The Thunderbolt 220302 - Media Island Loses KOWA License
Dana Walker
The Thunderbolt
News — Commentary — Calendar of Activist Events — Dumb Jokes
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1) FYI Section:
1A) Glen’s Parallax Perspectives for March: Nuclear Bombs
1B) Call To Action from POWER
1C) Information on Financial Censorship
2) Bonus Tip of the Day
A detailed description of all events is located after the News and Commentary section
To go directly to an event description just type the index entry above into a search box
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Media Island Loses KOWA License
220302
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Crow Pie
Hey, People!
First, I need to ‘eat some crow’, so to speak…
I must confess that I seriously misread the situation in Ukraine. I figured Biden’s people were lying through their teeth in order to boost profits for the war profiteers at whose feet they sit and I didn’t think Russia was going to actually invade Ukraine — though as I said, I haven’t really been paying much attention, much less researching things, so there’s that…
However, my caveat to always assuming that all politicians are always lying comes in those rare cases wherein telling the truth actually serves their purpose, and the fact that the Russians were indeed lining up troops on the border of Ukraine in preparation for an invasion definitely fell into that category.
Yes, they refused to provide actual evidence — but that would have set a bad precedent, as everyone would then also start wanting actual evidence the next time that they were lying to us…
Anyway, this invasion is the result of a lot of history — i.e. promises made back at the dissolution of the Soviet Union that NATO would not ‘move an inch’ eastward toward the Russians, for instance — a ‘promise’ that they almost immediately broke, quickly incorporating numerous eastern European countries into NATO that had formerly been part of the Soviet bloc — and in the cases of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, NATO incorporated former Russian provinces.
Then the Americans began filling lots of these countries with lots of missiles.
Imagine the Russians locating missiles in Canada, and imagine what Americans would think of that?
There is a lot of historical stuff going on here and Russia has a lot of very real and totally legitimate security concerns going on here.
Vladimir Putin and Bill Clinton both assumed their offices at roughly the same time, and Putin says he expressed interest in Russia joining NATO to Mr. Clinton — who totally shut that idea down.
The war profiteers at whose feet Mr. Clinton sat wouldn’t have liked that at all. They planned to paint Russia and China as the new boogeymen we needed to arm ourselves to the teeth to defend ourselves against and Russia joining NATO would definitely put a crimp in those plans.
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And another rich irony at play here is that the Russian Machine’s original capital when the Rus people first formed their country back in the 10th Century was frigging Kiev! The Mongols overran little enterprise during the 12th Century, but some of the Russian ‘elites’ survived and eventually they located their capitol in Moscow I believe in the 13th Century. However — Ukraine was still a part of Russia as a whole, though Ukraine did lose its sovereignty for awhile during the 15th Century when first Poland and then Lithuania took brief turns at playing imperialist and invading other people’s turf. Then part of Ukraine went to the Crimean Khanate, but then was later reincorporated into Russia with another part going to Austria. There was a large Ukrainian resistance that fought the Bolsheviks during the Russian Revolution, but the resistance lost, and Ukraine was thus taken over in everything but name by the Soviet Union.
Lots of flags have flown over Ukraine.
After all those centuries, Ukraine finally became an independent republic with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
Another FYI: Crimea was part of Russia until 1953, when Soviet premiere Nikita Khrushchev gifted Crimea to Ukraine for some reason that I’m forgetting — possibly connected to the fact that Khrushchev was the head of the Ukrainian Communist Party before assuming the top job. I believe that Crimea was the political base of his main opponent during the power struggle immediately following Stalin’s death.
Anyway — this is another case where both sides are the bad guys and where everyone involved totally suck except the people who actually live in all those places but who have no say in events.
Business as usual…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ukraine
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Media Island Loses KOWA Broadcasting License
If I were the kind of person to say I told you so, I would say I told you so — and actually I am the kind of person to say I told you so — and so now I’m telling you that I told you so!
It has been reliably reported that quote: “KOWA lost its license. The gear is locked up in Media Island.”
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The ONLY way that could have happened was unacceptable incompetence and/or sloth on the part of the new management at Media Island. After first conducting the non-profit equivalent of a hostile takeover, and after brutally purging everyone who had ever had anything to do with Media Island, including several people who invested years and in a couple of cases people who had invested decades into the Media Island project — and then after locking up the house and denying a majority of the community access to the resources there unless they were willing to make an appointment to be grilled by Shawna Hawk for a half hour as if they had done something wrong in order to prove to Shawna that they were worthy of volunteering their time to fight oppression and racism — after transforming Media Island from an invaluable community resource open to nearly everyone into an exclusive private club for her and her allies, in other words — they have now lost the fucking broadcast license for the fucking radio station.
Boo! FUCKING Boo! Fucking boo with a stinky pile of shit on top!
My head is exploding all over once again over all of this.
Jeeze those people SUCK!
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I already mentioned that as far as KOWA was concerned, I felt as if I were being forced to watch an ex girlfriend that I was still totally in love with as she was being abused by her new boyfriend.
Well — now that new boyfriend has frigging murdered her.
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There is an already established and very active media cooperative called the Northwest Alliance for Alternative Media and Education [NAAME], a 501-C-3 organization based out of Portland but active all over the Cascadia region that is ready willing and able to provide people, expertise, and resources to get KOWA up and running again — and there are plenty of local volunteers who would also be willing to invest significant time and resources into reviving KOWA, including yours truly.
There is also $45,000 from another source available for purposes of reviving KOWA.
However — doing this would probably require at least a modicum of cooperation from the existing Media Island management — and they very famously refuse to cooperate with much of anyone outside their exclusive little circle. When a third party attempted to contact Shawna Hawk with a “very polite and respectful email” about possibly helping out with the situation at KOWA, Shawna reacted in her totally typical manner any time anyone ever criticizes her in any manner whatsoever; rather than addressing the specifics at hand and rather than thinking of the community at large and rather than even discussing a possible lifeline for KOWA, her reported response was, quote: “…she said never contact her [again] because I was stalking and harassing her…”
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If we don’t get that license, then the 106.5 fm slot will almost certainly be taken over by some Christian broadcaster since religious broadcasters get the vast majority of the very few and very precious LPFM licenses that are available from the FCC.
Evidently Shawna Hawk would rather see that happen than allow us to get our radio station back. Her constant anger and her constant intrigues and her petty little power tripping and her paranoid defensiveness and her propensity to attack any and all critics with usually false allegations of racism and/or sexism and/or harassment and/or stalking — this is the angry crazy world that she and her crew seem to inhabit.
I will accept the fact that they probably have very good reason to be such angry and defensive people. They live in a world of oppression that, as a privileged white guy, I am incapable of truly comprehending. I’m sure that this world has done numerous dirty deeds to them, and that many of those deeds were done dirt-cheap. I can and I do give oppressed people a lot of leeway for those reasons…
But this particular crew used highly unethical and dishonest methods in order to steal my radio station from me — and now they’ve fucking killed it.
Fuck them.
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It’s time to get to work…
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1) FYI Section:
1A) Glen’s Parallax Perspectives for March: Nuclear Bombs
I got this message from Glen:
The March 2022 interview on “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV series can inform you a lot about nuclear weapons.
Hardly any Americans know this information!
Even people who know a lot about nuclear weapons will learn much new information here!
· People in Thurston County WA can watch it 14 times throughout March 2022 on channel 22 (every Monday at 1:30 pm, every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, and every Thursday at 9:00 pm).
· Anyone ANYWHERE can watch the TV program
ANYTIME through my blog. It’s online now and will stay forever.
Please USE THE LINK
BELOW to WATCH
THE VIDEO on
your computer or phone – AND/OR READ THE THOROUGH SUMMARY that I typed up about what we said
during the interview plus some additional information.
Here is the link: https://parallaxperspectives.org/the-new-nuclear-arms-race-is-happening-in-oak-ridge-tennessee
We discuss this information:
Glen interviewed our expert guest, Ralph Hutchison, the Coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance (OREPA, www.orepa.org). OREPA is a very savvy non-profit organization in Tennessee that is working hard to stop the newly escalating nuclear arms race. They are located near the site that has produced 100% of the highly enriched uranium for all of the U.S.’s nuclear weapons since the 1940s.
