#The government wants all donations made public from July of this year

[weheartchrisevans]

BOSTON — So you're Tim Scott, the Republican senator from South Carolina who opposes Roe v. Wade and wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act, and you get a call from Chris Evans, a Hollywood star and lifelong Democrat who has been blasting President Trump for years. He wants to meet. And film it. And share it on his online platform. Can anybody say "Borat?" “I was very skeptical,” admits Scott. “You can think of the worst-case scenario.”But then Scott heard from other senators. They vouched for Evans, most famous for playing Captain America in a series of films that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. The actor also got on the phone with Scott’s staff to make a personal appeal.

It worked. Sometime in 2018, Scott met on camera with Evans in the nation’s capital, and their discussion, which ranged from prison reform to student loans, is one of more than 200 interviews with elected officials published on “A Starting Point,” an online platform the actor helped launch in July. Not long after, Evans appeared on Scott’s Instagram Live. They have plans to do more together.

“While he is a liberal, he was looking to have a real dialogue on important issues,” says Scott. “For me, it’s about wanting to have a conversation with an audience that may not be accustomed to hearing from conservatives and Republicans.”

Evans, actor-director Mark Kassen and entrepreneur Joe Kiani launched “A Starting Point” as a response to what they see as a deeply polarized political climate. They wanted to offer a place for information about issues without a partisan spin. To do that, they knew they needed both parties to participate.

Evans, 39, sat on the patio outside his Boston-area home on a recent afternoon talking about the platform. He wore a black T-shirt and jeans and spent some of the interview chasing around his brown rescue dog. Nearly 100 million people didn’t vote in the 2016 general election, Evans says. That’s more than 40 percent of those who were eligible.He believes the root of this disinterest is the nastiness on both sides of the aisle. Many potential voters simply turn off the news, never mind talking about actual policy.“A Starting Point” is meant to offer a digital home for people to hear from elected officials without having the conversation framed by Tucker Carlson or Rachel Maddow.

“The idea is . . . ‘Listen, you’re in office. I can’t deny the impact you have,’ ” says Evans. “ ‘You can vote on things that affect my life.’ Let this be a landscape of competing ideas, and I’ll sit down with you and I’ll talk with you.”

Or, as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who has appeared on the site, puts it, “Sometimes, boring is okay. You’re being presented two sides. Everything doesn’t have to be sensational. Sometimes, it can just be good facts.” Evans wasn’t always active in politics. At Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, he focused on theater, not student government. And he moved away from home his senior year, working at a casting agency in New York as he pushed for acting gigs. His uncle, Michael E. Capuano, served as a congressman in Massachusetts for 20 years, but other than volunteering on some of his campaign, Evans wasn’t particularly political.

In recent years, he’s read political philosopher Hannah Arendt and feminist Rebecca Solnit’s “The Mother of All Questions” — ex-girlfriend Jenny Slate gave him the latter — and been increasingly upset by Trump’s policies and behavior. He’s come to believe that he can state his own views without creating a conflict with “A Starting Point.” When he and Scott spoke on Instagram, the president wasn’t mentioned. In contrast, recently Evans and other members of the Avengers cast took part in a virtual fundraiser with Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala D. Harris.

“I don’t want to all of a sudden become a blank slate,” says Evans. “But my biggest issue right now is just getting people to vote. If I start saying, ‘vote Biden; f Trump,’ my base will like that. But they were already voting for Biden.”

(In September, Evans accidentally posted an image of presumably his penis online and, after deleting it, tweeted: “Now the I have your attention . . . Vote Nov. 3rd!!!”)

Evans began to contemplate the idea that became “A Starting Point” in 2017. He heard something reported on the news — he can’t remember exactly what — and decided to search out information on the Internet. Instead of finding concrete answers, Evans fell down the rabbit hole of opinions and conflicting claims. He began talking about this with Kassen, a friend since he directed Evans in 2011’s “Puncture.” What if they got the information directly from elected officials and presented it without a spin? Kassen, in turn, introduced Evans to Kiani, who had made his fortune through a medical technology company he founded and, of the three, was the most politically involved.

Kiani has donated to dozens of Democratic candidates across the country and earlier this year contributed $750,000 to Unite the Country, a super PAC meant to support Joe Biden. But he appreciated the idea of focusing on something larger than a single race or party initiative. He, Kassen and Evans would fund “A Starting Point,” which has about 18 people on staff.

“There’s no longer ABC, NBC and CBS,” Kiani says. “There’s Fox News and MSNBC. What that means is that we are no longer being censored. We’re self-censoring ourselves. And people go to their own echo chamber and they don’t get any wiser. If you allow both parties to speak, for the same amount of time, without goading them to go on into hyperbole, when people look at both sides’ point of view of both topics, we think most of the time they’ll come to a reasonable conclusion.”

“What people do too often is they get in their silos and they only watch and listen and read what they agree with,” says John Kasich, the former Ohio governor and onetime Republican presidential candidate. “If you go to Chris’s website, you can’t bury yourself in your silo. You get to see the other point of view.” As much as some like to blame Trump for all the conflicts in Washington, Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Del.) says he’s watched the tone shifting for decades. He appreciated sitting down with Evans and making regular submissions to “Daily Points,” a place on the platform for commentary no longer than two minutes. During the Supreme Court confirmation hearings, Coons recorded a comment on Judge Amy Coney Barrett and the Affordable Care Act.“ ‘A Starting Point’ needs to be a sustained resource,” Coons says. “Chris often talks about it being ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ for adults.”

It’s not by chance that Evans has personally conducted all of the 200-plus interviews on “A Starting Point” during trips to D.C. Celebrities often try to mobilize the public, whether it’s Eva Longoria, Tracee Ellis Ross and Julia Louis-Dreyfus hosting the Democratic National Convention or Jon Voight recording video clips to praise Trump. But in this case, Evans is using his status in a different way, to entice even the most hesitant Republican to sit down for an even-toned chat. And he’s willing to pose with anyone, even if it means explaining himself on “The Daily Show” after Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas posted a selfie with Evans. (Two attempts to interview Trump brought no response.) Murkowski remembers when Evans came to Capitol Hill for the first time in 2018. She admits she didn’t actually know who he was — she hadn’t yet seen any Marvel movies. She was in the minority.“We meet interesting and important people but, man, when Captain America was in the Senate, it was all the buzz,” she says. “And people were like, ‘Did you get your picture taken?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I sat down and did the interview.’ ‘You did an interview? How did you get an interview with him?’ ”What impressed Murkowski wasn’t his star power. It was the way Evans conducted the interview.“It was relaxing,” she says. “You didn’t feel like you were in front of a reporter who was just waiting for you to say something you would get caught on later. It was a dialogue . . . and we need more dialogue and less gotcha.”

“Starting Points” offers two-minute answers by elected officials in eight topic areas, including education, the environment and the economy. This is where the interviews Evans conducted can be found. “Daily Points” has featured a steady flow of Republicans and Democrats. A third area, “Counterpoints,” hosts short debates between officials on particular subjects. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat from California, debated mail-in voting with Dusty Johnson, the Republican congressman from South Dakota.

“Most Americans can’t name more than five members of the United States House,” says Johnson. “ ‘A Starting Point’ allows thoughtful members to talk to a broader audience than we would normally have.”

The platform’s social media team pushes out potentially newsworthy clips, whether it’s Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) discussing his meeting with Barrett just before he tested positive for the coronavirus, or Angus King, the independent senator from Maine, criticizing Trump for his comments on a potential peaceful transfer of power after November’s election. Kassen notes that the King clip was viewed more than 175,000 times on “A Starting Point’s” Twitter account, compared with the 10,000 who caught in on CNN’s social media platform.

“Because it’s short-form media, we’re engineered to be social,” says Kassen. “As a result, when something catches hold, it’s passed around our audience pretty well.”

The key is to use modern tools to push out content that’s tonally different from what you might find on modern cable news. Or on social media. Which is what Evans hopes leads to more engagement. He’s particularly proud that more than 10,000 people have registered to vote through “A Starting Point” since it went online.

“If the downstream impact or the byproduct of this site is some sort of unity between the parties, great,” says Evans. “But if nobody’s still voting, it doesn’t work. We need people involved.”

[engelkeijsers]

Hey, I don’t know how many of you know this already, but LGBT+ rights have been violated in Poland for years now. Last year in July there was a pride parade in BIałystok, where people got beaten up for just participating and threatened with violence, and the gay flag was burned. During that time, there was also an incident, where a couple brought dangerous explosives to the pride march with plans to stop it and likely hurt or kill the people attending. They were only charged with attempted assault and were sentenced to 12 months in jail each, since under the Polish Constitution there's no such thing as a hate-crime on LGBTQ+ people. Later on the same year (2019), 1/3 of the whole country has declared itself an anti-LGBT zone/LGBT free zone. For months now, the rightist media and the main political party PIS (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość, which is Law and Justice in English) constantly call us an ideology and say how we want to destroy the Polish tradition and demoralize the children with our “deviations”, all that on national television and public appereances. At some point in the year, there was an installation of a giant rainbow in Warsaw. It was set on fire by homophobes, then it got rebuilt and set on fire again. Not long before this year’s election (which hapened in June) president Andrzej Duda, a member of PIS, introduced to the people a document called Karta Rodziny (more info about that here and here), signed it and announced it would be the end of the “LGBT ideology propaganda”. Also, this year a popular polish rigthtist anti-abortion and anti-lgbt activitst Kaja Godek has made a statement on public television, that "Gay people want to adopt children, because they want to molest and rape them”. For this statement she got sued by a group of gay people, who were (obviously) hurt by her words. She was deemed innocent, because the people that sued her couldn't prove they were gay and therefore couldn't prove they were personally hurt by her words. This incident alone proves that not only the public, the media and the government are against us, but also the "independent" courts. In this year’s election (mentioned above), Andrzej Duda was re-elected. His beliefs, as you could probably already tell, are extremely homophobic, but he’s not the only one in our government. Other polish politicians have said very hurtful things about the LGBT+ community; for example, Polish deputy Czarnek has said that LGBT has the same roots as Hitler’s national socialism. In some of Polish cities, mostly the big and popular ones, homophobic and and pro-life trucks are driving around, proclaiming that LGBT+ people are pedophiles and want to sexualize kids in schools (because we wanted sexual education). Poland is considered the most homophobic country in the EU.

Now, after all of this information you’re probably wondering where I’m going with all this, it didn’t happen recently after all. And you’re right, the last thing mentioned above was two months ago (which isn’t long, but isn’t ‘recently’ either). But this was just an introduction to what’s happening right now, at this moment.

Recently, Margot (Małgorzata Szutowicz, an LGBT activist; she/her pronouns) from StopBzdurom (eng: StopTheNonsense) organization was charged for vandalizing a car (which belonged to a Polish anti-LGBT organization) and for hanging rainbow flags on monuments as a form of protest against the blatant homophobia. She was arrested a few times and charged also for “violation of religious feelings”. A few days ago, she was put into 2 month pre-trial detention. Three days ago, Margot walked to the cops to be volountarily arrested but they didn’t take her. Instead, two hours later they made a scene and took her using force, without a warning. When the rest of the protestors surrounded the scene and started blocking the police cars, cops started using violence and arresting random people. Polish left wing deputees were with the protesters, covering them from the police with their own bodies and were getting law attorneys for the arrested protesters. The law attorneys however weren’t let to talk to those people until 1:30am. In Polish television, the journalists while talking about recent events were continously misgendering Margot by using her deadname and wrong pronouns.

The best way you can help right now is by educating yourself, your friends, family and mutuals on what’s happening in Poland right now, signing petitions (links below) and just checking on your polish LGBT mutuals and friends, they really need your love and support.

LINKS TO PETITIONS:

Abolish current anti-LGBT laws and protect LGBT people in Poland, call the EU to intervene

Ban acces to all EU funding programs to businesses operating in polish LGBT-free zones

We're under attack in Poland

EU: Stand with Poland’s LGBT communities

hold polish president andrzej duda accountable for hate speech against lgbt+ community

PETITION TO THE EUROPEAN COMISSION

PETITION TO MAKE SAFE ABORTION LEGAL IN POLAND

Also, if you want to donate, do not donate to change org. IF YOU WANT TO DONATE, DO IT HERE:

miłość nie wyklucza

stop bzdurom - fund for lawyers, more wild actions, and stickers

darowizna lambda warszawa

Please reblog and spread the news, so more people can know about this!!

[josefavomjaaga]

Helfert, Joachim Murat, Chapter 5, Part 4

We’re still not finished with the Bourbon stuff, after their return to Naples.

Otherwise, Naples had nothing but praise for the attitude of the returned royal family. By their very nature, the loyal followers of the royal family who had come with him to the old homeland and those who had remained there, who had been of some value under the foreign rule, who had acquired positions and wealth, constantly had cause for jealousy and friction; "fedeloni" and "murattini" was the name they gave each other, not without a certain ironic flavour. The King and Prince Leopold, however, showed a sincere desire not to make any distinction between the two categories, which became apparent, for example, in the composition of the supreme war college. Both of them behaved condescendingly, even kindly, towards the Murat generals, if there was nothing else to reproach them for, and distinguished some of them. Guglielmo Pepe was very pleasantly surprised at the way in which Leopold, at the first introduction he had with his brother Florestan, behaved towards them, how he spoke of Caroline Murat as "Queen", indulged in eulogies about the Neapolitan army, called on him, Guglielmo, to write a memorandum about the last campaign, which, in order to do justice to the honour of the defeated army, could be printed somewhere in London or Holland. The same was the case with the higher civil officials of the overthrown regiment, who were by no means entirely removed from their posts and replaced by "Fedeloni". However, it was not possible to remain silent about everything that had happened recently, especially in the army. A commission was set up to investigate the conduct and abilities of some 200 officers against whom complaints had been lodged in connection with the last campaign, and also to examine the legality of the most recent promotions and decorations, for which the relevant patents had not yet been issued. But here, too, the sense of justice of Ferdinand and his councillors was revealed, in that he composed this commission under the chairmanship of Guglielmo Pepe from generals and commanders of the disbanded army and gave it instructions that met all the requirements of fairness. Much that was done to promote the internal conditions had an even more favourable effect. A commission headed by Prince Cardito had to place public education from rural schools to universities on a new footing. The charitable institutions, the Monte di Misericordia, the Committee for Public Charity, which were often paralysed as a result of the efforts of the last Murat campaign, were remedied by generous contributions from the King's private coffers. All this had a charitable effect on public traffic. "Our trade", it was said in a Neapolitan correspondence of the "Wiener Zeitung" (No. 267 p. 1059), "receives new life; in our harbour, where it has been quiet for many years, there is a completely different appearance, domestic and foreign ships are constantly leaving and others arriving". A very delicate, even spiteful point was the "donations of goods and revenues granted during the military occupation of Generals Giuseppe Buonaparte and Gioacchino Murat", which, if the royal promises of 1 May and 4 June were interpreted generously, would have been conserved, while the government now claimed that those clauses, on the basis of the Vienna Treaty of 29 April, referred only to the purchase of state estates, not to the gifting of them to mere favourites. Even before the arrival of Prince Jablonovski, Count Saurau, Imperial and Royal Court Commissioner to Bianchi's army, had repeatedly demanded clarifications from the Royal Cabinet on this matter, to which he had not received an answer. Jablonovski followed in Saurau's footsteps, although he did not conceal to himself the fact that it would be hard for the king to accept favours from the two intermediary regents which had been made at the expense of his most loyal supporters. He insisted that at least those donations be respected which Murat had entered in the "great book" and which consequently formed part of the public debt undoubtedly guaranteed by Austria and conceded by Ferdinand, and in this sense a royal resolution of 14 August was indeed passed.

