DECLARING INDEPENDENCE FROM ISRAEL

                                              

  
The rising bipartisan anger at Israel for Iran and the Gaza genocide offers a new hope for American independence and global freedom.

When America’s founders were considering whether to reject royal rule, the central question was “Are men good enough to rule themselves?” The answer depends on whether a People will support representatives who adopt policies that promote the common good. For much of our history, this has been the case.

Washington warned us to “beware the rise of factionalism.” Having ignored his counsel, we now find ourselves at the mercy of a two-party system dominated by an amoral Epstein class that pays for the elections of candidates who will maximize returns on their domestic and international investments.

Having a choice between two candidates supported by an economic elite cannot produce government of, by, and for the People. Ours represents those who profit most from its policies.  This is in no sense a “democracy,” representative or otherwise, yet the illusion persists.

Politicizing social issues creates hostility between those who consider themselves “conservative” or “liberal.”  American voters increasingly cling to their parties, however reluctantly, more out of fear of the other party than enthusiasm for their own.  Unless one party controls both Congress and the White House, this produces Congressional gridlock on social issues, while the two major parties remain united in supporting Wall Street war profiteers.

Until recently, the costs of Mideast wars have not been a factor in elections. That may change soon. The economic fallout of the Israeli-American attack on Iran has shown to average Americans that equating US interests with those of Israel comes at a cost.

If we recognized this attack as the direct consequence of American imperial policies it is, liberals and conservatives might unite in opposition to them. Instead of increasing the budget of the War Department to over $1 trillion, we could work together to slash it by eliminating overseas bases, investing the peace dividend in America.

Washington cautioned us to beware “foreign entanglements.” This bedrock principle of national security has been abandoned in the pursuit of imperial spoils.

The last president who seriously challenged Israel was Kennedy. Recently declassified documents from the JFK files reveal that while he was trying to rein in the CIA following the Bay of Pigs, he was also pushing Israel to allow inspection of the reactor at which it was developing nuclear weapons. Of note, Kennedy was also pushing to have AIPAC designated a foreign lobby until the day he was assassinated. During this time, CIA Chief of Counterintelligence James Angleton worked closely with Israel to undermine Kennedy’s efforts.

 

This is not to imply that Israel was complicit in the murder. The point is that Angleton, like the foreign policy establishment today, saw Israel as essential to the US imperial project. Four years later, LBJ took a fateful step in wedding US foreign policy to that of Israel when he covered up the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in international waters on June 8, 1967. The pattern was set.

The desire to control global oil supplies and the rise of the neocons led to our unholy alliance with Israel. Growing bipartisan disgust with Israeli aggression could end it.

After decades of unquestioned US support for its apartheid and expansionist policies, Israel’s angry rejection of President Trump’s attempts to end the war with Iran presents an opportunity for liberals and conservatives to find common ground.

A People that supports genocide and wars across the globe for corporate profit is morally incapable of ruling itself. Let us now declare independence from Israel. Only when Americans unite to oppose war can we liberate ourselves and the victims of colonialism and imperialism. None of us are free until all of us are.

WHY LEFTISTS SHOULD WORK WITH INDIVISIBLE

                                                                    

Opinions among leftists about working with Indivisible vary, with some arguing that it is a "Democratic front group" that should be shunned, while others see the large demonstrations and want to work with local organizers to help build a more powerful antiwar movement at the grassroots level. Count me in with the latter group. If local organizers of Indivisible chapters are not following the dictates of national leaders, then being a part of it means that we might be able to influence how they operate.

Indivisible's national leadership failed to mention Gaza when they organized folks across the country for their Hands Off event, but Palestine was definitely represented. People showed up in large numbers around the country wearing keffiyehs and carrying Palestinian flags and signs that said "Hands off Gaza." Antiwar organizers could not possibly have mustered by ourselves the kinds of crowds that brought out local press coverage everywhere. It was an opportunity not to be missed.

Clearly, protesting at occasional large events isn't enough to build an effective antiwar movement, but it does provide opportunities for organizing. Folks who come out with signs, shirts and flags indicating that the issue is important to them can meet each other and make plans to meet later to organize together. Attendees who focus on the suggestions of national leadership about what to protest are reminded of the ongoing genocide, even if they weren't encouraged to protest it. This can lead to more fruitful conversations that could lead to more volunteers to work on Palestine solidarity. Finally, VFP and other veteran group members can talk to fellow veterans and encourage them to join their organization and work on the wider issue of ending war.

