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Articles by John Repp
by Cindy Cole and John M Repp Rebecca Solnit writes about hope in the face of dystopia and disaster. Her books, Hope in the Dark (2004) and A Paradise Built in Hell (2009) reflect that theme. In her new book she examines our cultural history since the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott. She recounts the steps taken, attitudes changed, laws passed and how they have slowly transformed our current culture. The whole change could be named “from empire to integration.” This book will also give us hope.
Ward Wilson’s 5 Step Plan to Eliminate Nuclear Weapons
by David Lambert (Internet links added by John M Repp) At the September 10th 2026 monthly meeting of Northwest Against Nuclear Weapons, Program Manager Sean Arent introduced guest speaker Ward Wilson. I soon realized Wilson is the author of a book I had read a number of years ago: Five Myths About Nuclear Weapons (2013).
Inequality and Health: Keynote Speech by Stephen Bezruchka, MD
Keynote Speech given at the Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility Benefit, September 19, 2026, edited by John M Repp Thank you for that introduction and for the honor of being your keynote speaker. What is the most common sexually transmitted infection? Hint: everyone here has it. LIFE is the most common sexually transmitted infection. Your father’s sperm infected your mother’s ovum to produce a zygote and after about 48 cycles of cell division here you are.
The War on Iran Continues
by John M Repp (September 22, 2026) Trump started bombing Iran on February 28, 2026. He has given many reasons why, but the one has a spoken about the most has been to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. Here is some background. Trump canceled the JCPOA treaty in May 2018, during his first term. JCPOA was a treaty with Iran and other nations that Obama negotiated. It said Iran would not develop a nuclear weapon.
How to Fix Social Security
by John M Repp In 2032, Social Security benefits will be cut by about 25% if Congress does not do something. That will be the first time since the system was set up that some payments going out will be less than what a recipient had received before. Also, since the system was set up, the age at which a person can start collecting has been raised. Today many young people believe that Social Security won’t be there for them when they retire.
A Bit of Activist History: Uncle Sam Carrying an Oil Barrel and a Dead Soldier
A Bit of History by John M Repp This photo comes from the days of West Seattle Neighbors for Peace and Justice, a group that started organizing against the invasion of Iraq about six months before that war started in March 2003. West Seattle Neighbors was part of SNOW (Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War), a city-wide group that had “chapters” in many neighborhoods. Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation played a prominent role in organizing SNOW.
Is Trump Is Trying to Steal the Mid-term Elections?
by John M Repp Of course, Trump will try to steal the midterm 2026 elections. He already tried to change the results of the 2020 election. To be part of the MAGA coalition, a person must say that Trump won the 2020 election and that it was stolen from him. Will he be able to steal the 2026 midterms? Will he prevent the Democrats from achieving control of the House and Senate? On Thursday July 16, 2026, Trump gave a primetime speech which was broadcast on FOX and CBS, but not on ABC and NBC.
Letters to the Editor by Two Bellingham Members
Do you have a letter you’d like to see in our newsletter and on our website? Just send a copy to us at wwfor@wwfor.org and we will forward it to our newsletter editor for consideration! Below are letters from Bellingham residents Barbara Sardarov and Cindy Cole. Both are concerned about military spending, nuclear weapons, and human needs.
Letter by Gene Marx about the Non-proliferation Treaty
[Activist Gene Marx of Bellingham wrote to his Representative about this crucial issue] April 21, 2026 Representative Rick Larsen, Your support of the NPT(Non-proliferation Treaty) is more critical now than ever. The latest analysis by Olamide Samuel in Bulletin of Atomic Scientists points to the need for increased diplomacy and less military action before everything spirals out of control.
Film Review: “Earth’s Greatest Enemy”
[WWFOR Newsletter Editor John M Repp has reviewed this important film and discussed its significance. Below is the opening of the review and a link to the whole review in pdf format follows.] Earth’s Greatest Enemy is a film from Abby Martin showing that the US military-industrial complex is the biggest institutional user of fossil fuels and has been fighting for years to secure cheap oil for the US economy.
It’s Time for Congress to End Presidential Sole Authority to Launch Nuclear Weapons
by John M Repp (what I said to an aide to Rick Larsen at a meeting with her in his Bellingham office along with other anti-nuclear activists on April 21, 2026) Under the current policy in our country, not by law but by customary practice, the sitting president, as commander-in-chief, has sole authority to order the use of a nuclear weapon.
WWFOR Spring Assembly 2026: Confronting Militarism at Home and Abroad:
A recording is available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0OJyMKkbQg This article was written by David Lambert for Pacific Call, edited by Cindy Cole and John M Repp Extra resources: https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ResourcesWWFOR2026SA.pdf The theme of this year’s Spring Assembly was: “Confronting Militarism At Home and Abroad”.
