Month: June 2021

Howard “Tom” Thompson passed away on May 29, 2021

June 10, 2021 /

Howard “Tom” Thompson passed away on May 29. He was 89 years old.


Born in Oak Park, Illinois, Tom spent his childhood years in New Canaan and ultimately raised his family in Darien. After graduating from Middlebury College in 1953, Tom served in the United States Navy. Tom married Ann Hilton in 1958. Together they raised two children. In business, he enjoyed a successful career as an advertising executive, including vice-president for Benton & Bowles Advertising Agency.

 

During his 63 years in Darien, he served as Treasurer of Noroton Presbyterian Church, Chairman of the Darien Red Cross, and President of The Darien Senior Men’s Association (2002-2003). Tom volunteered for the Stamford-based Meals on Wheels organization.

 
Tom enjoyed time with his family on numerous vacations in the Caribbean and summers in Plymouth, MA and Cape Cod. He was an avid New York Yankees fan and also cheered for the Patriots, as his granddaughter is a New England Patriots cheerleader.

In addition to his wife, Ann, Tom is survived by his two daughters, Cynthia Thompson Daniska (Michael) of Bethel, CT and Betsy Thompson of Darien. Tom is also survived by two grandchildren, Scott Daniska and Lauren Daniska, both of whom reside in the Boston area.

A private family memorial will take place in Plymouth, MA in August. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Tom’s memory to Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, 27 Cannon Road, Wilton, CT 06897.

September 16th at 11am Current Affairs: Real Life as a Palestinian-Has America gotten this one right or wrong? As a successful international lawyer, some two decades ago, David Maloof asked: “How could he make the biggest difference in this life. He decided that the biggest challenge he could undertake was to try to solve the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

June 7, 2021 /

Real Life as a Palestinian-Has America gotten this one right or wrong?  David Maloof will moderate the discussion.

  1. Background

I am pleased to lead an in-house conversation on “Real Life as a Palestinian: Has America Gotten This Right or Wrong?” on September 16th  from 11am-12 noon.

To save on time, let me start by providing my personal vantage point.

As a successful international lawyer, some two decades ago I asked: how could I make the biggest difference in this life?  I decided that the biggest challenge I could undertake was to try to solve Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.

I then undertook the following tasks, among others:

1.  Visiting Palestinian refugee camps in the West Bank and Lebanon to participate in real life; funding recreational facilities and a basketball court at a Palestinian refugee camp; serving on the national board of a Christian organization (“Churches for Middle East Peace”) dedicated to this cause, still a member; taking out a ½ page ad in the New York Times; paying for highway billboards; attending international Jewish organization’s peace conferences and lecturing on college campuses about my experiences; reviewing legal brief for US peace activist NGO.

2. Meeting with Middle East Christian Leaders; Palestinian leaders in Ramallah; Chief Palestinian negotiator (Saeb           Erekat) and Palestinian and Arab leaders and ambassadors in Washington and London; Israeli Foreign Ministry in Tel Aviv; members of Knesset in Tel Aviv; Israeli Settlement leaders; and Israeli media elite.

3. Meetings with US Senators, their staffs, and officials in the State Department; meeting with National Security Council Staff in the Obama White House; meeting with US Consul General in Jerusalem; providing informational documentaries to the same National Security Staff; meeting with George Mitchell, U.S. peace envoy.

4. Interacting with US media to place Palestinian peacemakers on US television and radio programs, such as CNN International and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2009).

5. Arranged for the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to directly address the American people in English on a college campus (The Cooper Union) and call for peace (September 22, 2014).

Notes on the parameters of the September 16, 2021 discussion given the potential breadth of the topic and the limited time:

1. I would like to hew closely to the subject of: “Real Life for a Palestinian.”

2. I suggest that given time restraints we avoid discussion of historical events and try to stick to the current situation in 2020-2021.

3. I suggest that it would also probably be useful to focus on current living conditions in 2020 and 2021 in Palestine and in Israel.

4. suggest that we should focus more on current and possible future US policies than past ones.

