Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

Unlike my friends Ron Kovic and S. Brian Willson (both Vietnam Vets cum war protesters), my mother always shared with me that I was due to be born on the 4th of July, but held out (after three days of hard, excruciating labor--she always reminded me) until the 10th. When I was young, I always thought of the fireworks, food, and family fun of the 4th of July as a pre-celebration of my birthday, less than a week later. At that time, I was always a little upset that I wasn't born on the 4th, but now, why would I want to share anything with the government of the nation of my birth? Once, I reluctantly shared with it my oldest son, and before Casey was ordered to join a brutal occupying force in the not-independent nation of Iraq, he was abused and misused and molded into cannon fodder and eventually killed in a war based on lies and for the profit of a few. That didn't turn out well for him, or our family. The 4th of July is called, "Independence Day," right? Bu

Sometimes there is no justice.   Sometimes, men and women abuse their power and lie us into needless wars with impunity. Sometimes, a corrupt establishment and complicit media succeed in covering up theses war crimes instead of exposing them. Sometimes, the two-tiered 'just-us" system fills the prisons with poor criminals and protects the rich and powerful criminals. Sometimes, as Aesop wrote, "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office." Sometimes, there is no justice, there is only war and blood and death.

Bernie Sanders Has Taught WALL STREET HAS RIGGED THE SYSTEM! Dear Friends, There is only one best place for U.S. social justice activists to be protesting in July 2016 — in Philadelphia at the Democratic National Convention. Here’s why. 1.    The outstanding feature of the 2016 Presidential Primary has been the voters’ angry rejection of Wall Street’s Republican and Democratic candidates, “the Republicrats.” Remember the odds-on favorites at the beginning? Jeb Bush amassed a fortune in early big money yet was swatted away by the wrath of the Republican voters. Hillary Clinton, too, would have been dispatched by the Bernie Sanders Campaign, with its outstanding domestic program addressing the needs of the 99 percent of us. But, of the two wings of the Republicrats who rule politically on behalf of Wall Street, it is the Democratic Party that is the main brake on social justice movements fighting against Wall Street, against monopoly capitalism and imperialism. The Democrat

June 26, 2016 Guest: Bob Witanek Topic: Ending Prison Slavery and Proposed Prisoner's General Strike (9/9/16) Relevant Links: Decarcerate the Garden State Blog   Decarcerate the Garden State Website     Info on 9/9 Shutdown

So long as they are used to enforce imperial control of the citizenry. Obama says semi-automatic weapons belong on a battlefield.  OK,  then why is he arming a record number of NON-Defense Department Federal Officers with firearms, (Including arming IRS agents with AR-15s) Do we live on a battlefield? Officers with arrest-and-firearm authority has tripled since 1996 to 200,000 and now exceeds the number of US Marines. (182,000) The Obama administration also brokered more arms deals than any administration of the past 70 years, Republican or Democratic.  Some of those weapons were delivered to terror groups and are being used against US troops.  Maybe his control should start with Self control.    

Almost exactly four years ago, I wrote an article that opened with this, um, “anecdote”: As part of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) Summer Disobedience School, I was marching with my fellow occupiers through Times Square in early June 2012. While skirting the edge of the demo to take photos, I passed a group of young men in business attire. On the surface, they appeared "mainstream" -- right out of Central Casting, in fact. One man was clearly confused by the boisterous march -- the signs, the drummers, the costumes, and so much more. "What are they doing?" he pondered aloud. The largest man in the group -- his face pinched into an expression of scorn -- bellowed: "I'll tell you what they should be doing. They should be looking for a fuckin' job." He looked so self-satisfied with his parroting of the corporate media line that I couldn't help taking him down a notch. I stopped walking, positioned myself about three feet a

Talk Nation Radio: Peter Kuznick on Untold Nuclear History and No War 2016 http://davidswanson.org/node/ 5191 https://soundcloud.com/ davidcnswanson/talk-nation- radio-peter-kuznick-on-untold- nuclear-history-and-no-war- 2016 Peter Kuznick is Professor of History at American University, and author of Beyond the Laboratory: Scientists As Political Activists in 1930s America , co-author with Akira Kimura of Rethinking the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki: Japanese and American Perspectives , co-author with Yuki Tanaka of Nuclear Power and Hiroshima: The Truth Behind the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Power , and co-editor with James Gilbert of Rethinking Cold War Culture. In 1995, he founded American University’s Nuclear Studies Institute, which he directs. In 2003, Kuznick organized a group of scholars, writers, artists, clergy, and activists to protest the Smithsonian’s celebratory display of the Enola Gay. He and filmmaker Oliver Stone co-auth

On Speaking Truth to Empire Dan Yaseen interviews Steve Lendman, an author, a progressive blogger and an internet radio host. He writes on vital international and national topics, including war and peace, American imperialism, corporate dominance, political persecutions, and a range of other social, economic and political issues. His website is:   http://sjlendman.blogspot.com CLICK TO LISTEN TO SHOW