The Revolution In America in 1776 Opened An Asylum for Mankind
[On the occasion of the 250th Anniversary of presentation of the Declaration of Independence to the second Continental Congress, WWFOR newsletter editor John M Repp considers our history. Have the ideals expressed in that document ever become policy and reality in the U.S.?
The Illegal War Against Iran
Several weeks into the US attack on Iran Pacific Call editor John M Repp wrote this report. He pointed out that the U.S. attack came while negotiations were ongoing, and the attacks included targeted assassinations and also deadly bombing of civilians. John commented on the effects of this war both within the U.S. and globally. Click here to read the article. [Full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/WarAgainstIran.pdf ]
What Happened in Minneapolis?
Read Pacific Call editor John M Repp’s comments about what happened in Minneapolis when thousands of poorly trained government employees showed up in unmarked uniforms and masks, armed with guns and chemical weapons. Thanks to citizen videographers, we know stories quite different from government claims. Sadly 2 peaceful protesters were killed. Click here to read the illustrated article. [Full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/WhathappenedinMinn.pdf ]
The National Debt of the United States
Pacific Call editor John M Repp discusses the changes in U.S. national debt over the years. Considering the debt as a proportion of the Gross National Product it is now at a level not seen since the end of World War II. John examines the history of the debt, and what the current high may mean for the future. Click here to read the article. [Full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/SoaringNationalDebt.pdf ]
The Trillion Dollar War Machine:
Pacific Call editor John M Repp wrote “A review of William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman’s ‘The Trillion Dollar War Machine: How Runaway Military Spending Drives America into Foreign Wars and Bankrupts Us At Home’ (2025)” John starts with President Eisenhower’s famous warning about the military-industrial complex and takes us through points from the book bringing the situation to the present. Click here to read John’s article.
Palestine Is Disappearing; Israel Is Expanding
This article starts with a 4-part map of Israel and Palestine showing the Israeli takeover of land. The text begins History did not begin on October 7, 2023. Too many people in the United States do not know that most of the people in living in Gaza are people or descendants of people who were pushed off their land by the Israelis in 1948, a period called the Nakba which is Arabic for catastrophe. Many more were pushed off their land in 1967 in the course of the six-day war won by Israel.
Course: Ancient Civilizations of North America
. Newsletter Editor John M Repp wrote an appreciative review of the 24 lecture course “Ancient Civilizations of North America” offered by The Great Courses series. John’s article gives us a glimpse into what he learned about the diverse civilizations that existed for thousands or years before Europeans came to North America, and the accomplishments in astronomy, agriculture, and crafts. Click hereto read the article.
Book Review: The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land
Book Review: The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land Newsletter editor John M Repp reviewed “The Future is Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land” jointly written by a Palestinian and an Israeli. Both authors had lost close relatives to the ongoing violence, and they began working toward reconciliation between the peoples. Click here for the review. [full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/ReviewTheFutureIsPeace.pdf ]
[Note by web-poster Jean B: This article was published before the Jan. 3, 2026, U.S. attack on Venezuela and kidnapping of President Maduro; now over 100 people in small boats in the Caribbean have been killed; the attack on Venezuela killed an estimated 90 people; several oil tankers have been seized; and 2 kidnapped Venezuelans are in a U.S. prison.] by John M Repp Is the Trump administration preparing for a war against Venezuela, or are they just threatening them in order to get something?
Letters to the Editor & Cartoon: Fifth Horseman of the Apocalypse
Click to see the last page of the January 2026 Newsletter. [Full URL https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/lastpageofPC2026.pdf ]
Paying for a Green New Deal
by John M Repp China over the last 45 years has developed a moderately prosperous society with a huge middle-class. Their middle-class is now at least three times larger than the middle-class in the United States, where unfortunately the middle-class is shrinking. In the process China increased their money supply by over 5000%.
The Effect of the Nuclear Freeze Movement and the Need for a Nuclear Abolition Movement Now - Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
by John M Repp The chart on the next page shows us the number of nuclear weapons that could be delivered in a first strike. The total amount of weapons was reduced after the Nuclear Freeze campaign of the 1980’s, a mass movement initially organized by Randall Forsberg. On June 12, 1982, the largest peace rally in U.S. history was held in New York as the Second United Nations Special Session on Disarmament was happening. There were approximately a million participants in that rally.
A Review of the 2025 film Nuremburg - Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
by John M Repp When shown at a Toronto film festival in September of 2025, the new film Nuremburg got a four minute standing ovation. But it is not being shown widely, maybe because it is so powerful and reminds the Republicans who are supporting the Trump Administration what happens to people who support a cruel dictator. The film tells the story of the famous series of trials of high ranking Nazi leaders that the Allies captured at the end of World War II.
Mamdani’s Victory in the General Election for Mayor of New York City: What it Means.
by John M Repp Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City. He won the November 4th, 2025 general election in a three-way race defeating former New York Governor Mario Cuomo who ran as an independent and Republican Curis Sliwa. In the primary election held on June 24, 2025, Zohran Mamdani won the race for the Democratic nomination with 56.4% of the vote.
We Can Stop Global Warming: A Reason for Hope in the Long Term
Article author and newsletter editor, John M Repp, discusses the evidence for global warming, and the potential that solar energy holds for preventing the devastation continued use of fossil fuels would cause. Furthermore, the production of solar energy is becoming increasingly efficient, practical, and affordable. John shared information and insights from Bill McKibben’s new book “Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization”.
Unarmed Civilian Protection in the West Bank of Palestine Needs Our Help
by David Berrian Ras al-Auja is the last Bedouin community in the West Bank of Palestine. They get by from raising sheep and goats and doing just a bit of agriculture. There had been many other Bedouin communities in the area, but because of Israeli settler harassment and violence the families in those villages have had to flee. Ras al-Auja is the only Bedouin community remaining that has been able to resist ethnic cleansing up until now. The families in Ras al-Auja are trying to stay.
Letter to Editor: Eliminating Nuclear Weapons - Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation
Cascadia Daily News, Bellingham, WA (posted on Aug 5, 2025) Editor, In 1945, only one country in the world, the USA, had the world’s supply of two nuclear bombs. “Little Boy” (the nickname given to the bomb) was dropped on Aug. 6 in Hiroshima and “Fat Man” (the nickname given to the other bomb) was dropped on Aug. 9 on Nagasaki. Over 210,000 were killed. Thousands died from radiation poisoning later. Let’s remember this on Aug. 6.
by John M Repp The Parable of the Tribes: The Problem of Power in Social Evolution, 2nd edition (Albany, State University of New York, 1995) is a book written by Andrew Bard Schmookler. Here is the link to Schmookler’s latest website: https://abetterhumanstory.org/ and, in the next paragraph, a summary of his idea. In the book, he lays out a grand theory about human civilizations and how civilizations have been in power struggles since they first existed.
by John M Repp John Hart-Smith was a man well respected in the field of aerospace engineering, specifically in the craft of designing the manufacturing of an aircraft’s fuselage. In his obituary notice, The Seattle Times tells of how he tried to wake up Boeing management in a 2001paper about the dangers of their “corporate business culture of outsourcing, cost-cutting and downsizing”.
SPRING ASSEMBLY 2025 ANNOUNCEMENT
WESTERN WASHINGTON FELLOWSHIP OF RECONCILIATION SPRING ASSEMBLY 2025 Saturday, May 17, 9 am to 12:30 pm PT on Zoom “Building a Nonviolent Movement in a Time of Chaos” Stephen Zunes, keynote speaker, see below see wwfor.org/spring-assembly-2025 to register soon or call 206-789-5565 by David Lambert We are in governmental, political, and societal turmoil, when each of us is affected in so many different ways.
Trump's Brilliant Actions to End Terrorism, Plus a Cartoon about the Wonders of AI
Trump’s Brilliant Actions to End Terrorism, Plus a Cartoon about the Wonders of AI A double-hitter post: First a letter to the editor by Jean Buskin (rejected by the Seattle Times) recognizing President Trump’s brilliant actions to end terrorist attacks on the U.S. Second a bonus cartoon showing the wondrous nature of AI. Both available here [ https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/JeanBuskinLetEdPlusCartoon.pdf ]
Newsletter Editor John M Repp starts this article with the question, ‘Why would I write an essay about our closest animal relatives and their dominance systems in a newsletter of WWFOR, a group that writes on its masthead that they want “to replace violence, war, racism and economic injustice with nonviolence, equality, peace and justice?” Good question!’ Read his article which touches on matriarchy, evolution, geology, meteorology, and more at...
Enough’s Enough in Magic Skagit: A small little town, empowered to do the right thing. by Gene Marx. On April 22, with nuclear powers trigger-loaded for confrontation in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, La Connor, Washington became the first municipality in the state to join 86 other towns and cities in the U.S. to formally recognize the global nuclear threat and adopt a Back from the Brink resolution, endorsed and promoted by the local group No More Bombs.
Stephen Zunes’s Keynote Address at the May 17, 2025, Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation Spring Assembly from an artificial intelligence (AI) transcription, edited by Cindy Cole and John Repp. Available at https://wwfor.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/SA2025Keynote.pdf. And if you’d rather see and hear Stephen’s talk, the YouTube video of Stephen’s talk and other parts of the Assembly is available; see links at https://wwfor.org/spring-assembly-2025/.
Nuclear Weapons: Under Trump, the global ‘Doomsday Clock’ creeps closer to midnight
Public vigilance is needed to keep the threat of annihilation in check by Cindy Ann Cole, published in the print edition of Cascadia Daily News Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, p. A4 continued on p. A6 Cindy Cole is a mother, grandmother and a citizen peace and labor activist. She lives in Bellingham and has been working on the issue of nuclear weapons and the military for more than 20 years.
A Woodpecker Pecks
“the specific iteration of woodpecker pecking at yet/another juicy place, but I forgot to pack the guidebook” A woodpecker pecks at a juicy place on or maybe in the roof right now.
When Life Could Be a Dream
Northside, Pittsburgh, PA, July 1974. Photo by John L. Alexandrowicz, credit: National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 557272.
Poem Ending With a Line from Tomas Tranströmer (via Robin Robertson)
Home › Article › Poem Ending With a Line from Tomas Tranströmer (via Robin Robertson) Photo by Sharon Pruitt, of Pink Sherbet Photography January 4, 2023 Oh to be veering along Baum Boulevard to the beatus via north, where the squalls of Mercer vanish for a minute, horizon a violet knife-cut, curtain of snow throbbing at the grade’s bottom— none of which you’ll know, my dear, no matter how loud the ringing tambourines of ice.
I've been thinking about the holidays.
When you find ten minutes between shopping sprees, drop-in guests, and quick naps, here are three unsentimental, unconventional poems to help you celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas. The first year, I grated potatoes, chopped onions & watched.
Some Random Issues
Published on September 15, 2022 Things are so much more random now, what with all the issues everyone has, especially when going off on someone (or having been gone off on) or going off of what someone says without first feeling them or her or him so no words get put in mouths—I mean, what you put out comes back on you, but to stray from my lane a second, let me pull your coat about this random thing because it looks to this old head like memes are another thing, right?
Making War Obsolete
We should have abolished war after World War II. That war was so lethal and so destructive, even before the dropping of the atomic bombs, that had people understood that there is a real alternative to deadly violent conflict, humanity might have taken another path. Instead, we took the path of nuclear deterrence which is a desperate and bankrupt policy that endangers our very existence. Why have we not abolished war?
Pardon the Technicalities
By: Richard PerhacsAndy Weir rocked the publishing world with The Martian, a self-published project turned blockbuster that was picked up by Random House, sold over five million copies, and made into a Ridley Scott hit starring Matt Damon. Weir's follow-up novel, Artemis, was a best-seller before it went on sale. Good thing, too, as we'll see. Computer programmer Weir seems to be a genuine eccentric, living in a rented two room apartment despite his financial success.
The Escape Artist
By: Richard Perhacs If you´re a devotee of The History Channel you've probably seen Brad Meltzer´s Decoded, a contrived but entertaining documentary series in which Meltzer, largely off-stage, sends a team of earnest looking investigators to unearth the truth about things like "did Hitler really die in Berlin in 1945?" or "was Patton murdered or did he just die in an auto accident?" Meltzer is a best-selling author of a dozen thrillers and spy novels, as well as works in a host of other...
Lab Girl: A Story of Trees, Science and Love
Some of our best writers are scientists — a statement that in Hope Jahren's case works just as well in reverse. A geobiologist who heads a research laboratory at the University of Oslo (Norway), Jahren has held a number of prestigious independent research and university positions, received some of the most coveted awards in her field, and worked tirelessly to expose and eliminate the sexism still prevalent in the hard sciences.
UN Report Says US is a “Shithole Country”
Philip Alston is the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. He traveled to the United States last December to some of our most destitute communities such as Skid Row in LA, poor African American areas in the Alabama, impoverished coal communities in West Virginia and to Puerto Rico. He issued his report on June 1, 2018. It should be front page news. Five million live in the absolute deprivation we usually associate with the developing world.
New Book Encourages Friendship and Care for the Natural World - Autism Parenting Magazine
This new book promotes the values of friendship, collaboration, and care of the natural world. This is a true story about two friends who came across a helpless horseshoe crab that was wedged inside the beam of a wooden fence. The two boys share their feelings about the situation. They communicate and work together to free the helpless animal. They show compassion for the horseshoe crab and free it from the fence. They each have done something out of the kindness of their own hearts.
Hell is Other People: A Review of mother!
Darren Aronofsky’s (The Wrestler, Black Swan) new film mother! is frustrating, confrontational, deeply symbolic and absolutely brilliant. The film stars Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as a married couple in the process of rebuilding their recently destroyed home and suddenly find themselves the unwitting hosts to a series of increasingly bizarre guests. These guests proceed to become very bothersome for the poor couple in ways that range from annoying, to surreal, to horrifying.
Wind River Intrigues, But Fails To Captivate
Taylor Sheridan is obsessed with characters at the end of their rope. The bleak scenery and broken people of Sicario and Hell or High Water (both written by Sheridan) are testament to that, but his directorial debut Wind River gives us possibly his most desperate story yet.
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