Is This The Year For Political Revolution?

Is This The Year For Political Revolution?

by Still Bernin'

Will 2018 turn out to be one of those legendary years such as 1776 (the start of the American Revolution) or 1941 (WWII begins for the US) or 1969 (man lands on the moon)? Or will 2018 be just another year full of groaning and moaning by  ordinary Americans about how they're being taken advantage of by the super-wealthy 1%, but no one really does anything to change things or shake things up?

I'm hoping we'll be motivated to speak out and take action in 2018, but I have to be realistic.  When you're struggling to  keep a roof over your head and food in your stomach, it's hard to pull together enough time, energy and resources to do anything about your dire situation. You're living moment to moment. 

It's exactly the situation the elite class wants us to be in--too tired to fight. Our unbearable circumstances force us to protest until we're simply exhausted. Then we'll give up and give in. But this is exactly the reason why we need to keep fighting and keep  protesting until we see change... because if we don't stand up for ourselves who will?

After binge-watching the alternative history drama series The Man in the High Castle this past week, I'm beginning to see a disturbing pattern of behavior emerging from the present administration, a pattern very reminiscent of the past. The Nazis had no qualms about saying they were the party of "family and motherhood" all the while they were rounding up "undesirables" such as the Jews, Gypsies, Slavs, disabled and sick and sending them to gas chambers. The American Nazis portrayed in High Castle are every bit as willing and able to fulfill their beloved fuhrer's wishes of ridding the world of "imperfect people" and, with typical American enthusiasm, they become quite good at it. 

It's hard not to make comparisons between the drama series and our country's current situation, on both the domestic front and the international front. The "Greater Reich" of North America can't stand their neighbors to the west--the Japanese Empire controlled "Pacific States"--and so the Nazis are willing to invent a pretense to go to war with the Empire and drop another atomic bomb and then take the Empire's land and resources. (The saber-rattling of the Trump White House toward North Korea springs to mind, but they're are so many other examples from the so-called "War on Drugs" to our drone bombing program.) Coming up with creative lies and excuses to rev up the Military-Industrial Complex in order to steal from others is as old as time itself.

Getting back to our reality and our hand-to-mouth existence as the 99%, why have we allowed things to progress so far? Why do we sit back and allow such despotism (even in its natal form) to take hold in our country? Don't we have any sense of morality--or has that been sold to pay on our college tuition debt?

One thing I take away from a dystopian fictional world is that anything is possible in the realm of human existence. Those in power can take away our civil rights and our very lives and still sleep soundly at night. They  claim to be acting out "God's will" (or their "Leader's will") and they are protecting society's structure and families, at least those of a certain race, social class, and wealth, that is. 

The rich don't fear sleeping in the cold and going hungry very much, now do they?

No credentialed economist denies how the income gap between the rich and poor is widening and worsening worldwide. Jeff Bezos, Amazon head honcho, didn't become the richest man in the world in 2017 (at a worth of $100 billion) all by himself. He did it on the backs of his employees--one of the most punitively overworked group of workers to be found in recent times. Evil is still evil even when it comes with free shipping in a box with a smile on the side.

Those of us subjugated to threats to our health and humanity by the oligarchy should fight back. We can resist. Even more, we can take action. We must take action. It's time to stop cooperating with evil and fight for the greater good.

Our destiny is in our hands. Make a resolution that 2018 is the year of the people, not the corporations and their paid-off political lackeys... or else there may not even be a next year to look forward to.

BIO: Still Bernin' is waiting for more revolutionaries to step up and take the lead on everything from health care for all to saving the world from the effects of climate change. Won't you join our cause? Check out some reasons to join us below.

***

RIP Kris Johnson, the Quiet Revolutionary

It's with a heavy heart we announce the sudden passing of our sister in the political revolution, Kris Johnson. Kris was a retired dietitian and an avid supporter of social justice causes from Medicare for All to urban farming and organic agriculture. She and her husband served as missionaries to Tanzania in the 1960s.

Kris attended every meeting of the Our Revolution in Northwest Ohio group as well as many other area social justice organizations. She was soft spoken but effective in her witness. She was always there to lend a hand, raise a sign, and be a friend. She will be sorely missed. Heaven is lucky to have her as its newest resident. Kris will make sure everyone is taken care of and receiving the attention they deserve. 

Never forget to thank your fellow revolutionaries for their time and efforts --you never know when you'll see them again in this life. Remember, the revolution continues. Vow to keep fighting the good fight in their names!

