The two lives of Jimmy Carter: Service to humanity and servitude to US Imperialism
The passing of Jimmy Carter on Sunday has been instructive, both in terms of the public reaction and the narratives that have been crafted to accompany his death.
On one hand we have the Jimmy Carter to supported the work of Habitat for Humanity, not just financially, but by wielding a hammer on numerous occasions. Then there is the Jimmy Cater who started The Carter Center, which promoted conflict resolution, provided election observers and promoted human rights.
There was also the Jimmy Carter who wrote the 2006 book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Not only did this book name the unjust policy of Israel – Apartheid – it provided a substantive critique of US policy in the Middle East.
This narrative, the Jimmy Carter that embraced humanity and practiced being in service to others should be celebrated and cherished. However, the post-White House Jimmy Carter should in no way be confused with the Jimmy Carter presidency.
As President, Jimmy Carter continued and maintained much of the Cold War policies that his predecessors did, such as:
- Maintaining the US Embargo on Cuba, along with regular efforts to either assassinate Fidel Castro or disrupt Cuban life. See Clara Nieto’s book, Masters of War: Latin America and US Aggression.
- The Carter Administration increased US military aid to Indonesia, which continued its military occupation of East Timor, thus bringing the death toll to an estimated 200,000 by the end of 1979. See Norman Solomon’s book, War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death.
- Carter continued supporting the Angolan military dictator Jonas Savimbi, with US weapons and CIA support. See William Blum’s book, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since WWII.
- President Carter also supported the brutal Shah of Iran and his death squads forces, known as SAVAK. The Carter Administration then botched an effort to rescue US citizens after the Iranian revolution of 1979, which also involved US troops. See William Blum’s book, Killing Hope: US Military and CIA Interventions since WWII.
- In 1979, there was a revolution in Nicaragua, an uprising begun by the Sandinistas. The uprising brought about the end of the Somoza dictatorship, which the US had supported for decades. The Carter Administration supported the Nicaragua military right through 1979, and laid the ground work for the former Nicaragua soldiers, which eventually became the terrorist group known as the Contras. See Nathan Robinson’s book, The Myth of American Idealism: How US Foreign Policy Endangers the World.
- After the Soviet invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in 1979, the Carter Administration, under the leadership of his national security advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, gave military aid to the Afghani opposition forces to, in the words of Brzezinski – The day that the Soviets officially crossed the border, I wrote to President Carter. “We now have the opportunity of giving the USSR its Vietnam War. Indeed, for almost 10 years, Moscow had to carry on a war unsupportable by the government, a conflict that brought about the demoralization and finally the breakup of the Soviet Empire. Brzezinski failed to mention that the Afghani’s they were providing over $1 billion in military aid were the Mujahideen, Islamic fundamentalists that included Osama bin Laden, then later morphed into the Taliban.
- In the last few years of the Carter Administration, he continued providing military aid, training and weapons to the Guatemalan military dictatorship and the Salvadoran military dictatorship. In February of 1980, Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero sent Carter a letter demanding that the US government stop sending weapons to El Salvador, but they would welcome humanitarian aid. In Noam Chomsky and Ed Herman’s book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, the co-authors write: “The Carter Administration had been so disturbed by Romero’s opposition to its policies that it had secretly lobbied the pope to curb the archbishop.” Romero was assassinated one month later while saying mass in San Salvador. The assassins were trained at the US Army School of the Americans, located at Fort Benning in Georgia.
- The Carter Administration maintained massive US military aid to Israel, despite the ongoing Israeli occupation and apartheid policies against the Palestinians.
- The Carter Administration also defended and financed the hundreds of US military bases around the world, along with a massive annual US military budget. President Carter also maintain nuclear weapons superiority during his presidency, even introducing a new group of nuclear weapons.
A great deal more could be said about how President Carter perpetuated US Imperialism abroad, which always translated into lack of funds for adequate housing, health care, education and other basic necessities that all people living in the US should benefit from.
For more critical analysis of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, see the following articles:
https://jacobin.com/series/jimmy-carter-obituary
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/12/30/jimmy-carter-the-false-savoir/
https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/jimmy-carter-worsened-the-american-malaise-he-decried/
On Friday, MLive posted an article with the headline, Grand Rapids’ first female mayor leaves after 9 years marked by ‘remarkable’ growth.
The article primarily celebrates the outgoing mayor, whom the journalist credits with bringing tremendous growth to Grand Rapids. In addition to celebrating Mayor Bliss, the MLive article only cites three sources, City Manager Mark Washington, Josh Lunger from the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, and Kent County Commissioner Robert Womack. Not surprising, each of these sources praised Bliss, which means there is no critical assessment of what has happened during the two term tenure of the outgoing Mayor.
There was some reflection in the MLive piece, which stated:
Bliss’ tenure as head of the city hasn’t been without its challenges. In 2020, Grand Rapids made national headlines due to social justice riots that destroyed businesses downtown. Police relations hit an all-time low in 2022 after the killing of a Black man by a Grand Rapids cop. Meanwhile, the city continues to struggle with homelessness and housing affordability.
Despite these issues, there is no investigation nor sources that could have challenged the narrative that the City of Grand Rapids has seen “remarkable’ growth.” Don’t get me wrong, I agree that there has been a great deal of growth in Grand Rapids, especially growth that has been beneficial to the business class. What the MLive writer fails to question is……for whom has the City’s growth been remarkable for?
In July, GRIID posted an article talking about the economy and how many people are living paycheck to paycheck. I cited data from ALICE, which stands for Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed. According to an ALICE report for 2023, 41% of Michigan households live paycheck to paycheck, but that number goes up to 47% for Grand Rapids households. This means that nearly half of the households in Grand Rapids are living paycheck to paycheck! This doesn’t sound like remarkable growth to me.
Since MLive, and the local news in general, won’t provide the public with a more honest assessment of Mayor’ legacy, I will provide some concrete examples of how Mayor Bliss has failed to embrace justice, has supported repression, and enabled remarkable growth of the wealth gap in Grand Rapids.
- In early February of 2016, some members of the group Healing Children of Conflict met with Mayor Bliss to see if she would endorse a City effort to divest from companies profiting from the Israeli occupation and Israeli Apartheid. The campaign began in October of 2015. Mayor Bliss refused to support such an effort.
- In March of 2016, GVSU students, who were supporting the bus union campaign for a new contract, were being targeted by the GRPD and Mayor Bliss supported this.
- In late March of 2016, the United Farm Workers sent a letter to Mayor Bliss condemning her participation in the annual Cesar Chavez march, but not supporting bus union workers and allowing the cops to harass GVSU students.
- In April of 2017, GRPD officers pulled guns on several Black youth because they “fit a description.”
- On May 1st, 2017, Movimiento Cosecha held a march on May Day, with clear demands from political leaders. Mayor Bliss did not participate but the GRPD showed up to threaten and harass the 2,000 who marched.
- In May of 2017, 100 Black men came to a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting calling for a state of emergency regarding systemic racism in Grand Rapids. No action was taken by the City.
- In October of 2017, Movimiento Cosecha took part in a solidarity action with the bus driver’s union to demand a new and fair contract during a City Commission meeting. They were ignored by Bliss and the City Commissioners.
- In December of 2017, an 11 year old Black girl was handcuffed and detained by the GRPD.
- In May of 2018, Movimiento Cosecha once again had a large march from Roosevelt Park to downtown Grand Rapids. Again, Mayor Bliss did not participate and the GRPD had a massive show of force that again tried to dictate the direction of the march route.
- In late 2018, a GRPD cop who was off duty, saw a story on TV about a man – Jilmar Romos Gomez, who was suffering PTSD and started a fire at Spectrum Health. The GRPD cop called ICE and said that this man was an undocumented immigrant, when he fact he was a former Marine. Under Mayor Bliss’s leadership Captain VanderKooi was never held accountable for this incident over a two year period.
- In February of 2019, immigrant justice activists disrupted the Grand Rapids City Commission meeting, because Mayor Bliss would not allow the same amount of time to community members that the Chief of Police was given to defend Captain VanderKooi.
- In March of 2019, a coalition of groups held a press conference with a list of demands around the GRPD and the lack of accountability regarding their actions against Black and Latinx communities.
- May 2019 march by Cosecha, was once again not attended by Mayor Bliss, plus the GRPD were now threatening people if they marched in the streets.
- GRIID obtained FOIA documents regarding the GRPD’s monitoring, spying, harassment and intimidation leading up to the 2019 May Day march.
- In May of 2020, Grand Rapids also had a George Floyd protest that erupted with thousands of people in the streets and the response from the GRPD was repressive. Mayor Bliss called for a State of Emergency, brought in the Michigan National Guard and instituted a curfew for downtown Grand Rapids. There was an effort to Defund the GRPD in late June/early July, which the Mayor derailed and numerous other repressive tactics used by the GRPD to target activists. You can check out our visual timeline of all this.
- In July of 2020, Defund the GRPD protested in front of the home of Mayor Bliss. (Pictured here below) She was not there, as she primarilY stays with her partner in Caledonia, which was verified by several of her neighbors who came out to talk with those protesting.
- In November of 2020, the community organized a campaign to defeat the GRPD from obtaining Shot Spotter technology. Mayor Bliss voted for it.
- In late December of 2020, Mayor Bliss gave the GRPD the green light to evict unhoused people who set up an encampment at Heartside Park.
