Only A Fool...

Only A Fool...

by Coast Watcher

There’s an old adage: Be careful what you wish for, it might come true.

So it is with all those who fervently hoped Joe Biden would win the 2020 US presidential election. Although Trump is still contesting the result, it’s clear that Biden is now president-elect. It’s possible that Trump and the Republican Party are dragging their feet over conceding the election because contractual debts to their hired media outlets will be lower if they can hold out until January 1, 2021. Otherwise, the debt-ridden Republican Party will have to shell out over $100 million it owes.

As I pointed out as the election results began to come in, Trump set the bar so low, and yet Biden failed to clear it easily. Says it all. Even a record high voter turnout failed to produce the clear winner people expected. Nobody except his ardent fans could get excited about the so-called Democrats’ latest nominee. The man who said "Nothing fundamentally would change," to a bunch of wealthy donors and offered nothing but the qualification that he’s "not Trump" doesn’t exactly set the world alight with his dynamism. And yet those who had such a dreadful fear of Trump can’t intuit that his replacement isn’t someone who’ll care much more about them, either.

As his veep, Biden has chosen Kamala Harris, a person with an equally appalling record when it comes to law and order issues in her home state of California. It was Harris who turned a blind eye to police brutality while she was the state's Attorney General. She happily used  underpaid felon firefighters to combat the deadly wildfires that afflict California every year. These prisoners risk their lives, yet are not even allowed to use their hard-won experience to get a firefighting job when they leave jail.

(But of course, the Dems squeal like a stuck pig if anyone dares to criticize Harris because, "She’s a woman and a person of color!" Seemingly the act of being female and non-white automatically nominates you to sainthood in the DNC. And yet, when Tara Reade accused Harris' running mate of sexual assault, the neolib #MeToo crowd becomes sadly silent or rudely declares, "She's making it all up. Joe wouldn't touch any woman against her will." A sexual assault charge obviously doesn't deny male Dems a sainthood.)

Biden’s transition team is already loaded with people who shouldn’t be trusted anywhere near public office, including a raft of lobbyists. He has spoken openly of choosing Republicans for his cabinet. (Remember Republican John Kasich at the Dems' convention?) What more proof does anyone need to show that the duopoly is nothing more than two wings of the same bird?

This so-called "democratic" party still feels it’s entitled to every vote from anyone with any shade of left-leaning politics, yet the party itself occupies the same political territory the Republicans held in the 1950s. It may make nice by throwing a few crumbs to its supporters, such as forgiving a few thousand dollars’ worth of student debt and making the ACA more palatable, but expect any such concessions to be abandoned or clawed back in short order at the request of big moneyed donors.

Remember, Mitch McConnell is still squatting in the Senate like a poisonous toad, ready to negate any attempts the Biden administration makes to pass legislation. This is because although the parties are a cigarette paper’s thickness apart when it comes to ideology, and the Republican faction really doesn’t care about public opinion. Perhaps being obnoxious in this way is their true function within the larger duopoly? They're the convenient excuse Biden will give when nothing his faction has promised happens?

It’s a common perception that this is a term when the so-called Democrats have to get things right, to show that they do care about  ordinary Americans, or they might as well abandon any pretense  and officially merge with the Republican Party. At that time, when all the wished-for Biden administration’s grand schemes fall apart, I shall tell all who wept with relief at Biden's election, "Only a fool believes everything coming out of the mouths of the Democrats. It's time to stop fooling yourself."

As Nick Brana from the Movement for a People's Party says:

It's only been a week and a half since Joe Biden was declared the winner and he has already packed his transition team with more than 40 current or former lobbyists. His chief of staff, Ron Klain, is a former asbestos industry lobbyist. His leading cabinet picks include fossil fuel lobbyist Ernie Moniz as Energy Secretary, Booz Allen Hamilton board member Michele Flournoy as Secretary of Defense, and Republican venture capitalist Mitt Romney for Health and Human Services Secretary. Biden hasn't even been sworn in and Wall Street already runs his administration.

