Sunday, December 20, 2015

US VIOLENCE NEWSLETTER #10, Dec. 20, 2015

OMNI
VIOLENCE USA NEWSLETTER #10, December 20, 2015.
Compiled by Dick Bennett, BUILDING A
CULTURE OF PEACE, JUSTICE, and ECOLOGY.
(#1 Feb. 25, 2008; #2 August 20, 2011; #3 April 8, 2012; #4 July 26, 2012; #5 Aug. 22, 2012; #6 June 8, 2013; #7 Nov. 7, 2013; #8 March 24, 2014; #9, Jan. 29, 2015)
(160940 pageviews - 1479 posts, as of Jan 14, 2015)
What’s at stake:  Instead of a Frontier solution to the desert of violence, let’s dig some wells of understanding. 
How does violence originate?  What is structural violence and how does it cause physical violence?  What is the connection among the many kinds of violence?
Is violence systemic, a part of a culture (or absent from it)?  Is violence intrinsic to our human nature, to our economic system of individualistic profit-making?
 Do US militarism and imperialism promote personal violence?
What will significantly reduce violence structurally?  Justice?   Also  see OMNI’s Human Rights Day newsletters.    http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/12/omni-un-human-rights-day-newsletter-7.html 

See US Imperialism, Militarism Newsletter:


Violence USA Newsletter No. 9.  Table of Contents at end. Or go to:  http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/01/violence-usa-newsletter-9.html

Violence USA Newsletter No. 10, Dec. 12, 2015
     Truth derives from the comprehensive study of the whole of events, I believe.  Causation is complex and reaches far back from and all around any present event.  The U S violence complex is composed of:  Corporations, Pentagon, Congress, White House, Mainstream Media, Education, Racism, Economic Inequality, Secrecy, Surveillance, Empire—the US National Security State.
      Together these ten newsletters from the critical thinking perspective of nonviolence provide a comprehensive understanding of violence in the US.

US SYSTEM OF VIOLENCE
Dick, US System of Violence, Domestic and Foreign
Moore, AFSC, Call it by its Name—Militarism

OPPOSING THE NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION
Coalition to Stop Gun Violence
Move to Amend Constitution
Credo, Petition to President Obama to Oppose the NRA
2 New Films on the NRA
    Brave New Films, New Film on NRA:  Making a Killing
    PBS, Frontline:  “Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA”
Organizations against the Violence (see earlier newsletters for more)
Brady Center, Google Search

Opposing Violence in Arkansas and Texas, especially at schools
Governor Hutchinson
Steve Boss
Burris, Gandhi and Guns
Guns at Schools


LARGER CONTEXTS
See newsletters on US imperialism and militarism; for example here’s a recent one, http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/05/us-imperialism-and-militarism.html .  See also on US Continental Conquest and Genocide, http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2014/09/us-continental-imperialism-newsletter-2.html  and on US Westward Pacific and E. Asia, http://jamesrichardbennett.blogspot.com/2015/07/us-westward-imperialism-pacifice-asia.html

Vietnam War
John Plaster’s books Special Operations during the Vietnam War, Official name
      SOG:  Studies and Observations Group.
Nick Turse.  Kill Anything That Moves Examines the Slaughter.

Tomgram and Karen Greenberg, Young White Men, Multiple Killings, and the
      National Security State.  Fund Children Not Wars!
Jeremy Engels, The Politics of Resentment traces the rise of especially violent rhetoric in American public discourse by investigating key events in American history.
Dick, Violence and Republican Conservatism from Robert Taft to Tom Cotton
Pilisuk and Rountree, The Hidden Structure of Violence
Democracy Now:  Greg Grandin’s New Book on Henry Kissinger


Our Neighbors“Factor by which a U.S. gun death is more likely to be a suicide than a homicide: 1.8.  Estimated number of firearms in the average U.S. gun-owning household in 1994: 4.5.  Today: 8.2.  Minimum number of shooting incidents in the U.S. in the past year in which the shooter was a dog: 2.  In which the shooter was a toddler: 50.”  “Harper’s Index.”  Harper’s Magazine (Jan. 2016) p. 9.