But now came the further question concerning those donations which were not entered in the great book of the public debt and which were consequently subject to royal confiscation.  It seems that Ferdinand wanted to have complete freedom of disposal over them, either to give them to the crown or, as Murat had done before him, to give them away to his followers, whereas the Austrian envoy argued before the king that the property confiscated in this way should revert to those from whom it had been taken by the previous government. Ferdinand was somewhat embarrassed, but finally said: "You are right, I will think it over", and soon afterwards the order was given to the Minister Tommasi to set up a commission to examine the principles laid down by the former feudal committee and to work out a plan for offering some compensation to the old families who had suffered most. The two presidents of the Court of Cassation and Accounts, Prince Sirignano and Marchese Vivenzio, Dr. Giacinto Troysi and Marchese di Vigo, were members of this committee, which soon showed itself anxious to give the royal right of confiscation the widest possible extension. In a memorandum, Vigo tried to prove that monastery estates were not to be regarded as state property, from which it should follow without doubt that the king was not bound by the treaty of 29 April and could therefore confiscate them and dispose of them as he pleased. Jablonovski also resisted this view until he received instructions from Prince Metternich that, once the royal decree of 14 August had become a fact and the Neapolitan government was determined to implement it, he should not interfere any further in the whole matter so as not to expose himself to a final refusal or, in the other case, to have to bear joint responsibility for what might happen next. In the midst of these tasks and conflicts of opinion, which touched so many and so profound interests, stirred up such fierce and ugly passions, came the news of a visit of several weeks which Lord and Lady Bentinck intended to pay to Ferdinand's regained capital. The decrepit Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was struck with terror, while the news did not ring at all unpleasantly in the ears of reform-minded Medici. The king was on Circello's side and no longer wanted to have anything to do with His Lordship, with whom he had been on such good terms during his last stay in Sicily. One did not have to look far for the reason for this reluctance. Ferdinand had never been a friend of constitutional institutions; after the experiment he had had to undergo in Sicily, they were anathema to him. Since the recent turn of events, however, the noble lord had become the object of other suspicions: he was presumed to be in secret communication with all the free-thinkers of the peninsula, especially with the Carbonari, and to have a hand in all the machinations which emanated from that quarter. For the same reason, Lucian Buonaparte's stay in Rome was a thorn in the side of the Neapolitan cabinet, because they considered him to be one of the heads of the Carbonari, a comrade-in-arms of Bentinck, and were convinced that he would be encouraged and supported by the latter. Austria had to promise his best services to obtain Lucian's removal from Rome and to arrange another place for him to stay. In Naples, they did not dare to appeal directly to the papal chair, since they were, as it seems, on no better terms with it than they had been under Joachim Murat.

Inserted footnote (pointless, but kinda funny):

But the Viennese Cabinet and its representative in Rome also had their incessant frictions with the Curia, as can be seen from a highly piquant passage in Jablonovski's dispatch of 12 July: "Å Rome je suis descendu chez le Chevalier de Lebzeltern que j'ai trouvé tourmenté par la fièvre et par le Cardinal Consalvi, je ne sais lequel des deux maux lui paraissait plus facile à supporter. J'ai appris à mon arrivée ici qu'il avait été soulagé, et que le Comte de Saurau avait tâché de calmer le courroux et d'assouvir l'insatiabilité du Ministre de Sa Sainteté". It was probably the Cardinal's stubborn insistence that the principalities of Benevento and Pontecorvo of Naples be handed over to the Papal States that is alluded to here.

The French passage in English: »In Rome I stayed with the Chevalier de Lebzeltern, whom I found tormented by fever and by Cardinal Consalvi, I do not know which of the two evils he found easier to bear. I learned on my arrival here that he had been relieved, and that the Count of Saurau had tried to calm the wrath and to satisfy the insatiability of His Holiness' Minister.«

One might argue that if the new government did not get along any better with their neighbours than the old one had, they might have just kept Murat.

Even in the delicate Bentinck question, our envoy was taken into confidence. Jablonovski advised Minister Circello to write a very kind letter to Florence, where Lord William was staying at the time, describing the immense joy the King would feel at seeing him again, i.e. at any other time, but not now "when the evil-minded might take advantage of his presence and use his name for the scattering and spreading of opinions which it would be impossible to tolerate". The letter, however, did not meet Bentinck either at the right time or in the right mood. His lordship, never accustomed to be disturbed in his intentions by foreign objections, gave nothing to Circello's chosen phrases and dropped anchor on the quay at Naples on one of the last days of September. Now danger was imminent and Count Nugent, being half Bentinck's compatriot, took the risk of convincing the noble lord that the air was more favourable for him anywhere than here between the sea and Mount Vesuvius. After two hours of negotiation, an agreement was reached: Lord William would not set foot on land, but his lady would stay in Naples until arrangements had been made for her accommodation in Rome.

Jablonovski hurried to Circello with the good news. The Marchese was about to sit down to dinner without having any sense of its pleasures, for he looked very dejected and thought that the British troublemaker might enter at any moment. Then the Austrian envoy arrived and Circello now knew no end to his joy and expressions of gratitude. An express messenger was immediately dispatched to Caserta, from where Ferdinand wrote back the next morning: "I recognise Prince Jablonovski in this! Thank him in my name and tell him that if he has given you back your appetite for your dinner, he has given me a peaceful night".

It’s somewhat refreshing to see that even Ferdinand couldn’t stand Bentinck. That’s what you get for picking a semi-literate dimwit like Ferdinand over Joachim, your Lordship.

Unfortunately, we’re now approaching the last chapter. And there will not be a happy ending.

[holisticpassport]

My Covid Story

Apologies for any spelling errors, I’m on a time crunch. I’m a few hours out from leaving for my first flight since July 2019 (and before that, March 2018). Heading out to Sydney, I’m a mix of anxiety and absolute excitement. In January of this year, our sublet was almost up in Eltham and Cam and I had plans to pack up the car and begin doing workaways around Australia to help rebuild communities devastated by the historic wild fires (doesn’t that feel FOREVER ago?). When our sublet became available for a full lease transfer, we changed our minds to stay in our space, so that was the first instance of travel being knocked out of the picture. Then we had Valentine’s weekend open to go visit some friends in Tasmania, so we booked tickets and upon waiting in the airport, our flights were cancelled due to inclement weather. DAMN.  Mid-march came around and it was Cam’s birthday, so we wanted to get out for a weekend of camping in our big bell tent, find a gorgeous spot in the woods out east near Warburton. When we arrived, every camping spot for an hour’s dive any direction was either full or completely not open at all. We picked a spot off a random road and spent one night there, but some rangers came by and said we couldn’t stay there due to the possible danger of logging trucks not seeing us. So that was a bust.

Then as you’re aware, this time frame leads up to the very tumultuous third week of March when Melbourne officially went into its first lockdown due to COVID. I documented this time in journal entries which I will add at the end, but ultimately the lockdown went until June, and the state reopened too quickly/had a fiasco with quarantined cases getting out of a hotel, thus sparking the second wave. We had flights booked to California for June to see my family and then planned to travel around Mexico for a few months, but that dream was quickly squashed when flights out of Melbourne ceased to exist at all. Months later, I had a flight booked in July to go to Sydney where I was to have my eggs extracted for donation. The day before I was to fly out, second lockdown went into effect and the flight was cancelled (thus forcing me to have the procedure done in Melbourne and cause a huge, historic controversy between Melbourne IVF’s CEO and the medical director of IVF Australia about how to transfer frozen eggs over a closed border!).

I’m struggling to comprehend just how important and meaningful my ability to travel today is. To think back to the first time in history, watching borders around the world close, flights become grounded, and witnessing a global pandemic unfold whilst in a foreign country—I remember thinking at the beginning how unfathomable the scale of it was. When people talk about things not seeming real or like it’s a dream you can’t wake up from, that’s exactly how it felt. I questioned whether I needed to go back to the U.S. in fear I might not see my family for years or be with them if they got fatally ill. Would I be able to even go back if that happened let alone would I be able to re-enter AU (the answer was no). And thank god I didn’t go back considering the absolute cluster fuck of a mess Trump made of the pandemic. But also, thank god my family has been healthy and safe. The level of fear for their safety was at an all-time high as civil tensions grew when the riots around the country kicked off in conjunction with the pandemic. I wrote to all of them to have a plan to escape to Mexico and get their passports if Trump won the re-election. This was a genuine fear I’ve never experienced before.

The level of frustration, depression, anxiety, hopelessness, self-hatred for lack of productivity during lockdown, and uncertainty about so many facets of life weighed down on me during this time. But I know how much worse our time could have been. I was immensely grateful for the fact that we had a home and incredibly gracious landlords who were human and understood the financial difficulties of this unprecedented time when so many became homeless as job loss skyrocketed. We were so fortunate that I was able to continue working even 2 days a week through the lockdown as a barista and Cam was able to get government support for six months as a NZ citizen who lived in AU over 10 years when so many other New Zealanders were forced to return to their country because of the time limit stipulation for support. We only had two family members contract Covid and were young and healthy enough to survive when so many families will be without a member at the holidays this year.

And I acknowledge my privilege in that my identity is so closely entwined with the ability to travel, that while it felt suffocating to not even have the choice to travel anywhere outside of a 5km (3mile) zone, I fully empathize with those in parts of the world where they could not walk more than 50 meters from their front door or people who didn’t have windows/balconies in apartment buildings who were going out of their mind. All of that does not diminish the struggles I faced with not being able to travel, but it does always keep my perspective in check. My trip today signifies how a city and a country came together during the most difficult period of our lifetime, followed strict government guidelines, and came out after 120+ days in full lockdown on the other side of a pandemic, now able to cross state borders without isolation or quarantine. To go to a live music show,  have drinks on rooftop bars, walk around outside without a mask on, and see people going about their daily lives again on public transport and see a city bustling with energy—the months of mental hardship and growth was all to get back to a post-Covid world. Even though a vaccine is not out yet and we need to be cautious, the level of hopelessness has diminished significantly, and I’m not terrified my trip might be cancelled in two hours. I’m actually going this time!

There is also a whole other facet to my time in lockdown and that of course is the personal development and mutual growth in my marriage! That’s a whole separate post though which I hope to get out soonish. But here’s a bit of something I started a few months ago. Enjoy.

 ********

I remember when it first started in the news; like a minor blip of a story flashing at the bottom of the screen: some mutant virus had infected a couple dozen people in some random city in China. I was working solo in a café serving the employees of a major shoe distribution company in the warehouse district of Collingwood, Melbourne. The TV was on in the cafe but muted the first few weeks of January as the main stories were about the most devastating wildfires in the history of the world, and we all just felt a communal helplessness. As the numbers grew in China and the story became a daily headline, the first case was announced in Queensland on January 25th. Everyone stuck around a few minutes longer each day after they were handed their coffee. I think back to the moment when Wuhan, the epicenter at the time, reported 1,500 cases and I thought surely there can’t be much more than that. This is just media sensationalizing something small. This whole story will blow over in another week or two.

If only.

It was summer in Australia, and my husband and I were planning what to do after our sublease was up in mid-March. I commuted daily from a suburb 50 minutes north called Eltham, a creative and eco-friendly heritage town. We lived in a triplex made of adobe mudbrick, surrounded by native forest, a communal garden, and enjoyed huge artisan windows that brought in natural filtered light through the towering trees. Our little studio was a quiet haven away from the chaos and constant flurry of people in Melbourne, especially during summer as it brought travelers from every corner of the globe. There was no way we could have possibly known that this little paradise would feel like a prison after six months in the world’s longest lockdown due to a global pandemic caused by that little virus in some random city in China now known worldwide as COVID-19.

As the weeks passed by in February, more and more countries began reporting cases. I did not understand how pandemics worked as the last one I was alive for and could remember was H1N1 in California, and I was about 17—far too consumed with college applications and boys to think about world affairs. The Spanish Flu was never something that was particularly emphasized in our history classes, so it didn’t even occur to me to compare what was happening now to that point in time. Then again, this was incomparable because in 1912, the world was a less globalized economy and there were no commercial flights transporting thousands of passengers across the globe daily. By the first week of March, my daily rush-hour commutes became the first real difference I noticed. The number of morning passengers on the train platforms dwindled from 50 to 25 to 5, and eventually, to just me. As the train stopped at over 30 stops from where I lived to the city, my carriage wasn’t even remotely full at 7 a.m.

There was less foot traffic in the city. Flinders Street Station, one of the two largest hubs that saw thousands of people daily, was eerily quiet and empty. We were two weeks out from leaving Melbourne to go travel, planning to go to New South Wales, AU to help rebuild communities that were ravaged by the bushfires. I was desperate to travel this year, and we were so close to leaving. I had picked up some other barista work in an advertising agency closer to the city. But day by day, office workers were being told to work from home if they were able to. Hand sanitizer became readily available in the café, bathrooms, and around the office. I remember staring out the window of this high rise building that overlooked the lush green stretch of Albert Park and thinking it looks so normal outside. Every day, I looked at the news in Australia, which I had never really done before. Industries were shutting down, and the panic was setting in for thousands of casual workers in the hospitality industry as it was only a matter of time before we would be shut down too.

Melbourne is a cultural hub filled with travelers who typically come here on a Work and Holiday Visa which gives them 1-2 years to work and live in AU. Most find work in hospitality as there are over 40,000 restaurants and cafes in this region. You couldn’t go a single day without meeting someone from another country which is why I fell in love with this city. I worked as a freelance barista through agencies that called for workers to be able to step in if someone called out sick or quit unexpectedly and they found themselves short. But my agencies had gone completely silent in the week leading up to the industry shutting down. There was no more work and travelers were finding themselves stranded. I journaled daily in the lead up to my final day of work in the city as I knew something big was happening, and I wanted to be able to recall when it all began. I also knew we would not be travelling anytime soon, around Australia or otherwise, when national and international borders began closing around the world.

 March 17th, 2020

All that’s being talked about is COVID-19. Entire countries are closing borders and going into complete lockdown. Italy has been inundated with patients in hospitals and now have to choose who lives and who dies. AU isn’t taking nearly as intense of measures, but the general atmosphere is not normal. All events with over 500 people have been cancelled. Those who have traveled anywhere must self-quarantine for 14 days or face a huge fine. Some people still don’t take it seriously, thinking/acting like it’s just a normal flu when in reality its ability to be passed on and even re-infect someone a second time is much higher than the rate of a simple flu. In the states, my family says all the restaurants and schools have closed, even the Hollywood entertainment industry has closed down. So many independent contractors, myself included, are without means to live because there’s no emergency government funding in place. It shows what’s truly flawed with the system. Luckily Cam has full time work still, but for those people who have kids and no daycare options? No partner or family? Those who are traveling and can’t get back home? This is devastating for all of us, but them in particular. Supposedly, there are rumors that the virus dies with the warm weather, but AU is headed into winter. It could be why the virus isn’t as big in places like South America and Africa (*note* countries from these two continents are now in the top 10 most infected places as of September 2020) Europe is completely shut down as is New Zealand. I have flights to California in June, so I’m hoping I can still go. For how weak my immune system is, I’m surprised I’m not more concerned because I’ve been continuously reassured the virus only attacks those with underlying conditions, mainly in the elderly population. Even in calm, tight-knitted communities like ours in Eltham, we’re seeing the best and worst of humanity come out with people hoarding resources, but also there are those offering rides for people to stores or grocery drop offs to their homes. I’m very interested to see how the next three months progress all around the world. Right about now, it’d be nice to hide away in a beachside house in Mexico. (*Mexico is also among the top 10 most infected countries now*)

March18th, 2020

The government should announce today whether hospitality industry will close, potentially putting Cam and I both out of jobs. Luckily our landlord is being highly accommodating. Trump is giving Americans $1,200 and has postponed tax season by 3 months. Only seems he does something decent when it’s to keep the economy from tanking and his money is protected.

Cam and I both have throat annoyances and headaches. We should try to stay home, but can’t afford it. Today, they’ve dropped gatherings of 500 down to only 100 people, yet shopping centers and public transport remain open, which I would think are the riskiest places for transferring infections. It’s been stated this is a once in a decade event that will change the course of history.

 March 19th, 2020

Amidst all the chaos from morning to night, people are finally taking time to nurture their interests and creativity. I’m taking two courses on sustainable fashion and fashion in design. I’ve also applied to be a mentor for women trying to gain work and leadership experience at an NGO called Fitted for Work. They have stylists that help women to prepare business outfits and tailor their resumes/do mock interviews. I’ve looked into an MA program I’m interested in at Warren Wilson College back in North Carolina. I think looking forward is the only way to keep the fear down about how long these shut downs may last possibly through June. The world economy is going to see some extremely confronting realities it hasn’t seen since the Great Depression. For the moment I’m looking into teaching English online which I’m already certified to do, just to try and earn some money. I’ll be interested to see all the art that comes out of this period and the photojournalism that captures this historic time.

 March 21st, 2020

We went over to Williamstown (Cam’s parent’s house) as Cam had two shifts out that way. Restrictions in cafes are now 1 person per 4 square meters, so in the 100 person limit already imposed, it’s now down to 25. I’m nervous for Cam to keep working and going on public transport. It’s high risk and unethical in terms of coming in contact with people we could transmit it to without knowing (asymptomatic) because it takes 14 days to even show symptoms. We made the choice to start self-isolation come Monday as we can see in the next week or two the same spike will be here in Melbourne as we’ve seen in Italy and most likely soon to see in the U.S. Reading other peoples’ accounts about how they continued life as normal as though nothing had changed in Italy is exactly where AU is projected to head towards.

