The Revolution Continues blog is news, views, opinion and other expressions of hope from a leftist point-of-view. (We are not affiliated with any candidate, political party or organization. All are welcome.)
Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree. —Martin Luther
What Are You Thankful For?
words and holiday parade photos by C.A. Matthews
About
this time of the year in the good ol’ USA there comes a national
holiday that pretty much is celebrated by all Americans (except for
Jehovah Witnesses, of course). It seems a benign enough harvest-time
holiday with no overtly religious overtones, but with some covertly
religious ones for those who partake. Americans of all persuasions and
socio-economic backgrounds celebrate this holiday, with or without help
from their local food pantry or soup kitchen.
This
national holiday is called “Thanksgiving.” It was supposedly the brain
child of English colonists who invited the local Native Americans over
for a grand meal in thanks for the Native’s assistance they unwittingly
gave their white invaders. If it hadn’t been for the kindness of the
Native Americans, the English colonists would have completely died off
their first winter at the Massachusetts Bay colony. Later, the Natives
would come to regret their good manners when the Europeans stole their
land and passed small pox on to them, but white historians conveniently
leave out all those unpleasant details.
Instead,
historians have chosen to emphasize the happier aspects of the
Thanksgiving feast—good food, togetherness, neighborliness, and sharing
leftovers with anyone who’ll take them off your hands so you’re not
stuck eating turkey for the next three weeks. These aspects make it a
pretty nifty national holiday to celebrate in the short, dark, and damp
days of late autumn in North America—as others called “Canucks” also
celebrate this harvest festival about a month earlier. (Apparently they
forget the calendar includes months after October.) Thus, border
families of mix American-Canadian heritage have the chance to eat two
Thanksgiving dinners, with the added bonus of putting on enough blubber
to survive the arctic onslaught of the coming winter.
While
everyone sits around the dinner table feasting on the traditional meal
of roast turkey and stuffing—which is no where close to the supposed
original Thanksgiving feast of venison and seafood—guests are supposed
to share what they are thankful for in their lives. This is when the
problems begin.
In
presidential election years, Americans with big mouths not filled with
mashed potatoes and gravy might make mention of how thankful they are
their favorite presidential candidate won the recent contest. Others,
who are not feeling quite so happy about this outcome, will then attack
the sanity of the first party and call them some rather nasty names. The
atmosphere of Thanksgiving thankfulness will immediately evaporate.
Thrown bread rolls and tossed turkey drumsticks can be turned into
semi-lethal weapons if calmer heads don’t quickly prevail.
This
is why on pain of having a pumpkin pie topped with whipped cream thrown
in their face that most Americans do their best not to bring up
politics at Thanksgiving. No one is more thankful than the hosts of the
traditional meal that politics have been left where they belong—in the
trash can out back—before entering their home. With dinner table small
talk limited to sports, the latest Hollywood blockbuster, and how
everyone will go about losing all the weight they’ll gain from gorging
on turkey and several desserts, the day proceeds much more smoothly than
things did ultimately between the Native Americans and the English
colonists.
So,
here it is another US presidential election year and Thanksgiving
approaches. This begs the question for Americans and Non-Americans
alike: What are you thankful for?
To discover more you can be thankful for, please read the rest of this article by clicking on this Substack link: https://therevolutioncontinues.substack.com There
you'll also see related article and video links, all the parade photos,
and be able to leave comments. You can subscribe to receive the
weekly blog post in your email box as well.
The story goes that you can boil a live frog, but you have to go about it the right way or else the frog will jump out of the pot. So, you start with the frog not sitting in boiling water, but sitting in a nice, relaxing bath of lukewarm water instead. Then you slowly, slowly turn up the heat under the pot. Since the frog enjoys sitting in their mini-hot tub, they don’t react and just stay there, slowly falling asleep in the hot water until it’s too late. They boil alive.
Not a very pretty picture, is it?
