Showing posts with label #COVID19. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #COVID19. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

The Top Ten Things That Could Trigger The Revolution

 


The Top Ten Things That Could Trigger The Revolution

(In No Particular Order)

The Price of Gasoline Hits $25 Per Gallon in the US

This often-mentioned scenario seems a sure bet to bring about an uprising of the workers against the bourgeoisie. The trigger doesn’t even necessarily have to be gasoline or heating costs or the price of bread or milk or medicine like insulin, either. Some consumer item that the vast majority of Americans need and can’t go without for long will hit an all-time record high price and nobody will be able to get to work or school or feed their families or simply stay alive. Surely that sort of deprivation would make people angry enough to get them off their couches and out into the streets to start a revolution, right?

Combined with a General Strike, an outraged populace that demands the means of production and the public utilities, such as water, natural gas, electricity, and even internet access, be placed in the hands of the people has all the markings of a successful revolution causing the complete downfall of our current corrupt economic system. The end of for-profit enterprises that control basic human rights, such as the right to health care, the right to food and shelter, and the right not to freeze in the winter or bake to death in the summer can’t come soon enough.


A Wide-Scale Plague or The Complete Destruction of Our Environment Kills Millions

Too late—this trigger has already occurred. Look outside your window. Do you see anyone protesting about how over a million Americans needlessly have died (and are still dying) due to COVID-19 or Long COVID? No, you’re more likely to see people staring at you if you continue to mask-up for your own protection in crowded public places. You’re more likely to read social media posts complaining about the “Vaccination Conspiracy” than you are to see Americans livid about how we still don’t have universal health care. Family members and friends dropping over dead prematurely obviously doesn’t make the majority of Americans mad at America's for-profit/for-the-people's-suffering healthcare industry.

Extinction Rebellion is working hard to make more Americans aware of just how dire a state our environment is in, but the mainstream media outlets choose to ignore those stories. Instead, we’re more likely to see and read stories about how hard-working the fossil fuel and nuclear power industries are, and that it’s okay to pay $5 or more a gallon to fuel your car because it means “freedom and democracy” in another God-forsaken, fossil fuel-filled country. TV weather-persons smile and casually pronounce statements such as, “This temperature breaks our record for most days above 100 degrees in a single summer,” without batting an eyelash. Until more Americans actually suffer and die because they can’t afford air conditioning or home heating, climate change will never be “real” to them. Alas, by the time they do become angry enough to revolt over the destruction of our environment because of the capitalists’ insatiable greed, we'll all be totally screwed. Which leads us to our next trigger...

The Petrodollar Totally Collapses, Green Energy Reigns, and the Beauty of MMT Shines Through

Saudi Arabia doesn’t care if it sells the US oil anymore—at least not in the way we want them to buy and sell oil to us and others. Few Americans realize that there is nothing backing up our currency except what we say it is worth in regards to—yeah, you guessed it—petroleum. There is no gold or silver in our vaults backing up the cash that our treasury prints or simply puts into zeroes and ones on a bank computer. It’s just so much worthless paper. (Read up on MMT or Modern Monetary Theory to see what I mean.)

When the Earth becomes too warm or too stormy because of Western nations burning fossil fuels for the past two hundred years, we will have to kick the fossil fuel habit. Petroleum will be worthless as will our money. Americans will be freed from a market economy that works only for the very rich. This could very well bring about a semi-peaceful revolution if those in charge graciously give up the game that somehow human beings come with price tags, and we all agree to work together in order to feed and nurture each other and build a society based upon green energy sources and practices instead. But then...

Somebody in a Position of Power Will Say Something Really, Really Stupid

I can see how Marie Antoinette saying to the French masses “Let them eat cake!” could piss them off and cause them to get out the pitchforks and guillotines. “Let them eat cake!” is insulting, and it rubs salt in the wounds of those who are hungry and struggling. But many powerful people say stupid, insulting, wounding things on a daily basis in the US, and the revolution hasn’t begun yet. 

Just recently, Joe Biden sent billions of dollars to a proxy war in Ukraine so that ordinary Ukrainians could “have something in their pockets” without once blinking an eye at how that stupid, cruel statement sounded to poor, struggling Americans. He and his friends in their half of the duopoly claimed that they would give all Americans “$2,000 relief checks” but only $1,400 was forthcoming. The guillotines are still in their sheds. So saying stupid things, doing stupid things, and outright gaslighting and lying is nothing new. No one marches in the streets for very long about anything any American politician says. Maybe something else is needed?