 March 25, 2020

As of Monday, AU took drastic measures to ensure safety and closed many non-essential businesses with a series of daily updates for more and more businesses to shut or only stay open for takeaway. Overnight, nearly 80,000 people in hospitality work were laid off or lost work, Cam and I included. A stimulus package of 66 billion dollars was announced and Cam qualified for government payments through Centrelink because he’s a kiwi who’s been here over 10 years. Other kiwis who haven’t been here that long are completely without any kind of support from the AU government, even though in NZ, Aussies are supported. A very backward, selfish system who told them to go home.

We went to Centrelink on Monday at 7:45am in Greensborough (suburb over from Eltham). By 8:30 am when the doors opened there were over 200 people in line. The government has been terribly confusing with their messages out to the public, highly unprepared. People are confused about what they can and can’t do, what businesses are remaining open, who is eligible… it’s a mess. Why are liquor stores and hair salons considered essential?? There have been spikes in young people getting this virus as young as 18, and they are dying. The virus coats your lungs like a jelly ultimately blocking oxygen. We did what is hopefully our last grocery shop because being in the store is just as contagious as a café. There’s no safety or hygiene measures in place. We had gloves on and people were dancing around each other in the aisles to maintain 1.5m social distance.

The U.S. is becoming the new epicenter with horrific rapid spreading, particularly in New York. Flight around the world, including as of today AU, are being stopped and we can no longer leave the country at all.

  To Be Continued…..

[scotianostra]

On July 14th 1927 The Scottish National War Memorial opened.

The National War Memorial for Scotland was established by Royal Charter to commemorate the sacrifice of Scots in the First World War since it's opening it has also covered subsequent conflicts. 

The Memorial within Edinburgh Castle houses and displays the Rolls of Honour of Scots servicemen and women from all the Armed Services, the Dominions, Merchant Navy, Women's Services, Nursing Services and civilian casualties of all wars from 1914 to date.

In 1927 the architect Sir Robert Lorimer and 200 Scottish artists and craftsmen created a serene Hall of Honour and Shrine, where the names of the dead are contained in books that are on permanent display.

A number of eminent Scots wanted a truly Scottish memorial, in Scotland, recording the names of all Scots and displaying Scottish material. The moving force behind this vision was John George 8th Duke of Atholl. A leading member of the Scottish aristocracy, the Duke of Atholl, or "Bardie" as he was known from his title, the Marquis of Tullibardine, was a serving soldier who had fought in the Sudan and had raised the Scottish Horse Yeomanry. He was a man of considerable vision and energy and, what was more important, he had both influence and connections.

Atholl gathered around him a number of leading and powerful Scots and lost no time in promoting the Scottish case for a memorial. He wrote to the Commissioner of Works asking that Scotland should have her own memorial in the form of a museum collection to be housed in Edinburgh Castle. There then followed widespread consultation, which included the five Lord Provosts of the Cities of Scotland and extensive press coverage, largely in The Scotsman newspaper.

Initially there was concern on the part of the City of Glasgow and it was important that the City Fathers of Scotland's largest urban centre agree to the scheme. The problem was solved when a dinner for all of the interested parties was arranged and agreement was obtained.

The choice of Edinburgh Castle was inspirational, historically interesting and sensitive.

The Castle stands high above the centre of the capital city of Scotland dominating the skyline for miles around. Even in 1914 the Castle was a major tourist attraction and its roots lay deep in the folklore and traditions of Scottish history.

Until 1914 it had been the main barracks for the Infantry garrison of Edinburgh and soldiers had lived there and guarded its walls for many centuries.

The standard of military accommodation within the Castle precincts was however very basic. The barrack rooms were crowded and draughty with leaky roofs. The accommodation was heated by small coal burning fires in open grates some of which were still used for cooking. There were only a few baths for the whole of the garrison, no running hot water and very basic toilet facilities. The one communal cookhouse meant that most of the men still ate in their barrack rooms.

As a result of these shortcomings a new barracks was built at Redford on the outskirts of the City which would house both infantry and cavalry units. These barracks were being built in 1914 just before the outbreak of war. It was therefore envisaged that when the war ended there would be vacant accommodation within the Castle walls which could be adapted for the Memorial plan.

The choice of Edinburgh Castle was a sensitive one. Any proposal to alter the distinctive Edinburgh skyline by the building or demolition of any part of the existing structures was bound to meet with considerable opposition. This opposition was both vociferous and powerful and was in time to change the plan significantly.

In October 1918, a Scottish National War Memorial Committee was appointed "to consider what steps should be taken towards the utilisation of Edinburgh Castle for the purposes of a Scottish National War Memorial". 

Great care had been taken with these appointments to ensure that the Services, the press, the church, learning, architecture, Scottish history, the cities and the political parties were all represented.

The architect Robert Lorimer designed the stunningly beautiful Chapel for the Knights of the Thistle in St Giles Cathedral, but advised against a church or chapel as it "would excite much opposition". It was estimated that the Memorial Shrine and Cloisters and the museum he proposed would cost £250,000 a staggering amount for that age. 

While the money was a problem, there were many others that I won't go into in depth, needless to say, some were ploitical, others were fro, The Cockburn Society, who still do a great job to this day, trying to safeguard Edinburgh's heritage, to just give an example of the anger some people had for the scheme, the leading critics were Sir Richard Lodge, Professor of History at Edinburgh University, Principal Laurie at Heriot-Watt College and Lady Francis Balfour who actually demanded that the Duke of Atholl and Sir Robert Lorimer should be hanged!!!!!

Such was some of the opposition that there were even proposals to abandon the whole scheme in the Castle altogether and to erect a memorial on Calton Hill or Princess Street Gardens.

Undaunted they began fundraising. However this too had its problems as the Memorial appeal coincided with large appeals being made by Edinburgh Infirmary and Edinburgh University and the many small appeals for Parish memorials, most of these that you see in our towns and villages were paid for by public subscription.

Lorimer did make substantial compromises to his plan. He suggested that Billing's Buildings should be retained and adapted to form a Memorial Gallery. On the North side he proposed a deep apse, the roof of this extension being no higher than the existing height of Billing's Buildings, protecting our famous skyline.

Finally, in April 1923 the opposition crumbled. The Ancient Monuments Board gave a favourable report on the changes, the War Office gave final consent and, in October of that year, the Government approved Lorimer's designs. Six years after Atholl had made his original proposals the project went to tender and work began.

Robert Lorimer paid regular weekend visits to Blair Castle to discuss the fine detail and how every regiment, service and corps should be remembered, including the animals who in their own way had served and suffered in the war. Some of the finest Scottish craftsmen and women of the day committed many hours to ensuring that every detail was correct. The windows had to lend a soft and subtle colour to the interior, but there had to be sufficient light to ensure that the names in the Books of Remembrance could be read.

The frieze in the Shrine, the work of Mrs Gertrude Alice Meredith Williams, was deemed by all to be a masterpiece and the Duke of Atholl was particularly delighted with it. Referring to "Mrs Meredith Williams' wonderful frieze", the Duchess of Atholl recorded, " The beauty of the frieze is in part due to her husband. During his three years in the ranks in France he made endless drawings of his fellow soldiers. The drawings furnished a priceless inspiration for the amazing number of men and women recorded in his wife's masterpiece". 

Gertrude, who was commonly known as Alice Meredith Williams designed my favourite Scottish War memorial The "Spirit of the Crusaders" in Paisley. 

It is clear from the records that both the Duke and the Duchess of Atholl played a major part in influencing the interior design of the building, particularly in relation to the subtle symbolism and the wonderful serenity and simplicity.

The first pic is a postcard ris fom the 1920s. It shows a view of the North End of the shrine and the Casket  donated by King George V. The second pic is the entrance to the Memorial in Crown Square and is my own pic taken very early in the day in April 2013 before it got busy.  

Below is a link to the official web site for The Scottish National War Memorial, on it you can find lots more info and pics. One thing that might interest you is the Roll of Honour where you can search all the names that are included in the books at the memorial, on the roll are 15 with my own surname, all but two from the first war, my own Grandfather fought in the war and was a Gunner, leading to my Dad getting called Gunner by all who knew him, in fact few even knew his real first name. https://www.snwm.org/

[princessanneftw]

Livestream the summer solstice: my big survival plan for English Heritage

The charity is set to lose as much as £70 million this year, but its chairman, Princess Anne’s husband, Tim Laurence, won’t be beaten, he tells Richard Morrison of The Times.

Watching the sun rise at Stonehenge on the summer solstice, seeing those ancient stones perfectly aligned to the first rays of dawn; that has to be one of the world’s most magical heritage experiences. In any normal year more than 20,000 people, not all of them card-carrying druids, would gather to see it.

There’s nothing normal, though, about this year. On June 21 the 4,500-year-old monument will be deserted — by government decree. Instead, English Heritage (EH) will live-stream sunrise at Stonehenge. In the words of Tim Laurence, EH’s chairman, it will be a “self-isolating solstice”. And he’s doing his best to put a brave face on it. “For once the stones will be totally peaceful,” he says. “And nobody has to get up at 3am and get very cold.”

True, but if any one event symbolised how much coronavirus has wrecked Britain’s cultural calendar, this “self-isolating solstice” is surely it. That must be particularly painful for Laurence. Just turned 65, he had a highly successful career in the Royal Navy, where he ended up as a vice-admiral. And by the royal family’s eventful standards he enjoys a remarkably untroubled private life as Princess Anne’s husband. He took on EH in 2015 with instructions from government to wean it off public subsidy (which is being tapered down from £15.6 million a year in 2016 to nothing by 2023) and turn it into a self-supporting charity. And until two months ago he seemed to be steering his sprawling new ship very well.

“We’d had five terrific years,” he says. “We now have over a million members. Last year we had 6.4 million visits to our 420-odd sites. And from starting off in a negative financial position when we took the charity on, we had built up a financial reserve. So we were able to invest in some brilliant projects. We spent £3.6 million restoring Iron Bridge in Shropshire, which now looks fantastic and is secure for another century — despite all the terrible flooding on the Severn — and £5 million to build the new bridge to Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, which provides a much better visitor experience.”

Then the pandemic struck. Along with every other heritage organisation, EH closed all its staffed properties on March 19 (though 200 free-to-roam landscapes remained open). “We have to put this into perspective,” Laurence says. “Our problems are very significant, but as nothing compared to the challenge facing the health and care sectors.” Nevertheless, the result of what Laurence calls “putting everything into mothballs” has been, he admits, “a very serious loss of income”. He won’t put a figure on it, claiming with reason that the situation is too fluid, but even if all of EH’s recovery plans go well the charity seems set to lose between £50 million and £70 million this year. And if coronavirus refuses to be subdued, the outcome could be far worse.

In the context of the £200 million loss apparently run up by the National Trust in the past two months, EH’s problems might seem minor. Unlike the National Trust, however, EH doesn’t have £1.3 billion of reserves stashed away for a rainy day.

It didn’t help that lockdown started just before Easter, the precise moment when many heritage attractions traditionally open for the summer. EH has lost not only millions of paying visitors, but also the revenue they generate in its shops and tearooms. Laurence also decided to offer a three-month extension of subscriptions to the million-plus supporters, who are paying £63 a year for individual membership, or £109 a year for a family. “We wanted to thank them for staying with us,” he explains, “and to recognise that they aren’t getting as much value as normal out of their membership.” Probably a necessary public-relations move, especially in view of the reported mass exodus of members from the National Trust, but it put another big dent in EH’s revenues.

Those members haven’t been entirely deprived of EH’s services. Like many cultural organisations, EH has had a big surge in online visitors during lockdown. “Things like Victorian cookery lessons from Audley End [near Saffron Walden in Essex] or dance lessons for VE Day are getting massive attention this year,” Laurence says. So, he hopes, will an 80th-anniversary online commemoration of Dunkirk, designed to retell the story of the evacuation via a daily Twitter feed. That will provide a virtual experience for the thousands who would otherwise have visited Dover Castle, one of EH’s most popular sites, from where D-Day was masterminded.

Yet even the most vivid online experience can’t compensate for the visceral excitement of a physical visit to a dramatic historic site such as ghostly Witley Court in Worcestershire or the gaunt remains of Whitby Abbey. What if EH couldn’t reopen this year? Will there be another extension of membership? “I’d like to think that won’t happen,” Laurence replies. “We have a tentative date for reopening from government, and all our focus now is on getting things going again, rather than fearing the worst.”

That tentative date is July 4, but EH will take things slowly. “Our plan is to open a relatively small number of our staffed sites then, focusing on those that have lots of outdoor space,” Laurence says. “Stonehenge, for instance. The key is making sure that people feel safe, and we are putting in a huge amount of work — in close conjunction with other heritage bodies — to devise procedures to keep staff and visitors totally protected.”

One-way systems for visitors and PPE for staff? “Yes, and limiting visitor numbers, probably by having pre-booked time slots,” Laurence says. “I know it’s a bit of a bore for people, but I think visitors will appreciate the certainty of knowing they can get in. Then it’s about enabling social distancing to be maintained, and very high standards of hygiene wherever people have to touch things.”

Laurence won’t put a date on when a second wave of reopenings might happen. “The thing about the government’s guidance that I am most in tune with is the step-by-step approach,” he says. “We have to see what works and change it if it doesn’t.”

Is he convinced, though, that the public is ready to come back? Recent research suggests a high degree of fear about returning to any cultural activity. “Not everyone thinks the same way,” Laurence says. “What’s clear is that visiting places where there’s a degree of freedom and open air will be much more attractive than enclosed spaces at first. Of course we have a lot of enclosed spaces as well, so we have to find ways of overturning people’s reluctance to enter them.”

Even if people do flock back, however, EH is still left with an enormous black hole in its finances. The government is advancing funds that EH would be due to receive later this year, and there are discussions about bringing forward next year’s grant as well. These, however, are small sums (£8.8 million next year) compared with a possible £70 million loss. Will Laurence be asking for an additional bailout?

“It seems likely that we will be operating under [social distancing] limitations through the whole of this year and possibly next,” he says. “In that case, inevitably, our visitor income will be reduced. If we can’t get the income, we won’t be able to do all the conservation work and projects we’ve put on hold for the moment. Therefore we will have to ask government for more support.”

And an extra two or three years to be added on to EH’s planned transition from quango to independent trust? “That is also a discussion we need to have,” he says.

Could philanthropy help EH through its troubles? In the past five years Laurence has had some success at attracting private money, notably bagging a £2.5 million donation from Julia and Hans Rausing to help to build the Tintagel bridge. The trouble is that, as Laurence points out, “almost everyone who has got money to spare at the moment is thinking first about supporting health charities and care homes”. The Rausings’ recent decision to give nearly £20 million to charities tackling the pandemic is an obvious case in point. Nevertheless, if EH is to get back on track as an independent charity, it needs those big donors on board as well as the subscriptions of its million members.

Laurence spent his final navy years in charge of the Defence Estate, responsible for nearly 2,000 historically important buildings and monuments, so he was well aware of the challenges of conserving old buildings before joining EH. Even so, he admits he was a “slightly strange choice” to be its chairman. “I’m not an academic, not a historian, not an archaeologist,” he says. “Yet in some ways I represent a lot of our members. I’m a fascinated amateur. I absolutely love the history of this country. I love the sites we look after, and the story each tells.”

Tells to whom, though? The biggest challenge facing the whole heritage sector is arguably an urgent need to widen its demographic appeal. Can Laurence, in many ways the ultimate establishment insider, relate to that? Can he recognise that EH, like the National Trust, has an image problem? The perception that it’s a club for white middle-class people?

“There’s an element of truth in that,” he admits. “We are putting a great deal of effort into appealing more to — I hate using these categories — BAME [black and minority ethnic] people, who represent something like 14 per cent of the UK’s population. We have made a very strong statement by recruiting two outstanding representatives of those communities to our trustee board: David Olusoga [the historian] and Kunle Olulode [director of Voice4Change England]. They are helping our gradual transition towards being more appealing to non-white people. The important point is that we reflect not just the bricks-and-mortar history of England, but waves of immigration into this country over thousands of years. We have a story to tell to everybody.”