Democrats re-elected Chuck Schumer as Senate Minority Leader. Nancy Pelosi is poised to become Speaker of the House again. Biden's likely pick for DNC Chair is former Podesta Group lobbyist Jamie Harrison. It’s clear that Biden and the Democratic Party have learned nothing from this election, just like they learned nothing from 2016, and that working people are in for four more years of the same heartless neoliberalism that gave us Trump in the first place. Except this time it's happening in the middle of a pandemic and the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Even with this mounting evidence, some will still claim that the Democrats are our "friends"? I say with friends like these who needs enemies? Only a fool denies the reality of the evidence. Big Business lobbyists are considered friends to the Biden  administration--and he's not denying this to be the case (more examples in the links below). 

True progressives know who their real enemies are and wisely learn to trust themselves above all others.

 

BIO: Coast Watcher sees the writing on the wall. It ain't pretty. Lots of folks are going to be disappointed in Biden, but a whole lot more people are going to be hurt by his neoliberal austerity policies and coddling of the fossil fuel industry. The "Not-Trump" option forced upon the voters this past election isn't going to pay off for anyone but the billionaires, so it's time for all good patriots to sharpen their pitchforks and get ready to march in the streets until things turn in our favor.

Lee asks Biden simple questions like, "We're in a pandemic, so what about Medicare for All?" and "Why not stop fracking, Joe?" and "Aren't you for the Green New Deal?" and gives us the answers straight from the horse's (or is it donkey's?) mouth. https://youtu.be/apiR4k-S_6k

Related links: 

Biden's Pick for Secretary of State (Tony Blinken, a conservative warhawk who supposedly influenced Biden to support the Iraq War.)  https://youtu.be/kdZWpmPEOuw 

Billionaire Charles Koch Congratulates Biden And Says He Wants To Work Together "On As Many Issues As Possible"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/13/daily-202-charles-koch-congratulates-biden-says-he-wants-work-together-many-issues-possible

Biden Just Appointed His Climate Movement Liaison. It's a Fossil Fuel Ally

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-climate-fossil-fuel-industry-cedric-richmond

Are You Kidding Me? (Erin Brokovich addresses the horror of Biden's EPA transition pick -- a DuPont Chemicals consultant)

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/66303-focus--dear-joe-biden-are-you-kidding-me

 No Good Choice: How The Two-Party System Fails Voters

https://www.leftvoice.org/no-good-choices-how-the-two-party-system-fails-voters

The Last Thing the Economy Needs is Joe Biden's Austerity

https://jacobinmag.com/2020/11/joe-biden-austerity-coronavirus-fiscal-conservatism-deficit-reduction 

Marijuana Reform Omitted From Biden Transition Plan on Racial Equity Despite Campaign Pledges

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/marijuana-reform-omitted-from-biden-transition-plan-on-racial-equity-despite-campaign-pledges/

 "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/

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You've gotta have 20/20 vision to see who's  in charge nowadays!

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 make a donation to keep The Revolution Continues going.  Donate via the Paypal.me link below. Thank you and Power to the People!

http://paypal.me/camatthews 

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The promises made by the Biden campaign drew support from public education advocates across the nation. From those promises, we identified five K-12 priorities that must be kept at the forefront. Whomever the President-elect chooses to lead the Department of Education must be committed to those priorities as well. Send your email to the Biden team and tell them pro-public education promises must be met.

Keep Your Promises

Nearly sixty pro-public education groups have signed onto our five priorities webpage. These include national organizations as well as local grassroots parent groups. Please visit that webpage by clicking on the image below.

Make sure you send your email to the Biden team today. If you are a member of an organization that would like to sign on as a partner, please email me at cburris@networkforpubliceducation.org

Thank you for all you do!

Carol Burris

Executive Director, Network for Public Education

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Bank of America is continuing to fund the destruction of the Arctic Refuge. It must stop financing oil drilling, now!

