Public Comment

A Taxing Time

Filled out your state and federal tax forms yet?

Granted, it's harder than ever since the IRS stopped shipping those free Tax Instruction manuals to the country's public libraries.

If you've been using the online paperless version to guide you through the filing process, you may have noticed the pie charts on (virtual) page 109. The graphic claims to present Major Categories of Federal Income and Outlays for Fiscal Year 2020. According to the Income pie chart, taxes on individuals account for 25% of federal spending money while corporations only contribute 3 percent. Nearly half of the income pie (48%) constitutes "Borrowing to cover the federal deficit." (The Feds are counting loans as "income"?)

The IRS manual also shows a second pie chart accounting for Outlays—i.e., spending. The outlays include 30% for Social Security, 28% for "social programs," and 17% for "physical, human, and community development"—totaling 75%. This pie that the IRS has placed before taxpayers also includes a slice for the tax money devoured by "national defense, veterans, and foreign affairs." The Pentagon's amount of the tax pie is shown to be less than 15%.

If only that were the case.

The IRS opted not to post a pie chart from the Peterson Foundation, which shows "defense" spending gulping down nearly half of the $1.6 trillion 2020 discretionary budget. Meanwhile, a pie chart served up by War Resisters League shows the Pentagon sucking up 48% of the budget ($1.66 trillion), while allotting only 42% of the fiscal pie to cover Human Resources ($1.46 trillion).

Could the selection of pie chart servings be attributed to a concern that taxpayers might not want to chip in when they discover that most of their tax-extracted funds are being spent to drop bombs, launch missiles, host military exercises, and maintain 750 military bases in more than 80 foreign countries? 

Fashion Plates 

• Last week I spotted a Chevy with a plate that read: M11THAL. 

The encoded combo had me confounded—until I tried pronouncing it. 

Genius! A tip of the hat to Emma Leventhal! 

• Another code I've yet to crack (spotted on a red Chevy Silverado): IVANGEO. 

Is the driver named "Ivan" and is she/he a GEOlogist? Or does the owner operate a Non-governmental Organization (as in "I've an NGO")? 

• Also worth a second look: a vehicle swaddled in a transparent ad-wrap that promotes "Supplements for Shame-free Self-Care" that will help you "Get out of your Hump Slump" with a dose of "Lovin' Libido," a product said to support "a healthy drive and sensation." The active ingredients for remaining active include: "Ashwagandha, Damiana & Maca." 

False Alarm: No Coup 

A recent email message from Bhaskar Sunkara began with a subject line that sent a chill down my spine. It read: "Hi Gar! I’m the new president of The Nation." 

What's this? Has there been a coup? Is Trump Speaker of the House? Is Mitch McConnell ensconced in the Oval Office? Is Steve Bannon the new head of the Joint Chiefs? Is Marjorie Taylor Greene Washington's new UN Ambassador? And who is Bhaskar Sunkara? 

Turns out Bhaskar Sunkara is the new president of The Nation—the 150-plus-year-old progressive magazine that "has been on the right side of history: opposing every form of exploitation, standing against militarism, and articulating a vision of American progress that benefits the many, not the few." 

As a long-time subscriber, I will continue to pledge allegiance to The Nation. 

Time to Update Our Calendar 

The Memorial Solar Calendar mentioned in last week's column now has a new name (thanks to the City of Berkeley and the Berkeley Unified School District. According to site savant and gnomen-guru, Santiago Casal, the memorial is now to be known as "The Solar Calendar—Tribute to César Chávez & Dolores Huerta." 

Pausing to Acknowledge the Locals 

I recently participated in a Zoom conference to plan a week of global actions to protest war profiteering flying under the flag of #StopLockheedMartin (Lockheed Martin being the largest, wealthiest, and deadliest arms-dealer on Earth.) 

This particular Zoomiverse event included activists from the US, Canada, Colombia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, and elsewhere. It began with brief intros where people were invited to identify themselves, their locations, and their organizational affiliations. But there was another indicator that cropped up in many of the intros: A good number of the activists (mostly from the US and Canada) identified themselves by including acknowledgements of the indigenous roots of the lands they currently call home. Some examples:
• From Oakland: "Hello from occupied Chochenyo Ohlone land."
• From Halifax, Nova Scotia: "Hello from unceded Mi’kma’ki land."
• From White Rock, British Columbia: "Hello from the unceded traditional territory of the Semiahmoo people."
• From Ontario, Canada: "Hello from the territory of the Petun, Anishnaabek, Haudenosaunee, Wendat-Wyandot-Wyandotte peoples."
• From Palo Alto, California: "Hello from the lands of Muwekma Ohlone people."
• The salutations also included several voices from activists in Australia—aka "Papaioea Aotearoa." 