US SYSTEM OF VIOLENCE by Dick Bennett
     It’s so pervasive we’re not aware of it, the acceptance of violence as our way of life. And we don’t let the better examples of other nations disturb our delusion of superiority.
      Even on the most seemingly harmless occasion.  Recently the Fayetteville, AR, Public Library organized a laser tag game as part of the Teen summer Reading Finale Party.  Hardly a “tag” game.  The kids carried toy automatic rifles, and they ran about the library “to sneak up on their opponents.”
    The systems or rather the system of violence that constitutes the USA at home and abroad is familiar to anyone who has read a book by Noam Chomsky.   Long ago he saw the connections, despite the constant propaganda of US exceptionalism (we are a good people even in mass killing).  .And he made the crucial analysis of US physical and structural violence--of gun, institutional, and war violence.   (Corporations/profit, Pentagon/war preparation, initiation, and perpetuation, Congress/jingoism, money for 800 military bases around the world, White House, Mainstream Media, Education, Imperialism, Exceptionalism, Racism, Secrecy, Surveillance, VIOLENCE Complex.)
    Martin Luther King, Jr., more slowly but eventually equally surely came to the same conclusion.   At first he was immersed in resistance to the physical and structural violence of the Jim Crow South—from lynchings to voting restrictions--that kept blacks in virtual slavery in the South.  But during the 1960s he, along with many other citizens, concluded that the Vietnam War was morally repugnant and must be ended. On April 4, 1967, at Riverside Church in Manhattan, King accused the US of being the “greatest purveyor of violence in the world.”
      But that was not all.  His multi-layered critique of the war included consideration of the war’s harm to the poor in the US and in Vietnam and all the poor everywhere.   Because of the “the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism,” the US was not the moral beacon to the world its patriotic publicists had proclaimed for over 200 years.   A fundamental change was necessary—from loyalty to nation to loyalty to humanity as a whole.   
    Were King alive today, he would be warning us of the fourth giant quadruplet:  increasing C02 and its consequences global warming and climate change.  As yet only the structural violence predominates, a violence of omission more than commission, but that violence will probably be as or more globally lethal as nuclear war.  As with the racial system, the war system, and the economic system, the US is the major engine of climate change:  on every corporate, financial, governmental, and social level the US encourages growth and consumption and obstructs preventive action despite decades of scientific truth-telling.  The physical violence is already coming in the deaths of thousands of refugees.  
     Of the numerous responses needed to reduce the lethality of the quadruplets, reality--truthful education--is fundamental to decreasing the use of violence in conflict and for building cultures of positive peace hallmarked by just and equitable structures.

References:
 “Library Laser Tag.”  AD-G (8-8-15).
Appy, Christian G.  American Reckoning: The Vietnam War and Our National Identity. Viking, 2015.
Pilisuk and Rountree.  The Hidden Structure of Violence:  Who Benefits from Global Violence and War.   Monthly Review P, 2015.


CALL IT BY ITS TRUE NAME: MILITARISM—DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN
Remember, join hangout: Moving away from militarism
Alexis Moore, AFSC via uark.edu 
Feb. 10, 2015
1:01 PM (1 hour ago)
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to James
American Friends Service Committee
James,
President Obama and Congress have begun negotiations over the federal budget.  Not on their agendas: moving away from militarism in domestic and foreign policy. That’s why AFSC is hosting a conversation about real solutions for building peace in 2015.

Increased militarism seems to be U.S. policymakers’ response to challenges and conflict, whether it be at the U.S.-Mexico border or in municipal police forces. Often, these decisions are driven by corporations pursuing profits instead of what is most effective or best for human rights.

From the ground up, AFSC activists are working to shift the narrative and offer alternatives to violence through our vision of shared security and restorative justice.

Join AFSC staff members working on issues of mass incarceration, foreign policy, and border militarization as they respond to various budget proposals with analysis and recommendations for change.

Join our Google Hangout: Moving away from militarism - Pointing the way toward peace in 2015.
RSVP today and tune in:

2-3 p.m. EST
Tuesday, February 10, 2015 


Join online at afsc.org/hangout
In peace,
Alexis Moore signature


THE NATION
STOP THE NRA

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It seems that gun ownership is better protected than our children are.
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·          
Sharongae Smith, Tojo Flowers, Diane Kapsalis Sellgren and 1,409 others like this.
inger Woolridge The preamble itself addresses 'domestic tranquility'
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Sign the Move to Amend petition: corporations aren't...
MOVETOAMEND.NATIONBUILDER.COM
Bobby Mott's photo.
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CREDO action
Tell President Obama:
“Don’t wait for Congress to pass gun control legislation. Stand up to the NRA and take immediate executive action to help stop gun violence.”
Add your name:
Dear Samuel,
Stand up to the NRA
In recent weeks, more than 300,000 CREDO activists have signed petitions to pressure Congress to take real action on gun control legislation. CREDO activists have also made more than 6,700 phone calls to Republican leaders, telling them it’s time to respond to gun violence with action, not just "thoughts and prayers."
While it’s important to keep holding Congress accountable for their failure to act, there are fortunately some things the White House can change without waiting on Congress. President Obama has the power to use executive authority to make major improvements to our gun laws.
We know the president is tired of Congress offering thoughts and prayers to victims of gun violence but doing nothing to prevent it. We know that he is open to using his authority when Congress fails to act. The more of us who show our support, the more likely he’ll be to action now, even in the face of the NRA’s aggressive opposition.
After the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2013, President Obama signed 23 executive orders on gun control. Our friends at Everytown for Gun Safety are urging him to take five more executive actions to clarify existing rules and more strictly enforce current law:
·         Protect victims of domestic abuse: Close the “boyfriend” loophole that allows unmarried convicted domestic abusers to purchase guns.
·         Define who is “engaged in the business” of selling guns: Close a loophole that allows private gun dealers, some of whom sell thousands of guns a year, to sell guns without performing background checks.
·         Help keep guns away from schools: Remove exemptions that let dangerous people carry guns near our children's schools.
·         Intercept potential killers: Ensure that federal law enforcement notifies local law enforcement when dangerous criminals try to illegally buy guns at dealers in their community.
·         Enforce existing law: Help states that require background checks for all gun sales to enforce existing laws on the books.1
Each of these commonsense measures can help reduce gun violence — and NONE of them requires going through Congress.
If enough of us come together, we can convince President Obama to drown out the gun lobby's scare tactics and act on behalf of Americans who are ready for change.
Tell President Obama it’s time to take executive action to implement commonsense gun control. Click the link below to sign the petition:
Thanks for everything you’re doing to break the NRA's chokehold on Washington.
Heidi Hess, Campaign Manager
CREDO Action from Working Assets
Add your name:
References:
1.     Beyond Gridlock: How White House Action on Gun Violence Can Save Lives,“ Everytown for Gun Safety, 10/5/2015.


2 NEW FILMS VS. NRA

SUPPORT BRAVE NEW FILMS’ NEW FILM ON NRA

Dear Dick,
Our mission is clear: make 2016 the turning point for seriously reducing gun violence in America. 
In this pivotal moment in the gun violence debate, we need to do everything we can to harness the power of film for immediate change. 
The good news: we’re ready to release our feature film, Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, & the NRA, in March of next year. 
Help us shape our campaign by answering one simple question: How are you most likely to take action and see Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, & the NRA?
·  By hosting a house party (screen it for free with at least 10 people)
·  By attending a free screening at a local organization or university
·  In a movie theater as part of a day of action in LA, NY, DC, Denver, Chicago, or Miami?
Help ensure 2016 is the year we hold the NRA and gun companies are accountable for America's out of control gun violence epidemic.
Together we can – and must – make our country safer. 
We’ve taken on Fox News, Walmart, and the Kochs. It’s time to take on the gun lobby in full force. 

In solidarity, 
Regina Clemente, Director of Campaigns
Brave New Films
campaigns@bravenewfilms.org



FRONTLINE GUNNED DOWN
"Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA" - Preview
·         Aired: 01/06 and 08/04/2015
FRONTLINE takes you inside the politics and the power of the NRA. "Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA" premieres Tues., Jan. 6 on PBS and online at pbs.org/frontline.
·         iTunes
·         buy dvd
·         facebook
·         twitter
·         more

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/gunned-down/
PBS
FRONTLINE investigates the politics and power of the NRA.
Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA. PRODUCED BY. Michael ...
Home Video DVDs of Gunned Down: The Power of the NRA ...
From the NRA's political ... Michael Kirk answers your questions.
What Happened When a Major Gun Company Crossed the ...


BRADY CENTER, GOOGLE SEARCH, APRIL 26, 2015.
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OPPOSING GUN VIOLENCE in Arkansas-- and Texas
Governor Hutchinson’s Response to Racial Violence
From The Ark Times 7-1-15 By Acacia Roher
Goosebumps rose on my arms as I walked into Bethel A.M.E. on Sunday night for a prayer vigil in remembrance of the nine black worshippers killed in Charleston, S.C., last week. The sanctuary was packed, people pressed together in the foyer outside and the overflow hall had standing room only. I later learned that 1,000 people attended the service. I was glad to see a good number of white folks and people from a wide variety of faith traditions both in the audience and among the list of speakers. Many of the messages focused on healing from the tragedy through love and reconciliation. Only a few speakers took things to a deeper level to discuss the need to work together for justice and an equitable society, and the necessity that people move beyond prayer and dialogue into action.
There was one speaker in particular who I could not get behind. Gov. Asa Hutchinson approached the lectern to a standing ovation, began with some heartfelt comments about the tragedy and appreciation for those gathered, then spoke about his respect for the way the victims' families were responding. He praised them for not expressing "anger, hatred, or a desire for revenge." He also praised the family of slain Rev. Daniel Simmons for allegedly wanting to keep politics out of the discussion to focus on forgiveness and healing. Through his emphasis, Hutchinson played directly into the narrative of respectability politics, where white people tell people of color how they should respond to a situation and condemn responses from others in the community experiencing anger, rage and other expressions of grief.
Respectability politics plays into the illusion that we can move forward without discomfort, sacrifice or upheaval. It comes directly from white fears of being held accountable. Yes, the response of the victims' families shows strength and a depth of love that is incredible to witness, but Hutchinson used it for his own ends. Don't get too loud, "tolerance and faith can overcome violence," he said.
Hutchinson also spoke about his tenure as a U.S. attorney for Arkansas in the 1980s, during which he prosecuted the notorious white supremacist group the Covenant, the Sword, and the Arm of the Lord. He said he thought that taking down the Covenant meant that Arkansas would no longer face these kinds of issues, then acknowledged that there is still a need to root out ongoing "racial bigotry and hatred." His focus on overt, militant white supremacy betrays a lack of understanding of systemic racism, which does not require any outward expression of racial bigotry to enact.
Hutchinson himself has been involved in reinforcing systemic racism in our state and nation. After he headed George W. Bush's Drug Enforcement Administration, an agency that has been a major player in the mass incarceration of people of color, Hutchinson became a top official at the Department of Homeland Security, which has a history of racial profiling and discrimination. In his first six months as governor, he signed bills into law that cut funding for libraries, shrank programs for impoverished elderly residents, and increased barriers to TANF assistance, all of which disproportionately affect communities of color. Hutchinson has not been willing to strongly support policy that would materially improve the lives of people of color.
The Charleston murders were most assuredly political in nature. The killer said so himself. To avoid discussing the political nature of the situation and act as if racism is only the purview of a few bigots directly obscures the systemic racism that creates the conditions for this kind of tragedy.
There can be no peace without justice, Rev. Ryan Davis reminded us at the vigil. And there will be no unity or healing until we transform the structures that benefit the few at the expense of the many. In the lyrics of a gospel song that A.M.E. Bishop Samuel Green so passionately shared, "There's a storm out on the ocean and it's moving this-a way." Those who are serious about justice must prepare. In the A.M.E.'s plans to engage Americans in facing the reality of racism, I hope it will be able to help people move beyond the rhetoric of individual bigotry and hatred to a more nuanced understanding of power and oppression.

OPPOSING GUNS: GLIMPSES OF THE STRUGGLE IN ARKANSAS—AND TEXAS
The leader in Fayetteville has been Prof. Steve Boss.  My google search of Steve Boss and guns on campus turned up many items going back to 2011, but strangely nothing about recent organizing, when I know much can be reported, for example about 3rd National Vigil for Victims of Gun Violence.

Sidney Burris, Gunsense Newsletter
(Burris is another faculty member at the University of Arkansas who has spoken against the present gun regime.)
Gandhi, Guns, and Nonviolence
A new posting on Gandhi, guns, and nonviolence. Because of a single comment that Gandhi once made while in South Africa, the gun-radicals will often claim him as a kindred spirit. I wrote up a correction to that misuse of Gandhi's message. You'll find it here: http://bit.ly/GandhiGunsense.  Sidney Burris, 5-8-15

Gunsense  
02/08/2015
CHARLIE COLLINS & THE NRA RIDE INTO ARKANSAS
 Collins HB 1077, the bill that would have armed faculty and staff on Arkansas college campuses, failed in committee on Thursday, February 5. The vote split, 10-10, needing eleven votes to pass. The bill would have replaced Act 226 (2013), which offered the Boards of Trustees the sensible option of deciding for themselves whether their campuses would allow guns. After all, the Boards are in the business of governance, and they have acquitted their task admirably over the years. We have a public higher-education system that we all justifiably point to with pride. And it's getting stronger every year, despite the struggles facing higher education across the country, and particularly in the south.