The Soapbox June 19, 2016    GUESTS : RHODA MUELLER AND SARAH JONES TOPIC : THE LIBERATION OF WOMEN FROM MALE SUPREMACY     This week, Cindy chats with two organizers of WoLF Fest , a festival which is a  "Radical Feminist Festival for Womyn"  Learn how being a radical feminist is NOT transphobic and what would a world without male supremacy would look like. CLICK FOR WEBSITE

Talk Nation Radio: Sandy Davies on Asking World's Help in Resisting U.S. Crimes http://davidswanson.org/node/ 5183 https://soundcloud.com/ davidcnswanson/talk-nation- radio-sandy-davies-on-asking- worlds-help-in-resisting-us- crimes Nicolas J "Sandy" Davies is the author of Blood On Our Hands: the American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq, with a preface by Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz . He also wrote the chapter on “Obama at War” in Grading the 44th President, and a chapter titled "Crime By America: No Accountability, No Justice, No Peace" in a new book, Crime and Punishment in America, due out in the fall of 2016 . He writes regularly about U.S. aggression and war crimes for Consortium News, Warisacrime.org and other alternative media outlets. He served as an issue team leader on war and peace issues for Progressive Democrats of America (PDA), and he drafted Roots Action's current "Appeal fr

Prelude: Pre- Candidate "A" floats the electoral air-biscuit of a possible quest for the nomination of their (in the interest of not typing "his/her" I will use the vague, "their") political party: let's go with the Dems for the purpose of this piece. The Anticipatory Interlude: The liberal Democrats who have felt increasingly at odds with the war president, but similarly not with the war party, grow ecstatic and social media is all a-twiiter (pun intended) with memes and petitions glorifying Candidate A's progressive qualifications to make a run and form a "political revolution." ("There's nothing new under the sun.") An exploratory committee is formed and the most crucial fundraising ability and online link is put into place. The Play's the Thing: After much anticipation and angst, Candidate A announces their intention to run for the nomination and the social interwebs go into paroxysm of orgasmic joy and

      A female demonstrator offers a flower to military police on guard at the Pentagon during an anti-Vietnam demonstration. Arlington, Virginia, USA, 21 October 1967. By S.Sgt. Albert R. Simpson. Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. U.S. Army Audiovisual Center. Mickey Z. -- World News Trust June  12, 2016 Even as a young child, I understood: The war in Vietnam was becoming increasingly unpopular Being on TV is a really big deal to most people So, it was while hanging out on the stoop with my grade school friends -- just two blocks from the 59th Street Bridge, connecting Queens to the east side of Manhattan -- that I hatched a cynical scheme to (supposedly) capitalize on the above two facts. About six of us staged our very own anti-war protest amidst the high volume of motor vehicles streaming down Crescent Street on their way to the city (Queens may be one of New York’s five boroughs, b

June 12, 2016 This week, I believe I caught a bit of a late spring cold from my grandchildren, so we are presenting a replay of one of the hundreds of archived shows. Dakotah Lilly is a faithful Soapbox listener and a friend of mine who just graduated from high school and has contributed a couple of pieces to The Soapbox blog himself. I asked Dakotah to pick one of his favorite shows to replay this week. Dakota's Pick: Shackled and Chained with my guest: Eugene Puryear from  October 6, 2013 Eugene and I chatted about the racism of mass incarceration here in the USA. (Good choice, Dakota!) Relevant links: Cindy Sheehan, National Antiwar Leader, Announces Support for Sept. 9 Incarcerated / Enslaved Worker Shut Down Socialism, a Love Story by Dakotah Lilly

    The following statement of support has been offered by Cindy Sheehan, a national leader of anti-war struggle in the United States ever since her son Casey Sheehan's life was cut short on the battlefields of Iraq.  Cindy writes regularly and conducts audio interviews on her site Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox. http://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/  Sample Tweet: Join Cindy Sheehan-support Sep9 natl day-end enslavement of incarcerated #DecarcerateNJ  http://bit.ly/1XCelT9  Cindy Sheehan's Statement: As a resident of California, a one time vice presidential candidate on the Peace and Freedom Party ticket and a one time Gubernatorial candidate challenging Governor Brown – I pledge my solidarity to the September 9 multi-state work stoppage being organized as a non-violent protest against enslavement in the US prison system.                    The United States incarcerates its own people at a rate that is 4 times the rate as the rest of the countries on t

Mickey Z. -- World News Trust June 7, 2016 What’s trending on your news feed? Have you heard about the epidemic of abductions? Are you and your social media “friends” talking about the global plague of torture and human slavery? Surely you’re up in arms about possible livestreamed executions? There’s a war going on, but your news feed is diligently ignoring it. Heinous attacks are happening right now, and you won’t hear a word about them from the corporate media. As you read this, myriad assaults, invasions, and occupations are being planned by people you know , yet these crimes won’t even warrant a hashtag.  We are living under a virtual news blackout of the biggest story of all time: male pattern violence . If the relentlessly brutal impact of patriarchy remains undiscussed, we stand zero chance at creating the swift and sustainable social change we urgently need. Instead, we’ll continue to dwell in deep and dangerous denial -- interpreting event