The War Machine Will Figure It’s Time to Drop “The Bomb”

This could start—and end—the revolution in one day. I’ll say the threat of starting a nuclear war is more likely to upset a lot of people and possibly stir things up enough to get a multitude of protesters into the streets. But lately there are some pundits who state that nuclear war is winnable or claim that radiation isn’t all that lethal—at least it’s not lethal to them and theirs they figure. That’s probably because they are part of the elites who own underground bunkers in remote places like New Zealand. When you have such a vast disparity between “haves” (with bunkers) and “have nots” (the rest of us) does it make revolution impossible or inevitable if any country intentionally or accidentally drops a nuke on another country?

The War Profiteers Decide That Class Warfare Is Good for Business

This unsettling scenario takes the reality of our world and allows the war machine to twist it into its own sick and greedy end. And it’s the ultimate in cynicism. The capitalists figure that it’s easier to make money by watching the class divide widen and the poor and the rich become even more antagonistic and violent toward one another. The arms manufacturers sit back on the sidelines and sell arms to everyone… Because money is money and capitalists know no morality.

The revolution that takes place in this case most likely won’t be one where the working classes end up on top. War Profiteers won’t let their class lose. This means those with the most armaments and mercenaries will force their viewpoint upon the losers using violent and oppressive means. A military dictatorship would form and the corrupt system of capitalism will flourish the way it has for the past several hundred years in the West. Really, it’s just more of the same. We won’t know any different unless...

The Mainstream Media Pundits Tire of Shoveling Bullsh*t at Us (and Everyone Wakes Up to the Propaganda and Revolts)

I’m hopeful this scenario will happen sooner rather than later, but I’m a realist. When you have talking heads on TV news channels like Rachel Maddow making $30 million plus yearly, you’ve got a lot of greedy people who are willing to put their journalistic integrity to sleep. Can you blame them? It’s so easy to let the CIA and the Ministry of Truth give you your talking points, isn’t it? 

The best we can hope for at the present time is to wake up as many people as possible by introducing them to independent journalism and refuting the lies put out by the MSM. Rad Indie Media is one such website where you can find links to many articles and podcasts that the mainstream media can’t be bothered with. But without an open mind will those who have been spoon-fed government propaganda for decades be able to learn to think for themselves? It might take a miracle or...

Aliens or Time Travelers from an Alternate Reality Arrive and Bring About World Equality and Peace

Wishful thinking, but maybe, just maybe, there’s somebody out there who wants us to survive as a species and are willing to come here and do all the heavy lifting. You wouldn’t believe how many people are hoping and praying for this to happen. Then again, maybe you’re one of them. Keep the faith but also keep fighting. If I were an alien (the thin, gray, big-eyed kind, not the undocumented kind likely to be deported) I would skip Earth and go elsewhere to find intelligent and compassionate life. Because until we demonstrate that we humans really care about each other, why should other life forms from other worlds give a sh*t about us?

Mutual Aid Networks and Other Community-Based Organizations Support the Working Classes as the Ruling Classes Fade Away

This is the sunniest of all scenarios when it comes to a peaceful revolution that replaces the death-worshiping, capitalist society in which we currently reside. The workers work around the dysfunctional system and take care of each other via mutual aid networks while the society of the 1% gradually falls apart through their own lack of cooperation. 

Don’t worry, though. It’s possible that some of the super-wealthy will catch on and join the rest of us in sharing food, shelter, clothing, medicines and other aid. Maybe they feel trapped in those big mansions and yachts? You'll never know unless you try to liberate them from their prisons of wealth.

And number ten? That’s where you come in. Tell us what you think will be the defining moment, the trigger, that will lead Americans into a second revolution, a revolution of the proletariat, the workers, bringing about a more just and equitable society. Leave your comments below and don’t be afraid to come up with more positive scenarios. We could all do with some cheering up in these dark autumn days.

Power to the people!