EH’s online output can be accessed through english-heritage.org.uk

[onevoiceforanimalsuk]

One Voice for Animals UK (OVFAUK) Weekly Update. Week 41

🐈 🐶 🐖 🐄 🦊 🐦 🐸 🐑 🐁 🐍

Robins are red♥️

Bluetits are blue 💙

Happy Valentine's day

From us to you 💌

NEWS

1. DATES FOR DIARIES

January to June - OVFAUK Campaign a better life for Rabbits and Rodents. 🐰

March - Voting opens for OVFAUK Awards 🏅

1st May - OVFAUK Coffee Morning ☕

1st May. OVFAUK Award winners announced 🏅

May/June - Submit your lots for Summer Auction 😎

27th June to 3rd July - Summer Auction. 🌞 🌞

2. Rabbits and Rodents - a better life. Our Campaigns page has gone live on our website, there you will find our Letter and email templates to contact your MPs/MSPs as well as the letters and email templates to contact Prt product retailers ✉️ ✉️

For both rabbit owners and anyone who cares about animals.

Here is the list of retailers with their email addresses and twitter details. It takes about 20 minutes to email all of them 🐇 🐇

We have made it so easy for you to help - please don't forget

3. Spring is around the corner and our rescue centres will soon be full of baby birds. Are you a rescue centre who needs nests? 🐣 🐣

Are you a knitter or crafter who can make nests, pouches or blankets?

if yes - Join our crafting group here:

4. We have 300 Rescue Organisations on our directory, but are we reaching them all?

Please vote on our poll and help us do better

5. Avian Flu - Whilst our bird rescuers are struggling with this outbreak we will keep the link in our weekly update:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-bird-flu-in-europe

6. Our friends at Icaris.co.uk are working on bespoke management software for small and medium size animal shelters & rescue Organisations. Icaris Sancturease

If you want to be part of the consultation email support@icaris.co.uk

7. Blue Cross want to know which pet welfare issues matter to you? I put down Rabbit housing. What about you?

8. 👀 Rescues 👀 if you have an online store, or you are running a raffle or similar - you can share the links on our marketplace 🏪 💰 🏪 .

🐈 🐶 🐖 🐄 🦊 🐦 🐸 🐑 🐁 🐍 🐕

PETITION OF THE WEEK

Requested by Ferel and Farm Cats UK

💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰💰

PEOPLE'S FUNDRAISING

We partner with donation platform PeoplesFundraising.com (themselves a charity) and have set up 60 members so far with PF profiles and donation pages, with approx £18,500 raised in donations.

Members of the public can set up fundraisers for Organisations they care about - but only if the organisation has registered.

If you are a rescue that isn't yet registered on People's Fundraising - get in touch.

📰 🗞️ 📰 🗞️📰 🗞️ 📰 🗞️📰 🗞️ 📰 🗞️

PRESS

Great article on our newest patron, Richard Bowler Wildlife Photography

📈 💰 📈 🪙 📈 💰📈 👛 📈 🙌

Opportunities & Volunteers

We are thrilled to welcome Madeline Bennett, Cathy Macbride and Tania Hoffman to our volunteer press team, and welcome Ede Coles who is helping make posters for our library.

If you can offer your time to help OVFAUK or to help any of the rescues on our database, please get in touch via email: Info@helpanimals.co.uk

🐰 🐰 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰 🐰🐰 🐰

CONGRATULATIONS

To OVFAUK member, Lea Facey, who had her article published in the @Rabbit Welfare and Funds 'Rabbiting on' magazine 🐇 Well done :-)

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LIBRARY

www.onevoiceforanimalslibrary.co.uk

Each week we will feature one folder from our amazing library of resources for anyone who cares for animals

This week it's the Available Grants document. The library also includes information on how to write grant applications

SOCIAL MEDIA

Please follow us so we can tag you in campaigns

Facebook.

Facebook.com/OneVoiceforAnimalsUK

Twitter: @Onevoiceforani1

Instagram: @Onevoiceforanimalsappeal

Tumblr: http://onevoiceforanimalsuk.tumblr.com

To help us stay in contact please add admin@helpamimals.co.uk to your whitelist

🌟 🌟 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

CELEBRITY SUPPORTERS

Patrons:

Dan Richardson

Richard Bowler

Supporters:

Animal Ambassador: Kiki the Squirrel

Richard Taylor-Jones

Ranulph Fiennes

Sean Conway

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Based on auctions, competitions, enablers, fundraisers & website algorithms, almost £40,000 💸 💸 💸 raised for our rescues to date. Will we make £50,000 by the end of our first year?

🌺 🌹 🌷 💛🌺 🌹 🌷 💛🌺 🌹🌷 💛

THANK YOU

Thankyou and have a great weekend and please let everyone know One Voice for Animals UK is the place to go to find and support your local rescues. www.helpanimals.co.uk

[troybeecham]

Today the Church remembers the Vietnamese Martyrs (Vietnamese: Các Thánh Tử đạo Việt Nam), also known as the Martyrs of Annam, Martyrs of Tonkin and Cochinchina, Martyrs of Indochina, or Andrew Dung-Lac and Companions (Anrê Dũng-Lạc và các bạn tử đạo).

Orate pro nobis.

The Martyrs of Vietnam

The Vatican estimates the number of Vietnamese martyrs at between 130,000 and 300,000. The Vietnamese Martyrs fall into several groupings, those of the Dominican and Jesuit missionary era of the 18th century and those killed in the politically inspired persecutions of the 19th century. A representative sample of only 117 martyrs—including 96 Vietnamese, 11 Spanish Dominicans, and 10 French members of the Paris Foreign Missions Society (Missions Etrangères de Paris)—were beatified on four separate occasions: 64 by Pope Leo XIII on May 27, 1900; eight by Pope Pius X on May 20, 1906; 20 by Pope Pius X on May 2, 1909; and 25 by Pope Pius XII on April 29, 1951. All these 117 Vietnamese Martyrs were canonized on June 19, 1988. A young Vietnamese Martyr, Andrew Phú Yên, was beatified in March, 2000 by Pope John Paul II.

Vietnamese martyrs Paul Mi, Pierre Duong, Pierre Truat, martyred on 18 December 1838.

The tortures these individuals underwent are considered by the Vatican to be among the worst in the history of Christian martyrdom. The torturers hacked off limbs joint by joint, tore flesh with red hot tongs, and used drugs to enslave the minds of the victims. Christians at the time were branded on the face with the words "tả đạo" (左道, lit. "Left (Sinister) religion") and families and villages which subscribed to Christianity were obliterated.

The letters and example of Théophane Vénard inspired the young Saint Thérèse of Lisieux to volunteer for the Carmelite nunnery at Hanoi, though she ultimately contracted tuberculosis and could not go. In 1865 Vénard's body was transferred to his Congregation's church in Paris, but his head remains in Vietnam.

The Church in Vietnam was devastated during the Tây Sơn rebellion in the late 18th century. During the turmoil, the missions revived, however, as a result of cooperation between the French Vicar Apostolic Pigneaux de Behaine and Nguyen Anh. After Nguyen's victory in 1802, in gratitude to assistance received, he ensured protection to missionary activities. However, only a few years into the new emperor's reign, there was growing antipathy among officials against Christianity and missionaries reported that it was purely for political reasons that their presence was tolerated. Tolerance continued until the death of the emperor and the new emperor Minh Mang succeeding to the throne in 1820.

Converts began to be harassed without official edicts in the late 1820s, by local governments. In 1831 the emperor passed new laws on regulations for religious groupings in Viet Nam, and Christianity was then officially prohibited. In 1832, the first act occurred in a largely Christian village near Hue, with the entire community being incarcerated and sent into exile in Cambodia. In January 1833 a new kingdom-wide edict was passed calling on Vietnamese subjects to reject the religion of Jesus and required suspected Christians to demonstrate their renunciation by walking on a wooden cross. Actual violence against Catholics, however, did not occur until the Lê Văn Khôi revolt.

During the rebellion, a young French missionary priest named Joseph Marchand was living in sickness in the rebel Gia Dinh citadel. In October 1833, an officer of the emperor reported to the court that a foreign Christian religious leader was present in the citadel. This news was used to justify the edicts against Christianity, and led to the first executions of missionaries in over 40 years. The first executed was named Francois Gagelin. Marchand was captured and executed as a "rebel leader" in 1835; he was put to death by "slicing". Further repressive measures were introduced in the wake of this episode in 1836. Prior to 1836, village heads had only to simply report to local mandarins about how their subjects had recanted Christianity; after 1836, officials could visit villages and force all the villagers to line up one by one to trample on a cross and if a community was suspected of harbouring a missionary, militia could block off the village gates and perform a rigorous search; if a missionary was found, collective punishment could be meted out to the entire community.

Missionaries and Christian communities were able to sometimes escape this through bribery of officials; they were also sometimes victims of extortion attempts by people who demanded money under the threat that they would report the villages and missionaries to the authorities.

The court became more aware of the problem of the failure to enforce the laws and applied greater pressure on its officials to act; officials that failed to act or those tho who were seen to be acting too slowly were demoted or removed from office (and sometimes were given severe corporal punishment), while those who attacked and killed the Christians could receive promotion or other rewards. Lower officials or younger family members of officials were sometimes tasked with secretly going through villages to report on hidden missionaries or Christians that had not apostasized.

The first missionary arrested during this (and later executed) was the priest Jean-Charles Cornay in 1837. A military campaign was conducted in Nam Dinh after letters were discovered in a shipwrecked vessel bound for Macao. Quang Tri and Quang Binh officials captured several priests along with the French missionary Bishop Pierre Dumoulin-Borie in 1838 (who was executed). The court translator, Francois Jaccard, a Christian who had been kept as a prisoner for years and was extremely valuable to the court, was executed in late 1838; the official who was tasked with this execution, however, was almost immediately dismissed.

A priest, Father Ignatius Delgado, was captured in the village of Can Lao (Nam Định Province), put in a cage on public display for ridicule and abuse, and died of hunger and exposure while waiting for execution; the officer and soldiers that captured him were greatly rewarded (about 3 kg of silver was distributed out to all of them), as were the villagers that had helped to turn him over to the authorities. The bishop Dominic Henares was found in Giao Thuy district of Nam Dinh (later executed); the villagers and soldiers that participated in his arrest were also greatly rewarded (about 3 kg of silver distributed). The priest, Father Joseph Fernandez, and a local priest, Nguyen Ba Tuan, were captured in Kim Song, Nam Dinh; the provincial officials were promoted, the peasants who turned them over were given about 3 kg of silver and other rewards were distributed. In July 1838, a demoted governor attempting to win back his place did so successfully by capturing the priest Father Dang Dinh Vien in Yen Dung, Bac Ninh province. (Vien was executed). In 1839, the same official captured two more priests: Father Dinh Viet Du and Father Nguyen Van Xuyen (also both executed).

In Nhu Ly near Hue, an elderly catholic doctor named Simon Hoa was captured and executed. He had been sheltering a missionary named Charles Delamotte, whom the villagers had pleaded with him to send away. The village was also supposed to erect a shrine for the state-cult, which the doctor also opposed. His status and age protected him from being arrested until 1840, when he was put on trial and the judge pleaded (due to his status in Vietnamese society as both an elder and a doctor) with him to publicly recant; when he refused he was publicly executed.

Many officials preferred to avoid execution because of the threat to social order and harmony it represented, and resorted to use of threats or torture in order to force Christians to recant. Many villagers were executed alongside priests according to mission reports. The emperor died in 1841, and this offered respite for Christians. However, some persecution still continued after the new emperor took office. Christian villages were forced to build shrines to the state cult. The missionary Father Pierre Duclos (quoted above) died in prison in after being captured on the Saigon river in June 1846. The boat he was traveling in, unfortunately contained the money that was set for the annual bribes of various officials (up to 1/3 of the annual donated French mission budget for Cochinchina was officially allocated to 'special needs') in order to prevent more arrests and persecutions of the converts; therefore, after his arrest, the officials then began wide searches and cracked down on the Christian communities in their jurisdictions. The amount of money that the French mission societies were able to raise, made the missionaries a lucrative target for officials that wanted cash, which could even surpass what the imperial court was offering in rewards. This created a cycle of extortion and bribery which lasted for years.

Saint Vincent Liem Le Duang.

He was born into the Christian community of Thong-Dong in 1731. From a young age he showed great devotion and ability. He was sent to the Philippines at the age of fifteen and took the habit in 1753. After completing his studies at the University of St. Thomas, he was ordained priest and returned to his native land. As he could speak Vietnamese he started his apostolate immediately. He spent the next fourteen years ministering to Christian communities, teaching at the seminary of Trung-Linh and preaching in the non-Christian areas.

From 1767 the Church in Vietnam came under attack from the authorities. Vincent nevertheless continued to proclaim the Gospel openly, regardless of the obstacles and threats. He was captured in 1773, beaten and imprisoned. He was placed in a cage and displayed like a wild animal. However the local Mandarin believed that this ritual humiliation would not help the authorities’ attempt to crush the Christian religion. Vincent was released from his cage and allowed to walk about the prison. He took advantage of his relative liberty and preached the Gospel to his fellow prisoners and all who would come to listen. This status was short lived and he was put back in his cage and taken to Hanoi and the Imperial Court.

At the Court the Emperor arranged a disputation between Vincent, a Buddhist, a Confucian and a Taoist. His reasoning, clarity and elegance, in defending the true faith, left a deep impressio, so much so that an Imperial Prince declared the superiority of Christianity. However Vincent’s fate was decided after a stormy dialogue with the Queen Mother. He was sentenced to death and was beheaded on the 7th of November 1773.

The persecutions of the Vietnamese Church continue. In 1975, the exodus of Vietnamese friars would result in the formation of a new vicariate outside their motherland: the Vicariate of St Vincent Liem. Every day, the brothers of the vicariate, pray for the conversion of Vietnam, through the intercession of St. Vincent.

Those whose names are known are listed below:

(Please keep in mind that for Vietnamese martyrs these are the anglicized versions of their names)

* Andrew Dung-Lac An Tran

* Augustin Schoeffler, MEP, a priest from France

* Agnes Le Thi Thanh

* Bernard Vũ Văn Duệ

* Dominic Mậu

* Emmanuel Le Van Phung

* Emmanuel Trieu Van Nguyen

* Francis Chieu Van Do

* Francis Gil de Frederich|Francesc (Francis) Gil de Federich, OP, a priest from Catalonia (Spain)

* François-Isidore Gagelin, MEP, a priest from France

* Francis Jaccard, MEP, a priest from France

* Francis Trung Von Tran

* Francis Nguyen

* Ignatius Delgado y Cebrian, OP, a bishop from Spain

* Jacinto (Hyacinth) Casteñeda, OP, a priest from Spain

* James Nam

* Jerome Hermosilla, OP, a bishop from Spain

* John Baptist Con

* John Charles Cornay, MEP, a priest from France

* John Dat

* John Hoan Trinh Doan

* John Louis Bonnard, MEP, a priest from France

* John Thanh Van Dinh

* José María Díaz Sanjurjo, OP, a bishop from Spain

* Joseph Canh Luang Hoang

* Joseph Fernandez, OP, a priest from Spain

* Joseph Hien Quang Do

* Joseph Khang Duy Nguyen

* Joseph Luu Van Nguyen

* Joseph Marchand, MEP, a priest from France

* Joseph Nghi Kim

* Joseph Thi Dang Le

* Joseph Uyen Dinh Nguyen

* Joseph Vien Dinh Dang

* Joseph Khang, a local doctor

* Joseph Tuc

* Joseph Tuan Van Tran

* Lawrence Ngon

* Lawrence Huong Van Nguyen

* Luke Loan Ba Vu

* Luke Thin Viet Pham

* Martin Tho

* Martin Tinh Duc Ta

* Matthew Alonzo Leziniana, OP, a priest from Spain

* Matthew Phuong Van Nguyen

* Matthew Gam Van Le

* Melchor García Sampedro, OP, a bishop from Spain

* Michael Dinh-Hy Ho

* Michael My Huy Nguyen

* Nicholas Thé Duc Bui

* Paul Hanh

* Paul Khoan Khan Pham

* Paul Loc Van Le

* Paul Tinh Bao Le

* Paul Tong Viet Buong

* Paul Duong

* Pere (Peter) Almató i Ribera, OP, a priest from Catalonia (Spain)

* Peter Tuan

* Peter Dung Van Dinh

* Peter Da

* Peter Duong Van Truong

* Peter Francis Néron, MEP, a priest from France

* Peter Hieu Van Nguyen

* Peter Quy Cong Doan

* Peter Thi Van Truong Pham

* Peter Tuan Ba Nguyen, a fisherman

* Peter Tuy Le

* Peter Van Van Doan

* Philip Minh Van Doan

* Pierre Borie, MEP, a bishop from France

* Simon Hoa Dac Phan

* Stephen Theodore Cuenot, MEP, a bishop from France

* Stephen Vinh

* Théophane Vénard, MEP, a priest from France

* Thomas De Van Nguyen

* Thomas Du Viet Dinh

* Thomas Thien Tran

* Thomas Toan

* Thomas Khuong

* Valentine Berriochoa, OP, a bishop from the Basque Country

* Vicente Liem de la Paz

* Vincent Duong

* Vincent Tuong, a local judge

* Vincent Yen Do

Almighty God, who gave to your servants the Martyrs of Vietnam the boldness to confess the Name of our Savior Jesus Christ before the rulers of this world, and courage to die for this faith: Grant that we may always be ready to give a reason for the hope that is in us, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

[mrssarablack]

I’ve been quiet.

