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After Trump acquittal by GOP, Sunrise Movement says ‘time is now to abolish the filibuster’
"If Democrats don't deliver in this moment, future Presidents Days will recognize Trump's second term."
In the wake of the GOP’s acquittal of former President Donald Trump, the Sunrise Movement on Monday joined the progressive lawmakers and activists arguing that the failure of Democrats to secure bipartisan cooperation—even during an impeachment trial meant to hold Trump accountable for provoking a deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol—exemplifies why the majority party must eliminate the legislative filibuster if it hopes to pursue a transformative agenda capable of improving social and environmental well-being. Continue reading
Ignoring the greatest US Great Depression
Instead of explaining the dire state of things in the US, West and elsewhere—Main Street economies in collapse—establishment media pretend otherwise. Continue reading
Trump is history. It’s Joe Biden who’s changing America
While most of official Washington has been consumed with the Senate impeachment trial, another part of Washington is preparing the most far-ranging changes in American social policy in a generation. Continue reading
Ecuador’s presidential election suggests return of people-friendly rule
On Sunday, Equadorians voted for a successor to imperial tool President Lenin Moreno. Continue reading
Electoral politics use the same containment strategies as Alzheimer’s facilities
In a high-quality dementia care facility, confused residents who are at risk of unsafe wandering are skillfully redirected away from exit doors by staff members who are trained to provide them with the illusion of freedom while still keeping them in the safety of the care home. A propaganda-addled populace wandering around trying to find an escape from its oppressors is redirected in very much the same way. Continue reading
The decline and fall of the American empire
In 2004, journalist Ron Susskind quoted a Bush White House advisor, reportedly Karl Rove, as boasting, “We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality.” He dismissed Susskind’s assumption that public policy must be rooted in “the reality-based community.” “We’re history’s actors,” the advisor told him, “…and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.” Continue reading
Freedom Rider: The never ending COVID crisis
Profits determine the US response to a health care crisis, so Americans are in trouble regardless of who occupies the White House. Continue reading
Poor nations left reeling after Bill Gates advised Oxford to ditch open source COVID vaccine
Unable to secure a profit in immunizing poorer nations, Western multinationals, including Oxford’s private partner AstraZeneca, have prioritized those who can pay the most.
Europe is reeling from the shock news that biotech giant AstraZeneca will not be delivering anything like the number of vaccines it promised. The company informed European Union officials that they will only be supplying 31 million doses to 27 E.U. countries, rather than the 80 million they had promised would arrive by the end of March. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti predicted that the news would reap “enormous damage” on the continent that has already sustained over 32 million confirmed cases and 703,000 deaths due to COVID-19. Continue reading
The scourge of anti-government libertarianism
Lying at the heart of the increasingly discredited ideology of Trumpism is the bankrupt politics of libertarianism. Like the old joke about the dog chasing the car and finally catching up with it, the seething crew of armed and deranged Donald Trump supporters who managed to temporarily seize control of the upper and lower chambers of the U.S. Congress on January 6 were unsure of what to do with their briefly captured prize. Some decided to rifle through Senate desks in search of some holy grail of secret documents. Others were content with snatching laptop computers from offices. A few felt encumbered to aim canisters of destructive caustic bear spray at priceless oil paintings of Presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Quincy Adams. Continue reading
Greed in the suites, from Walgreens to Walmart
Donald Trump may have made his exit, but the CEOs his years smiled upon haven’t gone anywhere.
Walgreens has no buzz. Most every week millions of us walk into a local outlet of this drab drugstore giant and give the enterprise all around us not a second thought. Maybe we should. Continue reading
Fake lower class coup, real upper class bigotry, near social collapse
A nation more seriously divided than in the 1960s when movements against war and racism pulled families and communities apart and drove some to drugs, drink, and worse, approaches a greater and more threatening social dissolution. When more than 74 million people can be reduced to “white supremacists” by alleged liberals with the same ease that past supposed conservatives were led to see a communist fiend behind every supporter of unity among people we are indeed in a time of all American hate crimes, thought crimes and worse. Those labels are being flung about by one or another bunch of hateful bigots, loving humanitarians or usually, both. Continue reading
In 2021, the best way to fight neofascist Republicans is to fight neoliberal Democrats
As its policies gradually degrade the standard of living and quality of life for most people, neoliberalism provides a poisonous fuel for right-wing propaganda and demagoguery.
The threat of fascism will hardly disappear when Donald Trump moves out of the White House in two weeks. On Capitol Hill, the Republicans who’ve made clear their utter contempt for democracy will retain powerful leverage over the U.S. government. And they’re securely entrenched because Trumpism continues to thrive in much of the country. Continue reading
Old Congress, new Congress: Profiles in sore losing
The open sedition of so many Republican members is a crime and a national disgrace. They're attempting a clumsy coup d’état.
Ever since it first was published in 1956, there has been a joke about John F. Kennedy’s book Profiles in Courage (largely ghosted by speechwriter and advisor Ted Sorensen), historical portraits of eight US senators who demonstrated bravery in the face of enormous political opposition. Continue reading
The US money tree: The untold story of American aid to Israel
On December 21, the United States Congress passed the COVID-19 Relief Package, as part of a larger $2.3 trillion bill meant to cover spending for the rest of the fiscal year. As usual, US representatives allocated a massive sum of money for Israel. Continue reading
Donald John Trump’s “seditious abuse”
As we come to the end of four rotten years, the child king spends his final days throwing an extra ton of trauma-inducing tantrums.
And it came upon a midnight clear during this holiday season that after weeks and months alternating between negotiation and inertia, Congress finally reached agreement with the White House and passed a new $908 billion relief bill that provided a stimulus payment of $600 to each qualified citizen. Continue reading
Trickle-down economics doesn’t work but build-up does—is Biden listening?
How should the huge financial costs of the pandemic be paid for, as well as the other deferred needs of society after this annus horribilis? Continue reading
The great divider: COVID-19 reflects global racism, not equality
The notion that the COVID-19 pandemic was ‘the great equalizer’ should be dead and buried by now. If anything, the lethal disease is another terrible reminder of the deep divisions and inequalities in our societies. That said, the treatment of the disease should not be a repeat of the same shameful scenario. Continue reading
Tackling the infrastructure and unemployment crises: The “American System” solution
A self-funding national infrastructure bank modeled on the “American System” of Alexander Hamilton, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt would help solve not one but two of the country’s biggest problems.
Millions of Americans have joined the ranks of the unemployed, and government relief checks and savings are running out; meanwhile, the country still needs trillions of dollars in infrastructure. Putting the unemployed to work on those infrastructure projects seems an obvious solution, especially given that the $600 or $700 stimulus checks Congress is planning on issuing will do little to address the growing crisis. Various plans for solving the infrastructure crisis involving public-private partnerships have been proposed, but they’ll invariably result in private investors reaping the profits while the public bears the costs and liabilities. We have relied for too long on private, often global, capital, while the Chinese run circles around us building infrastructure with credit simply created on the books of their government-owned banks. Continue reading
A public option won’t save us. The sick and disabled need Medicare-for-All
Medicare and Medicaid are rife with complicated formulas for exclusions, exceptions, and limitations. The cruelty that is imposed by the constraints of these programs cannot be overstated.
I have multiple sclerosis. It is a painful, often debilitating, ever-progressing disability and disease with no cure. I don’t have a viable plan for what will surely be a lifetime of extensive healthcare. No one in my situation could. It would be impossible for me to maintain long term care under the for-profit insurance system. Over the last ten years, insurance deductibles have risen 111%, premiums have risen 55%, and workers’ earnings only 27%. I currently work full time to maintain my very expensive employer-based healthcare. When working full time renders me too disabled to continue working full time, I will promptly lose this healthcare. Continue reading
When the people rose: How the Intifada changed the political discourse around Palestine
December 8 came and went as if it was an ordinary day. For Palestinian political groups, it was another anniversary to be commemorated, however hastily. It was on this day, thirty-three years ago, that the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising) broke out, and there was nothing ordinary about this historic event. Continue reading
Will Biden’s America stop creating terrorists?
Joe Biden will take command of the White House at a time when the American public is more concerned about battling coronavirus than fighting overseas wars. But America’s wars rage on regardless, and the militarized counterterrorism policy Biden has supported in the past—based on airstrikes, special operations and the use of proxy forces—is precisely what keeps these conflicts raging. Continue reading
Why the failed fascist coup of 1933 could succeed in 2021
Smedley Butler won’t be around next year to save us. Continue reading
Trump launches ‘despicable’ last-minute attack on Social Security with rule aiming to restrict disability benefits
"Joe Biden needs to undo these cruel regulations—and clean house at SSA—on day one."
Just weeks away from relinquishing power to incoming President-elect Joe Biden, the Trump administration is quietly launching a last-minute assault on Social Security by rushing ahead with a rule that, if implemented, could deny critical benefits to hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities. Continue reading
Eisenhower’s ghost haunts Biden’s foreign policy team
In his first words as President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee for secretary of state, Antony Blinken said, “we have to proceed with equal measures of humility and confidence.” Many around the world will welcome this promise of humility from the new administration, and Americans should too. Continue reading
Millions of Americans vulnerable to eviction
During the most severe Main Street economic collapse in US history—with over one-fourth of working-age Americans jobless—additional calamity looms in the coming weeks. Continue reading
I know why black people are dying at triple the pandemic rates but white people better pay attention, too
Since the pandemic began, people of color have been dying at higher rates than those with lighter skin tones. Black, Indigenous and Latino Americans all have a COVID-19 death rate of triple or more that of White Americans. Continue reading
How Mitch McConnell’s do-nothing Republicans are killing you
The Senate adjourned and left town without even trying to pass a COVID disaster relief bill. By the time they return today, based on current trends, an additional estimated 16,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19. Continue reading
Biden needs to report Trump’s wreckage in executive branch as markers
They must not let the Trumpster outlaws escape and become immune fugitives from justice
The Biden Transition team is about to connect with the Trumpsters running federal departments and agencies into the ground. The Biden staff should prepare for serial shocks. Biden’s people will be observing the first glimpses of staggering wreckage and corruption. They need to tell the American people what they find. Continue reading
‘The real looting in America is the Walton family’: GAO report details how taxpayers subsidize cruel low wages of corporate giants
"I say to the Walton family: Get off welfare," declared Sen. Bernie Sanders in response to the government study he commissioned. "Pay your workers a living wage—at least $15 an hour."
Pinpointing a reality denounced as “morally obscene” by Sen. Bernie Sanders, a new government study shows how some of the nation’s largest and most profitable corporations—including Walmart, McDonald’s, Dollar General, and Amazon—feast upon taxpayer money by paying their employees such low wages that huge numbers of those workers throughout the year are forced to rely on public assistance programs such as Medicaid and food assistance just to keep themselves and their families afloat. Continue reading
You can’t eat civility: A message to Joe Biden and the Democrats
Politeness will not solve the problems facing the country. Democrats must put forth and fight for bold solutions that will materially improve the lives of working people.
Like many Americans, I felt relief when Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidency. White supremacists will no longer have a spokesperson in the White House; immigrant children will be reunited with their parents; the U.S. will rejoin the Paris Climate Accords. Continue reading
Education won’t stop conspiracy theories
Formal education is often a mark of privilege, not intelligence.
Posted on February 22, 2021 by Jill Richardson
Conspiracy theories like QAnon are outlandish, dangerous, and often absurd. So why do people believe them? Continue reading →