Related Articles:

How America's Descent Into A Failed State Will Happen, Step by Step https://rainershea.substack.com/p/how-americas-descent-into-a-failed  

The Chris Hedges Report: Trauma, Addiction and Illness Under Capitalism  https://scheerpost.com/2022/10/16/the-chris-hedges-report-dr-gabor-mate-on-trauma-addiction-and-illness-under-capitalism

Patrick Lawrence: The Non-West Coalesces  https://scheerpost.com/2022/10/16/patrick-lawrence-the-non-west-coalesces/

The Profoundly Stupid Narrative That Nuclear Brinkmanship is Safety and De-Escalation is Danger https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-profoundly-stupid-narrative-that 

The Capitalist State Is Deathly Afraid of Losing the Information War  https://rainershea.substack.com/p/the-capitalist-state-is-deathly-afraid

 

Seen on Twitter:

 

Tuesday, June 21, 2022

Eat The Rich, Feed The Poor (And Other Revolutionary Recipes)

 

"When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich." —Jean Jacques Rousseau, 1793

Eat The Rich, Feed The Poor (And Other Revolutionary Recipes)

by Redd Phlagg

So many depressing headlines hit my inbox this past week that they not only made my head spin, they made my entire worldview spin. It became ever more apparent to me that we can no longer afford to wait for the bought-off ruling establishment to take action to save our planet and its peoples. It's time. We the Workers, the little people, the 99% must get off our backsides and grab the reigns of our runaway climate catastrophe and social collapse before it's too late.

Americans need to feed our poor, tax our rich, and make certain that the narcissistic behavior that got us in these desperate straits in the first place doesn't ever return. We need to stop allowing ourselves to become distracted by the silly antics of the duopolists in DC who do only as they're told by their corporate masters. And we need to start yesterday.

A recent study found that 338,000 Americans died due to COVID-19 because our government couldn't take steps to implement Medicare For All or a similar universal single-payer system to provide them needed health care. That's one in every three of the one million plus Americans who contracted and died from the coronavirus and its variants. That's roughly the population of many medium-sized US metropolitan areas, including the one where I live, all gone. Needlessly.

COVID-19 has caused a million and counting deaths in the US. Since these deaths are spread across the country, you might not have noticed so many missing persons yourself but future generations most definitely will. American children will ask what happened to their parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, teachers, friends, babysitters, and even siblings as they grow up. What will we tell them?

Out of the one million plus Americans who have died since 2020 because of the pandemic, what percentage of them could have been saved? If the public's health and safety were the main priority of the ruling establishment rather than making profits for shareholders in the health insurance industry, Big Pharma, and the like how many could have lived? I feel that almost every American who caught COVID could have been saved if they could have received immediate treatment, free of charge, and weren't forced into situations that put their health at risk. There was no scientific reason to stop the lockdowns and force workers back out into low-paying service industry jobs (such as restaurant workers and hotel maids) so soon. In doing so, the politician-puppets of the oligarchy also forced these struggling workers' children back into daycares and public schools where the virus is extremely transmissible and proven deadly for teachers and students alike.

Universal Basic Income (UBI) could have been given to all American families to stay home and stay safe with their children until the virus died out. In countries that implemented such policies, the spread of COVID and its variants was much less, and their death tolls practically non-existent. Putting people over profits means that people win at least another day to live.

But, once again, the establishment duopoly sat on their backsides in Washington DC and moaned about how keeping people safe at home was hurting "the economy." They said this with a straight face while spending billions on the most bloated military budget ever passed in the history of humankind. They continued saying this while starting a proxy war to flush even more money down the drain so they could get rid of a natural gas competitor in Europe (i.e., Russia). No matter what label they give themselves--Republican, Democrat, "The Squad", Bernie Sanders even--these politician-puppets demonstrate by their actions that the profits of the military-industrial complex are infinitely more important than the lives of the vast majority of Americans.

Insult upon insult is dumped upon the poor and working classes' shoulders. We're forced to suffer the consequences of the duopolists' bad decisions to take on a fellow nuclear power with oil reserves and resources the Western powers envy. We're paying for it every day at the gasoline pump, grocery store, and pharmacy. But to "red and blue" alike it's okay if the working classes grow poorer trying to survive because… well, "democracy" is at stake. Democracy in an already corrupt corner of the world ruled by fascists who took over in a coup in 2014 with the help of our CIA? What larks!

Why do We The People, the working classes continue putting up with this disgusting behavior? Why are these millionaire-idiots still in office wearing smug smiles on their faces? Could it be they've militarized our local police departments to such an extent that they know they can keep us poor folks in our place if we rise up?

