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 

***

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

 ***

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!

 

Kamala the Cop

Kamala the Cop

Coast Watcher

Once again the so-called Democratic Party has spat in the faces of ordinary people across the country. By choosing Kamala Harris as Vice Presidential nominee the party has made it obvious it’s no different to the Republican Party when it comes to the fundamental issues of government. That hoary old phrase “tough on crime” rings hollow when all it really means is oppression and disregard for civic rights and due process. 

Harris’ record on the matter of law and order is a shameful one. The former Attorney General for the State of California certainly filled her boots when it came to the perks of her office. If a person accused of a crime had enough cash, they could buy immunity from prosecution. In the case of Steve Mnuchin all it took was a “campaign contribution” to Harris for her to decline prosecuting him as his company OneWestBank for financial irregularities in the wake of the 2008 mortgage crisis.   

OneWest held the mortgages of over 30,000 home owners. In 2011 the Office of the Inspector General began an audit of the company following complaints. In a statement the IG wrote:

OneWest executives had instructed employees to reject as many loan modification applications as possible and created an environment that encouraged loan modification staff to misinform borrowers about their eligibility status, routinely shred loan modification applications, and inappropriately deny loan modifications. The letter also stated that the terms of the FDIC’s agreement with OneWest created a financial incentive for OneWest to foreclose rather than modify loans.

But after reviewing only a handful of cases the OIG refused to proceed. Mnuchin bought his way clear with a mere $2,000 to Harris’ senate campaign. The cost was dirt cheap compared to a likely heavy fine and possible jail sentence. At the end of the day, Steve Mnuchin walked away with billions of dollars. Thousands of Americans became homeless and their credit ruined where, had every transaction been legal and above board, they would not be put under such duress. 

Mnuchin is, of course, Secretary of the Treasury in Donald Trump’s deeply repugnant regime. To this day Harris refuses to say why she didn’t prosecute Mnuchin. 

Trump himself made contributions of $6,000 to Harris—$5,000 in 2011 and another $1,000 in 2013. Did Trump use his contribution to Harris, a person of color, as a fig leaf to cover his inherent racism. In a recent attack ad Trump’s campaign portrayed Harris as a  “phony” and, flying in the face of all evidence, as part of the “radical left!” 

If Trump thinks such a blatantly capitalistic person as Harris is “radical left,” I’d hate to see what would happen if he should ever come face to face with a genuine socialist.

Harris’ record on the California state prison service speaks for itself. Following a successful class action suit on behalf of inmates, Harris was ordered in 2011 to reduce the prison population due to serious overcrowding. Harris stated some non-violent offenders had to remain jailed to provide cheap labor to the state—and we're talking about pennies on the dollar pay. In 2014 the state was ordered to allow non-violent second time offenders who’d served half their sentence to become eligible for parole. Harris objected yet again, stating that it would deprive the state and private companies of a cheap labor pool. It must be pointed out that this  “labor pool” includes volunteer firefighters who risk their lives for a mere $2 a day to put out California's massively destructive and dangerous wildfires, yet these prisoners/firefighters are not allowed to count the hard-earned experience on their resumes when they are finally released. 

Harris became a US Senator in 2017, which positioned her nicely for the vice presidential nomination. Neoliberals ooh and ahh over the choice of a woman of color attaining such a status. That’s all very well, but Harris' wealth and status doesn't demonstrate that she really cares about ordinary people. As for her racial status, it’s not been of much benefit to those who share it. Most of those interned in California under her watch as AG were African-Americans and Hispanic Americans, and most of those were put there because of the notorious  “Three Strikes” law introduced by none other than then-Senator Joe Biden. So it is Harris’ nomination, coupled with presidential nominee Biden’s pungent record on law and order bills, that is pretty much a match made in hell for human rights.

Another telling trait of these two individual's stances against human rights: Harris no longer supports Medicare For All as she had previously stated while campaigning (more info in the links below).  She has gone over to Biden's position and supports private health insurance coverage tied to a worker's employment.Why this sudden change of heart? Perhaps when we see a final list of campaign contributors we'll know for sure who got to her this time. 

My belief is that, should the so-called Democratic Party win the election, the increasingly decrepit Biden will use the 25th Amendment to step down after a few months citing  “health reasons,” allowing Harris to become the first female president. We’ll then see yet another turn of the screw in the crushing of civil liberties, and yet another neoliberal corporate shill in the White House. Once again we’ll witness the soft pedal approach to any genuine reform to help ordinary citizens. It’ll be business as usual for capitalism, while the world continues to burn. 

The only way to stop these duopolist nightmare tickets of neoliberalism is to vote third party. The current two-party (in reality, one party) system has to be broken. All it requires is for the vote for a third party to pass 33.4% of the electorate and the Democrats and Republicans will be left twisting in the wind. For the sake of America and the world, this must come to pass.

BIO: Coast Watcher isn't taken in by pretty faces and identity politics. He does his research. He compares notes. He doesn't like what he sees in two corrupt cops running for the White House. He's advising all voters to use their brains to stop the further uncalled-for imprisoning of persons of color and the poor to provide plentiful cheap/free labor for the greedy capitalist state. Vote third party! We have nothing to lose but our future chains!

The following video (starts about five minutes in) shows how callously Harris treated poor parents of color and their children by criminalizing the parents of these children for truancy. She jokes and laughs about how much she wanted to  prosecute these beleagured families--even when her fellow office members thought it was a terrible idea. She even charged a homeless woman instead of helping this struggling family out! Heartless.

 https://youtu.be/ml3C03VxJL8

Related Links:

This Is Why Kamala Harris Refused to Prosecute Steve Mnuchin

https://wedacoalition.org/2019/09/27/this-is-why-kamala-harris-refused-to-prosecute-steve-mnuchin/

Donald Trump Made Campaign Donations to Kamala Harris Years Ago His Campaign Says--It's Proof He's Not Racist 
https://www.wbtv.com/2020/08/13/donald-trump-made-campaign-donations-kamala-harris-years-ago-his-campaign-says-its-proof-hes-not-racist/

Kamala Harris' AG Office Tried to Keep Inmates Locked Up for Cheap Labor https://www.thedailybeast.com/kamala-harris-ag-office-tried-to-keep-inmates-locked-up-for-cheap-labor

Kamala Harris Embodies Most Dangerous Myth of American Exceptionalism
https://www.blackagendareport.com/kamala-harris-embodies-most-dangerous-myth-american-exceptionalism 

Kamala Harris Has Distinguished Career Serving Injustice
https://www.blackagendareport.com/kamala-harris-has-distinguished-career-serving-injustice

Senator Kamala Harris and Her Corrupt Ways (video series)
http://www.abovealllaws.com/2019/01/29/senator-kamala-harris-and-her-corrupt-ways-part-1-of-3-videos/

Kamala Harris No Longer Supports Bernie Sanders' Medicare For All Program
https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-healthcare-medicare-all-bernie-sanders-1455106

***

The Trump administration and Mitch McConnell's Senate majority are determined to suppress the vote this year because it's the first step to controlling the redistricting process in 2021.

This explains why they've launched an onslaught of attacks against the Postal Service. It's a strategy to prevent certain votes from counting this fall.

Here are seven attempts and ongoing schemes to undermine the Postal Service:

1. In April, President Trump called the USPS "a joke" and parroted unsubstantiated claims against the essential service to undermine its role in this year's consequential election -- just days after the USPS released a statement saying it was "imperative" that Congress and the administration take action to provide financial support.


2. In May, the House passed the HEROES Act with $25 million in funding for the USPS -- yet three months later, Mitch McConnell's Senate has refused to pass this essential funding.


3. In June, Trump mega-donor Louis Dejoy officially assumed the role of postmaster general.


4. In July, Postmaster Dejoy supported President Trump's efforts to undermine the Postal Service by implementing new rules and procedures that intentionally slowed down mail services ahead of the big election this fall.


5. In August, Postmaster General Dejoy announced plans to reassign more than 20 top-level USPS employees -- a move that the Washington Post says "de-emphasizes decades of institutional postal knowledge" and "centralizes power" around Trump appointee Dejoy.


