ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, Health Care August 5, 2019

Ex-Health Insurance Exec: Industry Is Using Same Old, Decades-Old Lies & Scare Tactics To Fight Medicare For All

  Democracy Now! (8/2/19) The Democratic presidential candidates remain deeply divided on how to expand healthcare to the tens of millions of Americans who are uninsured or underinsured. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have both pushed for abolishing private health insurance and establishing a Medicare for All system. Their rivals have pushed a number of different, more incremental approaches. During the first night of the latest debates, Sanders pointed out that the country has taken sweeping action before to expand health coverage to millions of Americans, referring to the 50th anniversary of the creation of Medicare and Medicaid. We…

ALL ARTICLES, Health Care August 5, 2019

We Need Health Care, Not Corporate Health Insurance

We don’t have any benefit from including a corporate middle man. By Tom Crofton The Commoner Call (8/5/19) I have been very frustrated by the ineffective talking points from single payer advocates and the outright disinformation from opponents. The recent democratic debates brought this frustration to a new level and unless we clear up the explanations we will see this effort go down in flames. Typical good insurance, such as mine, attained through a collectively bargained union contract and, paid for by employers, costs at least $14,000 per year. As part of a total package, the workers choose after negotiations ,…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change August 5, 2019

Historic Floods & Drowned Land Brings A Climate Reckoning In The Heartland

[Editor’s Note: It is a mark of the human ability to deny the obvious at how the farmers interviewed in this piece cannot bring themselves to acknowledge the issue of catastrophic climate crisis, even as their farms and machinery are idled by historic flooding and their fields are transformed to vast inland lakes. Let us hope they will come to hear the scientist interviewed in the Democracy Now! interviews below. — Mark L. Taylor] CBS (7/26/19) “A historic flood in March 2019 left much of America’s heartland under water. Partiularly hard-hit were Midwestern grain farmers, and climate experts say storms…

ALL ARTICLES August 5, 2019

Let’s Send Post Cards To Sen. ‘Moscow Mitch’ McConnell

Московский Митч Sen. Moscow Mitch McConnell Russell Senate Office Building 317 Delaware Avenue Washington, DC 20510 You can contact by email, HERE. ***** Kentucky Democrats Sell $200,000 Worth Of ‘Moscow Mitch’ Gear In 48 Hours Make the Trump years go by easier with your own ‘Moscow Mitch’ shot glass. Fill ‘er up! “Just say NYET! to Moscow Mitch.” By Matthew Chapman Raw Story (8/3/19) On Saturday, Fox News reported that the Kentucky Democratic Party is claiming a haul of $200,000 from their line of “Moscow Mitch” merchandise that went live on their campaign webstore just two days ago. Kentucky Democrats are selling T-shirts, bumper…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Trumpenstan, Your Brain On Politics August 1, 2019

Trump’s Crude Words Are Cruel, Hateful – And Infectious. We Must Resist Calculated Hate

Language is a kind of virus, and history has shown many times that this virus can be lethal. By Francine Prose The Guardian (7/30/19) In the lead-up to the 2016 election, after Donald Trump referred to Mexican immigrants as “animals” and his supporters began chanting “Lock her up” about Hillary Clinton, it seemed as if a malevolent genie had been let out of a bottle. Now, almost three years later, it has become painfully clear just how cruel, powerful and destructive that hateful spirit is, and that the survival of our country, our culture – indeed of our humanity – may depend…

ALL ARTICLES August 1, 2019

Is The Nation Spinning Toward Civil War?

2020 may go beyond nastiness and division and plunge America into a new level of disunion. By Austin Sarat WBUR (7/30/19) This past weekend brought new evidence of the extraordinary nastiness that will mark America’s 2020 presidential election. On Saturday, President Donald Trump again stirred the embers of racial antagonism when he attacked another black member of Congress, this time Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland congressman whose district includes low-income sections of Baltimore. And on Sunday, a Washington Post story with the headline, “Trump campaign sees political advantage in a divisive appeal to working-class white voters,” reported that Trump’s advisers have concluded “…that the overall…

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ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism August 1, 2019

Failure Of Leadership: Here’s Proof Ole Miss Officials Knew Identities Of Two Students Who Posed In Front Of Shot-Up Emmett Till Sign, But Did Little

One of the students posted a photo to his private Instagram account in March showing the trio in front of a roadside plaque commemorating the site where Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River. By Jerry Mitchell Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting / ProPublica (7/30/19) When the head of the University of Mississippi condemned fraternity members last week for posing with guns in front of a bullet-riddled memorial to the slain 14-year-old civil rights icon Emmett Till, he defended the campus investigation and the decision not to discipline the students. He said Ole Miss had been unable to identify “all” the students involved…

