2022: The Year Nothing Fundamentally Changed—Again

  

2022: 

The Year Nothing Fundamentally Changed—Again

At the end of each calendar year, we at TRC usually go over what’s happened in the world during the previous twelve months and make some predictions for the coming year. (Last year’s New Year's Eve piece: https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/2021/12/2021-year-nothing-fundamentally-changed.html) This year illness around the holidays took its toll and there’s not enough time to review all 52 weekly posts for 2022, but if there is any one major thing that we can take away from this past year, it’s this: 

Nothing has fundamentally changed—again.

Here are some of the more blatant examples of things that are fundamentally the same—if not worse—than they were at the end of 2021. 

Build Back Better? Only if you work for the Pentagon or a military contractor such as Raytheon or Lockheed Martin:

The military budget deal just reached by Congress will put Pentagon spending at $858 billion — more than $118 billion higher than when President Biden came into office, and more than $180 billion higher than the last budget approved under President Obama. That increase would have been more than enough to cover the costs of the entire Build Back Better agenda. --Democrats Are Making A Devil's Bargain on Pentagon Funding.

In immigration news: Kids are still in cages.

Title 42, an archaic immigration rule resurrected in the Trump administration to flat-out deny asylum to asylum seekers, is still in effect. The Border Wall, started during the Trump administration, is still being constructed. Haitian asylum seekers were beaten with whips by Border Patrol officers on horseback, and they are still being deported at much higher percentages than other immigrants, particularly white and European undocumented immigrants. (Read Why All The Hate For Haiti?)

The student loan debt crisis hasn’t gone away. There may be a hiatus on repayments, but eventually it will go away and the trillion dollars of debt still owed will have to be repaid. Loans given to large businesses and corporations during the pandemic have been forgiven, however. 

COVID-19 is still rampant and mutating. People are still getting sick, being hospitalized, and dying from COVID and related illnesses, some now known as Long COVID. Most free vaccinations and testing clinics have been shut down. 

The major thing that has changed in regards to COVID-19 is that it’s no longer being reported to health departments regularly, and the mainstream media continues to downplay its lethality. This has only motivated some to stop wearing masks in public or taking it seriously, sharing the virus freely with strangers and loved ones alike.

Medicare For All—promised to be enacted by both Biden and "The Squad" on the campaign trail—has yet to come about. Medical debt is the number one reason Americans file for bankruptcy for yet another year. And we're still the only so-called "First World Industrialized Country" that doesn't guarantee health care to all its citizens. It's nothing to be proud of. It's all "Get back to work and get out and buy, buy, buy! Who cares if people are getting sick and dying? Our corporations have to turn a decent profit!"

Endless war continues. This time it’s a proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, rather than a “hotter” war in Afghanistan. (Well, it could become hotter if the nukes start flying.) Meanwhile, Afghan refugees are still coming to the US looking for sanctuary. Promises made to the mostly Muslim Afghans seeking asylum (persons who helped the US forces along with their immediate family members) haven’t been kept as they should, but surprise, surprise! White, supposedly-Christian Ukrainians with no documents have had little trouble coming into the US and staying put. 

(Of course, this openness doesn't apply to members of the Russian Orthodox Church, a religion outlawed in Ukraine along with all opposition political parties. That's fighting for "democracy and freedom" American-style!)

Homelessness is on the rise. Mayors of cities such as Los Angeles and New York city have made it part of their winning campaigns promoting how they would destroy tent cities and stick homeless people into mental institutions against their will. Out of sight, out of mind, and more chances of gentrifying rundown areas to the delight of the developers and investment landlords.

In totally unrelated news (ha ha!), rents have more than doubled in many cities. Food and gasoline costs are spiraling ever upward. Empty shelves in grocery stores and discount places are because of “supply chain issues” or so we’re told. No mention is made in the mainstream media how most of our trade is with China, and that threatening war with China over Taiwan isn’t going to make goods any more affordable for the working classes. 