In fact, during the two years that the law was on the books, every Board voted to prohibit their faculty and staff from carrying concealed handguns. The will of the people most directly affected by this legislation spoke clearly and with one voice: no amateur carry on our campuses.

Most of us suspected that the bill would resurface in some form after Thursday's defeat. Two pieces of information have appeared recently that are important.
This bill was supported by the NRA, the gun-industry's most powerful lobby. In their announcement, the NRA both praised Representative Collins, "who worked tirelessly to promote this legislation." The NRA also promised to work with Representative Collins to further their plans to place guns on college campuses.
Representative Collins, in an interview Friday, said that he might re-work the current bill, reaching out to current members of the Education Committee, or as he said, "I might just add in some things expanding concealed carry to other locations that have nothing to do with colleges," a move that could justify his sending it to a committee that is stacked with Republicans sympathetic the NRA's agenda. That wouldn't be difficult to do.
Let's make absolutely certain that we understand what is happening here: if Collins can't get the Boards of Trustees to opt into his law, which they have unanimously and resolutely refused to do, then he'll take away (in HB 1077) the Boards' power to govern themselves and their colleges; and if he can't convince his committee to approve his bill, then he'll change the committee to one that conforms to his and the NRA's agenda.
Isn't there a relevant story about the little boy who, when things didn't go his way, took his ball and went home?
Except Representative Collins and the NRA aren't going home. They're moving into the state of Arkansas, lock, stock, and barrel, and I'm not speaking figuratively.
Governmental over-reach, centralized power, and the beltway agendas of the NRA, one of the nation's most powerful lobbies—these are the watchwords that govern this kind of legislative behavior.
And if this legislation is successful, our state will be the poorer for it.
For more information as it becomes available, follow me on Twitter, @sidburris, and check by my Facebook page, Gunsense.
 GunsensePeace

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Posted at 09:11 PM in AR General Assembly, AR House Bill, AR Senate Bill, Assault Rifles, Concealed Carry, Gun Control, Gun Deaths, Gun Owners of America , Gun Violence, Guns, Gunsense, It Can Happen Here, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, Moms Demand Action, Murder Rates, NRA, Rep. Charlie Collins | Permalink

AND IN TEXAS
ARMED STUDENTS AN EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT?
Econ. Prof. Daniel Hamermesh, U of TX, Austin, withdrew from teaching “because he fears for his safety” on account of the new law permitting concealed handguns on campuses.  Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (10-10-15).   http://alcalde.texasexes.org/2015/10/daniel-hamermesh-to-leave-ut-over-campus-carry/   


GLOBAL CONTEXTS
Example of One US War:
JOHN PLASTER’S BOOKS ON Green Beret SPECIAL OPS IN VIETNAM (and Laos, Cambodia).  The wars from the point of view of the secret warriors, “the Vietnam War’s greatest unsung heroes.”
SOG: The Secret Wars of America’s Commandos in Vietnam.  1997.
SOG: A Photo History of the Secret War.  2000.
Secret Commandos Behind Enemy Lines with the Elite Warriors of SOG.  2004.   Review:   http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-684-85673-5
Also: The Ultimate Sniper: An Advanced Training Manual. . .

Nick Turse.  Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam.  2013. 
www.truthdig.com/arts.../kill_anything_that_moves_20130312
Truthdig
Mar 12, 2013 - Nick Turse's “Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam” is not only one of the most important books ever written about the ...
historynewsnetwork.org/article/150722
Feb 22, 2013 - Alfred W. McCoy: Review of Nick Turse's "Kill Anything That Moves: The Real American War in Vietnam" (Metropolitan Books, 2013). Books


Tomgram and Greenberg, Young White Men
TomDispatch.com: A Regular Antidote to the Mainstream Media

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You want to profile America’s mass killers? No need at all for the FBI or the national security state. You don’t have to secretly read anyone’s emails or check their phone metadata. You don’t need to follow them on Twitter. All you have to do is narrow down the possibilities in a logical way by looking at the history of mass killing in recent years. That means, as a start, leaving aside half the population, since women make up close to 0% of American mass shooters.

So, start with men. Admittedly, that’s a pretty broad category. Still, among men, you can narrow the field fast. Begin with age. Generally, mass killers are young. Unfortunately, this category isn’t quite as blanket as the no-woman rule. Just recently, in what looked like a copycat mass killing -- a repeat of the 2012 shooting in an Aurora, Colorado, movie theater -- a mentally unstable 59-year-old white man in Lafayette, Louisiana, with a chip on his shoulder aboutwomen (as well as blacks), opened fire in a theater showing the new Amy Schumer hit, Trainwreck, a film drawing female audiences, and killed two women. Similarly, in February, a disturbed and mentally unstable 36-year-old white man, barred from owning guns, carried out a mass killing of seven in the tiny Missouri town of Tyrone. Nonetheless, when you’re conjuring up the next mass killer, think young man (16-24) and think white.

Now, we’re getting somewhere. One more obvious thing: look for someone carrying a gun, generally obtained quite legally -- most likely a semi-automatic pistol or an assault rifle -- or come to think of it, three or four or more weapons and lots and lots of ammo. Now, given the 300 million or so guns floating around this country and thespread of “right-to-carry” laws that let anyone bring lethal weaponry just about anywhere, this may not narrow things down quite as much as we’d like. But it should be helpful. And yes, there are other factors, too, that might aid you in setting your sights on the next mass killer. As Karen Greenberg, the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham Law and TomDispatch regular, points out today, these would undoubtedly include feelings of hopelessness and anger, a history of mental instability, depression, and drug or alcohol abuse.

In the grips of a much overblown panic about ISIS-inspired terror in the U.S., the government, Greenberg reports, is about to spend a pile of taxpayer money doing a version of what I just did. Here’s my guarantee: it will cost you a boodle, most of which, as she makes clear, won’t go where it might do some good -- that is, to helping unnerved or disturbed young men. And I’ll also guarantee you one more thing: the massed thinking and resources of the national security state won’t do much better than I’ve done above when it comes to the problem of identifying lone-wolf killers. But that state within a state will, as ever, emerge from the experience more powerful and more entrenched. And, as novelist Kurt Vonnegut might once have said, so it goes. Tom
Dealing With Mass Killings in America 
Funding Our Children, Not Our Wars 
By Karen J. Greenberg
Imagine that you’re in the FBI and you receive a tip -- or more likely, pick up information through the kind of mass surveillance in which the national security state now specializes. In a series of tweets, a young man has expressed sympathy for the Islamic State (ISIS), al-Qaeda, or another terrorist group or cause. He’s 16, has no criminal record, and has shown no signs that he might be planning a criminal act. He does, however, seem angry and has demonstrated an interest in following ISIS’s social media feeds as they fan the flames of youth discontent worldwide. He’s even expressed some thoughts about how ISIS’s “caliphate,” the Islamic “homeland” being carved out in Syria and Iraq, might be a place where people like him could find meaning and purpose in an otherwise alienated life.


The Politics of Resentment:  A Genealogy by Jeremy Engels.  Penn State UP, 2015.  232 pages
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“What is the relationship between rhetoric and violence? Jeremy Engels addresses that question in the aftermath of the 2011 shooting spree that seriously wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed several others. Drawing on wide-ranging scholarship in political theory and American public discourse, he argues that political elites hijack justified popular resentment against oppressive social systems and redirect it against powerless individuals, thereby creating the potential for violence. Provocative in its understanding of democracy, compelling in its case studies of Richard Nixon and Sarah Palin, and challenging in its call for reinvigorated rhetorical criticism, this is a book that makes us think.”—David Zarefsky, former president of the National Communication Association and of the Rhetoric Society of America
“There may be no more pressing problem in contemporary U.S. political culture than a flourishing politics of resentment, which divides citizens, stalls policy, and excuses injustice. In The Politics of Resentment, Jeremy Engels helps readers understand how resentment has arisen as a political force and how scholars and citizens may respond. Toward these ends, The Politics of Resentment deftly weaves together history, criticism, and theory. Engels argues eloquently that we cannot ‘ban resentment from the public sphere,’ but he suggests ways to productively turn resentment toward disclosing structural violence, thereby helping achieve justice and promote a public good.”—Robert Asen, University of Wisconsin–Madison
In the days and weeks following the tragic 2011 shooting of nineteen Arizonans, including congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, there were a number of public discussions about the role that rhetoric might have played in this horrific event. In question was the use of violent and hateful rhetoric that has come to dominate American political discourse on television, on the radio, and at the podium. A number of more recent school shootings have given this debate a renewed sense of urgency, as have the continued use of violent metaphors in public address and the dishonorable state of America’s partisan gridlock. This conversation, unfortunately, has been complicated by a collective cultural numbness to violence. But that does not mean that fruitful conversations should not continue. In The Politics of Resentment, Jeremy Engels picks up this thread, examining the costs of violent political rhetoric for our society and the future of democracy.
The Politics of Resentment traces the rise of especially violent rhetoric in American public discourse by investigating key events in American history. Engels analyzes how resentful rhetoric has long been used by public figures in order to achieve political ends. He goes on to show how a more devastating form of resentment started in the 1960s, dividing Americans on issues of structural inequalities and foreign policy. He discusses, for example, the rhetorical and political contexts that have made the mobilization of groups such as Nixon’s “silent majority” and the present Tea Party possible. Now, in an age of recession and sequestration, many Americans believe that they have been given a raw deal and experience feelings of injustice in reaction to events beyond individual control. With The Politics of Resentment, Engels wants to make these feelings of victimhood politically productive by challenging the toxic rhetoric that takes us there, by defusing it, and by enabling citizens to have the kinds of conversations we need to have in order to fight for life, liberty, and equality.
Jeremy Engels is Associate Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at the Pennsylvania State Univ.