I realize now that not every American realizes who is putting them through each and every fresh hell because our freedom of the press has been seriously curtailed. Revealing the dirty secrets of American war crimes put one Australian journalist, Julian Assange, into jail with a threatened 170 year sentence for treason. Yes, it's treasonous to publish news stories that reveal American politicians and officials for the war criminals they are. And if the war criminals in DC can slap an insane charge of treason on a journalist doing his job, you can imagine the charges they've cooked up to slap on us if we dare take our pitchforks to the streets in protest.

 When the French rose up at the end of the 18th century to protest numerous injustices inflicted upon them, they didn't let the fear of the militarized police stop them from punishing the aristocracy who had created the hell they were living in. Marie Antoinette said, "Let them eat cake!" while the French people couldn't even afford to buy a loaf of bread. (Sound familiar?) The commoners responded with the right idea--they built the guillotine and deployed it. Yes, it's bloody and violent, but the detached head of a obscenely wealthy sociopath made their point quite well, don't you think?

Should struggling Americans do likewise? The guillotine dispatched quite a few members of the French establishment along with Marie Antoinette, but it saved many more who saw it as a symbol of how the workers wouldn't take any more shit from those who thought themselves "superior" to the working classes. These smart aristocrats buckled down and cooperated with the common folks, and France was changed. So the guillotine doesn't have to be used indiscriminately and widely to make its point. Just the thought that the abused people have no problems getting rid of their abusers can bring about change.

It's time for Americans to let the money-grubbing, duopolistic puppet-politicians know that our patience is wearing thin. It's time to stop wasting time arguing over "the lesser evil" and being distracted by their idle rich antics that have nothing to do with us and our lives. Whatever symbol We The People choose--the guillotine, the pitchfork, tar and feathers (our founders' favorite means of singling out sociopaths)--we need to post it everywhere. We need to post it along with the message that we are not inferior to those who hoard wealth and play God with our health and safety--and the health and safety of the planet and everyone else on it.

We The People, the workers, the commoners, the 99% are, in fact, their bosses. They need to do what we say or else. And we let them know in no uncertain terms they're going to be a head shorter if they don't.


Related Articles:

UN Food Chief Says Hell on Earth Looms From Hunger Crisis Triggered By Ukraine War  https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/18/un-food-chief-says-hell-on-earth-looms-from-hunger-crisis-triggered-by-ukraine-war/

"A Chilling Message to Journalists": UK Approves Assange Extradition to US https://truthout.org/articles/a-chilling-message-to-journalists-uk-approves-assange-extradition-to-us/

Medicare For All Could Have Prevented 338,000 Deaths in the US https://truthout.org/articles/medicare-for-all-could-have-prevented-338000-covid-deaths-in-the-us/

100 Million People In America Are Saddled With Health Care Debt https://popularresistance.org/100-million-people-in-america-are-saddled-with-health-care-debt/

"No Place For A Child" (The horrors child immigrants experience when they cross the southern border.) https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/18/no-place-for-a-child/

  "Revolting": Senate Panel Raises Biden's Bloated Military Budget By 45 Billion https://truthout.org/articles/revolting-senate-panel-raises-bidens-bloated-military-budget-by-45-billion/

US Secretly Reviews and Approves Israeli Airstrikes in Syria https://scheerpost.com/2022/06/17/report-us-secretly-reviews-and-approves-many-israeli-airstrikes-in-syria 

Chris Hedges: American Empire Is Finished (video) https://youtu.be/OW52qqlQiJQ 

The State of Politics From An Anti-Establishment Perspective (Direct Left Callin podcast) https://www.callin.com/episode/the-state-of-politics-from-an-anti-gQcWTfYQHQ

The Smear Campaign Against Independent Journalism (video) https://youtu.be/nkoIfWt4Z2k

New Global Movement Against Capitalism For Socialism https://popularresistance.org/international-peoples-assembly-new-global-movement-against-capitalism-for-socialism/


Seen on Twitter:

*** 

In a near-future dystopian world, hope blossoms where mutual aid and democracy begins...

Zonta’s world is turned upside down when Jake arrives at the commune to investigate the disappearance of agents of the Authority. Can she persuade him to switch sides before the Protectors (antifascist fighters) take action?

Available now from Extasy Books: https://www.extasybooks.com/Where-the-Bodies-Lie 

Please buy direct from the small publisher and not via Amazon. Why? Amazon takes a huge percentage of the book's price and leaves very little for the publisher and author to share. Thanks.

 

Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Everybody Loves Raytheon

 

"Everybody Loves Raytheon!" 