2017

RIP Scott Galindez

RIP Erica Garner
RIP Kris Johnson 
among many others.

***

MoveOn.org notes some successes the progressive community had a hand in bringing about in the past twelve months in the following video:

 

Another optimistic view of 2017 from a peace activist:
10 Good Things about a TERRIBLE Year by Medea Benjamin
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/12/25/10-good-things-about-terrible-year

Heads up--the Koch Brothers are spending millions to sell us on the GOP Tax Scam:
https://berniesanders.com/koch-network-launch-multimillion-dollar-campaign-try-convince-americans-support-new-tax-plan/ 

Check out some clips from important interviews of progressive voices from this past year: https://youtu.be/meHlOUiIbtM

January 21 marks the anniversary of the Citizens United ruling. Here are some ways to mark the day with activism:
https://movetoamend.org/january-21st-2018-national-day-action

***

From Friends of the Earth: 

Donald Trump and Scott Pruitt are trying to gut the Clean Power Plan and replace it with something far weaker.

That means fossil fuel companies could be allowed to pour even more pollution into our air -- with devastating impacts on public health and the climate.

The Environmental Protection Agency is asking what you think about this plan. So we need you to speak up now!

Tell the Environmental Protection Agency: Any Clean Power Plan replacement must be stronger!

If Trump and Pruitt succeed in weakening the Clean Power Plan, it would undermine the EPA’s ability to limit climate-disrupting emissions. And it could slow down the transition away from dirty coal and natural gas toward clean, renewable energy.

This is the opposite of what we should be doing. Time is running out to prevent climate chaos. We need stronger action to avoid the worst, not a rollback of our existing rules.

So why is Trump slashing our environmental protections? Maybe to help his friends in the fossil fuel industry who funded his campaign -- no matter what the cost to people or our environment.

Stop Trump from gutting our environmental protections: Add your comment now!

Donald Trump doesn’t care about protecting our planet. He only cares about rewarding the fossil fuel industry by increasing its profits.

This isn’t Trump’s first attack on our bedrock environmental protections. He already signed an order to undo the Clean Water Rule. He’s aiming to slash the hard-working staff at the EPA. And he’s trying to hand over our public lands to Big Oil.

But Friends of the Earth members like you are fighting back -- and it’s working. This spring, the Trump administration was planning to hand over millions of acres of our public lands and National Monuments to Big Oil. But after you helped send more than 300,000 comments, Trump backed off and took some of our wild places off the table. This shows that when you speak up, you can force the Trump administration to do the right thing.

The Clean Power Plan should be made even stronger -- not gutted. Will you speak up now to stop Trump’s attacks on our environment?

Help block Trump’s attacks on our environment: Tell the EPA it must strengthen the Clean Power Plan.

Standing with you,
Ben Schreiber,
Senior political strategist,
Friends of the Earth

A Heart Without Words -- Words Without Heart

RIP Scott Galindez

(and the thousands of other Americans like 

him who die needlessly each and every year)

by C.A. Matthews

I apologize for the rawness of this piece. It is hard to get the words out without crying today. My heart aches.

My original blog idea was how so many politicians state they're sending their "thoughts and prayers" to the families of the victims of mass shootings, all the while doing little to nothing to solve our nation's nightmare of unregulated gun sales. We will get to that theme momentarily, but something important of a personal nature happened this week which demands to be addressed first.

Our country's lack of compassion has killed yet another innocent human being because we can't get our act together and pass a Medicare for All bill in time. His name was Scott Galindez.

To learn more about my friend, you can read his very  last story on Reader Supported News posted just days before his death. 

Warning: Have tissues nearby. If you're not the teary-eyed type, then you might want to be sure there's nothing breakable nearby if you feel tempted to throw things in sheer anger at the needless waste (and suffering) of a human life. 

The Most Important Legislation of My Lifetime by Scott Galindez: http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/45944-focus-the-most-important-legislation-of-my-lifetime 

Here is his obituary: http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46122-focus-scott-galindez-peace-activist-teacher-dead-at-52

You read that right--age 52. Scott was a few months younger than my younger brother. Imagine your baby brother or sister or younger cousin or friend dying needlessly... There was no way he should have been in this life--and ultimately death--situation. He worked and had private health insurance at the time of his death. But of course, his private health insurer didn't think Scott was a "good risk" for a kidney transplant, and so they would not grant him one. 

Talk about your death panels! For-profit, private health insurance companies should be labeled with skulls and crossbones they're so deadly.

 If Scott (and millions of other Americans like him) had lived in Canada, he'd be alive and healthy today. He would have received care earlier to treat his condition because the government health system would have provided it, and it would have never come down to him needing a life-saving transplant. 

But Scott made the unfortunate "mistake" of being American and having a job previously that  didn't offer health insurance. Because American companies don't have to provide health benefits and our government doesn't promise any minimum of health care to its people, his condition wasn't diagnosed or treated in its early stages when it would have been more cost effective and manageable.

In other words, neither Scott's former employers nor his own government thought his health was a priority. They both worked in concert to prevent him (and others like him) from receiving health care he needed because they simply didn't think he was "worth it" in the long run. They didn't value his life. They valued corporate profits more.

Our country can spend $700 billion plus every year drone bombing the bejeezus out of foreign countries (full of "fureigners," some of them children, no less), but we can't offer health care to hard-working Americans like Scott. No, CEOs of pharmaceutical corporations and health insurance companies need to make $300 million (plus stock options) yearly so they can maintain all those yachts and mansions they collect, much like we poorer Americans collect past due notices. The rich get richer, but even more telling, the rich live longer in the USA according to the statistical data because they have access to adequate health care. 

Talk about discrimination! One would think that we lived in a caste system in  twenty-first century America. The rich get whatever they want (and then some) when it comes to health care. Everybody else gets to fight for the scraps that "trickle down" from the rich persons' table. Perhaps the rich enjoy watching us poor folks slugging it out to see who gets the kidney when we need it?

Those of us who knew Scott Galindez aren't going to let these bastards live this crime down. We're going to keep up the shouting, protesting and fighting the status quo to make sure there are no more needless deaths like his. "Remember our Scott! No more Scotts!" we will cry until Improved Medicare For All (H.R. 676) and Bernie Sanders' similar Senate bill are passed.

I challenge you to do similarly. Don't let Scott--and so many Americans like him--die in vain. Let's create a living memorial to them all: Medicare For All. Or die trying... which I fear many of us will do before this is settled once and for all.


 



And now, some words about individuals who care more about their NRA lobby checks than their fellow Americans' lives and safety.

Words Without Heart

by C. A. Matthews

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims of this terrible tragedy," is how these press conferences typically begin. All very good, but how does one's good intentions prevent these horrific mass slaughters (such as the 273rd occurrence this year in Las Vegas) from happening again or make families who have lost their homes and loved ones in a devastating hurricane feel better? Short answer: They don't.

The apostle James said it well when he said, "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:17) In other words, words alone do not give credence to your willingness to help others--you must take action and prove your desire to help. Alas, it seems the Trump administration is all talk and very little, if any, belated action.

The situation in Puerto Rico gives us an example of meaningless platitudes without true compassion. Hurricane Maria (on the heels of Hurricane Irma) caused massive destruction and left the majority of islanders without power and water. Trump's biggest concern as he tossed out paper towels to the crowd during his short visit? The budget is not what he thinks it should be, and Puerto Rico's rehabilitation is going to cost too much. (He feels the fossil fuels industry deserves $15 billion in subsidies, but Puerto Rico should pay back its crippling debt in full.)  He actually said: “I hate to tell you Puerto Rico, but you’ve thrown our budget a little out of whack.” How callous can you get?

He couldn't wait to belittle Puerto Rican officials and call them "ingrates" in his tweets. He even insulted the mayor of San Juan, Carmen Yulin Cruz. Her crime? She asked for help for her hurting people. With less than 5% of the population having electricity and only 50% have access to drinkable water as of this writing, more are likely to die from injury and disease if those percentages don't come up. Wouldn't you expect your mayor to ask for help in this dire situation?

The mass shooting in Las Vegas brings out a torrent of "thoughts and prayers" from the mostly Republican Congress, but few words about gun control and outlawing automatic, military-quality weapons for private citizens. Nothing is done to prevent these horrific events from happening  again. Our elected representatives continue to calmly collect their NRA checks and do as their corporate paymasters tell them to do. 

Faith without works is dead, right? These Congresspersons prove their hypocrisy with every "thoughts and prayers" tweet they send.

Honestly, if an elementary school mass shooting can't bring about sane gun control laws in this country, then what will?

Have you ever wonder if the US has ever passed decent gun control legislation? Surprisingly, we have. It wasn't all that long ago, either.

