The Best Conspiracy Theory Ever (Isn’t One)

by C.A. Matthews

I’m as sick as a dog (sorry canines) and trying hard to put out a post this week that makes coherent sense. Please forgive me if it gets ranty or if it ends abruptly.

Now, where was I? Oh, yes, I was going to point out that all this craziness that Trump, Vance and Musk (The Three Muskrateers?) are putting out there for public consumption is nothing new. Really, it’s been done before by different a-holes with different names utilizing different industries, lobbyists, foreign entities, and government agencies.

Remember the subprime mortgage fiasco of 2008? The “too big to fail” banks were bailed out by the US government. They bailed out the billionaires but not the ordinary folks, and many families lost their homes. If your brain has blocked out that unpleasantness, I apologize for bringing it back into your consciousness, but it’s necessary.

In other words, most of this DOGE-ing nastiness of Musk’s is predictable in its unpredictability...

 

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Life Down The Rabbit Hole

Life Down the Rabbit Hole 
by Coast Watcher

So here we are... The great and glorious American Empire is shuttered due to an pandemic few saw coming. Thanks to COVID-19 stores are emptied of toilet paper and hand sanitizer almost as soon as they hit the shelves. Fighting breaks out over the last pack or bottle. Security guards stand ready to force limits of one pack or bottle each, and the number of canned goods you can purchase at one time are restricted. People have bought up an entire supply of goods and quite often they appear on social media or eBay trying to sell the stuff for a heavily marked-up price. Businesses are closed by order of state governments with a few exceptions held to be vital, such as liquor stores. In a number of states even travel has been restricted. Retirees from the medical profession are returning to the front line to help their embattled colleagues.

The National Guard is deploying where needed. Churches are limiting services and/or the number of congregants therein or livestreaming. The USPS is restricting customers by setting distances of six feet apart in lines and permitting only three customers at a time within the sales area. People don’t hang around to chat or take their time anymore. They rush from place to place with hunted, almost furtive looks on their faces. Social distancing has become the watchword.

That’s not to say the response has been even across the country. In Florida, the state governor has refused to close public beaches because, "It’ll hurt the economy."

And it all took less than a month for America to grind to a halt. But it doesn’t mean everything has stopped in its tracks. The GOP is busy trying to get a bill through the Senate that will give trillions of dollars in bail out money to Big Businesses without any ties or restrictions. Contrast that idea with the generally held opinion that the government will do far more for the economy if it gave the money to ordinary Americans instead. Even the more socially aware Republicans want to hang caveats and codicils about the idea, limiting the payments to $600 in total to the poorest. 

And let’s not forget those senators on both sides of the House who took advantage of prior warnings at the onset of the pandemic to sell stocks on Wall Street instead of preparing their constituents for the disease. We mustn't prevent the one-percenters from making profits at the public's expense!

At the time of writing, the Senate has failed yet again to clear procedural problems to pass a bill aimed at helping ordinary citizens as well as businesses affected by the coronavirus shut down. Senate Democrats blocked the stimulus package, denying the Republicans the majority needed to feed yet more money exclusively to Big Business. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned it could be several days before the Senate can proceed to a vote on the deal. 

McConnell, of course, is the darling of Wall Street, slavishly obedient to any

and every move to give the rich more cash. It’s not a surprise to learn that a clause covertly slipped into the relief bill includes wording aimed at denying Medicaid funding to non-profits, such as home and community-based disability providers, community-based nursing homes, mental health providers and health centers, group homes for the disabled—and even rape crisis centers.

Yes, even faced with an unprecedented disaster, the Republican pro-Big Business politicians are still trying to ride their laughably "pro-life" hobby horse rough shod across the land. Of course the Democrats, in their guise of actually caring about ordinary Americans, are looking nervously over their shoulder in case the populace has become so angry about things they erupt into open revolution.

For many it’s still business as usual. Goldman Sachs gave its CEO a 20% pay increase. This while the company predicts that the US economy will shrink by 24% next quarter. This prediction is positively sunny compared with Morgan Stanley which foresee a 30% drop. Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard predicts a 50% decline.

And what of so-called President Trump’s behavior throughout this crisis? It’s not very appealing to say the least. His responses are based mostly on "It has nothing to do with me," and, "I’m not taking responsibility." Trump closed the White House office responsible for coordinating the response to disease outbreaks, claiming it was a waste of money. He tried to do a deal with the German manufacturer of a coronavirus vaccine that would have made it exclusive to the United States. He refused to order emergency supplies of equipment because Big Business complained it would scare people and hurt their sales.

 
Read some of Trump's pandemic-related tweets in this video. You'll be amazed. Or disgusted.  https://youtu.be/EIi9N_tcNt0

At the time of writing it’s rumored that Trump is blowing hot and cold on the shelter-in-place strategy enacted by many states, even though this policy has proved to contain the outbreak and enable the flattening of the curve of transmissions. In a Tweet—his usual method of releasing important policy information—Trump stated using all caps:
 

WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!

Trump has also called the coronavirus "the Chinese virus." Such loose-lipped remarks have led to Asian-Americans suffering racist attacks, both verbal and physical. Even after all this, Trump still gets a 45% approval rating according to one poll. His supporters must reckon he’s doing a good job.

As if all this wasn’t enough, the latest report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) states the virus pandemic is accelerating. Predictions are that anywhere from 40%-70% of the population will contract the virus eventually.

It’s difficult to predict where things will end. With some states such as Ohio settling in for a two-week shutdown, small non-essential businesses will be seriously hurt. Denmark at least has unified behind a single approach to remedying the economic crisis. Under the plan, which has drawn 100% support across the political spectrum, the Danish government will pay 75% of employees’ salaries to avoid mass layoffs. It requires the government to spend as much as 13% of the Danish national economy in the space of three months. That works out as roughly equivalent to $2.5 trillion spread out over thirteen weeks. Contrast this plan with the recent American government’s attempt to support Wall Street with a $2.5 trillion package that succeeded for all of fifteen minutes.

In the face of such adversity people are pulling together. A wealth of mutual-aid

support groups have sprung up, covering anything from neighborhoods to entire cities. A spirit of We’ll get through this together pervades. That’s not to say government need not do more to alleviate the suffering of ordinary citizens. After all, that comes under the promote the general welfare part of the Constitution.

Humanity is a resilient species. We’ve survived disasters before and no doubt will do so again. But in this year 2020, life will not be the same for millions across America and billions across the world. Will this be the time people finally wake up to the fact the rich, Big Business, the uber-wealthy multi-national corporations are not their friends? There’s no doubt that the European countries and those other nations with universal healthcare are coping far better than the for-profit American system. That much at least has to change, if any kind of lesson comes out of this.

In any case, I hope my readers will come through this crisis safe and sound.

See you on the other side!

BIO: Coast Watcher is patiently waiting for the day when all Americans wake up and realize their system of government isn't a democracy, but a corrupt oligarchy filled with rich, white males who couldn't care less whether the working classes live or die, just as long as they can hop around the globe in their Lear jets visiting their private islands of underage sex slaves. Maybe a devastating plague is what is needed for workers to make the connection that a billionaire is not their friend, never has been their friend, and never will be their friend.

Related articles:

Senate Vote on Coronavirus Economic Stimulus Package
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-vote-coronavirus-economic-stimulus-package-bill-2020-03-23/

Japan Begins Quarantining Visitors
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/coronavirus-live-updates-japan-begin-quarantining-visitors-us/story?id=69742183

Senate GOP Bill Doesn't Help American Workers
https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-pandemic-senate-gop-bill-doesnt-help-americans-workers-2020-3
 
Woman Yells "Go Trump" After Emptying Store of Toilet Paper
https://thegailygrind.com/2020/03/22/florida-woman-yells-go-donald-trump-after-emptying-store-of-toilet-paper/
 
Chinese Coronavirus Racist Attacks
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/us/chinese-coronavirus-racist-attacks.html

Denmark Freezing Its Economy
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/denmark-freezing-its-economy-should-us/608533/
 
Goldman Sach Gives CEO 20% Pay Raise
https://news.yahoo.com/david-solomon-goldman-sach-20-pay-raise-041821672.html
 
GOP Just Smuggled Another Awful Provision Into Big Stimulus Bill
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/03/23/gop-just-smuggled-another-awful-provision-into-big-stimulus-bill/

Coronavirus: Trump Wants US Open For Business Amid Pandemic
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52009108

***

Congress has taken an important first step by passing the Families First Coronavirus Response Act.

