Tag: United States
How to champion a great cause
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Nicole Rubin of https://insureabilities.com/writes:
In an era where voices can be amplified through various platforms, taking meaningful action in your community for the causes you believe in has never been more accessible. Whether you’re looking to influence policy, engage in direct action, or leverage digital tools, your involvement can create significant change. This guide, courtesy of Peacefare, will walk you through several impactful strategies to champion your cause effectively.
Participate in Marches or Public Demonstrations
One of the most visible and compelling ways to support a cause is by participating in marches or public demonstrations. These gatherings not only show solidarity for a cause but also attract media attention, helping to raise awareness on a larger scale. By organizing or joining these events, you can connect with like-minded individuals, learn more about the issues at hand, and amplify the message you care about. Remember, there’s strength in numbers, and your presence can contribute to that power.
Start a Petition to Demand Action from Policymakers
Starting a petition is a strategic way to demand action from policymakers. This approach allows you to clearly articulate your demands and gather support from the community. Thanks to digital tools, creating and signing petitions have become more streamlined. Using e-signatures, you can efficiently collect signatures and manage your campaign. Once your petition has gained sufficient traction, you can present it to local representatives or use it to influence public opinion, thereby pushing for the changes you wish to see.
Attend Local Government Meetings
Local government meetings are where crucial decisions about your community are made. Attending these meetings provides a platform to voice your concerns and influence local policies directly. Speaking out on issues that matter to you can also enlighten others in your community who might be unaware of the cause. Engaging with local officials and making informed, passionate appeals can lead to practical changes at the municipal or county level.
Organize a Service Project
Organizing a service project is a practical and engaging way to support your cause. Whether it involves a clean-up day, a fundraising event, or a community workshop, such projects address immediate needs while fostering community spirit and cooperation. When planning a project, it’s important to identify and focus on the most pressing needs related to your cause. Engaging community members to participate promotes a sense of ownership and direct involvement, which can lead to sustained support and enthusiasm for future initiatives.
Use Social Media to Raise Awareness
Social media serves as a formidable tool for raising awareness and mobilizing support for your cause. By crafting compelling content and actively engaging with your audience, you can propagate your message across vast networks. Platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook are ideal for sharing stories, updates, and calls to action. Effective social media campaigns not only attract supporters and sway public opinion but also have the potential to capture the attention of key decision-makers, significantly amplifying the impact of your advocacy efforts.
Taking action in your community requires commitment and creativity. By employing these strategies, you can champion the causes you care about and foster change. Whether it’s through direct action, digital advocacy, or professional commitment like nursing, your efforts play a crucial role in shaping a better future for your community. Engage passionately, act strategically, and watch as your community transforms through the power of your advocacy.
Peacefare is here to spread and encourage peace. If you have any questions, feel free to post a reply!
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A real incursion with an unclear purpose
Ukrainian forces have penetrated upwards of 15 kilometers or so into the Kursk oblast of Russia north of Kharkiv. This is the most serious Ukrainian penetration of Russian territory during the current war. Milbloggers claim the Russians are trying to counter the incursion with new recruits. They will likely also need to weaken defenses somewhere along the more or less 600-mile front to respond inKursksion.
The balance is shifting
The past year of fighting has seen little change overall. The Russians have gained marginally, especially in the east. They have recently been pushed back from Kharkiv (though not all the way to the border), where they had made some progress in the spring. US failure to keep up the supply of weapons and ammunition last winter damaged Ukrainian morale and defensive capabilities. So too did European hesitancy about economic aid.
Now that economic aid and military supplies are flowing once again, Ukrainian morale and capability are on the mend. F16s are arriving. Better air defense and longer-range artillery and missiles will enhance Ukrainian capabilities. The Kursk incursion will no doubt raise morale further, if it is successful.