 From Reader Supported News:

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46120-this-is-how-we-once-changed-gun-laws

"...shortly after LBJ had dropped out, Martin Luther King had been shot to death in Memphis and Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles. Enough, thought Lyndon Johnson, and he put together a gun control bill and forced its passage even though he was at the nadir of his career in terms of political power. He did not get everything he wanted, but what he got was remarkable enough and, when he signed the bill, this is what he said:

Some of you may be interested in knowing-really-what this bill does:

--It stops murder by mail order. It bars the interstate sale of all guns and the bullets that load them.
--It stops the sale of lethal weapons to those too young to bear their terrible responsibility.
--It puts up a big "off-limits" sign, to stop gunrunners from dumping cheap foreign "$10 specials" on the shores of our country.

Congress adopted most of our recommendations. But this bill--as big as this bill is--still falls short, because we just could not get the Congress to carry out the requests we made of them. I asked for the national registration of all guns and the licensing of those who carry those guns. For the fact of life is that there are over 160 million guns in this country--more firearms than families. If guns are to be kept out of the hands of the criminal, out of the hands of the insane, and out of the hands of the irresponsible, then we just must have licensing. If the criminal with a gun is to be tracked down quickly, then we must have registration in this country.

The voices that blocked these safeguards were not the voices of an aroused nation. They were the voices of a powerful lobby, a gun lobby, that has prevailed for the moment in an election year. But the key to effective crime control remains, in my judgment, effective gun control. And those of us who are really concerned about crime just must--somehow, someday--make our voices felt. We must continue to work for the day when Americans can get the full protection that every American citizen is entitled to and deserves-the kind of protection that most civilized nations have long ago adopted. We have been through a great deal of anguish these last few months and these last few years-too much anguish to forget so quickly."

Americans weren't always so callous and without compassion. If we could do it in the 1960s, we can do so again. Let's do it. Let's improve the health and safety of all Americans--and let's not make those empty words. 

As Mother Jones said: "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living." Those should be the words we hear from now on--followed by the appropriate actions, of course.

Related stories:
http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/46117-the-gun-lobby-is-global-from-yemen-to-las-vegas

http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/46119-puerto-ricans-protest-trumps-visit-denounce-militarization-amid-lack-of-aid-distribution

***
This week's C.R.A.P. Award Winners are...

You know what to do: Call, email, write and generally bug these people until we see results. Let them know you don't appreciate them siding with the 1% against ordinary Americans.

***

Now, some  actions you can take this week to show the world you have heart behind your words.

From 314 Action:

The horror in Las Vegas has left us heartbroken and desperate for change, C.A..
These massacres keep happening. They keep happening despite the outrage, despite the fact that 90 percent of Americans support strengthening our gun laws. 

They keep happening in no small part because of the vice grip the NRA has on our elected officials, blocking research and policy that could save lives. 

In 1996, the NRA pressured Congress into stripping CDC funding for gun violence research. Since then, it’s been practically non-existent -- leaving hospitals to develop protocols for gunshot trauma based on anecdote, not evidence, and lawmakers without the facts to fuel policy change. 

It's time to act -- add your name to demand lawmakers stand up to the NRA, fund gun violence research, and pass policies that will save lives >> We'll deliver your signatures straight to Congress to make sure our voices are heard.

This week, more than 50 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a matter of minutes as a man opened fire from his hotel room. And every single day, 93 Americans are shot and killed. 

Yet gun violence is the least-researched leading cause of death in the United States because of the NRA. They’ve fought this research because they know that gun violence is an epidemic -- and common-sense policies will cut into the gun manufacturers’ profits. 

Sending “thoughts and prayers” isn’t even close to enough from our elected officials. The only way we’re going to address the crisis of gun violence in America is to fund research and pass effective policies based on that research.
Take a stand against the NRA -- add your name and demand Congress act now!
 
Thanks for speaking up.
Harmony Knutson
Director of Advocacy
314 Action

 From Our Revolution:

Right now, fifty Registered Nurse volunteers from National Nurses United's disaster relief program, the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), are on the ground in Puerto Rico delivering critical health care services to people who are in desperate need of help.

The situation is dire. Hospitals are overwhelmed and local clinics and doctors' offices are still closed due to lack of electricity. The collapsed infrastructure is keeping patients with storm-related injuries and long-term health needs from receiving care. Without food, clean water, adequate shelter, medicine, or electricity, we may be facing a humanitarian calamity.

We need your help to provide the care that 3.5 million of our fellow citizens so desperately need. Please chip in $27 to RNRN's disaster relief fund, in order to support the mission to Puerto Rico and other deployments in the future. Your contribution could mean the difference in getting people on the ground the resources they need to make it through this crisis.