Railroad workers still don’t have the right to strike. They didn’t get the fifteen sick days they asked for either. So-called progressives such as AOC and most members of "The Squad" voted against them. (Read If The Workers Take a Notion...)

Over 48,000 University of California student workers went on strike this fall and are going back after the winter break, but they’re not satisfied with their tentative agreement. More and more America workers organized and joined unions in 2022, so it’s a good sign that most workers understand there is power in numbers and that CEOs are not gods and they don’t have to put up with their employers’ abusive behaviors. (Read Lab Rats of the World Unite!)

“Narrative control,” shadow-banning/censorship, and propaganda reached all-time levels in 2022. Recently the audacity of these propaganda tactics instigated by the FBI, CIA, and both major political parties were revealed in “The Twitter Files” released by independent journalist Matt Taibbi and others.  (Read Disinformation Wars, The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade and Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control for other examples of narrative control. Also, check out the articles from earlier in the year on our Ukraine War Series page to see the pattern of propaganda coming from the US government.)

Julian Assange still resides in Belmarsh Prison (UK). The US is still trying to extradite the Australian publisher of Wikileaks and charge him with treason. His physical and mental health continues to deteriorate. 

Policing? I'd like to tell you that there's been zero incidents of persons of color or poor folks in general being killed by cops in the US in 2022, but sorry. Deaths at the hands of cops continue. Police budgets are growing ever larger along with the military budget. Obviously, Biden or The Squad didn't take the "Defund the Police" movement seriously along with those who support Medicare For All. There's no money to be made by protecting the lives, health or safety of ordinary Americans.

This article title speaks for itself: "An Absolute F**cking Disgrace": Record 6,036 US Kids Killed, Injured by Gunfire in 2022 https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/28/an-absolute-fcking-disgrace-record-6036-us-kids-killed-injured-by-gunfire-in-2022

I’m sure you can think of other examples. 

So, what predictions do we have for 2023? An ever-growing number of unions forming and union members seems likely, and that’s a good thing. Possibly student loan repayments will be delayed again, but if not, many groups are already organizing for a mass boycott of student loan repayments. 

The more dire ordinary Americans’ situations become, as food and transportation costs spiral upward, the more likely they are to agitate for their rights to be paid decent wages, to have a roof over their heads, to have free access to health care and the knowledge of what’s really happening in the world without “Ministry of Truth” styled manipulation and censorship.  

 Is it a rosy outlook or a gloomy one? It’s up for us to decide. 

Sharing information from independent news sources (such as TRC) is an optimistic activity. Many have been brainwashed into believing whatever comes out of the mouth of the mainstream media pundits, so be gentle but persistent with them. Keeping up everyone's morale by sharing good news of peace breaking out and unions forming can go a long way. Financially and morally supporting other workers in their fight for safer and more just workplaces is another good step.

Remember: We’re all in this together. Happy New Year!

Related Articles:

"Disastrous": SCOTUS Upholds Title 42 Migrant Policy During Court Fight https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/28/disastrous-scotus-upholds-title-42-migrant-policy-during-court-fight/

Student Loan Debt is a Scam (video): https://youtu.be/pgPW926532E

Chris Hedges: The Democrats Are Now The War Party https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-democrats-are-now-the-war-party

The Claim That The Ukraine War Advances US Interests Discredits The Claim That It's Unprovoked https://caitlinjohnstone.substack.com/p/the-claim-that-the-ukraine-war-advances 

Democrats Are Making a Devil's Bargain on Pentagon Funding. It's Not Paying Off  https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/25/democrats-are-making-a-devils-bargain-on-pentagon-funding-its-not-paying-off/

Why All the Hate For Haiti?  https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/10/why-all-hate-for-haiti.html 

Biden Admin Plans to Expand Title 42 to Expel Cubans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians  https://truthout.org/articles/biden-admin-plans-to-expand-title-42-to-expel-cubans-nicaraguans-and-haitians