I realize this. I’ve become painfully aware of my lack of voice in regards to activism or hot takes on the news. For the duration of June I stuck to activists posts and news, which has never been a thing I’m super vocal about on this page. I just happened to move my content over at either the exact right time to facilitate the shift of content, or the exact wrong time to keep to my regular scheduled programming running. Either way, I’m not sorry. Nor do I expect I’ll be able to keep my mouth (or rather my keyboard) shut long when things feel overwhelmingly outrageous in the real world. 

My intent going into the month was to back off a little on the political posts and take back the “safe space” I have here for cultivated fun in what is usually a very chaotic day to day life. I would continue the activism but perhaps less so on here. That’s not to say I wouldn’t actively be doing other things. I’m not yielding my support by any means.  I had intended to take this month to mostly focus my support of the BLM community through prioritizing putting my money where my mouth was failing to find words. Shifting from broad political posts about the injustices to instead turning it towards better educating myself, actually getting through the large stack of books I intend to get through, prioritizing purchasing items from black owned businesses where it makes sense to, donating to the charities and organizations that I can. This is the quiet work that is also necessary for good allyship. But then I found myself wrestling with the growing feeling that quiet can lead to appearance that whatever I was presenting in June was instead a performative allyship.

That’s hardly the case at all.

At the end of June I made a joke about trying to mentally prepare myself for whatever July 2020 had in store for us. I was not prepared. 

I met the reality of July 2020 four days later, like so many of us, and I was not even close to prepared for what was coming and I froze in the wake of it. I was not prepared to watch snippets of the Orange Man’s speech at Rushmore. The speech, that without even dicing his words was a hate speech. It was a proclamation, of sorts, against the citizens who were, and are still are, actively protesting for the BLM movement throughout the country. It was a formal declaration of “us vs them” in a way he has not actually done before. The intent is always there, his supporters will forever deny it, but it is. His own history shows he has always been a racist. That this man cares more for tributes, than the people he is meant to govern. Meanwhile, Native protesters were yelled at, by Trump supporters, to “go back to where they came from.” In the wake of this speech and the juxtaposition of it being given on stolen lands while the people who see them as sacred were accosted... I found very little to be proud of on July 4th. 

By the time I processed that moment, we had sped straight into ICE declaring that they would not extend the rule allowing foreign students to continue their education here because of the mandate against online learning. This rule makes sense, if we weren’t in the middle of a pandemic. But we are. 

Everything about this decision was cruel and xenophobic. It didn’t make sense economically, considering how much money Universities get in tuition from their foreign students. It didn’t make sense logistically, when so many students wouldn’t be able to get back home. Our immigration centers are already a fucking mess, but that’s a deep dive for another time. All it was, was an attempt to strong arm schools into accepting the administration's stance that Covid-19 is fully under control and that everything should go back to normal. It is the same reason they are threatening to cut funding for public educational institutions if they do not open completely in the fall. Yeah, kids at school is a far more ideal scenario than online classes, but not at the risk of their or their teachers' lives. The schools see that. The administration doesn’t. They don’t care. They simply want to force their narrative in whatever way they can. 

Upon a lawsuit, they walked back their proclamation of denying foreign students their education but, from what I have seen, there are still a lot of things up in the air. From accounts I’ve read on reddit the administration may choose to apply the former ruling to  first year students who may have invested in a future they now won’t get. They may deny foreigners the right to apply to after graduation work programs that formerly they were allowed to be in provided they had the right visas. If they did this they will claim it is to provide american’s the best chance at new work first. America first is ringing through this whole thing, and millions are left wondering how this is all going to actually pan out. 

Let me reiterate now the fact that we are still in the middle of a pandemic. This is a fact. A fact that the administration wants to deny till every last one of us has encountered this illness personally. The Orange Man is actively swatting Fauci away like he is nothing more than an annoying fly. He doesn’t like the “doom and gloom” truth of this virus so he denies it. He is actively pushing to block new money for further testing and tracing for the CDC because he doesn’t “like the numbers”. The CDC no longer has control of collecting patient data to help track covid-19. Something that has been used so that people in authoritative positions can make adequate decisions in regards to the virus. Less information will lead to more spread. Florida is now the new epicenter and the sunbelt, as a whole, looks bad. Things are not good and we’re still fighting with fellow citizens who don’t want to wear a mask. A simple act to help protect others is a political stance. I don’t understand it, and I’m not going to pretend or even try to. It’s not a hoax. The virus is real and it is deadly. Even those that recover from it have had lasting damage to their lungs among other side effects. 

But I digress, instead I will now get to the reason that brought me to this very long political monologue: in Portland, Federal agents fired tear gas on protesters after declaring it a riot. This is not the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. Allegedly, these federal agents are part of the customs and border protection agency, and they also took protesters up into unmarked vans and detained them. Citizens who are executing their right to protest were kidnapped by federal agents. Think about that. This is why the declaration of ANTIFA being a terrorist group was a bad omen. They are not a membership based organization, they don’t have meetings, they just kind of are... and that fact alone can be exploited. Anyone can potentially be dubbed ANTIFA if a federal agent deems them acting radically in the eyes of this administration. 

This is the roots of fascism in America. It is masquerading as nationalism and to some degree that's legitimate but the effects of those beliefs are becoming a thin facade for the other.

It’s almost undeniable at this point. This is the reason I started with the beginning of this month because between the hate speech, the stances that support racism, the xenophobic decisions, the active statement that there is no problem with the virus, and now kidnapping citizens are all part of a fascist playbook. Speaking out against a dictatorship is a death sentence. But a dictatorship is anti-American. If you believe in the idyllic America we were taught exists. I am not sure that America has ever fully existed.... but maybe somewhere she does, but, oh, is she flawed… but that’s okay because admitting to those flaws can lead to growth. Owning all of our past will lead to growth. But denial, denial leads us down a path to losing ourselves. 

My boyfriend is right, I’m a fighter. I will get up and I will fight even if there are tears in my eyes. But that doesn’t mean I am not tired. I find myself so heartbroken over the events of the last two months that I fail to have words to express the effect of keeping my eyes open to the world actually has on me. One thing I have figured out is despite what the president says, I don’t hate my country. I am part of the left, yes, but I love it. I can say that because I wouldn’t be so upset about all that is going on if I didn’t. I realize there are fellow citizens who wholeheartedly disagree with me, and they would also claim they love the country, but to me their fear of change says more about them than they realize. They don’t want to accept ugly truths and grow. It’s an oversimplification but here we are.  Everything is so polarized. We are divided. I’ve said this before but I’m not sure something isn’t going to break spectacularly before November, during, or shortly after. Regardless, a new normal is being forged and I do not accept it. I will not accept it. I will fight it, and I hope whoever takes the time to read this ridiculously long post will too. 

[thenavajotourist-blog]

Your Hero is Not Untouchable Pt 2

Your Hero is Not Untouchable

A Monuments Study: Dakota War of 1862 Memorials, Monuments and Markers

by Rye Purvis 7/3/2020

(T.C. Cannon, Kiowa, painting “Andrew Myrick - Let Em Eat Grass” 1970)

On December 26th, 1862 38 Dakota prisoners of war were executed in Mankato, Minnesota. This was to mark an ending (though not an end to the suffering of the Dakota peoples) to the Dakota War of 1862, a war that began just months earlier in the Fall of ’62. The 38 men were ordered to be executed under the order of Abraham Lincoln, after Lincoln’s examined 303 war trials conducted from September to November of ’62 in Minnesota:

“The trials of the Dakota prisoners were deficient in many ways, even by military standards; and the officers who oversaw them did not conduct them according to military law. The hundreds of trials commenced on 28 September 1862 and were completed on 3 November; some lasted less than 5 minutes. No one explained the proceedings to the defendants, nor were the Sioux represented by defense attorneys. "The Dakota were tried, not in a state or federal criminal court, but before a military commission. They were convicted, not for the crime of murder, but for killings committed in warfare. The official review was conducted, not by an appellate court, but by the President of the United States. Many wars took place between Americans and members of the Indian nations, but in no others did the United States apply criminal sanctions to punish those defeated in war." The trials were also conducted in an atmosphere of extreme racist hostility towards the defendants expressed by the citizenry, the elected officials of the state of Minnesota and by the men conducting the trials themselves. "By November 3, the last day of the trials, the Commission had tried 392 Dakota, with as many as 42 tried in a single day." Not surprisingly, given the socially explosive conditions under which the trials took place, by the 10th of November the verdicts were in, and it was announced to the nation and the world that 303 Sioux prisoners had been convicted of murder and rape by the military commission and sentenced to death.” 1

 Lincoln reviewed all transcripts from the rushed trials and made his decision on the final execution in under a month. The public execution remains the largest mass execution in American history. Today a public park remains at the site of the execution, named “Reconciliation Park” and given the theme “Forgive Everyone Everything.” 2 Merriam-Webster’s lists its dictionary definition of reconciliation as “the act of causing two people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement.”

 It Starts with Treaties

To provide context to the Dakota War of 1862 is to acknowledge a trail of once again broken treaties and a US hunger for land acquisition. Before colonial interactions, the Great Sioux Nation covered present-day northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. The ancestors of the Sioux “arrived in the Northwoods of central Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin from the Central Mississippi River shortly before 800 AD.” 3  Under the Great Sioux Nation are three subdivision groups: The Lakota (Northern Lakota, Central Lakota and Southern Lakota), Western Dakota (Yankton, Yanktonai) and the Eastern Dakota (Santee, Sisseton). It wasn’t until the early 1800’s that the Dakota, of the Sioux Nation, signed a treaty with the US in order to establish US Military posts in Minnesota and open trading for the Dakota. Soon after, the 1825 Treaty of Prarie du Chien and the 1830 Fourth Treaty of Prarie du Chien were put into place to cede more land to the American government. Another 1858 Treaty established the Yankton Sioux Reservation for the Yankton Western Dakota peoples, a treaty that ultimately moved the band from “eleven and a half million acres” to a “475,000 acre reservation.”11 The US created the Territory of Minnesota in 1849, thus placing even more pressure on the Sioux to concede land. More treaties followed with the 1851 Treaty of Mendota and the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. In both deals, 21 million acres were ceded to the US by the Sisseton and Wahpeton bands of the Dakota in exchange for $1,665,000. “However, the American government kept more than 80% of the funds with only the interest (5% for 50 years) being paid to the Dakota” 4

The US’s aim ultimately was to force the Sioux out of Minnesota. Minnesota, established as a state on May 11, 1858 had two temporary reservations set up along the Minnesota River, one for the Upper Sioux Agency and one for the Lower Sioux Agency. Relocation and displacement from land once used for hunting created even more tension with delayed treaty payments causing economic suffering and starvation. Treaties promised payments to the Sioux, payments that were used for foods but at that point but were often late due to the US’s focus on the Civil War. Trader store operators many times charged credit to the Upper and Lower Sioux Agency’s, collecting the annuity allotments directly from the government in return.

Let them eat grass

Having owned stores in both the Upper and Lower Sioux Agency at the time, trader Andrew J Myrick eventually refused to sell food on credit to the Dakota during the summer of 1862. That summer saw additional hardship with failed crops in the previous year on top of late federal payments. In response to his refusal to allot food, Myrick was quoted as “allegedly” saying “Let them eat grass” a quote that is oftentimes disputed. Around the same time as this disputed quote, on August 17, 1862 a few Santee men of the Whapeton band killed a white farmer and part of his family, thus starting the beginning of the Dakota War of 1862.

This is where we in the 21st century have to take a pause. Most of the written accounts of the start of the war or the “murderous violence” of the “Murdering Indians” 5 (a quote from Peter G Beidler’s “Murdering Indians”) were accounts from the side of the colonizers. When researching the Dakota War of 1862, perspectives from the Dakota are not common. At some point the basis for war warrants a question of American mythology. In researching about this white farmer debacle, the killing is in one instance described as coming from “an argument between two young Santee men over the courage to steal eggs from a white farmer became a dare to kill.”6 In another account, the story follows the same narrative about the farmer’s eggs: “Upon seeing some chicken eggs in a nest at the farm of a white settler, there was a disagreement whether or not to take the eggs. When one refused, his companion dared him to prove that he was not afraid of the white man's reaction.”7 I bring up the eggs incident not to stress on this sliver of historical mythology but to emphasize the instability of perspective in historical accounts. Anti-Indian perspectives and a notion of eradication of the “Indian” has been profound in the beginning in the colonization of the US. For a war to rest on the stolen eggs of a farmer, and the killing of 5 individuals doesn’t take into account the broken down persons that were driven to get to the point of having to steal eggs nor what exactly occurred between the farmer and the men.

After the incident, however it occurred, Mdewakanton Dakota leader Little Crow led a group against the American settlements waging war as a means to remove the white settlers. Little Crow as he is known in European mistranslations, name was actually Thaóyate Dúta meaning “His Red Nation”. He was instrumental in leading discussions in the treaties, providing a voice for his people, and leading Dakota in the Battle of Birch Coulee. In a letter to Henry Sibley, the first Governor of the US State of Minnesota, on September 7, 1862, Thaóyate described the context for the uprising:

“Dear Sir – For what reason we have commenced this war I will tell you. it is on account of Maj. Galbrait [sic] we made a treaty with the Government a big for what little we do get and then cant get it till our children was dieing with hunger – it is with the traders that commence Mr A[ndrew] J Myrick told the Indians that they would eat grass or their own dung. Then Mr [William] Forbes told the lower Sioux that [they] were not men [,] then [Louis] Robert he was working with his friends how to defraud us of our money, if the young braves have push the white men I have done this myself." 8

Famine, broken treaties, late payments from the government were but a few of the motivating factors for driving change. The killing of the five white settlers by the 5 Santee men prompted a motion of action led by then natural leader Thaóyate. 

When the war neared an end, Thaóyate and other Dakota warriors escaped. It wasn’t until July 3 of 1863 that Thaóyate was shot by 2 settlers and mortally wounded. Upon his death, Thaóyate’s body was mutilated and his remains were withheld from both family and his tribe until 1971 when the Minnesota Historical Society returned his remains to Thaóyate’s grandson. A historical marker remains where Thaóyate’s life was taken:

“[The] marker, erected in 1929 at the spot where Chief Little Crow (who escaped the hanging) was shot, glorifies the chief’s killer: “Chief Little Crow, leader of the Sioux Indian outbreak in 1862, was shot and killed about 330 feet from this point by Nathan Lamson and his son Chauncey July 3, 1863.” The marker does not mention that Little Crow’s body was mutilated, that his scalp was donated to the Minnesota Historical Society and put on display at the State Capitol. He would not be buried until 1971.” 9

Marker of where Little Crow was shot (photo by Sheila Regan) 

I just want to acknowledge, that there is a lot of information to unpack that occurred during the Dakota War of 1862, and I don’t want to pretend that this article can sum up every occurrence, battle or person involved. Author and non-Native Gary Clayton Anderson wrote “Through Dakota Eyes” in 1988, and though not perfect, it provides eyewitness accounts from various Dakota peoples perspectives that is worth noting. The Minnesota Historical Society, though known for its problematic history holding on to Thaóyate’s body, also provides more information on its website regarding oral traditions, resources, publications and more in regards to the Dakota War of 1862. I encourage those interested in diving deeper into information to seek out more while simultaneously questioning the source of the information.

 Stolen Bodies

Before Thaóyate’s death, the 38 Dakota men were hung at Mankato under Lincoln’s orders. An additional 2 men by the name of Shakpe and Wakanozanzan who had been captured were also executed on November 11th, 1865 under the order of Andrew Johnson. But this mass execution was not the end of the US’s threat to eradicate the Sioux. After the mass execution, “277 male members of the Sioux tribe, 16 women and two children and one member of the Ho-Chunk tribe”1 were sent to a prison camp at Camp McClellan from April 25, 1863 to April 10, 1866. The prisoners who did not survive Camp McClellan were buried in unmarked graves, later dug up and their skulls used by scientists at the Putnam Museum in the late 1870’s. The 23 skulls were given to the Dakota tribe and not until 2005 was a proper memorial ceremony held for the Dakota prisoners.

