Dear Progressive Reader,
The hearings in Washington, DC, are now under way. One thing is clear: the country, and our particular form of democracy, were under severe threat on January 6. But, as additional revelations about the weeks and months leading up to the Capitol insurrection come out, it is also clear that this was not a one-day aberration, but rather a piece of a much larger effort by Donald Trump and his closest allies and advisers to retain power in spite of the will of the people. But, in the wake of all of this new information, many Republican lawmakers are doubling down on the lie that the election was stolen. In Wisconsin, writes Melanie Conklin, state representative Janel Brandtjen is now initiating a “cyber-forensic investigation” of the ballots. Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a close adherent of Trump’s views on both January 6 and the November election (as well as previous policies in regard to Ukraine) is poised to be an electoral test in 2022 for what Ruth Conniff calls “the worst currents in Republican politics—the bullying, the boorishness, the racism, the contempt for democratic institutions.”
July 28 marked a sorrowful anniversary. It was on that day in 1915 that U.S. troops began the first of many military occupations of the island nation of Haiti. Today, in the wake of the assassination earlier this month of Haitian president Jovenel Moïse, those memories loom large for the Haitian people. As Jeff Abbott reports, “The Biden Administration has largely maintained the Trump-era foreign policy toward Haiti, even as Moïse centralized power around him, unleashed a terror of government-backed gangs against popular neighborhoods, and targeted the Haitian press. In exchange, the United States gained more support against the Venezuelan administration of Nicolas Maduro.” Meanwhile, it appears that Biden’s Department of Homeland Security will continue to turn back refugees from Haiti. DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a press statement last week, “Any migrant intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States.” However, as Nia Imara points out, “In the United States today, Haiti is entitled to much more than our pity and charity; it deserves our solidarity. . . . For many Black people in the United States, Haiti’s history has a special significance. When we realize that Haiti’s present is as important, it will be clear that its future is linked to our struggle for racial justice here.”
And yesterday was National Whistleblower Appreciation Day, commemorating the first whistleblower protection law, enacted July 30, 1778. Sarah Cords reviews three documentary films by director Sonia Kennebeck that chronicle the stories of modern day whistleblowers. Yet this past week, whistleblower Daniel Hale was sentenced to forty-five months in prison for revealing details about civilian deaths caused by U.S. drone strikes. As Sarah Cords wrote last May, “Hale acted as he did because he believed the public had a right to know how the drone program operated.” Kathy Kelly notes, “Hale’s honesty, courage, and exemplary readiness to act in accord with his conscience are critically needed. Instead, the U.S. government has done its best to silence him.” And Jeremy Scahill says this week in The Intercept, “Daniel Hale should be pardoned and released, and the government should pay him restitution for the trauma it has inflicted on him for daring to speak out, at great personal risk, for the victims of wars and extrajudicial assassinations funded by U.S. taxpayers. He deserves the gratitude of good people everywhere for his courage, bravery, and sacrifice. It is a grave injustice that a man who blew the whistle on the killing of civilians is in jail and that those who murder them receive medals or appear as pundits on cable news.”
Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.
Sincerely,
Norman Stockwell
Publisher
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