6. This week, Dejoy floated the idea of tripling the cost of sending mail-in ballots to voters. Senator Elizabeth Warren described this as an attempt to "sabotage the USPS" before the election.


7. Yesterday, President Trump doubled down on his commitment to block funding for the USPS, explicitly citing how funding delays would prevent comprehensive vote-by-mail.

Here at All On The Line, we know protecting the vote this year will allow folks to put fair-minded leaders in charge of redistricting next year.

Here are two ways you can fight back against these attacks in the USPS. Contact your senators and demand they take action to fund the Postal Service. Or support our on-going advocacy work with a monthly donation of $7!

CONTACT CONGRESS

DONATE $7 MONTHLY

-- The AOTL Team 

*** 

Oil drilling in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge would be a disaster.

Your senators can protect this national treasure! Tell them to take up and pass the Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act today.

SEND YOUR MESSAGE

The world is already facing an extinction crisis. Adding to the threat, today the Trump administration announced plans to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) in Alaska to oil and gas drilling. The Refuge has been the sacred homelands of the Gwich’in people for centuries and is home to polar bears, caribou, and many other unique species. Drilling for oil in one of the last truly wild places on earth would be a disaster.

The Senate can block these rules from going into effect. Legislation has already passed the House, meaning the Senate can act now to block drilling in the ANWR before this nightmare begins. Your senators must fight for the Arctic Wildlife National Refuge. They need to hear from you right now!

The Refuge is the absolute last place that we should be drilling for oil, but right now, in a time of planetary crisis and decreased demand for oil, we simply do not need more oil wells anywhere — we need less. If we’re to have any hope of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees celsius, we need a full, managed phaseout of the fossil fuel industry.

This decision is yet another marker of the Trump administration’s catastrophic failure. We can’t let this administration divide us or roll back the clock on protections for wildlife refuges, for First Nations communities being impacted by environmental injustice, or for crucial ecosystems. This anti-science billionaire handout is abhorrent and is the last thing that our country needs in the middle of a pandemic, mass evictions, and an economic crisis. Fighting for the Refuge is part of the movement to resist, to demand better, and to push back against all of the destructive elements of this administration’s anti-people, anti-environment agenda.

Tell your senators to take up and pass the Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act and that you’re counting on them to protect this national treasure.

For a green and peaceful future.
Avery Raines
Senior Digital Strategist, Greenpeace USA

***

From Sum of Us:

R.I.P. US Postal Service: 1775-2020? Cause of death: Covid-19 and Donald J. Trump Sign the urgent petition to save USPS -- before it’s too late!  Sign the petition  Postal workers across the country are putting their lives at risk going door to door delivering life-saving medicine and other essential items even as this pandemic grows. But if Trump and his corporate cronies get their way, our Postal Service could run out of money soon! This would be an unmitigated disaster in the midst of this pandemic -- and with your help, we won’t let that happen. Right now, Congress is putting together its next stimulus bailout package, and corporations stand to get billions of dollars. We urgently need to make a massive public outcry and let Congress know that if they want to bail out large corporations with public money, first they need to fund USPS -- and keep it out of the hands of private corporations! Add your name now to demand USPS be properly funded before it’s too late! For years, Trump and private equity firms have been threatening to privatize USPS. Now that dream is about to be a reality. This pandemic has significantly impacted USPS’ bottom line, which relies on revenue created by postage and postal services to keep functioning. Now with each passing day, the Postal Service is bleeding cash -- and it's only a matter of time before the Postal Service as we know it disappears. The only thing that can stop this is a massive public outcry from regular people like you and me who are relying on the Postal Service to keep us connected and supplied through this crisis. Together, we can create enough public pressure to force vulnerable Senate Republicans to hold fast against Trump's plotting and keep the USPS as we know it alive. But we've only got a few short weeks left to make our case. Will you join me in this fight? Add your name now and demand that Congress holds fast against Trump’s plans to bankrupt and privatize USPS!  Sign the petition