Among the slogans projected above the stage at the concert.

Pink Floyd was not a group I followed lo these many years, although a few of their songs are familiar. Ed made a CD mix of music to accompany our trips to view total eclipses of the sun, so of course Pink Floyd’s “Eclipse” made the cut. “Money” was a hit single in the U.S. back in the 70s so it did get into my memory bank, although I didn’t give it enough of a listen to respond with a comment like this one on the song’s YouTube page:

Kids thinking of joining the military: Take a copy of the Wall Street Journal, any high tech weapons trade magazines, and this song playing through your earbuds. Sitting in the closest legal parking area, facing Raytheon Technologies, Northrup Grumman, Beretta, Westinghouse, etc business parks, factories, airplane hangars… check out the prices of these bad boys’ stocks. …Tell me we went to ‘war’ (against) Afghanistan, Iraq, dozens of known & unnamed countries & entire regions to ‘defend our country’, to ‘keep us free’….

Now it’s thanks to Veterans For Peace (VFP) that I’ve had a full introduction through Roger Waters’ “This Is Not A Drill” concert tour. He’s had a solo career for years, but does a lot of Pink Floyd songs and throws some history of the group into this otherwise massively political show. VFP was invited to have a literature table and received a block of tickets to various shows around the country. Happily for Ed and me, our VFP friends here in NYC allowed us to join them for a Madison Square Garden concert. And kudos to Roger Waters for giving them and other activists this outreach opportunity.

You can find all kinds of video and reviews of This Is Not A Drill on the internet, like this pretty thorough review from the Boston concert mentioning his support of VFP. This review from The Times of Israel is interesting because Waters support of Palestinians inspires protests from some pro-Israel activists.

If you have seen or read about the concert you’ll find a lot to agree with, although if you don’t see the concert live you do miss out on the technological spectacle that goes along with it. What war tax resister would not appreciate seeing the huge projected images of Reagan and all following presidents tagged with “War Criminal” for the thousands that were killed on their orders during their respective administrations, with Biden “War Criminal just getting started”.

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

I might not agree with everything Waters says, but I was especially impressed with his adamant speech about the insanity of nuclear weapons as he introduced the first encore, “Two Suns in the Sunset.” With his platform, he informs thousands about the Doomsday Clock, now set frighteningly at 100 seconds to midnight. Included on the YouTube page with a solo version of “Two Suns in the Sunset”, he says:

That we allow Nuclear Weapons to exist in a world controlled by deranged sociopaths is, in itself, a deranged arrangement.
We are many they are few.
We could just say no, to the whole MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) insanity.
It makes zero sense and is potentially omnicidal.

While Waters sings “Two Suns in the Sunset” a video projects images of nuclear destruction. Members of the New York City government and Emergency Management Office need tickets to a Waters concert. In July 2022 they released a public service announcement telling us how to survive a nuclear attack. The PSA has gotten thousands of views, mostly because it has been mocked from start to finish. The New York Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons posted a “correction” video in response.

Waters says, “We are many they are few”. There are thousands attending This Is Not A Drill concerts. How many of them turn their cheers for his plea against nuclear weapons into action? Somehow this reminds me of a headline in The Onion years ago to the effect of “If one more person had come to the demonstration, the war would have ended.” Perhaps if one more person openly resisted war taxes….

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post This Is Not A Drill first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post This Is Not A Drill appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

More recently he’s worked with a friend’s archeology company on some digs in the east, and in June he joined a survey in New Hampshire. Arriving at the site, he was surprised to discover that it was on a US Space Force base near Manchester. I, for one, had put that previous president’s space force out of my mind, so I was amazed to hear it is alive and well (I fear) in New Hampshire. Every day when the dig team got to the gates they were screened by fully armed, ready-for-combat guards who deployed bomb detectors to scan the underside of their cars, raising the question “what the heck is going on here?”

That base is called the New Boston Space Force Station, which took over an air force base in the summer of 2020. It is one of about 14 space force bases or stations around the country — plus one in Greenland. Presumably the funding for this archeology survey came right from the space force budget. We could hope the dig turned up something to stop the station’s development.

Photo: Global Network website. Watch the website for October’s “Keep Space for Peace Week” of actions. http://space4peace.org/

Feeling bad about having put the space force out of my mind, it reminded me to check out the website for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, that excellent organization coordinated by Bruce Gagnon. The Global Network’s website is packed with important (and frightening) articles and information about the militarization and exploitation of space. I also happened on an August blog celebrating their 30^th anniversary, so here’s a big shout out of congratulations to Bruce and everyone who has been part of their work over the years.

