Spring 2022 Missouri Legislature Voting Bills & Ukraine

On Apr. 26 RadioActive Magazine features two things:  A discussion of voting bills in the current Missouri legislature and a discussion of the Russo-Ukraine war and US military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen.

Spring 2022 Missouri Legislature voting bills with Senator Greg Razer.  

Radio Active Magazine regular Dave Mitchell has a return guest Sen. Greg Razer, who discusses voting bills in the current Missouri legislature.

Discussion focuses on Missouri legislature actions on redistricting and a variety of Republican sponsored

voting bill restrictions.  These bills are part of hundreds of introduced bills across the U.S. in response to the

myth of widespread voter fraud in the Nov., 2020, presidential election.

During the Spring 2022 legislative session, Missouri House and Senate committees have held hearings on a

wide variety of voting bills, including provisions sunsetting the use of electronic ballot marking devices by 2023,

changes to guidelines for poll watchers, and a bill giving authority to the Missouri legislature to choose its own

electors for President in the event of fraud.

Senator Razer highlights the legislative deadlock on redrawing Missouri Congressional districts, with one

faction advocating for a radical redrawing of the 5th district in Kansas City to create a 7-1 Republican majority

in the U.S. House of Representatives.  A lack of resolution may lead to a decision by the courts prior to the August

primary.

The Spring 2022 Missouri legislative session is scheduled to end on May 13, and concerned citizens can access legislative

hearings and actions on the Missouri Legislature website.

The Russo-Ukraine war and US military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen

Radio Active Magazine regular Spencer Graves mentions a nonviolent protest at Whiteman Air Force Base roughly 60 miles southeast of Kansas City scheduled for April 30 (Saturday) by PeaceWorks Kansas City.  The host unit at Whiteman is the 509th Bomb Wing. They operate the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, which can fly combat missions directly from Missouri to deliver death and destruction to any target anywhere on earth.

Russian President Putin has threatened the use of nuclear weapons if sufficiently provoked in the current Russo-Ukrainian war. If only two cities are incinerated with nuclear weapons, it will be like the end of World War II: A major disaster for people living in and near the targets but no major consequences for people farther away. On the other hand, if it escalates to where the US and Russia use half their nuclear arsenals, it will likely loft so much smoke to the stratosphere that it will create a nuclear winter lasting years during which over 90 percent of humanity will starve to death if they do not die of something else sooner.

Whiteman Air Force Base also has pilots flying Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (or “drones”). Former drone pilot Dan Hale is in a federal prison today for sharing with the American public a classified document describing how 90 percent of people killed in recent drone strikes were not the intended target. None of the people killed in those drone strikes got a fair trial. Not one was informed of the charges against them. Not one had an opportunity to question any evidence against them. Instead, they were all tried and convicted in the court of public opinion, where the rules of evidence are whatever will maximize the power of those who control the money for the media.

The United States has enemies, because it has demonstrated such contempt for rule of law. One or two thousand civilians have been killed with US drone strikes. Noam Chomsky has discussed “worthy and unworthy victims“. The Ukrainians killed in the current Russo-Ukrainian war are “worthy victims”, because they are being killed by our current designated enemy, Russia. Spencer agrees the US should be concerned about the roughly 10 or 20 thousand people killed so far in that conflict and should help the Ukrainians with small hand carried anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles and improvised explosive devices that were so effective against the US in Iraq and against Russians and the US in Afghanistan. He also supports economic sanctions against Putin, Russian oligarchs and dark money shell companies by which people like them hide their wealth.

Spencer says we should not forget the “unworthy victims”, Afghans, Iraqis, and Yemenis, killed by military operations by the US or its allies. Over 100,000 and perhaps over a million Iraqis were killed by US-led operations there. The mainstream media rarely if ever reports on unworthy victims like Yemenis with the same intensity as worthy victims like Ukrainians. At most a few dozen of the people the US killed in Afghanistan and Iraq had any interest in threatening the US.

The US is a great nation, but no one has to be perfect to succeed at anything. They only have to be better than the alternatives. To learn more about the PeaceWorks Kansas City demonstration at Whiteman Air Force Base this Saturday, April 30, go to peaceworkskc.org. (None of this is an official position of KKFI or anyone else associated with the station.)

Copyright 2022, Dave Mitchell and Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.

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