We discussed the context for the U.S.’s recent radical provocation of a new nuclear arms race. Although the New START treaty more than a decade ago was a very positive and important step toward peace, Senate Republicans perverted it into an excuse for a horribly provocative new nuclear arms race that would enrich big businesses that make nuclear weapons. Both political parties support and fund these weapons.
While people living in the Pacific Northwest might know about the Trident nuclear submarine base in Kitsap County WA and the Hanford nuclear mess near the Tri-Cities in Eastern WA, very few people here know about Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where the U.S. government has been making nuclear weapons materials since the 1940s. All of the highly enriched uranium for our hydrogen bombs have been produced there.
Our expert guest explained — in easy-to-understand ways — the workings of thermonuclear bombs. He explained a variety of interesting and important kinds of information that almost no Americans know about — again, in easy-to-understand ways.
He discussed connections between Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Hanford in Washington State. He discussed several deceptions and perversions that have been imposed upon us in order to build recklessly new nuclear weapons. And much more!
This astounding information is an example of what you can learn here:
Ralph Hutchison clearly explained that the U.S. government is doing extremely dangerous nuclear weapons work at Oak Ridge, Tennessee, which is in the U.S.’s second highest seismic activity area — in dilapidated old buildings that have been determined to be seismically unsafe! His organization (OREPA, www.orepa.org) sued the federal government and won! But the federal government ignored the federal court decision and proceeded anyway. You really need to hear this part of the interview part-way through the hour and/or read about it on pages 8-9 of the thorough summary document I’ve linked below.
We discussed the corrupt, dysfunctional political culture in Washington DC and the need for a strategically savvy nonviolent grassroots movement to turn things around.
We provided more insights — including the need to support the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (www.icanw.org).
The thorough summary document linked below provides links to some excellent sources of more information.
This interview includes SO MUCH FASCINATING INFORMATION that I encourage people to READ THIS THOROUGH SUMMARY in addition to watching the interview video.
Again, here are the links to the interview video and the thorough typed summary document:
CLICK THIS LINK TO WATCH THE INTERVIEW VIDEO.
I typed up a very thorough summary of what we said during the interview. The thorough summary also includes much additional information beyond what we said during the TV interview. It ends with a great many links to additional articles, books and videos. CLICK THE NEXT LINK TO READ THE THOROUGH SUMMARY: 2022.03 Oak Ridge Tennessee nuclear weapons production — SUMMARY and MORE INFORMATION
Questions? Contact Glen Anderson (producer and host) at (360) 491-9093 or glenan...@integra.net
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1B) Call To Action from POWER
I got this message from POWER:
Thank you to those of you who wrote in support of the HB 2048 that would have extended TANF beyond 60 months for those who qualify. It would prevent the state from cutting off support to families during these difficult economic times. Here's more info: https://povertyaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/HB-2048-TANF-Fact-Sheet_2022.pdf
Unfortunately, it didn't make it to the bill process, however, the House of Representatives included the funds in their budget to allow for extending TANF to families in need. Thank your Representatives for recognizing the important need to provide support for Washington children. Also ask your Senators to support this in their budget. You can do both at this link:
https://povertyaction.org/advocacy-actions/invest-in-basic-needs-and-direct-cash/
Thanks for your advocacy!
POWER
Parents Organizing for Welfare and Economic Rights
309 5th Avenue SE, Olympia WA 98506
Like us on Facebook.
POWER is an organization of low-income parents and allies advocating for a strong social safety net while working toward a world where children and care giving are truly valued, and the devastation of poverty has been eradicated.
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1C) Information on Financial Censorship
I got this message from AZ:
It was reported late last week that the United States would be confiscating billions of dollars from the central bank reserves of Afghanistan. This seemed a little weird at first, but I didn’t want to jump to conclusions since governments are always doing counter-intuitive or seemingly insane things.
After digging into the story, it appears that this is a highly unusual decision that could have significant impact on finance, geopolitics, and technology moving forward. Here is what is happening:
1. Afghanistan’s central bank reserves have been kept in various US-based financial institutions.
2. There is approximately $7 billion of total assets that belong to the Afghan central bank, but are held in the US.
3. President Biden signed an Executive Order compelling all US financial institutions to “transfer this property into a consolidated account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”
4. Approximately $3.5 billion of the $7 billion in assets will be routed back to Afghanistan with the hopes of helping the Afghan citizens.