In addition, 1600 Dakota women, children and old men were forced into internment camps at Pike Island. Wita Tanka, the Dakota name for Pike Island, is now part of Fort Snelling State Park.

“During this time, more than 1600 Dakota women, children and old men were held in an internment camp on Pike Island, near Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Living conditions and sanitation were poor, and infectious disease struck the camp, killing more than three hundred.[37] In April 1863, the U.S. Congress abolished the reservation, declared all previous treaties with the Dakota null and void, and undertook proceedings to expel the Dakota people entirely from Minnesota. To this end, a bounty of $25 per scalp was placed on any Dakota found free within the boundaries of the state.[38] The only exception to this legislation applied to 208 Mdewakanton, who had remained neutral or assisted white settlers in the conflict."1

 Where does this leave us?

The year was 1990 and a 36-year old Cheyenne and Arapaho artist by the name of Hock E Aye VI Edgar Heap of Birds had just finished an installation along the Mississippi River in Downtown Minneapolis titled “Building Minnesota.” The installation featured 40 white metal signs containing the names of the 38 men executed under the order of Abraham Lincoln, and the 2 men executed under the order of Andrew Johnson. Heap of Birds explained, “‘Not everyone loved the piece. Heap of Birds says that he received criticism because of the negative portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. ‘They thought it was a betrayal,’”9 Beyond that, the installation came to be known as a space for healing, mourning, for acknowledgement of the lost men, and a place for community to gather.

(One of the 38+2 Signs by Edgar Heap of Birds, photo from Met Museum)

Two monuments were placed up in 1987 and in 2012 at Reconciliation Park in Monkato, MN. The ‘87 monument named “Winter Warrior” features a Dakota warrior figure made by a local artist and the 2012 monument features a large scroll with poems, prayers, and the list of all the men killed on that dark day of 1862. 

Beyond that, Minnesota boasts a plethora of statues, monuments and memorials under the umbrella of the Dakota War of 1862. Fort Ridgely State Park located near Fairfax MN hosts a number of monuments, Wood Lake State Monument, Camp Release State Monument, Defenders State Monument are a few of the myriad of locations dedicated to the Americans who fought, lost their lives as well as civilian causality acknowledgement. 

Located in Morton, MN, the Birch Coulee monument was erected in 1894. Close to this monument a granite obelisk was erected five years later titled the “Loyal Indian Monument,” to honor the 6 Dakota “who saved the lives of whites during the U.S. Dakota War.” This monument stood out to me, not so much for its bland appearance, but the unusual circumstance to highlight six “loyal” Native lives amongst the many lost who were seen as disloyal. 

Seth Eastman, a descendant of Little Thunder (one of the 38 men executed in Mankato) shared how “one public school at the border of Minnesota, where a man dressed as Abraham Lincoln talked to the students and answered their questions [and one] of my nephews asked the question, ‘Why did you hang the 38?’ This man went on to tell him, ‘Oh, I only hung the bad Indians. The ones that killed and raped.’ Telling kids this, that we’re bad, it’s the same as how we’ve been portrayed in the media. That struck my core.””

He continued:

“Minnesota has its own memorials for the Dakota War, but some of the older ones especially are quite problematic. These markers paint the settlers who fought the Dakota as brave victims who defended themselves, without discussion of the broken treaties and ill treatment the Dakota endured which prompted the war; neither is there any mention of the mass execution, internment, and forced removal that followed.”9

Director and Founder of Smooth Feather productions Silas Hagerty released the documentary Dakota 38 in 2012. The documentary highlights a yearly journey where riders from across the world meet in Lower Brule, South Dakota to take a 330-mile journey to Mankato as part of a commemoration and ceremony of remembrance for the 38 lost in 1862. The film also delves into bits of history on the attempts the US took to remove the Dakota peoples from Minnesota. Jim Miller, a direct descendant of Little Horse (one of the 38 men) started the annual ride in 2005 as “a way to promote reconciliation between American Indians and non-Native people. Other goals of the Memorial Ride include: provide healing from historical trauma; remember and honor the 38 + 2 who were hanged; bring awareness of Dakota history and to promote youth rides and healing.”10

(Dakota Riders Ceremonial ride to Mankota, Photo by Sarah Penman)

The memorials and monuments are in abundance in regards to the Dakota War. But who’s perspective is acknowledged? Through work such as Edgar Heap of Birds in his 1990′s installation, to the 2012 larger public scroll monument in Mankato’s “Reconciliation Park” there have been steps taken by both Native and non-natives to explore what this reconciliation looks like. 

Of the two Dakota men captured and ordered to be executed under then US president Andrew Johnson on November 11, 1865, Wakanozanzan of the Mdeqakanton Dakota Sioux Nation’s final words were:

“I am a common human being. Some day, the people will come from the heart and look at each other as common human beings. When they do that, come from the heart, this country will be a good place.”12

This article is dedicated to the 38+2.

-------

Images Sources Andrew Myrick – Let Em Eat Grass 1970 TC Cannon, Google Arts & Culture https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/andrew-myrick-let-em-eat-grass-t-c-cannon-kiowa-and-caddo-southern-plains-indian-museum/uwGyR0PTzacQkA

Met Museum photo of Edgar Heap of Birds artwork https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/653721

Mankota riders https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/dakota-382-wokiksuye-memorial-riders-commemorate-1862-hangings-ordered-lincoln/

Sources

1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dakota_War_of_1862 2 https://www.mankatolife.com/attractions/reconciliation-park/ 3 Gibbon, Guy The Sioux: The Dakota and the Lakota Nations https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Sioux.html?id=s3gndFhmj9gC 4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sioux 5 Beidler, Peter G. “Murdering Indians” October 17, 2013  https://books.google.com/books?id=4RRzAQAAQBAJ&dq=santee+men+murdered+white+farmer 6 History of the Santee Sioux Tribe in Nebraska  http://www.santeedakota.org/santee_history_ii.htm 7 https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/acton-incident 8 Little Crow’s Letter  https://www.usdakotawar.org/history/taoyateduta-little-crow 9 Regan, Sheila June 16, 2017 “In Minnesota, Listening to Native Perspective on Memorializing the Dakota War” Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/385682/in-minnesota-listening-to-native-perspectives-on-memorializing-the-dakota-war/ 10 https://nativenewsonline.net/currents/dakota-382-wokiksuye-memorial-riders-commemorate-1862-hangings-ordered-lincoln/

11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yankton_Sioux_Tribe

12 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64427183/wakan_ozanzan-medicine_bottle

Monuments Depicting Victims of the Dakota Uprising  http://www.dakotavictims1862.com/monuments/index.html Morton, MN Monuments https://sites.google.com/site/mnvhlc/home/renville-county/morton-monuments

More information regarding Dakota War of 1862 Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Native American University of Minnesota https://cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/native-american

[robertreich]

Why Trump’s Private Transactions are Terrifying

Trump has described the payments his bag man, Michael Cohen, made to two women during the 2016 campaign so they wouldn’t discuss their alleged affairs with him, as “a simple private transaction.”

Last Saturday, when ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Cohen if Trump knew the payments were wrong and were made to help his election, Cohen replied “Of course … . He was very concerned about how this would affect the election.”

Even if Trump intended that the payments aid his presidential bid, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he knew they were wrong.

Trump might have reasoned that a deal is a deal: The women got hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for agreeing not to talk about his affairs with them. So where’s the harm?  

After two years of Trump we may have overlooked the essence of his insanity: His brain sees only private interests transacting. It doesn’t comprehend the public interest.

Private transactions can’t be wrong or immoral because, by definition, they require that every party to them be satisfied. Otherwise there wouldn’t be a deal.

Viewed this way, everything else falls into place.

For example, absent a public interest, there can’t be conflicts of interest.

So when lobbyists representing the Saudi government paid for an estimated 500 nights at Trump’s Washington, D.C.hotel within a month of his election, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman rented so many rooms at theTrump International Hotel in Manhattan that its revenues rose in 2018 after years of decline, Trump saw it as half of a private transaction.

The other half: Trump would continually go to bat for Saudi Arabia and the Crown Prince, even after the Senate passed a resolution blaming the Crown Prince for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

"Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million," Trump told a crowd at an Alabama rally in August 2015. "Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much."

Ethics smethics. Without a public interest, no deals can be ethical violations. All are just private transactions.  

So someone donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee and subsequently received a $5 billion loan from the Energy Department. What’s the problem? Both parties got what they wanted. (Federal prosecutors are now investigating this.)

Trump aide and former Fox News executive Bill Shine continues to rake in millions each year from Fox News, and Fox News continues to give Trump the positive coverage he wants. What’s the worry? It’s a good deal for both sides.

This private transactional worldview also helps explain Trump’s foreign policy.

According to Trump, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un writes him such “beautiful letters,” that “we fell in love.”

So what if Kim continues to develop nuclear missiles? Trump gets bragging rights as the first American president to have a good private relationship with the North Korean president.

He and Russian President Vladimir Putin have a “beautiful relationship,” presumably opening the way to all sorts of private transactions.

In July 2016, after emails from the Democratic National Committee were leaked to the public, Trump declared “Putin likes me” and thinks “I’m a genius.” Trump then publicly called on Russia to find emails Hillary Clinton had deleted from the private account she used when she was secretary of state.

That same day, Russians made their first effort to break into the servers used by her personal office, according to an indictment from the special counsel’s office charging twelve Russians with election hacking.

So what? Trump asks.

Even as evidence mounts that Trump aides were in frequent contact with Russian agents during this time, Trump insists he wasn’t involved in any collusion with Putin.

Collusion means joining together in violation of the public interest. If Trump’s brain comprehends only private interests, even a transaction in which Putin offered explicit help winning the election in return for Trump weakening NATO and giving Russia unfettered license in Ukraine wouldn’t be collusive.

When private deals are everything, the law is irrelevant. This also seems to fit with Trump’s worldview.

If he genuinely believes the hush money he had Cohen pay was a “simple private transaction,” Trump must not think the nation’s campaign finance laws apply to him. But if they don’t, why would laws and constitutional provisions barring collusion with foreign powers apply to him?

As we enter the third year of his presidency, Trump’s utter blindness to the public interest is a terrifying possibility. At least a scoundrel knows when he is doing bad things. A megalomaniac who only sees the art of the deal, doesn’t.

[kiriti2009]

Dear America: Preserve These Things For The Love Of God

They say that in Europe our things are tiny and that in America your things are super-sized, and that’s a dangerous statement, prone to error when referring to anything other than the size of our Coca-Colas.

Any further debate could lead to a conflict of unprecedented proportions and distract us from the real issue: Here in Europe we are jealous of a lot of what you have in the United States of America. In particular, three things: God, liberty and civil society. In the social democratic Europe we live in, these three pillars have all but disappeared like the sun setting at the dusk of a civilization. In their stead we are left with secularism, conditional freedom and an all-encompassing state that demands money from us day and night in the form of taxes, while all we can do is shrug our shoulders, pay up and say, as did Bartleby: “I’d prefer no to.”

I write these lines, sit in a German alehouse “Cervecería Alemana” in Plaza Santa Ana in Madrid, an old cafe in which the dazzling Ava Gardner whittled away hours when she was living in Madrid, and in which Hemingway often sought refuge in good beer and beautiful people common to so many other bars in Europe. Midway through the 20th century another celebrated writer would also sit here. The Spaniard, Enrique Jardiel Poncela, was a successful comedian that, just over 30, relocated to the United States to write scripts for Fox studios.

He had such a penchant for tucking himself away in a bar in Madrid to write, that they had to build his office in Hollywood to resemble one, for him to be inspired. Jardiel hated the Hollywood vibe and on returning to Spain said that Americans were like “big kids,” although I’m not sure that’s actually a criticism. He also wrote that if a European wanted to understand America, he would have to buy, on arrival there, a “Bible, an automobile and a corkscrew.”

The corkscrew bit troubles me, even though these were the ’30s. By the way, his epitaph read: “If you want everyone to praise you, die.” When he did die, before his corpse had grown cold, everyone did praise him. And immediately afterward, not having ever displayed any political affiliation, everyone forgot about him. If there is anything this brilliant Spanish comedian got right, it was to be free, gaining himself enmity from both left and right. The European press has never been made for freedom, which is nothing other than the ability to say and do whatever you want and the strength to shoulder the consequences.

A student reaches for an inflated globe during a “Fridays for Future” protest for urgent climate action on May 24, 2019 in Muenster, northwestern Germany.

We envy almost everything about the press in America, from its independence from the government to the bravery shown by many of its greatest journalists, often opting for honor in harakiri — in ink — when the cause is a worthy one; sometimes it’s a sad collective suicide, like when they try to portray Nancy Pelosi as a rising star in the practice of origami. But even a despicable silver-screen villain like Walter Matthau from “The Front Page” captivates us, because in his madness we find an apt description of the wild press that was needed to create the brilliant myth of pressrooms littered by whisky filled flasks, and incredibly unstable individuals trying to keep the government at bay. 

Half the things that opinion-makers in the States would make the secular public in secular Europe shake in their boots and cross themselves, and that’s another thing that you got right: It’s important to call an imbecile an imbecile if you don’t you run the risk of confusing the public. And nothing describes the average European: confused and stunned. We’re not even well-manipulated à la Soviet, because even though the left wing tries whenever it can, the European center-right works ceaselessly toward that postmodern sickness called appeasement.

The outcome is that the right wing receives the brunt of the insults, the left being better liars, and nobody can freely say whatever they want in a newspaper without first reading carefully the European Single Thought Law. There are 70 million Twitter users just waiting to write your column, coming close to choking on their own bile as they spit insults at you, while your own contribution to social unrest is safely censored. If you’re right wing, they’ll come down on you like a ton of bricks.

To disagree, to think freely, to stand out, is to dig your own grave in modern Europe. There is a very European bias toward the bureaucratic structuring of private initiatives that becomes truly exasperating. Even in love.

Maybe because of liberty, the United States helps people become millionaires while Europe hinders them. Sometimes quite embarrassingly so. Just one example. Spain’s new social communist government has threatened to cripple rich people with taxes. As a result, an exodus to Portugal has begun. What does this government do? Rectify? No. They threaten with consequences against those leaving. This is all we could expect from a government whose vice president criticizes and insults the owner of Inditex, my brilliant fellow countryman Amancio Ortega, for having donated expensive, latest generation cancer treatment machines, to Spanish hospitals. According to Spanish Vice President Pablo Iglesias, the Spanish public health service doesn’t need “handouts” from the rich. Maybe he’s right. But the Spanish cancer patients sure do. Some people just keep proving Jardiel Poncelaright again when he said: “Those that don’t dare to be intelligent, become politicians.” There are exceptions, but they’re not in Pedro Sánchez’s government.

Spanish far-left Podemos party leader Pablo Iglesias gives a speech during the first day of the parliamentary investiture debate to vote through a prime minister, at the Spanish Congress (Las Cortes) on July 22, 2019, in Madrid.

As a rule, the States’ civil society is healthier than the European because it’s careful not to devote itself to mass ideological prostitution. I said “mass,” I’m not here to naively canonise the whole country, ignoring that you’ve had presidents whose main virtue was knowing how to dance salsa. But even then it’s different. Your genuinely democratic culture — impossible to export– makes it easy to get rid of cretins that manage to reach office.

In Europe, the more independent civic leaders raise their voices and lead all they can, but only until they’re gobbled up by one party or another. Then they become accommodated and their voices become muddled. That might very well be the problem: this very European obsession with security, be it employment, unemployment, social life, housing or relationships. Everything has to be as secure and predictable as German engineering, which is why there exists a certain disdain for the American dream. If America can be reduced to a hamburger, part of the European elite can be reduced to the unassembled pieces of a wardrobe from Ikea; if they ever manage to get it together, in an armed conflict, you’ll find me on the hamburger’s side.

Somehow mobility and meritocracy muddy the social democrat dream, which as with communism, needs poor and hungry to survive. Sometimes I wonder why modern Europeans are so enthusiastic about living when most of their state tutored, predictable and bureaucratic lives are a bore. Obviously Mediterranean Europe is the exception; boredom is impossible there.

