glen brown

A writer must “know and have an ever-present consciousness that this world is a world of fools and rogues… tormented with envy, consumed with vanity; selfish, false, cruel, cursed with illusions… He should free himself of all doctrines, theories, etiquettes, politics…” —Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?). “The nobility of the writer's occupation lies in resisting oppression, thus in accepting isolation” —Albert Camus (1913-1960). “What are you gonna do” —Bertha Brown (1895-1987).

Thursday, August 10, 2017

"No U.S. President, certainly not Trump, should have sole authority to initiate an unprovoked nuclear war," wrote Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)

“…Reacting to Trump's ‘crazy’ comments and to the growing fear that the U.S. is inching closer to nuclear war, activists and lawmakers urged Congress to revive legislation that would strip the executive branch of the power to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike. ‘No U.S. President, certainly not Trump, should have sole authority to initiate an unprovoked nuclear war,’ wrote Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.)…

“In May, as Common Dreams reported, more than 500,000 people signed a petition expressing support for the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017, a bill introduced by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) that, if passed, would bar the president from launching a nuclear strike without congressional authorization…

“Speaking at a memorial event on Wednesday, Tomihisa Taue, the mayor of Nagasaki, highlighted the ‘increasingly tense’ international situation and argued that all nations should do away with nuclear weapons. ‘A strong sense of anxiety is spreading across the globe that in the not too distant future these weapons could actually be used again,’ Taue said. ‘The nuclear threat will not end as long as nations continue to claim that nuclear weapons are essential for their national security.’”