China Builds Global Alternative As US-Led Financial Order Decays

Veterans For Peace Memorial Day Statement

Minneapolis Continues Encampment Evictions, Displacing Hundreds In May

Economy Must Be ‘At Service Of Life’

My Great-Uncle Was Shot At The Memorial Day Massacre

–end of popularresistance info–
****

As one who would be perfectly contented to retain the Senate if they adhered to Oaths of Office more than to Citizens United campaign donations, one is interested in a topic raised as to the reason we maintain the US Senate—-

 This is a reminder of how much we don’t know.  This brings one around to Howie Hawkins, who continues to impress with original thought.  We also could acknowledge Hawkins often speaks to censored information.
One such topic about which one would never have even considered, is whether the USA needs The Senate.  Apparently The Senate is little other than expensive window dressing, promoting hierarchical interests, and too often placed in positions of power by big-money via Citizens United.  But the public gets to fund this curiosity of pompous supremacy.  Who knew?
The Democratic Branch of the Republican/Democratic Duopoly are especially functional in voter suppression—–https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNbdkuU1edw          —#GreenSocialist Notes #76
Howie Hawkins brings up the concept of whether the USA needs the Senate.  Apparently according to some people, the Senate isn’t necessary.  This brings up the blockage from the Senate of many bills that would benefit We The People.  Combined with Citizens United that promotes big-money interest choice of Senators, in which laws are passed that benefit big-money interest rather than We The People, and that We The People support economically, the members of the Senate, this seems a good topic for discussion.
The US Constitution doesn’t seem to sanction elections run by political Parties, and to permit control of political debates by political Parties seems equally corrupt.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ7kn2-GEmM       —

Ross Perot in 1992 on NAFTA and the “Giant Sucking Sound”

Centralization is the lifeblood of the R&D duopoly.  It’s the way to enforce capitalism onto workers in 2022.———————–We can do better———-

That “we are a 2-Party system” is a fabrication of the Republican/Democratic duopoly and spread by MSM.  In FACT the majority of voters aren’t either registered Democratic or Republican.  The censorship about this info must be envied by bureaucrats of the Former USSR and their simplistic style of 1-Party elections.  

Regardless of which character sits in the Oval Office, We The People have work to do to maintain principles of our democratic (small d) Constitutional republic.  Several items to challenge—*We need the integrity of ranked-choice voting so voters won’t feel compelled to “hold your nose and vote”*Censored debates must be stopped.  The Democratic/Republican duopoly pretends to legitimate debates in what is nothing other than another campaign show.  Independent debates run by uninterested sponsors such as The League of Women Voters, must be restored.  (Access www.debates.org to understand the extent of duopoly control).  The so-called Debate Commission is a corporation to promote the Democratic corporation and Republican corporation, not to inform We The People*Challenge and stop gerrymandering that is a trick especially of the Republican branch of the duopoly.*Stop voter suppression by political Parties, and especially confront and stop Party suppression, which is the over-arching approach to voter suppression.  Party suppression seems to have been the responsibility of the Democratic corporation*Promote by law ranked-choice voting, so we won’t be told again, by D&R duopoly, to “hold your nose and vote”
If these issues are handled, our next elections can be honorable. 
*******************************************************************https://news.gallup.com/poll/15370/party-affiliation.aspx—-Political Party affiliation of voters.
    https://www.lwv.org/newsroom/press-releases/league-refuses-help-perpetrate-fraud–LEAGUE REFUSES TO “HELP PERPETRATE A FRAUD”

WITHDRAWS SUPPORT FROM FINAL PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE–end of lwv info–Murray Bookchin, who founded social ecology, a theory that strongly influenced early Green Socialist thought, strongly advocated the discussion and study group as the first step of any revolutionary movement. A group of individuals meets to expand their knowledge of radical thought and form a radical intellectual community; through the give and take of discussion, can eventually form ideas for next steps in organizing and political activity. According to Bookchin, study groups help create solidarity and a shared language — with a shared coherent vision — for building a mass, organizing, political movement!