ALL ARTICLES, History They Don't Want You To Know, Resist! August 1, 2019

One Of The Best Interviews You Can Watch This Year: Joe Rogan & Dr. Cornel West

Joe Rogan Experience (7/24/19) Dr. Cornel West is a philosopher, political activist, social critic, author, and public intellectual. He is Professor of the Practice of Public Philosophy at Harvard University and holds the title of Professor Emeritus at Princeton University. He has also taught at Union Theological Seminary, Yale, Harvard, and the University of Paris. Link to 2-Hour Video    

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change August 1, 2019

Earliest Ever ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ Shows Humanity’s Consumption Of Planet’s Natural Resources Raging Unabated

If everyone lived like U.S. population, we’d need five planets. By Andrea Germanos Common Dreams (7/29/19) There are more than five months left in the year, but on Monday humankind had already burned through the planet’s ecological resource budget for 2019. It’s the earliest the date—known as Earth Overshoot Day—has ever come, the Global Footprint Network, which tracks the metric, said in a statement. “Systemic change isn’t radical, it’s what we need to survive,” said the Sunrise Movement in response to the milestone. Impacts of the overshoot back up Sunrise’s call for sweeping action. “The costs of this global ecological overspending,” says the Global Footprint…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor August 1, 2019

Russia Monitor: ‘Moscow Mitch’ Joins Trump Lawyer Comrade Barr To Pave The Path For Continued Russian Attacks On Elections

Московский Митч “There is a lot at stake, and people are scared, but we can’t choose a candidate we don’t believe in just because we’re too scared to do anything else.” — Sen. Elizabeth Warren Democratic debate (7/30/19) ***** “I do know it,” he said. “I wrote the damn bill!” — Sen. Bernie Sanders in response to Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) remark re: M4A bill; Democratic debate (7/30/19) ***** “Russia’s efforts to interfere in our elections remain relentless.” — Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) signing her support for Foreign Influence Reporting in Elections Act – first GOP sponsor. By Dan Peak The Commoner…

ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, Ron "RoJo" Johnson August 1, 2019

As Deficit Explodes, Ron Johnson & Ted Cruz Demand Even More Tax Cuts For The Super Wealthy

Ron Johnson joined 19 other GOP senators to urge Treasury to give the wealthy yet another massive tax cut via executive order. By Bess Levin Vanity Fair (7/29/19) A sitting U.S. president who can’t stop attacking black and brown people. A never-ending trade war that has necessitated more than one multibillion-dollar farm bailout. A humanitarian crisis on the border of his own state. These are just a handful of the many issues that Senator Ted Cruz could be focused on. Instead, he’s currently devoting his efforts to a much more important cause: demanding another tax cut for the rich, this time without Congress’s approval. In a letter sent to Steve Mnuchin on Monday, the…

ALL ARTICLES August 1, 2019

Wisconsin Voters Surveyed Say: “Tax the rich!”

  By Erik Gunn Wisconsin Examiner (7/24/19) Nearly four out of five Wisconsin voters support raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans, with three out of five “strongly” in favor, according to a survey released today. The poll was commissioned by Tax March, a campaign to repeal the Trump Administration’s 2017 rewrite of federal tax laws, and was conducted by Public Policy Polling. It was released in connection with the arrival of the “Tax the Rich” bus tour in Madison this morning to publicize the campaign and its objectives. The polls found that 62% of Wisconsin voters supported repealing the 2017 changes.  The…

ALL ARTICLES August 1, 2019

‘Complete Chaos’ — Latest DCCC Controversy Claims Top Aide Of Chair Cheri Bustos As Racial Representation Controversy Boils

“Reminder, it’s only July 2019. Stay tuned to find out which pile of dog shit the DCCC chair manages to step in next.” By Eoin Higgin Common Dreams (7/29/19) House Democrats watched Monday as the latest scandal to engulf the caucus’ campaign arm—this one on minority representation in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee—is deepening divisions on Capitol Hill. The committee, known as the DCCC, acts as the election wing for Congressional Democrats. The DCCC is currently run by Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.), who began the job with the new Congress in January. Executive director Allison Jaslow resigned her position over the minority representation…

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ALL ARTICLES, Health Care August 1, 2019