The boiling frog analogy keeps coming to mind whenever I contemplate this past week’s 100 degree plus Fahrenheit temperatures and hazardous 300 air quality index forecasts in the continental US. Americans are definitely in the second frog scenario. We’re happy to sit and relax in our gradually warming hot tub until we’re boiled alive or choked on the dust and pollutants from firestorms. We’re not even trying to hop out of the pot.
Worst yet, we completely trust our boilers, that is, our corrupt status quo politicians. We let them do whatever they like—and they love to please their corporate masters. We all acknowledge that burning fossil fuels has caused this global warming that is, in turn, intensifying the forest fires in Canada and elsewhere.
But we boiling frogs are happy to let our rulers take lobbyists’ money and pass legislation to allow BP, Chevron, Exxon and all the rest to drill for more oil. We’re not fighting back. We’re not hopping out of the pot, even though they’re slowly killing us.
Americans are acting as foolishly as those fatalistic frogs sitting in a pot of boiling water.
What’s wrong with us, America? Did our so-called “Founding Fathers” raise a bunch of wimps? A bunch of collaborators with corporatists? A bunch of Stockholm Syndrome sufferers?
On July the Fourth, this our supposed “Independence Day,” we act like we’re okay with not being...well, independent.
Americans seem to enjoy force-fed propaganda from our government's own version of the dystopian novel 1984’s Ministry of Truth. We’re good listening to and accepting outright lies as long as we’re comfortable in our hot water bath that isn’t quite boiling—yet.
Whenever a politician on a cable news network says, “The economy is doing great!” we take him at his word although we’re struggling to pay bills. Like good little boiling frogs we’ll even consider voting for the idiot! No push back, no demand for him to stop gaslighting us—we’ve convinced ourselves that the status quo always knows what’s best for us, even when it knows jack-shit.
And trust the evil sycophants of the mainstream media to chime in and give their stamp of approval to every half-ass thing our billionaire-bought-and-owned public officials try to pull over on us. Just watch them as they never question these fallacious statements:
“War is peace!” the warmongers claim as the bodies of soldiers and innocent civilians pile up.
“We had to cancel the election/primary in order to save democracy!” the politicians state because they can’t risk an upstart entering the race who could overturn their apple cart of lobbyist money.
“The US has the best medical care in the world!” (That money can buy, that is. Big Pharma lobbyists gave Biden $41 million in 2020 to run for office. Don’t worry—they gave Trump $21 million!)
“What homelessness? What horrible rents?” say the status quo sycophants who have never been hungry or without a bed to sleep in and would never be caught associating with poor Americans who have experienced such a perilous situation.
These quasi-journalists can’t wait to soft pedal their interviews with bigwig politicos and make brownie points with the establishment so they, too, can become a permanent part of that bourgeoisie class. And boiling frogs—I mean, Americans—just keep eating these lies up.
What is wrong with us?Didn’t our ancestors 247 years ago tell British soldiers to get the hell off their land and let them be their own bosses? Americans of today seem to want others to do all the thinking for them, even if it means others’ thinking is boiling us alive. We apparently give no thought to how silly or mentally-incompetent we appear to others, either.
Observing videos of the protests and riots in France this past week, I’m impressed at how much the French don’t act like Americans. They don’t act like boiling frogs (no offense intended) waiting to be eaten. A young man of Algerian descent was killed by police in a suburb of Paris on Tuesday, and the response was explosive before the end of the week.
There are fires and protests in every major city in France. Cars burning. Mayor’s mansions burning. Town halls burning. Police stations burning—as well they should. Seventeen year old Nahel's cold-blooded murder by police was part of a well-established pattern. In recent times, French police have arrested and killed persons of color at an alarming percentage compared to the majority white populace. No one in leadership has addressed this terrible issue. Perhaps now they will.
