No Drones Over Gaza Or Anywhere! Direct Action At Holloman Air Force Base In Alamogordo

No drones vigil at Holloman Drone Base, April 26, with New Mexico State University students

Dozens converged at for a week of nonviolent resistance to the illegal drone training program at Holloman Air Force Base, including several students and teachers from New Mexico State University (NMSU), Las Cruces. Many of their signs noted opposition to the role of drones in Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza.

On April 24, business at the drone training program was interrupted at two main gates by a nonviolent blockade during morning commute hour. After five activists blockaded the less used West Gate for about 20 min, they ended their blockade after the one minute police warning.  Some then joined others at the Main gate and continued the interruption of criminal activity at the base.  Ultimately six were arrested:  Denise Sellers (San Diego), John Reese (High Rolls / Mtn. Park, NM), Natasha Robinson (Berkeley, CA), Toby Blomé (El Cerrito, CA), Virginia Hauflaire (Phoenix, AZ), and Ray Cage (Tucson, AZ).  No warning was given at the 2nd gate and arrests occurred speedily.

Peaceful Interruption of Illegal Drone Training Activity at Holloman’s Main Gate video.

Action at West Gate short video by Fred Bialy.

Arrestees were held at the police station and told that they would be be taken to the Otero County Detention Center to be processed and held over night.  But after a few hours arrestees were taken directly to court, arraigned, and released at about 1pm.

Participant Scott Thompson of Alamogordo said, “Our government primarily serves an elite class that profits from wars and is unconcerned with the suffering we inflict on other humans. It is the duty of every good citizen to look beyond the headlines and understand the inhumane waste of resources making unconstitutional wars on others. Via public outreach and thoughtful actions we hope to get the attention of the misinformed.”

New local allies joined the Holloman campaign for its week of actions. Lee Burnett, an Alamogordo Episcopalian minister in training, saw banners an signs on Highway 70 and joined in. Betts, Kathy, Bear, and Tim came from Tucson and Las Cruces. Teachers and students from NMSU came from Las Cruces to lead a Friday noon rally on Alamogordo’s White Sands Boulevard and then joined the final afternoon commute vigil at Holloman AFB.

Organizer Toby Blomé explained: “In spite of 14 years of persistent opposition to the U.S. drone program and the terror it brings to vulnerable communities, the Pentagon and the drone industry profiteers are plowing forward, creating an ever more destabilized world of weaponized drones. We will not be silent while young recruits continue to be trained in these heinous acts of remotely controlled killing, ultimately becoming victims themselves due to the consequences of severe moral injury.

This is not the world we want for our grandchildren, nor for the generations that follow them.”

From the related website ShutDownDroneWarfare.org:

After many years of bi-annual protests at Creech, the drone pilot/operator training program was moved from Creech to Holloman Air Force Base.  Was that because our persistent protests at Creech had an impact?  Newer recruits are more likely to be influenced by our peaceful and non-confrontational protests. Our innovative vigil themes stir up a "Call to Conscience."  

 

The secrecy of the drone program keeps it from the public eye. "Drone strikes" are rarely mentioned in the media or by the military, and the term "Air Strikes” provides convenient “shelter" from public scrutiny.  Our week of action uncovers the secrecy and educates the local community, as well as the base employees!  Equally important:  The inhumane US drone program causes deep moral injury to our military personnel themselves.  We offer alternatives and support to the new recruits and other employees, via signs, banners and leaflets that offer resources for GI support.

Crackdown On Students And Information As Genocide Widens

Communiqué from Cal Poly Humboldt Building Occupation shared on Twitter

Students at college campuses across the U.S. are rejecting Israel's genocide in Gaza, and their encampments are spreading rapidly following violent repression by police at Columbia University. In addition to calling the NYPD on their own students, the geniuses in administration locked students out of their dorms and meal plans, and suspended them. Once they were suspended they could be arrested for trespassing -- on a campus where their families have paid tens of thousands each year to house, feed, and educate them.

This repression has only caused the resistance at Columbia to grow.

https://twitter.com/palyouthmvmt/status/1783007862765109677

Students don't get their information about atrocities against the Palestinians from mainstream media that were long since captured by the military-industrial complex. Instead, they get their information from eye witness accounts shared on social media. 

https://twitter.com/Newyorkist/status/1782879723833487630

Is it any wonder that Congress in its wisdom just enshrined domestic spying as law and ramped up liability for social media companies and everyone who works there for sharing what the government deems "misinformation"?

It is said that truth is the first casualty of war. Since the U.S. has been continuously at war for decades, the ever tightening screws of information control are absolutely key to the WW3 project. World wars start with genocide (WWI was Armenians, WWII was European Jews). Before the 21st century these were conducted secretly, keeping the details from ordinary people until after the fact. Nowadays we watch genocide unfolding in real time, with new mass graves at Gaza's Nasser Hospital the latest in the atrocity parade.

Students are showing what normal human beings do when faced with evidence of unspeakable cruelty on a massive scale: grieve, and turn the anger of grief into action. 

New Hampshire Judge: Elbit Systems Is A Victim (And, Incidentally, My Supervisor)

Screen grab from WHDH coverage March 22 inside the police station in Merrimack 

The remaining seven defendants of eight arrested for criminal trespass at Elbit Systems in Merrimack, New Hampshire were arraigned yesterday in district court. Original conditions of bail noted on their paperwork when they were released from custody March 22 were to avoid excessive drinking (?!) and stay away from Elbit in Merrimack. 

When Bruce Gagnon was arraigned April 2, the prosecutor asked the judge to also ban him from an Elbit facility in Massachusetts. The judge declined, saying it was outside his jurisdiction.

Yesterday's judge, Mark Derby, decided that not only is Massachusetts within his jurisdiction, but so is the whole U.S. of A! Now, my husband and the other six defendants have as a condition of bail the need to stay away from Elbit facilities anywhere in the country. (My husband: What about in England?)

Yesterday, defendants who appeared in court pointed out that this violated the prior precedent and prior statements about being outside the NH court's jurisdiction, but Judge Derby responded: "That other judge from April 2 is not my supervisor!" 

My comment: Maybe not, but apparently Elbit Systems is.

Another fun quote from prosecutor Jason Moore and re-stated by the judge: "Elbit Systems has been the victim of these protests in numerous states. If Elbit Systems was a human being, we would want to protect them in other states too, not just New Hampshire."

Screen grab from ABC News

This is the kind of twisted logic where attackers are victims, and any protest of the aggressors is coded in the corporate press as "antisemitic". Cue the reporting on the allegedly enormous rise in antisemitic incidents since October 2023. Note to journalists: many of those involved in, for example, occupying Columbia University yesterday to call for divestment from companies like Elbit that profit from Israel's genocide in Palestine, are themselves Jewish. This is also true of Elbit protesters from Maine.

The defendants will be back in court on June 6 at 9:30am for a Trial Management Conference i.e. disposition hearing. This is where the court determines if a deal has been reached between prosecutors and defendants, and if not issues the orders to proceed to trial on another day.

Since several people I love were arrested blocking access for a day to the alleged victim, the biggest genocide profiteer on the planet, I've been subscribing to the NH Union Leader newspaper. And their daily email allows me to check their top headlines.

Yesterday's arraignment did not make the cut, however, I found this item to be interesting. Resistance is everywhere! 

Senate ships Defend the Guard bill off to study

Guard adjutant general warned N.H. could lose $400 million in federal aid if legislation blocking deployment of his troops in an undeclared war passes.

By Kevin Landrigan

Union Leader Staff

CONCORD — The state Senate on Thursday summarily sidelined a controversial bill that would have prevented the deployment of New Hampshire Army or Air National Guard troops to serve in combat during undeclared wars.

Adjutant Gen. David Mikolaities had warned that passage of the Defend the Guard Act (HB 229) could have put nearly $400 million in federal grants at risk.

After no debate, the Senate shipped the bill off to interim study by voice vote.

Even if senators chose to work on the legislation, the move means it would have to start over as a new bill in 2025.

Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, DManchester, said the testimony of many deployed veterans, frustrated about being sent to different military theaters, made an impression on him.

“These men and women are being deployed all over the world, and they are not very happy campers,” D’Allesandro said. “To me it’s a clear indication that our armed forces are dependent on the Guard, and these folks are wondering why we’re always having to be deployed.”

The State Veterans Advisory Committee, Deputy Adj. Gen. Warren Perry and Mikolaities convinced the Senate that the agency could ill afford to have this bill become law, he said.

“The Guard is performing a critical mission for our country, so anything that could threaten financial support for it has to be of great concern,” D’Allesandro said. “The guard becomes even more critical as the traditional armed forces continue to fall short of meeting their goals for recruitment of soldiers. It’s a huge problem.”

The bill was authored by Rep. Tom Mannion, R-Pelham, a Marine Corps veteran twice deployed into combat during the war in Iraq.

“It’s a massive disappointment that the Republican-majority Senate voted against their own party platform by quietly killing Defend the Guard,” Mannion said.

“They have chosen to continue with the status quo of sending the men and women of our state’s guard unit into overseas combat, instead of pushing back against the war machine in D.C. and making Congress do its constitutional duty.” If reelected, Mannion vowed, he will return with his bill next year.

“New Hampshire has a strong history of opposing the forever wars in the Middle East, and the voters will make their displeasure known this fall,” Mannion said.

After the vote, Senate President Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro, said he understood the passion behind this measure.

“Some folks have quite frankly gotten sick and tired of endless wars, but defunding the national guard is not the appropriate response,” said the former congressman.

The legislation was first brought forward in early 2023.

Squeaked through House

Rep. Michael Moffett, R-Loudon, who chairs the House State-Federal Relations and Veteran Affairs Committee, said he was opposed to the measure at first, “but many veterans turned out who were very passionate about this issue and I felt I had to respond to that,” Moffett said.

“Our military has been used too often in the name of national security.”[emphasis mine]

Keep reading

 

 

Did Pro-Palestine Protesters Get Paid April 16 At State Capitol? Should They Go F*** Themselves?

Photo credits: Jim Anderberg

Yesterday we followed up tax day demonstrations for defunding Israel's genocide on Palestine with a STOP ARMING GENOCIDE action at Maine's state capitol. A smaller crew than when we staged a similar action February 23 as there were and are numerous actions for Gaza this week all over our sprawling and lightly populated state.

We saw several friendly faces there as citizen lobbyists had turned out for Tribal rights, educator rights, and gun control as the legislative session scrambles to a close today. People let me know afterwards how much they appreciated the chant, "From Wabanakiya to Palestine, occupation is a crime."

A paid lobbyist in a mint green blazer did not appreciate the chant, "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

A few of us heard her say "Go f*** yourself" as she passed by. I thought she might be a legislator but, as the bell tolled for those folks to return to chambers and vote, mint green blazer was in the cafeteria across the way. She had removed her name tag by then, wouldn't say who she was, and told some other folks that they should study history. Zionist history, presumably. 

I wanted to give her employer some feedback on her interaction with us but a security guard stopped me from asking her name as she exited the building saying that swearing would get me kicked out of the state house (I was quoting her i.e. "You said to me...). Trying to guess  what issue she was lobbying for: gun industry? genocide profiteers General Dynamics or Pratt & Whitney? Doubtful, because those lobbyists usually wear expensive suits and shoes that stand out in Maine. I got more of a school administrator vibe, possibly there to lobby against a guaranteed minimum wage for ed techs.

Some of the gun control citizen lobbyists approached our group and expressed admiration for our die-in protesting other kinds of violence that the U.S. supports.

I stopped to speak with educators who were there with my union, the Maine Education Association. I told them I'm a retired teacher and I believe educators haven't been paid because the lion's share of spending year after year is on wars and weaponry. Several of them agreed with that. (Too bad that decades of advocating for the MEA to push back against military spending falls on deaf ears in an organization dominated by the Democratic Party.)

One funny thing that happened is a tv reporter who caught some of our die-in on video wanted to know if any of us were paid to be there. Also, were our expenses covered by our press guy's organization or any other group? Our press guy got a kick out of that and answered "no" to both on our behalf.

Under capitalism, apparently it's hard to understand that people would engage in direct action of their own volition and on their own dime. Case in point about why our group yesterday was so small: most people are at work on Tuesdays at 11am. I'm thankful for our hardy band of retirees and teachers on spring break, and for the work of activists who couldn't be there yesterday but who created this strong handout explaining Maine's role in arming the Gaza genocide.

WWIII Trending On Tax Day -- Coincidence?

It is hardly a coincidence that WW3 is the top trending term on Twitter this morning in conjunction with U.S. citizens being forced to pony up an average of $1,748 each to line the pockets of the Pentagon's contractors. That figure is just part of the $5,109 the average taxpayer spent on militarism in 2023.

WW3 is trending ostensibly because Iran finally launched direct attacks on Israel's ability to continue waging genocide in Gaza. What's that have to do with U.S. taxpayers?

Israel receives at least $3.8 billion every year, and considerably more in 2023-24 since it began carpet bombing and starving Gaza. It is the wealthiest and also largest recipient of U.S. military "aid" over time, and could not continue the violent occupation and subjugation of Palestinians without U.S. support.

Here in Maine we came together last Saturday in Brunswick to demand an end to U.S. support for Israel and its war crimes. 

Latest in a series of statewide protests with an anti-war and anti-imperialist focus, we joined with Bowdoin Students for Justice in Palestine to march through downtown. Students, kids, dogs, teachers, social workers, and retirees marched before circling up to share our thoughts. At least four people in the group said, I was passing by and saw your signs so I decided to join in. 

Evidence that there is a lot of pent up desire to oppose the war machine and the suffering it creates for profits.

Four thousand miles away, about a dozen folks had a lively discussion yesterday after viewing my webinar on Climate & War (previously shared with UNAC and viewable on YouTube). How to halt climate crisis that is a direct consequence of massive military spending and government captured by billionaires? How to effect a just transition away from harmful forms of energy usage in way that protect rather than penalizes the most vulnerable? 

Electing members of either corporate party was seen as a dead end by this group, Peace Action of San Mateo County. 

General strike, anyone?

People across the U.S. who are able to do so will engage in a tax strike today. 

In addition, here in Maine people will be at the federal building in Bangor to protest how our taxes keep funding genocide in Gaza. 

Others will protest in Portland at a KeyBank branch downtown to highlight that bank's role in selling Israel Bonds.

People everywhere are rising up and there is little the federal government can do about it. 

Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell, who famously said: "I will no longer be complicit in genocide."

ERRATA: Corrected to restore a missing decimal point to the minimum amount Israel receives from the U.S. each year i.e. $3.8 billion.

Bias Against China & Anyone Who Sounds Vaguely Chinese Is Not A Good Look On Liberals

So many racist political cartoons about China on the interwebs it was hard to choose just one.

Admittedly I do not know if it was liberals who flagged my annual subscription fee to Lee Fang's substack (a whopping $60) and put a hold on my credit card with the explanation "Possible Fraudulent Activity Detected." 

What I do know is that no such hold or warning has been triggered by my subscriptions to journalists with last names like Johnstone, Hedges, or even Taibbi.

This happened in the same week that the leader of a Democratic Party-aligned "peace" group in my state commented about an article on NATO I had shared: "The article you linked is incoherent (and look where it is published)."[emphasis mine]

Global Times published the piece on April 7 and included this introduction:

Editor's Note:

April 4, 2024, marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of NATO. As a product of the Cold War, NATO should have been disbanded, but over the years, it has served as a war machine and facilitated US hegemony. The Global Times talked to a number of experts and scholars to reveal how the US exploits NATO to serve its geopolitical purposes and how NATO destabilizes the world, exacerbates nuclear threats and brings confrontation to Asia. 

In the second interview of the series, Global Times (GT) reporter Li Aixin talked to John Pang (Pang), a former Malaysian government official and a senior research fellow at Perak Academy, Malaysia. John said that having set Europe on fire with its aggressive enlargement, NATO proposes to bring their formula to Asia, against a far more powerful opponent - "It's an imbecile proposition."

Yikes! Both interviewer and interviewee have Chinese-sounding names. Who could possibly want to read and consider their opinions on geopolitical realities as the U.S. slouches toward WW3 with China?

Several times in the past week I've seen articles about the U.S. instigating a proxy war in the Pacific using the Philippines as their cat's paw. I've also read analysis from sources we're being trained to consider suspect. Here's a short list:

Aukusing for War: The Real Target Is China  by Dr. Binoy Kampmark, published April 7, 2024 by the Australian Independent Media Network

Snow Job: 15 Years of U.S. Gaslighting in the South China Sea published April 9, 2024 by Peter Lee's China Threat Report (audio version also available there)

Xi Jinping's Thoughts On China's Nuclear Weapons by Gregory Kulacki & Robert Rust, published April 1, 2024 by Union of Concerned Scientists.

That last article debunked a New York Times report claiming that China's leaders 

“are looking to nuclear weapons as not only a defensive shield, but as a potential sword — to intimidate and subjugate adversaries.” [The Union of Concerned Scientists] examined the evidence and found it did not support that claim. 

Actually found a political cartoon about China that isn't racist!

The narrative management strategies employed by liberals around China are extremely familiar, because we have just been through two years of being told that the war in Ukraine started in 2022 all the while being scorned for reading anything published in Russia. 

A thought police officer on a "peace" listserv based in Maine constantly attacks posts that deviate from U.S. State Department talking points while citing sources like the NYT, Washington Post, and CNN as beacons of truth. Uh huh.

Pot calling kettle black cartoon from the New York Times.

We've seen the recent claim that TikTok is being used to manipulate young people into hating Israel's genocide in Gaza, and China is at fault because, as Nancy Pelosi said on camera, if China's government can control the algorithms "we" are in big trouble. A backhanded admission that the U.S. controls the algorithms on Meta products, Twitter/X, YouTube, and search engines like Google.

This kind of bias makes you look stupid, folks. When Chew Shou Zi, CEO of TikTok, was attacked during a hearing in Congress for being Chinese he responded, "No, I'm Singaporean." 

I was embarrassed for my country. 

You should be, too.

 

Cringe Video Kicks Off Vote Shaming Season

Honestly, it's always vote shaming season in the false dichotomy show that constitutes U.S. electoral politics. 

I'm immune to vote shaming for several reasons: I live in Maine where we have ranked choice voting so candidates literally cannot be spoilers; I left the Democratic Party for good in 2008 when Obama got the nomination and his first two votes back in the Senate were to pass the war supplemental bill and to extend immunity to the big telecoms for spying on us all; and Democrats failed to protect abortion rights, pass universal health care, or cancel student loans like Biden promised. They are the ones who should be ashamed.

I'm also immune to being called "Putin's spokesperson" or "you sound like Tucker Carlson." While I might giggle at a cartoon like this one, 

I don't agree with the underlying thesis that the ruination of the U.S. can be laid at the current administration's feet. Both parties in the U.S. serve their corporate overlords, and it is they who have gutted both quality of life and life expectancy for working class people.

So this cringe video of white boomers in Philadelphia "dancing" is unlikely to move me in any way other than activating my gag reflex.

https://twitter.com/adamcurtisbroll/status/1777708042563510465

I saw it shared on Twitter, but the original video can be found here on TikTok.

Ok maybe you're laughing instead of gagging. Either way, I doubt that you're feeling much shame.

A friend of mine stepped into this quagmire with a letter to the editor of the Portland Press Herald today. They printed her critique of Biden administration complicity in the genocide in Gaza, but did not enable comments.

A vote-shaming letter in the same edition did allow comments, and that is where a lively debate ensued about censorship, media bias, and...vote shaming. 

Why am I immune to the common liberal malady, Orange Man Bad Derangement Syndrome? Because the old white boomer Trump and the old white boomer Biden are both very, very bad. 

When your "lesser of two evils" candidate is the incumbent who's actively arming Israel's genocide in Palestine, the correct sign between the two candidates is an equal sign.

Congress Cares Deeply About Israel Bombing Gaza Now That Foreign Aid Workers Are Victims

"A view of a damaged vehicle that was carrying aid workers with the World Central Kitchen charity and their Palestinian driver who were killed in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, April 1, 2024, in an airstrike conducted by Israel.YASSER QUDAIH/ANADOLU/GETTY"Source: CBS NEWS

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives have released a performative letter condemning Israel's air strikes on international aid workers delivering food to the deliberately starved population of Gaza. While voting for more money to Israel so they can continue bombing and starving Palestinians, these reps paused to issue some weasel words appearing to object to the very thing they are funding. 

Are voters fooled? Not this voter.

Their letter to President Biden also smacks of racism in that 13,000+ brown children, or 32,000+ Gazans of all ages, dying at Israel's hands has generated more funding. But killing a handful of white adults including one from the U.S. who was being paid by World Central Kitchen to deliver food in Gaza is beyond what congressional Democrats can tolerate, apparently.

Note: the word "apparently" is doing a lot of work in my last sentence.

So it isn't the horrors of the torture camp that Israel turned Al-Shifah Hospital into, or the evidence of Palestinian prisoners zip tied so tightly that their legs have to be amputated, that moves Democrats in Congress. It's this one airstrike

Luckily, most young people today understand that Congress isn't going to monitor the war machine. They know that Congress IS the war machine, and are acting accordingly.

