Bread and Circuses Redux

Bread and Circuses Redux

Coast Watcher

Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions—everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses. ~ Juvenal

The companies that bought time in the recent Superbowl commercial blocks are the same ones that were given trillions of dollars in bailout money by the same people who won’t give us a measly two thousand dollars Covid relief. Like the Roman arenas and circuses of long ago, many modern stadiums are built using public money. The American government obviously thinks that distracting the public by promoting spectacles like the Superbowl is worth more than providing actual payments of cash to help us all through the pandemic.

We’re now told that the next payment due April will be $1400, not $2000, because of the $600 paid out last year by the Trump administration. This is in blatant disregard of the numerous political statements made before the Georgia special election by Biden, Harris, Ossoff and Warnock specifically stating $2000 would be paid out in the event of a Democratic party victory.   

Having got what they wanted, why would the so-called Democrats bother to pay out now? 

We’re also told that the relief payments will be means tested, that anyone earning over $50K as an individual/$100K as a couple won’t get the money. This in spite of the fact that $50k/$100K isn’t a whole heck of a lot of money on which to live in some parts of the US.

Most other first world countries continue to pay their citizens relief money on a steady basis, and will probably do so for the foreseeable future. Not in the US, where capitalism declares everybody must go back to work to make more money for the rich and to hell with your kids and elderly getting exposed to Covid-19. 

Capitalists would prefer you didn’t think of such things, that you must agitate for schools, bars and restaurants to be reopened so you can go back to your "normal" grind. As a thank-you for your slavish cooperation, they’ll throw a few crumbs your way.

Instead of demanding our elected representatives do their duty to the people, we humbly petition them to do so and anxiously hope for bread and circuses. And that's what we get--overpriced distractions and food banks.

God help America. 

From Twitter:

If $50,000 or $70,000 is too much to get a survival check then $174,000 is too much to pay a corrupt politician.

— ✋🏼Daniel (@jai_lies) February 9, 2021

Related article:

 "Unbelievable": Bernie Sanders Slams Democrats Who Want to Narrow Income Eligibility for Stimulus Payments

https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/67707-unbelievable-bernie-sanders-slams-democrats-who-want-to-narrow-income-eligibility-for-stimulus-payments

BIO: Coast Watcher isn't much into football or circuses of any kind. How long will the American public allow itself to be distracted? If the "$2K check" isn't forthcoming, will that awaken their ire and birth a political revolution? Coastie certainly hopes so!

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The Revolution Continues is now in our sixth year fighting against the corporate duopoly. We're not ashamed to say that we need fellow revolutionaries like you to help us stay online and provide progressive insights that are being actively censored elsewhere. If you can spare some of your pocket change, please use the Paypal.me link below to donate to help fund our operations.

http://paypal.me/camatthews

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

*** 

Last week, under the cover of darkness, ICE hurriedly rounded up a group of chained and horrified Black immigrants from Alexandria, Louisiana on a deportation flight to Jamaica.

It came 8 days *after* the Biden administration issued a moratorium on deportations, but ICE took advantage of a temporary block on Biden’s deportation moratorium.

Let’s be clear: nothing in the judge’s order requires ICE to deport people right now--DHS has the power to grant stays of removal or use their prosecutorial discretion to stop it.

We need to ramp up the pressure fast -- Families Belong Together is joining with our partners at UndocuBlack Network and the Black Immigrant Collective to demand ICE stop deporting community members and return all our deported community members on iAero Airways Flight 3562. Will you add your name?

aCT NOW →

The Biden administration made a critical first step towards addressing our broken immigration system this week. The moratorium represented a previously-unimaginable collective exhale from thousands of Black and brown people -- both those in detention and their communities of support.

But instead of following this lead, ICE is barreling ahead using the same misguided and cruel removal policies that dominated the Trump era.

ICE might technically be allowed to continue with deportations, but it flies in the face of the crystal clear direction from the Biden administration -- and we can’t let them get away with it.

We need you to help put pressure on DHS to stop deporting our community members and return our deported community members on iAero Airways Flight 3562 -- add your name now.

Thanks for all you do,

Paola Luisi, Director
Families Belong Together

***

Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, is increasingly linked to cancer. Yet, major stores still sell this toxic herbicide. Join us in this week of action to tell Home Depot and Lowe's to Reject Roundup. Take any of these 3 easy actions:

Take a picture of yourself with a message telling Home Depot and/or Lowe’s to Reject Roundup.  Create your own sign on a piece of paper OR download and print this sign. Then email us your photo and we'll post on our social media. OR Mail or deliver these letters to Home Depot and/or Lowe’s.

And let us know if you do. OR

Post on social media. Post the photo you took above or post one of these suggested messages on Lowe’s Facebook wall, Home Depot’s Facebook wall, and Twitter with these graphics. Show bees and butterflies some love this Valentine's Day, @HomeDepot @Lowes. It’s time to #RejectRoundup! Bayer-Monsanto’s Roundup® weedkiller is decimating monarch butterflies by wiping out milkweed, the only food source for their young. Monarchs have declined by 90% in the past 20 years alone. Don’t let them disappear in our lifetime.  Hey, @HomeDepot @Lowes, show us some love this Valentine’s day and #RejectRoundup! This toxic weedkiller is linked to cancer and reproductive harm. We want it off your shelves and out of our bodies!  When are you taking Roundup off your shelves @Lowes and @HomeDepot? This Valentine’s Day, show some love for {insert what is important to you: our kids health, pollinators, groundskeeper health, our waterways, etc.} #RejectRoundup   Post anytime throughout this week and you can even post multiple times. Thank you for joining our Valentine's Week of Action to Reject Roundup. For the health of pollinators, humans, and the planet,

Jes Walton Food Campaigns Director Green America

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From Friends of the Earth:

Take action to protect ocean habitats from floating factory farms. Sign Now Wild fish, sea birds, and dolphins are at risk -- along with the health of our oceans and coastal communities. Take action now. The federal government is trying to permit industrial ocean fish farms in federal ocean waters without Congressional authorization. These floating factory farms pollute our coastal waters with pesticides and chemicals -- putting our ocean habitats in danger. Our ocean ecosystem is too fragile to put in the hands of agribusiness, and we need your help to stop it. Tell your members of Congress to support the Keep FinFish Free Act to protect our coastal waters. Sign now to demand our oceans are protected from floating factory farms! Sign Now Our oceans are fragile. It takes strategic planning and policies to protect marine environments. Industrial fish farms routinely cause massive spills, spreading diseases, pets, and threatening wild fish stocks. Seabirds get entangled in the pens and cages. Whales, dolphins, seals, and sea lions experience food shortages. Giant agribusiness is just another Big Polluter looking to exploit our public lands and water for the sake of profit. Sadly, aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector, while fish receive the least protections. Hold your members of Congress accountable for protecting our waters and wildlife. Take action: Demand the health of our oceans and marine line be protected from aquaculture facilities. Sign Now Factory fish farms depend on toxic pesticides, pharmaceutical drugs, and genetically engineered crops -- such as soy -- a disturbing cocktail of toxins that greatly impact human health. Pharmaceutical drugs used to control pests and disease in overcrowded pens can increase the risk of harmful bacteria becoming antibiotic resistant in human illness. Dyes used to make factory farmed salmon pink have links to retinal damage and hyperactivity in children. Chemical compounds used can increase the risk of cancer, reproductive problems, and disrupt the endocrine system. We need your help to hold officials accountable for protecting us from toxic aquaculture facilities. Demand your members of Congress put our health ahead of corporate profit. Demand they support the Keep FinFish Free Act. Sign Now Standing with you, Hallie Templeton, Senior oceans campaigner, Friends of the Earth ***

Stopping the Game?

 

Stopping the Game?

by C.A. Matthews

The Twitterverse was all abuzz with the GameStop stock shorting story before I really caught on to what had actually happened. The following videos and article links will fill in the details for you as they did for me. Long story short (no pun intended), "David" attempted to slay "Goliath" on Wall Street, and Goliath got a bit antsy that David had the balls to  attempt such a bold attack on their monopoly on wealth in this country.

It's events like this that give me hope that one day, possibly quite soon, we will see an end to Wall Street/the capitalist system and the abuse of the working classes for which they stand for.

There was nothing "sinister" or "deviant" about the members of the Reddit group that decided to purchase stock in GameStop that some in the mainstream media outlets alleged after the hedge fund managers started crying about not being able to win the "game" of gambling on putting a company out of business. No, it was just good ol' fashioned research and patience that paid off for these little guys. They should receive accolades, not denigration.

Essentially shorting a stock is a gamble against another person taking a certain action with that stock. The hedge fund managers wanted GameStop stores to go out of business, since essentially they were doing everything in their power to force the company to close its doors so they could buy up all their stock cheap. The Reddit stock buyers did not want GameStop to go under, and they did what they could to prop up its stock price so GameStop could attract new investors and take the necessary actions to improve their business practices.

These small investors may have saved 15,000 GameStop employees nationwide their jobs--at least for now. But of course, the plug was pulled on these Davids trying to save a down and out company. They're being blocked by the poor man's online app Robinhood from shorting any more stock in GameStop and several other similar corporations (possibly after a word came from the White House to do so).   

You can think about how these small investors are being prevented to short GameStop stock this way: You like to buy a certain brand of grape juice from the store, but now the store says you can't buy it anymore. You've got the cash and the grape juice is sitting right there on the shelf, but a rich person whined and whined to the store manager and said, "Don't let the poor guys buy any more of that juice! We want to knock it off the shelves and spill it all over the floor!"

And, of course, the store manager gave in eventually and did what the rich person asked because… Well, obviously some people are more equal than others, right? At least in a capitalist system the workers are often seen in that way.

So, if you hear/read on MSNBC or CNBC or wherever that working class investors are "cheating" or "working for the Russians" or some other similar slander/libel, remember this: Rich people really don't like to lose or be shown up for what they are. The rich actually believe they're smarter than the rest of us and that they deserve more wealth and power simply because they're better than us. It's that simple.

If you're of a similar mindset to me, you know that's not true. Worse of all, it's immoral and irrational for our government to keep bailing out these not-so-smart elitists hiding behind hedge fund managers and bankers.

Remember 2008? Remember the bail-outs of the banks? Remember all those Americans who lost their homes and have never recovered their credit ratings? That was done to us, the working classes, by the pampered and coddled elites. So, it's time that we had a chance to cheer on some Davids slaying Goliaths on Wall Street on our behalf. It'll teach the greedy rich a lesson or two that smarts aren't just a trait of the billionaires. Poor working folks got smarts, too.

Saagar Enjeti: Wall Street Elites Destroyed, Beaten By Redditors At Their Own Rigged Game ~ The Hill  https://youtu.be/9ToOGrUQ7ME

Dylan Ratigan explains what "shorting a stock" means and how the small investors beat the hedge funds at their own game. https://youtu.be/qzG3DwMjLj4 

Overheard on Twitter:

"People working at Robinhood coming forward to share that their founder received calls from the White House about shutting down GameStop and meme stocks. Biden has done more for billionaire hedge funds than providing us with our survival checks."

"Clip of hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman on CNBC losing his cool: 'This fair share is a bullshit concept! It’s a way of attacking wealthy people!'"

"The stock market is not in turmoil - billionaire hedge funds are in turmoil. Two different things. It's a shame regulators, brokerage firms and media continue to provide cover for folks that go to work on helicopters from the Hamptons and say its for folks that take the subway."

Related Articles:

Quick Sharp Analysis of the GameStop vs. Hedge Fund Fight

https://beanstocksworld.wordpress.com/2021/02/02/quick-sharp-analysis-of-the-gamestop-vs-hedge-fund-fight

How Reddit and GameStop Beat the Bankers

https://www.makeuseof.com/meme-stocks-vs-wall-street-how-reddit-and-gamestop-beat-the-bankers/

The Reddit Revolution, GameStop and Melvin Capital

https://greenwald.substack.com/p/video-the-reddit-revolution-gamestop

How the GameStop Crisis Will End

https://mailchi.mp/ajplus/how-the-gamestop-crisis-will-end-01-28-21

Leaving Wall Street

https://nplusonemag.com/online-only/occupy/leaving-wall-street/ 

The GameStop Bubble is a Lesson in the Absurdity and Uselessness of the Stock Market

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/67533-the-gamestop-bubble-is-a-lesson-in-the-absurdity-and-uselessness-of-the-stock-market 

More videos explaining the GameStop short stock story:

https://youtu.be/NysEnmIAEIE

https://youtu.be/aHBFOkwSZto

https://youtu.be/7Zd24sn7Els

***

The Revolution Continues is now in our sixth year fighting against the corporate duopoly. We're not ashamed to say that we need fellow revolutionaries like you to help us stay online and provide progressive insights that are being actively censored elsewhere. If you can spare some of your pocket change, please use the Paypal.me link below to donate to help fund our operations.

http://paypal.me/camatthews

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

 ***

From World Beyond War:

The U.S. House of Representatives (in February and again in April, 2019) and the Senate (in December 2018 and March 2019) have each voted twice with strong bipartisan majorities to end the war on Yemen (vetoed by then-President Trump in April 2019).

The Democratic Party Platform of 2020 commits to ending the war on Yemen.

President Biden's nominees each say they are ending the war on Yemen.

But Congress has yet to act since the veto threat disappeared along with Trump. And every day that the war goes unended means more horrific death and suffering.

Click here to email your Representative and Senators to demand that they immediately introduce legislation under the War Powers Resolution to end U.S. participation in the war, directly or indirectly, and end all provision of U.S. weapons to participants in the war.

Yemen today remains the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, according to the United Nations. Over 4 million people have been displaced because of the war, and 80% of the population, including 12.2 million children, are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance. To add to the already dire situation, Yemen has one of the worst Covid-19 death rates in the world – it kills 1 in 4 people who test positive.

This humanitarian crisis is a direct result of the Western-backed, Saudi-led war and indiscriminate bombing campaign that has raged against Yemen since March 2015, as well as an air, land and sea blockade which prevents desperately-needed goods and aid from reaching the people of Yemen.

UN agencies and humanitarian organizations have repeatedly documented that there is no military solution possible in the current conflict in Yemen. The only thing the constant supply of arms to Yemen does is prolongs hostilities, and increases suffering and numbers of the dead.

Congress needs to re-introduce the War Powers Resolution under a Biden administration.

Congress needs to end weapons shipments to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Sign the petition: Urge your Congress members to immediately end U.S. involvement in the war in Yemen!

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Boxes of Valentine's Day chocolate should be full of delicious treats, not child labor, deforestation, or pesticides. Despite decades of commitments from big-chocolate companies to end child labor in cocoa, there are still over 1 million child laborers, and children are being exposed to MORE pesticides.  Before you pick up any Valentine's Day chocolates, take a look at these small, but mighty, chocolate companies! They are working to reform the chocolate industry from bean to bar. And, their chocolates are truly delicious! Many of these companies are also Certified Green Business Network Members of Green America, so they are green through and through. And, all of these chocolates are available for purchase online! With workers and small businesses being hit particularly hard in the last year, voting with your dollar has an even greater impact. This Valentine's Day, I hope our buying guide helps you find the perfect chocolates.  Thank you for all that you do.