‘People are Dying’: Bernie Sanders Heads To Canada With An Insulin Caravan

Common Dreams (7/28/19) Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders is heading to Canada on Sunday with a caravan of Type 1 diabetes patients seeking cheaper insulin to highlight the “corruption” of pharmaceutical companies and the toll taken on Americans who can’t afford the medicine. CTV News reported: “(Sanders) waved to crowds as he entered the Olde Walkerville Pharmacy in Windsor, Ont. on Sunday. “Sanders stood next to a mother who said she spends roughly US $1,500 a month for insulin for her son. But in Windsor, she paid US $1,000 for a six-month supply. “A vial of insulin which Type 1 diabetics use…

ALL ARTICLES August 1, 2019

At Burnsville MN Middle School Faculty Use & Tolerance Of Racial Slurs Poisoned The Culture

Overall, the complaints mark the tip of a very large iceberg of deeply rooted and on-going racism in Minnesota schools. By Elizabeth Shockman MPR (7/31/19) First came the n-word on a weekly, sometimes daily basis, directed at eighth-grader Ameera Ally and other John Metcalf Middle School students of color. Then came the racist “jokes” in the hallways about picking cotton. Then someone posted a makeshift sign at a water fountain reading, “for whites only.” When Ameera confronted her fellow students about the racist taunting, she said, they would shrug it off, saying, “Well, if the principal can say it, why can’t I?” This was the climate at Metcalf this spring. In December, after video surfaced…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Your Brain On Politics July 29, 2019

The Politics Of Fear: How It Manipulates Us To Tribalism

Tribalism is the biological loophole that many politicians have banked on for a long time: tapping into our fears and tribal instincts. By Arash Javanbakht The Conversation (7/17/19) People have always used fear for intimidation of the subordinates or enemies, and shepherding the tribe by the leaders. Recently, it appears that Pres. Trump has used fear by suggesting in a tweet that four minority congresswomen go back to the places they came from. There is a longstanding history of employing the fear of “the others,” turning humans into illogical ruthless weapons, in service to an ideology. Fear is a very strong tool that…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE July 29, 2019

The Legalistic Veneer Of Fascism: Weaponizing National Belonging, From Nazi Germany To Trump

By Masha Gessen The New Yorker (7/21/19) This past week I found myself in Stuttgart, an industrial city in southwest Germany. As I usually do in a European city I haven’t visited before, I went to the local history museum to see how the story of the Second World War is presented. Stuttgart’s museum opened just last year, and its handling of the Nazi era is more circumspect than that of older German memorials. The period from 1933 to 1945 comprises a small set of displays, perhaps ten per cent of the entire exhibition. The tone is neutral. By turning…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan July 29, 2019

While Ignoring Surge In Far Right Killings Trump Warns Antifa May Be Branded A Terror Group

The far right accounted for 73% of 425 extremist murders in the U.S. between 2009 and 2018. By Mary Papenfuss HuffPost (7/27/19) President Donald Trump warned Saturday that “consideration is being given” to declaring antifacist protesters — Antifa — a “terror” organization. He issued the threat even though Antifa followers haven’t been linked to a single killing, while the death toll of far-right extremists is surging. Trump’s warning follows a nonbinding resolution introduced earlier this month by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) calling for the “designation of Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.” Cruz later called on Attorney General William Barr to investigate…

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

Three ‘Ole Miss’ Frat Boys Who Posed With Guns In Front Of Bullet-Riddled Emmett Till Memorial Face Potential Civil Rights Violation

One of the students posted a photo to his private Instagram account in March showing the trio in front of a roadside plaque commemorating the site where Till’s body was recovered from the Tallahatchie River. By Jerry Mitchell Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting / ProPublica (7/25/19) OXFORD, Miss. — Three University of Mississippi students have been suspended from their fraternity house and face possible investigation by the Department of Justice after posing with guns in front of a bullet-riddled sign honoring slain civil rights icon Emmett Till. One of the students posted a photo to his private Instagram account in March showing…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan July 29, 2019

Forensic Psychiatrist Dr. Bandy Lee Warns That Donald Trump Is Emotionally Empty Inside & Spiraling Even More Dangerously Out Of Control

  [Editor’s Note: Native Americans and other indigenous peoples have a word for the kind of empty hunger Dr. Lee talks about: Wetiko, a kind of restless appetite that leads to emotional cannibalism and destruction. — Mark L. Taylor] By Chauncey DeVega The Truth Report (7/23/19) Dr. Bandy Lee is a forensic psychiatrist and a leading expert on violence at the Yale School of Medicine. She is also the editor of the New York Times bestseller, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. Dr. Lee explains how Donald Trump’s behavior, both in public…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor July 29, 2019