In the hit parade of vigorous resistance actions this week, California is in the lead. Big props to Pomona College students who endured police brutality over their entirely nonviolent occupation of their administration building. 

https://twitter.com/wwsalmon/status/1776426536192921883

Also to protesters who blocked every entrance to Lockheed's plant in Sunnyvale and faced off against an angry worker who was unable to get to work.

https://twitter.com/palinfoen/status/1776490018774593909

Threatened with a knife and with his vehicle as a weapon, notice how calm they remain as they work to de-escalate his response.

https://twitter.com/ariel_koko/status/1775961951191154860

Did you read about any of this actual resistance in mainstream media? I didn't think so. Now you know why the U.S. government works overtime to censor Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and other social media sites. Because that's where we're able to get real news while WaPo and the NYT cover congressional posturing.

Does The State Of New Hampshire Work For Elbit Systems? If So, Why?

https://www.wmur.com/article/protester-merrimack-elbit-systems-hearing-4224/60372028

The first of the protesters who shut down Elbit Systems in New Hampshire on March 22 was arraigned yesterday in Merrimack District Court. Bruce Gagnon, who noted that the NH protest of Israel's genocide in Gaza was "a trickle in a global flood of activity" entered a plea of not guilty. This came after officers of the court reduced his scheduled misdemeanor charges -- criminal trespass and resisting arrest -- from A (worse) to B (better, and aligned with the rest of those arrested).

Ray Brewer of WBUR was on hand for Bruce's court appearance and you can see his reporting here. A cameraman told Bruce that in 34 years of covering Elbit's Merrimack facility he had never seen anything like the lockdown that shut the factory down for the day. Bruce asked him if he perceived the action as non-violent and he said definitely, yes.

But the part of yesterday's reporting that interested me the most was this exchange (you can see and hear part of it in WBUR's video linked above):

In court, prosecutor Jason Moore asked that an additional condition be added to Gagnon's bail order.

"The state is asking that there be no entry within 300 feet of any Elbit property," Moore said. "There's also an Elbit property in Cambridge that's been the site of some protests, as well."

At this point the judge asked, "Cambridge, New Hampshire or Cambridge, Massachusetts?" And then reminded the prosecutor that his jurisdiction does not extend to other states.

I love that this happened on camera because it raises the fascism-defining question: Does the state of New Hampshire work for Elbit Systems? And if so, why?

Several years ago Bruce and I, along with my husband and six others, were arrested outside General Dynamics' Bath Iron Works warship factory and charged with being on the wrong side of a white line in the snow. At trial we were acquitted of the charge of criminal trespass when the state prosecutor failed to make his case, and one of Justice Dan Billings' observations was that the Bath Police seemed to be taking orders from BIW security, "and that is not how it is supposed to work."

Why not? Because courts, prosecutors, district attorneys, and attorney generals of states are supposed to work for the people. So are police.

A man with a badge wearing plain clothes that appears to work for Elbit was present with the 70 police who responded on May 22, and was also present, masked, in court yesterday. We're guessing his goal is to keep tabs on the prosecutor and the judge. Will the governor respond to Elbit pressure to turn prosecution over the the NH Attorney General as has been done in the case of protesters arrested in November at Elbit?

Why do our taxes fund a justice system that works on behalf of wealthy genocide profiteers instead of us? 

Mussolini would be proud.

Bruce's next court date is May 7 for a "Trial Management Conference" while the remaining seven defendants will be arraigned April 18. He will continue asking for his case to be consolidated with the others; yesterday the judge said it was not up to him but depended on "the docket." Stay tuned...

Al-Shifa Horrors Exposed As Israeli Military Withdraws From Hospital After Executing Doctors

Last night in Portland, Maine a dozen of us gathered to express our horror over the atrocities beyond imagining revealed as the Israeli Occupation Forces withdrew from Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

It was hastily organized but most people brought great signs, flags, and pots and pans which we banged on for about an hour. AL-SHIFA EMERGENCY is what people passing by saw and heard, and their outpouring of support was expressed by honking, waving, and cheering.

Here is Abby Fuller of the Coalition for Palestine's Instagram reel of our demonstration last night.

Chalk messages left behind for Maine Med hospital workers arriving in the morning.

A few people asked me if my husband and I had driven all the way from Solon to participate. No, we were lucky to be staying with family in Portland and able to organize quickly with some trusted friends. 

Special thanks to a new friend for getting the poster done and shared so promptly!