All of this has a tragic consequence. The lack of a sense of humor extends like a plague throughout the continent. Europe has lost its sense of humor and that’s it’s drama. You only need see that safety warnings printed on any appliance produced in the European Union to understand how total safety and security is an illness. You can’t take your job so seriously. If you sell phone batteries, don’t place a warning on them, in 10 different languages, asking the buyer not to nibble on it. Don’t make a fool of yourself in 10 different languages. The legal cobweb covering the Old Continent making you do it is no excuse. Exporting illegal batteries is better than looking like a world-class idiot all over the world.

But Europe takes itself too seriously. Everything is regulated in its pocket-sized nations. Everything is vital. Everything is serious. Everything is exceedingly dull. Americans can joke and laugh about filling some dictator full of holes without tearing their hair out and crying, which is exactly what the French, Belgian or the Danes do. The Dutch aren’t laughing so loud this week because some genius in the government has decided it would be a good idea to legalize an anti–old people pill. Suddenly, Dutch progressive OAPs, that have been smoking spliffs since their teens, feel less enthusiastic about death-dealing because they’ve realized that in this year’s Halloween parties they will be the dead.

Incidentally, proof of Europe’s idiotization is that, given a choice as to what we import from the United States, instead of choosing liberty, wealth or the size of the damn ice in our drinks, we chose Halloween, which we would gladly send back to you in a box with its corresponding bow and a thank-you note “always thinking of you.”

Something else we envy. When a policeman shoots down a dangerous terrorist, you all ask how the policeman is and swell with pride over his heroism. In Europe though, public opinion and the media react differently:

Couldn’t he have spared the man’s life?

Was it proportional?

Did he read him his rights?

He wasn’t gunned down for wearing explosives and six machetes, he was murdered for being an Arab.

The same happens with military ops. If no one botches it, America will still rally behind their military when they are deployed, even if there has been political dissent. These small shows of unison that upstage the differences, around basic issues, are what make a nation great. Small things can be huge.

Maybe because Americans don’t believe that the state will save them, and much less guarantee them everlasting life within the foreseeable future, they still choose to trust in God. And that’s understandable. When one sees Bernie Sanders and thinks, if an electoral catastrophe were to occur, that one’s life would be in his hands, it’s a huge relief to know you always have God to save you.

What’s more, God is present daily in the lives of men that, as with any civilization, want to transcend their own arrogance. Which is why, when a politician finishes speaking with a “God bless America!” no one is surprised or shocked. It even sounds good, magnificent, glorious. On the other hand, in Europe, if one finishes his speech with a “God bless Sweden!” or “God bless Denmark!” it just doesn’t work. It’s almost like saying “God bless the International Monetary Fund!” It doesn’t even sound good. What’s more you’ll instantly see people rise from their seats and call out:

Why do you say “God”? I’m an atheist. It’s offensive.

Why do you say “God” and not Goddess? Chauvinist! It’s offensive.

Why do you say “God” and not Mother Nature? I identify as a rabbit. Ethnocentrist! It’s offensive.

In the end you just give up, leave God out of it, but reference Satan because you want to send the whole world to hell. But then, once more, another uproar, like a cat fight on Twitter: Christianocentric! Islamophobe. Allah is great. It’s offensive. That’s when you decide to put an end to the event and hang yourself in a toilet stall. That’s how things are in Europe.

Of course, Europe also has the History, it’s still at the origin of our civilization, illustrious ruins, Spanish literature, British humor, Houllebecq and Swedish women. But it also has its fair share of disappointments. France was supposed to be fun. All of my damned bohemians burned Paris down between opium dens, poetry and whisky. It was all just an illusion. These days their grandchildren don’t go out at night, they only read the state’s Official Bulletin and instead of alcohol, they down copious amounts of ecological tea in vegan tea shops where they extract the tea by caressing the leaves.

What about Spain? My country is another matter. Spaniards are only Europeans during work hours. From six in the afternoon onward — Brussels time — we stop being European and we do whatever we feel like until 8 a.m. the next day. This makes other Europeans feel awkward when they come to do business here. They would much prefer to see a hoard of fools following one another mindlessly through the streets like Lemmings, that strange video game from the ’80s. I mean they would rather be in Berlin than Madrid. We don’t do it because we love partying, but to safeguard the essence of ancient Europe, when Romans would commit the seven deadly sins all together, leave work mid-afternoon for a siesta and always found an excuse for a toast (not the bread one). Our sacred duty as Spaniards is to keep these worthy traditions alive, whatever Brussels says.

It’s not that Europe is a bad idea, just the same as the — oh so different — United States isn’t either. Europe, and I mean the European Union, is a place where we can sit down and talk instead of being gunned down and invaded. It has its benefits, especially in what concerns public spending on weapons. But neither Americans nor Europeans can permit themselves to be complacent. Europe needs to recover its identity or Brexit will be just the beginning, and America needs to keep an eye on what’s happening over here, because no one’s immune to a plague of stupid people corrupting the power. Although I suspect that in the end, whatever happens in the future, here in Europe, we’ll always be jealous of the size of your missiles, Reagan’s politics, Scarlett Johansson’s beauty, George Clooney’s elegance and having a president who tweets all in caps.

[freehawaii]

MAUNA KEA - MANA VERSUS MONEY

Indian Country Today - October 6, 2019 - By Anne Keala Kelly

The protest blocking the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea is now in its 11th week. Hawaii’s state and county officials still claim they can find “a way to move forward,” though there is little evidence such a path exists. 

Hawaii Island Mayor Harry Kim, whom Governor David Ige put in charge of the crisis in August, released a proposal that calls for the inclusion of “Native Hawaiian leaders” in future management decisions for the summit. But Kim’s plan fails to address the current situation, and, given that he has no jurisdiction over the summit, his plan is the legal equivalent of fairy dust.

The ku kia‘i mauna, or guardians of the mountain, for their part, have remained steadfast in opposition to the telescope. 

After word spread of a possible sweep by law enforcement three weeks ago, the ku kia‘i mauna numbers grew to some 1,500 almost overnight. That had been the (approximate) daily average by week three of the protest, when a tropical storm slimmed the crew to about 300. Now, there are between 250 and 300 people camped out 24-7 in an area that stretches about a quarter of a mile in both directions of the pu‘uhonua, or refuge, at the base of Pu‘u Huluhulu. That’s where the main camp operations are set up with a makeshift kitchen and other facilities, such as a Mauna Medic tent where they treat minor injuries. Although the camp is relatively quiet, another word to describe the atmosphere is prepared.

Rumors swirl almost daily about a possible middle of the night police raid -- and so everyone is on guard.

There is a protocol in place in the event that law enforcement deploys teargas. Each kupuna, or elder, has a kit that includes goggles and a respirator. Aunty Keala is being fitted for one, too. She is wheelchair bound, and one of the 28 kupuna who were arrested on July 17th.

One thing has become abundantly clear. The only way to move the telescope’s construction forward will be by force. It isn’t just that the parties involved are not on the same page, they aren’t even in the same book. 

There are two completely different paradigms standing toe to toe on the Mauna Kea access road. One emerges from a culture that measures political and social power as being imbued with what Hawaiians call mana, meaning something spiritual or divine in nature. The other is from a culture that views power, particularly in a settler-colonial place like Hawaii, as monetized, material force.

Money remains the dominant factor in the state’s decision to support the telescope. Constantly referenced in local and national press is the $1.4 to $2 billion price tag for the thirty-meter telescope and disbelief, sometimes bordering on condescension, at Native Hawaiian opposition. Although reasoning for the telescope is cloaked in western notions of science, recently, a deeper incentive for the University of Hawaii, which controls subleases for the summit, has also become clearer.

In an interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, UH Vice President for research and innovation, Vassilis Syrmos, expressed concern over National Science Foundation dollars that will go elsewhere without the telescope. According to Syrmos, the university is “expected to be positioned to receive billions for TMT related astronomy research and instrumentation development.” 

Kealoha Pisciotta, whose organization Mauna Kea Anaina Hou has stopped every telescope project proposed over the past two decades with legal challenges, is a former telescope operator for the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. In some ways for her, the thirty meter telescope is deja vu. “When we challenged NASA’s 2003 plan to expand the Keck footprint on the summit with 10 more telescopes, Ed Stone was the executive director of Keck at that time,” she said. “Now, he’s the executive director of the TMT International Observatory.” (The W.M. Keck Observatory, informally known as Keck, is named for William Keck, the founder of Superior Oil.)

Pisciotta’s knowledge of how the astronomy industry functions is almost as extensive as her cultural knowledge.

“My family has been star people since time immemorial,” Pisciotta said. While hanging a map of the summit in her tent, she explained some of Mauna Kea’s alignments in relation to the solstices, equinoxes and other sacred places.

Like many Hawaiians, Pisciotta has genealogical ties to the mountain that involve religious and cultural practices that include traditional astronomy. Indigenous knowledge of the stars is what enabled Pacific Islanders to navigate the largest ocean in the world without any western instruments for millennia.

“They want to build the TMT in the middle of the ring of shrines,” she said, referring to an area where practitioners have always viewed the heavens, and placed their family ahu, or altars, and ho‘okupu or offerings. The “ring” as archeologists call it, demarcates the sacred precinct of what Hawaiians say is “The realm of the gods” and “The holy of holies.” In fact, the state designated the summit as a conservation district largely because of its cultural significance to Hawaiians. But the state giveth and taketh at will, when it comes to how “ceded land” is leased out. 

“Mauna Kea is part of the so-called ceded lands,” Pisciotta said. “That means it’s the crown and government land of the Hawaiian Kingdom. That land was never legally transferred to the U.S. They just took it over and called it ceded. It’s supposed to be leased at fair market rate. State and federal law require those lands be used ‘for the betterment of the condition of Native Hawaiians and the general public,’” she said, quoting the Hawaii State Admissions Act. “Well, giving our mauna away for $13 a year is hardly benefiting anyone, except the people profiting from it.”  

Native Hawaiians are “legally” entitled to 20 percent of all income generated from those lands. That means the astronomy industry pays a total of $2.60 per year to do business on the Hawaiian people’s most sacred site.

“The state, the university, the pro-TMT people keep talking about TMT money. Stopping this telescope has never been about money for us,” Pisciotta said. “But, okay, let’s talk about money, starting with the billions that people have already made on the mauna since 1968. Does even one-percent of it benefit the people of this island?”

When asked how much money is generated on Mauna Kea, she said, “Just to give you a sense, when I was working up there in 2001, telescope time on the Keck for one day was $120,000.”

It adds up quickly. Mauna Kea’s skies offer an almost 365 day viewing year. A conservative estimate suggests that hundreds of millions is spent annually on the mountain. Even if the Keck hasn’t raised its rate since 2001, which is unlikely, $120K per day applied to, let’s say a 350-day schedule, would be close to a billion dollars over the course of 20 years.

And that money stays in the industry, moving between research institutions, foreign and domestic governments and corporations linked to the various enterprises associated with gazing up at the universe. If there is a trickle down from transactions happening at 14,000 feet, it’s miniscule compared to what observatories are charging.

Pisciotta said, “The Hawaiian people and Hawaii’s taxpayers are subsidizing the astronomy industry. People go on about how the TMT will donate a million dollars a year for education. So what? When was the last time anyone got to pay rent based on what they want to pay? Never, that’s when.”

In a place where housing costs are among the highest in the U.S., her commentary is even more relevant when considering the high levels of poverty among Native Hawaiians. While they make up about 20 percent of the population, Hawaiians represent more than 50 percent of the homeless.

But how much astronomers pay to do research on Mauna Kea is only half of the economic picture. The other side is money that doesn’t show up in the public ledger. It’s what Pisciotta calls “the real business of astronomy.” The secondary use of astronomy has other applications, one of which is military. But not in the way people might imagine.

To further clarify, Pisciotta said, “There are military applications to telescopes on the mauna, but you have to understand that for them, it isn’t just about what they’re observing, it’s about how they observe. Military generals don’t go to astronomy conferences to learn about the stars, they go to look at all the component parts of technology. Each piece is patentable. And each piece is sold to the highest bidder.”

That’s what Syrmos meant when he referenced “research and instrumentation development.” Pisciotta said, “He’s talking about potential billions in that secondary use of astronomy’s technology. That’s how far apart we are. To them, it’s about money. For us, Mauna Kea, or the aina, or the land, in general, is where we Hawaiians go to restore our spirit, our wellbeing. Mauna Kea has enabled us, given us the ability to reclaim and practice that spirituality, that truth.”

[paralleljulieverse]

It’s been a while since the Parallel Julieverse profiled one of the many unrealised projects that pepper the long career of Julie Andrews. From long-gestating productions lost in the planning pipelines to others that barely graduated beyond the drawing board –– with a host of rejections, prevarications, and who-knows-what-the-heck-happened in-between –– they form a tantalising treasure trove of "sliding door” what-ifs that are the stuff of Parallel Julieverse dreams.

This particular lost opportunity is a little more recent than most and touches on an integral aspect of Julie’s public image that we’ve not explicitly considered before: namely, her long association with humanitarian aid work in Southeast Asia. Long before Angelina Jolie became the contemporary poster person of Southeast Asian celebrity diplomacy, Julie Andrews was actively involved in supporting development efforts in the Indochinese peninsula.

As early as the mid-60s, Julie was using her budding celebrity to help agencies working in Southeast Asia through endorsements for Foster Parents Plan –– a role she would perform for many decades (Beyette: VI-1) –– and as a pioneering celebrity sponsor of the Committee for Responsibility, an NGO formed in 1966 to bring child casualties of the Vietnam war to the US for medical care and rehabilitation (Murphy, 1). She and husband Blake Edwards joined the Board of the Committee in 1969 and worked tirelessly on its behalf (Scott, 3). Julie made numerous public appearances in support of the organisation, including emceeing a special symphonic concert (Riley, 17) and hosting a charity art exhibition ( Loper, I-14). She also devoted a pre-filmed segment of her and Blake’s one-hour interview on the David Frost Show to profiling her work with war-injured children (Fanning: 33). This sustained personal involvement with the Committee led to Julie and Blake’s own adoption of two Vietnamese war orphans in the mid-1970s, a fact that was widely publicised in the popular press of the time (Eder: 13D; Linet: 8-10; Wilkins: 42-49).

Later in the 1970s, Julie and Blake become deeply involved with Operation California, another NGO with a strong Southeast Asian focus. Founded by two former anti-war activists, Richard Walden and Llewellyn Werner, Operation California become the subject of some controversy when the organisation aimed to send an airlift of aid directly to Cambodia in 1979 when the country still wasn’t formerly recognised by the US government. Refused assistance by the State Department, the flight finally got off the ground after Julie and Blake personally intervened and donated $75,000 of their own money (Baird: IX-13; Kaye: 12; Mitchell: I-11).

That early support for Operation California  –– later rebadged, Operation USA –– would become a defining lifelong commitment. Both Julie and Blake were founding board members of the fledgling NGO and worked tirelessly on its behalf. Through her high-profile international status, Julie has been a huge boon for the organisation, operating as their key celebrity spokesperson for the past four decades and helping secure vital support for their relief efforts. Over the years, her extensive advocacy work for Operation California/USA has ranged from headlining gala star-studded TV specials and live concerts to hosting low-key annual benefits for So.Cal. A-listers (Conway: E-31; Crowder: 4-B; Gindick: V-3; Morrison: A-15).

Wanting to see first-hand and “to learn for herself” about the situation on the ground, Julie decided to make a personal visit to the war-ravaged areas of Southeast Asia in 1982. “It’s one thing to speak about [these issues] from an intellectual point of view,” she said, but “I thought I ought to be able to speak personally” (Hendrix: V-1). On an even more personal level, Julie said she also wanted to take the trip for her two adopted daughters: 

“In some way, I went for them. I always wanted to be able to talk to my daughters about their home country. And when I went –– I never thought I would be able to love them more than I did already as my own children...[but] it made me want to hold them so tightly” (Hendrix: V-9).

Joining Richard Walden, Director of Operation California, Julie embarked on a 12-day visit to some of the most conflict-affected areas of Vietnam and Cambodia and the teeming refugee camps along the Thai border. It was, by her own admission, a life-changing experience. Coming face-to-face with “the common denominator of human suffering,” she recalled on her return, "was a real jerk to the soul” (Hendrix: V-1):

“[I] was so staggered, so assaulted by emotions...I saw it and I smelt it...a child dying in front of my eyes from malnutrition...little polio victims running around on all fours like their backs had been snapped...[refugees in camps] so filthy and hot. They’re packed like sardines. There’s absolutely no room there but your own body space. And to see them light up and smile when you walk through, it’s almost more than you could bear” (Hendrix: V-8).