Sign Now

Right now, Bank of America remains the only major American bank that has not refused to fund dangerous oil drilling in the Arctic Refuge. The Arctic Refuge's vast coastal lands, boreal forests, and alpine tundra are home to a diverse array of species including polar bears, musk oxen, Arctic foxes, and the iconic Porcupine Caribou Herd. It's also vital to Indigenous communities who have made their home on these sacred lands for thousands of years. Drilling in the Refuge is a violation of Indigenous rights and an assault on the irreplaceable wildlife that rely on these lands for survival. As we face the increasingly horrific impacts of climate change — unprecedented wildfires, hurricanes, droughts, and floods — we have to face the facts. We are causing climate change, and we need to be transitioning over to clean, sustainable energy sources in order to reverse this trend. That's why every other large American bank, including Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, and Morgan Stanley, has changed their lending policies to exclude new drilling in the Arctic. Now we need Bank of America to do the same. Tell Bank of America that fossil fuels are a bad investment and to stop funding the destruction of the Arctic Refuge. Thank you for all that you do,   Miranda B. The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. Any expansion in the production of climate-torching fossil fuels is simply outrageous and reckless — especially in a sacred place like the Arctic Refuge. It's time for Bank of America to turn off the funding tap for these dirty energy corporations!

 

"Why I Adore Joe Biden"

Before we get to our featured blog,  here are some photos from a recent motorcade protest.

 #FreeThemAll

Even in this day of "social distancing,"  it's still possible to make your voice heard. Non-violent inmates need to be released from jails where the coronavirus can spread quickly. Toledo-area protestors donned their masks, placed their posters and banners on their vehicles and circled the block, honking and chanting until the prisoners in the Lucas County Jail banged on their windows in response. 

Will the Sheriff release these prisoners to their families until their trial dates? We'll see. But time is of the essence, and compassion is every bit a part of justice and rehabilitation.  Human beings shouldn't be locked up simply because they cannot afford bail. There is no reason to let these non-violent detainees be exposed to and possibly die from COVID-19.  Keep shouting at the walls until they come crumbling down!

Read more about the protest: https://www.toledoblade.com/local/city/2020/04/18/motorcade-of-protestors-demand-release-of-non-violent-inmates-toledo-lucas-county/stories/20200418081 

And now our guest blogger shares why she can't wait to vote for the former vice president.

"Why I Adore Joe Biden"

By A. Riche-Persson

I’m excited! I can’t wait to cast my vote for President of the United States for Joe Biden. He’s the man who represents everything I know and love. Things will stay the same under good ol’ Uncle Joe, and that’s the way it should be. We can’t be changing everything to suit the whims of the public, can we? They didn’t go to Ivy League schools, and they can’t even manage an invite to my yachting club regatta. We need to keep things in the hands of those who know best, don’t you think?

And all this blah-blah-blah from the Bernie Bros about Medicare for All —who needs it? I have great private health insurance. It even covered my Botox injections and my tummy tuck last year with just a mere ten thou deductible. Couch change! All red-blooded Americans everywhere love their private health insurance according to Joe. Nobody worth anything would be caught dead walking into a hospital with a Medicare card. You wouldn't catch me doing something so lowbrow! It doesn’t go well with my designer purse and matching heels, either.

These hippie peaceniks who keep saying things about Joe voting for the Iraq War and that he never met a war he didn’t like and that he was a friend of segragationalists in the past? Well I say, “Pfft!” War is great for business and that’s what America is all about – business. My Raytheon stocks skyrocket every time dear Donald rattles his sword, and I’m certain Joe will do the same. He’s got an interest in seeing those stock prices go up and up, especially after all this unnecessary shut down of our economy with this coronavirus hoax. It’s just like the flu I hear. And nobody wants their kids to attend school with ghetto scum. Joe was dead right on that issue. Get over it, crybabies.

Where was Joe during all these coronavirus town halls that Bernie put on? Does it really make a difference that he was taking a nap? Who needs all these extra people crowding up the place anyway? I think we could stand to lose a few thousand hoboes sleeping on our park benches and who would miss a few thousand old people or grocery stockers or cashiers or daycare workers here or there? (I get my food delivered to my door, the back door, I think... I let my cook and housekeeper handle that sort of thing.)  

What I’m saying is that America has more than enough people, so let the virus get rid of a few of them. It’s back to work the rest of you lazy bums so my company can realize a good dividend by the quarter’s end. Joe will make sure America is up and working. What I mean by that is that you all will be back to work so I can continue to live off the money you make for me.

Oh, and you’re begging for free money because you lost your job, along with free health care from the government? Who told you to get sick? Nobody! What do you think government is for? Looking out after your health and safety? No, it’s for keeping business people like me afloat and bailing out our banks when they make a bad decision or two. We are the “job creators” after all. All those million of small businesses in small town America just get in the way of our big monopolies making a bigger profit. The government needs to protect us from these annoying little challengers to the free market system. Go big or go out of business is what I say!