- In April of 2021, the City of Grand Rapids sent out a Press Release saying that anyone protesting the outcome of the Derek Chauvin trial would be arrested.
- In May, the group Defund the GRPD was organizing to pressure the City of Grand Rapids to not only reduce funding for the GRPD, but to allow more public input on how public money would be used in the City Budget for 2022. In early May, the City held a one hour virtual town hall meeting on the 2022 Budget, which was an insult to those who have been organizing around how public money would be used. Defund the GRPD had posted their own demands on what they wanted to see happen with the funds, as well as the process for determining the 2022 City Budget. Defund the GRPD also organized people to call in during the City Commission meeting later in May, right before they voted on the 2022 Budget.
- Throughout much of 2021, the group Justice for Black Lives were targeted for demanding Police accountability in Grand Rapids.
- In November, at a protest following a not guilty verdict for Kyle Rittenhouse, several JFBL activists were arrested again, after the protest had finished. Once again, JFBL held a press conference to respond to the arrests and to counter the claims made by the GRPD.
- On April 4, 2022, the GRPD shot and killed Patrick Lyoya in the back of the head, execution style. Mayor Bliss has done nothing to further justice for the family of Patrick Lyoya, but has repeatedly allowed the GRPD to target activists who are demanding justice.
- In late December 2022, the Chamber of Commerce wanted to impose ordinances that would essentially criminalize the unhoused. During the last Grand Rapids City Commission meeting for 2022, Mayo Bliss and the other commissioners refused to denounce the Chamber’s proposal.
- Throughout 2023, Mayor Bliss fully supported the GRPD’s desire to purchase and use drones, plus she fully endorsed the Grand Rapids ordinances that has criminalized the unhoused in this city.
- After the brutal Israeli assault in Gaza, GR residents tried to get the City of Grand Rapids to pass a resolution demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and to call on members of Congress from Michigan to not use federal tax money that does to Israel but to use those funds to benefit our community. Mayor Bliss and the other commissioners said calling for a resolution is not what they do.
- Since last year, the GRPD has targeting more dissident groups and calling un-permitted marches illegal. When the Comrades Collective joined Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids for a march that began at MLK Park, then went to Rep. Scholten’s home, the GRPD showed up in big numbers and ticketed the safety car driver. Safety cars have been used in recent years during marches as a means of protecting those marching from motorists that want to ram into people who are in the streets, just like what happened in Charlottesville in 2017.
- In April of 2024, during a march for Patrick Lyoya, which took places 2 days after the second anniversary of his murder on April 6th, the GRPD arrested the safety car person and then impounded their car. Patrick Lyoya’s parents were present during the march and were shocked at how people were treated by the GRPD.
- A few weeks after the GRPD shut down a non-violent march on the 2nd anniversary of Patrick Lyoya’s death, two BIPOC activists then received calls from the GRPD to turn themselves in, since one was being charged with a misdemeanor and the other a misdemeanor and a felony.
- During the Primary Election of 2024, Mayor Bliss was part of the group that was pushing for the Hotel Tax increase in Kent County, which would direct more money to projects like the Amphitheater and Soccer Stadium. Bliss helped to raise nearly half a million dollars for the Destination Kent Committee, the group that was behind the Hotel Tax increase ballot initiative.
- Over the past few years, Mayor Bliss has also voted for the use of over $1 billion of public money to finance development projects that will expand the wealth of those who are already filthy rich. Here are four projects Mayor Bliss has signed off on: At least $100 million in public money for the Amphitheater; $318 Million for the 2 apartment buildings that will be next to the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium; $100 million for Soccer Stadium; and $565 million in tax incentives/subsidies for the DeVos/Van Andel 3 towers project on Fulton and Market.
This is just a partial list of the ways in which Mayor Bliss has opposed efforts to promote justice, especially efforts that were led by BIPOC organizers. The legacy of Mayor Bliss is fundamentally rooted in servitude to the Grand Rapids Power Structure and in opposition to movements demanding social justice amidst systemic racism in Grand Rapids, the ongoing housing crisis and the lack of accountability with the GRPD.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of December 29th
It has been more than 14 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. We will also provide information on local events and actions that people can get involved in. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
The World Owes Palestine This Much – Please Stop Censoring Palestinian Voices
Three Declarations of Genocide and the U.S. Responses
Palestinians Endure Another Christmas of Genocide and Displacement
As Palestinians Starve and Freeze, Israeli Troops Unwind at Gaza ‘Beachfront Resort’
Israeli Raid Puts Last Hospital in Besieged Northern Gaza Out of Service
Analysis & History
How research at MIT abets Israel’s genocide in Gaza
A Palestinian year in review: Genocide, resistance and unanswered questions
The BDS Movement calls for a Boycott Chevron weekend of Action January 31-February 2
Images used in this post is from the Boycott Chevron Campaign. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1SkZIN6DcU-GTLw03aQrfJpe01CWgHIMY?usp=drive_link
On December 19th, Bridge Michigan posted an article with the headline, Michigan House kills hundreds of bills.
The article provided a pretty good summary of all of the proposed bills that never got voted on, in part because state lawmakers either didn’t show up to vote on them or because of partisan bickering.
Screenshot
However, the list of bills that Bridge Michigan cited were primarily mild reformist bills that only tweaked issues that need a more robust response to unjust and oppressive realities. For example, one bill that did pass in the Lame Duck period was legislation that would protect Michigan consumers from price gouging during emergencies. Sure, this is a good thing, but it doesn’t address larger issues of corporate regulation or the fact that most Michiganders don’t make a Living Wage.
What didn’t happen with a Democratic Party trifecta in Michigan
In the 2022 elections, Michigan Democrats won a majority in both the State House and State Senate. Since the Democrats already had control of the Governor’s office, this gave them what is often referred to as a trifecta in party politics.
There was a great deal of excitement when the Democratic trifecta happened two years ago, and along with that excitement came many promises and expectations about what would happen. I wrote a three part piece in November of 2022, entitled, What Kind of Change Do We really want to see in Michigan: Part I, Part II and Part III.
In each of those articles I addressed more structural changes that were needed, changes that could transform lives and get us closer to the kind of world – or at least state – we wanted to live in. What follows is a summary of those three articles and how the Democratic trifecta failed us in so many ways.
Driver’s Licenses for undocumented immigrants – So many Democratic Party lawmakers, including Gov. Whitmer, had promised the immigrant community that they would pass the Drive SAFE bills, which would once again allow undocumented immigrants the ability to obtain a driver’s license. Not only would driver’s licenses improving the quality of life for undocumented immigrants, it would reduce the possibility of ICE detaining or deporting family members. Movimiento Cosecha has been working on this issue for the past 7 years and in the end, the Democrats failed them by not even having a quorum last week to vote on the bills.
Increasing the minimum wage to a Living Wage – The minimum wage in Michigan is a joke, at $10.33 an hour. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, people in Michigan need to make roughly $25 an hour in order to afford the average cost of rent in the state. However, $25 an hour doesn’t cover other expenses like food, transportation, health care, etc. Sure, it was nice to see the Dems repeal the Right to Work law in early 2023, but that should only have been the first step in the fight to improve the economic conditions of working class families and individuals.
Housing Justice – There is a housing crisis all over the US and in Michigan. The cost of housing is out of reach for more than half the population and the cost of rent is ridiculously too high. The Democratic Party did not deliver on most of the bills that the Rent is Too Damn High coalition presented over the past 15 months. Plus the issue of banning the current Michigan law, which doesn’t allow for rent control was never even really considered.
Environmental Justice – Gov. Whitmer made it a promise when she took office in 2018 to shut down the Enbridge oil pipeline, known as Line 5. With the Democrats in control of the State Legislature, they could have made that a priority, but didn’t. In fact, Enbridge is still moving forward with plans to build a tunnel under Lake Michigan for Line 5. In addition, there are new mining projects in the UP, projects that would not only contaminate the water and the soil, these projects are in violation of Indigenous Rights and Indigenous sovereignty.
Transportation Justice – Michigan Democrats decided to take the easy way out and push for electric cars, when they could have given the the billions of taxpayer subsidies that went to EV production and the auto industry, and instead us that money to develop mass transit systems. Electric cars are an improvement over fossil fuel cars, but they don’t address other longterm and structural issues, like parking, traffic congestion and land use.
The Prison Industrial Complex – Policing and mass incarceration have been issues that are front and center, especially for BIPOC communities in recent years. Michigan’s Democrats have not fundamentally altered funding for police departments, in fact they have increased funding. In addition, the Prison Industrial Complex – policing, the courts and the jail/prison infrastructure – has not been addressed, despite the fact that violent crime has been on the decline for several years.
Education Justice – Funding for public education is still deeply inadequate in Michigan. Parents, students and education advocates across the state are left angry and dismayed as Michigan legislators fast-tracked tax breaks for corporations rather than prioritize our families and schools. Critical bills, including teaching accurate and inclusive history, continuing to aid debt relief in Detroit, updating outdated sex education, paid family leave, a supplemental for Bridgeman schools, and closing tax loopholes among many other important issues for Michigan families were derailed by the Governor, Speaker Tate, Senate Leader Brinks and Representative Karen Whitsett.
