Op/Ed

The Op/Ed opinion section

The Most Important Vote Ever

by RDavis | Op/Ed

The November presidential election will be the most consequential election in the history of the American republic. We’ve heard that before, but this time it’s for real. If a convicted felon, who also happens to be a deranged egomaniac intent upon turning this country into a dictatorship, wins this election the United States will head into uncharted territory.

Those who support the orange maniac don’t see any problem with this new direction. It is clear to me and many others that those who follow Trump are the worst kind of cult followers. It still confounds me how the U.S. congress Republican majority still supports him. They have made it clear that all they care about is votes and they have decided that following him is their best bet for grabbing more power.

I Miss A Parade

by cgrotke | Op/Ed

Brattleboro used to have a healthy number of local and visiting parades; nowadays not so much.

Some of the earliest parades were put on by the volunteer fire brigades around town. There were lots of volunteers firefighters in the 1800’s and if the reports are correct, they liked to parade around town at least once a year to show of their uniforms, equipment, hoses, and in-house musical bands. Coronets were popular for a while.

Brattleboro marched up and down Main Street to celebrate the railroad arriving in town for the first time.

Money Making Military Will Praise War & Parade During America’s Memorial Day of Solemn Mourning 

by jay janson | Op/Ed

U.S. Memorial Day, originally intended as a solemn day of mourning for families of dead veterans has long become an opportunity for jingoistic war celebration, deceiving politicians and recruiting officers to parade and glorify warfare as a means to entrap young volunteers for future wars.

Instead of solemn mourning, on Memorial Day, war promoting corporate media, having tricked so many Americans into fighting and dying in unjust, murderous wars based on lies, now hypes our loved ones’ inglorious death as beautiful military service to  entice recruits for their continuing wars.

U.S.A. UK EU Journalists Accessories to Gaza Genocide Prolong It Deceivingly As ‘Defensive War’

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Journalists of wars prolonging U.S. and NATO nations media are providing cover for a monstrous genocidal crime against humanity by portraying the Israeli U.S. provisioned devastating bombing and air strikes on Israel’s military occupied Gaza Strip as ‘defensive war.’

“Israel can’t claim a right to defend itself from the people it oppresses and whose land it colonises,” UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, April 8, 2023.[1]

Can’t Impeach-Prosecute Joe Biden For Illegally Continuing to Supply Bombs Dropped on Homes in Gaza

by jay janson | Activism, Op/Ed

Biden has been guilty of breaking a U.S. law against providing U.S. weapons to a nation using them against a civilian population as Israel has been doing openly for five months.

“When the President of the United States becomes aware of the possibility of violations of the Arms Export Control Act (AECA), the law mandates specific actions:

Prompt Notification to Congress: The President is required to promptly notify Congress about the potential violations.”

Officer Did Not Falsify Evidence

by Kurt Daims | Op/Ed

CORRECTION: The officer did not falsify evidence. To falsify evidence means to alter it after it is admitted into a court record. That’s really serious and worse than what happened. Here’s what happened.

The Brattleboro “health officer” came to our emergency homeless shelter February 7 2023. We had three RVs for free shelter. He had been told that there were no sewer connections to the RVs. See the video. at brmse.org .

Awful Feeling! ‘Starving Palestinian Children Are Watching Me Eat Their Food ‘- Can’t Take It Anymore

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Am feeling some slight pangs of hunger as I sit down to my dinner, and the thought automatically arises, ‘how could a starving person take the immeasurably more severe hunger pain caused by the strong contractions of the stomach when it’s empty,’and that makes me think of the poor desperately hungry children being starved in Gaza. Am still aware of the good taste of the food in my mouth but suddenly am not enjoying eating.

Awful Feeling! ‘Starving Palestinian Children Are Watching Me Eat Their Food ‘- Can’t Take It Anymore

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Am feeling some slight pangs of hunger as I sit down to my dinner, and the thought automatically arises, ‘how could a starving person take the immeasurably more severe hunger pain caused by the strong contractions of the stomach when it’s empty,’ and that makes me think of the poor desperately hungry children being starved in Gaza. Am still aware of the good taste of the food in my mouth but suddenly am not enjoying eating.

I want to tell the children I feel are watching me eat, to go watch the sky for an American plane dropping meals to them, but I imagine the severely traumatised children (who have their eyes on the food on my plate), have had their homes, playgrounds and schools destroyed, many of their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, uncles and aunts, teachers and playmates killed or horribly wounded, some crippled, by bombs dropped by American planes piloted by Israelis dropping American bombs on them day and night for as long as they can seem to remember. I sense they are still watching me and my (their) food.

