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Tidbits - October 26, 2017 - Reader Comments: Superstorm Sandy - March for Climate Action Now; Institutions Financing White Nationalism; Che Guevara; Balfour Declaration; Harvey Weinstein; Indonesian Slaughter; announcements; and more...

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Reader Comments: 5th Anniversary of Superstorm Sandy-March for Climate Action Now; I Hate When They Say "He gave his life for his country"-Adm Gene Larocque; Che Guevara; Harvey Weinstein’s Crimes; Solidarity with Striking Workers at Charter/Spectrum

The Myth of Missile Defense

Mark Wolverton, Theodore Postol UnDark
The United States is in the process of building a vast nuclear arsenal that appears to be aimed at having the ability to fight and win nuclear wars. The fact that the concept of fighting and winning a nuclear war is completely divorced from the realities of nuclear weapons effects has not deterred the United States from moving forward as if such an objective is possible.

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The War He Survived Was Vietnam

Michael Yates CounterPunch
Liberal opinion holds that the Vietnam War was a mistake. The right continues to see it as a noble cause. Author Michael Uhl calls the slaughter in Vietnam planned and deliberate, saying that the United States would not tolerate then or now efforts by people in the Global South to escape the imperialist trap. Uhl writes as a participant, first as an intelligence officer and then as an historian, to paint a merciless and highly detailed picture of US policy at its rawest.

Protest and Survive: Reclaiming William Morris from Britain’s Nuclear Fleet

David Mabb Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Anyone even remotely familiar with Morris’s life and work will understand why it’s a little shocking that the Royal Navy has used his prints in nuclear submarines. A well-known leftist, Morris became highly critical of Britain’s imperialist ambitions during the 1880s and actively campaigned as a communist, speaking at demonstrations and rallies across the country.

"I Didn't Serve, I Was Used": How Veterans Are Losing the War at Home

Ann Jones TomDispatch
A friend of mine, a Vietnam vet, told me about a veteran of the Iraq War who, when some civilian said, "Thank you for your service," replied: "I didn't serve, I was used." That got me thinking about the many ways today's veterans are used, conned, and exploited by big gamers right here at home.

labor

The Military: An Alternative to the Brutalities of the Modern Economy

SCOTT BEAUCHAMP The Atlantic
The millions of service members who live on military bases around the world experience a kind of economic and social security that is foreign to most of America’s middle class. In the military, clothing, food, shelter, and medical care are guaranteed. And although it offers less choice about what to wear or where to live than the private sector, there’s a baseline of care for service members that doesn’t exist in the civilian world.
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