"Skywatch," a new TV and online program, launched its first episode! Skywatch calls for grounding the F-35!

See the first episode online now

"Skywatch" is a new 30-minute TV and online program that just launched on Burlington’s local TV station, Town Meeting TV. Skywatch calls for grounding the F-35 at Burlington International Airport (BTV) and grounding the F-35 everywhere!

Skywatch is hosted by Danaka Katovich and Jimmy Leas. Danaka is the national co-director of CODEPINK—Women for Peace where she is working to ground the F-35 nationally and internationally. Jimmy has been working to stop the F-35 at BTV since the plan to base it in the City of South Burlington Vermont was first announced in 2010. His articles and podcasts appear at CancelF35.substack.com/.

Skywatch embodies traditional watchdog journalism. It seeks to end the intolerable abuse of ordinary people by those with power. It holds public officials, military commanders, and corporate leaders to account. It reveals the facts and the law. It exposes the hypocrisy. It reports on the resistance.

In the first episode of Skywatch, which you can see now by clicking this link or by clicking the image below, Danaka and Jimmy introduce the show and describe severe issues with the F-35 both on its own and as operated in a Vermont city. Danaka reports on CODEPINK’S recent week of action against the F-35, including events in Burlington Vermont and Madison Wisconsin.

Skywatch will air monthly. Future episodes will include interviews with local people living, working, or going to school in the flight path. It will also include interviews with local, national, and international leaders and activists. Skywatch will also seek interviews with political and military leaders.

Skywatch will address the full range of issues raised by the F-35, including the military’s targeting of working class and BIPOC neighborhoods with intolerable 115-decibel F-35 takeoffs and landings, the damage to hearing, the attack on the learning and cognitive development of children, the destruction of hundreds of affordable houses and the making of thousands of remaining affordable homes “unsuitable for residential use,” the damage to jobs and the economy from the loss of housing, the carnage to wildlife and the natural environment, the planet-killing burning of jet fuel at 22 gallons a minute, the use of PFAS toxic chemicals, the F-35’s nuclear bomb delivery mission, which makes the airport in one of Vermont’s most densely populated cities into a legitimate military target, the use of thousands of Vermonters as human shields for the F-35, the 1.4 trillion dollar F-35 program cost, Lockheed Martin’s corporate crime, and the government assaults on town meeting democracy and the rule of law.

Links to the current episode and to all future episodes of the Skywatch series will be posted at https://www.cctv.org/watch-tv/series/skywatch. To be automatically notified of new episodes as soon as each is uploaded, send an email to the Town Meeting TV channel coordinator at maketv@cctv.org and mention Skywatch. This episode of Skywatch is also posted on Youtube.

Write or call your public servants and demand an immediate halt to F-35 training in cities.

Governor Phil Scott 802-828-3333 Chief of Staff <Jason.Gibbs@vermont.gov>

Vermont National Guard's Complaint Line: 802-660-5379 (Note: the Vermont Guard told a reporter that it received over 1400 noise complaints. But the Guard won’t release what people said).

Submit your report & complaint to the still active Fall 2021-Continuing Now online F-35 Report & Complaint Form: https://tinyurl.com/5d89ckj9

See all the graphs and in-your-own words statements on the F-35 Spring-Summer 2021 Report & Complaint Form (513 responses): https://tinyurl.com/3svacfvx.

See links to the graphs and in-your-own words statements on all four versions of the F-35 Report & Complaint Form since Spring 2020, with a total of 1670 responses from 658 different people plus 77 more so far on the form that remains active now.

Senator Bernie Sanders 800-339-9834 <Senator@sanders.senate.gov>

Senator Peter Welch 888-605-7270 Chief of Staff <patrick.satalin@mail.house.gov>

Rep. Becca Balint <RepBeccaBalint@mail.house.gov>

Burlington City Council <citycouncil@burlingtonvt.gov>

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger <mayor@burlingtonvt.gov>

Winooski Mayor Kristine Lott <klott@winooskivt.org>

S. Burlington City Council Chair Helen Riehle <hriehle@sburl.com>

Williston Selectboard Chair Terry Macaig <macaig@msn.com>

VT Senate President Philip Baruth <Philip.Baruth@uvm.edu>

VT House Speaker Jill Krowinski <jkrowinski@leg.state.vt.us>

Attorney General Charity Clark <Charity.Clark@vermont.gov>

States Attorney Sarah George <Sarah.fair.george@gmail.com>

Vermont’s Federal Prosecutor <usavt.contactus1@usdoj.gov>

Adjutant General Brig Gen Gregory C Knight <gregory.c.knight.mil@mail.mil>

Major J Scott Detweiler <john.s.detweiler.mil@mail.mil>

Wing Commander Col Dan Finnegan <daniel.finnegan@mail.mil>

Vermont National Guard Inspector General Lt. Col. Edward J Soychak <edward.soychak@us.af.mil>

US Air Force Inspector General Lt. Col. Pamela D. Koppelmann <pamela.d.koppelmann.mil@mail.mil>

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall <Frank.Kendall@us.af.mil>