The Assassinations of Indigenous Leaders in Guatemala Trigger Fear as Political Cycle Begins

This never stops.  This story starts with a surreal terror and then back tracks through a recent history of the struggle.  It is comprehensive and enlightening. I remember in the 90's there was a lot of solidarity with Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua.  All these battles were largely lost and now few seem to care.  It is my hope that we can remember these struggles for liberation for what they are.



 Follow Jeff Abbot he is based in Guatemala and is a reliable source
https://truthout.org/articles/assassinations-of-indigenous-leaders-in-guatemala-trigger-fear/

I’m a Photojournalist and I’ve Been Working with Policy Makers. Should I Feel Dirty?

A friend of mine shared their excitement over the local showing of The Long Night that is co-sponsored by the local police department.  The event is wrapped in a a popular law enforcement meme, Human Trafficing.  My first inclination is "since when do the police do anything right?"  So I looked into it.  Well I still pretty much see it that way but that is not what's going on here.  Documentary film maker Tim Matsui is on a mission to make a difference in policy in addition to film making.  I applaud the effort and if as was the case in the state of Washington it moves toward de-criminalization of prostitution that's a good thing.  The title of the article he wrote about his odyssey sums up a very good question and the answer is sometime it doesn't make you "dirty".

Over coffee one day, Richey described his vision of King County owning a leadership role on this issue. He was working on an “end demand” program, a de facto decriminalization of sex workers paired with a targeting of sex buyers.

This quasi “Nordic Model” is a marked improvement from the traditional American approach to prostitution and lies roughly in the middle of the political spectrum of sex work. However, its efficacy relies not only on prosecutorial and law enforcement changes, but also on a strong social services safety net; something that the King County region is still building.
Over in the Sheriff’s office, things had shifted too. Both the Prosecutor and the Sheriff were now saying “we’re not going to arrest our way out of this.”

Read full article here:

https://medium.com/vantage/i-m-a-photojournalist-and-i-ve-been-working-with-policy-makers-should-i-feel-dirty-562c9537b605

The Farm Bill -- Before the gavel, the verdict is in

The debate about the farm bill is mostly about Snap and rightly so.  It is one of the last vestiges of the welfare state that the Republicans have battled successfully to destroy for forty years. Snap accounts for 75% of the $860 billion farm bill budget. There is a growing, popular movement that we are part of that wants healthy food but big ag by design overproduces corn and milk and soy and wheat and sugar and are desperate to continue because they are deeply invested.  The progressives and visionaries have moved beyond just complaining about a harmful system, we are visualizing a new way and putting science to work to prove it.  We are no longer hippies that "believe" in organic vegetables, but have matured to conclusively prove that action to repair the harm is imperative and and not only possible but doable.  However governmental policy support for these better practises in the farm bill are minuscule (and shrinking) compared to the rest of ag support policy.  The result of years of official policy is so much milk and so much corn that we have to have trade wars to force it on the rest of the world.  We have to put corn syrup in everything. We have to include extra cheese in the crust of unhealthy frozen pizza just to get rid of the excess milk. The list of unhealthy food in markets that is a direct result of policy is endless and growing despite our brilliant new (and not so new) ideas.

The fight over the safety net program of SNAP has really dominated the discussion, even justifiably. And it’s also the biggest expenditure under this bill, by a huge margin; it’s like 75 to 80 percent of the spending. But lots and lots and lots of things that impact the way our food system operates come from the Farm Bill. I think if you’re not involved in farming, people don’t realize the extent to which the government is involved in this industry, in this marketplace.

In conclusion (realistically) the snap program and supports for farmers markets that helps people get food does not directly or sufficiently help get rid of the ag surplus so it is in fact a logical fight for republicans that want to end welfare and all other good but competing programs. The writing is on the wall.  Snap will end if not in this bill then by a thousand cuts.  Competing memes for a better way forward for real food and sustainable farms, healthy children and solving the problem of degenerative diseases such as diabetes, largely caused by diet, not to mention the survival of the planet will also be expunged from this bill,if not today the over the next 7 years as government/corporate policy continues to diverge in the extreme from the interests of the people.

You can listen to the interview here

https://truthout.org/audio/lots-of-things-that-impact-our-food-system-come-from-the-farm-bill/