An even more effective tactic than showing up at another organization's event is to work directly with local organizers to put the issue of war a part of their protests. In Eugene and Corvallis, OR, members of Party for Socialism and Liberation have done just that. They had  a seat at the table in determining programming at large events. At the Hands Off event in Eugene, half the speakers focused on Palestine and the genocide in Gaza despite the fact it wasn't on the list of causes to protest recommended by Indivisible national leadership. At No Kings III in Corvallis, there were speakers from PSL and other leftist groups that they selected. That is how I was invited to speak there.

As you can see in the above video, I used the opportunity to criticize the national leadership of Indivisible as well as that of the Democratic Party. I contrasted their failure to oppose the genocide or effectively oppose the war in Iran to the efforts of the local leaders to include antiwar voices, and pointed out (as did the PSL speakers) that support for war is one issue that has bipartisan support. I was called "courageous" by some for merely pointing out the elephant in the room, but the response from the crowd was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, I was invited to speak to a meeting of an Indivisible chapter in Linn County by one of their leaders who had watched the video.

There is a difference between confronting an issue and being confrontational. To confront merely means to face it. The only way to fix a problem is to name it so that everyone needed to find a solution knows what it is. To be confrontational means to antagonize those who disagree with you. That never convinces those who do not already agree with you. We need to make this struggle biparstisan.

As a growing number of Americans realize, simply replacing Trump with another member of the War Party who happens to be a Democrat will not solve the systemic issues that led to his election. It won't even bring us back to the pre-Trump status quo, because there is no returning now. The international order as well as the American economy is irreversibly changed. We have the opportunity and the duty to educate the public about the root cause of the genocide and the immensely unpopular war against Iran. In a word, the problem is imperialism.

American acceptance of imperialism under the rubric of a "rules-based order" has led not only to supporting Israel's genocide and 7-front war, but the destruction of the American economy, which is about to undergo an unprecedented shock when the dollar ceases to be accepted as the world's reserve currency and nations turn away from Western financial institutions designed to profit the oligarchs in the US and around the world who see America and other nations of the imperium as prize targets for neoliberal transfer of wealth.

Fortunately, the spike in gas prices that is rekindling inflation has made a lot of Americans recognize that we are becoming the Empire's victims in a way that it previously treated only the Global South. The spike in gas prices is directly attributable to the decision to wage unprovoked war on Iran. Many know that the New York Times reported that Netanyahu's 1-hour presentation to Trump's war cabinet was "pivotal" in this decision.

Making the connection between the genocide in Gaza and the disastrous attack on Iran with support for Israel is a critical part of organizing resistance against the Empire. In making the case to Americans of both parties, it is important to make the connection between outrageous spending on wars for Israel, higher gas and food prices, destruction of the health care system, outrageous inequality, and all the other ills that Congress is not addressing.

All are related to the fact that the oligarchs who pull the levers of power in Washington are senior managers of a global corporate empire whose lust for power and control does not stop at the borders of the US. All veterans took an oath to defend against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We are trained to focus on our mission and not any differences we may have with one another. That's why we need to take the lead in making Americans of all political persuasions understand that those of differing political views are not the enemy. The Empire managers, and the injustices they perpetrate, are our real enemies,

Our mission is clear. 

PROPERTY DESTRUCTION IS NOT VIOLENCE, IT'S JUST FOOLISH

    

                                                                          

The following is a guest column I wrote for the Eugene (Oregon) Register-Guard. By way of background, on January 30 the Eugene Police Department responded to a report that a window had been broken during a protest at ICE headquarters and that at one or more protestors had made attempts to enter.

EPD Chief Chris Skinner made the decision to declare the scene a riot and move in to form a wall between protesters and the building to protect anyone inside the building as well as protesters from a possible overreaction by those inside. Skinner released this statement that night.

 While there was some controversy after the fact about whether protesters actually broke the window, it is irrelevant to the points that I make in my article. Please bear that in mind. 