To Die On The Job Is To Die For America https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/01/to-die-on-job-is-to-die-for-america.html

Zelensky's Diaspora Delegation Led by Economic Hit-Woman Who Led Plunder of Ukraine https://thegrayzone.com/2022/12/23/zelenskys-diaspora-hit-woman-ukraine/

Whee! Let's Start World War 3! https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/08/whee-lets-start-world-war-3.html

Atrocity Propaganda and Narrative Control https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/06/atrocity-propaganda-and-narrative.html

Disinformation Wars https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/11/disinformation-wars.html 

If the Workers Take a Notion... (RWU Strike) https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/12/if-workers-take-notion-rwu-strike.html

Lab Rats of the World Unite! https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/11/lab-rats-of-world-unite.html

The Ministry of Truth v. Roe v. Wade https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2022/05/the-ministry-of-truth-v-roe-v-wade.html

Ukraine War Series page  https://continuousrev.blogspot.com/p/ukraine-war-series.html 

Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Twitter Files? https://scheerpost.com/2022/12/21/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-twitter-files/

Gov. Pressured Twitter to Find "Russian Interference", Ban Anti-US Accounts (video) https://youtu.be/sfsuYi72eVw

Chomsky, Hedges, Snowden, Stein and Greenwald on the Assange Case (video)  https://youtu.be/DM0WtQoKXd0 

Amid Inflation and Short Staffing Labor Organizers Demanded More in 2022  https://truthout.org/articles/amid-inflation-and-short-staffing-labor-organizers-demanded-more-in-2022/

Why You Should Be A Socialist in 2023 (video) https://youtu.be/thJ2ocejPko

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I'm Sorry You Can't Afford To Be Alive

 

I'm Sorry You Can't Afford To Be Alive 

(and other stories of the USA)

by C. A. Matthews

"There, there, Betty Lou," Grover the doctor said, patting her gently on the hand. "There are worst things in life than having to pull your father off a ventilator because your insurance won't cover it."

Betty Lou gave a long, loud sniff and nodded. "Yeah, he could have terminal cancer like my auntie. She doesn't even have any health coverage because her state wouldn't accept the Medicaid expansion."

Grover rolled his googly eyes and gave a harrumph."Well, at least your dad won't suffer any since he's in a coma, unlike your poor aunt… Didn't you tell me they arrested and jailed her for possession of street opioids?"

Betty Lou bit her lip and tossed her yarn braids over her tiny shoulders. "Uh-huh. But she needs them for the pain. I hope they're giving her something for the pain in prison."

"No worries. They'll keep your aunt occupied there," Grover reassured her. "She'll be kept busy sewing lingerie for Victoria's Secret twelve to fifteen hours a day. She won't have time to worry about her cancer."

"That's a blessing, I guess." Betty Lou turned to go but was halted at the door by a seven-foot-tall, feathery hospital office worker named Big Bird.

"Not so fast," Big Bird boomed in a loud and cheery voice. "You've got a bill to pay--and I'm not talking about my big yellow beak, either. Your family has a very high deductible."

"But we can't afford to pay my father's hospital bill," Betty Lou explained. "It will bankrupt our family. Dad wasn't able to work this past month due to his illness. The bank has already threatened to come and take our home away if we can't pay the past due amount on the mortgage soon. We'll be thrown out on the street if we try to pay dad's hospital bill."

Big Bird shook his head. "That's not our problem. We're a for-profit hospital corporation, and we have lots of Congress members to bribe. They don't come cheap. But we're not totally unkind. We'll work out an installment plan with you."

"Oh, thanks," Betty Lou mumbled, tears welling in the corner of her Muppet eyes. "How much will we have to pay?"

"Let's see…" Big Bird flipped open a large computer printout that trailed from his hands all the way down to the floor and back again. "Ah, here it is." He came over to Betty Lou and pointed to the total amount. "I think at a pay back of about a thousand a month for the next ten years we'll be able to call us even."