Yes, I do like how Joe believes the oil, gas and coal companies deserve to be given massive tax breaks, and we should hinder solar and wind energy technologies from growing and expanding. We don’t want to use up all the sunlight and wind too quickly—what would we do at the beach if we didn’t have sun and wind? Our sailboats wouldn’t work, and I’d have to go to the salon for a fake tan. No way am I going to turn myself orange like you-know-who!

Speaking of colors, Green New Deal? What kind of deal is that? (I look better in black.) The Earth was put here for our plundering. And gasoline is cheap--I filled up my three Escalades for next to nothing this past week.  The Obama Administration was the leader in bringing fracking to the world. Joe will continue that legacy, no fear. So, frack away and let's enjoy the open road in big thirsty cars. Vroom-vroom!

We want Joe to be in office so he can put in a Supreme Court justice replacement for Ruth Ginsburg who will stand up for a woman’s right to… do something. I know Joe said something about how this old-fashioned Roe v. Wade decision could be let out to pasture. It’s not like women can’t easily jump on a plane or a yacht and go elsewhere for an abortion, right? We don’t want to be paying for  poor women’s mistakes or paying to feed and clothe all their baby mistakes. They need to get off their lazy welfare queen butts and get a job waiting tables. Pull themselves up by their own bootstraps! Government money should be put to better use for the good of all—like bailing out the banks again when they need it in the future.

I certainly want to commend Joe for doing a great job to putting conservative-business-minded men like Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court back in the day. Joe raked that Anita Hill over the coals for saying the same things about Justice Thomas that some are saying about Joe nowadays—that they sexually harassed women who worked under them. 

There’s the problem right there. These women work under them, and so they deserve to have their butts pinched and be kept in their place. We can’t have uppity-types telling wealthy, powerful men to keep their hands to themselves. They have the money after all. They pay your wages. They own you, you good-for-nothings!

At the end of the day, how can I resist that sexy way Joe comes right up behind me at a thousand dollar a plate fundraiser and breathes in my hair? Ooo! I get shivers down my spine just thinking about his presidential hands all over me. Just call me "Monica," haha! All these people who get bent out of shape because of a few gals who didn’t care for his pawing just haven’t enjoyed having sex with a rich and powerful person before, and they’re just plain jealous of those of us who have. LOL!

I hope you can see now why Joe Biden would make a super president for people like us. He’s older and wealthy and white—so he understands how it feels to have to put up with the rabble that Bernie guy and other Lefties roused up. Joe was a huge supporter of Bill Clinton's wonderful crime bill in 1994 that locked up all those naughty black and brown people who smoked too much marijuana (not sold by our new corporate cannabis operations). He’ll continue to militarize the police so they’ll keep things the way they should be and deal with those troublemakers. We’ll all prosper and not have to worry about our share prices dropping precipitously under a Biden administration.

That’s all we really need in a president anyway, right? More of the same, 'cause happy days are here again! Even Republicans like Joe Biden and say they'll vote for him. With Donny or Joe in the Oval Office, we'll all be raking in the cash and rolling in the dough like we are now. And a healthy stock market is a great thing for all Americans, don't you agree?  

Don't believe me? Well, this gal says she'll vote for Joe (holding her nose) https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/62473-focus-i-cant-believe-i-have-to-vote-for-joe-biden

But this guy says you actually have a choice and you don't have to vote for him if you don't want to. As if!  https://medium.com/@danielca/dont-vote-for-joe-biden-the-case-for-the-green-party-in-2020-fcae946e0ffc

:BIO: "A. Riche-Persson" (or Ayn to her friends) is a member of the country club down the road and thinks she knows what's best for those who haven't been blessed with her good looks (and face lifts) and brains (she attended Yale, but married a millionaire and forgot to finish her degree). Heed her advice and you, too, can become well-connected in a corporate-owned-and-operated establishment party like the DNC. Just leave your conscience at the door with the coat check girl.