Three years ago, Americans marched and shouted “Black lives matter!” for a couple of months after the death of George Floyd and then stopped. Why? There are just too many deaths to mourn and protest. After a while they all start to blur together, don’t they? We just send our thoughts and prayers now and get back to sitting in our pot-shaped hot tubs like good little frogs waiting for the water to boil.
Americans don’t stand up for themselves against the corrupt system. We don't want to cause our corporate masters any problems it seems. We don't burn nearly as many things as the French do, or the Belgians, or the Dutch, or the Swiss, or the...
Banks are burning in France.
Can you imagine Americans actually striking back at the bastards at BlackStone who have made it impossible for them to buy a home? I can hear the excuses now:
“Nah, we’re fine with the real estate investment mavens sticking it to us. We’ll just live in our mother’s basement for a few more years until our bankruptcy clears. Hopefully we’ll be able to save up enough money to afford a down payment on a tiny apartment. That is, if we don’t experience a medical emergency that wipes out all our savings before then.”
For pity’s sake, little froggies! Hop out of the pot before you boil and show some backbone!
Mercifully, not all Americans are afraid of their shadow. They do demonstrate courage. The brave protesters of Atlanta’s Cop City (Weelaunee Forest) aren’t acting like boiling frogs. They're in the streets and under the cops’ noses, making their point known. They won’t forget the senseless murder of Tortuguita, one of their own. And yes, the corporate-owned politicians (who have made millions of dollars off this Cop City scheme—don’t let them tell you otherwise) are instructing their bully boys in blue to arrest and charge the protesters with “domestic terrorism.”
Ha! What’s a charge of “domestic terrorism” to a warrior trying to save the planet from the “frog-boilers” of the police/military-industrial complex?
Americans have got to stop being such co-dependents before we cease to exist as a people. Face it—our government and its corporate henchmen don’t give a flying f*** about our collective health and well-being. They’re only in politics for the money. They figure they'll catch a ride on Bezos’ or Musk’s rocket later after they’ve completely destroyed the planet.
We’ve got to treat these villains like our ancestors treated the British soldiers on their soil: We fight them; we push back; we don’t take “no” for an answer. Take hints from the “domestic terrorists” at Cop City, the French, and others. It won’t be easy, but at least we will be choosing life over the slow boiling death these billionaire bastards have planned for us.
Happy Co-Dependence Day, America. Get yourselves out there and start acting like an American Revolutionary from 1776! Learn what true independence is all about. You know you want to, because now you realize you have to. There’s no excuse for us destroying our children’s future. It's time to free the frogs from the pot before it's too late.
Coming soon, the first book from The Revolution Continues blog: The Little Red Book of Revolution
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Today I Am Grateful...To Stay In Bed by C. A. Matthews
Ah, there's no way like the "American Way," is there? I wonder if the folks in the classic photo above understood the irony of their situation. With only a small percentage of Americans enjoying that "highest standard of living," did it make it easier or harder for the people in that line to accept that they and their families would probably never have a chance to experience that same standard of living? But enough about Americanexceptionalism! We have a special treat this week--words of wisdom from north of the border. (Yes, Canada.) I recommend you also watch Vegematic's video (below his article) and take him up on his suggestion. Think of all the things we could make right in the world if we all decided for one day to stay in bed for peace. The list is endless!
Dirk Droll tackles this topic as well on his blog Beanstock's World. He looks at how American society doesn't always allow us to become what we know we can become in One Man's Wish: Let the People Be Free. Jamarl Thomas's video posted there poses the burning question: "What could America really do if we didn't put so many people into massive debt who simply wanted to go to college?"
The following meme sums up your lowly editor's take on these troubling times:
One day, one society, one individual... How can we change things for the better? Can we be grateful during such times of unrelenting stress? Perhaps by educating ourselves as to "who the government works for" (as Jamarl puts it) and uniting to solve our actual problems (not the ones the paid-off pundits try to put over on us, such as how Stormy Daniels will somehow force Trump from office) we'll eventually bring about the change we want to see. And nobody will have to be bombed, gassed or poisoned through their tap water to do so. Now's the time to forget the "fluff pieces" courtesy of the oligarchy-owned mainstream media and educate ourselves to the real challenges we face. The re-birth of fascism is one of them, and Vegematic sees its potential growing all over the world. (Beanstock's Allies Against Democracy is worth a look, too.) Once informed as to the true dangers of the mega-wealthy and corporate rule, We the People can work together on ways to defeat it once and for all.
