Peace and Justice Center of Nevada County

Upcoming Events

Dec
26
Thu
5:30 pm YHRC Kit Packing Parties (weekly)
YHRC Kit Packing Parties (weekly)
Dec 26 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Every week Yuba Harm Reduction Collective hosts a kit packing party to supply the week’s need of kits of testing strips, narcan, smokables, and all other harm reduction supplies needed. These parties last from 5:30-7:30[...]
Dec
31
Tue
11:00 am Weekly Climate Demonstration
Weekly Climate Demonstration
Dec 31 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Weekly climate demonstrations take place in Grass Valley every Tuesday from 11am-12pm. The demonstrations are hosted by volunteers from Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and Elders Climate Action and collect signatures for a petition for Grass[...]
4:30 pm Full Circle Demonstration Garden...
Full Circle Demonstration Garden...
Dec 31 @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
The Full Circle Demonstration Garden next to the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility at the Nevada County Government Center has weekly garden work days on Tuesdays at 4:30pm. New volunteers are also welcome, and there is[...]
Jan
2
Thu
5:30 pm YHRC Kit Packing Parties (weekly)
YHRC Kit Packing Parties (weekly)
Jan 2 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Every week Yuba Harm Reduction Collective hosts a kit packing party to supply the week’s need of kits of testing strips, narcan, smokables, and all other harm reduction supplies needed. These parties last from 5:30-7:30[...]
Jan
3
Fri
6:30 pm Nevada County Mutual Aid Monthly...
Nevada County Mutual Aid Monthly...
Jan 3 @ 6:30 pm
Every month on the first Friday of each month at 6:30pm at the Madelyn Helling Library community room Nevada County Mutual Aid hosts its monthly community meeting. These meetings discuss projects for the future, recaps[...]
Jan
7
Tue
11:00 am Weekly Climate Demonstration
Weekly Climate Demonstration
Jan 7 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Weekly climate demonstrations take place in Grass Valley every Tuesday from 11am-12pm. The demonstrations are hosted by volunteers from Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and Elders Climate Action and collect signatures for a petition for Grass[...]
4:30 pm Full Circle Demonstration Garden...
Full Circle Demonstration Garden...
Jan 7 @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
The Full Circle Demonstration Garden next to the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility at the Nevada County Government Center has weekly garden work days on Tuesdays at 4:30pm. New volunteers are also welcome, and there is[...]
Jan
9
Thu
5:30 pm YHRC Kit Packing Parties (weekly)
YHRC Kit Packing Parties (weekly)
Jan 9 @ 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Every week Yuba Harm Reduction Collective hosts a kit packing party to supply the week’s need of kits of testing strips, narcan, smokables, and all other harm reduction supplies needed. These parties last from 5:30-7:30[...]
Jan
14
Tue
11:00 am Weekly Climate Demonstration
Weekly Climate Demonstration
Jan 14 @ 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Weekly climate demonstrations take place in Grass Valley every Tuesday from 11am-12pm. The demonstrations are hosted by volunteers from Sunrise Movement, Extinction Rebellion, and Elders Climate Action and collect signatures for a petition for Grass[...]
4:30 pm Full Circle Demonstration Garden...
Full Circle Demonstration Garden...
Jan 14 @ 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm
The Full Circle Demonstration Garden next to the Wayne Brown Correctional Facility at the Nevada County Government Center has weekly garden work days on Tuesdays at 4:30pm. New volunteers are also welcome, and there is[...]

No upcoming events

ADDRESSING ISRAELI GAZA MESSAGING

ADDRESSING THE ISRAELI AND AMERICAN MESSAGING ON GAZA GENOCIDE

Israel’s war on Gaza is a response to Hamas’ October 7 atrocities.

Israel’s Intelligence Ministry constructed a plan to eliminate or ethnically cleanse all Palestinians from Gaza.  That’s the real goal.  10-7 created the opportunity to do it.  Conferences are already being held to discuss re-occupation of Gaza by Jewish settlers.  Ethnic cleansing would facilitate the annexation of Gaza and a Jewish majority.

Expel all Palestinians from Gaza, recommends Israel government ministry
Israeli settlers cross into Gaza, build ‘symbolic’ outpost
Turning Zeitoun into Shivat Zion: Israeli summit envisions Gaza resettlement

Israel’s objectives in the war are to free the hostages and to dismantle Hamas

Hostages concern the Israeli people, but to the government they are expendable.  On 10-7 the IDF enacted their “Hannibal Directive” which says prevent hostage-taking by killing them yourself.  This doesn’t excuse the war crime of hostage taking, but it’s estimated that hundreds of civilian captives died from IDF helicopter and tank fire on 10-7.  65 hostages in Gaza have been killed by Israeli bombing.  Israel also holds 3000 Palestinian administrative detainees hostage, many women and children.  All hostages from both sides should be freed immediately.

Released hostages slam Israel, say, they feared ‘airstrikes would kill us’
“Bring them back”: Freed Israeli Hostages Plead with Netanyahu for Deal
What is the Hannibal Directive and how Israel uses it.
How Israel’s bombing frenzy endangered hostages
IDF Kills 3 Shirtless Israeli Hostages Waving White Flag; Calling for Help in Hebrew 

What Israelis won’t be asking about the Palestinians released for hostages
What Palestinian children face in Israeli prisons

Israel’s ruling Likud Party created Hamas decades ago and provided it with substantial funding through conduits in Qatar. It adopted this policy in order to weaken parties representing Palestinian secular nationalism, including the Palestinian Authority, and to divide and continue subjugating the Palestinians.  Hamas is a convenient propaganda scapegoat to stir up Israeli hatred, but Likud needs them and everyone admits they won’t be eradicated, especially by collective punishment, which will only make them popular.

Israeli arrogance thwarted a Palestinian political path. October 7 revealed the cost.
For years Netanyahu propped up Hamas‘Buying Quiet’: Inside the Israeli Plan That Propped Up Hamas

Palestinians want Israel to free them from the rule of Hamas.

This is Orwellian language. People aren’t “freed” by slaughtering with bombs, starvation, dehydration, disease, and destroying their homes, hospitals, food and water sources and all other material conditions necessary for living in a place. Many Palestinians dislike Hamas, but grudgingly support them because they are the only Palestinian political entity still committed to freeing them from half a century of brutal Israeli occupation. 

The beginning of the end? The hypothetical future of Palestinian politics

Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2005 and received copious international aid.  Still, they managed to turn it into a disaster zone of poverty, while spending the money on tunnels and rockets.

Israel has control over every aspect of life in Gaza.  It is widely described as an open-air prison or concentration camp.  The siege prevented trade, travel, medical referrals, food production and commerce.  Five separate military campaigns by Israel have wreaked destruction on any infrastructure progress.  Materials like concrete to repair bombed structures were prohibited. Food intake has been rationed for 16 years.

Gaza Strip: A beginner’s guide to an enclave under blockade
The Gaza siege isn’t about security. It’s collective punishment, pure and simple
Myths and realities about Israel’s siege of Gaza
Trapped ‘from fence to fence’ in Gaza

Destroying Hamas will solve Israel’s security problem.

The genocide in Gaza has made Israelis and Jews across the world less safe. If Hamas vanished today, another Jihadi group would take their place as long as Palestinians are forced to live without rights in an apartheid occupation.  Palestinians also need security from Israeli military and vigilante violence.   

Israel’s attempt to destroy Hamas will breed more radicalisation, UN expert says
Israel’s war cabinet has learned nothing from its failures

There was a ceasefire before Oct. 7 and Hamas broke it

Only if you call pogroms against unarmed civilians, a crushing siege and an apartheid military regime peace. During the 2018 peaceful Gazan Great March of Return Israeli snipers killed medics, journalists and people in wheelchairs and disabled thousands by shooting them in the legs.  Israel will never be safe until it either negotiates a just settlement with Palestinians based on the principle of equality and freedom for every inhabitant of the region, or until it kills every Palestinian across the world.

The Oct. 7 Hamas invasion caught Israel by surprise

Israeli intelligence obtained the exact blueprint of the 10-7 attack one full year in advance 10-7, paragliders and all.  They also received intelligence that an attack was brewing a week before the attack from their own soldiers yet they stood down their defenses; two battalions were transferred from the Southern border to protect illegal settlers celebrating in the Palestinian West Bank city of Huwara, where just months before the settlers had mounted a pogrom against city residents.  Incompetence, or worse?

Israel Knew Hamas’ Attack Plan more than a year ago
Did Israel’s reliance on tech cause October 7 intelligence failure?

Hamas killed 1200 Israeli civilians

Actually 400 or so were soldiers and police, and hundreds of the civilians were probably killed by “Hannibal” friendly fire.  The murder of hundreds of civilians in Southern Israel was an atrocity.  But, it will NEVER JUSTIFY the killing of 35,000 Gazan civilians, with twice that many expected to die from starvation and unattended medical problems and intentional epidemics.

Israeli HQ ordered troops to shoot Israeli captives on 7 October

Hamas beheaded 40 babies, cut babies from wombs, hung dead babies from clotheslines and put babies in ovens.

These stories have been DEBUNKED by both the Israeli press and the government after using the racist propaganda to inflame Israeli citizens and shock the world enough to elicit wide support. This tactic is called manufacturing consent and has been used by the imperialist west many times.

American media keep citing Zaka – though its October 7 atrocity stories are discredited in Israel

Hamas carried out a campaign of mass rape on Oct 7 

No evidence of systematic rape.  U.N. team reports some circumstantial evidence of both Israeli victims on 10-7 and after, as well as Palestinian victims during incarceration and home searches by IDF and settlers. The issue has been grossly and hatefully manipulated in the media for propaganda purposes so skepticism is advised.  The team leader of the UN report has actually confessed to fabricating fraudulent rape atrocity stories about Russian troops being issued Viagra to commit systematic rape.  Families of Israeli 10-7 casualties have reported that NYT reporters repeatedly badgered them to allege rape in order to help the Israeli propaganda effort.  But even if any of these allegations turn out to be true, still not a justification for genocide, and even this UN report urges a permanent ceasefire.    

The story behind the New York Times October 7 expose

There are no innocent Gazans; they voted for Hamas.

More than half of Gazans are children not yet born at the time of the 2005 Hamas election, in which Hamas received less than half the total vote. Regardless of votes, there is no legal justification for the act of genocide. Perpetuating the myth of “no innocent Gazans” is a tactic of dehumanization, which is designed to maintain support for genocidal action towards Palestinians.  Dehumanizing a whole people is racism, pure and simple.

Israel directed Gazan civilians to safe zones

Safe zones not observed by IOF.  Population was forcibly evacuated, concentrated in “safe zones” then bombed intentionally. This is currently being documented in Rafah, where 1.5 million people, mostly displaced refugees, are sheltering in tents while bombarded by airstrikes. Israel plans to mount a ground invasion at the start of Ramadan on this last remaining “safe zone.”

Safe Zones: Israel’s technologies of genocide
Israel struck areas it directed civilians to in Gaza, CNN analysis shows
Israel bombards Rafah as ground invasion looms
UN alarmed as Israel says preparing for Rafah invasion

Israel is providing humanitarian food and medical aid to Gazans

Israel denies aid and denies access to NGO trucks bringing aid.  Using forced starvation as a weapon is a war crime.  Israeli civilian protesters  have been blocking aid trucks entering Gaza, with IDF cooperation.

Israel/OPT: Israel must lift illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza as power plant runs out of fuel
Young Israelis block aid to Gaza while IDF soldiers stand and watch
Palestinian children die of malnutrition as Israel blocks aid into Gaza

The United Nations Refugee and Works Administration collaborated with Hamas on 10-7 terror.

9 out of 30,000 employees were accused by Israel and fired without evidence by UNWRA, but US and many other donors have still cut off funds.  UNRWA is the main supplier of humanitarian aid in Gaza.

UN urges reversal of funding pause for Palestinian refugee agency
UNWRA funding cuts are immoral
UNRWA: Claims versus Facts – Press Release

Israel claims killing  2 civilians for each  Hamas fighter it kills.

While it is hard to get a clear number on combatants vs. civilians killed in Gaza, independent estimates on civilian casualties run up to 90%. Israel’s numbers include almost all adult men in Gaza as “military age men ” in their estimates of Hamas fighters killed, despite the fact that all men of military age are not Hamas fighters.

Counting casualties in Israel’s war on Gaza
Gaza’s death toll now exceeds 30,000. Here’s why it’s an incomplete count.

Critics of Israeli policy are antisemitic.

If so, then the whole world is antisemitic, including Jews and Israelis.  16 of 17 judges at the world’s highest court (ICJ) indicted Israel for genocide.  The US has now vetoed a UN ceasefire three times since October 7, most recently two weeks ago, when 13 voted for, US voted against, and Britain abstained.  Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Doctors Without Borders, the Pope, and many more charge genocide. Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Jewish Currents are but a few of the Jewish organizations in the US who criticize Israeli policy. Haaretz, the Israeli equivalent of the NYTimes, publishes articles daily criticizing Israeli policy. This claim is nonsensical – criticizing a government is not antisemitic – but lobbying groups like AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel, funded by wealthy Republicans, use their hundreds of millions in campaign donations to promote it, and to silence Congress and the White House.  

Israel keeps American Jews safe.

Israel wants us to equate Israeli Zionism with Judaism.  Many American Jews reject that idea and are risking arrest by the thousands to protest the Israeli atrocities – they do not want to be held responsible for the war crimes being committed by the Israeli and US governments.  Many Jews, including local Jewish ceasefire proponents understand our antisemitism risk comes from white supremacists here, not Palestinian rights activists.

The ADL wants to conflate critiques of Israel with antisemitism. That won’t make Jews safer. 

Israel is a beacon of democracy in a despotic region.

Yes—for one ethnic group.  For all others: apartheid and colonial occupation.

Not a ‘Vibrant Democracy’. This is Apartheid

It’s not genocide.  Genocide is when Jews are the victims, which would occur if Palestinians were free.

The ICJ and many human rights groups and scholars of genocide have determined that it is a genocide.

Brutal occupation, apartheid and genocide only increase the risk to Jews of eventual revenge.  A just negotiated solution can result in a safe country for all.  South Africa ended apartheid without any white genocides.  

A Textbook Case of Genocide

Palestinians could have accepted a state during the Oslo Accords, but they rejected it.

Palestinian leadership accepted a state in just 22% of historic Palestine during the Oslo Accords. This was a major compromise. Israel has never respected the terms of Oslo – it continued building settlements while the Accords were negotiated and signed and during the designated transitional period after which the entire territory was to be handed over to the PLO. Those Accords have  resulted in an Israeli military dictatorship rather than a sovereign Palestinian state, with isolated Bantustan pockets amid a sea of settlers, with no refugee right of return and no ability for Palestinians to defend themselves.  

The Oslo trap: how the PLO signed its own death warrant

This is not an issue for local governments, and will only sow discord.

It has been well documented that local, grass roots activism greatly contributed to the fall of apartheid in South Africa. At the time, that action was likely discounted as “not a local issue.” Arguably a US funded genocide, (where the US is the only other country in the world blocking a UN resolution) is much closer to home.

Our federal government, universities and the media, captured by giant lobbies like AIPAC and DMFI, are being extorted into sending our tax dollars to collaborate with genocide and silencing dissent.  Local governments, standing together, can force  that to change.  More than 70 municipalities have already passed ceasefire resolutions.

Giving a platform to genocide deniers is harming our community. Our silence and complacency in genocide sets a dangerous precedent for humanity.

Our representatives in Congress are not listening to their constituents that have been calling, emailing and confronting them. Asking our local officials is the only channel of democracy we have real access to.

Pressure to end apartheid began at grass roots in US

THE UNION OP ED BY PJCNC 12-12-23

https://www.theunion.com/news/community/ideas-opinions-jeffrey-gottesman-peace-and-justice-center-opposes-violence-because-it-begets-more-violence/article_765fa450-9848-11ee-9a44-371d520e9ccb.html

Amnesty International Report: Israeli Apartheid

Amnesty International Report: Israeli Apartheid

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/02/israels-apartheid-against-palestinians-a-cruel-system-of-domination-and-a-crime-against-humanity/

Another perspective, another choice, we can decide.

By Laurie Millar, member of the Peace Choir

I wish to tell my story and “perspective” of what I believe is going on in the world. We all have Free Will and must decide what is right for ourselves. My story is unique to me, my history, my bloodlines, DNA, how I was raised and the experiences I have had with peace and conflict over the years. Lately, my husband and I have been drawn to historical documentaries on the suffering, resistance and resilience of Black Americans in their past history and then the learning about the prolonged destruction of Native American cultural ways of life, family-group-tribal connections and people, and the deliberate seizing of their lands since the time of white man’s discovery of the Americas. It is still going on today.

I grew up with my parents and 4 siblings during the 1950’s, 60’s and early 70’s in both the Midwest and Los Angeles, California. As a young adult I lived in Hawaii, Wyoming (for 2 weeks), the Midwest once again—back to my birthplace on Lake Michigan–and eventually settled in California. I have experienced wars and conflict all my life, despite officially advocating for peace. Without too much detail, my parents tried to raise their children with tolerance for others, peace and love but they were not without their cultural and religious biases and thus, as an adult, I got to examine their perspectives and ask why.

In the 60’s I witnessed the L.A. Watts riots and was painfully aware that there was something underneath it all. It did not make sense– the stories we were told– that the Black rioting was due to “them attacking their own people and stores”. Shortly after this, we moved to Detroit where bigger, more dangerous “race riots” broke out in 1967. We could see the fires from our home at night! I was confused, scared and wondered why this had to happen again? I had the privilege as a teenager to go to a half black, half white religious camp where I made friends with people of color and realized they were just like me. Our church youth group helped black teens build a teen center in Detroit and my college thesis involved interviewing black senior citizens on their nutritional needs and practices. I parked in the worst neighborhoods in Detroit for my interviews and was not afraid, although several people told me I should be. My college days and research in nutrition brought the desire and opportunity to work with Native Americans at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in North Dakota. Shortly before I was scheduled to go (with all my research completed) two white FBI agents were killed during a Native Indian Movement resistance activity on the reservation and my trip was canceled. I was crushed.

I mostly ignored the Viet Nam war during the 60’s and early 70’s but knew of friends’ brothers or boyfriends who had been killed. Then there was Kent State, not far from my home, where the war had come home to our own country and young adults. Young adults all over the country were protesting. Three leaders for peace were assassinated in quick succession, John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. Over the years I have been aware of the many wars our country has been involved in or started, especially the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq right after 9-11. My brother was in the Navy then and told me about his role as “protector for the Middle East and islands we knew nothing about like Grenada”. He couldn’t wait to get out! The whole thing seemed pointless to me, and I feared for his safety and his life.

Recently, the U.S. has been involved in first fighting Russia in Ukraine and then very quickly supporting the State of Israel against Palestine in the Middle East. This is NOT to excuse Hamas (whoever they may or may not be), but to look deeper at the history of wars begun by powerful State leaders who instigate and fund the endless creation of war as a “pretend” solution to conflict. Did we get to vote on this? Has this approach worked? Is one side any better off in the long run for the destruction of the people, places, resources and cultures of those groups of people they claim did something to them? Who really profits from conflict of any sort? For me, learning the history of groups oppressed as well as the oppressors’ role in escalating or starting conflict has been important– but more effective has been the acknowledgment of my own family history, trauma and that of people with whom I resonate. My first husband was part Native American as are my 3 children. Still in mid-life, after my first husband died, I met and later married a man who is half Japanese. Through his eyes and our shared history, I have learned of the trauma that thousands of good, contributing Japanese citizens of the United States suffered during W.W. II, being sent arbitrarily to “internment camps”, losing everything. As a young child I always resonated with the Native American culture, nature and the Buffaloes. It is a sad story, what happened to them, but what we see arising from our collective consciousness is that Native Americans are coming home to who they truly are, telling their stories and healing. How many of us have Native American blood within us? As they remember what happened and is still happening to them, they are becoming stronger and defining themselves as true “First Nation” people, contributing to our current cultural diversity in their own modern, organic ways and yet going back to their Native languages and customs. We, in turn, heal our ancestral karma so to speak by acknowledging the truth of our shared history with them. We are all spiritually connected to one another by our human nature and the conflict we see “out there” is also within us. Do not believe for a second that there will not be consequences for those perpetuating the continuation of violence, death and destruction toward minority groups of our fellow human beings. We have a choice. It is the choice to create peace– right here, right now in our own communities. We can decide not to pay taxes that go to fund the continuation of war as a business model. (Like the Quakers). Or, less drastic, we can open our hearts, listen to one another and learn from our shared history, including the last 3 years when someone else decided for us what constitutes good health with threats of punishment if we did not comply! We must be vigilant for more of the same in our own country which is likely to come again complete with all the many ways we are divided sister against sister, brother against brother. We have but a short reprieve. The war against human beings perpetuated by those in power as our only choice for conflict among races, nations, cultures and religions is universal. What is not known is that “we the people” have the power within and collectively to turn away from war, to resist and not participate and through working for peace create a better quality of life for all who desire it, including ourselves. Thank you for listening to my story and please check out the following references to learn more. You will find similarities in all wars and conflicts, even our own here in America. No one wins.

References:

“The 60’s Scoop in Canada”

“The American Buffalo” by Ken Burns

“The West” by Steven Ives and Ken Burns

“The Little Bird” PBS series

“Democracy Now”

“The Way of Knowingness” by Kim O’Neill

Beale AFB Protested by Chico Peace Alliance

By George Gold, guest contributor

Beale Air Force Base, just outside Marysville California, has as a mission to “Deliver persistent integrated reconnaissance and combat power.”

In September of 2022, the U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) issued a report entitled, “The National Security Snapshot CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS TO NATIONAL SECURITY.” This report can be found here: https://www.gao.gov/assets/730/722656.pdf

Flooding, Melting polar ice, Migration trends, Rising sea levels, Catastrophic storms, and disruption of Base Utilities.


Some of the environmental concerns associated with the U.S. military presence and operations
are:

  • Base Operations. U.S. military bases, both domestically and overseas, require vast amounts of resources, including energy, water, and land. The construction and maintenance of these bases can lead to habitat destruction, deforestation, and ecosystem disruption.
  • Training. Military training exercises often involve the use of live ammunition, explosives, and heavy equipment. These activities can cause soil erosion, damage to vegetation, and contamination of soil and water with hazardous materials.
  • Toxic Chemicals. Historically, the U.S. military has used a variety of toxic chemicals, such as Agent Orange and depleted uranium, in its operations. These substances have long-lasting and devastating effects on the environment and human health.
  • Hazardous Waste. Over time, military activities generate significant amounts of hazardous waste, including chemicals, fuels, and munitions. Improper disposal and management of these wastes can lead to soil and water contamination.
  • Air and Water Pollution. The operation of military vehicles, aircraft, and ships often contribute to air and water pollution through the emission of greenhouse gases, particulate matter, and other pollutants.
  • Military Bases Abroad. U.S. military bases overseas often lead to tensions with local communities and governments over land use, environmental damage, and contamination issues.
  • Climate Change. The U.S. military is a significant consumer of fossil fuels, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.


Chico Peace Alliance Protest at Beale Air Force Base

This past September 2023 about a dozen members of the Chico Peace Alliance travelled to Beale’s front gate to deliver a message to pilots and support workers that is a little different than the expressed mission of Beale Air Force Base.

We wanted to share our views not often noted by the defense establishment about the hazards that are caused by the United States military industrial complex. The view that points out that peace is more important than war, and that the US defense infrastructure causes a huge negative environmental impact right here in Marysville and around the world.

We arrived just before shift change so that our signs of peace, love and misunderstanding could be seen as they left the base.

Cross that white line as you approach the Front Gate and you can be arrested for trespassing. Where’s that white line? The military police car stationed at the gate will be glad to show you.

We decided on this visit we would stay behind the line and thereby we displayed several large banners along both sides of that entry / exit road with our message of peace love and understanding. And, a few of the departing workers actually flashed us the peace sign! But whether flashing a peace sign or not, EVERYONE leaving the Base, saw us, our signs, our banners, and thereby our message.

And we weren’t alone. Aside from the Base military police officer / car that was parked just on the public side of the white line, the entire time we were there, there were three California Highway Patrol cars and one County Sherriff’s car that parked themselves just about 30 yards from our main set up location.

The United States Military budget for 2023 is $857.9 billion. So, let’s see, if we just cut that budget by 10%, that would mean that some 85 billion dollars could be used to provide food for the shocking rise in child hunger across the United States, alleviate the crushing debt of so many students, solve the devastation of homelessness, work to address the negative impact of climate change, hmm, what a concept.