A Thanksgiving Potluck; Go Twice Around the Earth; Ways that Nov. 20th Matters. News edition, Nov 20 2018

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As we approach the traditional observance of THANKSGIVING throughout America, we bring word of
(1) YOUR TRIP TWICE AROUND THE EARTH, ABOARD THE INT'L SPACE STATION
(2) a THANKSGIVING POTLUCK FEAST YOU CAN ATTEND
(3) an online T'giving special, FREE from PBS
(4) why today, November 20th, is important in today's remembrances as we go forward.

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# 1 news item...

The INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION marks its 20th birthday today

It remains the most enduring example of US-Russia cooperation, even if we struggle to emulate that example right here on this Earth.

But it brings THE COOLEST THING WE HAVE TO OFFER YOU.

Take a trip around our blue planet with THE LONGEST CONTINUAL TIMELAPSE ever from the ISS, to celebrate its 20th birthday. It was just released, late Monday.

Sit back, float, and be dazzled on your cyber screen:

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2018/11/Space_Station_20th_longest_continual_timelapse_from_space

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# 2 news item...

JOIN THE ANNUAL THANKSGIVING POTLUCK FEAST AT THE LEARNING GARDEN

With Thanksgiving nearly here, the invitation has once again been issued to join the welcoming good folks -- this time for the 10th annual celebration -- of this traditional holiday on Nov. 27th at the Learning Garden, alongside the campus of Venice High School, at Walgrove Av & Venice Bl, Los Angeles, CA 90066.

Bring your potluck dish to share and gather at 11 am to eat at noon. 

Gardenmaster David King says, "We celebrate our harvest with the staff and clients of the 'Program For Torture Victims,' introduce them to our holiday and acknowledge all we are truly grateful for. We try to end off early to allow many to go to their homes and celebrate with friends and family. Please be a part of our neighborly efforts - bring a dish appropriate to the season and your own plates and eating utensils to make this as waste-free as can be. We thank you and are grateful all days for our community."

More at:
 https://communitygarden.org/find-a-garden/gardens/the-learning-garden/

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# 3 news item...

"THE PILGRIMS," FREE, FROM "AMERICAN EXPERIENCE"

Now streaming online, on demand, FREE for a limited time

The journey of the Pilgrims to the "New World" is a seminal, if often misunderstood episode of American history. The docudrama, "The Pilgrims," tells the true story of a small group of religious radicals whose determination to establish a separatist religious community planted the seeds for America's founding. From deceiving and exploiting the Native Americans to dealing with their own internal politics and manipulations by oligarchs in England, this docudrama attempts to tell the full story.

It's a good opportunity to bring some context to your holiday gathering, including debunking the myths about what they ate. And it might be just the ticket to avoid hearing your bloviating uncle espouse his toxic politics.

"American Experience" is produced for PBS by WGBH Boston.

"The Pilgrims" is available to stream online, or via the PBS app, for just a few more days before it returns to their archive. Watch it FREE, at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pilgrims/#part01

More info and clips at:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/pilgrims/

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# 4 news item...

NOVEMBER 20th's ANNIVERSARIES, AND THEIR LEGACIES

☆ Today is the annual "Trans Day of Remembrance"...

It brings the somber reminder that anti-trans violence is still killing people worldwide simply because they are "different," and it's on the rise in the United States of America where minorities of all kinds are encountering a reinvigorated intolerance. Thus, it's a day to draw attention that the current administration has announced it is issuing a memo to remove all existing legal protections from trans persons in the US.
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☆ It was twenty years ago today...

It's the INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION's 20th birthday. See feature # 1 for two times around the world, in a dazzling video from orbit!
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☆ With resonance 50 years ago & now, today was RFK's not-so-long-ago birthday.

On Nov. 20th in 1925, the late Senator ROBERT F. KENNEDY was born. He would have turned 93 if he were alive today.

Earlier this year, history marked the 50th anniversary of "Bobby's" assassination in Los Angeles at the rather young age of 43, just after his victory in the California Primary for the Democratic nomination for president.

In that turbulent year of 1968, Dr. MARTIN LUTHER KING Jr. was assassinated in April, and Bobby's speech on that awful night was credited with preventing violence. But just weeks later, in June, another bullet took the life of RFK.

With him gone that summer, Vice President HUBERT HUMPHREY won the Democratic nomination for president without ever entering a single primary. As Humphrey was awarded the nomination at the Party's convention in Chicago, massive protests against the Vietnam War filled the Windy City's streets, bringing violence that an official report later deemed "a police riot."

GOP nominee RICHARD NIXON went on to win the presidency by a slim margin in the 1968 national election -- after he had secretly sabotaged the peace deal brokered in Paris by outgoing President LYNDON JOHNSON that would have ended the war by the end of 1968.

Thus the war that was raging 50 years ago would go on pointlessly for another six years. Ttens of thousands more would die. And Nixon's presidency would end in an altogether different scandal -- in another case of his secret sabotage, called Watergate.
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☆  THE FOREGOING serves to remind us that our past -- of 50 years ago, AND in more recent times -- can either instruct or haunt us... It always matters that we pay attention and act, or history will judge us as harshly for what we didn't do, as for what we do that's harmful.

Fast forward. There's plenty to think about as we mark the 50th anniversary of the year that the Vietnam War could have ended, but didn't; the 17th anniversary of America's unending war in Afghanistan; the 15th anniversary of our endless war in Iraq; all, as we continue to enable Saudi Arabia's ongoing war against the civilian population of Yemen; and as we conduct clandestine drone, cruise missile, and air-strike wars in Syria and all over Africa.

And on Thursday, US troops will pause, worldwide, for another Thanksgiving feast while deployed in some foreign land where the locals are trying to kill them. They will hope for a few hours, or even a few moments, of safety and calm, dreaming of home, wherever they are.

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☆ THANKSGIVING FINDS CALIFORNIANS NOT EXACTLY FEELING THANKFUL

After the Thousand Oaks nightclub massacre and massive wildfires that started within hours; over 700 people still missing in the "Camp" fire's charred landscape; thousands made homeless; and millions breathing smoke, though they are hundreds of miles away from the fires; the events of this month in California merge into one thing that feels apocalyptic -- and even short attention spans can't dismiss any of it as "sooo -last-week."

Thus we looked for, found, and recommend a perspective by John Davis in today's edition of "Counter Punch." It begins, appropriately, with the Southern California equivalent of the Pilgrims interaction with the Native American Indians on the opposite coast. A seacoast that, like ours, here, a seaborne "caravan" of uninvited immigrants invaded. Starting there, it brings us hard-up against what we've done to California -- and, as practioners of Manifest Destiny, to most everything else -- ever since.

It has a lot packed into a few words. For example, did you know that the giant Southern California wildfire "started somewhere on the 2,668 acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory. Up until 2006 this facility had been used to test nuclear reactors and rocket engines for over fifty years." 

It's a solid short read, at:

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/11/20/geographies-of-violence-in-southern-california/

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☆  THINGS TO BE GRATEFUL FOR...

If that seems elusive or dubious, stick around just another minute. Here's our not-just-for-us, but-for-everyone list:

• We're still here. Us to write this, and you to read it.

• We've still got the music, even if we no longer have all the music-makers who have enriched our lives.

• We still have each other. Friends, family, dogs, cats, hamsters, pet goldfish, that favorite shirt, a jacket to keep us warm this winter, and something -- even if not gourmet fare -- to eat this Thanksgiving.

• And if you're reading this, "Well, I don't have those things," then we invite you to attend the Thanksgiving Potluck and chat with some of the humble guests who will be there as members of the International Victims of Torture organization. You'll make new friends and they just might change your outlook and perspective. About a lot of things.

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That's all for this edition. Stay tuneful!

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We'll be back again soon with music news and more "News of the Non-Trumpcentric Universe." (c)

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LEGALESE, CONTACTING US, 'N SUCH...

Boilerplate? Where's the main pressure gauge? And the firebox?

What "boilerplate"? Who came up with that goofy term for the basic essential informational stuff...
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♪ The ACOUSTIC AMERICANA MUSIC GUIDE endeavors to bring you NEWS – and views of interest to artists everywhere – more specifically to musicians and the creative community and music makers and fans of acoustic and Folk-Americana music. That includes both traditional and innovative forms. From the deepest roots to today’s acoustic renaissance, that’s our beat. We provide a wealth of resources, including a HUGE catalog of acoustic-friendly venues (now undergoing a major update), and inside info on FESTIVALS and select performances in Southern California in venues from the monumentally large to the intimately small and cozy. We cover workshops, conferences, and other events for artists and folks in the music industry, and all kinds o’ things in the world of acoustic and Americana and accessible classical music. From washtub bass to musical spoons to oboe to viola to banjo to squeezebox, from Djangostyle to new-fangled-old-time string band music, from sweet Cajun fiddle to bluegrass and pre-bluegrass Appalachian mountain music to all the swamp water roots of the blues and the bright lights of where the music is headed now.
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