Ya gotta love how the U.S. media annually freaks out about a “war on Christmas” by which it means something completely unrelated to any wars, while the U.S. military always has several actual wars going on Christmas, the same as every other day. Perhaps especially on Christmas, as George Washington’s slaughter of drunk and sleeping British soldiers on Christmas 1776 has been rendered so “special” that it’s claimed as the very first in a string of millions of glorious “special forces” actions, and the wars now generally consist of oh-so-special actions.
Edith Espinal is home with her family, but her mother has been battling cancer at a hospital in Chicago. She now seems to be nearing the end and Edith is urgently trying to make the trip out to see her and say goodbye.
"Flee" tells the story of Amin Nawabi (Fardin Mijdzadeh), as he grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon Saif (Milad Eskandari) to be husband. It's the story of a extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan.
Beginning with the death of his father in Kabul when he was a young child, and continuing in Moscow, when members of his family made several harrowing attempts to resettle in Western Europe, Amin’s childhood was defined by periods of waiting, hoping, and fleeing. Too much pain and heartbreak remained lodged beneath the surface, and he feared for both his own safety and that of his family, so they left the idea knowing that they would re-visit it when the time feels right.
The decision by several governments across the globe to institute travel bans on seven African countries, starting on November 27, due to the discovery of a new Covid-19 variant, Omicron, was perceived to be hasty in the eyes of some and fully justifiable on medical grounds, in the view of others. However, the matter is hardly that of a difference of opinion.
The swiftness of choking off some of Africa’s poorest countries, including Botswana, Lesotho and Zimbabwe, is particularly disturbing if placed within a proper context concerning the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Global South, generally, and Africa, in particular.
The glory of Pearl Harbor Day still lingered yesterday on Human Rights Day with a Democracy Summit wrapping up and Nobel So-Called Peace Prize laureates talking about U.S. government-approved and -funded journalism. U.S. media is dominated by Donald Trump and how he’s out of power at the moment. All is just going swimmingly in the steady march of freedom and goodness. If you pay no attention to the little man behind the curtain. Or maybe it’s a small army of little men behind a thousand curtains. We can discuss the many causes and motivations of deception and self-deception. Suffice it to say that once you look, listen, or smell for an instant at the actual state of the world, you can’t turn away, and you can’t stomach the pretty picture.
Fearing for his political life, at the end of August, Gov. DeWine joined the right-wing blinded parade in opposing teaching critical race theory in Ohio’s K-12 schools. Not only would this be anti-democratic (small d), unconstitutional, and a threat to the maturity of Ohio’s children, but it is based on a lie. [“Mike DeWine opposes teaching critical race theory in Ohio's K-12 schools” Columbus Dispatch, Aug. 31, 2021 (https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2021/08/31/ohio-gov-mike-dewine-doesnt-support-teaching-critical-race-theory/5647715001/)]
Saturday, December 11, 2017, 7:00 PM
Join Zoom meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83906590837. Meeting ID: 839 06.
Since we aren't getting together in person, we can gather for a couple hours on the second Saturday night of each month.
Featuring:
David Swanson of World Beyond War and RootsAction, winner of the US Peace Prize, talking on "What Would Have Been Better Than a Democracy Summit and Why There Should Not Be Any More Pearl Harbor Days"
and more!
Q & A included.