(America has also been allowing its client state Israel to starve the citizens of Gaza by blocking food and water from entering into Gaza and U.S.A, has used its veto power to vote down demands of the UN Security Council for a ceasefire.)

Hegemonic Western Colonialist Media Journalists Are Accessories to Israeli Mass Murder of Children

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Since October 7, journalists of hegemonic Western colonialist media have made themselves accessories after and then before the fact of crimes against humanity ordered by the Israeli government and committed by Israeli military in their continuous mass murderous bombing and air strikes demolishing homes and entire cities of Israel’s captive Palestinian population in Gaza – indiscriminately killing thousands of residents, 70% [1]of which are women and children. These journalists became accessories after the fact and then before the fact. How?     

“The ‘Reality’ Around Us Is Constructed By Liars “Journalists are War Criminals” Julian Assange Explains 

by jay janson | Op/Ed

Albert Einstein argued that 

“private capital tends to become concentrated in few hands”, resulting in “an oligarchy of private capital the enormous power of which cannot be effectively checked even by a democratically organised political society”.

Moreover, under existing conditions, private capitalists inevitably control, directly or indirectly, the main sources of information (press, radio, education).

It is thus extremely difficult, and indeed in most cases quite impossible, for the individual citizen to come to objective conclusions and to make intelligent use of his political rights.” [May 1949 edition of socialist magazine Monthly Review]

If Pres. Lula Quoted Martin Luther King “Greatest Purveyor of Violence in the World is My Own Government,”

by jay janson | Op/Ed

If, On Martin Luther King’s Birthday and U.S. National Holiday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil could have quoted from King’s mainstream media covered up 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence,’ which condemned his government’s atrocity wars to protect predatory investments, he might have started by quoting what King said about Latin America.

If Xi-Jinping Reminded that Martin Luther King Called U.S.”Greatest Purveyor of Violence in World?”

by jay janson | Op/Ed

If, during the three day Martin Luther King birthday holiday, a world attention getting source, for example, a high enough profiled Chinese government official, pointed out that the government of the United States of America was condemned as the most violent in the world by America’s own idol, this writer believes it would be a sensation, and a most difficult moment for the U.S. government and America’s wars supporting mainstream media which has for 57 years totally suppressed all mention of King’s condemnation of his government’s wars to protect predatory investments.

If Pres. Petro Quoted Martin Luther King “U.S. Helicopters Are Being Used Against Guerrillas in Colombia”

by jay janson | Op/Ed

If, On Martin Luther King’s Birthday and U.S. National Holiday, President Gustavo Francisco Petro Urrego of Columbia would quote from King’s mainstream media covered up 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence,’ which condemned his government’s atrocity wars to protect predatory investments, he might start by quoting what King said about his own country Columbia:

If Palestinians Quoted Martin Luther King “US is Greatest Purveyor of Violence in World?” 

by jay janson | Op/Ed

On Rev. Martin Luther King’s Birthday Holiday, a Palestinian  spokesperson might well want to draw world public attention to King’s 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence’ [1] when Martin Luther King, today the only American celebrity with the distinction of a national weekend holiday to honour his birthday, made bold print headlines in newspapers across the world of King loudly denouncing his very own U.S. government..

If Maduro Quoted Martin Luther King Deploring “Suppression by U.S. Military “Advisors”in Venezuela”

by jay janson | Op/Ed

If, On Martin Luther King’s Birthday and U.S. National Holiday, President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela would quote from King’s mainstream media’ long covered up 1967 New York sermon ‘Beyond Vietnam – a Time to Break Silence,’[1] which condemned his government’s atrocity wars to protect predatory investments, – he might start by quoting what King said about his own Venezuela:

If He Loses…?

by RDavis | Op/Ed

Most people that I know feel old wounds opening as we move closer to the next presidential election. We are starting to experience that same level of anxiety and helplessness we felt when Trump won an election. We are hoping for the best outcome- that Trump gets his ass kicked and that he loses by 10 million votes as he did against Biden the first time.

But the world is a different place now and the complexity of issues surrounding the would-be dictator are mind-boggling. He could end up in jail, but that would not prevent him from taking a seat in the oval office. Most of the rhetoric and fear that is floating in the air has to do with the possibility of Trump winning the election. What might happen if he loses?

Opinions Decry Atrocities By One Side While Encouraging Them On The Other. How Helpful Is That?

by SK-B | Op/Ed

At first I thought I would refrain from debate sparked by the atrocities of Oct. 7. I felt appalled that, from the safety of Vermont, warmed-over “party-line” polemics are being thrown around, which is of no benefit to Palestinians or Israelis whose survival is at risk.

But finally, driven by the increasing normalization of antisemitism and acceptance of Hamas as “freedom fighters” (even by some politically active Jews), I had to speak out.