Photo by Ed Hedemann, Aug. 2, 2022.

Recently I participated in a few demonstrations calling for nuclear abolition — weapons and power. On August 2, we were at the UN, which is hosting the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference, and took our demands to “stop talking and start disarming!” to the US Mission. On the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki there were more vigils and press conferences. The Japanese and alternative press attended; the US mainstream media was nowhere to be seen.

Our anti-nuclear actions were grounded on saving life on earth, but between my brother’s story and the Global Network’s website I was given a wake-up call to what is happening in space. Karl Grossman’s article, “The Space Race is Going Nuclear” was especially enlightening, and he has also written a book on the topic. In addition, he is the author of a Beyond Nuclear handbook, The U.S. Space Force and the dangers of nuclear power and nuclear war in space (PDF). I appreciated the section headed “Why do we need a Space Force?” with the answer: “We don’t.”

My war tax resistance was inspired by hearing Dr. Helen Caldicott speak about the dangers of nuclear weapons. More than 40 years later the dangers are greater and the powers that be are constantly scheming and scanning for their next frontier to fight over. In this case, if they have their way, it really could be the “final frontier.” We have no choice but to keep up our resistance to militarism in all its forms and from the depths of the ocean to the moon and beyond.

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post It’s Up to Us to Make Space for Peace first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post It’s Up to Us to Make Space for Peace appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Today I gathered my patience and decided to try calling the IRS again. I can get pretty frustrated being on hold for minutes on end, so I try to remember that IRS employees are not the enemy but end up being the fall guys for governmental dysfunction. As war tax resisters (at least those of us who file) it is also frustrating that we feel our message gets stuck at the IRS, but the topic did not come up in this call. I just wanted to know what happened to my return, and I know others in our network have similar questions.

From a 2017 article, “We’ve Called the IRS Over 10,000 Times“. It’s probably only gotten worse.

After an hour+ on hold (as they warned in the initial recording) a human actually answered. She was friendly, and I explained the basic problem. “Can I put you on hold 5 – 7 minutes while I review the account?” She did return, probably after the full 7 minutes, but didn’t know much more. She asked if I e-filed and I said no, so “Can I put you on hold 5 – 7 minutes while I review the account again?” I desperately asked if I could get hold of her if I got cut off. Nope, you have to call the same general number again and basically start over.

Probably the full 7 minutes later she came back, and finally I had an answer!

“Problems were encountered, and it will be 16 weeks before your return posts.” Her response seemed to imply that it was a problem with my return, so I said I assume these problems are due to  the IRS backlog. She affirmed my suspicion and said they had begun to work on my return July 11, but “don’t expect it to post before the 16 weeks are up.”

I broached one more question with her about my misapplied estimated payments, but she said I’d have to call Collections about that and gave me another number. I’ll have to wait til my patience reserves build up again before calling them.

The only relation to my resistance is that I continue to choose to file on paper so that I can enclose my annual letter and annoy “the system.” Now the system is so dysfunctional that my effort to annoy may be biting me in the butt. I’m not sure there’s a way around this except to tap into greater patience reserves than I normally have.

— Post by Ruth Benn

The post “Problems Were Encountered” first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

The post “Problems Were Encountered” appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Image of NATO protest in Chicago from Steve Rhodes on Flickr.

The revolving doors of the Pentagon opened up this week to the 8 largest U.S. weapons manufacturers and the war strategists to come to the table. They were making plans  for a war in Ukraine that may continue for years. It was as if a dream that had been brewing for years appeared to be coming true. The obscenity of military spending in the U.S., feverishly gobbling up over half of federal income taxes for decades has become even more perverse in the last few years as the pandemic has magnified the denial of the resources for people’s needs and our home in which we depend.

In February 2020, the U.S. Army published an article Interoperability: Embrace it or Fail! that was cowritten by leaders in Australian, French, British and U.S. militaries. The paper argues for the need to have weapon systems that would be standardized amongst allied nations and ends with a future scenario. “It is now 2035 and you find yourself deployed to a theater within the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command general area of operations where tensions are high. Your previous experience in Europe highlighted a disjointed approach towards sustainment and logistics yielding sub-optimal solutions. You remain hopeful that NATO and ABCANZ (America, Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand) nations have learned from previous challenges and are better prepared for LSCO (Large Scale Combat Operations) in your new theater.”