I admire those responding to the brutal actions of ICE in the streets of America’s cities and join Eugene protesters when I can. I was in town on the day that ICE attacked protestors with chemical munitions but left before they arrived. From comments I heard afterward, it appears that the incident provides a learning opportunity for protesters in this leaderless movement.

I winced at the criticism of Chief Skinner’s statement about the EPD response to the breaking of a window at the ICE building. Some tried to justify the vandalism using too-familiar arguments that “everyone has the right to resist in the way they see fit” and “destroying property is not violence.”

As Skinner explained, the EPD actions were justified not merely by the broken window, but because it posed a credible threat to those inside the building. Whatever one thinks of that logic, it is a mistake to make an enemy of EPD when one is trying to repel a federal invasion and restore the rule of law. As General McChrystal once said about winning hearts and minds, “…try to go to bed with fewer enemies that (you) woke up with.”

Would-be revolutionaries should understand that deliberate property destruction undermines popular support. Most Americans value civil order, even those who realize we need radical change. Yet in Portland, some former Vietnam War protestors defended damaging property and physically provoking the thugs Trump sent to disrupt the Black Live Matter “riots.” Veterans of the anti-Vietnam War movement should know better.

In the 1960s, the FBI paid agent provocateurs to do the same things in the infamous COINTELPRO operation. While officially ended, COINTELPRO methods are likely still being used. They have long been employed in other countries by the CIA, which has historically worked closely with the FBI in both domestic and international “national security” operations. This classic divide-and-conquer tactic has been used by “democratic” countries to justify violence both at home and abroad since the days of the British Empire.

The struggle to eradicate these modern brownshirts from our neighborhoods will not be won by violence or property destruction. This battle is only one part of a much larger war. We must acknowledge the fact that we live in the heart of an empire that aspires to rule the world.

If we understand how this empire treats the citizens of countries it subjects to illegal sanctions and proxy wars, we know that it does not hesitate to use force to subdue resistance. Why then should we be surprised when “the chickens come home to roost,” as Malcom X pointed out shortly before his assassination in 1965?

Our aim must be to establish democracy in the US even as we work to end US-sponsored violence abroad. This requires a strategy based on objectives aimed at systematically undermining support for a system in which war and domestic state violence have been normalized. Then we choose tactics that best achieve those goals.

This is basic military logic. We are in essence creating a leaderless “army.” Horizontal organization avoids putting targets on our backs, as the martyrs of the 60s willingly did. Violence has no place in this form of asymmetric “warfare.” Those who use it only hurt the cause. Only by forswearing violence can we hope to prevail.

We can best honor all martyrs of the long struggle for peace and justice by avoiding the use of the tools of the oppressor.  Remember that our outrage stems from our love of those victimized. Our response should reflect that love. Violence only serves to justify more violence. Property destruction serves the same purpose.

THE LOGIC OF EMPIRE

                                


                                                                        



 

The following is my latest submission to The Albany (OR) Democratic-Herald, one of a dwindling number of local newspapers that recognizes it's duty to provide a public forum for its readers. It is the third in a series of guest columns trying to educate the public about the imperial nature of the United States. 

 

I encourage those putting all their energy into resisting the policies of the current government to consider the connection between the assault on public institutions and U.S.-sponsored violence abroad.  Replacing one government with yet another willing to continue a policy of endless war is not enough to achieve their goals. Liberals could join the growing conservative antiwar movement, if both stopped “othering” those with differing political outlooks.

Anyone who has played the game of Risk knows world domination requires a long-term strategy. Americans, having been raised to believe they are not citizens of an empire, do not understand this also applies to U.S. foreign policy. Its goal is not defense, but global conquest. It is vital to understand this, because every empire falls. Ours will be no exception, and it will be devastating to all of us.

Our empire managers have led us into endless war using the claim that “American interests” are at stake, but Venezuela, Russia, China, and Iran are enemies because they threaten the interests of average Americans. The real threat is to the profits and power of those who seek to dominate the world’s resources. The ultrarich, often from the shadows, use their wealth to persuade western governments to wage war on any nation that resists their dictates.

In this real-life game of Risk, fossil fuels are critical. They power the machinery of commerce and war.  Israel is crucial to controlling oil-rich West Asia. Russia, also replete with fossil fuels, is the key bridge between Asia and Europe. Rising economic superpower China, while oil-poor, is seen as the ultimate prize.