Members of Congress who pushed hard for swift passage of the bill deserve our gratitude, as do the nearly 50,000 PFAW members who took action to urge Congress to quickly pass the bill. In part because of your activism, millions of Americans will be provided paid family and sick leave, unemployment insurance will be expanded, and free COVID-19 testing will be provided nationwide (although we still need to play catch up on making more tests available – and fast).

Now, Congress must tackle the next phase of dealing with this unprecedented crisis and pass a historic stimulus bill to protect the economy and provide vital resources to the people and communities who need the most help.

SIGN TODAY: Thank members of Congress for passing the Families First Act and urge them to move quickly on passing comprehensive coronavirus relief legislation to protect Americans’ health and financial security! >>

The economic effects of this public health emergency are already being felt, but a proper government response, with the scope that this crisis demands, can help mitigate the damage and improve the outcome for all. Any industry relief package must include conditions to ensure that workers are taken care of, not C-suite executives and shareholders. Direct relief payments must be targeted to the workers, consumers, low-income people, and others who are most vulnerable and whose spending will spur the economy much better than massive “trickle-down” benefits for corporations and the ultra-wealthy.

And critical relief services will need to be adequately funded if America is going to come out on the other side of the coronavirus pandemic unscathed.

Congress must act immediately to pass a comprehensive coronavirus relief legislation package – lives and futures depend on it. >>

As usual, however, some Senate Republicans are throwing up roadblocks to common-sense emergency legislation at every chance they get. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) almost halted the passage of the Families First Response Act by forcing a last-minute vote on an unnecessary amendment. Their delay tactics are, in the words of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), “a colossal waste of time.”

Time is at a premium for halting the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, so we can’t let the Republicans waste any more of it.

ADD YOUR NAME TODAY to demand Congress pass the next stage of coronavirus relief legislation! >>

Stay safe and healthy,

- Sarah, Digital Campaigns Associate

 ***

With its broad sweep, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us into an unprecedented national emergency. This emergency, however, results from a deeper and much longer term crisis - that of poverty and inequality, and of a society that ignores the needs of 140 million people who are poor or a $400 emergency away from being poor.

Right now, Congress is considering an influx of urgently needed money from the federal government—one TRILLION dollars. We need to bear witness and make sure that money gets to where it is most needed – extending fundamental needs like paid sick leave, health care and housing security to everyone. 

We call on President Trump, Vice-President Pence and all Members of 116th Congress to fulfill their moral and constitutional responsibilities to the American people: join your voice to expand the emergency provisions and enact our Moral Agenda.
 
We cannot return to normal. Addressing the depth of the crises that have been revealed in this pandemic means enacting universal health care, expanding social welfare programs like SNAP and LIHEAP, ensuring access to water and sanitation, providing cash assistance to poor and low-wealth families, guaranteeing good jobs, living wages and an annual income. It means ensuring that our abundant national resources are used for the general welfare, instead of war, walls, and the wealthy.  
Sign on to the Poor People's Campaign's demands in response to COVID-19. 

Forward together,
Rev. Dr. Willam Barber II and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
Co-Chairs of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

P.S. Join us for a live discussion Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 PT with MoveOn about a Moral Response to the dual crises of Pandemic and Poverty—we'll be live at Facebook.com/MoveOn and Facebook.com/ANewPPC! 

***

Tell us your COVID-19/Coronavirus story. Send your piece in the body of an email to thebernieblog2016@gmail.com . Remember, we're all in this together.

If you're able to help us keep the internet connected and the lights on, please donate to us at the following Paypal link: http://paypal.me/camatthews  Thanks, and keep fighting!

The Way of Life/The Way of Death

Editor's note: This is a British board. Whitechapel is the cheapest property.

The Way of Life/The Way of Death

by Coast Watcher

It’s pretty much evident that capitalism is destroying our world. This parasitical philosophy treats everything as a commodity to be exploited for the maximum amount of money possible. People—ordinary human beings—are an endless source of wealth. We are lied to, coerced, bribed, blackmailed and outright threatened to make us continue working for the System. No matter where we turn in life, a capitalist is there, ready and willing to screw us over.

Big Business owns governments. The United States government, founded on such principles as liberty and justice for all is a wholly-owned concern of capitalism, but this should not come as too much of a surprise when you consider the Founding Fathers were all rich white guys—in other words, the very stuff of capitalism. Many of them owned slaves. After the successful revolution against British rule it took decades and a bloody war to abolish slavery, yet even that abolition didn’t stick.  

Although slavery and involuntary servitude were outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, an exception was made as a punishment for crime. Capitalists seized upon this exception and set up for-profit prisons in which those incarcerated are forced to work for Big Business. To ensure a ready supply of labor, the capitalists persuaded lawmakers to introduce the "three strikes and you’re out" laws for petty infringements, such as possession of marijuana. It’s a matter of record that African-Americans are the section of society most afflicted with these laws and the ones least likely to afford a competent legal counsel.

In California, volunteer convict firefighters are instrumental in fighting the terrible wildfires afflicting the state. They’ve helped save countless lives and property—including homes belonging to the rich—yet once they leave prison they are not allowed to parlay their hard-won experience into a permanent firefighting job. How is it just that a person who risked his or her life to help others is not allowed to benefit from it? What is even more infuriating is the fact that most of the recent wildfires were caused by PC&G electric company’s lack of maintenance on their power lines. Maintenance is given zero priority because it gets in the way of yet greater profits—at the cost of serious damage to the environment.

Of course, the sale and purchase of people is still illegal—just—but the capitalists have found a way to circumvent such things. Take the trade in children forcibly separated from parents who entered the US, either illegally or in search of asylum. (No, Mr. Trump, under the UN charter which the United States signed, seeking asylum is not illegal). Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has shares in companies that trade in adoptions, and a ready supply of children is essential to her healthy profit margin. Those kids, over ten thousand of themand mostly of Hispanic ethnicity, will likely go to affluent white people to be brought up as white, losing their heritage along with their true parents. And some of those poor children end up in the hands of pedophiles, adding sexual abuse to their woes."

The destruction of the environment in pursuit of profit is a major goal of Big Business. Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs) pour hundreds of thousands of tons of animal effluent into water courses each and every day all year round. Agribusinesses spray pesticides,herbicides, and fertilizers onfields in similar amounts, the run-off from which also finds its way into water courses. The net result of this is a massive increase in algae blooms as the cyanobacteria present feeds on the nitrogen in fertilizer and effluent. 

Cyanobacteria excretes toxins into water and the air. It has been linked to a variety of medical conditions including ALS, Parkinson's and Alzheimer’s Disease, and has killed animals that come into contact with it. The gene that allows genetically altered "Roundup Ready" plants to tolerate the carcinogenic herbicide was extracted from cyanobacteria.

Big Business knows that the public would close down CAFOs in a heartbeat for this, let alone the horrible mistreatment of animals that occurs in such places. To protect its vast profits the companies that own and run CAFOs succeeded in getting a law pass that forbids the public from taking photographs of their operations. They also succeeded in persuading a number of state to exempt CAFOs from most regulations regarding animal welfare.

Nuclear power plants in North America are aging and increasingly dangerous. Three Mile Island is the most notorious example, but there have been other incidents involving pressurized water reactors that the public was not made aware of. The Davis-Besse plant, located between Toledo and Cleveland, is a decrepit facility, yet First Energy, the owner, has rammed a bill through the Ohio state house giving them a heavy subsidy for keepingthe plant open. This in spite of a near meltdown in 2006 which only came to light in 2011. A mere sixteenth of an inch of metal—that’s the width of a slice of processed cheese—stood between the nuclear core and the total devastation of the western Lake Erie basin. 

If you think the public will be warned if such a meltdown should ever happen, think again. The power industry decided long ago it wouldn’t be feasible to evacuate major cities, so they won’t bother. Oh, and you can’t sue them if you are displaced by a nuclear incident. Yep, Big Business ensured that law got passed long ago.

We can also look at the way oil pipelines are forced through rural areas of America in spite of vehement opposition from residents, usually Native Americans. Back in the 1930s Big Oil got the government to give them the right to claim eminent domain when building pipelines.  

Recently it got the government to rate such pipelines as "infrastructure," which means anyone protesting or damaging them are liable for trial under terrorism charges. If convicted it would mean several years to life imprisonment. People have gone to jail for obstructing pipelines crossing their own land. Big Oil gets around local objections by promising jobs, without mentioning that the jobs involved amount to local security and minor construction. The big ticket jobs like engineering and specialist construction come from out of state. Numerous cases of murder and rape have been leveled at construction workers while oil pipelines are being built, but few convictions come from them.

As an aside it’s interesting to note that when a proposed pipeline was scheduled to pass through a large country estate belonging to a billionaire in Pennsylvania, the proposal was dropped when said billionaire threatened a lawsuit against the oil company. The same thing happened when a fracking operation was to be set up next to a stud farm owned by another billionaire. The proposal was dropped like a hot potato the moment he threatened to sue.

The way of life will be to curb the activities of Big Business, forcing them to clean up their mess and enforce the laws and regulations preventing them from polluting our planet ever again. The way of death will be to allow these rich individuals and their corporations to continue as they’re done for far too long. 

Which is it to be? It’s past time we decided once and for all.

BIO: Coast Watcher is keeping score. The crimes of the capitalists will not be forgotten--or ignored much longer. The people are awake and watching. Now is the winter of our discontent--and our political revolution!

Related articles:

Top 26 Billionaires Worth $1.4 Trillion--As Much As 3.8 Billion Other People
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/20/business/oxfam-billionaires-davos/index.html

Stop Drinking the Kool-Aid
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/socialjesus/2019/11/stop-drinking-kool-aid/

In a Step Towards Justice, US Senate Passes Bill with Funds for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women 
https://www.nationofchange.org/2019/11/06/in-a-step-towards-justice-us-senate-passes-bill-with-funds-for-missing-and-murdered-indigenous-women/
https://www.ecowatch.com/us-pesticide-usage-bans-2638789192.html

US Annually Uses 388 Million Pounds of Potentially Fatal Pesticides Banned in EU, China and Brazil
https://www.ecowatch.com/us-pesticide-usage-bans-2638789192.html

Over 10,000 Migrant Children Are In US Government Custody
https://www.businessinsider.com/children-in-custody-trump-administration-immigration-zero-tolerance-policy-2018-5
 

***

Communities of color on the frontlines of the climate crisis have been battling environmental injustice for decades. Landfills, dirty industrial plants, and warehouse / truck depots all are located, by design, in lower income, black and brown communities.

That means the people who live, work, and raise their kids in these areas face greater health risks from pollution. It means their kids cannot comfortably play outside without breathing dirty air or drink water from their tap. It means that these frontline communities will continue to bear the brunt of the climate crisis as politicians kick the can further and further down the road. Meanwhile, the rest of society lives a comfortable distance from the consequences.

Tell Congress: it’s time to pass the Climate Equity Act.

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris (CA) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY) have drafted the Climate Equity Act, a legislative proposal to achieve the key principle of justice for frontline communities. This legislation focuses on communities most affected by the crisis and the transition to renewable energy. It will require environmental and climate-related legislation receive an equity score that will transparently estimate the impact on frontline communities, require environmental and climate-related rules and regulations have significant impact on frontline communities, and ensure that representatives of frontline communities are at the table during the review of rules and regulations of a newly established Office of Climate and Environmental Justice Accountability.

If brought into fruition, the Climate Equity Act will help rebuild communities affected by environmental injustice, ensuring they receive adequate attention from Congress looking forward.

Join our national grassroots network mobilizing for climate equity.

DEMAND CONGRESS ADDRESS CLIMATE EQUITY

Your fellow climate hawk,
RL Miller

Reference:

“Harris and Ocasio-Cortez Announce Landmark Legislation to Ensure Green New Deal Lifts Up Every Community,” Office of U.S. Senator Kamala Harris
https://www.harris.senate.gov/news/press-releases/harris-ocasio-cortez-announce-landmark-legislation-to-ensure-green-new-deal-lifts-up-every-community

***

From Roots Action:

Julian Assange is being held in prison in the United Kingdom, convicted of and charged with no crime there. He is in danger of being extradited to the United States to be prosecuted for publishing accurate information in the public interest. This is a threat to journalism and to democracy, not just to WikiLeaks and Assange.

Click here to sign a petition to the government of the United Kingdom.



Click here to sign the following petition.

To the Government of the United Kingdom:

We the undersigned respectfully call on the appropriate authorities of the United Kingdom to immediately release Julian Assange, citizen of Australia, from Belmarsh prison where he is being unjustly and cruelly incarcerated.

Acting as a publisher through WikiLeaks, Mr. Assange has done the world a service in documenting the war crimes and other abuses of the United States and other governments, organizations, and corporations.

He is not charged with any crime or even misdemeanor in the United Kingdom, and has fully served his sentence for his single offense: jumping bail to avoid extradition to the United States via Sweden. He was not and is not charged with any crime in Sweden.

The sole charges against Mr. Assange originate in the United States, where he is charged with the publication of accurate information provided by informed sources, as well as with encouraging a source, and protecting a source. These are regular and necessary practices of journalism in a free and democratic society. The prosecution of a publisher for publishing accurate information that is clearly in the public interest is a threat to journalism and to democracy.

The "espionage" prosecution by the United States of a non-U.S. citizen who has not been in and is not in the United States would be an additional dangerous precedent to set.

It is quite clear that in its current treatment of Julian Assange, the United Kingdom is debasing itself as a mere instrument of political repression exercised by the United States. The current imprisonment of Mr. Assange is a blot on the United Kingdom’s judicial system, a disgrace to British decency.

There is every reason to fear an unfair trial, or cruel imprisonment without trial, in the United States. We appeal to your sense of justice to uphold the best traditions of British democracy and respect for human rights by immediately freeing, rather than extraditing, Julian Assange.



After signing the petition, please use the tools on the next webpage to share it with your friends.

***

From Progress America:

Tell Congress:
 

"We, the undersigned, call on Congress to support legislation that would end surprise medical bills and hold down health care costs overall. We shouldn’t be left to foot the bill when health care industries disagree."

ADD YOUR NAME

Nichole Briggs woke up in the middle of the night with stomach pain and went to the local hospital for an emergency appendectomy. She double-checked that the hospital was covered by her insurance, yet she still received a bill for nearly $5,000 because the surgeon within the hospital was outside her network. She refused to pay the unfair bill. A credit agency then took her to court and put a lien on her home, all for a bill she shouldn’t owe in the first place.

This should not be the status quo, but one in five emergency department visits result in a surprise medical bill. These bills occur when a person is charged for care they receive from a health care provider or facility that is outside of their health plan’s network, even though they didn’t choose to go out of network to begin with.

No Surprises: People Against Unfair Medical Bills and Progress America are demanding that Congress enact legislation to ban these surprise medical bills immediately. Join us!

SIGN NOW: Congress must act end surprise medical bills and lower healthcare costs!

Thanks,

Progress America

 ***

We have been closely monitoring recent developments in Bolivia as President-Elect Evo Morales was forced to resign yesterday at the hand of the Bolivian military. Despite the tepid response from major American media outlets, let us be clear that this is a coup. Bolivia has been rocked by weeks of protests challenging the validity of the October 20th election results in which Morales, the popular first president from Bolivia’s indigenous population, was elected to a third term.  Morales, who has served for 14 years, agreed to an audit of the results to be conducted by the Organization of American States (OAS). His right-wing challenger, Carlos Mesa, did not agree to any such audit. It’s important to know that the OAS has a record of overturning elections in left-leaning countries while turning a blind eye to emerging right-wing regimes backed by U.S. foreign policy and American corporate interests. The United States has backed 12 coups throughout Latin America. It is clear that these governments are targets because they are considered hostile to U.S. capital and strategic interests, not because they are undemocratic. The OAS follows a specific script of contesting the legitimacy of the elections, vowing to restore democracy with the new hand-picked leader, and downplaying U.S. involvement which translates to funding and arming the opposition, waging an economic war, and of course, blaming the target for civil unrest, corruption, and authoritarianism. But if the OAS were concerned with democratic elections, where were they when loyalists of Jair Bolsonaro, the new president of Brazil, conspired to lock up his rival, Lula da Silva, to clear Bolsonaro’s path to the presidency? And why, following a contentious election in Venezuela, did the OAS align with Tri, and rush to recognize Juan Guaidó as the rightful president over Maduro? To this day, the OAS continues their effort to legitimize Guaidó, a man who is known to be friendly to U.S. oil interests.  If the OAS were concerned with recognizing the will of the people, why didn’t they demand a proper audit of those election results? Or call for a new election with independent international oversight? Brand New Congress believes unequivocally in the right to self-determination in governance. It is a cornerstone of our 21st Century Bill of Rights.

Our founders believed that government must be of the people, by the people, and for the people. That is a human right, and these principles must be protected even when the will of the people runs counter to U.S. business interests.

No one -- not the OAS, not the United States government, not multinational corporations looking to exploit natural resources -- no one but the people of a nation has the right to dictate who will govern that nation.

We must stand in solidarity with the people of Bolivia and support a truly independent audit of the election results to ease political tensions in their deeply-divided country.

In solidarity,
Roza Calderon
Brand New Congress