by the Pacifica Mission Coalition

https://pacificamissioncoalition.com/

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Pacifica Foundation, Inc.  communication nor an official communication of any of the five Pacifica Foundation, Inc. Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio). Opinions and facts alleged in this article belong to the author(s) only and should NOT be assumed to be true or to reflect the editorial stance or policy of the Pacifica Foundation, Inc., or any of the five Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio), or the opinions of its management, Pacifica National Board, station staff, or other listener members.

Elections always involve a choice. The Pacifica Mission Coalition and its individual members and constituent organizations at the several stations are committed to running a positive campaign focusing on what Pacifica needs to do to be a more effective voice for peace, social, racial and economic justice, and freedom of speech and of the press.

Everyone pays lip service to those lofty ideals, however. So as you make your decision about whom to vote for, you need to take into consideration the track record of the individuals and organizations involved.

Who really stands against censorship and for freedom of speech and of the press, and for hard-hitting local and national news?

Here’s one piece of evidence regarding how some within Pacifica have sought to dodge one of the most pressing moral, humanitarian and political issues of our time, the US-financed genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, a recording of a discussion at the KPFA Local Station Board dominated by the New Day/Pacifica Forward/KPFA Protectors faction. https://youtu.be/uWeACjMHcYk

Another dividing line issue has been support for local news and public affairs, vs. centralizing and nationalizing the programming and management. Although New Day recently sent out a slick mailer including a petition for local news at KPFK, it’s hypocritical.  It’s their faction that repeatedly eliminated KPFK’s local news and substituted the so-called “Pacifica Evening News” from KPFA. The same forces within Pacifica that imposed the current Bylaws and election process were previously involved in the shutdown of WBAI in New York, substituting “Pacifica Across America”, programming syndicated mainly from the west coast stations, for all the locally-produced and community-oriented public affairs and cultural programs on WBAI.

At KPFK, since Trump’s re-election, a similar process was carried out, scrapping locally produced environmental, health-related, policing, Indigenous, veterans, disability rights and resources, civic engagement programming, and local news with programs from KPFA, repeats, and nationally syndicated programming like Thom Hartmann and Ian Masters. Yet all studies and media professionals attest to the fact that local news, cultural expression, and public affairs programming is what listeners are seeking, and where the future of independent media lies.

Who really stands for diversity, and for a constructive and self-critical approach to overcoming institutional racism?

For over 75 years, Pacifica has had an expressed commitment in its Mission statement “to engage in any activity that shall contribute to a lasting understanding between nations and between the individuals of all nations, races, creeds and colors; to gather and disseminate information on the causes of conflict between any and all of such groups; and through any and all means compatible with the purposes of this corporation to promote the study of political and economic problems and of the causes of religious, philosophical and racial antagonisms.”

The Pacifica Mission Coalition is dedicated to the fulfillment of those ideals in practice, by applying them to ourselves as a progressive and democratic media institution as well as to society at large. We believe this requires a conscious commitment to anti-racism, and to providing opportunities on-air for communities facing oppression to express themselves.

Under the guise of “professionalism,” the centralization and nationalization of governance and programming threatens both aspects, as evidenced by the segregation of programming from communities of color on KPFT’s secondary HD signal. Further evidence is provided by the 2019 shutdown and takeover of WBAI that was reversed only through protest and legal action by local staff and listeners.

Furthermore, what national voices are heard is at issue. Chris Hedges has raised funds for KPFA & KPFK, but his report does not air on KPFA. Richard Wolff’s (socialist) economic update, is gone from KPFK. Capitalism, Race & Democracy, which is a model for the kind of national programming the PMC thinks is desirable — produced collectively by programmers at the several stations, and incorporating segments from independent producers and from various of Pacifica’s 200+ affiliated college and community radio stations — was cut to a half hour. Eco-Justice radio, produced locally by So Cal 350 and syndicated nationally, is cut to a half-hour  at 4 in the morning. CodePINK was removed but is now back on at 6 AM. The Gray Zone Radio from Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate (who edited their popular podcast into a radio version for KPFK) is gone. Bike Talk, produced in part locally and syndicated nationally, which had been moved on to the air from its (passive) podcast version on the KPFK on-line archives, is gone. It’s Going Down from Berkeley, and its replacement, The Final Straw, from young anti-authoritarians and mutual-aid, anti-repression activists, are gone. Michael Novick, who was our candidate for KPFK listeners’ rep on the PNB until his recent unjust disqualification by the NES and removal from the ballot, served as unpaid GM of KPFK and aired “Radio Free Palestine”, a 24-hour international radio marathon, during the height of the genocide in Gaza. Genocide and dispossession of Palestinians is continuing, but KPFK hasn’t carried the program again.

Pacifica has always been contested terrain and a target for forces of repression and censorship, ranging from the KKK to the FCC. The Pacifica Mission Coalition understands that, and is trying to get Pacifica itself to educate its membership to those realities, and to develop a strategy to overcome them.

Pacifica Mission Coalition is the side standing up for financial transparency and accountability. We call for free speech at board meetings and community participation in the processes of governance and the tasks of audience- and membership-building. Under the control of the opposing faction, the Local Station Boards at KPFA and KPFK have turned to meeting only every other month, and eliminated public comment by individual listener and staff members by turning the time mandated for that purpose over to organizations they have invited. Members of the boards who have asked embarrassing questions have been muted, moved to the waiting room, or even suspended from the board by a simple majority vote, a procedure that has no basis in the Bylaws.

Who really stands for democracy?

Without the required member vote, the New Day/Pacifica Forward elements imposed the current Bylaws that reduced staff representation on the LSBs and PNB, and that ended local financial oversight and management review. They have also reduced the opportunities for listener and staff members to contribute to the discourse or to getting the work done that needs doing to rebuild our audience and our impact on current events.

In contrast, the Pacifica Mission Coalition has been setting up a series of candidate forums by zoom, inviting all candidates to participate with equal time in a format that allows some give and take between candidates for the same office, to clarify comparisons and contrasts, and take questions from attendees. The first forum did provide that to a degree, in an exchange between Dr. Julianne Malveaux, our candidate for chair of the national board, and Susan Young from the other slate, but not many other of the New Day/Pacifica Forward candidates have participated in either of the first two.

When a candidate is not present, we have read their statement from the elections.pacifica.org website. They claim that their direct nationalized elections to the PNB are more democratic, but in fact nationalizing the elections make them more expensive, favoring those with deep pocketed backers. At two of the five stations, not coincidentally the two East Coast stations with substantial Black memberships and strong opposition to New Day, listeners can’t vote for their representative on the national Board because there are no candidates on the ballot. At the other three stations, the only “choice” is the New Day candidate. Does that sound democratic to you?

The Pacifica Mission Coalition wants management that appreciates and is responsive to KPFK’s and Pacifica’s unique character as democratic, mission-driven and membership-based media institutions.  Novick did monthly on-air “reports to the listeners” with at least half the hour devoted to taking listeners calls, when he served as KPFK’s general manager (unpaid). He went on during the Spanish-language programming block as well, including the bilingual Canto Sin Fronteras on Saturdays. Doing the on-air reports is, or at least was, in the job description of the General Manager, in addition to meeting with and reporting to the local board, but has rarely been fulfilled as consistently before or since or at other stations.

The Pacifica Mission Coalition believes in financial transparency and local oversight. Under New Day control, the PNB kept the full financial information even from interim managers. KPFK has been operating without a business manager for years, and the Foundation had only a national business manager, not a Chief Financial Officer as required by CA law. KPFA, which had its own business manager, has reportedly been the station whose slow provision of  financial details has held up audits. There have been constant promises over the years to catch up on the audits (having unaudited financials is extremely inadvisable for many reasons). One of the reasons given for the sale of the Studio City building that housed KPFK was to provide the funding for audits, but the Foundation is still several fiscal years behind.

The local station boards have been stripped of a treasurer, a local finance committee or the responsibility under the previous Bylaws to advise on the budget and to do a quarterly review of the budget to actual expenses and income. Once upon a time, KPFK posted a version of the financials (minus personal salary data and the like) monthly on the station website and in a report to the local station board. None of that is happening any longer.

The Pacifica Mission Coalition is committed to greater financial stability, and living within our means. KPFK under Novick developed new revenue streams including underwriting by local small businesses, with no say-so over program content, an auction, a joint charitable fundraiser for shoes with another local non-profit as part of a station “garage sale”. KPFK signed up with two non-profit platforms that provide pro-bono professional and technical assistance to other non-profits, and one of them also promoted KPFK to their clientele, of business people who wanted to “do good” with their expertise, for cash donations, which continue to come in to the station. If Pacifica ever gets its audits in order and caught up, that would make grant applications a more realistic opportunity.

Pacifica Mission Coalition wants more fully engaged and productive democratic governance at the local level. The station used to obtain translation equipment from Liberty Hill Foundation to meetings to accommodate Spanish speaking programmers and listeners, and could be doing it now more easily for the current zoom meetings (as Pacifica Mission Coalition has been doing for our town halls).

Programming may be the largest and most significant area of disagreement between the two slates. Most experts on media say the survival of independent media depends on going local and meeting community needs. Novick brought back or brought on a lot of such programming, including Access Unlimited, the disability rights and resources program; Think Outside the Cage, a show by and about imprisoned and formerly incarcerated people; a veterans-oriented program; shows by the Labor Community Strategy Center, Black Lives Matter and the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, Health Care 4 US, La Raza Unida, the first English-language Chicano show in years, and the first Spanish-language LGBTQ show, Revolucion Arcoiris.

KPFK gave some shape to the program grid with a strip of literary arts programs that bridged the gap between the mid-day music programs and the hard public affairs programming, and an environmentally oriented strip that included two new Indigenous-oriented shows (one of which also addressed Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women) as well as bringing back California Solartopia, even though its hosts are from “the other faction”, and launching XR Now! from Extinction Rebellion LA, the local chapter of a youth-oriented direct-action environmentalist organization with international reach. Novick started an all-volunteer local daily evening newscast (which admittedly had problems and was being retooled when his tenure ended). The station had two labor shows, Strike Line, hosted by a member of the SAG-AFTRA negotiating team during the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strikes, and Working Voices, launched on May Day. All of that was swept away, replaced by nationally-syndicated programming by pundits and gatekeepers like Ian Masters and Thom Hartmann, repeats, and content piped in from KPFA, including as the evening newscast, no longer local.

Which side is committed in practice to bringing in new younger programmers, producers, and listeners?

Jim Lafferty and Steven Starr, who both served as iGM of KPFK themselves, think highly of Novick’s tenure and efforts, which reflect what the Pacifica Mission Coalition he is running with thinks is the best guarantor of KPFK’s and Pacifica’s future. He established relationships for ongoing interns from Columbia College and from an audio engineering trade school and was working on a relationship with Dorsey High to bring high school seniors working on podcasts into the station to share their expertise and learn about radio. He recruited young volunteers who worked on a user-experience analysis of the website, on developing a press kit for branded social-media promotion (which is still being used to promote some programs). He picked up Whole Mother, a show from KPFT about pregnancy, childbirth, nursing, doulas, etc. He tried to develop  a similar local program with an Ob-Gyn and doula team in L.A., but they got scared off by the onerous FCC requirements that were being imposed on us at the time. Everybody talks about bringing youth in, but he did it, including another new Spanish-language (actually bilingual) show Los Musiqueros, young musicians.

Everyone understands that Pacifica and KPFK have to move into the 21st Century of content provision, beginning with being hospitable to a rising generation of engaged content creators who probably already have larger (and younger) audiences than we do, who are grappling with a world they did not make but are actively trying to remake into a better world. We need a show for and by young mothers. We need a show for and by urban gardeners/farmers.

We need to hear from and speak to the large and varied Asian/Pacific islander communities in Los Angeles (and certainly in the Bay Area). We need a podcast review program. We need a show focused on education issues, that gives voice to students, teachers and parents active in resisting privatization and A-I. We need more anti-war and anti-fascist programming that understands that the techno-fascist broligarcy are now all military contractors with the Department of War. We need to cover the resistance locally to data centers.

Despite the gentrification and dispersal of much of the Black population of L.A., Los Angeles County still has a Black population larger than that of Cook County, Illinois. That includes not only African-Americans but many more recent African and African-descent immigrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Haiti, as well as Afro-Columbians, Garifunas, and others that are under attack by Trump, Vance, Miller and their MAGA minions. KPFK needs to have them on the air. Los Angeles has the largest urban population of Indigenous people, yet KPFK cut its Indigenous programming in half.

Vote for the slate truly committed to and practicing democracy, diversity, transparency and accountability. Get money out of Pacifica’s politics and restore members rights to participate democratically in their station’s governance. Vote for the Pacifica Mission Coalition candidates that remain on the ballot: Dr. Julianne Malveaux for PNB chair, Perry (“Mama PK”) McCary for vice chair, and, if you are a staff member, Ninel Centeno and Sally Gellert for PNB staff reps. KPFK listeners,  please vote for Jack Neff for LSB chair, Rick Cooper for vice chair, Doug Barnett for secretary, Bella De Soto for outreach coordinator, and Cliff Olin for membership and fundraising coordinator. KPFK staff members, vote for Oscar Ulloa and Canek Huerta-Martinez for staff reps on the LSB.  Note that five of our candidates have been unjustly removed from the ballot, including Kamau Harris for PNB Treasurer, Donna Carter for PNB Secretary, Cheryl Davila for KPFA listener rep on the PNB, Michael Novick for KPFK listener rep on the PNB, and Steve Zeltzer for chair of the KPFA LSB. You can donate to support our campaign here including a print post-card exposing the sorry state of democracy and diversity IN THESE VERY ELECTIONS: https://www.crowdfunder.com/p/pmc-election-fund

DISCLAIMER: This is not an official Pacifica Foundation, Inc.  communication nor an official communication of any of the five Pacifica Foundation, Inc. Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio). Opinions and facts alleged in this article belong to the author(s) only and should NOT be assumed to be true or to reflect the editorial stance or policy of the Pacifica Foundation, Inc., or any of the five Radio Stations (KPFA Radio, KPFK Radio, KPFT Radio, WBAI Radio, WPFW Radio), or the opinions of its management, Pacifica National Board, station staff, or other listener members.