VIOLENCE and the Rupture of Traditional REPUBLICAN CONSERVATISM USA by Dick Bennett
     A recent report estimated that 25% of US males are angry and impulsive—and armed.  Add to that ominous percentage the numerous who are ignorant of important social and political subjects.   To that add the imperial aggression of 800 foreign US military bases and permanent war.  These conditions partly explain our Congress today, and they lead us to caution regarding the label “conservative.”   Whereas only a few decades ago “conservative” was represented by the reasonable, compassionate Senator Robert Taft, who supported programs for unfortunate people, the sick and impoverished, today Congress is controlled by the extreme rightwing, hating “government” even when accomplishing good for the people.  
     The traditional Republican Party resisted military adventurism.  Senator Robert Taft consistently warned of the “awful catastrophe of war.”  But  Ronald Reagan sent US Marines to their useless deaths in Lebanon and in the White House he illegally oversaw a secret CIA army trained in Honduras to invade Nicaragua.   But the deepest rupture in traditional Republican conservativism was caused by George W. Bush in his June 2, 2002, speech at West Point, where he asserted unconstitutionally the US’ right to preemptive attack and preventive war anywhere in the world.
       The Democrats have often been no better.  Dr. Strangelove, don’t forget, was a satire of Democratic Party administrations.  And then President Obama disastrously continued the Bush doctrine by asserting unconstitutionally the US’ right to kill anybody, anywhere in the world, including US citizens, merely suspected of being a terrorist.  Both Parties should be seeking allies within the other Party who are alienated by the violence of secrecy, surveillance, militarized police, expanding empire, and permanent war.
 References
Gregory Bresiger.    Robert Taft and His Forgotten “Isolationism.” MISES DAILY. MARCH 8, 2014    https://mises.org/library/robert-taft-and-his-forgotten-%E2%80%9Cisolationism%E2%80%9D
 Ralph Nader.   Unstoppable: The Emerging Left-Right Alliance to Dismantle the Corporate State.  Nation Books, 2014. 