Here is Dr. Mads Gilbert on what he saw at Al-Shifa Hospital. Trigger warning: really gruesome images and descriptions.

It's clear to me that the Zionists are finished. The genocide in Gaza is their long, ugly death throes. U.S. government, looking at you.

Air Force Personnel Join Us In Turning Against Israel's War Machine

U.S. Air Force Airman Larry Hebert began a hunger strike on behalf of children in Gaza being starved to death by Israel with U.S. support. Hebert posted up in front of the White House on Easter Sunday after lobbying Congress while on annual leave from active duty.

The worst nightmare of the Pentagon and its corporate bosses may be upon them: armed forces personnel turning against the  war-for-profit machine.

From the press release put out by Veterans for Peace - National:

[Hebert] was there during the annual White House Easter Egg Roll to remind parents and their children that while they are playing with eggs on the lawn, children all over Gaza need eggs to stave off starvation.

Hebert will be at the White House all next week, April 1-7. Beginning Monday, April 8, when Congress returns from recess, he will be outside Congress.

In mid-March, Senior Airman Larry Hebert, age 26, from rural New Hampshire and a member of Veterans For Peace, took authorized leave from his assignment at Naval Station Rota, Spain to participate in demonstrations demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to visit Congressional offices to press for stopping weapons shipments to Israel, which violate several U.S. laws.*

Hebert said, “I was deeply touched when I saw that Aaron Bushnell took his own life at the Israeli Embassy for the people of Gaza and knew that I had to raise my voice in opposition to the U.S. government supplying Israel the bombs and rockets to commit genocide in Gaza. Active-duty members are afraid to speak out[emphasis mine] and I hope that my example and that of others, like Aaron, can change that.”

With six years in the Air Force, Hebert joins many hundreds of current and retired military and civilian government officials urging U.S. leaders to stop fueling Israel’s war that has killed well over 32,000 Palestinians, most of whom are children. Starvation and disease are rapidly becoming as deadly as the war itself in the area Israel has bombed to rubble.

New Hampshire caught our attention here in Maine as that's where the governor vowed on talk radio recently to persecute[sic] protesters at Elbit Systems in Merrimack to the full extent of the law. Currently the eight people arrested at Elbit on March 22 are awaiting arraignment but the one who was singled out, Vietnam-era veteran Bruce Gagnon, will be arraigned April 2. Supporters are expected to gather outside the District Court at 4 Baboosic Lake Road around 7:45am on April 2 to express support for an end to genocide in Gaza and opposition to war profiteer Elbit. 

Another group of protesters arrested at Elbit last November were notified in February that Attorney General John Formella would be prosecuting them rather than the local district attorney's office handling it. AG Formella indulged in some chest-beating in an interview with the New Hampshire Journal: “We took these cases because of the important civil rights and public protection interests involved.” 

Wait a minute -- civil rights for corporations that make weapons used in the genocide of Gaza? I can only surmise that this phrase was inserted because pro-Palestine activists stand accused by Formella  and Governor Chris Sununu of antisemitism. Uh huh. Let's ignore the fact that thousands of Jews have protested against the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, including at least one person that I know of who was arrested in Merrimack.

Before and after pictures of one of Gaza's largest hospitals

Meanwhile, as the gears of "justice" grind slowly on, Israel's military withdrew from al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City leaving behind the decomposing bodies of Palestinians shot, run over by tanks, tortured to death, burned, and starved.

Rest in power, Aaron Bushnell.

Welcome to the movement, Larry Hebert.

Here I serve notice from Maine and beyond: the thugs of New Hampshire state government can threaten all they want, but we will NOT be silenced.

* Following is a summary of the laws currently being violated by the U.S. State Department and other officials every time weapons shipments to Israel are authorized. This summary is included in a letter Veterans For Peace sent to the State Dept. Inspector-General Feb. 12.

· The Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the provision of assistance to a government which "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

· Arms Export Control Act, which says countries that receive US military aid can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense and internal security. Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza goes way beyond self-defense and internal security.

· The U.S. War Crimes Act, which forbids grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and unlawful deportation or transfer, perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying Forces.

· The Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights.

· The Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which was enacted to implement U.S. obligations under the Genocide Convention, provides for criminal penalties for individuals who commit or incite others to commit genocide.

ERRATA: Corrected to reflect that al-Shifa Hospital was in Gaza City, not Rafah.