The Global Mobilization to Lock Up Lockheed 

What's brewing: There will be a week of global actions criticizing Lockheed's war-profiteering running from April 21-28. And a local demonstration will carpool and congregate at Lockheed's Palo Alto office (location: El Camino at Page Mill Road) from 11:30 AM-1:30 PM on Good Friday/Tax Day on April 18. For more details, check CODEPINK. #StopLockheedMartin. To join Carpools/offer rides from SF and East Bay, call or text 510-365-1500. 

Sponsors include CODEPINK, Auckland Peace Action, Pacific Life Community, World Beyond War, Raging Grannies, War Resisters International, and more. 

The organizers released the following statement: 

"We are demanding that Lockheed disarm and convert to making things that sustain life, such as clean energy and transportation systems. We are demanding that Congress stop taking campaign contributions from the war industry and enact the Green New Deal to provide good green jobs for Lockheed employees so they don't have to participate in killing.  

"Since so much of our taxes go to war and weapons, on 'Tax Day' we need to look at Lockheed Martin—the largest weapons manufacturer on earth, with facilities in nearby Palo Alto. It's time to call out Lockheed for what they are—merchants of death, war profiteers making a killing on killing, and the greatest impediment to peace and security on the planet. Half of your federal tax dollars go to the military, and half of the military budget goes to the war industry, with Lockheed at the top of the list of war profiteers. . . . 

"Lockheed sells killing weapons to countries all over the planet, including to regimes that violate human rights, like the Saudis and Israel. Lockheed made the 500-pound bomb that killed 40 children in Yemen in 2018. Lockheed won big in Afghanistan, making 1000% profit on the failed US war and occupation. Lockheed is delighted that the war in Ukraine means more weapons sales.  

"Lockheed donates millions to members of Congress who continue to pass gigantic military budgets. Lockheed has facilities in 40 states employing thousands, making those states dependent on the war industry. 

"The war industry … is literally killing the planet with their fossil fuel-driven wars and military bases polluting countries around the world. We aren't going to stand for Lockheed Martin poisoning the earth any longer. Join us."  

Ending on a legal question: If it's true, that "corporations are people," wouldn't that mean that Lockheed could be tried as a war criminal? 

Amazon Intercepted 

The Intercept recently spilled some delicious beans by publishing an internal memo explaining Amazon's proposed plan to increase employee moral—and productivity—by introducing an "internal messaging app" that would enable workers to post "Shout-Outs" praising the work ethics of fellow employees. Participants would be rewarded. No, not with cash or Amazon purchase cards. Instead, they would be acknowledged with "virtual stars and badges" in a "gamified " online environment designed to "add direct business value." 

The Amazon memo expressed some concern about "the dark side of social media" and, in the name of cyber civility, devised an "auto bad word monitor" to prevent "offensive or harassing" language. Here are some of the "Amazon unfriendly" words that could trigger the deletion of a posted message:
slave, slave labor, plantation, unfair, freedom, harassment, representation, coalition, unite, unfair, grievance, injustice, petition, diversity, compensation, pay raise, union, ethics, and living wage. 

A pilot program was set to begin at the end of April but, when contacted by The Intercept, Amazon announced: "there are no plans" to launch the program and no plans "to use many of the words you're calling out." In short, Amazon insisted, if the program were deployed "at some point down the road," censorship would only be invoked "to protect our team." 

On April 1, Amazon workers in New Work's Staten Island fulfillment center voted to unionize. Jeff Bezos' delivery-service monolith (worth an estimated $1.5 trillion) spent $4.2 million to defeat the unionization effort. The small, independent union that won the election, did so with a campaign budget of just $120,000. 

American Justice on Trial 

American Justice on Trial, a stunning Oakland-based documentary—about Black Panther founder Huey Newton's arrest, trial, and acquittal for the murder of a white police officer—will have its SF International Film Festival world premiere at the Roxie Theatre at 6PM on April 22. 