CONTRASTING CULTURES:  US VS. UK
Juan Cole, Op-Ed: The mentally imbalanced individual who hunted down UC Santa Barbara students and knifed three and shot six of them to death, wounding with gunfire seven more used a semi-automatic handgun. The most popular such weapon is a Glock. It is not an automatic weapon, meaning you have to squeeze the trigger each time to fire. But it is much easier to get off many shots one after another than in the case of a traditional pistol. The magazine for the Glock seventeen has seventeen rounds; one can get a high capacity magazine of thirty three rounds.
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The Hidden Structure of Violence: Who Benefits from Global Violence and War by Marc Pilisuk and Jennifer Achord Rountree
·         Posted by Colleen Chiochetti on August 5, 2015 at 3:39pm in Key Books and Literature in the Field, PCDN Peace Collaborative Development Network
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HENRY KISSINGER, MAJOR ARCHITECT OF RECENT US VIOLENCE
With a Record Backing Coups, Secret War & Genocide, Is Kissinger an Elder Statesman or War Criminal?  Interview of Greg Grandin by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2015.
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TOPICS
GUESTS
Greg Grandin, professor of Latin American history at New York University. His new book is Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial StatesmanKissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman
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Four decades after Henry Kissinger left office, his influence on the national security state can still be widely felt, as the United States engages in declared and undeclared wars across the globe. Kissinger served as national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations and helped revive a militarized version of American exceptionalism. We speak with Greg Grandin, author of the new book, Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: It’s been nearly 40 years since Henry Kissinger left office, but his influence on the national security state can still be widely felt, as the United States engages in declared and undeclared wars across the globe. Kissinger served as national security adviser and secretary of state in the Nixon and Ford administrations, and helped revive a militarized version of American exceptionalism.
During his time in office, Henry Kissinger oversaw a massive expansion of the war in Vietnam and the secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia. In Latin America, declassified documents show how Kissinger secretly intervened across the continent, from Bolivia to Uruguay to Chile to Argentina. In Chile, Kissinger urged President Nixon to take a, quote, "harder line" against the Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende. On September 11th, 1973, another September 11th, Allende was overthrown by the U.S.-backed general, Augusto Pinochet. In Jakarta, Indonesia, Kissinger and President Gerald Ford met with the Indonesian dictator, General Suharto, to give the go-ahead to invade East Timor, which Indonesia did on December 7, 1975. The Indonesians killed a third of the Timorese population. Kissinger also drew up plans to attack Cuba in the mid-’70s after Fidel Castro sent Cuban forces into Angola to fight forces linked to apartheid South Africa. While human rights activists have long called for Kissinger to be tried for war crimes, he remains a celebrated figure in Washington and beyond.
Joining us now is Greg Grandin, author of the new book, Kissinger’s Shadow: The Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman. Well, Greg Grandin is a professor of Latin American history at New York University. His previous books include Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle CityThe Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World and Empire’s Workshop.
We welcome you back to Democracy Now!, Professor. Greg, why did you take on Kissinger?
GREG GRANDIN: I felt like that, to the large degree, he’s gotten away with it, right? He’s 92 years old, and there’s been a rehabilitation of Henry Kissinger and supposedly what he stands for, not just by the political right, but by the—across the political establishment. Hillary Clinton embraced Kissinger last year in a review in The Washington Post of his last book. Samantha Power went to a Boston Red Sox-Yankee game with him, and they—
AMY GOODMAN: The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
GREG GRANDIN: Yeah, liberal hawk, who wrote—who came to—who made her name writing about genocides, including three genocides that Kissinger is implicated in. And they came together at a Yankee-Red Sox game and bantered. I feel like there’s a way in which Kissinger embodies the national security state. Now, let me say, obviously, there’s another critique of Henry Kissinger based on all of the acts—you know, Christopher Hitchens’ famous book, The Trial of Henry Kissinger—and I think that that’s useful, but I think focusing on Kissinger as a war criminal misses the larger—his larger importance in the endurance of the national security state and the continuity, from Cambodia and Vietnam and Laos to Iraq and beyond.
AMY GOODMAN: Explain what you mean. What exactly does it miss?  MORE


Contents: Gun Violence USA Newsletter #9

Arkansas
Willems, Republican Gun-Advocate Legislator Charlie Collins Returns
Professors Speak Up Against Arming Teachers:
Sam Totten
Sidney Burris and Steve Boss
Doug Krueger

Nation: Guns on Campus
Guns on Campus, Google Search
Utah Teacher Accidentally Wounds Herself in School Bathroom

Nation and World:  Gun Violence
PBS Frontline, “Gunned Down: the Power of the NRA”
Newtown Foundation, 2nd National Vigil for Victims of Gun Violence
TomGram and Jones, Nation Gone Crazy
Guns and Murders, US v. Britain
Nobel Charter for a World Without Violence

OMNI’S PEACE, JUSTICE, AND ECOLOGY NEWSLETTERS, 2007-
For research purposes, specific subjects can be located in the following alphabetized index, and searched on the blog using the search box.  The search box is located in the upper left corner of the webpage.
Newsletter Index:  http://omnicenter.org/dick-bennetts-peace-justice-and-ecology-newsletters/dicks-newsletter-index/
Here is the link to the Index :  http://www.omnicenter.org/omni-newsletter-general-index/   Many of OMNI’s topical newsletters confront different kinds of violence:   assassinations, battering, bullying, causes of wars, consequences of wars, death penalty, domestic violence, drones, empire, extra-judicial killing, hatred,  individual wars, International DAY to End Violence Against Women, militarism, torture, women, etc.  Also see the newsletters on resistance to violence:   Gandhi, MLK,Jr., Peace Churches, Peace Organizations, Dept. of Peace (proposed), nonviolence, conflict resolution, diplomacy, negotiation, peacemakers, UN, compassion, etc.
(479) 442-4600
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END VIOLENCE USA NEWSLETTER #10, December 20, 2015

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