African and South American nations are not dangers, but sources of cheap raw materials. The Empire assures that these resources remain cheap by stunting development, keeping in debt bondage, and periodically attacking governments it cannot subvert. Venezuela, with the largest proven oil reserves in the world, is only the latest example.

Palestinians are not directly resisting the Empire. They are resisting ethnic cleansing by a rogue nation whose success is critical to US plans for global domination. That makes Palestinians de facto enemies, justifying the Gaza genocide in the minds of leaders of both parties and those who fund their campaigns.

As Eisenhower pointed out, the cost of militarism is poverty and hunger. It has led to homelessness, lack of access to medical care and premature death. How many Americans would be saved if the trillions spent on war were redirected to programs that promote the interests of average Americans over those of Wall Street war profiteers in the weapons, oil, tech, and banking industries?

The Trump administration has responded to military-driven deficits with austerity, literally taking food from children’s mouths while denying medical care to the poor, whose numbers are growing rapidly. Billions are spent to brutalize scapegoated immigrants while billionaires enjoy trillions in tax cuts.

Both parties share responsibility, however, as they have been united in their support for every war since the end of WWII. We must ask whose interests they are serving, and who benefits from abridging our rights, which inevitably accompanies war.

Obama was the first to claim authority to kill anyone overseas he deemed a terrorist, including Americans. In 2011, he pressured Congress to give Presidents the right to arrest citizens and place them in military custody indefinitely without charges.  Now that Trump has begun creating an enemies list, there is nothing to stop him from executing American citizens he labels “domestic terrorists” but a Supreme Court that has given him nearly unlimited power.

 

It's time to stop fighting each other and unite to disempower the real enemy within.

 

The article above was published in the Albany Democrat-Herald/ Corvallis Gazette-Times on January 3, 2026.

 

WHO WOULD JESUS SLAUGHTER?

                                

As we approach the two-year mark of Israel's genocidal ethnic cleansing of Gaza, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the continued slaughter of Palestinians in general and Gazans in particular, despite all the attention we have brought to the genocide. Still, the signs of progress in raising awareness are everywhere. The increasing press attention given the flotilla, the shift of tone in traditionally blindly supportive rags like the New York Times, media personalities from New York to Hollywood finally speaking out, and many more.

Across almost every demographic, support for Israel is falling. Even older Republicans are shoring a noticeable decline in support for the apartheid state. Consistent with the overwhelming support for the Palestinian cause, the shift in younger Republicans is even more significant, despite the influence of Charlie Kirk both before and after his murder. 

The demographic that has shown the least drop in support for Israel is, not surprisingly, Christian Zionists. My most recent guest column in my local paper is a commentary on the phenomenon.

Who would Jesus slaughter?


I’ve been with a group protesting Israel’s murderous assault on the population of Gaza for over a year now. With the release of the report by the investigative body of the International Court of Justice, there is little doubt that the Court will rule that Israel is committing genocide. However, it typically takes years for the Court to render an opinion. The children dying now of bombs, bullets and starvation cannot wait. We have a moral responsibility to do all we can to stop it.

It is gratifying to see support for our efforts increasing as the number of experts declaring Israel’s actions to be genocide grows. Still, while the honks and thumbs up are more frequent, the number of rude gestures and angry shouts has held steady, if not increased. I have experienced this when holding a sign that simply says, “Palestine lives matter.” Now, I get the same reactions to a sign reading “Stop the genocide.”

I refuse to believe that so many of my neighbors are enthusiasts of genocide. I am sure that most have simply never viewed images of the tens of thousands of mutilated and starving children available on the internet. Still, why are they angry at calls to save people being systematically slaughtered? That much is clear from the daily news. Is it the color of their skin, or their religion? If motivated by racism or religious bigotry, does it not matter that some are as fair skinned as any European, or that some are Christian?

A clue lies in the fact that occasionally, someone screams at us “Read your Bible!” While I have not, I know that in Deuteronomy Chapter 20, G-- commands the Israelites to murder every man in Canaan, but not to slaughter women or children, who were only to be enslaved. This inconvenient fact seems to escape Christian Zionists.

