Friends,
Get over to the Viva House Catholic Worker, 26 South
Mount Street, Baltimore 21223, on Thurs., May 4 from 6 to 8 PM for A Conversation with Author and Dorothy Day's
Granddaughter Kate Hennessy.
"Dorothy Day: The World Will be Saved by Beauty" is a new
biography by Day's youngest grandchild. Dorothy Day (1897-1980), with
philosopher Peter Maurin, formed the Catholic Worker Movement in 1933. The
work continues to this day, focusing on the corporal works of mercy: Feed the
hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter the homeless, visit the sick and the
prisoners, bury the dead and give alms to the poor. And resist the crown. From
the streets of New York City during the Great Depression, the Catholic Worker
Movement today has over 200 houses of hospitality worldwide. Its flagship
newspaper, Catholic Worker, is published eight times a year and
still sells for one penny, as it did in 1933. A case for sainthood is being
made for Day in the Catholic Church. In her early life, Day was a writer and
newspaperwoman, at home in the bars and cafes of Chicago and New York's Greenwich
Village. Her only child, Tamar Teresa, was born out of wedlock to Day and her
partner Forster Batterham. From this unconventional life in the 1920s comes a
legacy of charity and compassion on an international scale. Call 410-233-0488.
Kagiso,
Max
Nearly 500K People Urge Congress to "Take Away Trump's
Nuclear Football"
Wednesday, May 03, 2017
New
legislation would prohibit president from launching nuclear strike without
declaration of war from Congress
"The current nuclear launch approval process, which gives
the decision to potentially end civilization as we know it to a single
individual, is flatly unconstitutional." (Photo: International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons/flickr/cc)
Close
to 500,000 people have signed a
petition, delivered to Congress on Wednesday, that urges lawmakers to take
President Donald Trump's finger off the nuclear button.
The
petition supports the "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act,"
legislation introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)
that would prohibit Trump from launching a nuclear weapon without Congress
first authorizing a declaration of war.
"No
American president should be allowed to launch an unprovoked nuclear war,"
Markey said at the press conference marking the petition delivery. "The
Constitution gives the power to declare war to Congress, and we should not
allow President Trump—or any president—to use nuclear weapons except in
response to a nuclear attack against the U.S. or our allies."
More than
a dozen advocacy groups helped circulate the petition, from the anti-nuclear
Peace Action to the democracy watchdog Public Citizen.
"It's
terrifying that Trump currently has unchecked authority to press the button to
launch thousands of nuclear weapons at his command in a matter of
moments," said Tessa Levine, campaign manager for the action group CREDO,
which also endorsed the petition. "Trump's first 100 days have been marked
by series of horrifying demonstrations of his recklessness and incompetence, we
cannot trust Trump to make rational or informed decisions about the safety of
our country and the world."
"It's
time to take away Trump's nuclear football," Levine said.
Many
highlighted the destructive power of modern weapons—especially when handed over
to a president with a temper and a shaky grasp of
geopolitics.
"Our
Constitution created a government based on checks and balances and gave the
power to declare war solely to Congress," said Lieu. "A nuclear first
strike, which can kill hundreds of millions of people and invite a retaliatory
strike that can destroy America, is war. The current nuclear launch approval
process, which gives the decision to potentially end civilization as we know it
to a single individual, is flatly unconstitutional."
"Furthermore,
the single individual currently possessing the sole power to start WWIII is
Donald J. Trump. The president has demonstrated a frightening ignorance of the
nuclear triad, crowed about being 'unpredictable' with our nuclear arsenal, and
taken to Twitter to make provocative statements about U.S. nuclear
posture," Lieu added. "The fate of humanity just may be at stake."
Lillyanne
Daigle, network campaigner for Global Zero, added, "One modern nuclear
weapon is more destructive than all of the bombs detonated in World War II
combined—yet there is no check on Trump's ability to use the thousands of
nuclear weapons at his command. His power to do so is absolute, and once he
hits the proverbial red button there would be no take-backs."
"That
such devastating power is concentrated in one person is an affront to America's
founding principles," Daigle said. "The proposed legislation is an
important first step to reining in this autocratic system and making the world
safer from nuclear catastrophe."
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share
Alike 3.0 License
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-323-1607; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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