The Commoner Call – Page 30 – Standing Resolute, Together.

ALL ARTICLES, Bomb Trains, Climate Change, Democrats September 9, 2019

Exxon Mobil Is Funding Corporate Dem Think Tank Operation By Way Of Rep. Ron Kind’s Third Way

[Editor’s Note: Keep in mind Rep. Ron Kind is a founding and ongoing member of the Wall Street funded corporate front group Third Way. — Mark L. Taylor] By Kate Aranoff The Intercept (9/6/19) THE PROGRESSIVE POLICY Institute, a centrist Democratic think tank that grew out of the party’s pro-business wing in the 1980s and ’90s, received $50,000 from Exxon Mobil in 2018 via its parent organization, the Third Way Foundation, according to the oil giant’s 2018 Worldwide Giving Report. Exxon Mobil did not return The Intercept’s multiple requests for comment. In an email, PPI Executive Director Lindsay Lewis…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor September 9, 2019

Russia Monitor: Taking A Sharpie To 2020

Is Our 2020 Election Secure? Will Our 2020 Election Even Take Place? “We’re not going to let the Russians come back. We’re not going to let the Chinese, we’re not going to let the Iranians.” — Chris Krebs, “top cybersecurity official” at Department of Homeland Security (DHS). By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (9/9/19) Dear Fellow Readers, Yes, those are both alarming and alarmist questions. I have been highlighting the rash of ransomware attacks on local governments for the past few columns but now there is this from the Washington Post: The Cybersecurity 202: Ransomware attack against the…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Right Wing Religion September 9, 2019

Why Margaret Atwood Resisted Writing A ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ Sequel — Until Now

By Scott Simon Morning Edition Sunday / NPR (9/8/19) Margaret Atwood has written a sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale — that sentence alone will move millions of readers to buy the book ASAP. The final act of that book, published in 1985, saw its unnamed heroine Offred (at least, that wasn’t her real name), step off the pages and into the unknown. The new book is The Testaments, and it returns us, 15 years later, to the fictional totalitarian theocracy of Gilead, with its Handmaids, Marthas, Wives, Commanders and Aunts. Atwood says it just seemed like the time for a sequel. “People had…

ALL ARTICLES September 9, 2019

Democratic Socialist Of America: 2019 Convention Momentum

By Mary Svart Democratic Left / DSA (Fall 2019) We are at a turning point. Poor and working-class people have always known that the deck is stacked against us, but in recent years many of us have become even more cynical about the formal political system. On the one hand, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib have been joined by a cohort of openly socialist local and state elected officials from across the country. On the other, Republican voter suppression efforts only exacerbate the fact that many, many people have given up. Voters aren’t interested in Democrats who vote like Republicans and…

ALL ARTICLES September 9, 2019

Are The Crimes & Secrets Of Jeffrey Epstein Buried With Him?

“I don’t have high hopes our federal government is going to get to the bottom of this. I hope I’m wrong.” Pushback with Aaron Maté / Grayzone (9/7/19) The prison death of convicted pedophile and financier Jeffrey Epstein raises concerns that the mysteries surrounding his case — including whether he worked with US intelligence, who his criminal accomplices were, and whether anyone will be held to account for his crimes — will be resolved. Leonard Goodman, a Chicago criminal defense attorney, breaks down the most pressing questions. Guest: Leonard Goodman, criminal defense attorney, writer, and media publisher in Chicago. Link to…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, Media Hits & Misses, Rethuglicans September 9, 2019

Next Up… How Showbiz Swallowed Our Politics & Democracy Itself

The conservative movement has been overtaken by performative stupidity. By Stephen Marche Medium (9/4/19) There are new rules. It doesn’t matter if you want to play by them. It doesn’t matter if you believe there should be other rules. In the world of images we have entered, a world of screens, the sudden acceleration of the scope of mass media in all forms has generated, on the right, a conservative buffoonery that has taken over the major parties, and, on the left, a tendency toward political suicide by the refinement of image. As with Ernest Hemingway’s proverbial bankruptcy, the crisis…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats, FEATURE, Police State America, Rethuglicans, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan September 5, 2019

America’s Slow-Motion Coup Keeps Grinding Forward: But Is Donald Trump Really The One To Blame?

We need to understand that Trump is a symptom, not the problem. By Andrew O’Hehir Salon (8/2/19) We are in the middle of a slow-motion coup in the United States of America. Even the phrase itself is banal, which is itself a symptom of our moral and political exhaustion. But sometimes clichés are on the money. Most of this coup is happening right out in the open, where those of us who are somewhat paying attention can notice it, bemoan it and then move on to the next day’s real or manufactured outrage. That doesn’t seem to be helping. There…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Deep State, Economic Injustice, FEATURE, History They Don't Want You To Know, One Percenters, Police State America, Screwing With Your Vote, Surveillance State, War State America September 5, 2019

The Deep State Government Hiding In Plain Sight

[Editor’s Note: Be sure to watch all the way through to the end to catch Bill Moyer’s commentary. — Mark L. Taylor] Moyers & Company (4/15/16) Mike Lofgren, a congressional staff member for 28 years, joins Bill Moyers to talk about what he calls Washington’s “Deep State,” in which elected and unelected figures collude to protect and serve powerful vested interests. “It is how we had deregulation, financialization of the economy, the Wall Street bust, the erosion or our civil liberties and perpetual war,” Lofgren tells Moyers. Link to 27-Minute Video ***** Essay: Anatomy Of The Deep State In terms…

ALL ARTICLES, Gun Cult September 5, 2019

Deadly Loophole: The Odessa Shooting Is A Textbook Case Of The Risk Of Private Gun Sales

By Greg Abbot The Trace (9/3/19) When the man who would go on to commit the Odessa, Texas, mass shooting went to a gun dealer and tried to buy a firearm, the system worked as designed. An itinerant oil worker, he had a history of volatile behavior, and the records reviewed by the FBI examiner handling his gun background check indicated he was barred from gun ownership because of a serious mental health issue. The sale was blocked, and he went home empty handed. But the state of Texas doesn’t require background checks for private sales. And according to a local…

ALL ARTICLES September 5, 2019

Liar, Liar, Pants On Fire! Critics Reject Biden Effort To Re-Write History On His Support For Disasterous US Invasion of Iraq

By Eoin Higgins Common Dreams (9/3/19) Count his role in supporting the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq as another part of Joe Biden’s long political career that the former vice president—who voted for the war as a senator—doesn’t quite remember correctly. In an interview with NPR published Tuesday morning, Biden told reporter Asma Khalid that he opposed the war from the very moment it began in March of 2003 despite voting for its authorization just months earlier. Biden said that he believed then-President George W. Bush’s claim that Bush needed the threat of war to pressure Iraq to give up its weapons program and therefore voted…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Media Hits & Misses September 5, 2019

Free Speech, Press & Privacy On The Wane Across The World

By Kate Hodal The Guardian (8/8/19) Nearly half the world’s people are living in countries where their freedom of speech and right to privacy are being eroded, researchers have found. “Strongman” regimes seeking to squash voices of dissent and solidify political power are increasingly monitoring citizens through technology, cracking down on protests and jailing journalists, according to a ranking of 198 countries on issues including mass surveillance and data privacy. The report, launched on Thursday by global risk analysis company Verisk Maplecroft, found that about 3.38bn people, or roughly 46% of the global population, live in countries deemed to be at…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor September 5, 2019

Russia Monitor: Putin & China’s Single Biggest ASSet

By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (9/5/19) Dear Fellow Readers, Trump wants us to believe he never backs down, and that is a quality to be respected. Of course the reality is far different… Simple example, hurricane Dorian was never going to strike Alabama yet Trump said it would and repeatedly stood by his forecast; remember, this is during a declared emergency when people are making potentially life-or-death decisions based on what they are told. Trump is so sensitive to how he is viewed that even after Dorian headed north from the Bahamas and was no longer likely to…

ALL ARTICLES September 5, 2019

The Human Cost Of Failed Corporate For-Profit School Choice

Reveal / Center for Investigative Reporting (8/17/19) Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wants to create the first-ever federal school voucher-type program. Vouchers pay for K-12 tuition at private schools. What’s the track record? We investigate Louisiana’s voucher program, which started 10 years ago, promising a better education for low-income students. Jess Clark of WWNO follows single mom Dominique Martin as she tries to find a good voucher school for her daughter Demi. Taxpayers in Louisiana pay $40 million every year for private school tuition, and those dollars help keep private schools afloat. Clark digs into the books of one for-profit school…

ALL ARTICLES September 5, 2019

What Does It Mean That The Dollar Is Rising Against The Chinese Yuan? Global Currency War Has Begun

Trump has been making a mess of US economic policy. And the Fed and monetary policy of lower interest rates cannot ‘save’ him. By Jack Rasmus Global Research (8/5/19) Over this weekend, China’s Yuan currency broke out of its band and devalued to more than 7 to $1. At the same time China announced it would not purchase more US agricultural goods. The Trump-US Neocon trade strategy has just imploded. As this writer has been predicting, the threshold has now been passed, from a tariff-trade war to a broader economic war between the US and China where other tactics and…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses September 5, 2019

Analysis Finds US Corporate Media ‘Failing To Connect Climate Crisis To Strongest Atlantic Storm Ever To Hit Land’

By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams (9/4/19) While Hurricane Dorian marched up the U.S. Southeastern coast Wednesday after devastating the Northern Bahamas, advocates for ambitious climate action reiterated the global emergency’s connection to extreme weather—even as an analysis showed that major corporate news outlets are failing to report on it. After making landfall as a Category 5 hurricane Sunday, Dorian crawled across the Bahamas Monday and Tuesday—leaving a trail of utter destruction in its wake. The Union of Concerned Scientists explained earlier this year how experts believe the human-caused climate crisis is causing more intense hurricanes: “While hurricanes are a natural part of our climate system, recent researchsuggests that there has been an…

ALL ARTICLES, Right Wing Religion September 5, 2019

Right Wing Religion Round-Up: Evangelical Leader Claims Teaching Kids Basic Science Causes Mass Shootings

By Ed Mazza HuffPost (9/2/19) A right-wing evangelical leader on Sunday claimed mass shootings are caused by “driving God from the public square” and more specifically by teaching kids science such as evolution in schools. “We’ve taught our kids that they come about by chance through primordial slime and then we’re surprised that they treat their fellow Americans like dirt,” Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, said on “Fox & Friends” one day after a gunman in Texas killed 7 and wounded 21 others. He added: “I think we have to go back to the point where we instill in…

ALL ARTICLES, Quotes September 5, 2019

Notably Quotable: “‘The middle’ is a fairytale for Democrats who want to believe …”

“‘The middle’ is a fairytale for Democrats who want to believe it can save us from Trump, and a lie conservatives need to stop us from fighting for what’s best for Americans. But we don’t have time for fantasies, and the stakes are too high to let Republicans tell us what to talk about and what to fight for.” — Jessica Valenti, No Country for Old Moderates ***** “A new generation will have to adapt the old playbook to new challenges. Industrial capitalism’s basic structure is changing. As Shoshona Zuboff has argued in The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, the rise of surveillance…

ALL ARTICLES, History They Don't Want You To Know, Progressive History, Worker Notes by Tom Crofton September 2, 2019

If Workers Take Advantage Of The Moment They Can Turn Things Around To Benefit Labor

Workers are the 99%. We have the votes. This time we need to use them together. By Tom Crofton The Commoner Call (9/2/19) Working people in America are waking up to the fact that they need unions. The most progressive aspects of the workplace have all come from banding together and standing together for worker rights, and as the erosion of those hard-won gains has accelerated, interest in rebuilding the union movement is finally reviving. Besides stagnant wages and dissolving benefits, the most obvious loss is the 40-hour week. Mandatory overtime, and conversely, the less than 35-hour week that avoids…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Worker Notes by Tom Crofton September 2, 2019

Labor Unions Were Among The First Targets Of Nazis & Their Conservative Corporate Enablers

The struggle for labor rights continues, as we see daily in our own country. Peoples World (5/2/14) On May 2, 1933, Adolf Hitler’s storm troopers occupied all trade union headquarters across Germany, and union leaders were arrested and put in prison or concentration camps. Many were beaten and tortured. All of the unions’ funds – in other words, the workers’ money – were confiscated. Former union officials were put on blacklists, preventing them from finding work. This was one of the first acts of Hitler and the Nazis, who had just come to power in Germany a few months earlier,…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Trumpenstan, War State America September 2, 2019

On The 80th Anniversary Of WW II We Must Remember The Knowledge Of Brutal Human Rights Abuses Had Long Been Ignored

Gatehouse to infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps. Now as then, ignoring of human rights abuses lays groundwork for more tragedy to come. [Editor’s Note: With yesterday’s [9/1/39] 80th anniversary of the beginning of WW II it would be comforting to think we have learned the lessons of not tolerating government abuse of human rights. But with a spreading network of filthy and abusive concentration camps along our southern border it is impossible to say we have learned anything. Worse, no doubt, is sure to come and the national moral stain will run deep. — Mark L. Taylor] By Peter Beaumont The Guardian…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Police State America September 2, 2019

America: Home Of The Cruel, Land Of The Morally Lost

“All-Out Attack”: Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Policies Target Children, Cancer Patients And Military Servicemembers Democracy Now! (8/30/19) On Tuesday, the Trump administration reportedly ended its “medical deferred action” program, which allows immigrants with serious health problems to stay in the U.S. for up to two years beyond the terms of their visas to receive critical treatment. Just one day later, it announced that some children born to U.S. servicemembers and government employees stationed overseas will no longer automatically receive citizenship. The policy changes come days after the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to allow the Trump administration to implement its…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats, History They Don't Want You To Know, Progressive History September 2, 2019

To Rescue Democracy Now We Need To Revive The Reforms Of Wisconsin’s Progressive Era

Statue of progressive hero Robert “Fighting Bob” La Follette in the Wisconsin State Capitol. By Ganesh Sitaraman The Guardian (8/30/19) In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville offered a prescient warning for “the friends of democracy”. In a chapter called “How Aristocracy Could Issue from Industry” he observed that industrial capitalism would create economic inequality between owners and wage-workers and divide them culturally, morally, and socially. With the rise of industrial capital, Tocqueville feared there would be no genuine relationships between these two emergent classes. “If ever a permanent inequality of conditions and aristocracy are introduced anew into the world, one…

ALL ARTICLES September 2, 2019

No Wonder She Freaks Out Corporate Dems & Media! Tulsi Gabbard On Running For President

Useful Idiots Podcast / Rolling Stone (8/22/19) In the first episode of ‘Useful Idiots,’ Tulsi Gabbard discusses the false alarm in Hawaii that got her to run for president, and meeting with Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. And can “Join the Evolution” become the next “Make America Great Again?” Matt and Katie quiz each other on the Democrats’ 2020 campaign slogans. (Interview with Tulsi begins at the 25-minute mark.) Link to 63-Minute Video ***** Journalist Katie Halper On Why Tulsi Is Really Running For President Rising / The Hill (8/30/19) Journalist Katie Halper discusses her interview with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard and…

ALL ARTICLES, Democrats September 2, 2019

Senate Dems Campaign Arm Is Pressuring Consultants Not To Work With Leading Progressive Campaign Candidates

“First they came for the House candidates; now they’re gonna come for the Senate candidates. It’s not rocket science to see where this is heading.” [Editor’s Note: This story was forwarded to me by a long-time community dem party organizer who has worked hard in campaign after campaign. The link came with the following comment: “It is very hard to stay connected to these as*holes.” The dems continue to cast off some of their most passionate volunteers. — Mark L. Taylor] By Aída Chávez & Akela Lacy The Intercept (8/29/19) BEFORE THE Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee [DSCC] endorsed former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper in…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor September 2, 2019

Russia Monitor: News, No News & ‘What’s He Hiding?”

By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (9/2/1) Dear Fellow Readers, Congressional efforts to gain access to Donald Trump’s elusive tax documents from Deutsche Bank continued as headline news – two reports are particularly significant. In the last edition of the Russia Monitor I shared a report from MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell claiming a “single source close to Deutsche Bank” told him that President Donald Trump’s loans were co-signed by “Russian billionaires close to Vladimir Putin.” O’Donnell then noted, “if true”, as I did as well. O’Donnell’s news was news when he offered his report. There is now more news;…

ALL ARTICLES, History They Don't Want You To Know, M. Taylor Columns, War State America September 2, 2019

“Official Secrets” — The Best Movie Yet Made About The Truth Behind The Travesty Of The Iraq War

“Official Secrets” helps illustrate the ideological malfeasance by the American press, which eagerly jumped on this grenade to save its foxhole buddies in the Bush administration. By Jon Schwarz The Intercept (8/31/19) “Official Secrets,” which opened Friday in New York and Los Angeles, is the best movie ever made about how the Iraq War happened. It’s startlingly accurate, and because of that, it’s equally inspiring, demoralizing, hopeful, and enraging. Please go see it. It’s been forgotten now, but the Iraq War and its abominable consequences — the hundreds of thousands of deaths [Estimates by various human rights groups put the total well…

ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, Media Hits & Misses September 2, 2019

Wisconsin Journalist & Media Commentator John Nichols Talks With Ralph Nader About The Corporate Takeover Of Newspapers

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (8/2/19) Wisconsin is about to see a big media change as the Gannett-owned Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel is about to be taken over by GateHouse media, a corporation known for stripping assets out of papers, slashing reporting staffs and diminishing the amount and quality of local reporting. The combination of Gannett and GateHouse will create the largest media conglomerate that will own 1 out of 6 newspapers in the country. More and more communities are going without local media, which means local government at the municipal and county levels goes unreported. Without the light…

ALL ARTICLES, Police State America September 2, 2019

The Spy In Your Pocket & The Corporate Snoop In Your Local Police Department

Google Reports Hackers Have For Years Put ‘monitoring implants’ In iPhones By Alex Hern The Guardian (8/30/19) An unprecedented iPhone hacking operation, which attacked “thousands of users a week” until it was disrupted in January, has been revealed by researchers at Google’s external security team. The operation, which lasted two and a half years, used a small collection of hacked websites to deliver malware on to the iPhones of visitors. Users were compromised simply by visiting the sites: no interaction was necessary, and some of the methods used by the hackers affected even fully up-to-date phones. Once hacked, the user’s deepest secrets…

ALL ARTICLES September 2, 2019

Annual Fighting Bob Fest! — This Coming Saturday, Sept. 7

The 12th Annual Fighting Bob Fest! Will be Saturday, September 7th, in Madison, Wisconsin. Thousands of activists from across the state will gather for this popular annual event from 8:30 a.m to 5 p.m. at the Alliant Center. Speakers will include Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Mark Pocan, Jim Hightower, John Nichols and others. Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders has been invited. For more information visit www.fightingbobfest.org.

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Health Care, Rethuglicans, Right Wing Religion, Women In America August 29, 2019

A New Poll Reveals What Anti-Choicers Are Really About: Controlling Women

The goal of abortion opponents is clear: they do not want women to be equal players in society. [Editor’s Note: This article explains perfectly the hypocrisy of how anti-choice activists, who are supposedly in favor of life, oppose healthcare, education and childcare and supportive family programs that help the lives they hypocritically say they are so concerned about. The reason is that it is not about life; it is all about control, dominance and power over women. — Mark L. Taylor] By Jill Filipovic The Guardian (8/22/19) According to self-identified “pro-life” advocates, the fundamental divide between those who want to outlaw…

ALL ARTICLES, Health Care, Women In America August 29, 2019

Dramatic Increase: Poll Shows 65% Of Democrats More Likely To Back 2020 Candidate Who Supports Medicare For All Over Obamacare Tweaks

“In January, 57 percent of Democrats said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who backs a Medicare for All health system over expanding the Affordable Care Act. That number has now risen to 65 percent.” By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (8/28/19) Bolstering single-payer proponents’ case that the U.S. public is hungry for transformative change to America’s profit-driven and dysfunctional healthcare system, a new poll released Wednesday found that 65 percent of Democratic primary voters are more likely to support a 2020 presidential candidate who backs Medicare for All over incremental fixes to Obamacare. The Politico/Morning Consult tracking survey (pdf) showed…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Resist! August 29, 2019

Undercover: Reports From A Vancouver Democrat Who’s Been Working Against The Far-Right Extremist Group ‘Patriot’ Prayer From The Inside

[Editor’s Note: A hero in an era of cowards. — Mark L. Taylor] By Alex Zielinski Portland Mercury (8/26/19) Since 2017, far-right groups have flocked to notoriously liberal Portland to march, yell, and engage in violent clashes with left-wing activists. Most of these demonstrations were planned by Patriot Prayer, a small coalition of Trump-supporting provocateurs based in Vancouver, WA. Ben has marched alongside Patriot Prayer for nearly every major Portland demonstration—events with such vague names as “Rally for Trump and Freedom,” “Freedom March,” and “Trump Free Speech Rally.” What the far-right group didn’t know was that Ben was a spy. “I…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Resist! August 29, 2019

‘Vive la France’: 75 Years Ago, Paris Freed From Nazi Occupation By The Original Antifa

By Agence France-Presse (8/23/19) In August 1944 ordinary Parisians rose up, led by Resistance fighters supported by workers, women and even priests to throw off the Nazi yoke after four years. Following six days of street clashes, random attacks and armed barricades, they were joined by French and US soldiers and victory was confirmed. “Paris outraged! Paris broken! Paris martyred!” General Charles de Gaulle declared outside the city hall on August 25. “But Paris liberated! Liberated by itself. Liberated by its people.” Almost bypassed? The landing of tens of thousands of American, British and Canadian troops on the beaches of…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Police State America August 29, 2019

A 1989 Prediction Coming True In US

“Achieving Our Country” “Many writers on socioeconomic policy have warned that the old industrialized democracies are heading into a Weimar-like period, one in which populist movements are likely to overturn constitutional governments. Edward Luttwak, for example, has suggested that fascism may be the American future. The point of his book “The Endangered American Dream” is that members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers—themselves desperately afraid of…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Gun Cult, Police State America, Surveillance State August 29, 2019

Privacy Experts Say The Trade-Offs Of Intrusive Surveillance Tech To Track Kids In School Aren’t Worth It

“Simply said, this system allows us to have real-time eyes on 18,000 cameras in Miami/Dade County public schools.” [Editor’s Note: Never mind all those military grade guns flooding our communities. So what if some innocent kid goofing around — like the 10th grader profiled — has his future destroyed. Just like the lives of innocents, the privacy and future of kids will be sacrificed to coddle gun slingers, shooters and the gun making corporations profitting off the death of school kids. — Mark L. Taylor] All Things Considered / NPR (8/26/190 The use of tech to track and police our…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor August 29, 2019

Russia Monitor: Trump’s Bottomless Whine Cellar

“No bedbugs at Doral. The Radical Left Democrats, upon hearing that the perfectly located (for the next G-7) Doral National MIAMI was under consideration for the next G-7, spread that false and nasty rumor. Not nice!” — Trump tweet (8/27/19) ***** “A source close to Deutsche Bank says Trump’s tax returns show he pays very little income tax and, more importantly, that his loans have Russian co-signers. If true, that explains every kind word Trump has ever said about Russia and Putin.” — Lawrence O’Donnell tweet, MSNBC Last Word (8/27/19) By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (8/29/19) Dear Fellow Readers,…

ALL ARTICLES, Resist! August 29, 2019

Protesting Immigration Policy, And Why I Decided To Get Arrested

It seemed, somehow, like a necessary, if modest, gesture of solidarity with the people sitting for months on end in holding pens in the desert. By Bill McKibben The New Yorker (8/9/19) Toward the end of this hideous week of gun massacres and Presidential tantrums, I found myself manacled at the ankle to a bench in a holding cell in the basement of a police station in the upstate New York city of Glens Falls, wondering if it was a useful place to be. On Thursday morning, I’d left my house in the Adirondack forest and driven an hour out of…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change August 29, 2019

Shifting Subsidies To Renewable Energy Instead Of Propping Up Fossil Fuel Giants Would Prompt ‘Clean Energy Revolution’, Study Shows

By Julia Conley Common Dreams (8/1/19) After two Democratic candidates in this week’s presidential primary debates called for an end to government subsidies for fossil fuel companies, a new study revealed that even reducing those subsidies—as the world’s wealthiest countries pledged to a decade ago—would kick-start “clean energy revolution.” As The Guardian reported Thursday, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) released a report showing that if just 10 to 30 percent of the annual coal, oil, and gas subsidies were given to the renewable energy sector, the world could see a prompt reduction of fossil fuel emissions by nearly 20 percent. Fossil fuel…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses, Your Brain On Politics August 29, 2019

Corporate Media Bias Against Sanders Campaign Is Structural, Not A Conspiracy

You hear about Russian oligarchs daily but you don’t hear about the American oligarchs controlling US media. The Real News (8/27/19) What the United States needs is a real discussion about the systematic structural bias against politicians and political movements that question corporate control over the news, say RootsAction.org founders Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon. Link to 22-Minute Video

ALL ARTICLES, Quotes August 29, 2019

Notably Quotable: “The few who tried to plant a flag on their opposition to socialism are …”

“The few who tried to plant a flag on their opposition to socialism are passing from the scene. It’s as if Democratic voters have been thirsting for progressive proposals for decades, and now they will drink as much as can be offered.” — Max B. Sawicky, The Sunset of Neoliberalism ***** “If we embrace a far-left agenda, they’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. If we embrace a conservative agenda, you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to say we’re a bunch of crazy socialists. So let’s just stand up for the right policy, go out there, and…