We need volunteer distributors for CHANGE LINKS Print Edition

TO VENUES & EVENTS. PLEASE EMAIL US AT <changelinks2@gmail.com>

Please subscribe as well. Subscriptions to the print edition are $12/25/50 a year, low income, regular or sustainer (sliding scale), payable to “AFGJ,” our fiscal sponsor, with “Change Links” in the memo.

All events announced are encouraged to donate $5 (per event), payable to AFGJ,

mail to: Change Links, PO Box 34236, LA 90034.

It helps keep this publication solvent. Thanks in advance.

Project Esther from the Heritage Foundation is attacking the Alliance for Global Justice (AFGJ), our fiscal sponsor, as part of an effort to criminalize and crush Palestine solidarity. Consider making a donation to AFGJ itself. The attempt to deplatform AFGJ has resulted in their inability to process credit cards.

Checks or bank transfers are the way to go. Contact AFGJ@afgj.org

Please contact the event by phone, email or website for updates.

Other Calendars:

The Big List of Protests (national): https://theblop.org/

https://experism.com/los-angeles

https://timeout.com/los-angeles/movies/all-of-las-outdoor-movies-in-one-calendar

https://www.timeout.com/los-angeles/things-to-do/

https://visit.lacountylibrary.org/events

https://caamuseum.org/programs

https://hammer.ucla.edu/programs-events

https://thelaccc.org/calendar-page/ Group cycling events in L.A.

Also, please check recurring events below the regular monthly Calendar. Check out late changes and additions on the website:  https://change-links.org/

I.C.E. Watch:

Report ICE or other federal enforcement activity, raids, etc.

Union del Barrio/Community Self Defense Coalition: 213-444-6562, call or text 24 hours

Others: NDLON (Day Laborers): 626-799-3566; CHIRLA: 888-624-4752 (m-f/9-5)

IMM-DEF: 213-833-8283 (M-F, 9A-4P)

Calendar of Resistance for Palestine! Events and actions around the world:

C-L Note: The Canadian and US governments have targeted and attempted to criminalize Samidoun, labeling it a terrorist organization. This is a gross violation of freedom of speech & human rights.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all Palestinian, Arab and international supporters of Palestine to escalate their organizing and struggle to stand with the heroic Palestinian resistance and confront colonial Zionist violence and imperialist complicity.

Please note: this list is for action-oriented/ outdoor/protest actions specifically. However, direct actions like those by Palestine Action (palestineaction.org) are some of the most important events taking place — but they are typically not announced in advance! ANSWER Coalition is also maintaining a list of US based protests (answercoalition.org/join_a_protest_near_you_free_palestine). Check out our events listings for webinars,discussions and meetings we’re involved in (http://samidoun.net/category/events)!.

TO ADD YOUR EVENT TO THE PALESTINE RESISTANCE CALENDAR: Send info by email to samidoun@samidoun.net or tag us on social media! We know that these events are mainly international and that the Arab people are marching everywhere for Palestine — we will be honored to add Arab events. PLEASE NOTE: Times and details may change. Wherever we have it, we have linked to the original organizers’ accounts, posters and pages. Please follow these for the latest info – and don’t hesitate to send updates! https://samidoun.net/

Sep 1 – Tue

State of the Unions address by AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Livestreamed on aflcio.tv, Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube, 11a ET (8a Pacific). This is a moment to recommit to the fight for worker power, for good jobs, for technology that works for us, and for solidarity to protect the rights and freedoms of all workers. Join us to hear the state of our unions and our workers—where we stand right now, what lies ahead and, most importantly, what unions are doing to take our country back this fall.

Sep 2 – Wed

Social Justice Book Club for Kids, Monthly on the first Wednesday, 4-5p, Online event hosted by Eagle Rock branch LA Public Library. (323) 258-8078. All-ages book club for the whole family. This month: The Lion Queen: Rasila Vadher, the first woman guardian of the last Asiatic lions by Rina Singh. For ADA accommodations, call 213-228-7430 five business days in advance.  https://www.lapl.org/events/social-justice-book-club-kids

Sep 3 – Thu

Sep 4 – Fri

Socialism conference, Chicago IL and virtual, 9/4-6, sponsored by Haymarket Books and others. While all of our live-streamed programming is available for free, please consider RSVPing for our virtual program and making a donation to help us cover the associated costs! https://socialismconference.org/2026-schedule/ https://www.tickettailor.com/events/haymarketbooks/2365616

Sep 5 – Sat

Socialism conference, see Sep 4 for details

Independencia Salvadorena, Salvy Festival, Pershing Square, 3p, 5th & Olive, DTLA.

Long Beach Greek Fest, also Sun, Mon. 5761 E. Colorado St., Long Beach 90814. Three-day cultural celebration bringing Greek food, music, dancing, and community together by the sea. From September 5–7, Long Beach transforms into a lively Greek village experience.

Pacifica Election forum staff-and-programmer-focused zoom forum, 9a Pacific time, featuring national staff representative candidates for the Pacifica National Board. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86114173957?pwd=C1oAkHAyZwprnymI1Oo2TZhUBiP1Ad.1

Sep 6 – Sun

Socialism conference, see Sep 4 for details

Sep 7 – Mon  Labor Day holiday libraries, schools, government offices closed

LA-LB Harbor Labor Coalition Labor Day March & Rally, assemble 8a, Broad & E Sts. March 10s, rally 12n at Banning Park, PCH in Wilmington. No elected officials will be allowed to give speeches or campaign, including any distribution of campaign materials!! This is a day for LABOR! There will be 40 vendor booths of various unions and Labor organizations to distribute free informational materials,

a kid zone for children including face painting, pop corn, cotton candy, puppet show, book give away. Free hot dogs, beans, drinks and chips. Runs until 4p.https://lalblaborcoalition.com/

Sep 8 – Tue

Sep 9 – Wed

Co-Create Conference with Alibaba.com, LA Convention Center, DTLA. https://alibabacocreate.com/us