In 1968, Newton was accused of killing a white policeman after a pre-dawn traffic stop that left the Panther leader with a near-fatal wound. Shocking news photos from the time showed Newton clinging to life while shacked to his hospital bed. The fallout from the deadly encounter continued through the course of Newton's subsequent murder trail. 

According to the film's producer and co-director Andrew Abrahams, "The courtroom drama was unprecedented, as historic events and maverick individuals converged to put racism itself on trial." The film reveals how Newton’s radical defense team—Charles Garry and Fay Stender—insisted on a '"jury of one’s peers" and seated "a groundbreaking diverse jury headed by a pioneering black jury foreman." The jurors acquitted Newton and issued a historic verdict of "self-defense" that still stands as a stinging rebuke to 400 years of racial injustice in America. 

Producer and project creator Lise Pearlman is also a former judge and the author of two award-winning books about Newton's trial. After working on the documentary for nearly nine years, Pearlman says she is "thrilled that we get to premiere the film in the San Francisco International Film Festival, so close to where the story unfolded.”  

American Justice on Trial brings renewed attention to most important trials of the last century, a legal show-down that succeeded against all odds in overcoming the racial bias of the nation's criminal justice system. Click on this link to visit the film's website, where you can watch the trailer and purchase screening tickets. 

Nuclear Annihilation Notes 

Some snippets jotted down while listening to a recent Zoomcast on the possibility of the Russia/Ukraine war leading to a thermonuclear Apocalypse: 

President Harry Truman was the first to make "the Putin Threat"—i.e. threatening other world leaders with “consequences you have never seen.” 

In a troubling response, the US and EU (read: nuclear-armed NATO nations) refused to condemn Putin for threatening to use nuclear weapons. 

After destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Truman's White House threatened Japan with further destruction. Truman lied and initially told the American people the A-bombs had been dropped on a "military base." 

Nuclear abolition was the United Nation's Resolution 1. 

In 1961, the United Nations ruled that atomic bombs were illegal. 

The Pentagon prepares to "avoid" nuclear annihilation by playing a war game called "Global Thunder" but every time the simulation has been played it has escalated into a total nuclear war. 

Russia's military has a similar exercise called Grom (Russian for "Thunder"). Every time it's been "played," it has lead to escalations and ended in a catastrophic atomic exchange. 

When Putin was asked if he was prepared to destroy all life on Earth by launching nuclear-tipped missiles, he replied: "Why should I care about the world if there's no Russia?" 

Thanks to an army of war industry lobbyists, the Nuclear Machine enjoys major bipartisan support. It's seen as a "deterrent." But it's still illegal. 

As one US General replied when asked about the "nuclear response": "My job is to deter all threats all the time." As if nuclear weapons are the solution and not the greatest threat. 

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons entered into force on January 22, 2021 and has been ratified by 86 nations and 60 states parties. No nuclear-armed country has ratified the treaty. 

Joe Biden has reversed his "No First-Use" policy—at the worst possible time. 

"The Day After" Deserves to Be Seen Again 

On November 20, 1983, nearly everyone in the US watched the one-and-only broadcast of "The Day After," a sci-fi depiction of what nuclear war might look like if bombs fell on the US. 

Network censors repeatedly demanded the removal of certain scenes, at one point firing director Nicolas Meyer. The film was only screened once. The debate whether ABC would broadcast the film involved an agreement that—in order to reassure viewers that the government would never allow such a calamity to occur in real life—the broadcast would be followed by a live war game on ABC's Viewpoint, involving real-life politicians and policymakers—including Henry Kissinger, Robert McNamara, William F. Buckley Jr., Hamilton Jordan and scientist Carl Sagan (who argued against nuclear proliferation). The simulation played out but, unfortunately, it escalated to the brink of a nuclear confrontation. This failed experiment should have become a potent "teaching point" but the Viewpoint video has apparently disappeared from view. 

And, on a Lighter Note 

Some elderly takes on the process of aging: 

• I hate it when I see an old person and then realize we went to high school together.
• I came, I saw, I forgot what I was doing. Retraced my steps, got lost on the way back, now I have no idea what's going on.
• I thought growing old would take longer.
• Scientists say the universe is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. They forgot to mention morons.
• Scientists say the universe is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons. They forgot to mention morons.
• I've reached the age where my train of thought often leaves the station without me
• If you're happy and you know it, it's your meds!