An Interview with A. Riche-Persson

Editor's note: We last heard from A. Riche-Persson in 2020 when she told us her perspective on the upcoming elections in Why I Adore Joe Biden.  We thought it would be good to make a Zoom call and check in with her to find out how she's been doing during the pandemic and after Joe's first year in office. The transcript of the call follows.

The Revolution Continues:  It's good to hear from you, Ms. Riche-Persson. May we call you by your first name Ayn?

A. Riche-Persson: If you're a member of my private club, maybe. Otherwise, I always insist on the press addressing me properly.

TRC: Okay... So, Ms. Riche-Persson, how was your pandemic experience? I notice you're not wearing a mask.

ARP: President Biden said it's over now, and I believe him. I'm not a science denier, truth be told. I simply did my best to stay away from places where lots of poor people were breathing in and out, and I always use hand sanitizer. Other than one really bad bout of pneumonia, I've been perfectly fine these past two years. The whole thing has been one big joke, but I've had the last laugh. 

TRC: Oh? How so? 

ARP: My friend Nancy told me which pharmaceutical companies to buy stocks in right before they started boo-hooing over this overblown common cold pandemic business. And she was right. It's been very lucrative. 

TRC: Would that be Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House? 

ARP: One and the same. She's very helpful to her friends with her insider tips. I just tell my stockbroker what she says and he lines it up for me. Ka-ching! Ka-ching! Money in the bank. 

TRC: I bet. What other insider tips has Ms. Pelosi given you? 

ARP: Lately she's been gushing all about military manufacturers to invest in. Since February those stock prices have soared higher and higher. It's so exciting! Everybody loves Raytheon! I adore Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics, too. America is just getting richer and richer by the day. 

TRC: Everyone in the US is getting richer, or is it just you and Ms. Pelosi and her friends? 

ARP:  (Chuckling) What difference does it make? As long as I'm doing okay that's all that matters.

TRC: We don't have time to delve into what the difference is right now, but you're honestly happy with the way things are going? 

ARP: Of course I am. When the stock market is on a roll, everyone is on a roll. I think President Biden said we've got something like zero percent unemployment, so that's gotta be good, right? 

TRC: Do the closed signs on small businesses' front windows ever catch your eye?

ARP: I'm driven around in a limo with dark-tinted windows. Never seen them.

TRC: Okay, so you're saying you're not worried about a resurgence in the omicron variant of COVID-19 or upset about the conflict going on in Ukraine or that millions of Americans won't be able to pay their rent and risk eviction this year? 

ARP: Well, of course I'm upset about all those poor people living on the streets. They bring our property values down. They're so messy with all their possessions in bags littering the place. But the mayor of New York City is doing a great job of rounding them up and putting them elsewhere, so I sleep well at night. 

TRC: And the chance of COVID taking off again and killing another million Americans? 

ARP: Meh. It's not really a thing thing, you know? At least not among my circle of friends. If others get sick from it or have to bury a family member, I feel sorry for them, but I don't know them, so what?  Nothing to lose sleep over. I'm just glad I don't have to smudge my lipstick wearing a mask in public. Masks really killed my sense of style. They never matched my designer outfits.

TRC: (Sighing) The idea that you're making money off of selling armaments to fuel a proxy war that has caused many to flee their homes doesn't cause you any bad dreams, either, right? 

ARP: You said it, not me. It's a proxy war. That means American soldiers won't get hurt--just those people who are stupid enough to live there. And fossil fuels aren't making that good a return on investment right now, so why not expand my stock portfolio to include weapons manufacturers?  It seems that cute little comedian president can't get enough of them. 

TRC: Zelensky? 

ARP: Gesundheit. I hope you wear a mask in public so others don't catch your germs. 

TRC: Uh, yeah. On a related topic, I've recently learned that your family originally came from Germany and arrived in the US right at the end of World War II. Is that right?

ARP: (Quietly) That's right... Granddad got a job with the government. 

TRC: Your grandfather was known to have a very important job within the Nazi government before he immigrated to the US is what I've read.

ARP: Yeah, but he was a good Nazi. Like the Nazis in Ukraine are. America likes the good Nazis.

TRC: It appears we do. The Azov Battalion and other Nazi units in the Ukrainian military are accepting billion of dollars of armaments from the US. Biden gave Ukraine $800 million worth of arms just this last week. Some of those guns in the future may be used to terrorize or kill people that Nazis don't like such as LGBTQIA persons, the Roma, and ethnic Russians. You're okay with that? 

ARP: (Sighing) Well, what can I say? People get hurt in wars, but wars are good for business. 

TRC: They are. And all is fair in love and business, right? 

ARP: Hey, like I said everybody loves Raytheon--my stockbroker, Ukrainian Nazis, the US Defense Department… You know, important people.

TRC: Uh-huh. You certainly have an interesting perspective on things, Ms. Riche-Persson. 

ARP: I do. And I have one other thing you and your friends don't have.

TRC: What's that?

ARP: Money, so people in power have to listen to me. Even Nazis in power.

TRC: Sad to say but true. Thanks for talking with us today, Ayn Rand--uh, Ms. Riche-Persson. I'm sure you'll sleep well tonight. I know I won't.

BIO: "A. Riche-Persson" (or Ayn to her friends) is a member of the country club down the road and thinks she knows what's best for those who haven't been blessed with her good looks (and face lifts) and brains (she attended Yale, but married a millionaire and forgot to finish her degree). Heed her advice and you, too, can become well-connected in the corporate-owned-and-operated establishment duopoly. Just leave your conscience at the door with the coat check girl.

Related Articles:

Updated: A short video you must see to really understand the power of the weapons lobby in DC:  https://youtu.be/N3pnFR7DeZA

More Military Spending Won't End Atrocities, We Must Focus on Preventing Them https://truthout.org/articles/more-military-spending-wont-end-atrocities-we-must-focus-on-preventing-them/

Some of the Weapons Delivered to Ukraine Will Be Used Against Us https://popularresistance.org/some-of-the-weapons-delivered-to-ukraine-will-be-used-against-us/

Lockheed Martin and Friends Don't Want You To Know What They're Up To https://jacobinmag.com/2022/04/defense-contractors-human-rights-transparency-lockheed-raytheon 

US Spent 7.5 Times More On Nuclear Weapons Than Vaccine Donations https://popularresistance.org/the-u-s-spent-7-5-times-more-on-nuclear-weapons-than-global-vaccine-donations/ 

Global Capitalism Has Become Dependent on War-Making to Sustain Itself  https://truthout.org/articles/global-capitalism-has-become-dependent-on-war-making-to-sustain-itself/

How the War in Ukraine Is Being Fought in the Media (video) https://youtu.be/j9YewFqws2M 

Gonzalo Lira Speaks Out (video)  (There's lots of good information in this video from an investigative reporter in Ukraine.)   https://youtu.be/AhjcVTCDLLI

Why I Adore Joe Biden by A. Riche-Persson  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2020/04/why-i-adore-joe-biden.html 

The Rich Haven't Just Gotten Richer--They've Also Gotten A Lot More Selfish https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/23/us-billionaires-taxes-elon-musk-week-in-patriarchy

Seen on Twitter:


 

Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Teachers Are Not Babysitters, Nurses Are Not Disposable


Teachers Are Not Babysitters, Nurses Are Not Disposable

 by C.A. Matthews

After spending years in college studying for a profession you feel "called" to do, you'd hope you'd garner more respect, more compassion from your bosses than a curt declaration of, "We don't care if your health is at risk. Get back to work. Now. Or else."

But that's exactly what's happening in Year Three of the Coronavirus Pandemic. Two examples recently in the headlines: public school teachers and hospital nurses. These professions primarily have been held by females, many of them women of color and single mothers. Their bosses--school superintendents and hospital administrators--are roles primarily held by males, and white males at that.

Another worrisome connection between these two particular professions is that both have come under the scrutiny and control of private corporations in recent times, albeit in somewhat different manners. 

Nurses nowadays mostly work for private, for-profit hospitals and clinics. They are discouraged from organizing or joining a union. The first emphasis of their job performance is on generating profits for their stockholders, not necessarily on providing the best patient care possible. The faster patients come and go into a hospital, for instance, the quicker their private insurances can be billed, and the more money is made for the hospital/health insurance networks CEOs.

Public school teachers have been backed into a corner when it comes to contract negotiations by the threat of school districts allowing private "charter schools" to open up in their towns. Charter schools tend to hire less educated, less qualified teachers for less pay, and they're not open to unions. They follow cookie-cutter educational plans that "guarantee success" according to the CEOs of these educational corporations.

It's a well known fact that public school districts regularly receive kickbacks from these charter school corporations But rarely is this kickback money utilized to improve the public schools' facilities or equipment or increase compensation for the teaching staff. Inner city public schools in particular have received less and less funding as more and more charter schools have sprung up. 

Sadder yet, many public schools are seen as simply "daycare services" by many private businesses. They exist simply so parents of grade school-aged children can work outside of the home. The quality of education isn't as important as keeping the kids out of their parents' hair so they can continue working many hours in low-paying jobs.

Could the influence of private corporations explain the ill treatment teachers and nurses have received recently from politicians? Politicians in the US are an example of yet another profession that has been heavily influenced by private corporations, particularly since the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling. 

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot has threatened public school teachers who have gone on strike because it simply isn't safe to teach in person during  this recent surge of omicron variant COVID-19. She refuses to allow them to have online learning classes, and instead is trying to force both students and teachers back into non-well-ventilated school buildings. Why is the health and safety of children and teachers not seen as important as the profits of the corporations who want their parent-employees back slaving away in warehouses, factories, retail stores, hospitals, and restaurants?

Many nurses have been working with less-than-adequate PPE and N95 masks for almost two years now. Many have become ill and some have died because of this lack of safety equipment. They have been forced to work overtime and endure long shifts, which further drains their health and puts them at risk of catching COVID. Nurses have walked out and threatened strikes nationwide because of these hazardous work conditions, although the mainstream media has conveniently not followed many of these stories. Why haven't the nurses' demands been met by management?  After all, we are in the midst of a health crisis--shouldn't all health workers' safety be paramount to profits?

And there's that word again: profits. Teachers aren't seen as educators who wish to instill the love of knowledge in their students and help children grow in wisdom. Nurses aren't seen as caregivers who wish to ease pain, cure illness, and take the best care of their patients as humanly possible. No, these professions have been downgraded to their barest of functions in order to make the most profits for their related private corporations. 

Public school teachers exist to babysit the kids of the poor working classes, so that these distracted parents don't realize how much better pay they deserve for working dead end jobs where massive profits go straight into the pockets of CEOs to buy yet more yachts.

Nurses exist to push profit-generators--that is, patients--through the medical-industrial complex quickly, so that maximum amounts of money may be extracted with the least amount of time and material spent on said profit-generators.

And if these teachers and nurses should get sick on the job during this pandemic? Well, they are tossed to the side and simply replaced, right? Workers are a dime a dozen in the eyes of elitists--especially female workers, POC workers…

Is it any wonder why the aroma of a general strike is in the air?

In the following video, Lee explains the history of why capitalists feel that generating profits are much more important than workers' lives. https://youtu.be/GrMp_cOyf0E  

Related Articles:   

This is NOT a Pandemic of the Unvaccinated  https://peterdaou.substack.com/p/this-is-not-a-pandemic-of-the-unvaccinated  

Affordable Child Care is the Boost Our Economy Needs https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/07/affordable-child-care-is-the-boost-our-economy-needs/  

Chicago Teachers Voted to Teach Remotely Amid Omicron Wave https://popularresistance.org/chicago-teachers-voted-to-teach-remotely-amid-omicron-wave/ 

Schools Need More Resources Before They Can Open Safely Chicago Teacher Says  https://truthout.org/articles/schools-need-more-resources-before-they-can-open-safely-chicago-teacher-says/ 

Instead of More Support, Schools Have Upped Demands on Teachers During  Pandemic  https://scheerpost.com/2022/01/09/instead-of-more-support-schools-have-upped-demands-on-teachers-during-pandemic/   

Teachers Fighting For School Safety Are Not The Enemy https://therealnews.com/teachers-fighting-for-school-safety-are-not-the-enemy

US Workers Are Still Quitting Their Jobs In Record Numbers https://jacobinmag.com/2022/01/labor-jolts-quits-employment-wages-unions  

Take This Job and Shove It (music video): https://youtu.be/gj2iGAifSNI  

Nurses on COVID Frontline Speak Out (video) https://youtu.be/40WAimj8Aac

Omicron Spike Is Training Straining Hospitals As Health Care Workers Leave the Profession  https://truthout.org/video/omicron-spike-is-straining-hospitals-as-health-care-workers-leave-the-profession 

Seen on Twitter:    

The most effective thing we can do right now is support teachers & other workers who strike to oppose unsafe conditions. The most powerful thing we can do is disrupt the economy until the government enacts actual public health policy. — Bree Newsome Bass (@BreeNewsome) January 6, 2022 

Going to work should not mean putting your life and the lives of your loved ones in danger.