Media

 I suggest that you might go online and watch some of the two following media:

1. “John Oliver – Last Week Tonight” Israel v. Palestine (5/17/21)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jgbw2g1hobvpevv/John%20Oliver%20-%20Israel%20v.%20Palestine%20Conflict.mp4?dl=0

2. “Budrus” (2009) (1 hour, 22 minutes)

https://www.amazon.com/Budrus-Ayed-Morrar/dp/B00B1Z20UQ

3. “Five Broken Cameras” (2011). (Nominated for an Academy Award in 2013 for “Best Documentary.”) (1 hour, 34 minutes)

https://www.amazon.com/5-Broken-Cameras-English-Subtitled/dp/B00B03Z858

4. “The Daily Show” (guest Mustafa Barghouti) (2009)

https://www.cc.com/video/l00143/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-exclusive-anna-baltzer-mustafa-barghouti-extended-interview-pt-1

5. Anna Balzer, “Life in Occupied Palestine.” (2008)

https://www.amazon.com/Life-Occupied-Palestine-Eyewitness-Stories/dp/0930852478

6. Written Materials

I also suggest reading some of the following written materials:

Daily Life/Human Rights in Israel

  1. B’Tselem, “A Regime of Jewish Supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is Apartheid,” (2021)https://www.btselem.org/sites/default/files/publications/202101_this_is_apartheid_eng.pdf
  2. B’Tselem, “This is Apartheid,” (2021) https://thisisapartheid.btselem.org/eng/#1
  3. Human Rights Watch, “A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution,” (2021) https://www.hrw.org/report/2021/04/27/threshold-crossed/israeli-authorities-and-crimes-apartheid-and-persecution
  4. Amnesty International, “Israel and Occupied Palestinian Territories 2020” (2020) https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/middle-east-and-north-africa/israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territories/

Treatment of Children in Palestine

  1. UNICEF, “The Situation of Palestinian Children in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon,” (2010)https://www.unicef.org/oPt/PALESTINIAN_SITAN-final.pdf
  2. Human Rights Watch, “Second Class: Discrimination against Palestinian Arab Children in Israel’s Schools,” (2001)https://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/israel2/ISRAEL0901.pdf

Life in Gaza in 2020-2021

 1. Ghalayini, Basama, “A Gazan’s View on Hamas: It’s Not Complicated,” (2021) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/opinion/israel-hamas-gaza-ceasefire.html

2. Save the Children, “Denial of Healthcare outside Gaza Is a Death Sentence for Children,” (2020) https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/denial-healthcare-outside-gaza-death-sentence-children-save#:~:text=oPt-,’Denial%20of%20healthcare%20outside%20Gaza%20is%20a%20death,for%20children’%3A%20Save%20the%20Children&text=Children%20in%20Gaza%20are%20dying,Save%20the%20Children%20is%20warning

3. Al Jazeera, “‘Staggering’: WHO Says 200,000 Palestinians in Need of Health Aid,” (2021) https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/6/2/who-says-nearly-200000-palestinians-in-need-health-of-health-aid

4. BBC, “Israel-Gaza Violence: The Conflict Explained,” (2021) https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-44124396#:~:text=A%20ceasefire’s%20been%20agreed%20between,240%20people%20have%20been%20killed.&text=Israel%20and%20Hamas%20both%20claimed%20victory%20in%20the%20latest%20conflict

5. Conley, Julia, “This Is the Price of War,” (2021) https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/05/27/price-war-israeli-newspaper-publishes-photos-all-67-palestinian-children-killed-gaza

6. Balousha, Hazem and Berger, Miriam, “The U.N. Once Predicted Gaza Would be ‘Uninhabitable’ by 2020.  Two Million People Still Live There,” (2020)https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/01/01/un-predicted-gaza-would-be-uninhabitable-by-heres-what-that-actually-means/

7. Hearst, David, “Gaza 2020: How Easy It Is for the World to Delete Palestinian Pain,” (2019) https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/gaza-2020-un-report-history-forgotten-israel-blockade

8. Kuttab, Jonathan, “Israel Has Effective Control over Gaza,” (2020) http://arabcenterdc.org/viewpoint/israel-has-effective-control-over-gaza/

9.  Mahmoud, “Speech at The Cooper Union: Rethink Palestine,” (2014) https://oldwebsite.palestine-studies.org/jps/fulltext/188331

 Anthologies

a.The Electric Typewriter, “8 Great Articles about Israel/Palestine” (2019) https://tetw.org/IsraelPalestine

b. Foote, Jilliam, Jensen, Kristen, and Wintz Neighbor, Tese, “Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Resource Packet for Educators” (2009)https://www.elon.edu/u/academics/csrcs/wp-content/uploads/sites/478/2017/08/Israel-Palestine-Resource-Packet.pdf

 

Current Affairs: June 17th Universal Basic Income in Europe-Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland and Leading figure is in the global basic income discussion. Appearance courtesy of Ric Grefe Time: Jun 17, 2021 10:00 AM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

June 6, 2021 /
Hosts: Mike Wheeler and Mark Nunan
Note the time is 10am EDT for the Current Affairs. One hour earlier than usual. Mr. Cooke is joining us from Scotland.
June 17th   Universal Basic Income in Europe-Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland and Leading figure is in the global basic income discussion. Appearance courtesy of Ric Grefe
As the COVID19 pandemic has thrown the world into turmoil, pre-existing issues of economic insecurity, the changing nature of work, and the impact of climate change have been accelerated and deepened.  This has brought a significant challenge for the public and businesses, yet it has also opened up space to consider new ideas for changing the social contract of countries around the world.
One of these ideas to have sprung to prominence is that of a basic income, a regular, secure, and unconditional payment made to each eligible person.  Cities across the US are considering piloting examples of the policy to test its impact, and countries such as Scotland are actively exploring opportunities to introduce the idea on a national level.
Join Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland and a leading figure in the global basic income discussion to explore the history of this old idea; the reasons that it has gained such traction in recent years; and what the future might look like.  It will be an opportunity to explore your questions, reflections and critiques of basic income; and to potentially identify steps for getting involved if that is of interest.”
Jamie Cooke’s global references
Mike Wheeler’s US references

Link to Famie’s presentation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R4gvZdicQY

 

 

Current Affairs: Universal Basic Income in Europe, June 17, 2021 10:00AM EDT

June 6, 2021 /
Hosts: Mike Wheeler and Mark Nunan
Note the time is 10am EDT for the Current Affairs. One hour earlier than usual. Mr. Cooke is joining us from Scotland.
June 17th   Universal Basic Income in Europe-Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland and Leading figure is in the global basic income discussion. Appearance courtesy of Ric Grefe
As the COVID19 pandemic has thrown the world into turmoil, pre-existing issues of economic insecurity, the changing nature of work, and the impact of climate change have been accelerated and deepened.  This has brought a significant challenge for the public and businesses, yet it has also opened up space to consider new ideas for changing the social contract of countries around the world.
One of these ideas to have sprung to prominence is that of a basic income, a regular, secure, and unconditional payment made to each eligible person.  Cities across the US are considering piloting examples of the policy to test its impact, and countries such as Scotland are actively exploring opportunities to introduce the idea on a national level.
Join Jamie Cooke, Head of RSA Scotland and a leading figure in the global basic income discussion to explore the history of this old idea; the reasons that it has gained such traction in recent years; and what the future might look like.  It will be an opportunity to explore your questions, reflections and critiques of basic income; and to potentially identify steps for getting involved if that is of interest.”
Mike Wheeler’s US references

Jamie Cooke’s global references

 

 

Wander Roosevelt Memorial on Roosevelt Island, June 23, 2021

June 5, 2021 /

Joe Spain and David Mace will lead the Happy Wanderers in their final outing of the spring/summer season on Wednesday, June 23, the first trip to Manhattan on Metro North since the fall of 2019! The group will be leaving the Darien station on the 8:33 AM express to Grand Central (8:37 AM out of Noroton Heights); masks are required on Metro North. You should buy your tickets for the train at the machines on the Darien  or Noroton train platforms. A Metro Card will be needed for the Tram to Roosevelt Island. If you don’t have a Card, you can buy your train ticket from the machines with one Metro Card ride included.  The group will congregate at the information booth on the main floor upon arrival in Grand Central. The walking destination is the 59th St. Tram to  Roosevelt Island, and then to the Four Freedoms Roosevelt Park at the south end of the Island. From there, the group will take the East River ferry to 34th Street, and have lunch. We then will walk back to Grand Central, with a short stop at the Morgan Library, and an afternoon train back to Darien. Please get in touch with Joe (203-554-4201) or David (203-505-9693) if you would like to join this excursion.

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