For more on Biden's background, check out this informative blog post from last year -- Biden: My Time? https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2019/04/biden-my-time.html

UPDATE: New Evidence Supporting Credibility of Tara Reade's Allegation Against Joe Biden Emerges: https://theintercept.com/2020/04/24/new-evidence-tara-reade-joe-biden/ 

Now for a different viewpoint of what's happening in the world. Lee asks, "Will things ever be the same?" (And will we ever see that $12,000 yearly we've all been paying out to the 1% since 1980?)

https://youtu.be/HO0aB_VuoGo

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For families locked away in the Trump administration's detention centers, there are zero options to stay safe from the coronavirus. Even in the middle of a pandemic, authorities are keeping dozens of families away from their loved ones in facilities with limited access to soap or adequate medical treatment.
Two of the largest U.S. private prison profiteers have already recorded cases of COVID-19 among their staff and the people they've detained. [1] 

There is no time to waste: Rush an urgent message to state and federal legislators and DEMAND that they IMMEDIATELY end the use of private prisons and release vulnerable populations so they can reunite with their families and socially distance safely.

ACT NOW

When an outbreak occurs in a detention center, the families there won't be the only ones at risk: the staff who work in these facilities could take the virus home, and put their entire communities at risk of exposure.
 
By demanding an end to the use of private prisons, we can help thousands of children and their families escape conditions that will condemn them to needless suffering and death from COVID-19. 70% of all immigrants detained by the Trump administration are held in private prisons. Ending the use of private prisons would release many migrant children and families in federal detention, and seriously affect the Trump administration's ability to separate more families in the future. 

This pandemic reminds us that we are intertwined. You can't cage a virus; the only way to ensure our collective health is to care for each other. To do that, we have to fight back against this administration's abusive policies that endanger families in federal detention and beyond. 

Tell federal and state lawmakers to end the use of private prisons and protect incarcerated people from COVID-19.
 
Thanks for all you do,
Jess Morales Rocketto
Families Belong Together

[1] A Second ICE Detainee in Louisiana has Tested Positive for COVID-19

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Don't let the coronavirus make us homeless. Demand an end to rent and mortgage payments during the crisis.

Sign Now

Over ten million U.S. citizens filed unemployment claims in just two weeks due to the intentional economic shutdown to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Unemployment websites are crashing, many people are not even eligible, and the one-time $1,200 checks promised by the government will not even cover many people's rent. In short: millions of Americans have no way to pay their rent or mortgage right now. That's why we need to demand leaders put a freeze on rent and mortgage payments during the pandemic for both individuals and businesses. Sign the petition if you agree! A national landlord association reported that a full one-third of renters in the U.S. failed to pay their rent during the first week of April and May is going to be even worse. While some cities have put a moratoreum on evictions, that just means rent and mortgage payments will pile up during that time and folks will be evicted as soon as those moratoreums are lifted. The only ethical, humane answer is for lawmakers to put a freeze on rent and mortgage payments, and they have the power to do it. Please sign on to help make sure no one ends up homeless due to this global crisis. Thank you, Kelsey B. The Care2 Petitions Team

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From Color of Change:

We just received great news to provide us all with a glimmer of hope! Since the outbreak of COVID, we knew we had to fight hard for incarcerated people because our elected leaders failed to make a humane plan to address those who would be hardest hit. 

So we decided to launch our fight.

Thousands of Color Of Change members joined us in pushing to make all communication free of charge for incarcerated people and their families during this crisis, and forever. As of last week, people incarcerated at federal prisons have finally been granted free phone calls during the pandemic, up to 500 minutes a month. Before we launched our campaign and more than 18,000 people signed our petition, many incarcerated folks were only given two fifteen-minute free calls per week, some received even less.

This is what’s possible when we unabashedly fight for those most impacted, in the face of elected leaders who show indifference for incarcerated people. We win and keep families connected!

But C.A., we know we have much more to do to ensure ALL incarcerated people receive the humane response needed to ensure their wellbeing. Here is what we need you to do to continue fighting with us:

  1. Share the petition with your friends and family demanding elected leaders grant ALL incarcerated people with free calls. This includes state prisons, county jails, and all detention centers.

  2. Start or join a local campaign and demand your elected leaders implement a humane plan for incarcerated people. We need mass releases and an end to the constant churn of people in and out of facilities across the country.

Until justice is real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Clarise, Erika, Malachi, Leonard, Marybeth, Madison, and the rest of the Color Of Change team