It is time for @OSHA_DOL to issue a permanent standard and #ProtectNurses and health care workers who are on the front lines working to save the lives of others!https://t.co/6C2xlzsftt Bonnie Castillo (@NNUBonnie) January 5, 2022
 
All teachers should just quit and let the system deal with finding babysitters elsewhere. — GodandtheBear☭ (@GodandtheBear) January 7, 2022
 
Not wanting to die at work is not “selfish.”

***

National Nurses United

Last week, NNU President and RN Jean Ross told the CNN Newsroom the truth: that by weakening their Covid-19 isolation guidelines to seven days for health care workers — and even less time if there are staffing shortages — the CDC is putting thousands of lives at risk.

While the CDC now claims this change is motivated by science, nurses know it’s motivated by something else entirely: employers wanting workers back on the clock fast, regardless of whether it’s safe, to maximize their profits.

 We’ve fought since day one of this pandemic for protections for nurses and health care workers based on science and the precautionary principle, and we’re not backing down now. will you help us draw attention to this failure to protect patients, nurses, and other health care workers by joining our national day of action on January 13?

join us »

On this national day of action, nurses, other health care workers, and activists across the country will be standing up for change — and C.A., having your support at this critical moment will make a huge impact.

This move by the CDC comes as Omicron is exploding across the country, single-day records for Covid-19 cases continue to be broken, and the number of available ICU beds dwindles in hospital after hospital. What’s more, this change comes right as OSHA announced its plan to rescind hard-won emergency protections for health care workers.

Plain and simple, ​​we are dumbfounded and enraged by these actions and the very real risk they pose for nurses, other health care workers, and patients. But we refuse to go backward, and we need your help to protect nurses and patients now.

Join us in fighting for our nurses, patients, and other health care workers by signing up for our national day of action on January 13th. After signing up, we’ll make sure you have everything you need to take action.

join us »

Thanks for your support,

National Nurses United

***

 
take action against methane pollution
Take action!

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to hear from YOU about regulating methane emissions from the oil and gas industry.

Every year, the oil and gas industry emits hundreds of millions of tons of methane from wells, pipelines, and storage facilities. Methane has a massive impact on global warming, around 80 times the impact of carbon dioxide in the short term.

Leaking wells can also release toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and particulate matter into the air that harm people locally.

That’s why it's so important that the EPA is proposing to take action to dramatically reduce methane emissions from both existing and new wells and infrastructure nationwide for the first time.  

But, there will be strong opposition to the rules and efforts to water them down.

The EPA needs to hear that you support the commonsense regulations proposed which are essential to protecting the planet and our own health. 

Take action against methane pollution

For a greener world, 



Todd Larsen
Executive Co-Director for Consumer & Corporate Engagement
Green America 

***






In December, not long after workers in Buffalo, New York successfully organized the first Starbucks union, we reported on what happened to Brittany Harrison, a Starbucks store manager in Arizona.

Starbucks fired Brittany Harrison after she exposed the company’s union-busting plans. Now Brittany’s store in Mesa, Arizona is following in Buffalo’s footsteps and unionizing in response to Starbucks' behavior.

They’re facing Starbucks' extreme anti-union tactics at their own store.

As these courageous Starbucks workers fight to become the next unionized Starbucks store in the U.S., the More Perfect Union media team is there to cover it and expose Starbucks management for not living up to the values they advertise. Help stand in solidarity with workers by watching and sharing our reporting now!

Image of a woman at a computer with her head in her hands. Headline reads: Crackdown on Subscription ScamsWATCH, SUBSCRIBE & SHARE

Starbucks has pulled out all the stops to try and kill workers’ attempts to form a union.

Intimidation tactics such as flooding the floor with managers who, in the words of one worker, are “trying to figure out ways that they can fire us.” Managers eavesdrop on conversations. They hold special meetings, splitting workers up, and providing free pizza -- then telling them they “have to vote no” on forming a union.

The biggest anti-union move of all was to fire Brittany Harrison while she’s battling cancer after more than 4 years working her way up to managing her own store, because she released a video exposing an anti-union meeting led by Starbucks HQ.

Silence is not solidarity. That’s why we need your help today. Check out More Perfect Union’s exclusive report, then subscribe to our channel and help boost our reach by sharing to your social networks today.

Thank you for working to build a More Perfect Union.

In solidarity,

-Faiz

Faiz Shakir, Co-Founder
More Perfect Union