It was on this trip that Julie first met and befriended Yvette Pierpaoli, a remarkable Frenchwoman who devoted her life to helping displaced children in Cambodia and, later, other war-torn countries around the globe (Beck 1985: S5; Pierpaoli, 1992). Pierpaoli had gone to Cambodia as a young businesswoman in 1966 to run an export company but soon found herself caught up in the turmoils that engulfed the region. As the Khmer Rouge took control of rural areas and refugees fled to Phnom Penh, Pierpaoli threw herself into helping displaced children, turning her house into a “transit center, with 22 to 25 lost or orphaned children there at all times” as she sought safe passage for them across the border (Cushing: V-30). When foreigners were evicted from Cambodia, Pierpaoli moved to Bangkok were she continued her relief efforts in the region, before eventually relocating to Central America in 1985 to work with children there.

Throughout this time, Julie and Pierpaoli kept in touch. Keen to make a “film that would feature the plight of the orphans...in Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia,” Julie announced in 1985 that she had negotiated the film rights to Pierpaoli’s story (Beck 1985: S5-4). These initial reports stated Julie would star and Blake Edwards would produce but, otherwise, details were sketchy. Two years later in 1987, the project –– which Julie called “my labor of love” –– was claimed to be “in a state of real progress” (Beck 1987: C21). The screenplay was being finalised, focussing on “the period following the Cambodian occupation by Pol Pot, when thousands upon thousands were pouring into refugee camps and Yvette saved so many children.” In these later reports, Julie was less certain whether she would play the lead role or restrict her involvement to a behind-the-scenes capacity. “I’d love to take on the role,” she affirmed, “but I just want to be sure I’d be best for it. The most important thing to me is making a film that does justice to the story––the story of a remarkable woman” (ibid.).

Sadly, after this point, the trail on the proposed Pierpaoli film goes cold and no further press reports were forthcoming. Perhaps it was derailed by financing problems or ran aground on one of the many other shoals that bedevil big film projects in what Hollywood insiders term “development hell” (Hughes 2003). The late 80s was also a period of reported turmoil in the Edwards’ family life so the project possibly got further sidelined by personal issues (Doten: 10-13; Honeycutt: 23; Michaelson: VI-1). Either way, the Yvette Pierpaoli story never got made and more’s the pity. Apart from the inherent worthiness of the material, the film would have been a valuable addition to Julie’s mid-career screen work. In the absence of a script, it’s difficult to know how well the property would have worked for Julie. But in terms of basic themes –– surrogate motherhood, a compassionate heroine aiding small children, resistance to authoritarian regimes, etc. –– the project had all the classic hallmarks of the popular Julie Andrews persona. Moreover, in the mid-80s, Julie was really working to stretch herself as a film actor, taking on some quite meaty dramatic roles such as her critically lauded back-to-back performances in That’s Life (1986) and Duet for One (1986), and the Pierpaoli property could have continued the trend. The French accent would have been a sticking point, though one imagines the character would likely have had a nationality change had Julie played the part. Anyway, it’s another one for the wistful catalogue of “if onlys”!

As for Yvette Pierpaoli, she continued her selfless commitment to international aid work, establishing her own French-based agency and partnering with NGOs around the world. In 1992, she penned her memoirs, Femme aux mille enfants / Woman of a Thousand Children. Focussed almost entirely on her relief efforts, there is no mention of the proposed film project with Julie, though by Pierpaoli’s own admission, “I was never drawn to the cinema and was incapable of distinguishing between Gary Cooper and Belmondo” (Pierpaoli: 283). Tragically, in 1999, Pierpaoli was killed in an automobile accident in Albania, together with David and Penny McCall of Refugees International and their driver, en route to deliver aid to refugees of the war in Kosovo (”Accident”: A-2). She was 61 years old.

Sources:

“Accident Kills Key Kosovo Volunteers.” The San Francisco Examiner. 20 April 1999: A2.

Baird, Barbara. “Small Group Moves Mountains of Aid to Southeast Asia ‘By Seat of Pants’.” The Los Angeles Times. 16 December 1979: IX-2,13.

Beck, Marilyn. “Andrews To Tell Orphans Story.” The Chicago Tribune. 8 November 1985: S5-4.

Beck, Marilyn. “Julie May Get Duet of Nominations.” Daily News. 10 February 1987: C21.

Beyette, Beverly. “A ‘Lesson in Humanity’ for Stars, Average Folk.” The Los Angeles Times. 3 February 1985: VI-1.

Conway, Ann. “The Little Aid Group That Could.” The Los Angeles Times. 27 June 2003: E31.

Crowder, David. “Julie Andrews Helping Lead Mobilization for Starving.” El Paso Times. 16 March 1985: 4-B.

Cushing, Diana. “A Place for ‘Displaced’ Children.” The Los Angeles Times. 6 December 1987: V30-31.

Doten, Patti. “The Sound of Julie: Alive and Touring.” The Boston Globe. 1 July 1989: 10-13. 

Eder, Shirley. “Julie Andrews a Mother Again.” The Philadelphia Inquirer. 21 April 1975: 13D.

Fanning, Win. “On Air: Julie Andrews, A ‘Playmate’?” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 6 July 1970: 33.

Gindick, Tia. “Art Round-Up for Operation California.” The Los Angeles Times. 13 June 1988: V-3.

Grant, Lee. “Star-Studded Show Set to Benefit Cambodian People.” The Los Angeles Times. 22 December 1979: IV-1.

Hendrix, Kathleen. “Julie Andrews Moved by Plight of Asian Children.” The Los Angeles Times. 22 September 1982: V-1,8-9.

Honeycutt, Kirk. “His Pain, His Gain.” The Los Angeles Times Calendar. 5 May 1991: 5, 23-25.

Hughes, David. Tales from Development Hell: Hollywood Film-making the Hard Way. London : Titan, 2003.

Kaye, Jeffrey. “Celebrities, Charity And Controversy.” The Washington Post. 27 January 1980: 12.

Linet, Beverly. “Julie Andrews, The Joy of Loving.” Celebrity. 1: 6, November 1975: 8-10.

Loper, Mary-Ann. “Julie Andrews Aiding the War-Injured.” The Los Angeles Times. 28 February 1971: I-14.

Michaelson, Judith. “Julie Andrews: Still a Fair Lady.” The Los Angeles Times. 9 August 1984: VI-1,5.

Mitchell, John L. “First Direct Refugee Aid Flight from U.S. Lands in Cambodia With Food, Medicine.” The Los Angeles Times. 25 November 1979: V-3.

Morrison, Pat. “Charity Case.” The Los Angeles Times. 30 January 2013: A-15.

Murphy, Jean. “Rehabilitating War-Injured Children Goal of COR.” The Los Angeles Times. 19 June 1970: IV-1, 21.

Pierpaoli, Yvette. Femme aux mille enfants. Paris: Club France Loisirs, 1992.

Riley, Robert. “Doctors Symphony in Wilshire Ebell Concert.” The Los Angeles Times. 13 April 1970: 17.

Scott, Vernon. “Julie Andrews Working with Vietnam Children.” The Herald. 20 August 1970: 3.

Wilkins, Barbara. “Couples: Soothing Blake Edwards and Raising Babies Result in a Thoroughly Joyous Julie.” People. 7:10, 14 March 1977: 42-49.

Special thanks to Hanne.

© 2019, Brett Farmer. All Rights Reserved.

[bountyofbeads]

Trump asks for military tanks on the Mall as part of grandiose July Fourth event

https://wapo.st/2NrChuC

Tanks. On the Mall. As a "prop for Trump's Salute to America."

Totally normal.

We all knew he would. He was told they would wreck the DC streets. And we all knew he’d seem to drop the issue, only to attempt to “order” it to happen anyway, at the last minute and with zero logistical planning.

Trump asks for military tanks on the Mall as part of grandiose July Fourth event

By Juliet Eilperin and Josh Dawsey | Published July 1 at 7:29 AM | Washington Post | Posted July 1, 2019 |

National Park Service acting director P. Daniel Smith faces plenty of looming priorities this summer, from an $11 billion backlog in maintenance needs to natural disasters like the recent wildfire damage to Big Bend Park.

But in recent days, another issue has competed for Smith’s attention: how to satisfy President Trump’s request to station tanks or other armored military vehicles on the Mall for his planned Fourth of July address to the nation.

The ongoing negotiations over whether to use massive military hardware, such as Abrams tanks or Bradley Fighting Vehicles , as a prop for Trump’s “Salute to America” is just one of many unfinished details when it comes to the celebration planned for Thursday, according to several people briefed on the plan, who requested anonymity to speak frankly.

White House officials intend to give out tickets for attendees to sit in a VIP section and watch Trump’s speech, but did not develop a distribution system before much of the staff left for Asia last week, according to two administration officials. Officials are also still working on other key crowd management details, such as how to get attendees through magnetometers in an orderly fashion.

Traditionally, major gatherings on the Mall, including inauguration festivities and a jubilee commemorating the start of a new millennium, have featured a designated event producer. But in this case, the producer is the president himself.

Trump has demonstrated an unusual level of interest in this year’s Independence Day observance, according to three senior administration officials. He has received regular briefings about it from Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, according to the people briefed on the plan, and has weighed in on everything from how the pyrotechnics should be launched to how the military should be honored.

As a result, the administration has organized a far more ambitious celebration than was originally planned, at a yet-to-be specified additional cost to taxpayers. Twomajor fireworks firms have donated a pyrotechnic show valued at $750,000, for example, but the Park Service will have to pay employees overtime to clean up the remnants of that display. The fireworks have also been moved to a new location in West Potomac Park at Trump’s urging.

Trump has also spurred the use of military aircraft for a flyover, including one of the jetliners used as Air Force One. In addition, the Navy’s Blue Angels were supposed to have a break between a performance in Davenport, Iowa on June 30 and one in Kansas City, Mo. on July 6, but will now be flying in D.C. on the 4th.

The White House declined to comment on the ongoing plans.

Asked about the discussions about using armored vehicles and the projected overall costs of the event, Interior officials also declined to publicly comment. They noted that the department issued an updated itinerary announcing the timing of the president’s speech as well as additional details on the military performance and 35-minute fireworks display.

“This is going to be a fantastic Fourth of July with increased access across the National Mall for the public to enjoy music, flyovers, a spectacular fireworks display, and an address by our Commander-in-Chief,” Bernhardt said in the news release.

Trump has been fixated since early in his term with putting on a military-heavy parade or other celebration modeled on France’s Bastille Day celebration, which he attended in Paris in 2017. Trump angrily backed off plans for a grand Veterans Day parade down Pennsylvania Avenue in 2018 amid concerns from District officials over costs and potential road damage from military vehicles.

The type of armored tactical vehicles under consideration for this year’s Fourth of July celebration can weigh 60 tons or more, and some, such as Abrams tanks, have tracks that can be particularly damaging.

The Pentagon is aware of Trump’s interest in having armored vehicles involved and is weighing having static displays of them during the celebration, defense officials said.

Advocates for the Park Service as well as some Democratic lawmakers and D.C. officials have questioned why the federal government is devoting resources to the event given constrained budgets and other demands.

“It’s irresponsible to ask the National Park Service to absorb the costs of an additional and political event when there are so many unmet needs in the parks,” said Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks Chair Phil Francis, whose group represents current, former and retired Park Service employees and volunteers, in an email. “The men and women of the National Park Service have been asked to do more with less for too long. Funds should be directed to the agency’s highest needs such as operation of the parks and the maintenance backlog and should not be directed to support political objectives.”

Trump’s decision to transform the nation’s long-standing Fourth of July celebration provided an opportunity for firms like Fireworks By Grucci, the family-run Long Island company that has produced shows to celebrate Independence Day in major cities around the world as well as ones at different Trump properties. As soon as the president tweeted about the idea in February, the firm’s president, Felix “Phil” Grucci Jr., recalled in a phone interview, he began sketching out a possible show.

“I made some design renders for what we would do,” Grucci said, adding that he had expected there would be a designated point person for the show, as there has been for other federal observances.

“We were originally thinking there would be an announcement of what the project would be for the event,” he added.

Instead, Grucci — who has teamed up with Phantom Fireworks CEO Bruce Zoldan, a major supplier of consumer fireworks in the U.S. — reached out directly to the White House, along with other federal officials. Grucci said he did not recall the names of his firm’s White House contacts, but said he did not speak directly to the president.

The Park Service already had a multiyear contract with Garden State Fireworks to launch fireworks on the Mall for the Fourth of July. While the cost varies per year, it was $271,374 in 2018.

Administration officials discussed whether they could cancel the existing contract to accept the new donation and save taxpayers money, according to two government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. But they concluded they could not break off the agreement with Garden State, these officials said, and instead opted to provide a show that will be roughly twice as long as last year’s.

“There was always a question of how the performance we were designing and envisioning how it would integrate with the existing Park Service show,” Grucci said. “We weren’t thinking we were going to replace that performance at any means.”

The upcoming pyrotechnics show will include several new elements, including a massive American flag and the words “U.S.A.” spelled out in the sky.

The only comparable event on the Mall in recent decades is “America’s Millennium Celebration: A Celebration for the Nation,” an effort commissioned by former president Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton to mark the start of the 21st century. The festivities, organized by their friend and fundraiser Terry McAuliffe and White House social secretary Capricia Marshall, took place on Dec. 31, 1999 and Jan. 1, 2000, and included a concert on the Mall, an appearance by the Clintons, a fireworks show and presentations at multiple museums.

McAuliffe said in an interview that the effort raised roughly $4 million in private donations and was closely coordinated with the Park Service and other federal agencies. But he emphasized that it was different from Salute to America, because the Clintons played only a modest role in it.

“The Clintons did not take over a decades, century-old celebration of the nation and insert themselves in the middle of it,” he said, adding that the president did not weigh in on any of the decisions and Hillary Clinton only initiated the event because other countries were preparing similar celebrations.

“Once she knew it was up and running, she was not involved in it at all,” said McAuliffe, who went on to serve as Virginia’s governor. “They showed up for the day, and were very happy.”

In a phone interview last week, Zoldan said that he hoped the Salute to America would bring people together rather than prove divisive.

“We wanted to do it as a gift to America,” Zoldan said. “We wanted to give back for this special great time to do bring people together again, by celebrating America’s birthday.”

Anti-Trump protesters, including the group Code Pink, are negotiating with Park Service officials over whether a massive “Trump Baby” balloon they want to fly will comply with flight restrictions that will be in place over the Mall during the Fourth.

But at least one protest is going forward: a group of senior citizens living at The Residences at Thomas Circle will hold a singalong at the same time as Trump’s speech, in a gathering they’ve dubbed, “Make Americans Friends Again.”

Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.

[pnwpol]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 8, 2019 | “Four years ago, I testified at the secret spy hearings. But because of the gag order placed on me and all other witnesses, I can’t tell you what they asked, what I said, who was there, or even where the hearings were held.

“What I can tell you is that Sierra Club BC is a charity that operates entirely within the bounds of the law. Speaking up for clean drinking water shouldn’t make us enemies of the state. Wanting air free from wildfire smoke shouldn’t make us suspect in the eyes of our government.

“Carbon pollution from the oil industry is causing extreme weather, hitting our communities with flooding, wildfires and drought. Illegal spying on concerned residents trying to protect themselves from the impacts of fossil fuels is an attack on our freedoms and our future.

“The real threat to our safety and national security is the climate crisis, not B.C. residents who are speaking up about salmon or a liveable future for our children. So it’s completely unacceptable that the government is spending tax dollars on spying to then assist the oil industry whose carbon pollution is the very thing threatening the safety of our communities.

“The right to voice dissent is a fundamental right that has made Canada a better place to live. It is through dissent and the right to engage in public debate, and protest, that we have nice things like the weekend, which we now take for granted.

“Spying on people who are participating in public processes – and then giving that information to the oil industry – is an illegal attack on democracy.

“The effect of finding out you’re being spied on, or that others are being spied on, is to turn people off from getting engaged. People told us they were scared to sign a petition, go to a rally, volunteer, or even make a donation, for fear of being put on some list and being monitored.

“In their report, SIRC said they understand people felt a chill effect as a result of believing they were being spied on.

“I’m prohibited by law from telling you what I said to the tribunal. What I can say is that it’s completely unacceptable that speaking up for a healthy and safe environment should make us suspect.

“Given the upcoming federal election, I’d like to see all parties commit to not use tactics like this illegal spying, and to reaffirm their commitment to our fundamental rights and freedoms.”