Category: Bob Small

Drop The Charges Against Assange

By Bob Small

Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA-14) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN-5), who could not  be described as ideological bedfellows but they found a cause that unites them. It’s the freeing of Julian Assange and both are co-sponsors of H.Res.934 which would do so.

Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that regular journalistic activities are protected under the First Amendment and that the United States ought to drop all charges against and attempts to extradite Julian Assange, the bill reads.

The chances of this even being debated on the House floor, though, are slim to none and “slim’s left town.”

That Paul A Gosar (R-AZ-9), and the eight others introduced the bill shows courage in a when too many act like the townspeople in “High Noon”

Among others, his lawyer, Jennifer Robinson, says “His life is at risk (if extradited) and I am not exaggerating this.”

In a January 2021 trial, Judge  Vanessa Baraitser said  “Assange should not be sent to the US, citing a real and “oppressive” risk of suicide, “

The Independent, in a tribute to John Pilger, quoted his last published piece “We are all Spartacus if we want to be.

This article also quotes Assange’s wife, Stella, who called Pilger a “consistent ally of the dispossessed”.

Assange’s father John Shipton, was recently in Brazil, promoting a movie about his son,

In May 2023 “Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said in London that the journalist’s continued imprisonment was “shameful.” “

Even GOP Presidential Candidates have opinions on Assange,  with Vivek Ramaswamy saying that Assange, like too many to name, is another one of our imprisoned heroes.

Seller of Raw Milk Gets a Raw Deal

By Bob Small

“Nothing heals the body and restores strength like raw milk” 

—Dr. J. F. Lyman, Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, Ohio State University, 1929

“There is no question that pasteurization compromises the nutritional value of breast milk”.

Real Milk Campaign

Amos Miller, from Lancaster, Pa. has a private buying club, selling items to the public from various local farmers. This includes the aforementioned raw milk, which led to having his farm searched and property seized.

“Three Pennsylvania State Troopers and seven other individuals spent several hours inside a building on Amos Miller’s Lancaster County farm while conducting a search on Jan. 4, 2024, eventually leaving with multiple coolers containing Miller’s property. “

A search warrant had been issued the day before which included an affidavit of probable cause from the Pa. Dept. of Agriculture, Food Safety division.

US Congressman Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) said “With all of the problems in society today, this is what the government wants to focus on? A man growing food for informed customers, without participating in the industrial meat/milk complex.”

Another non-Pennsylvanian who commented  was Donald Trump, Jr. 

“Imagine what law enforcement could accomplish if they went after oh I don’t  know, say, members of elite pedophile rings rather than farmers selling to their neighbors???” he posted on X. 

Additionally, there a lot of “alleged and implications” in this story. This is a quote from Miller’s  attorney, Robert Barnes “Today, the Department of Agriculture of the State of Pennsylvania suddenly came, without notice, raided Amos’ farm, and detained everything Amos had in the farm’s freezer. They did so in a lawless manner, without appropriate authority, in violation of their own rules and regulations, despite never objecting to the prior resolutions reached with the federal government, and despite a complete failure by the state to even reach out to Amos’ known counsel.”

For their part, the State alleges that Amos Miller has steadfastly refused to cooperate with their regulations.  GOP State Rep David Zimmerman, who represents the 99^th District in Lancaster said that there’s a fine line between individual freedom and government responsibility and said the Miller case is happening at a time of “so little trust in government”.

Disclaimer. My wife and I have been raw milk consumers for decades.

Seller of Raw Milk Gets a Raw Deal

Will Tiny Homes Solve Homelessness?

By Bob Small

I first reported on the “tiny house” phenomenon in September.

Tiny home communities are being developed for homeless persons, locally and nationally. The New York Times carried a lengthy article on Community First! Village outside of Austin, TX.

The typical home is a one-room unit with a bed, kitchenette, and recliner, all in 200 square feet. Residents get around to the bathrooms, chicken coops, convenience store and vegetable gardens by foot or the village golf cart (seats 8).

Community First soon hopes to grow to 3,000 homes in three locations, enough to house 50 percent of Austin’s Homeless population.

Community First is a project of Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

Some donations, both land, monetary and other came from Alamo Drafthouse, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, and other area businesses.

There are around 50 “Missionals”who also live adjacent to the village, as volunteer helpers.

Besides Mobile Loaves and Fishes own income it got $35 million from Travis County  in American Rescue Plan Act funds to build 640 units as part of its expansion. “

Then, in May, HUD “ approved the use of federal housing vouchers, which subsidize part or all of a low-income resident’s rent, for the village’s tiny homes. “

This has inspired spinoffs.

Springfield, Mo has  villages limited to 50 homes or less, but each home has its own bathroom and kitchen.  