Today I am grateful that you've read this far and have a mind of your own, even if some days all I'd rather do is stay in bed and dream of peace.
The Dangers of Ascendant Fascism by Vegematic Being a progressive isn't an easy task these days. No matter where you live in the world, fascism seems to have re-emerged from the dark shadows of history into the mainstream of modern political thought. Living in Canada, my American friends tend to view this nation through somewhat rose-colored glasses, a liberal democracy with a strong social safety net. While much of that may be true, even in this largely progressive country, there are ominous rumblings from the extreme right.
The most populous Canadian province, Ontario, is set to elect a Trumpian style premier, Doug Ford, to the province's highest office. This man is obviously emulating Trump to the point of threatening to "lock up" his political opponents. There seems to be a massive backlash against the rapid speed at which Canada's demographics are changing and a desire to turn back the clock on progressive changes. I have personally witnessed this phenomenon first hand, seeing a white Canadian hurl racist epithets at a group of Middle Eastern immigrants while shopping.
There was a time not so long ago that such behavior was unthinkable and unheard of in this part of the world. Conservatives fear change, and conservatives in Canada have seen massive social changes in recent years. We have accepted a large number of refugee families from predominantly Muslim and Latin American nations. We also are about to legalize cannabis, have elected an openly gay woman as premier of Ontario and have a prime minister who is avowedly pro-feminist.
While these are welcome changes to the more progressive among us, they are terrifying to traditionalists. Frightening enough to trigger their reptilian brains into supporting an outright fascist. Canadians like to feel somewhat smug when comparing our nation to our southern neighbors. The truth is that we are much more alike than we are different. We can be every bit as intolerant and xenophobic.
There are national elections scheduled for next year, and I fear a rightward shift in Canada is very likely. This is fast becoming a global phenomenon with extreme right parties forming the governments of Poland and Hungary as well as making significant gains in such formerly liberal bastions as Germany and Scandinavia. The forces of intolerance and regression are out in the open, gaining political power undreamed of a few short years ago.
While it might be tempting to attribute this to Trump's unlikely victory in 2016, I believe it runs much deeper. The fact is many in the working class have been ignored and disenfranchised by liberal political elites and neo-liberal economics for decades. Liberal politicians beholden to large corporate donors have made even incremental change impossible. This has led to various right wing "populist" figures being able to scapegoat minorities instead of actually solving problems like wealth inequality and corporate malfeasance. We have seen this movie before, and it never ends well. We as progressives must fight this scourge with everything we've got. We must continue to speak out as well as do all we can to educate the ignorant for whom the siren call of fascism seems to be a solution to their lack of a voice. The problems we face as a planet are enormous and pressing. We cannot solve them with a return to the vicious failed ideologies of the past.
Vegematic is a Canadian artist/musician who lives in Ontario, Canada. You can also find his commentary on the Vegematic You Tube channel.
***
In case you haven't seen this eye-opening short video from The Intercept, here's another example of how fascism (Mussolini's term for corporatism) has taken hold in the USA, in particular the Democratic Party. Try not to faint as the manipulation and primary rigging you've always thought was going on is confirmed by Rep. Steny Hoyer, the number two Dem in the House of Representatives. It is amazing how smoothly he can tell a young progressive to get out of the race so the DCCC's chosen candidate can run without competition.(https://youtu.be/qcgPyKt-ysY)
Here are some other examples of how corporations manipulate public opinion and skew the narrative: Ex-Host Exposes MSNBC: "I Was Told Not To Cover Bernie" https://youtu.be/QLuO1qDkoNg
The Revolution Continues
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Three years without obnoxious ads (that many news sites have to cover costs) has
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Multinational fish farm corporation Cooke Aquaculture has threatened to
use NAFTA to bring a new investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) case
against a Washington state environmental law.
This new threat spotlights why the elimination of ISDS is a top demand
of labor, civil society, members of Congress, small businesses and
academics in the renegotiation of NAFTA.
ISDS grants rights to multinational corporations to sue the U.S.
government before a panel of three corporate lawyers. These lawyers can
award the corporations unlimited sums to be paid by America’s taxpayers,
including for the loss of expected future profits.
These foreign corporations need only convince the lawyers that a law
violates their NAFTA rights. And already almost $500 million has been
paid out after NAFTA ISDS attacks.
Here’s the background on this new threat:
Last year, 200,000 of Cooke’s farmed Atlantic salmon escaped from open
water “net-pens” into the Puget Sound, swimming up salmon spawning
rivers and wreaking havoc on the local ecosystem. Sadly, this was not
the first mess caused by Cooke’s massive floating fish pens.
This time, a broad coalition of indigenous tribes, environmentalists and
fishing communities organized with Washington state lawmakers to pass a
ban on net-pen farming of Atlantic salmon. California, Oregon and
Alaska already ban this practice.
Cooke threatened to use NAFTA’s ISDS provisions to dissuade Washington
state from passing and enacting the ban. Cooke said it should be paid
$76 million in taxpayer money, plus lost expected future profits if the
law was enacted.
Fortunately, Washington state policymakers refused to be bullied, and
the governor recently signed this important environmental ban into law.
But Cooke could launch its threatened ISDS case at any moment.
Public pressure has forced other companies to back down from ISDS threats to avoid PR nightmares.
Communities around the world are participating in actions like marches, rallies, and strikes.
This
is a day to recognize that workers and their families, especially
immigrants and people of color, are being subjected to extreme and
escalating attacks on their dignity and security.
p.s. Our World Fair Trade Day contest launches tomorrow. Make sure you follow along on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for your chance to win great prizes from brands who are working to create a more just economy alongside producers and workers.
***
From RootsAction.org:
Put Antiwar Billboards in Washington, D.C.
We're
launching a new effort to raise the funds to put up billboards and/or
other large ads in Washington, D.C., as prominently and as close to the
halls of government power as possible. This may include ads in Metro
trains, stations, etc.
In
the game of Jeopardy it's not the answer that's called for--it's the
question.
We've
been bombarded with a lot of "answers" lately, but somewhere in this
barrage of outrage a basic question exists. When the Congressional Budget
Office, or CBO, announced their estimate of Americans who would lose their health care coverage if the
Republican health care plan took effect, eyes popped and jaws dropped at the
staggering statistics. Even self-professed conservatives admitted to feeling a
bit uneasy about the proposed Republican plan, and some have distanced
themselves from it.
Why
all the uproar? The CBO predicts, by 2020, 21 million Americans will be without
any health insurance coverage whatsoever. By 2026, that number soars to 52
million Americans without as the Republican health
plan takes effect. In contrast, if the Affordable Care Act remains as is, there
would be only 28 million without health coverage by 2026. The biggest surprise
seems to be how popular and well-utilized the Medicaid extension program of the
ACA has been for many Americans. Of course, several Southern states flat-out
refused to enter into the program, which explains the 21 million currently uninsured.
Even more Americans would have coverage today if all qualified in the opted-out
Southern states were allowed to receive health care through the Medicaid extension
program as well.
With
a growing number of Americans not being able to obtain private health insurance
due to pre-existing conditions, unemployment, under-employment and outright
finagling by employers to avoid insuring any
employee, the time for a single-payer or "Medicare-for-All" plan
seems at hand. Study after study has shown it is the most efficient health
delivery model in the U.S. In fact, in 1995 the Tawainese government modeled their
national health care delivery program after U.S. Medicare because of its cost
efficiency. If our bloated
defense budget can be expanded another $52.3
billion, surely a program which pays for itself through payroll taxes qualifies as cost effective. To any rationalmind, it seems
the answer to the question, "How best do we provide health care to all
Americans?" is "By implementing Medicare-for-All."
But
why are Republicans and many corporate Democrats avoiding the most rational answer to this question? There doesn't seem to be any one answer, but
one strong reason is that they're being paid good money not to recommend Medicare-for-All. According to Term Limits for U.S. Congress.com, from 1998 -
2015 the following amounts of lobbying money were spent in Congress:
Pharmaceutical/Health
Care Products: $3,146,090, 212
Even
more telling, according to OpenSecrets.org, from 2005 - 2016, Senate Majority
Leader Mitch McConnell accepted $5.9 million dollars from the health care lobbyists, while House Speaker Paul Ryan accepted over $3.5 million dollars from lobbyists. When those in Congressional leadership positions are
being paid so well by the private health care industry to keep things the way
they are (or make it even better for private industry), can anyone really
expect they'd promote the more efficient and egalitarian Medicare-for-All
program?
There's
no use in asking why lobbyists bribe our politicians. It's allowed by law, and
it's what they do--the lobbyists bribe and the politicians accept the bribes
and thank the lobbyists for thinking of them, while promptly forgetting their
constituents' needs for decent and affordable health care. But possibly the
cruelest cut of all is the fact the
Republican plan allows private health insurers to write off as a business
expense the entire amount of their executives' salaries on their taxes and not
just the first $500,000, as is the case presently under the ACA.
The rich get
yet another big tax break at working class Americans' expense.
Lucky them!
According
to Harvard Medical School researchers, an estimated 45,000 Americans die each year simply because they lack insurance and cannot receive a decent standard of
health care. (These preventable deaths outnumber yearly drunk driving deaths
and homicides combined.) It has been
noted that over 60% of all bankruptcies in the U.S. involve medical bills--the
leading cause of all filings, far outpacing credit card debt. (That's 643,000
Americans per year in bankruptcy court according to a NerdWallet Health Analysis.)
Someone is making a lot of money off of these individuals and families going
bankrupt and losing their homes, cars and property. Some group is directly benefiting
from so many Americans' premature deaths.
There's
something deeper, more profound going on than simple greed here. There is a
desire to exert the power of life and death over others of a less fortunate status.
There is a desire to take money and material goods away from those who have
little and redistribute it upward to the richest echelons of society. There is
a desire to put those of a different class, ethnicity, race, religion, gender,
age, sexual orientation--or any of a number of protected statuses (at least
currently)--in their place. (Read The True Purpose of TrumpCarefor the chilling details.) There is a desire to discriminate in one group's
favor. More than likely, it's not a group whose members would allow us ordinary folks to join them.
The
question remains unspoken: Why should our fellow Americans
suffer and die needlessly without adequate health care? Face it, we know the answer. So, the essential
question becomes: What are we willing to
do toprovide health care for all Americans?
Here are some more tips to fight for health care from Indivisible:
Republicans are rushing to pass "TrumpCare" (Republican Health Care Plan) before the upcoming April recess, ignoring the normal legislative process,
because they don’t want to face you, their constituents. They are
attempting to ram through a TrumpCare bill that will cut coverage for
millions and raise premiums for millions more. Their proposal
simultaneously guts Medicaid and gives a $600 billion tax break to the
wealthy and corporations. We can’t let them get away with this—millions
of lives hang in the balance.
The House vote this
coming week is the first step towards enactment of this devastating
TrumpCare bill. Your Member of Congress (MoC) needs to know that you
oppose it. Here’s how you can show your opposition:
Show up. Show up at your MoC’s District
Office with your group to demand that your MoC vote against TrumpCare.
Bring affected individuals to these meetings and use personal stories as
much as possible. Your stories are powerful—stories change minds and
alter what is politically possible. Your story should answer this
question: How will you or your family be affected by TrumpCare?
Create a public demonstration. Hold a vigil outside your MoC’s office. Invite the media. Their vote in favor of this bill would mean the difference between life or death for thousands each year. You need to demonstrate your resolve. If your member has already committed to vote no, show up and thank them. In a big way.
Make your calls to your Representative. Start with this script
and tell your Representative that a vote to take away health care from
24 million people is a vote you'll be watching. Spread the word on
social media using #ProtectOurCare and tell your friends, neighbors, and
colleagues to call their Representatives.
Get others involved. This vote is too
important for people to sit on the sidelines. Time to get someone else
involved—empower a friend, family member, neighbor, or colleague. Create
social media events, tag a friend on Facebook, or just tell someone
else why you get involved.
Get creative. You’re leading this
movement—it’s your constituent power, so use it how you see fit. We’ve
seen some local groups create scrapbooks of local
constituents who would be affected by TrumpCare. Others have brought
their children who stand to lose coverage to the MoC’s district office.
Your goal is to make clear to your Senators and Representatives—and any
local media who will listen—what TrumpCare means for you and your
family, friends, and neighbors.
Plan a Friday district office visit to hold your MoCs accountable.
The House vote is expected Thursday. No matter how your MoC votes, you
should provideimmediate feedback (positive or negative) by making a
visit to their district office on Friday with your group.
Your MoCs will have to take more votes in the future on TrumpCare to
pass the final bill. They’ll be holding their breath and watching
carefully after this vote, hoping that the outrage dies down. By
providing immediate feedback today, you’ll change their political
calculus tomorrow.
Need More ACA Info?
Wondering how TrumpCare will affect people in your state? Our friends at the Center for American Progress have an interactive map showing TrumpCare’s impact around the country. Check it out here: TrumpCare by the Numbers.
Want to get wonky? Republicans are trying to
push TrumpCare through with a process called “reconciliation” that
allows them to pass the bill without the usual 60 votes in the Senate
needed to pass legislation. Read up on this tricky bit of congressional
procedure with our new explainer: Legislative Process 101—Budget Reconciliation.
Just want all of the the Indivisible Project’s ACA materials in one place? Absolutely—here’s our resource page: Save the ACA.
You have a chance to stop this legislation by getting involved on your home turf now.
If enough members stand up and say no, Republican leaders will be
forced to pull the bill from their weekly schedule—which would be a
devastating defeat for Trump. If TrumpCare does pass the House, the
fight’s not over. In that scenario, TrumpCare will soon move to the
Senate—and then the fight will shift to your Senators.
***
From Facebook: When I was hungry, you canceled my food stamps When I was thirsty, you diverted lead and coal into my water When I was sick, you tripled my insurance rates When I was naked, you raped me and blamed me because I was naked. When I was in prison, you enslaved me to corporations When I was a stranger with brown skin you deported me From the lonely you took away social programs From the elderly, you took away meals and medicine From the workers, you took away legal protections From the young, you took away school funding From the victims, you took away shelter Instead of diversity, you encourage intolerance Instead of caring, you encourage isolation Instead of equity, you encourage military excess When the 1% has ground us into the dust, taken all of our money, and let us die for lack of insurance - who will you feed upon?
***
Paul Ryan -- The Anti-Robin Hood by Coastwatcher
Last week Paul Ryan unleashed his party's budget upon the American people. At the stroke of a pen he plans to destroy the Meals on Wheels service, environmental protections, arts funding and foreign aid, along with any kind of public medical assistance in the form of the ACA. To avoid his proposed measures being filibustered to death in Congress, Ryan has worked his budget so much of it can be done through budget reconciliation. This means they can be moved quickly through a maneuver that requires a simple majority in the Senate and House. You read that right. With or without help from the corporate Democrats, these measures will be rammed through into law.
