W00T! We have an entire day dedicated to the idea of eliminating violence against women. It turns out that that the UN declared November 18 to be something of a day dedicated to the idea of preventing violence against children (and more), so I'll just consider that here too. These are very wonderful ideas, but nobody, not even the UN wallahs responsible for such things, takes them at all seriously. This is blisteringly true in the USA. Is not bombing the shit out of them a form of violence against women, or children, as the case may be? How about machine gunning them or saturating their habitation zone with anti-personnel mines and butterfly bomblets? I'll leave starvation sanctions, including not only those restricting access to food and water, but also those restricting access to medications, drugs and medical care aside so we don't start quibbling about the definition of "violence", even though all such sanctions can exist only because of the implicit threat of physical force and violence against those who violate such blockades. The USA is responsible for 42% of all of the globe's international arms sales, Forty-Two Percent. This makes us enablers of a lot of the violence against women, children, and all others. We have a clear conflict of interest with respect to eliminating violence, since it is how we make our living. The world's 5 largest arms manufacturers are US companies. And then there is the domestic market - in the first 4 months of 2024 dealers and assorted individuals sold 5.5 million firearms in the domestic market. We are beyond mere enablers, being complicit in a lot of regime change operations, color revolutions, rebellions and other wars. We don't simply sell the arms, we also drop the bombs and fire the guns whenever we feel like it, such as in Kosovo, Iraq, Somalia, and elsewhere. Surely we don't take elimination of violence against women or anybody else seriously, and nobody could take our ceremonies and vocalizations about such seriously either. But, all the weapons buyers do not really have clean hands either, so it is really all just noise and theatrics. One bizarre aspect of all of this comes from our military. The US military includes 2,079,142 military personnel and 778,539 civilians as of September 2023. As of 2022 17.5% or US active duty troops were women. Should our war-makers be somehow immune from reciprocal violence? If one's job is killing others isn't it unreasonable to expect not to be subject to attacks oneself? And what of the CIA and all of our other sub rosa assassins and killers? Asking for a friend. N.B. - I lapse into the plural possessive above at times because the USA is a democracy, we the people choose for all of this to happen, do we not?
On this day in history:
1491 – The siege of Granada, the last Moorish stronghold in Spain, ended with the Treaty of Granada unleashing Ferdinand and Isabella's Catholic theocracy and imperium. 1876 – United States Army troops sacked the sleeping village of Cheyenne Chief Dull Knife at the headwaters of the Powder River, slaughtering many and leaving the rest to freeze and starve to death. 1915 – Albert Einstein presented the field equations of general relativity to the Prussian Academy of Sciences. 1947 – The US fascisti brought about the blacklisting of The "Hollywood Ten". 1952 – Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap opened in London to become the longest continuously-running play in history. 1960 – The Mirabal sisters of the Dominican Republic were assassinated. 1963 – John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald were both buried but in separate locales. 1970 – Yukio Mishima commited seppuku. 1986 – U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese announced that illegal profits from illegal covert weapons sales to Iran were illegally diverted to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Echoes of our illegal war on Zelaya, launched 11/18/1909. Nothing ever changes but the names.
Some people who were born on this day:
When we get presidents with brains it's purely by accident. Who was ever selected for his brains? We choose them for other qualities, or because they can be elected.
~~ Helen Hooven Santmyer 1562 – Lope de Vega, playwright and poet 1778 – Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, author and activist 1841 – Ernst Schröder, mathematician and academic 1844 – Karl Benz, engineer 1846 – Carrie Nation, domestic terrorist 1865 – Kate Gleason, engineer 1895 – Helen Hooven Santmyer, poet and author 1896 – Virgil Thomson, composer and critic 1900 - Helen Gahagan Douglas, actress and politician smeared by Nixon 1915 – Augusto Pinochet, US tool guilty of horrendous crimes against humanity. Part of Kissinger's legacy. 1924 – Paul Desmond, saxophonist and composer 1926 – Poul Anderson, author 1931 – Nat Adderley, cornet and trumpet player 1940 – Percy Sledge, singer 1942 – Bob Lind, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 1943 – Jerry Portnoy, singer, songwriter, and harmonica player 1951 – Bill Morrissey, singer and songwriter 1959 – Steve Rothery, guitarist and songwriter 1963 – Holly Cole, singer and actress 1966 – Stacy Lattisaw, singer
Some people who died on this day:
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
~~ Upton Sinclair 1944 – Kenesaw Mountain Landis, lawyer and judge, as if they weren't a dime a dozen, first Commissioner of Baseball 1968 – Upton Sinclair, novelist, critic, and essayist 2011 – Coco Robicheaux, singer, songwriter, and guitarist 2013 – Chico Hamilton, drummer and bandleader 2015 – Svein Christiansen, drummer and composer 2016 – Fidel Castro, held the US at bay for 57 years, accomplishing much for his people in spite of being continuously warred upon in one way or another by the empire.
Some Holidays, Holy Days, Festivals, Feast Days, Days of Recognition, and such: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women
Today's Tunes
Granada
Paul Desmond
Nat Adderly
Percy Sledge
Bob Lind
Jerry Portnoy
Bill Morrissey
Steve Rothery
Holly Cole
Stacy Lattisaw
Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis
Upton Sinclair
Coco Robicheaux,
Svein Christiansen
Ok, it's an open thread, so it's up to you folks now. So what's on your mind?
Cross posted from http://caucus99percent.com Open Thread, Violence against Women, Granada, Dull Knife, Einstein, Hollywood Ten, Upton Sinclair, Paul Desmond, Nat Adderly, Percy Sledge