I was brought up to respect the religious beliefs of others, but I am astounded that anyone could read the statements attributed to Jesus and conclude that he would condone genocide. In the story of the Good Samaritan, he told the Jewish expert in religious law that he was correct in saying the greatest commandment is that we love G—and our neighbor. He then added, “Do this, and you shall never know death.” When the lawyer asked, “who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, the moral of which is that everyone is our neighbor, and we show our love for them by how we treat them.

An earnest pastor recently shared with me why, in his opinion, the current genocide pleases God: In order to save what would be left of humanity after the battle of Armageddon, all Jews have to return to the land where ancient Israel once stood so that G-d could consign to hell all who did not accept a genocidal version of Jesus as their personal savior, leaving only those who do.

I am reminded of the saying that even the Devil would quote scripture if it served his purpose.

If one claims to be a Christian and wants to understand scripture, they must start with the words attributed to Jesus. Anyone commenting on his teachings who contradicts what they believe he said is confused. If the author of John believed all you need do to be a good Christian is to believe Christ saved you, he did not understand what Jesus quite clearly taught.

If I believed in hell, I would argue that this kind of faith will not lead these folks in the direction they think they are going.

ISRAEL'S ROLE IN THE AMERICAN EMPIRE

 

                                                    

                                                                

      I am fortunate enough to live in a place where the local paper still prides itself on being a public forum. Every three months, I'm allowed 600 words to say whatever I think is most important for readers to understand. 

    This is my most recent submission. It is my second guest column on the nature of the US Empire. Others will follow.

If you wonder why Israel attacked Iran now, with an overextended army tied down in Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, congratulations on refusing to be a passive consumer of what passes for American reporting on foreign affairs.

Bombing Iran was not about fictitious weapons of mass destruction any more than was the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. In a 2012 UN speech, Netanyahu insisted that Iran was already on the verge of having a nuclear weapon. Cheney made a similar claim in 2007 that was debunked by the Intelligence Community. This saved the US from a disastrous military confrontation with Iran that would be much worse if attempted today.

National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard stated there is still no evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Under pressure from the Israeli lobby and powerful neocons like Israel-first campaign donor Miriam Adelson, President Trump dismissed her assessment and attacked anyway, placing 40,000 American service members at risk of Iranian retaliation.

As many predicted, the attack failed to eliminate the “threat” despite initial claims of success. Now, pressure is mounting for deeper US military involvement in Israel’s latest war of choice. Israel knows that without such help, it cannot complete its objective of eliminating the last obstacle to regional dominance, a plan 40 years in the making.

In 1982, Israel publicly debated a strategy to fragment any neighboring country that might oppose its expansion, rendering it too weak to resist Israeli aggression. The “Oded Yinon plan” has been refined over the years but still forms the basis for current US plans for Israel to dominate the region. That is why the US has enabled it to flout international law with impunity since the Nakba in 1948, as the US itself has done in the region.

Since 9/11, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Somalia and Iran have been targeted by the US and Israel. Former NATO commander Wesley Clark has publicly stated that within two weeks of 9/11, he learned of plans to undermine all seven countries. Obviously, these plans had been drawn up earlier. Since then, five of the seven have effectively been partitioned, as envisioned by Yinon. Iraq and Libya were not failures. They accomplished their actual objectives.

The purpose of destabilizing these countries is to control this fossil fuel-rich region by militarily dominating the area through Israel. The ultimate prize in this game of Risk is US control of the entire Eurasian land mass, long regarded as the key to global domination. While Netanyahu and other political and military leaders are directly responsible for their genocidal actions and war crimes throughout the region, the US shares the blame.

Like all empires, the American one will fall. The Wall Street denizens whose profits determine “American interests” have hollowed out the real economy in creating an economic system dependent on endless war. An alternative system is being created by Russia, China and others who are not going to continue to tolerate the economic and military threats of an increasingly belligerent US Empire.

The fact that the US has cut off access to critical weapons needed to defend Ukraine so that it can provide them to Israel reveals its weakness. Meanwhile, China has declared that it cannot accept allowing Russia to lose in Ukraine. It knows that if it does, the empire will turn its attention to it. American military and political officials have publicly stated that the US will go to war with China as soon as 2030.

If President Trump really wants to leave a legacy as a peace President, let him start by standing up to Israel and its lobby.