Sep 10 – Thu

KPFK Zoom Candidate Forum, 6-7:30p, sponsored by Pacifica Mission Coalition, All candidates for LSB officers and KPFK listener rep to the PNB invited with equal time to present and respond to questions from attendees. Learn more about what’s really going on at the station. Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/aFC-gAd9QKWj_X-84AEj7w  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.Traduccion en espanol

Co-Create Conference with Alibaba.com, LA Convention Center, DTLA. https://alibabacocreate.com/us

Capital & Main honors John Palfrey, president of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, with its Philanthropy and Journalism Award, 6p, t The Biltmore, LA. This award, part of the annual Exposés Gala, is given to visionary leaders who are using their voice and resources to support the fourth estate at a time of unprecedented challenges for both journalism and democracy. https://exposesawards.com/

Sep 11 – Fri  Anniversary of US coup in Chile overthrowing Allende and installing Pinochet

Sep 12 – Sat

Vision Hack hackathon, Ages 14-30, 8a-8p, The Beehive, 1000 E. 60th St., LA 90001. Workshops and industry mentors in VR, AI and game development on site. Apply via www.hacker.fund/visionhack. Meet entrepreneurs under 30 and people from Google, Meta, Snap, Microsoft and more. All skill levels welcome, no coding or tech experience required. Free; giveaways, tech tools and job fair. Chaperones on-site for youth <18. Cosponsored by Vision Lab South LA and Brotherhood Crusade.

Foro público/Latino community Candidate Forum for KPFK and Pacifica, 4-7p, Spanish-language primary with translation to and from English. Hybrid: in person at Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, 5278 W. Pico Blvd. LA 90019 and by zoom locally or nationally:

Register in advance for this meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/aFC-gAd9QKWj_X-84AEj7w After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Sep 13 – Sun

Mexican Independence Day parade in East Los, the largest and longest-running in the US. Thousands celebrate culture, heritage, and unity through music, food, and festivities for all ages. Organized by the Mexican Civic Patriotic Committee with support from the Consulate General of Mexico and LA County, Parade at 10a,  festival 11a, Cesar E Chavez Blvd at Mednik. https://cmcplosangeles.org/

The US Encounter with Marx: A Conversation with Andrew Hartman, 5-7p, Art Share Classroom 2,

801 E. 4th Pl.  (Arts District) LA 90013; (Little Tokyo Metro stop) or via zoom. Andrew Hartman will discuss his 2025 book Karl Marx in America with Tim Casement and Kevin Anderson of the International Marxist Humanist Organization (IMHO).  Hartman’s book is a comprehensive treatment of Karl Marx’s historical and intellectual legacy in US political and philosophical culture. Hartman emphasizes Marx’s proximity to and interest in America during his lifetime, and continuing legacy as a definitive force in the most important contemporary struggles. The meeting will explore the book as a work of intellectual history and as an intervention in the conflicts that have defined US politics.

Suzy Williams & Friends – Songs Of Venice California, followed by Zappa Glee Club. 7p, Venice West. Suzy Williams celebrates Venice in song with stellar musicians Brad Kay, Ginger Smith, Kahlil Sabbagh & Carol Chaikin. The Zappa Glee Club celebrates the fearless, genre-defying music of Frank Zappa through spirited performance, musical exploration, and a healthy sense of humor. Whether you’re a longtime Zappa devotee or just discovering his work, the Zappa Glee Club welcomes you to join the fun.

Sep 14 – Mon

Sep 15 – Tue  Central American Independence Day

Sep 16 – Wed  Mexican Independence Day

Sep 17 – Thu

Aphasia Book Club meets weekly on Thursdays, 1 – 3p, sponsored by LAPL. (213) 250-7808. Aphasia is a brain disorder. It usually results from stroke or head injury. It affects a person’s ability to read, write, speak, and understand speech. This book club is designed especially for adults with aphasia. Because everyone deserves to enjoy a good book.  For more information and zoom link, contact fschwarz@lapl.org.

ADDED ITEM NOT IN PRINT EDITION

LA County Sheriff’s Civilian Oversight Commission meeting, 9a-1p, St. Anne’s Conference Center, 155 N. Occidental Blvd., LA 90026. bit.ly/coc26-9

Sep 18 – Fri

Gerry Fialka hosts Venice Culture Salons (VCS#23) 3-4:30p, Venice Heritage Museum, 1234 Pacific Ave. Fun, fiery, interactive discussions about our Beachtown. Free admission. Bring your stories and news. Join our conversation with guests Linda Lucks and Marty Liboff – updates on the past, present and future of Venice.

Sep 19 – Sat

Extinction Rebellion XRUS All-chapter meeting via zoom, 11a-12:30p. Plan the fall rebellion against militarized A-I and data centers and their impact on climate change and the environment.  https://actionnetwork.org/events/xrus-all-chapter-gathering-saturday-september-19-2026-zoom

A Pier-fect Benefit https://www.santamonicapier.org/apierfectbenefit. 3:30–7:30p; Step back into the 1930s for an afternoon & evening of live jazz, casino tables, a silent auction, craft cocktails, and indulgent bites — all set inside the Pier’s historic Merry Go-Round building, reimagined as the legendary S.S. Rex. Dust off your best Art Deco glamour and come dressed for the era. Your ticket includes a night of gambling, music, and revelry in service of a cause worth betting on. Funds raised support the Santa Monica Pier Corporation’s free community programming as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.

ADDED ITEM NOT IN PRINT EDITION

Running Down the Walls 5k run/walk   to benefit ABCF warchest for political prisoners’ commissary funds. Echo Park Lake. https://fnd.us/abcfRDTW26?ref=sh_5MDDtpFClkJ5MDDtpFClkJ

Sep 20 – Sun

Sep 21 – Mon  Fall/Autumnal Equinox

Book Club: The Island of the Sea Women, 11a, LAPL Fairfax Branch, 161 S. Gardner St. LA 90036.

(323) 936-6191. A conversation about The Island of the Sea Women, by Lisa See. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village’s all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook’s mother. The story takes place over decades, beginning in an era of Japanese colonialism in Korea in the 1940s. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village.

Sep 22 – Tue

Sep 23 – Wed

Sep 24 – Thu

Sep 25 – Fri

18th annual Hola México Film Festival screening in Hollywood, DTLA, Pico Rivera, & Culver City through Oct 3. Screening, red-carpet event, and after-party for the film “Loco México Magico” directed by Carlos Santos, 6p at The Montalbán, 1615 Vine in Hollywood.Tix:  https://www.holamexicoff.com/festival-2026/

Sep 26 – Sat

18th annual Hola México Film Festival, LA premiere and red-carpet event for the concert-film featuring Mexican rock superstars Zoé, MEMOREX + REXSEXEX Y MÁS. Directed by Rodrigo Guardiola and produced by Olmo Guerra 6p at The Montalbán, 1615 Vine in Hollywood. Also 12n, Regal LA Live Theater 8, La Marca del Jaguar: El Despertar del Fuego animated fantasy film.  Tix & more info:  https://www.holamexicoff.com/festival-2026/

Sep 27 – Sun

Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace 25th anniversary George Regas Courageous Peacemaker Awards benefit event, All Saints Episcopal Church, Pasadena 91101, 2p. Awardees include Francesca Albanese, Stephen Rohde, Pasadena for Palestine, and a posthumous tribute to Fr. Chris Ponnet; mc’ed by Mimi Kennedy. Free, donations $25 per person and up to benefit ICUJP.   https://www.icujp.org/09_27_26regas25event

18th annual Hola México Film Festival, El Juicio will premiere two episodes of the series, starring Mexican star Eugenio Derbez. Also screening is Prefiero La Muerte, directed by Sebastián Sariñana, at the Culver Theater, 9500 Culver Blvd.,  Culver City, Tix & more info:  https://www.holamexicoff.com/festival-2026/

Sep 28 – Mon

Sep 29 – Tue

Hola México Film Festival: Memoria De Los Olvidados, Historical Documentary, 2026, México, Spain & US, in Spanish, with passages in English and French. English subtitles. Writer & director Javier Espada

7:30p, Regal Cinemas LA Live (Crypto.com Arena complex in DTLA). Tix & more info:  https://www.holamexicoff.com/festival-2026/

Sep 30 – Wed

Upcoming & Ongoing Activities

Oct 3 – Sat: Youth Engagement Committee End-Year Event, 10a-1:30p, lunch & networking 1:30-3p.510 S. Vermont, LA 90020. Info: http://2026yecendyearevent.eventbrite.com Connect with youth leaders, community-based orgs, county partners and more.  Visit the Los Angeles County Youth Commission website to stay informed about upcoming events, access meeting agendas and minutes, and learn more about the Commission’s work to elevate youth voice across Los Angeles County.

https://youthcommission.lacounty.gov/

Oct 3 – Sat: 18th annual Hola Mexico Film Festival Closing Night Screening + Concert at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes,  501 N Main St, Los Angeles, CA 90012

Every Sunday (except 2nd Sun of month) Brad Kay jazz merriment, 12n–4:30p, Unurban Cafe, 3301 Pico Blvd (with Suzy Williams, Mews Small, Ginger Smith, and more. FREE Jazz Cabaret Folk Popular Music Live!!!  https://sundaysongbirds.com/ Gerry Fialka pfsuzy@aol.com 310-306-7330

3rd Sunday, SoCal350 monthly meeting, 3-5p, Physical meeting canceled, virtual “meeting” scheduled. bit.ly/SoCal350Updates;  facebook.com/SoCal350 Climate Action.

Mondays: JusticeLA Virtual Actions, 10:30a every Monday via zoom. JusticeLA Virtual Actions is an accessible way for folks to support the JusticeLA coalition by joining together (virtually) to take action towards decarceration and to promote care first, jails NEVER in LA. Also Weds. at 6:30p. Orientation on JusticeLA Virtual Actions and political education on the day’s action are all included during the action session. Join us! https://dignityandpowernow.org/events

Mondays: Support Honduran Refugees, 6-8p, Central American Resource Center (CARECEN-LA), 2845 W 7th St,, LA. call for details: (213)-385-7800. In the San Fernando Valley: 213-385-7800 ext. 122

Mondays: James Joyce Reading Group. Laughtears Zoomin’ Salon1:30p, 40 minutes. Gerry Fialka, pfsuzy@aol.com, 310-306-7330, http://laughtears.com

First Tuesday, 7-9p, Recovering from Religion LA Support Group Hosted by Atheists United. RSVP at: https://www.meetup.com/rfr-los-angeles-ca/ This group meets the 1st Tues ach month virtually via Zoom. RSVP to view the Zoom link to the meeting at: https://www.meetup.com/california-chapter/events/calendar/   The primary focus of a Recovering From Religion support group is to provide ongoing and personal support to individuals as they let go of their religious beliefs. This transitional period is an ongoing process that can result in a range of emotions, as well as a ripple effect of consequences throughout an individual’s life. As such, the support meetings are safe and anonymous places to express these doubts, fears, and experiences without biased feedback or proselytizing. Attendees are encouraged to share, when they are comfortable doing so. We are here to help each other through this journey. There is no cost to attend this support group but, if you feel so inclined, donations can be made at www.recoveringfromreligion.org/donate

First Tuesday: Marshall McLuhan-Finnegans Wake Reading Club online, Gerry Fialka, pfsuzy@aol.com, 310-306-7330, See http://laughtears.com for event details.

Third Tuesdays: Protect, Resist and Build with AFSC.  5– 6:30pm PDT. Location: Virtual event Join from anywhere at: https://www.mobilize.us/afsc/event/746944/   Monthly webinar series that brings together AFSC constituents to learn about how to protect, resist, and build just peace, just migration, and just economies.  About this event: Monthly webinar series that brings together AFSC constituents to learn about how to protect, resist, and build just peace, just migration, and just economies. If you are registering from outside the US please use the zip code 19102.  Learn more about the American Friends Service Committee and find more ways to support at: https://afsc.org/get–involved

Tuesdays, 12n-1p, Prayer Vigil for those Disappeared by ICE, by godmothers of the disappeared (CLUE, SEIU, CHIRLA). LA Fedl. Bldg, 300 N. Los Angeles St, 90012 – march to the Metro Detention Center on Alameda.

Tuesdays: Join Black Lives Matter, Stop LAPD Spying and allies 9a at LA Police Commission meeting via zoom and in person at LA Police Administration Building across from City Hall to speak out against racist police murders with impunity. In response to increased public scrutiny, they changed their rules and only allow public comments of 1 minute each on two specific items and general public comment as the first agenda item, so call in promptly to get on the stack. lapd.zoom.us/s/289225944

Tuesday eves, Stop LAPD Spying Coalition meetings have been changed to teleconferences. LA CAN, 838  E. 6th St. LA, CA 90021. https://stoplapdspying.org – see website for meeting topics. facebook.com/stoplapdspying

First Tuesday 2-4p. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits Free Admission, La Brea Tar Pits and Page Museum, 5801 Wilshire Blvd., LA.

Tuesdays: 6-8p. Tenant Rights and Eviction Advice. Conducted in Spanish, translated into English. calorganize-org.zoom.us/j/88324434157 -or- Call: +16699006833,,88324434157# Also Thursdays, 5-7p. Conducted in English, translated into Spanish. calorganize-org.zoom.us/j/84489 313723 -or- Call: +16699006833,,84489313723# Also, statewide, outside LA: acceaction.org/dyh Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE).

Tuesdays: 8:30-10p, Second Draft LA, open mic cold read of writing and acting (virtual, may not be at Art Share-LA, 801 E 4th Pl, LA 90013). artsharela.org (213) 687-4278. zoom.us/j/9103444651 Pwd: artshare

Wednesdays: 4-6p, Fund Services Not Police, #EndPoliceAssociations BLM-LA and allies. Vigil/Protest has moved to the Hall of Injustice, Spring & Temple Sts. in DTLA.

Wednesdays: 6:30p, JusticeLA Virtual Actions, via zoom. JusticeLA Virtual Actions is an accessible way for folks to support the JusticeLA coalition by joining together (virtually) to take action towards decarceration and to promote care first, jails NEVER in LA. Also Mons. at 10:30a. Orientation on JusticeLA Virtual Actions and political education on the day’s action are all included during the action session. Join us! https://dignityandpowernow.org/events

Every Thursday night Hosted by Atheists United, we meetup in the Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan Theater and play games, host workshops, watch movies, plan adventures, and explore the universe one question at a time. Any youth ages 13-18 are welcome to attend. Our group creates a safe space for curious teens to explore ethics, science, nature, and social justice in community.Each meeting combines a fun activity with a challenging discussion topic: All activities and discussion topics are picked by youth participants / Guest experts are sometimes invited to lead workshops/activities. RSVP by text before attending to confirm we’re meeting. Meetings are always free and include snacks and drinks. Free car and bike parking on site. Where curiosity is celebrated: At Atheists United, we understand better than anyone the importance of creating a safe, secular space for people to explore their ideas, identities, and values. Youth should be celebrated, not shamed, for asking honest questions. https://www.atheistsunited.org/events/ssr7grh9c8uzfyh7o64xcutyzg4mkg-d2ayr-zrep3-37pkx-wzlp3-yr2j7-a82jr-fe3ch-clk73-kp5gt-y2y59

Thursdays: 3-5p, Venice/Santa Monica Take Back Our Streets Weekly Protest, No I.C.E.Corner of Lincoln & Rose; bring signs and noise-makers. https://www.mobilize.us/indivisiblewestsidela/event/893106/

1st Thursday, 6-8p, Justice Not Jails, has switched to a virtual meeting. zoom.us/j/529548178 You can also call in by dialing: 301 715 8592 US Meeting ID: 529 548 17. RSVP to Larry Foy at: Lfoy@im4humanintegrity.org.

Thursdays: 5:30-7p, Operation Ally Weekly Social Justice Conference Call, fb.com/justadvocacy  advocacyproject.org (888) 407-4101 Join the Operation Ally weekly zoom conference call to gain insight into the issues of systemic oppression, organize into collaborative efforts and strategize the dismantling of these systems. Be a part of a community that supports you as we mobilize for change. facebook.com/events/200763851083819/

Every other Thursday, 6:30-8p, Looking At Masculinity And Patriarchy (LAMP) LAMP is an affinity space offered by AWARE-LA of white, male-presenting folks (however anyone is invited) where we discuss how your male-presenting gender role and socialization impacts the ways you are showing up (or not showing up) in the fight for an abolitionist future. Via zoom:  For more information and to register, email: lampteam@tutanota.com.

Every Friday, 9a: Action Hour for Palestine.  https://afsc.org/events/action-hour-palestine

First Fridays: A City Lights Reading Series. 5p. Admission is free. City Lights and Beyond Baroque co-present. Check the website for event details. https://citylights.com/events/first-fridays-a-city-lights- reading-series-2/  Beyond Baroque is a leading independent Literary Arts Center dedicated to expanding the public’s knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Through the years, Beyond Baroque has played muse to the Venice Beats, the burgeoning Punk movement and visiting scholars. Beyond Baroque, 681 N. Venice Blvd, Venice, CA 90291, Ph: 310-822-3006, Fax: 310-821-0256, info@beyondbaroque.org Made possible by support from the City Lights Foundation

Fridays: Interfaith Communities United for Justice & Peace forum, 7:30-9:30a, virtual meeting on zoom. For details and to prevent zoom-bombing, contact communications@icujp.org for an invitation and instructions.

Fridays 5p, Vigil for Palestine, San Pedro CA. Join CODEPINK at the corner of 13th and Gaffey St., in front of Vons.

Saturdays: Crenshaw Farmers Market, 10a-3p, 3650 Martin Luther King Blvd. offers fresh produce and artisan goods. Ties into the mall’s health initiative promoting wellness in the Crenshaw community. This farmers’ market has re-opened!  Contact Sustainable Economic Enterprises: www.seela.org for other farmer’s markets that are also continuing with physical distancing (in Echo Park, Hollywood, Atwater Village and on Central Avenue in South LA).

Saturdays: KEEP SHOWING UP, in front of Culver City City Hall, 11a-12:30p. Sign up and/or invite friends here: https://mobilize.us/s/d0VMtk.

Saturdays: Public Speaker meeting Series 10a, Hosted by the Chicago Chapter of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization; join via Zoom.  Email for details: Sponsored by the Chicago Chapter of The International Marxist-Humanist Organization Email: arise@imhojournal.org

Saturdays: LA Ecovillage Tours: Usually twice monthly, 10:30a-1p. Our regular in-person tours are 75% outside within LAEV. Reservations required: 213-738-1254 or crsp@igc.org. Tour only:  $15 to $25 (self-selected sliding scale ok; cash or checks made out to “CRSP” accepted at the door. Time dollars 2.5 hours accepted. Local currency?). Vaccinated people only please. Masks encouraged during indoor tour stops. More info and LAEV events: laecovillage.org/home/tours/ and laecovillage.org/category/events/.

Saturday dialogues, AWARE-LA White anti-racist gathering. Saturday Dialogue is a gathering for white anti-racists who want to discuss issues of identity, community, privilege and racism in our lives with the intention to strengthen our practice as anti-racists in alliances, relationships, and interactions with people of color. Regular, recurring dialogues throughout the year focus on the intersections of multiple identities, including Race and Class, Sexuality and Race, and Gender and Race. We strongly encourage you to attend a Saturday Dialogue Orientation before attending a Saturday Dialogue. You must register for each space each time you want to attend. First Saturday Dialogue – 10:30a – 12:45p, Third Sunday Dialogue – 3-5p, Register online via https://www.awarela.org/saturday-dialogue

https://portside.org/2026-08-30/dark-horse-demands-editors-quit-union-join-management-or-take-pay-cut

The Dark Horse Workers United union, which announced itself earlier this year and was recognized by Dark Horse Comics shortly afterwards, last week posted a series of statements challenging the company. They state:

“Dark Horse leadership is attempting to reduce union membership by claiming supervisory status for Senior Editors, who have never been allowed management roles. Since the Voluntary Recognition Agreement has been signed, DHWU has been working in good faith with Dark Horse Comics to take next steps toward contract negotiations, but that good faith has not been reciprocated. Our Senior Editors, who have collectively brought over 100 years of dedication to creating some of your favorite comics, are now in the crosshairs. As of now, Senior Editors are not supervisors, but Dark Horse is hoping to sidestep this by giving them supervisory responsibilities and acting as if they were there the whole time.”

“This week, Senior Editors were given ‘job clarifications’ that entirely changed their job descriptions. If they don’t agree to take on management tasks and sacrifice their union eligibility, they will be demoted and receive a significant pay cut. DHWU will fight for our amazing senior editors, and we call on Dark Horse to join us in good-faith negotiations. No more underhanded attempts to reduce our union membership. The herd stands strong!”

Publisher’s Weekly reported that an organizing committee member told them that if senior editors did not accept the new supervisory role, the pay cut would be around $10,000. Dark Horse Comics told them that “The agreement recognizes that, under the National Labor Relations Act, statutory supervisors are not eligible for union representation. We remain committed to working together in good faith throughout the collective bargaining process.”

Dark Horse Workers United held a protest against union-busting at Milwaukie Waterfront Park, saying “hear from the Senior Editors themselves, union members, and local leaders about the importance of protecting the labour rights of all our coworkers” and asked supporters to dress up as their favorite characters.

Dark Horse Demands Editors Quit Union, Join Management Or Take Pay Cut

     People’s World covered the event, reporting that a union committee member opened the rally, saying that Dark Horse Comics management was “willing to threaten the jobs and careers of our Senior Editors to gain the upper hand and continue to deny Dark Horse Employees a voice. This displays a disregard for our Union’s collective action and goals for a democratic workplace that treats workers with respect, not as pawns in Management’s desire to hold power and deny equity… We, the membership of Dark Horse Workers United, demand that Senior Editors be recognized as frontline workers, as union members, and retain their current pay.”

While Angelita Morillo, the Portland City Councilperson from District 3, reminded the protesters that Portland is a union-friendly city and called on Dark Horse leadership to put their money where their mouth is. “Dark Horse Comics prides itself on creative ownership, creative freedom, and shared profits, but they’ve turned their back on their own workers. We need Dark Horse to come to the table and negotiate a fair deal, Portland will not accept anything less.”

And after the speeches, attendees marched past the Dark Horse office with cosplay, chants and signs such as “I Bust Ghosts Not Unions”, “Villains Should Be Fictional” and “Dark Horse Heel Turn”. Those who dressed in costumes were given Dark Horse Workers United T-shirts. Even at a union march in comics, it seems, there is swag.

     About Rich Johnston: Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of comic books The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne and Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from The Union Club on Greek Street, shops at Gosh, Piranha and Forbidden Planet. Father of two daughters, Amazon associate, political cartoonist.

by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies​

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the United States spent $21 trillion on its military between 2001 and 2024 (in constant 2024 dollars), equal to the combined military spending of the next eighteen countries. Iran barely made that list at all, spending only 2% of what the US did, and SIPRI estimated Iran’s 2025 military budget at only $7.5 billion. So how is Iran holding its own against the multi-trillion-dollar US war machine?

A critical difference between the US war on Iran and previous US and allied bombing campaigns against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and now Gaza, is that the US and Israel have failed to destroy Iran’s air defense system and cannot fly warplanes over Iran without risking the loss of planes and pilots to enemy fire. Iran has wisely built its critical defense infrastructure underground, with arms factories, weapons stockpiles and launch sites sheltered safely beneath its impenetrable mountainous terrain.

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed on March 10th that the US had “total air dominance” over Iran, but that is still not true. Instead, US forces are mainly attacking Iran with stand-off weapons from outside Iran’s borders, radically depleting US stockpiles of extraordinarily expensive weapons.

Even though US warplanes avoid entering Iranian airspace, the Congressional Research Service has reported that the US has lost at least four F-15 fighters, an F-35, an A-10, seven KC-135 refueling planes, an E-6 AWACS plane, two MC-130J special operations aircraft, a helicopter, a high-altitude Triton drone and 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones.

By contrast, during the full-scale invasion of Iraq in 2003, US forces lost only one A-10 and six helicopters, after systematically destroying much of Iraq’s air defenses through a low-intensity bombing campaign conducted under cover of the so-called no-fly zones, which the US, UK and France unilaterally imposed after the First Gulf War in 1991.

In 2003, the US Armed Forces dropped 13,000 tons of bombs and missiles on Iraq in the first 30 days of the war. But only 800 tons, or 6%, of those munitions, were cruise missiles and other stand-off weapons like the ones the US is now relying on against Iran.

The US has already depleted a third of its stand-off and air defense weapons stocks, including JASSM and Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-2, -3 and -6 anti-aircraft missiles, as well as half its stocks of Patriot and THAAD interceptors and the new Precision Strike Missiles that are replacing the shorter-range ATACMs. These missiles range in price from $700,000 each for JASSMs up to $12 million each for THAAD interceptors, and many will take years to replace.

So the US is using multi-million dollar missiles that are irreplaceable in the short term to try, and often fail, to intercept Shahed drones that cost Iran between $20,000 and $50,000 each. This is a stark contrast from Iraq in 2003, when the US weapon of choice was its 500 lb. GBU-12 Paveway II laser-guided bomb, which cost only $22,000, and the 7,000 bombs used to attack Iraq were easily restocked.

To make up for the Navy’s dwindling missile stocks in the war zone, the US is flying B-1 bombers from a British airbase at Fairford in England to fire Tomahawk missiles at Iran. So many planes are now flying from so far away to attack Iran that the US has also had to send dozens more aerial refueling planes to reinforce the sixty it already hadstationed in Israel.

The Russians have demonstrated in Ukraine that the capacity to quickly ramp up production of relatively inexpensive artillery shells and drones can be more critical in a war than spending trillions on big-ticket weapons programs. Meanwhile, the corrupt US military-industrial complex has built a gold-plated revolving door between the US arms industry, the Pentagon top brass and a captive, co-opted civilian government. It has produced ever more expensive weapons, but it has lost nearly every war it has fought.

The only wars the US has won since 1945 were three short wars to recover small neocolonial outposts in Grenada, Panama and Kuwait, as the US took advantage of the weakening of the Soviet Union in the 1980s. Otherwise, from Korea in the early 1950s to Iran today, the U.S. armed forces have lost every single war, while inflicting mass destruction on countries and people the US government claimed to be liberating. As the saying goes, “With friends like us, who needs enemies?”

Like many US industries, the post-Cold War US arms industry has become consolidated around a cabal of five firms(Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon (now RTX), General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman), whose continued growth depends on ever-greater profits from increasingly expensive warships, warplanes and weapons, while endless wars and “threats” serve to justify siphoning more and more of America’s national wealth into their coffers.