Russia’s supplies of stockpiled weapons are running low, but North Korea and Iran are providing missiles and drones. The Russian army has manpower issues, but arguably less serious than those of Ukraine. Still, Vladimir Vladimirovich is not sounding confident, or offering to help the Kursk Governor:
Still, the objective is unclear
Ukraine’s military objective is still unclear. Kyiv has said nothing. A rail line important to supplying Russian troops farther south? The Kursk nuclear power plant? Capture of soldiers or territory that could be traded for Ukrainian territory or soldiers? Encirclement of the Russian units to the south that had fought their way close to Kharkiv? Forcing the Russians to weaken offensive and defensive operations farther south? Encouraging international supporters to hasten arms supplies? Encouraging Putin’s opponents in Moscow and across the Russian Federation to confront him? It still seems to be anyone’s guess.
Ukraine has committed elements of four experienced brigades to the effort, which suggests this is not merely a cross-border raid. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Ukrainians will seek to hold the territory they take. That would be a daunting task, assuming the population is still loyal to Moscow. The population in present-day Kursk oblast overwhelmingly identifies as Russian, not Ukrainian.
War is not math
War, unlike mathematics, has uncertain outcomes, brought about in unexpected ways. The Ukrainians have rolled their dice. We’ll have to wait and see what the result is.
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When you are in a hole, stop digging
The world awaits retaliation against Israel for its assassinations last week. Both were relatively surgical affairs that killed the military commander of Lebanese Hizbollah in Beirut (as well as some women and children) and the political spokesman of Hamas in Tehran. Expectations for retaliation focus on a large missile and drone attack from all directions.
I doubt that. If successful, such a raid might mobilize the US to join Israel in a further escalation. That is something the Iranians don’t want.
It need not be an air raid
Israel has seemed invulnerable for decades. Its sophisticated air defenses have prevented thousands of missiles and drones from reaching population centers.
Iran and its partners might be better served to assassinate one or more major Israeli political or military figures. That would be a symmetrical response that some might argue does not justify further escalation. It would also strike fear into the hearts of every Jew in Israel. The only major Jewish figure murdered in modern Israel was Prime Minister Itzhak Rabin, killed by a Jew.
The Israelis have demonstrated that they can track and strike major figures in the capitals of their adversaries. Is it really possible that the “axis of resistance” has not developed a comparable capability inside Israel?
The capability need not necessarily be technologically sophisticated. Knives, guns, and grenades can be smuggled and murderers deployed or hired. Targets of opportunity should not be difficult to find in a small and relatively open society.
Iran has assets it doesn’t want to lose
The Iranians will decide. Hizbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis may have been relatively free to do what they wanted since October 7, but no doubt Tehran is now coordinating the retaliation.
Iran has reached nuclear threshold status. It is able to build a nuclear bomb within weeks with material in its possession. Prime Minister Netanyahu is looking for an excuse to damage that capability. In April, the Israelis demonstrated their ability to reach Iran’s nuclear facilities with drones that went undetected. Iran may want to hide its hand in the retaliation, mirroring Israel’s refusal to confirm its hand in the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
Netanyahu wins, Israel loses
A successful assassination or two, or a successful air raid, will put the Israelis again on the spot. President Biden has already made clear to Netanyahu that the US will not back further escalation. If Netanyahu pays heed, the cycle will end. If not, it will continue.
That said, Netanyahu has already accomplished several of his own goals. The Gaza talks can go nowhere until the escalation ends. He does not want the ceasefire/prisoner exchange that Washington is insisting on. The Democrats risk a major war during the election campaign, giving advantage to Trump, whom Netanyahu favors. The crisis will enable him to stay in power at least until October, when the Knesset returns from recess, and likely beyond.
Israel is the big loser. The ferocious October 7 attack was far from an existential threat, but Netanyahu and many Israelis have characterized it as such. That justified the ferocious response in Gaza that has in turn led to the assassinations and potential war with Iran and its partners. That really is an existential threat. When you are in a hole, stop digging.
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Harris is gaining while Trump steps in it
Donald Trump managed yesterday to turn an interview with the National Association of Black Journalists into a campaign debacle. He claimed that Kamala Harris, who went to historically Black Howard University and became a member of a Black sorority, had not always identified as Black but rather as Indian. She in fact is Black and Indian. Her father was a Black Jamaican and her mother was an Indian Tamil. She grew up identifying as both.
Why would a presidential candidate even mention a competitor’s racial origins? Why would he do so in a demonstrably false way? What did he hope to gain from this strange assertion?
What did he think he was doing?
Trump’s faux pas could be just a mistake. His cognitive capacity is in doubt. He often says “weird” (and offensive) things. This could just be another one.
That is hard to believe. His campaign has surely briefed him extensively on Harris’ background and biography. He should know by now where she went to university. He has a particular interest in immigration and had for years challenged Barack Obama’s illegibility for the presidency based on the false claim that he was born in Kenya. Trump certainly knows the origins of Harris’ immigrant parents.
Trump was trying to cast aspersions. He was suggesting that she had been dishonest about her Black identity and is now only using it for political purposes. Trump may have hoped to suggest that she, like Obama, was not a legitimate candidate. He wanted to drive a wedge between Black voters and Harris, hoping to prevent her from reversing the modest flow of (mostly male) Black voters the polls show he has gained.
Failure is its own reward
He failed miserably. His audience knew that Harris identifies as Black as well as Indian. The country knows too. This faux pas makes him look worse in the eyes of Harris supporters and independents without gaining him much among his own fans. They already knew he is an insensitive racist and like him for it.
Harris has now drawn even with Trump in national polling and is improving in battleground states. Biden before withdrawing his candidacy had been running consistently behind Trump. Harris’ campaign has energized Democrats while the Republican vice-presidential candidate, JD Vance, has been dragging down Trump. He told the Black journalists it doesn’t matter who the vice presidential candidate is.
The election is still a long way off
Anything can happen between now and November 5. But for now Harris is gaining and Trump is lagging. Harris will name her vice presidential candidate in the next few days. The Democratic Convention August 19-22 should give her a bump, provided demonstrations don’t ruin it. The economy is weakening and inflation is flattening, which could mean a Fed interest rate cut in September. Today’s release of US prisoners from Russia is an unexpected plus.
But war between Iran and Israel? A jump in unemployment or inflation? A third party candidate who gains more traction? Violence against one or the other candidate? Catastrophic harm to US troops abroad? All of these downers?
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Assassinations could mean war with Iran
Israel killed Fuad Shukr, military deputy to Hizbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, in Beirut yesterday with a targeted air strike. Though they have not confirmed their involvement, the Israelis apparently also killed Ismail Haniyeh, political leader of Hamas in Tehran today, likely also with an air strike. There is I suppose some possibility that this was not their doing, but rather an Iranian maneuver due to displeasure with his leadership of Hamas, but that is 100% speculation.
The ultimate impact of these two assassinations, if such they be, is uncertain. Sometimes decapitation works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But the success of both operations tells us a good deal about Lebanon, Iran, and Israel.
Lebanon and Iran have weak air defenses
That Lebanon has ineffective air defenses is not surprising. The country has been on the ropes at least since the Beirut port explosion in 2020, but even before that its army could not match the Israelis on the ground or in the air. Lebanese Hizbollah is the main threat to Israel from the north. Its air defenses are improving. But the killing of Shukr demonstrates that Israel has the intelligence capability to track Hizbollah leadership and the precision strike capability to hit a single building in crowded southern Beirut without apparently activating either Lebanon’s or Hizbollah’s air defense.
The same is true, and even more impressive, for Iran, if in fact the Israelis did it. Haniyeh was killed in a residence facility of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The Israelis would have had to track him there, evade Iranian air defenses, and strike accurately at a distance of almost 1000 miles from Jerusalem. Iranian inability to prevent this in the aftermath of the presidential inauguration yesterday suggests weak air defenses. Or a special forces unit might have penetrated on the ground.
Israel wants war with Iran
The Israeli willingness to undertake these two assassinations, if in fact Haniyeh was their doing, would suggest that Prime Minister Netanyahu is prepared to risk escalation of the already simmering regional conflict. The two assassinations may well provoke another direct attack from Iran, which tried and failed in April to punish Israel for an earlier Beirut assassination. Escalation this time could be rapid.
There is no question that Tehran backs Hamas, Hizbollah, and the Yemeni Houthis. This is the much-vaunted “axis of resistance,” whose leaders were in Tehran for the inauguration of a new president. Netanyahu earlier this month in his speech in Congress blamed Iran bluntly for their activities. He appears to want a direct confrontation with Tehran, rather than dealing only with its allies.
The Americans do not, but what they can do about it at this point is not clear. Netanyahu sees an opportunity to damage Israel’s enemies while the Arab states stand by. They too want to see Iran diminished. He likely figures the Americans will be pleased if Israel is successful. He appears little concerned with the possibility of failure.
Implications for the US
It will be hard for the US to stay aloof if Netanyahu is successful in provoking Iran into entering the regional war. The Middle East would once again have to take priority. Ukraine and China would have to wait. American military supplies to Israel would be vital.
An Israel/Iran war would likely affect the US presidential race. Kamala Harris would find Democrats divided. The aging leadership in Congress would want to back Israel. But many Democrats, like most Israelis, want Israel to end the war in Gaza by cutting a hostage deal with Hamas. Donald Trump would gain some advantage in the presidential race, even if his running mate has wanted to shift attention from the Middle East to the Pacific. American popular opinion will heavily favor Israel if there is war with Iran.
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Trump is in trouble for now
Less than a week after President Biden withdrew from the race, Donald Trump is in trouble. Vice President Harris has momentum. His best move lately was a round with pro golfer Bryson DeChambeau. I doubt that grabs a lot of middle class voters. She is dancing all over the internet and mobilizing the Democratic base in battleground states. The latest poll shows she has erased Trump’s margin over Biden.
Trump’s problems
Trump’s campaign was entirely geared towards running against an aging Joe Biden. His incessant complaints about the Biden family and the President’s cognitive abilities had gotten some traction. Biden was still a point or two from Trump in national polling, but he was lagging in most of the battlegrounds.
Trump’s attacks against Harris are not landing outside his base. Calling her an extremist and a liar just isn’t working well with either the mainstream media or independents. What are her extremist views? What is she lying about? The country seems tired of Trump, who is now the brunt of remarks about age. At 78, he is almost 20 years older than Harris and only three younger than Biden. He commits many verbal faux pas and delivers lengthy, rambling, incoherent speeches.
He also makes his assault on democracy explicit:
Trump chose as a running mate a relative unknown first-term senator, JD Vance, who has bizarre views on many topics. Just for starters, he wants people with children to get more votes. Trump is already showing regrets for that pick.
Harris’ pluses
Harris has come out of the gate remarkably fast. Within days, she gained the votes needed for nomination at the Democratic convention in Chicago next month. Her candidacy has raised a mountain of money from both small and big donors. “We’re not going back” is her pitch, a clever reference to Trump’s chaotic term in the presidency. She is aggressively campaigning and also considering her own VP pick. It would be hard for her to go wrong. The Democratic lineup has half a dozen highly qualified officials from swing states.
Biden was trailing but still far from defeat. Harris appears to have inherited his support. She is also gaining with independents and those who might have voted for third party candidates. Her support among women and younger voters is better than Biden’s.
Harris in her remarks after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu proved adept. Without shifting away from Biden’s support for Israel’s right to defend itself, she forcefully emphasized her sympathy with ordinary Palestinians and the need to end the Gaza war. “I will not be silenced,” she vowed. Netanyahu will do everything he can to help Trump. But Harris will have taken an important step in healing the rift within her own party and in regaining Arab and Muslim American votes in Michigan and other battlegrounds.
Towards the goal
There are still more than 100 days to the election November 5. But for now Harris has the ball and is moving it fast to the goal line. Expect Trump to react with all the lies and dirty tricks he can muster. He will continue to call her a liar and extremist. He’ll have doubts about her eligibility to run, as she is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and India. His campaign will resurrect controversial positions she took in the past. Trump is trying to get out of the debate with her. Who knows what else he’ll pull. But if she can hold on to the ball, a goal is inevitable.
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