PALESTINE WILL FREE US ALL

 

                                                                

                                                                   

There has been little news in the mainstream media recently about the increasingly dire situation in Gaza. The genocide has been overshadowed by the massive No Kings demonstrations, the courageous resistance to the brownshirt tactics of masked ICE agents used on immigrants and citizens alike and now, a war between Israel and Iran that could easily go nuclear.

Meanwhile, Israel’s pitiless assault on the civilian population of Gaza continues. The starvation has not ended. The bombing is relentless. There are daily reports of Israeli occupation forces and the mercenaries guarding the “humanitarian” food distribution points slaughtering desperate Palestinians seeking sustenance for their families. Even the lucky few who escape alive with supplies are denied the fuel or water needed to cook them with. Israel’s genocidal intent is obvious, yet Western media still cannot call this evil by its name.

Most joined the Palestinian solidarity movement in response to the genocide. Over 600 days later, it has now entered its final stage. No hope for an end is in sight. For some, it has become unbearable to continue to bear witness to the suffering.  It is understandable that they can no longer look at the horror, but we cannot unsee what we have witnessed.  We owe it to every Palestinian, living or dead, to continue the struggle to build our movement for Palestinian liberation. Furthermore, we owe it to our children and to future generations.

The outrage in response to the ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestine has created an historical opportunity to free humanity. We have an obligation to seize it. Palestinian freedom and resistance to fascism in America are two aspects of the same cause: liberty and justice for all. It is estimated that 3.5% of Americans attended demonstrations on No Kings Day. Imagine the effect it would have had on fascists if half of them had been wearing keffiyehs!

In this moment, our only options are to continue the struggle for Palestinian freedom, recognizing that our own liberty depends on it, or to submit to the psychopaths who are behind the genocide and allow ourselves to become their next victims. They are already coming after us. We have seen their goons on the streets of LA, and campuses across the U.S.

Trump is not the cause of the decline of what passes for democracy in America. He is the result of it.  And he is right about one thing: The enemy is among us. They always have been. They are the economic elite. The plutocrats. The oligarchs. The globalists, who profit from war. The American aristocracy, in league with their counterparts abroad to monopolize the resources of the entire world. The self-styled Masters of the Universe. They are individuals so wealthy that their only goal in life is to acquire enough power to control us all.

They are people who have abandoned all that makes us human. Governments are the tools by which they wield their power, the U.S. being the center of an empire that aspires to world domination. They are psychopaths who hide behind corporate charters, having gained control of enough of the judicial system so that corporate executives have no personal accountability except for maximizing profit for Wall Street shareholders. Politicians are their tools, whether they are used wittingly or unwittingly.  The CIA, FBI and DHS work for them. To an alarming degree, so do the police.

Corporate control of the mainstream media has led to our being conditioned to think of war and other forms of violence as normal, even inevitable. It is not true. Violence is always a choice, and government violence serves a purpose for those who hold real power. We have been blinded to the nature of how power operates in this country, lulled by the false claim that we live in a democracy. We do not, and we never have.

The Constitution created a republic. We are told we live in a “representative democracy” but if that is true, who does Congress represent? The Bill of Rights was an afterthought. The principal purpose of the Constitution was to protect property rights, including the right to own humans. Now corporations are regarded as people with constitutional rights that are sacrosanct, while the civil rights of humans are trampled with the blessings of the Supreme Court.

The struggle must continue. As the darkness grows before we see the light, let us remember that King reminded us that we engage in this work out of love. When we let ourselves be overwhelmed by anger or depression, we forget that ultimately, it is compassion that brought us to the struggle. Compassion is a manifestation of love. We must keep that in mind as the violence of the oppressors and the suffering of their victims tests our ability to stay focused on why we have joined the resistance.

Paraphrasing Dr King, it has never been more apparent that tolerating injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. There will be no justice in the world until there is justice for Palestine. If you have only been an observer, now is the time to get active.

Normalize protesting genocide. Show up at demonstrations wearing a keffiyeh, regardless of the cause of the day. Have the courage to speak about what you know to those who don’t want to look for themselves or just wear a T-shirt or button expressing what you know to be true. Write letters to the editor if you are lucky enough to live where local newspapers still provide a public forum.

For humanity’s sake, just show up.