World BEYOND War, July 2, 2020

The Beginning or the End may have been the beginning of the end.

If you imagine humanity existing a century from now in a society that includes history classes, you can expect, barring major changes, that U.S. text books will describe this as a time of peace, perhaps noting Trump’s failure to assist the Venezuelans with greater humanitarian force, and certainly devoting a few sentences to Trump’s enslavement to Vladimir Putin.

There will have been researchers and professors, who will have gathered up every scrap of information, every document, video clip, deathbed confession, and secret surveillance. They will have established beyond a shadow of a doubt that Donald J. Trump was a greedy fascistic imbecile guilty of an extravaganza of crimes and abuses who was never remotely in the service of Putin, who in fact routinely enraged Putin with sanctions, economic competition, the shredding of treaties and agreements, the expulsion of personnel, the bombing of Russian troops, and endless aggressive militarism and NATO expansion. And that knowledge simply will not matter.

In November 2019, the Washington Post and other major news media accused Children’s Health Defense (CHD) of using Facebook advertisements to spread “misinformation” about vaccines.

The basis for these accusations, which have since continued, is a study published in the prestigious medical journal Vaccine that named CHD as a top buyer of vaccine-related Facebook ads. What the media failed to inform the public, however, is that the government-funded – and therefore co-opted - authors of this study failed to identify even a single example of a Facebook ad from CHD that contained any misinformation.

SEATTLE, WA. The Seattle federal judge's restraining order banning tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets and concussion grenades put Seattle on the cusp of a potential historical turning point. Seattle has had the option to turn away from police violence after the judge's order, making the judge's order banning indiscriminate use of weapons on peaceful protesters a key to such a historic transformation. But the use yesterday of rubber bullets and the brandishing of pepper spray in violation of the judge's order are evidence of police resistance to this change.

The size of the Seattle Police Autonomous Zone or SPAZ increased overnight somewhat, as police tape advanced to eliminate a key vantage point from which to photograph the Black Power fist sculpture.

Largely unreported at this point are the internal battles within Seattle city government for the soul of Seattle, which for the time being seem to have been won by police in defiance of both the federal judge's order and of some of the more conciliatory statements of the mayor.

As the summer sun rose on Wednesday morning (July 1st) Christopher Columbus was banished from the courtyard at City Hall. What also could be replaced is the name of our city, but that could take years.

The questions now being asked are, what should replace either?

One answer is not so difficult, the other far more challenging. But perhaps necessary if “Columbus” wants to remain a Midwest boomtown and attract young people, who have been trending more and more progressive even before Trump.

City Council President Shannon Hardin on Twitter has asked for suggestions regarding what to replace the Columbus statue with. He specifically said “art,” not a historical person.

Tasked with replacing the statue is the Columbus Art Commission, and Hardin has promised it will be a “public process.” Hopefully that will be the case when it comes to changing our police department.

“Council is focused on eradicating systemic racism, police misconduct and social injustice through every means possible,” wrote Hardin in the tweet announcing suggestions to replace the Columbus statue.