Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Why Am I Not Surprised?




Why Am I Not Surprised?

by Redd (not a psychic) Phlagg

I'm frequently asked, "How did you know Biden wouldn't give us the $2,000 he promised back in January before the Georgia special election. Are you psychic or something?"

"No, I'm not psychic," I'll reply. "I just read the signs, and the signs were fairly clear on this pronouncement. You'll notice he's not done or said anything of any importance about Medicare For All in his first month, either, and he's also backed away from even promising Obamacare with a public option."

"Hey, you're right!" my questioner will exclaim. "You must be psychic."

"No, not psychic. I'm just observant. You can do likewise."

I switch into my teacher mode in an attempt to get my companion to connect the dots on their own. "Okay, here's what you do. Just watch a politician closely for a while and follow his or her most common pattern of behavior.  What have these two examples--the promised $2,000 check and the promised Medicare For All and Biden's lack of response on either issue--have in common?"

"Uh, that he's busy?"

"Sure, he's busy, but who isn't?" I'll heave a sigh here, but I won't give up. "Let me give you some more examples. Biden says he'll be an environmental president, yet he doesn't support even the Dems' watered down version of the Green New Deal, and it's open season on hunting wolves in Wisconsin now because his EPA won't put them and the rapidly dwindling Monarch butterflies back on the endangered species list to protect them from going extinct. When asked if he would forgive most student debt like he said on the campaign trail, he hems and haws. So, Biden says one thing and does the opposite, right?"

"Yeah, sounds like he's really busy," my companion says with a blank look on his face. "I sure hope we get that $2,000 check soon. I've been laid off since late March 2020, and my wife has left the state and taken the kids to live with her sister since they've got heat, and the landlord is ready to evict me."

It's at this point in the conversation that I usually feel like repeatedly bashing my head into a wall in frustration.

It seems some folks of the "Blue MAGA" persuasion can put two and two together and come out with six. They will almost always believe every utterance coming out of a Democrat's month and will give them the full benefit of the doubt. Doubly so if the Dem politician is good-looking and young(ish)--'cause how can a pretty lady lie, right?


Oh, to be so innocent and trusting!

And yet, they're hurting--badly. Whenever they notice that I'm batting a thousand when it comes to predicting what Biden's responses will be on the issues, they're impressed and honestly confused as to how I can be so certain what Biden will do/not do. It's almost as if the cognitive dissonance inside their skulls is too much to bear, so they just shut down and regurgitate the party line and drool down the front of their shirts.

How are these poor besotted souls any different from the original red-hatted MAGAts who blindly followed Trump? Answer: They're no different. They've joined a cult that tells them how to think and what to say. When painful reality creeps up on them, they could find themselves in an existential crisis. In time, some might even be willing to walk away from the lies and seek solace elsewhere in the arms of a welcoming "third party."


But not all will.  I've observed their behavior patterns closely. These blindly devout "blue-no-matter-who" types are the ones who, when the next election rolls around, will more than likely cast their ballots as they're instructed by the corporate-owned-and-operated Democratic Party USA. They'll believe every word, every promise, and fall for every trick in the book.

Why am I not surprised?

Is there any way to save these individuals from themselves? Furthermore, is there any way to save our country from the destruction to our environment and society that is caused by these Red/Blue cult members? Until the cultists leave their cult by recognizing how they are simply acting as a front for the billionaire oligarchs who truly run the show, there is no hope. We are screwed.

Next time someone makes a comment that they're surprised why they haven't received their stimulus check or Medicare For All yet, tell them you're a psychic. You're a psychic who will predict what Biden won't do next. Maybe if enough of us do this it will convince them to join our cult, the cult of intelligent and independent thinkers.

 

BIO: Redd Phlagg has seen the handwriting on the wall--and it was scribbled there using purple crayon by the Red/Blue cultists. Redd's mission in life is to help de-program these sad souls and lead them back to reality, thereby freeing the world of endless enslavement to the capitalist class. It's a lofty goal, but Redd heartily welcomes you to join in this crusade.

Related Articles:

Biden's First Month Marked by Broken Promises

https://popularresistance.org/bidens-first-month-marked-by-broken-promises/

Biden's Comments on Loan Forgiveness

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/67932-fact-check-bidens-comments-on-loan-forgiveness-and-elite-colleges

Half of America In or Near Poverty

https://www.nationofchange.org/2021/02/22/2021-update-half-of-america-in-or-near-poverty/ 

Biden's Agriculture Nominee Could Bring Us Back Into the Trans Pacific Partnership

https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-agriculture-nominee-could-bring-us-back-into-trans-pacific-partnership/


Caught on Twitter--

***

The Revolution Continues is now in our sixth year taking on the propaganda of the fauxgressives and their friends in the 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.

http://paypal.me/camatthews

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

***

From Change:

Over the past days, millions of Texans have gone without power. Freezing weather. Burst pipes. Flooded homes. Petition starter Anil knows it didn’t have to be this way. Texas should have been able to source energy from out of state. But their energy grid is disconnected from the other two energy grids in the country. Anil is calling for Texas leaders to right this wrong. Add your name now to call for Texas to join the East and West power grids. 


Petition Texas to Join East and West Energy Interconnects with the Tres Amigas Project

1,995 have signed Anil Raj’s petition. Let’s get to 2,500!


Sign now with a click

Texas has faced a unique disaster of its own making in the historic winter storm that hit the state in Feburary 2021. As of Feb 16th, some 4 million Texans are facing extended power outages in freezing weather will little to no warning to prepare beforehand. With several accident-related deaths already caused by these power outages, and countless stories of frozen pipes and other property damage, Texas’ mismanagement of the power grid has caused untold harm to its citizens.

One unique aspect of Texas’ energy system stands out as a determining factor in this disaster--the isolation of the state’s energy grid from the only other two energy grids in the country, the Eastern Interconnection and the Western Electricity Coordinating Council. As an independent energy grid, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) must balance its own energy production and consumption within the state. Since Texas can not borrow energy from other states, and with a drastic curtail of energy supply due to the storm, Texas citizens must bear the brunt of the consequences of this failed governance with prolonged energy blackouts.

Fortunately, the Tres Amigas project in New Mexico, started in 2010, would create such an interconnection between the country’s three power grids. Since ERCOT has proven themselves incapable of living up to their name and sustaining the reliability of the Texas power grid, we demand Governor Greg Abbott and Public Utility Commission Chariman DeAnn T. Walker to cease stonewalling their participation in the Tres Amigas project, and to join the East and West interconnections for ensured power reliability throughout the state.

Additional Reading:

Grandmother, 3 children die in Sugar Land house fire, officials say by Vincent Crivelli. Feb. 16, 2021.

HPD: Woman, little girl die from carbon monoxide poisoning caused by car running in garage to keep warm by Dough Delony. Feb. 16, 2021.

Texplainer: Why Does Texas Have Its Own Power Grid? by Kate Galbraith. Feb. 8, 2011

Hola, Amigas by Kate Galbraith. Aug 26, 2010.

Tres Amigas

Sign now with a click

Visit petition page

***

From Public Citizen:

At a town hall last week, President Biden was asked about taking executive action to cancel up to $50,000 of federal student loan debt for millions of Americans.

Biden replied, “I will not make that happen.”

That was disappointing.

But it doesn’t have to be — and we can’t let it be — the end of the story.

Join Public Citizen in urging Joe Biden not to give up already on using his authority as president to provide millions of Americans relief from crushing and discriminatory student loans.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For fairness,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen



Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Pointless Violence

 

 

 

Pointless Violence

by C.A. Matthews

Is there any use writing about the impeachment trial that's come and gone in record time? We all knew what the outcome would be before it began, so there's no real need to waste words on it, is there? It's time to concentrate energy on things that matter to us, the working people of this great land.

A recent study determined that forty percent of all Covid-19 deaths in the US could have been prevented. Yes, prevented. There was no need for so many American families to lose so many loved ones. Our alleged public servants simply lied and fudged the numbers instead of spending their time and energy on sharing life-saving information with us in a timely manner so we all could have dealt better with this pandemic and suffered a minimal loss of life.


Our country's ham-fisted handling of the coronavirus threat is a perfect example of pointless violence being committed against the population. Yes, violence as in needless deaths and pointless as in there was absolutely no point in our government treating its citizens so abysmally. If the public's health and well-being had been put ahead of "the economy," or large corporations' profits, we wouldn't have lost over 188,000 human beings needlessly and destroyed the happiness of millions of others.

According to Paul Blest of VICE News:

The Lancet report alleges that Trump’s impact on public health was disastrous even before the pandemic. There were 22,000 extra deaths related to environmental and occupational factors in 2019 than there were in the last year of former President Barack Obama’s presidency, which the commission attributes to federal regulatory rollbacks.

But the report’s authors say the problem goes way beyond just the former president.

“We started out really looking at what Trump had done, and he has certainly done a lot wrong,” Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, another lead author on the report and a distinguished professor at the Hunter College School of Public Health, told VICE News. “But we looked at the health of the American people...and what we found is that it’s been four decades of government failure to support policies that support human health.”

The authors suggest an overhaul in the country’s public health infrastructure to fix the problem. In addition to giving the CDC more tools to fight systemic racism, they recommend transitioning to a Medicare for All system like the one championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The experts are clear. There has been "four decades of government failure to support policies that support human health." There was no point to this violence of ignoring the public's health and safety during this pandemic other than to make wealthy people even wealthier by denying us an adequate public health infrastructure and not fighting systemic racism.

Lee Camp considers the problem--and its solution-- in his opening monologue:

https://youtu.be/ENZqMYzaqvc

Our capitalist system's worst sins could be lessened simply by taxing and then redistributing the billions of dollars sitting in billionaires' bank accounts to the rest of us, leaving these hoarders with ten million dollars each. Our government would have no more excuses for not providing health care or an adequate education free for all Americans once this hoarded money is released into circulation.


Why won't our elected representatives promote this fair and equitable plan to help 99.9% of Americans, especially the most struggling? Could it be career politicians take their orders from these same undertaxed billionaires and their corporations? Could it be they don't care what pointless violence is brought upon us, the workers, as long as they please their corporate paymasters and are rewarded in turn?

As we wait in hope for the long promised $2,000 stimulus check--bargained down to only $1,400--to arrive so we can cover our past due rent, let's not forget how we got into this mess. As we wait for Medicare For All to be passed into law so we no longer go bankrupt whenever huge medical bills arrive, let's not forget who made us suffer the loss of our homes and so many of our loved ones. 

Above all, let's not remain quiet any longer. Let's make our point loud and clear--we're not going to stand for such pointless violence being perpetrated against us ever again. We need to voice our anger to everyone in public office, at all levels of government. The politicians have made it crystal clear they can't be bothered to stand up for our rights, haven't they? It's high time they understood how serious a crime it is to deny life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to the majority.

 

Related Articles:

Here's How Many Deaths We Can Blame On Trump's Terrible Response

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/67794-heres-how-many-covid-deaths-we-can-blame-on-trumps-terrible-response

40 Percent of US Covid Deaths Could Have Been Avoided

https://truthout.org/articles/new-lancet-report-40-percent-of-us-covid-deaths-could-have-been-avoided/ 

 Americans May Need to Wear Masks Throughout 2021

https://truthout.org/articles/biden-indicates-americans-may-need-to-wear-masks-throughout-2021/

 ***

Mask up, Red Shirt! 

(And don't fall for fake news!)

The Revolution Continues is now in our sixth year taking on the propaganda of the fauxgressives and their friends in the 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.

http://paypal.me/camatthews

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

***

The Line 3 Pipeline in northern Minnesota would violate Indigenous rights and carry the pollution equivalent to 50 coal power plants.

Fight back and stop the next Keystone XL. Sign the petition: Stop the Line 3 Pipeline!


Bulldozers for the Line 3 Pipeline in Minnesota have arrived to plow through sacred wild rice watersheds, over 800 wetlands, and 200+ bodies of water in Ojibwe treaty territory.

Indigenous water protectors are fighting to protect their land, but the drones are overhead and the police are militarizing.

President Biden has the power to stop this project. He can review the permits granted by Trump and halt Line 3 construction immediately.


This will be the first climate test for his administration and we are making it clear that the Keystone XL, Dakota Access, and Line 3 pipelines must be stopped.

Minnesotans submitted 68,000 public comments against Line 3, they've marched in the streets, attended the hearings and engaged in every step of the process.

Now, over 144,000 Americans have signed a petition to stop Line 3. Will you add your name today?

Thanks for standing up.

-- Progressive Reform Network

 ***

The USPS Board of Governors, which appoints the Postmaster General, has four vacancies.

That means Joe Biden can nominate members who can FIRE Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, and undo his sabotage of the USPS.

We must fill these vacant seats with members who will defend the USPS's universal service obligation, and defend our Postal Service from privatization.


Throughout this pandemic, postal workers have risked their lives as essential employees, while the Postmaster General removed sorting machines and wreaked havoc on delivery times.

If you're as tired as we are of delayed holiday cards and packages in Shangri-La, take action today.


Thanks for taking action.

-- Progressive Reform Network

 ***

From Public Citizen

The United States Senate was not just the jury in the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump.

Senators themselves were among the targets of the attack he provoked and the trial was conducted at the scene of the crime.

Yet 43 senators — all Republicans — CHOSE to disregard the obvious truth that Donald Trump incited a violent insurrection in an attempt to overturn the election he lost.

Whether they did this because of political cowardice or because they have joined the Trump cult, these 43 senators have invited further political violence and imperiled the American experiment in democracy.

  • These 43 senators have brought America to the brink of authoritarianism by licensing the use (or at least the threat) of violence by those seeking to achieve or retain political power.
  • These 43 senators will have blood on their hands the next time Trump or some other political extremist provokes an attack on a government building or elected officials.
  • These 43 senators have affirmed their allegiance (or, at best, deference) to the proto-fascist, white-supremacist “politics” personified by Trump.
  • These 43 senators have forsaken any claim to love of country and even the most basic tenets of democracy.
  • These 43 senators have violated their oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
  • These 43 senators will go down in history as political cowards who put rank partisanship before real patriotism.
Join Public Citizen in delivering a message to these 43 senators:

You have opened the door to ongoing political violence and may have set our country on a path toward authoritarianism. You are clearly incapable of feeling shame, but know this: History, if it remembers you at all, will remember you as an apologist for mob violence and a traitor to democracy.

Add your name.

Thanks for taking action.

For democracy,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen