America's Place

 

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day and upcoming Black History Month...

And now a candid look at the world fifty years on from King's assassination...

America’s Place in the World’s Playground

 by Coast Watcher

“With Donald Trump desperately trying to cling to power, President-elect Joe Biden is, for all intents and purposes, the effective leader of the free world.” ~ Brent Budowsky, The Hill November 25, 2020

“President-elect Biden, by dramatic contrast, is already viewed by our alliances as the authentic and trusted leader of the free world, which is not a title in government service but a truth bestowed on individuals who have earned it by action, example and leadership - as Biden has.” ~ Brent Budowsky, opinion piece on MSN.

I don’t know who Brent Budowsky is, but he seems quite keen on Biden. He applauds Biden’s credentials in foreign relations but ignores the substance of the issue: What do the other nations of the “Free World” think of America’s claim to their leadership?

“Trump’s transactionalism abroad and racism at home have robbed the US of a higher moral purpose in its global role.” ~ Sanjaya Baru, Indian Express.

There’s no denying that the soon-to-be-ex president, Trump, did incalculable damage to America’s reputation aboard. Professional State Department officials had to work double overtime to undo the harm their boss inflicted upon international relations with his sulky, petulant, arrogant attitude. Their stock response to post-summit outrage from their foreign counterparts devolved into “Look, we know, all right? Just leave it to us, we’ll fix it and he’ll (Trump) be none the wiser.”

Trump’s attitude proved especially dangerous when it came to the 71-year-old NATO military alliance. He doesn’t seem to know exactly what an alliance is. His sudden decision to withdraw 9,500 troops from Germany created strong tensions between the United States and its allies. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is particularly disparaging of Trump’s qualities as an international statesman. 

In the four terrible years of the Trump presidency, it looks like the international stage has decided it’s better off without American “leadership.” Being berated, belittled, threatened and denigrated can be wearying even for diplomats and heads of state.

But then came the events of January 6 in Washington DC. The world watched with amazement as armed Trump supporters invaded the nation’s Capitol Building. For a few hours the prospect of an armed coup or insurrection in the United States seemed a real possibility. Subsequent investigation uncovered a plot to take hostage and/or kill elected representatives.

Such a coup—had it succeeded—would’ve altered the dynamic of international relations with America. There’s little doubt that China would’ve used the opportunity afforded by the US military’s distraction to invade Taiwan, that perpetual burr under Beijing’s saddle.

Even Biden tacitly admits the situation has changed since Trump took office—and promptly drove it into a golf bunker. In a recent speech Biden stated “We're going to have to regain the trust and confidence of a world that has begun to find ways to work around us or without us.” 

He speaks of building a coalition of like-minded partners and allies, which is a little different from assuming “leadership,” and is of a piece with Biden’s known preference for creating consensus rather than taking unilateral action. His main area of concern is China, with its powerful hegemonic government and expanding interests in SE Asia which bring it into conflict with its neighbors. Biden has also spoken of his desire to coordinate world efforts to combat climate change, something which Trump blatantly ignored and—it might be argued—did his level best to accelerate.

There is a perception in other countries, particularly Europe, that America is an overgrown hormonal teenager, throwing his weight about the world’s playground with little thought or care for the consequences. Perhaps Biden’s more mature approach is what’s needed to repair America’s image abroad, although I doubt he’ll last long enough to see out his first term. The man looks deathly ill, and his VP Kamala Harris is an unknown quantity when it comes to foreign relations. 

When Biden is sworn into office on January 20, there’s no doubt that most of the world will breathe a sigh of relief. Whether that relief will last, or whether Biden will build his desired consensus, remains to be seen. 

 

BIO: Coast Watcher remembers how the media and others set us up when Obama took office--awarding him a Nobel Peace Prize before he'd even proven himself as a lover of peace. Thousands of drone bombings  and the nickname of "Obomber" later, you'd think we'd learn not to assume the military-industrial complex and its financial backers aren't really in charge. Stay awake and keep your eyes open, folks! We're not out of the woods yet.

Related Articles:

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/us-presidential-election-results-trump-biden-6948788/

https://www.oneindia.com/international/us-will-reclaim-its-credibility-to-lead-free-world-joe-biden-3196069.html

https://www.denverpost.com/2021/01/04/nanda-biden-has-an-uphill-trek-to-restore-americas-global-reputation-as-a-world-leader/

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/biden-soars-as-leader-of-the-free-world/ar-BB1blX9D

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2020/11/25/biden_soars_as_leader_of_the_free_world_530096.html

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Tell 27 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to stop taking campaign contributions from weapons companies!   SIGN ON NOW

If elected representatives want to be known as “progressive” then prioritizing the needs of working people over the bottom line of companies like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman should be a no-brainer. Which is why we need members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to live up to their progressive values and refuse to be bought off by weapons companies.  

 Tell 27 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus to STOP taking campaign contributions from weapons companies!

Members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus are supposed to be “fighting to rein in bloated Pentagon spending”. Then why, according to a study by the Security Policy Reform Institute, did 27 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus take thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from weapons companies and consistently vote to increase the Pentagon budget during the Trump administration? Weapons companies like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin rely heavily on defense spending that is approved by Congress for their enormous profits. That’s a serious conflict of interest!   Sign on to tell 27 members of the Progressive Caucus to take this conflict of interest seriously and end campaign contributions from weapons manufacturers!

We’re gearing up to make 2021 the year that Defunding the Pentagon becomes a reality by making sure members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus refuse to be bought off by weapons companies. We’re also ringing in the new year with three creative actions to take on the war machine. Sign up here to join the CODEPINK-style Inauguration Day social media presence on January 20th, the celebration of the illegality of nuclear weapons under international law on January 22nd, and the Global Day of Action to Stop the War on Yemen on January 25th. 

It’s a new year and it’s more important than ever to Defund the Pentagon.  Contact 27 members of the Progressive Caucus now and demand they stop taking campaign contributions from weapons companies and join CODEPINK creative actions on January 20, 22nd, and 25th to take on the war machine. 

Towards peace,
Carley, Cody, Nancy, and the entire CODEPINK team 

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From Public Citizen:

On January 6, 2021, a horde of Donald Trump adherents numbering in the thousands — incited by the president himself — mounted an armed takeover of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. It was the most deliberate attempt to overthrow the government of the United States since the Civil War. As more and more details emerge about the planning and execution of the insurrection, it is clear that the seditionists were animated by their resentment — stoked by Donald Trump and other politicians, amplified by Fox News and social media — toward changing demographics in America. Many of us recognize the ongoing reality of white supremacism for the very real threat it is — as a kind of defect in our national DNA (and going all the way back to 1492) that we still have not invested anywhere near enough in curing. So — on a day when we honor the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. — I wanted to share a few of Dr. King’s insightful and inspiring words: From King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (April 16, 1963): I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: “I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.” From King’s “Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence” speech at Riverside Church (April 4, 1967): I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. ... We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered. From King’s speech announcing the Poor People’s March on Washington (December 4, 1967): America is at a crossroads of history, and it is critically important for us, as a nation and a society, to choose a new path and move upon it with resolution and courage. ... Consider, for example, the spectacle of ... a nation gorged on money while millions of its citizens are denied a good education, adequate health services, decent housing, meaningful employment, and even respect, and are then told to be responsible. For justice, - Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen P.S. For half a century, Public Citizen has been advancing policies that put the needs of everyday Americans before the greed of billionaires and Big Business. That legacy of progress and that ongoing work could not matter more right now, as our nation transitions to a Joe Biden presidency that will be as progressive as we — you and Public Citizen, together — make it. Of course, we’re also busy undoing damage the Trump administration has already done and watching out for whatever shenanigans a lame-duck Donald Trump tries to get away with. And — like so many nonprofits and small businesses — we continue to experience financial strain related to the coronavirus pandemic.

 

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Brunch Has Been Suspended Indefinitely

The Vicar of Dibley schools David on how much of a socialist Jesus was.

Brunch Has Been Suspended Indefinitely

By C.A. Matthews

I have always hated Black Friday. It's morally bankrupt America's ultimate expression of a capitalistic Bacchanalia. Why should we waste valuable time, money and resources on buying material items we can neither afford, nor need, nor ultimately want? Why force said worthless trinkets onto our friends and family members in order to demonstrate our high regard for them? Is going into debt merely for creating massive profits for Big Business worth it?

All this buying just seems pointless and ultimately destructive to our planet. In the end, the purchasing and gifting of mass-produced consumer products does nothing to show our true compassion toward others. Issuing a simple card with a statement to our significant others along the lines of, "I truly care about you and want you to know it," would serve as well, if not better. We should give up this whole Black Friday charade once and for all.

"Ah, but that's not how our world works," I've been told several million times. I get it. Really, I do. Capitalism isn't about showing love and gratitude toward others. Sure, we've created "Giving Tuesday" several days after Black Friday in order to assuage our guilt for blowing large sums of cash (or credit) buying worthless things, but what does it really mean? That we are only expected to be generous with our monetary resources once a year? All we need do is to write one big (electronic) check to charity and then chill out, congratulating ourselves on our generosity?

Sorry to say, this is how Giving Tuesday comes across to me. All the whining emails I've received from various non-profits haven't changed my mind, either.

To be truly generous, our giving should be year round and as natural as breathing. This is where Giving Tuesday--and the whole ideology of neoliberalism that embraces it--starts to wear thin. Neoliberals may talk a good head game, but, in the end, they're nothing if not shallow. I find no heart behind their well-manicured words.

The ultimate testimony to neoliberal superficiality comes when neolibs attempt to demonstrate their compassion toward their fellow human beings. This is especially evident when it comes to how they show compassion those who are suffering immensely under the burdens of capitalism. Perhaps the best example of what I mean came in early 2017 in the form of a simple protest sign from the Women's March:

"We'd be having brunch now if Hillary won," the sign declared.  

"Yeah, I'm positive you would be at brunch now if that was the case," was my first impression of that sign. It hasn't changed since.

Politics to neoliberals is apparently all about elevating rich, white, establishment-loving war hawks who look, dress and think like them to high office. (Gender/race are sometimes--and sometimes not--important to their identity politics.) Certainly their politics have little to nothing to do with helping the poor or people of color who have suffered from former Senator Biden's Crime Bill and soon-to-be-former Senator Harris's  tactics to keep the poor/POC locked up as long as possible in California for use as slave labor. These unfortunate people and their less-than-edifying issues rarely appear on the neolibs' radars, except when the issue might possibly create a viral sound bite for mainstream media outlets. And like mayflies, these feel good sound bites live for a day before disappearing into the obscuring mists of pro-capitalist propaganda.

Neoliberals seem to think serving the public is all about enjoying celebratory champagne brunches with their pals from the Country Club (or local Democratic Women's group) after a successful run for office. They'll brunch and then pat themselves on the back and drive their latest model gas-guzzlers back to their suburban McMansions, far from the crumbling infrastructure of the inner city where the struggling still exist, many lying sick and homeless on the streets. Neoliberals tend to never look back. It's too much rain on their brunch parade, I suppose.

(It's almost as if American neoliberals hoped to make massive profits from cheap prison labor and private health care businesses, if such a thing were possible...)

In the past four years, the word "brunch" has taken on a sinister meaning in much the same way Black Friday has. It signifies nothing worthy of note and everything unworthy of praise. The true Left must force neoliberals to concentrate their time, talents and resources on dealing with the issues of those who aren't--and have never been--invited to their brunch.

First off, we should stop glorifying Giving Tuesday. Financially sound Americans need to give of our resources every day by doing everything they can to alleviate hunger. This past week, millions of Americans stood in lines and waited in traffic jams to pick up a Thanksgiving meal. Millions more Americans will be standing in even longer lines and waiting in even larger traffic jams to get a free meal come Christmas and New Year's Day, too. The coronavirus pandemic has destroyed the last of the social safety net. The working classes struggle constantly to put food on the table and secure health insurance to cover medical expenses. Many full-time workers are forced to be on federal aid in order to survive already.

How long do we allow this tragedy to continue? Until seventy-five percent of the US population is living below the poverty line? Ninety percent? Ninety-nine percent?

The fact that anyone can even consider putting a number on their fellow human beings who are allowed to go hungry or go without health care speaks volumes about the morality of American society. Yet neoliberal politicians have stated repeatedly that they are not interested in  implementing Medicare For All and a universal basic income (UBI) that could keep millions in their homes.

Are neolibs really okay with those who aren't invited to their brunch dying en masse? They certainly act like the idea of their working class neighbors going hungry or freezing on the streets this winter isn't a big deal.

I don't know about you, but anyone who is okay with allowing their fellow Americans to starve or die for any reason hasn't earned my respect. Anyone who has the means and the ability to bring an end to the suffering of millions of human beings, and doesn't exercise their abilities for the good of all, doesn't deserve my support at the ballot box or statehouse or in Congress or the White House. 

If the neolibs' affluent lifestyles and self-serving attitudes have become a roadblock  and prevented them from developing empathy, then it's time brunch was suspended-- indefinitely. And it's time for those who brunch to learn what hunger is like firsthand by leaving their comfortable bubbles of suburbia and getting their hands dirty passing out food boxes.

For more on this topic, read Why Are The Rich So Scared of Socialism?

Related Links Revealing the Dangers of Neoliberalism:

Food Banks Are So Overwhelmed That They Are Resorting to Rationing

https://truthout.org/articles/food-banks-are-so-overwhelmed-with-demand-that-they-are-resorting-to-rationing/

According to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S., more than 50 million people will experience food insecurity by the end of the year. Among U.S. children, the figure rises to one in four. The group, which runs a network of some 200 food banks across the nation, says it distributed over half a billion meals last month alone, a 52% increase from an average pre-pandemic month. 

"It's going to be a billionaire Thanksgiving." Wealth of US Richest Just Hit $1 Trillion Since the Start of the Pandemic

https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/11/26/its-going-to-be-a-billionaire-thanksgiving-wealth-of-us-richest-just-hit-1-trillion-since-the-start-of-the-pandemic/

Potential Biden Officials' Firm Is Promising Big Profits Off Those Connections

https://www.dailyposter.com/p/breaking-potential-biden-officials

"I Lied to Americans to Block Universal Healthcare."  

https://youtu.be/mjHA1h1DeK8 

Biden's Cabinet: War Hawks, Corporate Lap Dogs & Swamp Creatures https://youtu.be/YIDMwaHDHX0 

Biden Taps Neolib Neera Tanden In Slap To Working Class

https://youtu.be/z_wt3x0s2QE

"What Was Your Normal?": Black Activist Goes Viral After Rejecting CNN Commentator's Claim That Things Will Go Back To "Normal" Because Biden Won The Election 

https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/11/10/we-still-have-to-do-the-work-black-activist-challenges-cnn-commentators-claim-that-things-will-go-back-to-normal-because-biden-won-the-election/

Jimmy Dore shows us a way for House Progressives to force a Medicare For All Vote Now. (But will they do it?)

https://youtu.be/iIqw-mTX6ro

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Joe Biden just gave a top environmental job to a man who spent his career helping toxic chemical companies avoid regulation

Sign Now

There exists a poison so powerful, it can't be broken down. Dubbed "the forever chemical," it's present in the blood of nearly every person in the U.S. — it's even found in mothers' wombs and newborn babies. And, on top of everything else, a leading Harvard researcher says this toxin may actually reduce the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19, which is terrifying. This chemical is called PFOA and it's produced by mega-corporation DuPont. One of the reasons it's seeped into our waterways with barely any governmental oversight is because of a man named Michael McCabe. Right around the time when DuPont dumped tons of PFOA-laden waste that poisoned the people of West Virginia and resulted in devastating illnesses, it hired McCabe to improve its image. That was decades ago. Now, he's lined up a new job: working for President-Elect Joe Biden as he creates a transition board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But as Erin Brockovich, the famed environmental justice lawyer, writes: "It should go without saying that someone who advised DuPont on how to avoid regulations is not someone we want advising this new administration." Tell Joe Biden to dump Michael McCabe and to assemble a team of scientists and true eco-champions instead! Thank you for all that you do,   Miranda B. The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. Joe Biden says he wants to prioritize our health and environment. So why is he hiring an industry insider who helped polluters avoid regulation? Sign the petition!

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Let's make certain that we're the ones who make the "cuts" from here on out--starting with cutting "brunch" from the menu.

If you agree that we can't just sit back, fall asleep, and let the neolibs/neocons destroy our country, our lives, and the planet, then please consider making a donation to keep The Revolution Continues going.  Donate at the Paypal.me link below. Thank you and Power to the People!

http://paypal.me/camatthews 

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What Will Happen Next?

 

What Will Happen Next?
by Coast Watcher

It's a valid question given today’s political climate. Currently the so-called Democratic Party’s supporters are indulging in an orgy of vote-shaming to an extraordinarily high degree, far higher than that many experienced in the 2016 election. Anyone on social media who professes to have reservations concerning Joe Biden's qualifications is immediately set upon by trolls who moan, "But you’ve got to support Biden or you’ll get Trump!" 

Green Party voters are told either that they’re wasting their vote, their party is irrelevant, or "This isn’t the time for third party politics." (It never is. Funny, that). Some voters are acting so scared of the prospect of a second Trump term in office they’re practically wetting themselves.

So, what’s going on here?

The Democratic Party is either playing a game of brinkmanship by refusing to countenance any shift to the political left, relying upon dislike of/hatred for Trump to carry them to a victory, or they have no intention of winning. It’s pretty obvious that if the Democrats wanted to win by a landslide they’d have nominated Senator Bernie Sanders for president. Instead the Dem leadership spits in the face of Sanders and his millions of supporters for a second time—then expects the Berners to all fall in behind their Corporate-Owned Anointed One, Joe Biden.

What will happen next? Well, I suspect that we’re seeing the seeds of a bait and switch operation.

Let’s assume the Democrats want to win and that they succeed in putting Biden in the Oval Office by whatever margin of victory. Given his obvious health issues (about which the Democrats are being extraordinarily close-lipped) I don’t think Biden will last more than two years in office, tops. His mental health is a cause for speculation, especially after the debacle of the solitary debate with Trump. At some point Biden will become too unwell to continue his duties and will step down under the terms of the 25th Amendment. Kamala "the Cop" Harris will become president for the remainder of the term then stand under her own candidature in 2024.

Should Harris become president then, she’ll be in office for another four years, and again be legally able to stand for president in 2028. That means in effect Kamala Harris could be in the White House for something approaching twelve years. Given her punitive record on "law and order" in the state of California, that’s a pretty frightening prospect.

Of course we can’t ignore what might happen to the so-called Democratic Party party in the next few years. By obviously sidelining, and then ejecting progressives from their ranks, the party is sliding further to the political right. It already occupies much the same ideological ground as the Republican Party did during the 1950s. The fact Biden is attracting so many endorsements from  moderate GOP politicians is telling. The Republicans in 2020 occupy much the same ideological ground as the fascist movements of the 1920s and 30s. 

I can see the Democratic Party hemorrhaging support to such a degree after this election because of their blatant dishonesty of what they truly stand for (their corporate donors). They’ll become an irrelevance on the political landscape and will eventually merge with the Republican Party into one mega-corporate-owned-and-operated political faction. For the remainder of the time until that happens, the Dems will continue to claim erroneously the "right" to any and all votes from voters on the actual political left.

Even if things don’t pan out the way I describe, a potential eight years of a Biden presidency is nothing to look forward to given his forty year plus record of voting for war and creating harsh law and order bills. He has already promised the corporate world that "Nothing will change" for them. But neither is another four years of Trump a pleasant outlook. The man’s record resembles that of a mad bull with a sledgehammer tied to its tail, running amok in a china shop.

This isn’t the time for third party politics? I beg to differ. Here’s another prediction: With the so-called Democrats becoming increasingly irrelevant on the American political scene, third parties will step up to represent the vast majority of Americans. After all, someone has to pick up the torch dropped by Sanders. 

Of all the parties in this strange time we’re living in, only the Green Party with its nominee, Howie Hawkins, champions the cause of Medicare for All, a living wage, environmental protections, paid vacation and maternity leave, and healthier workplaces. In short, they aim to bring the United States into the twenty-first century and join the rest of those countries with a First World economy. 

With even a modicum of luck and the imminent implosion of the so-called "major" political parties, the Greens will have their place in the sun some day soon.

Learn more about Kamala Harris' track record in California at https://ccinamon.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/kamala-harris-resource-list/

Related pieces written by Coast Watcher: 

Kamala The Cop https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2020/08/kamala-cop.html

Biden: My Time?  http://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2019/04/biden-my-time.html

BIO: Coast Watcher doesn't have a crystal ball to gaze into to peer into the future, but the greed of the oligarchs and the mindlessness of their political puppets doesn't make it difficult to predict what will happen next. His advice to voters is "Don't fall for these con-artists. Vote your conscience. Support the causes you want and need for you and your family's future. Now is not the time for moderation and centrism. Now is the time to build the future to believe in."

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 Seen on Facebook:

I would never under any circumstances vote for this!
Joe Biden wrote the 1994 Crime Bill and still defends it. He wrote the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act, later became the Patriot Act.
In 1996 he voted against gay marriage.
In 1999 he repealed Glass Steagall Act.
In 2001 he voted for the Patriot Act.
In 2002 he voted for the Iraq invasion.
In 2005 he voted to end bankruptcy protections for students.
Biden advocated for social security cuts for forty years and tried to cut it FOUR times, 1985, 1994, 2007, and during the Obama years; supported cutting medicare, medicaid and veterans benefits, FOUR times, you can access videos of him bragging about it.
He supported raising the retirement age.
He supported the Kline-Miller Pension Act, a bill that cuts union pensions.
He has a rating of D- by Greenpeace due to his support of fracking, oil and gas extraction and the building of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
He held fundraisers with union busting lawyer, Steven Cozen.
He took $200,000 speaker fee to help elect Republican candidate, Fred Upton.
He voted for the telecommunications Act of 1996, deregulation of media industry,
He voted to repeal Glass Steagall, leading to financial crisis.
He voted against expanding a child care tax credit.
He voted in favor of a 700 mile long border wall with Mexico.
He voted for NAFTA.
He voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
He voted to let states overturn Roe v. Wade.
He supports the Hyde Amendment.
He worked to undermine the ACA coverage of contraception,
He pushed for the job killing China Trade bill.
He backed the TPP.
He opposes cannabis legalization.
He supported extending Bush tax breaks for the 1%.
He promoted the war on drugs.
He plagiarized part of his “climate plan” from fossil groups.
"Nothing will fundamentally change,” were Biden's words to his rich donors if he is elected (6/19).
Voted with Clinton to end welfare.
Opposed measures to allow consumers to sue for price fixing.
Opposes universal health care/Medicare For All.
He didn't just compromise with segregationists, he fought for their cause in schools. Joe is a racist to the core, always has been. He repeatedly lied about marching in the civil rights movement.
He repeatedly lied about being arrested in apartheid South Africa. He flip flops on his long held support for the death penalty now that he's running for president.
He won't commit to reducing the prison population, and he’s a paid hack for the credit card industry.
So there you have the facts about Joe Biden.~ Bibi Bowmen

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These times are tough, but we're tougher!

Still, we have to pay for internet and keep the lights on. If you're financially able, please consider making a small donation to keep The Revolution Continues going. You can do so via the Paypal address below. Thank you, fellow revolutionaries, and keep fighting! http://paypal.me/camatthews

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Recently introduced legislation would open federally-controlled waters to large-scale open ocean aquaculture, putting our oceans and food supply at risk.

Open ocean aquaculture may sound harmless, but it’s really just another term for dangerous, industrialized, large-scale factory fish farms. These facilities damage wild ecosystems, threaten coastal economies and rob local fishing communities of their livelihoods.

That’s why Food & Water Action is calling Congress out and demanding they protect local communities by stopping corporations from taking over our oceans for their own profit.

Send a message to your Members of Congress asking them to reject factory fish farms.

In May, Trump issued an executive order aimed at slashing regulatory protections and environmental reviews of factory fish farms. For years, federal agencies have been pushing factory fish farms in federal waters, even though they know the harm those facilities will cause. In fact, we had to file a federal lawsuit and get a U.S. Court of Appeals to declare that it was unlawful for the government to give industrial fish farms everyday permits. Now some members of Congress want to give fish farmers a pass.

Open ocean fish farms wreak havoc on everything around them:

• They pollute. Waste, excess food, antibiotics and other chemicals pollute ocean water, promoting algae growth that leads to habitat loss and the destruction of sea life.
• They spread disease. Outbreaks of diseases and parasites can spread to wild fish populations, killing them or making them unsafe for consumption.
• The fish escape. Approximately three million fish escape every year from fish farms, pushing non-native species into the ecosystem and disrupting Indigenous fisheries.
• They harm fishing communities. Factory fish farms eliminate fishing jobs by undercutting wild fish prices. This means lost jobs in coastal communities.

Send Your Message

Despite the hype from agribusinesses and industrial fish companies, it’s clear that factory fish farms solve zero problems and create a whole lot of new ones. Allowing open ocean aquaculture in U.S. waters would make our food less safe and damage our oceans.

The wild-capture fishing industry, Indigenous nations and local communities are already speaking out against this bill. Let’s stand with them. We can't let this threat to our oceans and food system move forward.

Take action now to tell your Members of Congress to protect our oceans and fishing communities.

Onward together,

Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Action and Food & Water Watch

P.S. Learn more about Open Ocean Aquaculture.