Our two-week deployment, in coordination with the AFL-CIO, will be spent delivering medical aid directly to the people who need it the most. We are doing what the federal government has failed to, but we don't have the resources that they do.

Here's what one of the RN volunteers found:

“We couldn't believe this is part of the United States. We did home visits in the low-income community today with the local public health liaisons to help them do basic blood pressure, blood sugar checks, refill their meds, and more. People who were already suffering from chronic diseases now live in an environment full of hazardous materials and poor sanitation.

“People could not get a hold of their doctors due to the closure of many clinics in the area. It's also hard to get prescriptions filled since they don't have money. We hope we can go further to the rural areas away from the cities where communications are cut off and people really can't get any help.”

National Nurses United will always remain on the side of those in need. Whether that means fighting for Medicare for All alongside Our Revolution or providing direct aid in Puerto Rico, we will be there.

That's why we need your help to make the RNRN relief mission to Puerto Rico a success. Chip in $27 or whatever you can afford to sponsor our two-week relief trip to Puerto Rico, and other missions like it in the future.

Your support means everything to our ability to get RNs on the ground, and more importantly to the people of Puerto Rico. Thank you.

In solidarity,

RoseAnn DeMoro
Executive Director
National Nurses United / California Nurses Association

***

The Department of Homeland Security is doubling down on their electronic monitoring of social media accounts belonging to immigrants.¹ And that’s all immigrants: green card holders and naturalized citizens, too.²  We’re partnering with Presente – the largest Latinx online organization advancing social justice with technology, media, and culture – to tell the Homeland Security to cease and desist immediately. The deadline for public comments is October 18th.  

Tell Homeland Security: Stop spying on immigrants’ social media accounts. 
Homeland Security announced this policy earlier this week, and privacy and immigration advocates raised concerns. Then Homeland Security back-pedaled by saying that they’ve already been monitoring the social media of all immigrants since 2012.³ 

When it comes to surveillance, the Department of Homeland Security has been on the razor’s edge of unnecessary and invasive tracking of immigrants at the US border and airports, from searching through cell phones to capturing biometric data, and, soon, collecting DNA samples.

Monitoring the social media accounts of all immigrants in the U.S. is one of many steps taken too far. Further, this will enshrine a terrifying “new normal” for our nation’s immigrants – creating a hostile online environment where anything you say on social media can be documented in your immigration file. 
Demand Progress and Presente are teaming up to tell Homeland Security to shut down social media surveillance immediately. Will you join us? 

Tell Homeland Security to stop spying on immigrants’ social media accounts.
 Thanks for taking action,
Reuben and the team at Demand Progress

DONATE

Sources:
1. Gizmodo, "US Homeland Security Will Start Collecting Social Media Info on All Immigrants October 18th [Updated]," September 28, 2017.
2. Buzzfeed, "People Are Worried About DHS Plans To Gather Social Media Info," September 28, 2017.
3. Gizmodo, "US Homeland Security Says Tracking Social Media of Immigrants is Nothing New," September 28, 2017.

***

From Public Citizen:

If you haven’t been following the story about President Donald Trump’s NAFTA renegotiation, it’s time to start.

Negotiations are well underway — and remarkably, it appears that Trump’s trade team is considering eliminating perhaps the most damaging, pro-corporate aspect of NAFTA, a provision called Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS).

ISDS empowers corporations to sue governments for health, safety, environmental and other laws they claim unfairly cost them the profits they were counting on.

Really.

Sign the petition now to reject this corporate power grab in NAFTA.

Under ISDS, multinational corporations can sue the U.S. government (or Mexican or Canadian governments) in front of a tribunal of three corporate lawyers and allege a violation of their special NAFTA rights.

These lawyers can order U.S. taxpayers to pay the corporations unlimited sums, including for the loss of expected future profits.

Outrageously, taxpayers from the three NAFTA countries already have paid hundreds of millions to corporations following attacks on toxic bans, environmental and public health policies, and more.

These ISDS terms also encourage job offshoring, by eliminating many of the risks of locating overseas. More than 930,000 American jobs are certified under just one narrow government program as lost to NAFTA, and the number keeps rising.

Sign the petition opposing ISDS now.

Big Business and Republican congressional leaders are desperately scheming to save these NAFTA terms that make it easier to offshore jobs and attack the laws our families rely on.

That’s why Public Citizen is spearheading a coalition of groups concerned about democracy, health, safety and jobs to foil their efforts.

This is our chance to reverse this corporate power grab.

Add your name to demand that Congress oppose any NAFTA renegotiation that includes ISDS.

Take action now.

Onward,

Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen