View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Dear Progressive Reader,
On Friday, Pranay Vaddi, a top arms control official at the National Security Council, said ([link removed]) that “The United States may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons in coming years to deter growing threats from Russia, China, and other adversaries.” These frightening comments came during a speech to a group called the Arms Control Association ([link removed]) , whose mission is to “eliminate the threats posed by the world’s most dangerous weapons.”
The speech comes at a time when the U.S. government is continuing its efforts to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal. As Vice President under Barack Obama, current President Joe Biden was the chief spokesperson ([link removed]) for this strategy of “modernization.” But at that time, the plan was expressed as “modernizing [the] arsenal [rather than] expanding it.” This potential new initiative, as outlined by Vaddi, would be, as The New York Times points out ([link removed]) , “an epochal shift, and one fraught with dangers that many Americans thought they had left behind at the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.”
The Progressive has long been ([link removed]) an advocate for total disarmament and an elimination of nuclear weapons from the arsenal of dispute resolution. In our August/September 2023 issue, Jim Carrier wrote ([link removed]) , “In the next five years, the National Nuclear Security Administration plans to complete five warhead modernization programs, build at least six new major facilities, and rebuild numerous other facilities.” Carrier titled his article “Playing With Fire.” In the wake of last year’s very popular ([link removed]) film Oppenheimer, one would hope the U.S. population would be aware of the dangers of nuclear weapons. In the Book of Luke (23:34) Jesus is quoted as saying “forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.” As physicist Curtis Asplund points out
([link removed]) in a recent op-ed, in 2024, nearly eight decades since the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we do not have that excuse.
Last week, Donald J. Trump became ([link removed]) the first former U.S. President ever convicted of felony crimes. This week, cartoonist Mark Fiore illustrates ([link removed]) the ways in which the Trump team are trying to spin that verdict, and Bill Lueders opines ([link removed]) to the Trump defenders, “Knock it off!” As Lueders explains, “Calling the trial illegitimate and fraudulent just because you don't like the result puts our entire justice system at stake.” And Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, explains ([link removed]) why Justice Samuel Alito’s ant-government flag flying should matter to all of us. (An incident that was also cleverly
portrayed ([link removed]) by Mark Fiore last week.)
Elsewhere on our website this week, Sarah Baum reports ([link removed]) from the student encampments at two different New York universities last month, and how the media got the story wrong. Stephen Zunes looks at ([link removed]) how 2024 might be a repeat of 1968 as a Democratic President faces student protests over an unpopular foreign war. And, Atef Said pens an op-ed ([link removed]) on the successes so far of the student protests against the war in Gaza. Also, Mike Ervin writes on ([link removed]) the importance of accessible housing; Jeff Abbott describes ([link removed]) Mexico’s election of the country’s
first woman president; and Maurice Cunningham chronicles ([link removed]) the rightwing movement “Moms for Liberty” and its agenda.
Today marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the first publication of George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984 ([link removed]) . I remember, during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, when the real 1984 came and went, and many made comparisons ([link removed]) to the book’s predictions for our future. Then, shortly after the signing of the USA Patriot Act during the presidency of George W. Bush, T-shirts and bumper stickers began to appear ([link removed]) that read “1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual” (or similar variations). Now, as Donald Trump again contends for the White House, numerous publications (including our own) have raised questions ([link removed]) about the agenda of a Trump second term. It seems we have moved beyond the
question of an “instruction manual” as groups like Project 2025 ([link removed]) and Agenda 47 ([link removed]) are working to create specific plans to implement “on day one ([link removed]) .” The phrase “knowledge is power” was used ([link removed]) by Thomas Jefferson, but we must use that knowledge for it to be powerful. As I wrote in a review ([link removed]) of a series of books in 2018, “Can it happen here? These books serve to remind us that it already has, and now it is our imperative to respond.”
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
P.S. – Don’t miss a minute of the “hidden history” of 2024 – you can still order The Progressive’s new Hidden History of the United States calendar for the coming year. NOW HALF PRICE – Just $7.50 plus $3.00 shipping. Just go to indiepublishers.shop ([link removed]) , and while you are there, check out some of our other great offerings as well.
P.P.S. – If you like this newsletter, please consider forwarding it to a friend. If you know someone who would like to subscribe to this free weekly email, please share this link: [link removed].
P.P.P.S. – If you don’t already subscribe to The Progressive in print or digital form, please consider doing so today ([link removed]) . Also, if you have a friend or relative who you feel should hear from the many voices for progressive change within our pages, please consider giving a gift subscription ([link removed]) .
P.P.P.P.S. – Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to support The Progressive! We need you now more than ever. If you have not done so already, please take a moment to support hard-hitting, independent reporting on issues that matter to you. Your donation today will keep us on solid ground and will help us continue to grow in the coming years. You can use the wallet envelope in the current issue of the magazine, or click on the “Donate” button below to join your fellow progressives in sustaining The Progressive as a voice for peace, social justice, and the common good.
Donate ([link removed])
============================================================
** Twitter ([link removed])
** Facebook ([link removed])
** Website ([link removed])
Copyright © 2024 The Progressive, Inc.
P.O. Box 1021 • Madison, Wisconsin 53701 • (608) 257-4626
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can ** update your preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from this list ([link removed])