The US government and corporate media have told Americans for decades that these extraordinary military expenditures and endless wars are something to be proud of, and many Americans have swallowed this perverted myth of US military prowess. The Pentagon works hard to bolster its public image, spending $2 billion per year on recruitment and retention, and $1.14 billion on advertising contracts in 2023 alone.

But that narrative is beginning to crack. As with many aspects of the US political and economic system, more and more Americans are questioning what they have been taught about the US military, and veterans themselves are often the most outspoken critics.

Writing in Business Insider about the problems facing US military recruiters, Kelsey Baker reported that many veterans of the “Global War on Terror” now discourage their own children from joining the military. Three of the recruiters Baker spoke to said guns had been drawn on them by the parents of teenagers they were targeting for recruitment, and one recruiter recalled an irate parent calling him a “baby killer” and a government slave.

In Iran, the United States is caught between escalating a catastrophic, unwinnable war it should never have started and the urgent need to rethink the illegal, corrupt, policy of aggressive war it has pursued since 2001.

The September 11 attacks were carried out by 19 al-Qaeda hijackers—not by the countries that the United States went on to invade and occupy. Yet our leaders responded to those horrific crimes with a multi-trillion-dollar investment in new weapons and imperial military expansion—a decision driven by precisely the “unwarranted influence” of the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned against in his farewell speech in 1961.

US occupation forces in Afghanistan and Iraq were defeated by lightly-armed resistance forces defending their own countries. Yet  America’s leaders ignored their own failures and defeats, continuing to blindly climb the escalation ladder—first confronting Russia through the war in Ukraine and now taking on Iran in its own territory.

We should note that it was under Democratic administrations that the US backed a coup in Ukraine in 2014 and then rejected a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine in April 2022, while Trump, a Republican,  assassinated Iran’s top military leader in 2020 and launched wars on Iran, in cahoots with Israel, in 2025 and 2026. The US-Israeli genocide in Gaza, like the illegal occupation that spawned it, still enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, but not from the American people its members claim to represent.

Many Americans understood the dangers of the United States’ militarized response to the crimes of September 11th, 2001, even before the Pentagon embarked on its spending spree and unleashed mass destruction on country after country.

Chalmers Johnson wrote his prescient and widely-acclaimed book, Blowback, in 1999, explaining how US militarism and imperialism inevitably sow the seeds for cataclysmic events like the 9/11 attacks. He followed it  with three more books in his American Empire Project before his death in 2010.

Former Nuremberg prosecutor Ben Ferencz told NPR a week after 9/11, “It is never a legitimate response to punish people who are not responsible for the wrong done…We must make a distinction between punishing the guilty and punishing others. If you simply retaliate en masse by bombing Afghanistan, let us say, or the Taliban, you will kill many people who don’t approve of what has happened.”

By the time the United States was preparing to invade Iraq in 2003, international outrage was so widespread that it produced the largest global street protests in history, with up to 36 million people protesting in 60 countries. But US leaders ignored the world’s rejection of their lies, both at the UN and in the streets, and insisted on pretending that Iraq had chemical, biological and even nuclear weapons, and was somehow responsible for the crimes of September 11th.

The brainwashing of US occupation troops in Iraq was so complete that, even three years into the war, in February 2006, 85% of US occupation forces in Iraq told a Zogby poll that their main mission there was to “retaliate for Saddam’s role in the 9/11 attacks.”

The lies, brainwashing, torture, civilian massacres and other war crimes that have corrupted the last 25 years of American military history—together with the outrageous cost—have turned the American people squarely against more new wars. But incredibly, they have failed to persuade Members of Congress to exercise their constitutional responsibility to stop feeding the out-of-control US military-industrial complex with record amounts of money, weapons and false pretexts for war.

Trump has requested a record $1.5 trillion in military spending for FY2027. The House-passed NDAA authorizes $1.15 trillion in discretionary military spending, with additional funding outside the NDAA bringing the administration’s overall military-spending plan to $1.5 trillion. The Senate has so far blocked its version of the NDAA.

The draft NDAA also includes unprecedented provisions to further integrate US and Israeli weapons production and intelligence sharing.

Trump’s frustration over the US-Israeli failure to defeat Iran stems from the same delusion of US military supremacy that infected his predecessors, especially since the end of the Cold War.

But in his 2018 book Losing Military Supremacy: the Myopia of American Strategic Planning, Andrei Martyanov warned that huge US investments in aircraft-carriers and other big-ticket warships and warplanes were rapidly being rendered obsolete by a new generation of Russian and Chinese missiles capable of traveling much faster and farther than the most advanced missiles in the US arsenal.

Now Iranian missiles and drones have fundamentally altered the military balance in the Middle East. They have driventhe US military out of its bases in the Persian Gulf and are forcing US aircraft carriers to stay 1,000 miles from the coast of Iran. US Central Command has had to relocate its regional headquarters from Qatar to Jordan, but Iran has attacked it there too.

Now the United States is repositioning more of its forces in the Middle East to Israel. This raises the stakes, and increases the risks, of any future escalation in the war on Iran, and it further expands the entangling US military alliance with the genocidal state of Israel, which most Americans now oppose.

On August 8, Iran reiterated six points from the Memorandum of Understanding that Trump already signed on June 17, and insisted that the United States must comply with them before it will reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

Western commentators have described these as tough new conditions, but they are neither new nor tougher than before. They simply make explicit what was already implicit—for example, by specifically mentioning Palestine and Yemen, whereas the original memorandum merely called for ending the war “on all fronts, including Lebanon.” The United States and Israel started this war, and the United States has the power to end it by negotiating in good faith, based on the memorandum it already agreed to.

The American people have sacrificed enormously to pay for this obsolete, overpriced, and ineffective war machine. Many have paid with their lives, their limbs or their health. All of us pay the opportunity cost of our leaders’ warmongering and reckless squandering of our national wealth, leaving us without the basic support systems that our neighbors in other developed countries take for granted, from universal free healthcare and quality public education to living wages and paid vacation time.

The US government’s corrupt priorities leave our most serious problems unaddressed, while undermining global efforts to address them, from the destruction of the climate and the natural world to the ever-present danger of nuclear war.

As this year’s primary election results suggest, most Americans want a society that cares for its people, with a government that addresses our most urgent needs. That must surely include dismantling this failed, corrupt, out-of-control and absurdly expensive war machine.

Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies are the authors of War In Ukraine: Making Sense of a Senseless Conflict, now in a revised, updated 2nd edition. Medea Benjamin is the cofounder of CODEPINK for Peace, and the author of several books, including Inside Iran: The Real History and Politics of the Islamic Republic of Iran.  Nicolas J. S. Davies is an independent journalist, a researcher for CODEPINK and the author of Blood on Our Hands: The American Invasion and Destruction of Iraq.