Long time war tax resister Don Timmerman at NATO protest.

In another part of the document it speaks of gauging levels of ambition: “Interoperability requires nations to spend money, take risk and cede sovereignty in order to increase legitimacy, cohesion, mass and agility.” That seemed to have been the previous U.S. presidential administrations continued refrain to NATO members that they needed to pay more of their GDP towards defense spending.

Following World War II, many western European countries’ military budgets invested more of their taxes or collective resources towards the needs of their populations and less on military spending. Quite dramatically the world has witnessed a reversal of that trend with Germany making a dramatic jump from #7 in military spending to #3 and reversing its ban on exporting weapons. In the article “Waltzing to Armageddon,” Chris Hedges points out how U.S. military spending will help recruit Eastern European nations to join NATO and will fast track conversion to NATO weapons and technology. Long standing neutral nations of Sweden and Finland are considering joining NATO–adding additional impetus for a global war.

Image from Catholic Worker protest of NATO in Chicago.

While some may have notions of U.S. exports being McDonalds and Levis, the number 1 export of the U.S. has long been weapons. Now it appears as if we are attempting to convince our allies to adopt the McDonaldization of our militaries and create standard systems, munitions, and fuels. The only country to use nuclear weapons is calling for new standardization and efficiencies of delivering death.

It was disheartening to begin the week with news that the U.S. was going to vastly expand the types of weapons it was sending to Ukraine. It seems like the response to death and destruction is to send more weapons and money even after the Biden administration has already spent $2.4 billion on Ukraine since taking office. The alarm bells go off when Defense News reports that U.S. lawmakers proposal of $13.6 billion for weapons and training “was like putting Biden’s proposal on steroids.” 

Chrissy Kirchhoefer inside Obama Headquarters in Chicago as part of NATO protests

The wicked irony of escalating a war when many are celebrating Passover, Ramadan, and Holy Week. All the rituals are marked by personal reflection and communal coming together to share nourishment. The rituals of war tax resisters coming together for Tax Day with War Resister’s League pie charts to educate about U.S. military spending have been scaled back during the pandemic. The last “regular” Tax Day in 2019 coincided with holy week yet the events of the world have changed us all. What has not changed in these 2 years and has only increased is the amount of U.S. taxpayer money going towards military spending.

While some have questioned the increasing amounts of our collective resources going towards the Pentagon especially with the removal of troops in Afghanistan after 20 years and the lack of resources during the pandemic, war fever has been catching and spreading the world over, trying to rob us of our money, “others” lives and our collective imaginations. 

Catholic Worker preform works of mercy as part of NATO and works of war protest.

Many will continue to be out in coming days to reclaim our imaginings for another world that does not promote or fund the slaughter of innocents. Go public in your opposition of paying for war by signing NWTRCC’s sign on statement, find inspiration from others taking action with the newly formed War Industry Resisters Network that are encouraging actions at places that profit from war around Tax Day to Earth Day and let us know of actions that you take so we can share them with NWTRCC and the annual Tax Day Report. Know that everyday is a great day to speak out about military spending and that there is a vast worldwide network of others who share your concerns!

Chrissy Kirchhoefer

The post Pentagon Spending: Efficient at Destroying but Inoperable for Healing Our World first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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Image from Kings Bay Plowshares nuclear disarmament action

Some who have taken that threat seriously in the U.S. include members of the Plowshares movement. One of the participants, Dan Berrigan explained that we do not have peace because we do not have people who are willing to take similar risks as those who take up arms and kill. Dan’s words at the trial of the nuclear disarmament action still resonate: “The only message I have to the world is: We are not allowed to kill innocent people. We are not allowed to be complicit in murder. We are not allowed to be silent while preparations for mass murder proceed in our name, with our money, secretly, It’s terrible for me to live in a time where I have nothing to say to human beings except ‘Stop Killing.’ There are other beautiful things that I would love to be saying to people.” 

Image from flickr of the seventh seal

War devalues all life. It attempts to make some lives seem dispensable and others elevated. It has been challenging to witness images coming out of Ukraine and Russia and not feel one’s own life cheapened. Or to wonder about bombings elsewhere in the world that are not given attention. While it has long been said that truth is the first casualty in war, it is difficult to get reliable information especially with social media and the possibility of misinformation.  

In recent years and with the rise of social media there has emerged the notion of the attention economy. It looks at what we can perceive and what actions we can take; sometimes “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” The stories that we tell have great power and those in positions of power know that. The big lie that underlies war is the myth of scarcity; that people must compete. 