5. The remaining roughly $3.5 billion assets will be held by the US government and earmarked for victims of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
Now it is important to call out that this is a highly complex situation. But it is also a highly irregular situation as well. The central bank of Afghanistan was holding billions of dollars in US-based financial institutions and had no sovereignty over those funds. This wouldn’t seem overly weird for a central bank except the US had invaded the country and was actively occupying it for the better part of 20 years.
Second, the use of an Executive Order to compel US-based financial institutions to turn over client assets to the Federal Reserve is as outrageous as it sounds. The Federal Reserve is allegedly an independent, private organization so it is noteworthy that the President and his administration is forcing one private organization to allow another private organization to confiscate client assets.
Third, the $7 billion of Afghan central bank assets are the property of Afghanistan. Any attempt by the United States, the President, or the Federal Reserve to prevent the country of Afghanistan, and it’s citizens, from accessing or retrieving their property is equivalent to theft. Regardless of the reasoning or the moral appeal, the United States is confiscating billions of dollars of assets from a country that we are no longer at war with, and a country that we are reportedly trying to help become independent.
Fourth, the United States is conducting this highly suspicious activity at the same time that it is becoming clear that the Afghan people are suffering immensely. In the White House press release related to the Executive Order, these are the facts outlined to highlight the dire situation on the ground:
· Even prior to the events of last August, Afghanistan’s economy was on the brink. Afghanistan faced poverty rates above 50 percent. International donor grants financed about 75 percent of public expenditures and 50 percent of the government’s budget. A two-year long drought had reduced many crops to 40 percent of their usual yields, and Afghanistan had one of the least developed financial systems in the world—with just 10-20% of adults holding bank accounts. Rampant corruption crippled sectors that should have been profitable.
· The Taliban’s forced takeover made the already frail economic situation worse. The IMF estimates that Afghanistan faces an economic contraction of 30%, and many of the senior officials and technical experts needed to provide sound economic management have fled the country as a result of the Taliban’s actions.
· These problems reflect longstanding, structural issues that predated the events of August 2021 and have worsened due to uncertainty and perceived risk surrounding the Taliban’s capacity to run the economy. This includes its ability to implement anti-money laundering measures and measures to counter the financing of terrorism.
So we know the citizens of Afghanistan are struggling and the current administration has still decided to withhold potential aid, and the property of those citizens, because of political motivations. It is really crazy to think about the nuances of this entire situation.
So why am I writing about this?
The idea of financial censorship is becoming more pervasive. We have the US confiscating Afghan central bank assets. We have the US threatening Russia with removal from the SWIFT payment system depending on what actions Russia pursues in Ukraine. We have the Canadian government pressuring technology companies and financial institutions to confiscate any funds that are being sent to the truckers’ Freedom Convoy protest.
Each of these situations is different, but they are all a form of financial censorship. The more aggressive that governments become with financial censorship, whether towards each other or towards their own citizens, the more popular that bitcoin becomes in the eyes of those on the internet. Every attempt at financial censorship is a marketing campaign for bitcoin.
Bitcoin is censorship-resistant money. No one can prevent you from sending it to anyone else. No one can confiscate it from you without your permission. No one can debase the currency.
Bitcoin is freedom technology. It gives a user, from individuals to organizations to nation states, the freedom to choose how to use the digital currency. You can hold it. You can spend it. You can send it to someone. Whatever you want to do, you’re allowed to do it. No government, company, or individual can impose their views or desires on you.
If the Afghan central bank has sovereignty over their assets, the US couldn’t confiscate them easily. If the Freedom Convoy raised money through a censorship resistant currency, no one could have taken those funds from them.
That is where the world is headed. Sovereignty. Censorship-resistance. Decentralization. Individual rights. Slowly, but surely.
Bitcoin is inevitable. It returns the world back to sound money and to individual sovereignty. Those may seem like crazy ideas on the surface, but we are watching multiple examples play out that prove why it is so important.
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2) Bonus Tip of the Day:
Stand up for what’s right. Call out what is wrong.
Peace.
Dana
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