Dennis Culhane, a social science researcher at the University of Pennsylvania who studies modern homelessness, said he ”understood the desperate need for housing, but was wary of relying on tiny homes as a permanent answer.”

Mary Beth Shinn, a Vanderbilt Professor specializing in Homelessness, said “The tiny homes are often just not at a scale to be helpful.” 

Below are  articles on “tiny homes” in Delaware, Lancaster, and Philadelphia Counties;

Tiny homes for homeless veterans on track for Spring 2024 …

In Harrisburg, a nonprofit builds a tiny-house village for …

Philly’s first tiny house village for homeless slated for 2023

Sanctuary Village: Home

Tiny Homes

One Man’s Dream Means Housing for Homeless Vets .

Will Tiny Homes Solve Homelessness?

Another War in America

By Bob Small

Trust Vermont Scott to email me a story I cannot ignore!

Hridindu Sankar Roychowdhury, 29, pleaded guilty to the fire bombing of a pro-life center in Wisconsin and now faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison.

Roychowdhury belongs to the group Jane’s Revenge.

Graffiti had also been sprayed on the building’s side saying “ If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” 

Historically, Milwaukee had the single deadliest bombing in our history, prior to 9/11. This occurred on Nov. 24, 1917.

This was also anarchist-related.  

At this point, let’s walk into the thicket of anarchist thought;

 Philly Antifa – This blog is for all things Antifascist and is …

Quoting their own words under ABOUT PHILLY ANTIFA

“Philly Antifa are an independent Anti-Fascist crew operating in Philadelphia, PA and the surrounding area.  We are in direct conflict with Racism, Homophobia, Sexism, Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, Transphobia, and all the various other flavors of Fascism.

Philly Antifa are anti-authoritarians and anti-nationalist”

It’s been two weeks since they were emailed about the firebombing. They’ve yet to reply but one imagines they’re busy.

Let’s  look at Jersey Counter-Info’s definitions. Scroll to the What is Anarchism section.

To save you from reading the 17 sections, let’s quote from the “direct action” part:  In its original anarchist meaning, the term refers to any action undertaken without the permission, and outside the interest of, governmental institutions.

Are they peaceful? Let’s look in the Tactics section;  “Non-violence is not an anarchist principle; it is a tactic”.  Bombing can also be a tactic.

Returning to Milwaukee, see What is Antifa? Five Milwaukeeans Explain the Meaning of … where “Lena” explains that Antifa opposes contemporary iterations of fascism like white supremacist groups, ICE detention centers, the destruction of indigenous lands, and all institutions which enforce systemic racism and violence,”

At the time of this article, the FBI was investigating 10 instances of arson and vandalism at anti-abortion pregnancy centers around the country.  In 2021 abortion providers reported 123 assault and battery incidents, 16 invasions, 9 bomb threats, 13 burglaries and etc, by various individuzls and groups.

Both sides believe they have “God on their side”
Bob Dylan – With God on Our Side Lyrics

Put another way, both sides believe; this is 1859

We are at Harpers Ferry

The name is John Brown.

Another War in America

Deja Vu all over again

By Bob Small

We saw this on the Fox 29 news Return of Temporary Masking in Patient Care Areas Across .

And like Yogi Berra said  “it’s deja vu all over again.” The affected health centers include Bryn Mawr, Lankenau, and Riddle Hospitals along with the Main Line Health Centers, in short, most of Delco.

Ron  DeSantis, who I don’t always agree with, had it right on this.

So how do we fight the mandates this time?  Well, knowledge is power.

At the recent Children’s Defense Fund Conference in Savannah I saw a few films and learned about a few more.  Some of us are more at ease with watching films than reading.  

The following is what I call the CHD Film Fest: (note, others to follow)

Vaxxed (2016) and Vaxxed II” The People’s Truth (2019) are both films about, shall we say, “inconvenient truths”. Vaxxed II was screened for us at the aforementioned CHD conference.

The three-series documentary, Plandemic came out in 2020.

Let me quote from IMDB user reviews on this

You may be aware that everyone including Facebook, YouTube, etc immediately banned these videos. Yet you can find hundreds of videos talking about the misinformation and danger of this video. Everything I could look up on the internet was unequivocally negative about this pandemic video  said chadgertler who urged all to watch it.

Later on stephen-93875  mentioned When you see and hear Bill Gates admit that investing in vaccines was the best investment he ever made turning $10 billion into $200 billion, his stating that everyone on the planet needs to be vaccinated is anything but a humanitarian gesture, said stephen-93875

Another film about the issue is The Big Picture: Life Inside the Control Grid

There’s a two-day live event, in Richmond, Va. later this month

To follow the CHD Pennsylvania Chapter visit Children’s Health Defense Pennsylvania Chapter: Home