Betty Lou gasped. "We don't have an extra thousand dollars a month lying around just to pay for the twenty-four hours my dad was in intensive care. Are you sure our health insurance didn't cover most if not all of the costs?"

"Pretty sure it didn't," Big Bird replied. "Your policy was with the No-Go-to-the-Doctors insurance company, right?"

"That's right," said Betty Lou.

"Ah, but then you took your dad to the doctors and they sent him here and neither of those visits are covered by your policy." Big Bird lowered his voice and winked. "Trust me. I've argued hours on the phone with No-Go just to get ten bucks out of them. You get what you pay for."

"Their premiums are terribly expensive, too. We would have been better off not having health insurance in the first place." Betty Lou gave a loud sigh. "I don't think this day could get any worse."

Just then the lights flashed and then went dark as the building shook violently. A loud warning siren began to wail outside.

"Oh, dear," said Grover. He went over to the window to scan the scene outside. "The earthquake must have caused the nuclear power plant to melt down. It's hard to see it well through all the smoke particulates and thick greenhouse gases, but that glow on the horizon is unmistakable." 

He scratched his chin thoughtfully. "They tell us that nuclear power is 'safe clean energy' all the time, so I wonder how that could have happened."

"My dad, Homer, didn't report into work today as the shift technician, that's what happened," said Betty Lou, shaking her head in disgust. "The plant's owners are too cheap to hire more workers or pay a decent wage to retain skilled people to fix things properly."

Betty Lou pushed past Big Bird and quickly exited the room. From the hallway she cried out, "Good luck all!"

"Too bad they didn't take the climate crisis seriously a few years ago," Betty Lou muttered to herself as she got into her car and headed toward what was left of her family's home. "But then again, nobody really wanted to build wind turbines or solar panels and shut down the coal-fired power plant in town and put all their employees out of a job. We got what we paid for."

“We have never seen health as a right. It has been conceived as a privilege, available only to those who can afford it. This is the real reason the American health care system is in such a scandalous state.”
Shirley Chisholm

— Papa J (@72MichiganPapa) August 12, 2021

 

***

From Public Citizen:

Prescription drugs are “outrageously expensive in America.”

That’s what President Biden said last week in a speech imploring Congress to do something about Big Pharma’s price gouging.

And, thanks to our work over many years, Congress is poised to take meaningful action in the upcoming budget legislation.

But the pharmaceutical giants are fighting meaningful action — or any action at all.

At a minimum, Congress must give Medicare the ability to negotiate fairer prices for all medicines and for all payers.

Big Pharma has held the American people hostage for too long.

Tell Congress:

Give Medicare the power to negotiate lower costs for all medicines and for all payers.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen 

***

From the United Farm Workers: 

Two weeks ago, 69-year-old Florencio Gueta Vargas collapsed and died while working in the hops fields of Yakima County, WA. He was found slumped beside his tractor when he did not show up at the end of his 2:30 shift.

Tell Labor Secretary Walsh to institute emergency heat regs NOW @ https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/temperatures-are-soaring-and-another-farm-worker-died.

The average hourly temperature was reported as 100.8° at 2 pm on the day he died. For decades, Florencio went to work in all conditions. This time he did not come home. Florencio leaves behind a wife and 6 children who are filled with questions, grief and anger.

Heat death is entirely preventable. Farm workers are as much as 35 times more likely to die from heat than any other civilian occupation. Currently, the Department of Labor has included rulemaking on heat illness prevention in outdoor and indoor settings in its Spring 2021 regulatory agenda, but permanent regulations take time.

Workers' lives are in danger now. They don't have time to wait. Tell Labor Secretary Walsh to institute emergency heat regs NOW @ https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/temperatures-are-soaring-and-another-farm-worker-died 

Florencio is the 2nd farm worker to die of heat-related causes in the Pacific NorthWest in the last month. Record high temperatures are being seen across the country. The Department of Labor must institute immediate emergency heat regulations to protect the hard working people who put food on our tables, as well as outdoor and indoor workers in the building trades, warehouses, steel mills, and others whose lives are threatened by extreme heat.

Sign the petition today and tell Labor Secretary Walsh to institute emergency heat regs NOW @ https://sign.moveon.org/petitions/temperatures-are-soaring-and-another-farm-worker-died

 ***

From Faithful America:

Greg Locke calls himself a pastor -- but instead of preaching Christ's love, he preaches COVID denial, partisanship, and QAnon conspiracy theories at his evangelical church outside Nashville, TN.

Locke dismisses science by wrongly calling the Delta variant "nonsense," politicizing masks as "Democrat games," and preaching this deadly message: "You will not wear masks in this church. I'm telling you right now: Do not get vaccinated."

He's been at it the entire pandemic, repeatedly promising to kick mask-wearing worshippers out of church.

Locke is making headlines across the country, spreading his deadly lies in Jesus's name and threatening unvaccinated children everywhere. Christians need to stop sources of COVID-19 misinformation within the church -- which is why Faithful America is teaming up with local faith leaders to cancel the upcoming events on Locke's current speaking tour.

Tell event venues: Shut down pastor's deadly anti-mask, anti-vaccine speaking tour >>

Locke has also called Joe Biden a "a sex trafficking, demon-possessed mongrel" and preached that only "crack-smoking, demon-possessed leftists" believe Biden won in 2020. Now he's part of the ongoing "Freedom Matters Tour," speaking alongside other right-wing activists and politicians from the anti-science group Tennessee Stands, whose founder is also a former pastor.

This tour threatens to spread misinformation and potentially even COVID-19 itself across the South. Fortunately, news broke Friday night that one prominent venue, Christian school Union University in Jackson, TN, has already cancelled its tour event. The move came after one student launched a petition and gathered just 500 signatures.

Faithful America is partnering with local non-profits and clergy to capitalize on this momentum and shut down the rest of this pastor's deadly, anti-health tour. These Tennessee leaders have asked for our help because they know that Faithful America members like you can show venue owners and reporters that an entire grassroots movement of Christians want the freedom to live in a COVID-free environment.

Together, we can speak out, gather 10,000 signatures, and let the tour venues know that Christians across the state and the country demand they follow Union's example and cancel these so-called "Freedom Matters" events.

Tell event venues: Shut down pastor's deadly, anti-mask, anti-vaccine speaking tour >>

Thank you for everything you do to love your neighbor and follow a healing savior by protecting one another from COVID-19.

In peace,
Rev. Nathan, Karli, and the Faithful America team

 

  ***

Congratulations to the winners of the war in Afghanistan: Raytheon, Northrop Grumman and Boeing.

— Stephen J. Lyons (@lyonssj55) August 16, 2021

The Revolution Continues is now in our sixth year taking on the propaganda of the fauxgressives and their friends in the warmongering, corporate-owned duopoly. We need passionate revolutionaries like you to help us provide progressive insights that are being actively censored elsewhere. If you can donate a little to the cause, please do so at the Paypal.me link below.

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Thanks for all you do in making the world a better place. Power to the people!

 

Why Should Our Fellow Americans Suffer & Die?

"Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care 
is the most shocking and inhumane."
–Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Unspoken Question

by Cindy A. Matthews

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 rational mind, 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

Insurance Industry: $2,190,651,832
Hospitals/Nursing Homes: $1,310,021,801  
Health Professionals: $1,189,983,794 
HMOs: $863,410,051

Yes, those are trillions of dollars.

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 TrumpCare for 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 to provide health care for all Americans?

Want to know how to take action on health care? Check out organizations such as Single Payer Action Network (Ohio): http://spanohio.org/ 
 and the Campaign for Guaranteed Healthcare--click here to learn how to call your representative today: https://campaignforguaranteedhealthcare.org/call-your-representative/  and also at Hands Off Medicare: https://handsoffmedicare.wordpress.com/

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 provide immediate 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 boast in 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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