Russia Monitor: House Dems Walking Forward Slowly, Quietly

“Some things are above politics, and one of them is our constitutional responsibilities to do what is right. And the responsibility of the Congress of the United States of America, when a president breaks the law, is to bring impeachment charges against that president.” — Sen. Elizabeth Warren following Mueller testimony. ***** “Vladimir Putin has worked harder to run the U.S. government than all of the Democrats in Congress put together.” — Satire by Andy Borowitz for The New Yorker; headline from (7/25/19). By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (7/29/19) Dear Fellow Readers, In spite of mixed reactions to former…

ALL ARTICLES July 29, 2019

Constitutional Mandate: The Real Reason For Impeachment

This may not be the political thing to do. But in order to safeguard our democracy, it is the right thing to do. By Robert Reich Robert Reich Facebook Page (7/28/19) In today’s political climate, the question of whether or not to impeach the President of the United States is often thought of in political terms. But there is a much deeper concern at the heart of the question. An impeachment inquiry in the House is unlikely to send Trump packing before Election Day 2020 because Senate Republicans won’t convict him. And it’s impossible to know whether an impeachment inquiry will…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism July 29, 2019

The Nation We Have Become: They Knew He Was Ill, Yet 16-Year-Old Immigrant Boy Died Alone, Next To Border Facility Toilet

Remember Carlos. Remember Jakelin. Remember Felipe. Remember Wilmer. Remember Juan. Remember Darlyn. Remember Mariee. By Gabe Ortiz The Daily Kos (7/25/19) Sixteen-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernández Vásquez died next to a toilet, alone, in an immigration detention cell. In video reviewed as part of his autopsy, Texas Monthlyreports, the boy “is seen lying on the floor, vomiting on the floor, and walks over to the commode, where he sits and later lies back and expires.” His May death makes him the fifth child to die after being taken into U.S. custody since December. Carlos crossed the border on May 13 and had been detained at the Rio Grande Valley Sector’s Central…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change July 29, 2019

New Study Predicts Millions Of Americans May Become Exposed To “Off the Charts” Heat

A substantially large part of the planet becomes uninhabitable. The Real News Network (7/25/19) Climate scientist Michael Mann discusses the increasing frequency and severity of heat waves, just as the US, Europe, and India are experiencing this summer. Link to 12+-Minute Video ***** ‘Unprecedented’: More Than 100 Arctic Wildfires Burn In Worst Ever Season Huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska are producing plumes of smoke that can be seen from space. By Edward Helmore The Guardian (7/26/19) The Arctic is suffering its worst wildfire season on record, with huge blazes in Greenland, Siberia and Alaska producing plumes of smoke that…

ALL ARTICLES, Media Hits & Misses July 29, 2019

Legendary Reporter Seymour Hersh: The World Is “Run by ignoramuses, wackos and psychotics”

Legendary investigative reporter on why the media can’t stay out of Trump’s “kitty-litter box of tweets”. [Editor’s Note: Hersh’s thoughts about impeachment and the Russia crisis are a bit contrarian. He also has some tough criticism of the state of journalism. — Mark L. Taylor] By Chauncey DeVega Salon (7/23/19) Seymour Hersh is one of America’s greatest investigative reporters. Over his career of more than 50 years, he has covered many of the most important stories of that period. He helped expose the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War, in which hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians were killed by…

ALL ARTICLES July 29, 2019

Unmasking Ghislaine Maxwell: Jeffery Epstein’s Lover Turned Madame

  America’s Lawyer / RT (7/24/19) Mike Papantonio and RT Correspondent Michele Greenstein investigate British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s involvement in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. Their relationship turned the two from romantic to business partners, as Maxwell was found to be complicit if not ENCOURAGING of Epstein’s slew of sexual assaults and solicitation of child prostitutes. Then, Trial Magazine’s Editor Farron Cousins walks us through allegations that Epstein had actually sexually abused victims DURING his Florida jail sentence. His “sweetheart deal” brokered by U.S. labor secretary Alex Acosta had granted Epstein generous work leave from county prison, allowing him up…

ALL ARTICLES, Worker Notes by Tom Crofton July 29, 2019

A Commoner Writes: Now Is The Time To Redouble Our Efforts

The doom and gloom from recent political events being shared by many of us is valid, but not a new development. I take you back to the rose colored glasses many of us wore when we first heard Obama speak and the disappointment watching each promise fade into double speak. I also take you back further to the coup that we were warned about by Eisenhower, and that manifested in the early 60’s with the JFK assassination, and proceeded all the way through Oklahoma City bombing, Granada, Central America,  9/11, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen etc. The world’s policeman became the…

ALL ARTICLES, Economic Injustice, FEATURE, Health Care July 25, 2019

The American Corporate Wealth Care System Is A Needlessly Complicated, Colossal Mess … That Kills

Corporate Wealthcare In The United States 66.5 percent of all bankruptcies in the United States are linked to health care financial stress. 45,000 people die every year due to a lack of health insurance. In 2017, 3.9 million children were uninsured, up from 3.6 million in 2016. Life expectancy at birth in the U.S. fell by 0.1 years, to 78.6, in 2016, following a similar drop in 2015. This is the first time in 50 years that life expectancy has fallen for two years running. In 25 other developed countries, life expectancy in 2015 averaged 81.8 years. ***** “The American health…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor July 25, 2019

Russia Montior: Not A Good Day For Dems, A Better Day For Trump.

By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (7/25/19) Dear Fellow Readers, Yesterday former special counsel Robert Mueller was on Capitol Hill. My mother gets the credit for best question asking, “After all that, are they going to impeach him?” To which I answered, “probably not”. I did not get to see the entire hearings because today was for doctor’s appointments. We spent a good part of the day at the Miami VA Hospital; my mother is very proud that she is a veteran going back to her days as a student and nurse in a Navy hospital. The TV in the…

'Just-Us' System, ALL ARTICLES July 25, 2019

Republicans Are Radically Transforming Federal Courts To The Extreme Right For The Next 20-40 Years

“Justice” mosiac in the dome of the rotunda of the Wisconsin State Capitol. ‘Perverted American Corporate Just-Us’ Real News Network (7/22/19) The Nation’s Elie Mystal says Conservative think tanks and Senate Majority Leader McConnell are creating a right-wing federal court system with Trump’s help that will affect generations to come. Link to 12-Minute Video (Commoner Call photo by Mark L. Taylor, 2019. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )

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ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan July 25, 2019

Trump’s Disordered Personality Fits Neatly Into A Disturbing Historical Pattern Of Tyranny

This situation is abnormal in American history. But it’s depressingly normal for a country where a narcissistic bully has gained power. We need to reorient ourselves around that fundamental fact, and stop pretending that what’s been normal in the past provides any sound guidance now. By Paul Rosenberg Salon (7/22/19) I wasn’t surprised by Donald Trump’s rage-tweet attack on Reps. Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, any more than I was surprised by the maturity and sobriety of their response. After all, Trump’s racism is legendary, and telling them to “go back where you came from” is not just textbook racism, it’s a schoolyard…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism July 25, 2019

Official State Criminality: The US Is Quietly Opening More Concentration Camps For Babies & Young Kids. One Has 12 Children & No Mothers

[Editor’s Note: Notice how the damn corporations running this criminal operation an the government refused comment to the reporters. Evil grows in silence. This is fascism in all its ugly shades of dark. — Mark L. Taylor] By Aura Bogado Kids On The Line / Reveal (7/21/19) The federal government is quietly expanding its use of shelters to house infants, toddlers and other young asylum-seekers. One Phoenix facility housed 12 children ages 5 and under, Reveal has learned, some as young as 3 months old, all without their mothers. As part of this expansion, the government has designated three facilities to…

ALL ARTICLES, Gun Cult July 25, 2019

Central American Migrant Crisis Is Manufactured By US Gun Industry: “We all have blood on our hands.”

In Honduras, a 1 percent increase in homicides drives up migration by 120 percent. By Fraces Moore Lappé Common Dreams (7/23/19) Each month tens of thousands of migrants cross our southern border. They’re “seeking a better life”…right? Isn’t that why families leave loved ones to trek vast distances facing untold dangers? Certainly, it’s the story that fits our cherished image of our nation as a land of opportunity like none other. Recently, though, I felt ashamed that I—someone who wants to believe she’s well informed—had overlooked a key piece of my own responsibility, or, more precisely, my own and my nation’s culpability….

'Just-Us' System, ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Deep State, One Percenters July 25, 2019

How A Trojan Horse Project To Rewrite Our Constitution Could Actually Happen If Trump Wins In 2020

By Thom Hartman Common Dreams (7/17/19) It’s often said that if Trump is reelected, it’ll be the end of democracy in America. But how could Trump get reelected, and how could democracy get wiped out in the USA? Turns out, there’s an actual project to rewrite our Constitution, turning America into a corporate-run oligarchy. They’d end the income tax, eliminate federal regulatory agencies like the EPA, end all labor protections (including laws against child labor), let states ignore anti-discrimination and other federal regulations, and impose term limits so the only “institutional memory” for legislatures will be the corporate lobbyists. All…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Police State America July 25, 2019

“Unjust and outrageous” — While Coddling & Collaborating With Right Wing Terror Groups, Police Agencies Put Pressure On Anti-Trump Organizers

By Sam Levin The Guardian (7/19/19) The Los Angeles police department has revealed in court that it infiltrated an activist group planning anti-Trump protests, in the latest case of US law enforcement spying on leftwing organizers. A confidential informant working with the LAPD secretly recorded multiple meetings of a group called Refuse Fascism in 2017, according to newly disclosed police documents. The LAPD transcripts, first reported by the Los Angeles Times and reviewed by the Guardian, were submitted in a criminal case against activists who blocked a California freeway during an anti-Trump demonstration. “This case seems to fall into a pattern of police agencies…

ALL ARTICLES, Gun Cult July 25, 2019

Why US Leftist Groups Are Taking Up Arms

“If others have rifles, we’ll have rifles.” By Kim Kelly The Guardian (7/22/19) The van lumbered down one of Seattle’s many steep hills. A half dozen people packed inside but despite the heat, most wore long pants and boots, and several sported black hoodies. The atmosphere was subdued, except for the occasional joke. It wasn’t so much tension as seriousness – there was work to be done. The people in the van are members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (PSJBGC). Their stated aim is to fight white supremacy and build community defense in America’s Pacific Northwest, and their presence…

ALL ARTICLES, Climate Change July 25, 2019

Scientists To Set Somber Monument To Mark Glacier Lost To Climate Change

Scientists are memorializing Iceland’s first glacier lost to global warming with a poignant “letter to the future.” By Dominique Mosbergen HuffPost (7/21/19) Scientists are memorializing what they’ve described as Iceland’s first glacier lost to climate change with a somber monument and “letter to the future” reminding humans to do better at tackling global warming. “This monument is to acknowledge that we know what is happening and what needs to be done. Only you will know if we did it.” The monument is slated to be installed next month at the site of the now-extinct Okjökull glacier — nicknamed the “OK” glacier…

ALL ARTICLES, Right Wing Religion July 25, 2019

Right Wing Religious Ways: Pastor Claims He Was Sucking Demons Out Of Sexually Assaulted Men

By Bob Bigham Raw Story (7/18/19) Multiple victims have come forward to accuse a New Jersey pastor of sexually assaulting them as part of exorcism rituals. “Three men have come forward claiming Rev. Dr. William Weaver performed sex acts on them when they came to him for private counseling at Linden Presbyterian Church,” Newsweek reportedThursday. “Weaver, 69, would allegedly tell the men that he needed to ‘suck’ out demons through their semen, citing Native American rituals and a verse from Ephesians telling Christians to ‘put on the full armor of God.’” “According to impact statements the men submitted to the Presbytery of…

ALL ARTICLES, Quotes July 25, 2019

Notably Quotable: “Dear America: You are waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that …”

“Dear America: You are waking up, as Germany once did, to the awareness that 1/3 of your people would kill another 1/3, while 1/3 watches.” — Werner Herzog  tweet ***** “I decided not to dwell on it, and just do my job.” — ProPublica, A Border Patrol Agent Reveals What It’s Really Like to Guard Migrant Children. ***** “I used to work in US intelligence advising presidents on risk. The biggest threat to our country today is the Republican Party.” — Paul Nailer, The Independent (7/18/19) ***** “We need to go to the future,” she says. “Why is he so popular?…

ALL ARTICLES July 22, 2019

‘Lyin’ Joe’ Rolls Out His Wealthcare Plan For The Medical Industrial Complex & Private Insurers

“Nothing would fundamentally change.” — Joe Biden, addressing a group of billionaire donors (6/18/19). By Natalie Shure Jacobin (7/16/19) After months on the presidential campaign trail, alleged Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has finally rolled out just the sort of health care plan everyone expected of him: a marginal improvement upon the Affordable Care Act, pitched explicitly as a safer, saner alternative to Medicare for All. Bidencare would create a public insurance option to be sold on ACA exchanges and distributed at no-cost to Medicaid-qualifying individuals in non-expansion states, as well as remove income caps for premium subsidies. In isolation, such incremental measures would slightly…