One of the images that stood out over the past week were of Ukrainian men who were at a train station. The men were prevented from leaving, only women and children were allowed on the train. There was so much desperation and weariness expressed in the faces. They were informed they must remain and take up arms that were largely provided by U.S. taxpayer money.  

Sometimes it is necessary to simplify the message in order to take action. The definition of economy simply means care of our home. It is about being responsible with the resources in our care. Some call into question the right of nuclear weapons to exist let alone to build a newer generation of more usable nuclear weapons. We have not even figured out how to clean up the first of the nuclear weapons waste that lies in landfill that is on fire near the confluence of the largest rivers in the U.S. Now there is news of a fire at the largest nuclear facility in Europe and sending the world economy into a more volatile position.

I was thinking about war tax resisters who attempt to live in a world of their deepest imaginings. Those who realize that insatiable is not sustainable an who state that war is a racquet and nuclear weapons are insane. Who try to create the world in which we want to live and not allow the devaluing of life. Who realize as was expressed in the last line in the movie Don’t Look Up: “We really had everything, didn’t we?”

Post by Chrissy Kirchhoefer

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The post Keep it Simple – Stop Killing appeared first on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

Opening Pandora’s box image from wikimedia commons

One significant finding in the report was that many of the wealthiest in the U.S. often do not have offshore accounts because they already have enough legal ways to enable them to avoid paying taxes. So while many foreign heads of state faced pressure from their constituents, people in the U.S. did not seem fazed by the tax loopholes for the elite as evidenced in the widespread disclosures of former president Trump’s taxes. In one of the few years he paid taxes, 2016, Trump had a tax liability of $750, a fraction of what millions of people actually working in the U.S. pay per year. Another significant finding was that some of the largest beneficiaries of these modern regulations have been the narcotraffickers, arms dealers, oligarchs, and those now involved in cryptocurrency.

In the article, “The Pandora Papers Expose the Secret Financial Dealings of the Global Elite, author Greg Miller stated, “In the South Dakota case, it’s an instance where financial lobbyists, trust companies, and administrators found receptive members of Congress in South Dakota – receptive government officials – and over time kept proposing new laws that would make South Dakota more and more secretive, more and more attractive to foreign individuals who wanted to put money into trusts where their ownership of assets would not be revealed, would be hidden, where they could move money away from heavier tax jurisdictions overseas. And lo and behold, you end up with an offshore haven onshore in the United States in Sioux Falls.”

One of the beneficiaries of this system that went “off shore” himself and with his company was Eric Prince and Blackwater. The Intercept provides a recap of his recent endeavors: “Prince, the founder of Blackwater, is the brother of Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and was one of the former president’s most ardent supporters. The scion of a wealthy and politically connected family, Prince has courted controversy since the war in Iraq, when Blackwater won major contracts to support the U.S. occupation. Blackwater was banned from Iraq in 2007 following the Nisour Square massacre, in which its contractors killed 17 Iraqis and wounded 20 more. Prince later sold Blackwater and moved to the UAE, where he built a secret mercenary force for the de facto ruler of the federation of seven Arab Gulf states, Mohammed bin Zayed, known as MBZ.”

It was recently revealed that the U.S., Israel, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), and Bahrain were conducting “war games” for the first time at the Red Sea. It was the first time that these countries came together. It was the first time that the latter countries acknowledged the state of Israel and allowed Israel to purchase weapon systems from the U.S. with little scrutiny. It was suggested that the alliance between the nations was created in the likes of the NATO with its justification as “threats” from Iran.

The wealthy elite profit the most from conflicts while those with little pay the most in terms of their resources and their lives. The Pandora Papers name the elites who have avoided paying taxes by establishing untraceable trusts in South Dakota. What was clearly confirmed from the papers was that there is a two-tiered system that stretches world wide. One group profits while the other group pays. Fortunately, others are discovering that they do not have to pay for the destruction of the world as dictated by the U.S. military. The other day, a statement was spreading on the internet that read, “Decided that I will no longer be paying taxes. What are they gonna do, tax me more? Go ahead, I won’t pay those either. Oh, I’m going to prison? The one paid for with my tax dollars? Sorry, Didn’t pay em. Now, there is no prison. I am at least 3 steps ahead of the government at all times.” I hope that message gets out of the box and goes viral.

The post Unpacking Pandora’s Box: The Tax Gift That Keeps On Giving first appeared on National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee.

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