While these are only some of the issues that the Democratic Party failed us on, we need to think hard about how we can create mass movements that will get us what we want and want we need. We also need to address the fact that when Democrats have a majority in local, state and federal government systems, it doesn’t translate into structural changes that are necessary to improve the lives of communities across Michigan. Another World is indeed possible, but only if we don’t rely on political parties. We have to create the world we want from the ground up.
Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker determined that the GRPD was justified in shooting an unarmed Black man 7 times
On Friday, all four of the daily news agencies in Grand Rapids ran stories about a Press Conference held by Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, where Becker announced that the GRPD cops ,who shot a killed a man who was clearly struggling with mental health issues, were justified in using deadly force.
According to MLive, during the Press Conference, Becker stated:
“In reviewing the in-car video of (the first officer on scene), it would appear to any reasonable person that Mr. Wymer had a gun. … The lighter he held closely resembled a gun; it would be virtually impossible for any person to think it was a lighter when viewing it at night, from a distance, and in the way Mr. Wymer was using it. Every police officer, EMS workers, and civilian who saw Mr. Wymer that night clearly believed he had a gun.”
In the WOODTV8 coverage, Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker further explained his decision in finding the GRPD cops justified in what they did, saying:
“People have a right to use deadly force in the defense of others,” Becker said. “It doesn’t matter that the people who actually were maybe in the danger — as the person perceived it — didn’t fire. You still have a right to use immediately deadly force when you perceive that it may be necessary to protect the lives of others, and that’s what these three officers were doing. They thought their fellow officer (was) in danger. …. One of the officers said, ‘He’s pointing the gun at me.’ And so they reacted at that point in time.”
I highlighted some of the rhetoric from Chris Becker in this statements, mostly to point out the absurdity of his claims. He uses terms like “reasonable person” and “virtually impossible” as if they were absolutes, when in fact there was nothing absolutely about this situation. The GRPD was primarily interested in protecting themselves and demonstrated zero concern for the man they shot seven times.
The Kent County Prosecutor was also quoted at the end of the MLive story, making an absurd comment, which was unquestioned by the reporter:
Becker said that events unfolded so quickly that it would have been difficult to de-escalate. Grand Rapids police work with social workers to help those having a mental-health crisis but “social workers aren’t trained to go in harm’s way like a police officer does,” he said.
Chris Becker wants us all to believe that there was no opportunity for de-escalation in this instance, but that is just plain false. The cops could have decided to stand down and allowed time for mental health workers to arrive, especially since the man they shot and killed a a history of with mental health issues. The cops could have stayed behind their cars if they feared for their life, but according to Becker there just wasn’t enough time. This is bullshit, since time was the most important aspect of this situation.
To their credit, both WXMI 17 and WOODTV8 did contact a family member of the man that was killed by the GRPD, allowing them an opportunity to respond. In the WXMI 17 coverage, a sister stated:
“I was very disappointed that it turned out he [Hank Wymer] did not have a gun and that it was a cigarette lighter and for them to say that it looked enough like a handgun to shoot him seven times,” Naomi said. “That just seems crazy to me.
“I think this has left us with a lot more questions, particularly the hospital that he was released from that day. [Hank] told them that he was going to commit suicide by cop, so why was he released?
Naomi would go on to say, “I would like to seek some legal action and fight this because it doesn’t seem right to me.”
“I didn’t expect [the officers who shot Mr. Wymer] would go to jail, but I thought there would be some kind of repercussion for killing a man who didn’t have a weapon.”
In the WOODTV8 story, the same sister said, “I think based on the phone calls of what he was doing, pacing around and waving a gun-like object, made it clear that he was in a mental health crisis.So it is really strange to me that they didn’t send some kind of mental health crisis team, that they didn’t ask him any questions, that they literally said drop it over and over when he said “shoot me.”
It is clear to this writer that the GRPD does not keep people safe, especially BIPOC people and other marginalized communities, along with those that are struggling with mental health issues. The GRPD’s first impulse was to protect themselves and to ignore someone that was clearly in distress.
So what do we do and how can we organize in such a way as to provide community care, especially during a crisis? First, we need to do no harm in these situations and stop calling the cops. The group Interrupting Criminalization has a great list of for Health Care providers in a document titled, Beyond Do No Harm. Principle #5 says, Stop calling police on people with unmet mental health or medical needs.
In addition, Interrupting Criminalization has an excellent document called, A Checklist for Assessing Mental Health Response Models. This checklist provides important and robust questions about what we in community need to think about regarding response for those having a mental health crisis and why it is important to not do this work with the GRPD or any other cops.
To people who have not bought into the copaganda, this situation could clearly have been dealt with differently, especially if mental health workers were involved. However, the Kent County Prosecutor demonstrated his loyalty to the carceral state, by protecting the cops who killed an unarmed man. As long as the City of Grand Rapids continues to provide massive budget amounts to the cops instead of investing in care, this scenario will be repeated over and over again. The system once again demonstrates that blue lives do matter more than Black Lives.
Palestine Solidarity Information, Analysis, Local Actions and Events for the week of December 22nd
It has been more than 14 months since the Israeli government began their most recent assault on Gaza and the West Bank. The retaliation for the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel, has escalated to what the international community has called genocide, therefore, GRIID will be providing weekly links to information and analysis that we think can better inform us of what is happening, along with the role that the US government is playing. We will also provide information on local events and actions that people can get involved in. All of this information is to provide people with the capacity of what Noam Chomsky refers to as, intellectual self-defense.
Information
Report: Israel “Systematically” Uses Palestinian Children as Human Shields
I resigned from CNN over its pro-Israel bias
Netanyahu Moves to Expand Illegal Israeli Settlements in Syrian Golan Heights
U.S. DEFIED SPANISH EMBARGO ON ARMS BOUND OF ISRAEL BY MAKING ENFORCEMENT MORE DIFFICULT
What We Talk About When We Don’t Talk About Genocide
Palestinian Authority proves loyalty to US, Israel by attacking Jenin
EPA STAFFERS DEMAND BIDEN RELEASE CLIMATE FUNDS WITHHELD OVER GAZA
Anti-Genocide Activists Target Israeli Drone Manufacturer in Brooklyn
Israel To Annex The West Bank – Why Now? And What Are The Likely Scenarios?
Analysis & History
Archiving As Resistance To Genocide Denial In Gaza
Images used in this post is from the Powering Injustice Report.
Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters also voted for the $895 billion US military budget while millions living in the US are barely surviving
On Wednesday of this week, Michigan Senators Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters voted to approve the largest US military budget in history at $895 billion.
The vote passed in the US Senate with very little resistance, with 85 voting for the National Defense Authorization Act and only 14 voting against.
As I noted earlier this week when the US House passed the proposed $895 billion US military budget, there were two other provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act. One of those provisions, according to a recent article on The Intercepted, “would bar the Pentagon from publicly citing as “authoritative” casualty data from the Gaza Health Ministry, effectively concealing the full extent of the death toll in Gaza in the military’s public communications. The data from Palestinian authorities has been the only consistent and reliable count of the death toll out of Gaza over the last 14 months, with Israel consistently denying human rights workers access to the enclave and preventing foreign media journalists from entering.” This fits with Rep. Scholten’s unconditional support for Israel, especially in the past 14 months while Israel has been committing a genocide against the Palestinians.
A second provision would prohibit transgender children on military health insurance from receiving gender-affirming care. This provision was included by the Republican Party, which would codify explicitly anti-LGBTQ+ policy into federal law for the first time in decades.
The votes from Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters come as no surprise, since both of them have consistently voted for every US Military budget, regardless of who is in the White House. This vote by Senator Stabenow is likely to be one of her last voted in her long political career. Besides always voting for massive US military budgets, Stabenow has consistently supported US weapons sales abroad, even to countries like Saudi Arabia, which has a horrendous human rights record. According to the website boughtbyzionism.org, both Senator’s Stabenow and Peters have received significant funding from Pro-Israel groups, which has translated to their unconditional support for Israel, even while Israel is committing genocide.
Senator Gary Peters did post something on his website about the $895 billion US military budget, which you can find here. Senator Peters loves to brag about things like making sure that US military facilities in Michigan receiving funds from the National Defense Authorization Act, along with bragging about how Military contractors are being supported, which is really just a form of corporate welfare for weapons manufacturers. What Senator Peters fails to mention in his Press Release are the two provisions cited above, preventing the Pentagon from citing Palestinian deaths or casualties, and prohibiting transgender children on military health insurance from receiving gender-affirming care.
The National Defense Authorization Act is going to President Biden’s desk to be signed and there is no indication that he will veto it. Just one more example of how Michigan Senators Stabenow and Peters have always supported military funding over the meeting the basic needs of millions throughout the country.
“A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
On the last possible day to pass the Drive Safe bills in Michigan, the State House did not even have a quorum
Since 2017, when Movimiento Cosecha Michigan was born, the undocumented immigrant-led movement has been fighting for driver’s licenses. I have been fortunate to have been a part of much of this sever year fight for justice.
Over the years Movimiento Cosecha has engaged in mass marches on May 1st, held sit-ins at Kent County Commission meetings, offices of various state politicians and at several Secretary of State locations in the Grand Rapids area.
In 2018, Movimiento Cosecha organized a week-long pilgrimage from Grand Rapids to Lansing. There have been numerous fundraisers, actions to demand that local municipalities pass resolutions and send letters to State Legislators to pass bills to allow the undocumented community to obtain a driver’s licenses.
I have witnessed the complete and utter dedication from members of Movimiento Cosecha when dealing with fatigue, anti-immigrant hatred, constant police harassment, intimidation and surveillance. Yet, it the midst of all of this, Movimiento Cosecha has remained faithful to the wishes of the immigrant community’s desire to drive without fear and win driver’s licenses.
Yesterday, a small group of Cosecha Michigan members, along with a few allies, ended their hunger strike, an action they had been engaged in for about a week in the hopes of pressuring Michigan State Legislators to pass the Drive SAFE bills.
Cosecha Michigan members showed up once again outside of the State House Chambers to bear witness, to talk with State Representatives and to demand that during the Lame Duck session that State Legislators pass the Drive SAFE bills. After nearly three hours, the State House adjourned because they didn’t have enough State Representatives for even a quorum to be able to vote.
As I said, I have worked with Movimiento Cosecha Michigan since 2017, but on this day, when the State House could not even get enough of their members to show up to vote, I saw disappointment, disbelief and disgust in the faces of the Cosecha Michigan members.
Do those elected officials who didn’t bother to do their job and show up to vote for such a critical set of bills even understand how the lives of undocumented immigrants would be vastly improved because they would have a driver’s license? Do they know that without driver’s licenses that undocumented immigrants live in constant fear of being stopped by police, which will then contact ICE and have them arrested, detained and possibly deported?
And just to be clear, both Republicans and Democrats were not showing up to vote on the Drive SAFE bills. I saw the disgust, disappointment and disbelief on the faces of the Cosecha Michigan members, because despite all of the promises from State Legislators and from Governor Whitmer’s office that they would pass the Drive SAFE bills after they won the trifecta during the 2022 election, they failed to make that promise a reality.
Lastly, here is a video message from Cosecha Michigan members after the State House closed their session without a quorum.
There is no sense of urgency from MLive over the most recent Enbridge oil disaster in the western part of the Great Lakes
On Tuesday, MLive posted an article with the headline, Enbridge oil pipeline spills nearly 70,000 gallons in Wisconsin.
The article states:
The 465-mile pipeline ruptured underground near Cambridge, a village 18 miles east of Madison. Line 6 is part of Enbridge’s Lakehead system. The 34-inch line moves 667,000 barrels-per-day between terminals in Superior, Wis., and Griffith, Ind.
Most of the rest of the article talks about other oil spills in Wisconsin, then shifts to talking about a pipeline that is being re-routed because of a battle with an Indigenous tribe, with the article ending by talking about Line 5 in Michigan.
There was also some mention of the Enbridge oil catastrophe over ten years ago that resulted in some 843,000 gallons of crude oil contaminating the Kalamazoo River in Michigan. GRIID monitored the news coverage of MLive when the 2010 Enbridge oil catastrophe happened in the Kalamazoo River. At the time, I wrote: After wading through the 32 stories it was clear that the bulk of the coverage on MLive was about the “leak,” political responses from Michigan, the “clean up,” and reactions from those who live on or near the river where the oil has been detected.
In August of 2010, MLive decided to run an interview with the CEO of Enbridge, which was nothing more than a fluff piece. This article was followed by a piece in October entitled, Enbridge gives tour to show most of the oil from Kalamazoo River spill has now been cleaned up.” GRIID also critiqued that article, where I wrote:
Sure the article mentions EPA requirements for the clean up, but no one from the EPA was interviewed for the story in terms of how the clean up is going. The Press writer did not speak to any of the local residents, local biologists or environmental groups as to their assessment of the short-term impact of the Enbridge caused oil spill. Instead they just took the word of the company that caused the disaster in the first place.
In the MLive article from Tuesday about the 69,000-gallon spill in Wisconsin, the only two people cited in the article was an Enbridge spokesperson, followed by someone from the Midwest Environmental Advocates.
Besides the problem of providing space to Enbridge to make claims without questioning them, the MLive article doesn’t provide a larger context for this most recent spill, such as how many oil spills/disasters Enbridge has had in its history. I looked on the Enbridge website, which does not provide this information and the most recent source I found was from the source linked here, which also include this chart on the right. According to the chart, Enbridge has had 1,276 different spills in the US and Canada between 1996 and 2014.
This is the kind of information that journalists need to provide the public whenever a new oil spill occurs, which it most certainly will. If the data that is provided in the 350.org report linked just above is accurate, then over an 18 year period Enbridge averaged 70.8 oil spills a year from 1996 to 2014. Context is vitally important and can provide the public with a greater sense of urgency around whether or not they want Enbridge pipeline running through the largest body of fresh water on the planet, the Great Lakes.
Earlier today, it was announced that the Amway families of Van Andel and DeVos will be the owners of the new soccer team that will play in the soon to be constructed soccer stadium.
MLive reported that the Van Andel and DeVos families will own the MLS NEXT Pro soccer team. The brief article features comments from Dan DeVos and David Van Andel, with some content that is recycled from previous posts.
The Crain’s Grand Rapids article was much more substantial, although it also had quotes from the billionaire Amway families. The content that was included in the Crain’s article provided more detail on the ownership structure, stating:
David Van Andel and his family will hold primary ownership of the club, with roles planned for his four sons: Jesse, Aaron, Kyle, and Christian Van Andel. Dan DeVos and his family will hold a minority stake, with his son, Cole DeVos, playing a key leadership role.
What is significantly different about the Crain’s piece and the MLive article was that Crain’s provided some context on the amount of sports teams the Amway families own.
The new soccer team will join the Grand Rapids Rise women’s volleyball team, which DeVos’ DP Fox Ventures launched in December 2022 and played its first season this year, as the region’s most recent professional sports team addition.
DeVos also serves as chairman of RDV Sports, which owns the NBA’s Orlando Magic, the NBA G League’s Lakeland Magic and the Orlando Solar Bears minor league hockey team.
DP Fox will assist with the process of forming the team, but the club will eventually need its own group to manage its operations in the future, according to the founders.
The rest of the coverage is fairly standard, with GR Mayor Bliss expressing their excitement about the new soccer team, along with more quotes from the Amway billionaire families.
What this means for Grand Rapids
First, as GRIID has been stating all along, especially when it was announced that Dan DeVos had purchased the Big Boy restaurant property in 2022, we all should have known that that the Amway families would own the soccer team.
Second, it means that when the billionaire families of DeVos and Van Andel want something done in Grand Rapids, they pretty much get to do whatever they want. Grand Action 2.0 was founded by the DeVos and Van Andel families, with the specific goal of getting the City, County and State governments to spend over a billion dollars of public money to build the Van Andel Arena, the Convention Center, the Downtown Market, the Amphitheater and now the Soccer Stadium. This also includes the apartment complexes that will be adjacent to the Amphitheater and the Soccer stadium with hundreds of millions in public funding and the new “3 towers project” on Fulton and Market, with at least $565 million in tax incentives.
Third, of course the ultimate goal of the DeVos and Van Andel families is to expand their wealth. By owning another sports team, they will get to hold the City and County hostage in the future, when the time comes to expand the soccer stadium or use more land for parking, etc. The DeVos family owns most of the hotels in downtown GR, so when people come to watch a game and don’t want to drive home, or because they are from out of town, the chances are high that they will stay in a DeVos-owned hotel.
Fourth, In Dave Zirin’s book, Bad Sports: How Owners Are Ruining the Games We Love, he discusses how wealthy sports team owners are constantly manipulating municipal governments and city residents to get them to provide massive subsidies for the construction of sports venues, like arena’s and stadiums. Zirin mentions how the DeVos family squeezed taxpayers in Orlando, when they wanted a new arena for their Orlando Magic basketball team. Zirin writes: “And he’s (DeVos) is getting $1 billion in taxpayers’ money to build the arena. That sends a bad message. Indeed. At its core, the DeVos model could be characterized as theft of public funds that turns teams and arenas into slush funds for radical right politics.”
Fifth, with the Amphitheater and the Soccer Stadium construction projects will come a parking nightmare for those who live on the near westside of Grand Rapids. In addition, all of this construction between Fulton on the south and Bridge St. on the north, will likely result in an ongoing gentrification of the near westside. Low income and working class families will not be tolerated, since they have little to offer to the billionaire families and their network of other members of the Capitalist Class.
Sixth, all of this new development, which is primarily predicated on the expansion of wealth for the DeVos, Van Andel and other members of the Capitalist Class will also result in further justification of expanding the GRPD. People with deep pockets will always use cops to protect their wealth, which is what the GR Chamber was arguing with their push to get the city to deal with the “unhoused problem” in downtown GR in 2022. In addition, the GRPD also recognizes that more development where people are coming in large numbers to spend money will result in the “need” for more cops. GRIID reported on a WOODTV8 story where a GRPD Captain stated: “We want to expand our numbers in the next couple years quite a bit. So I would say in the next couple of years — without speaking for the city commission, they’d have to approve it — but we would like to be in that 330 or 340 range. There’s a lot going on downtown with the amphitheater coming in, the soccer stadium. There’s excitement with the river transformation. There is a lot of great restaurants and nightlife down here.”
A great deal more could be said about the announcement that the Van Andel and DeVos families will own the professional soccer team, but the six reasons I provided are plenty to chew upon for now. What the DeVos and Van Andel families are doing with owning sports teams is also comparable to the bread & circuses environment that was crafted during the Roman Empire. Distract the public with entertainment long enough and they will forget about how they are being constantly robbed by those who run this city. Just another example of West Michigan Nice!
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 