All the above cuts are worthy of mention, but space precludes me from writing about them here. Let us focus instead on the issue of the ACA, the proposed loss of which will hit Americans in the area which fundamentally affects every person on Earth – their health.
Today, in part due to Obamacare’s expansion of the program, Medicaid covers more than 73 million Americans, most struggling to survive in a country that
is growing increasingly hostile to the poor and disadvantaged. Ryan’s measures will gradually end funding for the Medicaid expansion to the point where some 14 million fewer Americans will be covered by the program by 2026. That number could skyrocket if the work requirements and block-granting proposals currently being worked out in Congress make it into the final bill.
Never in the political history of the United States has one government set out to do the maximum harm to the maximum number of its citizens in the shortest possible time – all in the name of those good old Republican values of self-reliance. It doesn’t matter to them if you were born with a congenital disability or complaint. They don’t care if you were injured in the workplace and are unable to work. In the eyes of the Republican government if you’re unable to "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" (which is impossible – think about it and read this article) then you are of no value to them or society. This Republican government, headed by Donald Trump, is populated by nothing more than a bunch of sociopaths.
These are the defining characteristics of sociopathic behavior: Superficial charm and good intelligence Absence of delusions and other signs of irrational thinking Absence of nervousness or neurotic manifestations Unreliability Untruthfulness and insincerity Lack of remorse and shame Inadequately motivated antisocial behavior Poor judgment and failure to learn by experience Pathologic egocentricity and incapacity for love General poverty in major affective reactions Specific loss of insight Unresponsiveness in general interpersonal relations Fantastic and uninviting behavior with alcohol and sometimes without. https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201305/how-spot-sociopath
That last trait is all the more revealing when you consider Paul Ryan’s boastin a recent video: “So, the health care entitlements are the big, big, big drivers of our debt. There are three. Obamacare, Medicaid, and Medicare. Two out of three are going through Congress right now. So, Medicaid—sending it back to the states, capping its growth rate. We’ve been dreaming of this since you and I were drinking out of a keg.”
That’s right. Ryan dreamed of depriving his fellow citizens of any kind of government aid since he was a privileged white guy in college. These "big, big, big drivers of our debt" are as nothing compared to the bloated military budget, which the proposed cuts are supposed to help increase to the tune of over $52 billion.
Let’s consider the definition of sociopath in the Urban Dictionary.
Sociopath: A person with antisocial personality disorder. Probably the most widely recognized personality disorder. A sociopath is often well liked because of their charm and high charisma, but they do not usually care about other people. They think mainly of themselves and often blame others for the things that they do. They have a complete disregard for rules and lie constantly. They seldom feel guilt or learn from punishments. Though some sociopaths have become murders, most reveal their sociopathy through less deadly and sensational means.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sociopath
Ryan is obviously not the kind of sociopath who reveals his sociopathy through less deadly and sensational means. His proposed measures will kill citizens of the United States through no fault of their own. It sets the United States even further back in comparison to other countries with socialized medicine.
Perhaps Ryan’s cold-eyed ambitions will yet be thwarted by dissenting voices within his own party. The prospect of so many people being dropped from Medicaid and the prospect of states footing a much larger share of Medicaid’s bills has unnerved the more moderate Republicans across the country. It’s no secret that the majority of states where Federal government spends far more than the average on state Medicaid programs are all Republican in outlook, the so-called "Deep Red" states. Certainly the raised voices of millions of Americans in town hall meetings across the country are being heard with increasing nervousness by representatives who until now have gone largely untroubled by public opinion. It might come as a shock to these Republican politicians that a great many who voted for Trump are suffering "buyer’s remorse" now the full scope of his plans are being made plain.
The people are awake and paying attention, something the oligarchs and the Republicans who worship them are going to regret.
Bio: Coastwatcher observes what is happening in our world and senses a change in the weather, literally and figuratively.
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In a galaxy long, long ago...
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