Just 400 Individuals Now Own More Wealth Than Bottom 150 Million Americans

“Raising taxes on the wealthy isn’t just good policy. It’s also good politics.” By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (2/10/19) As survey data continues to show that raising taxes on the wealthy is extremely popular among the U.S. public, new research by inequality expert and University of California, Berkeley economist Gabriel Zucman found that the richest 0.00025 percent of the American population now owns more wealth than the 150 million adults in the bottom 60 percent. Zucman, who helped Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) develop her “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” proposal, observed in a working paper (pdf) that “U.S. wealth concentration seems to have returned to levels last seen…


Evidence Mounts Of “State-Sponsored Child Abuse & Kidnapping” As Separated Migrant Children Scandal Grows

Separations Are Still Happening & Many Traumatized Children May Never Be Reunited With Their Families. Democracy Now! (2/8/19) Trump administration officials are acknowledging that there may be thousands more missing immigrant children who were separated from their parents than originally reported. This was the focus of a hearing on Thursday of the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. We speak to Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project. He is the lead lawyer on the ACLU’s national challenge to the Trump administration’s family separation practice. He testified at the hearing yesterday. Link to Story, Transcript and 10-Minute…


Opportunities & Benefits Of Wisconsin Clean Energy Production: The Economic & Health Benefits Of 100% In-State Energy Production

By David Abel & Katya Spear COWS (2/4/19) Wisconsin has a current energy spending deficit of $14.4 billion ($14.4 billion in expenditures leaves the state annually). With no substantial in-state fossil fuel resources, reliance on fossil fuels is hurting the Wisconsin economy. Transitioning to in-state energy resources would bring dollars and jobs back to the state of Wisconsin and provide a win-win-win strategy for economic growth, social well-being, and environmental protection. Full report here. From the report by David Abel and Katya Spear. Prepared for Nick Nichols, Sustainability Coordinator for the Office of Sustainability, La Crosse County, Wisconsin. Link to Article & PDF Link (Commoner Call…


Russia Monitor: Trump World’s Power, Privilege & Purloining

  “Trump replied: “Fuck the law. I don’t give a fuck about the law. I want my fucking money.” — Trump to Trump transition manager Chris Christie and campaign executive Steve Bannon. ***** “It’s not the crime it’s the cover-up.” …the old Watergate expression.  ***** “Nearly nine in 10 Americans say Robert Mueller’s investigators should produce a full, public report on their findings, a sentiment that crosses party lines, according to a new CNN poll…“ Dan Peak The Commoner Call (2/11/19) Dear Fellow Readers, It is almost certain Trump’s attorney general nominee Bill Barr is approved by the full Senate…


‘Shame On Sackler’: Massive Protest Breaks Out Over Guggenheim Museum’s Ties To Big Pharma

Common Dreams Staff  (2/10/19) Demonstrators inside New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum staged a “die in” and dropped thousands of paper slips designed to look like of OxyContin prescriptions Saturday night to protest the facility’s ties to the billionaire Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma and has been accused of deliberately fueling the opioid epidemic for profit. “Education facilities at the Guggenheim, including a theater and an exhibition gallery, are housed inside the 8,200-square-foot Sackler Center for Arts Education, identified by the museum as ‘a gift of the Mortimer D. Sackler Family,’” the New York Times reported. “The cloud of white…


Meet Victorina Morales, An Undocumented Immigrant Who Spent Five Years Working As Trump’s Housekeeper

    Democracy Now! (2/7/19) Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey is calling on the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to investigate whether employees at Trump National Golf Club broke the law by helping undocumented employees obtain fake work papers amid news reports that the Trump company has fired at least 18 undocumented workers from five golf courses in New York and New Jersey in the past two months. On Monday, Menendez called on the federal government to allow former undocumented employees of the Trump properties to remain in the country while the investigation proceeds. We speak with an undocumented…



Venezuela & The Bipartisan Record Of War: The U.S.’s 68th Regime Change Disaster

This generation of Americans has already seen how our government’s endless sanctions, coups and wars have only left country after country mired in violence, poverty and chaos. By Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J.S. Davies Common Dreams (2/4/19) In his masterpiece, Killing Hope: U.S. Military and C.I.A. Interventions Since World War II, William Blum, who died in December 2018, wrote chapter-length accounts of 55 U.S. regime change operations against countries around the world, from China (1945-1960s) to Haiti (1986-1994).  Noam Chomsky’s blurb on the back of the latest edition says simply, “Far and away the best book on the topic.” We agree. If you…


In Private Meeting Top Pelosi Aide Reassures Insurance Industry Execs Not To Worry About Democratic Party Pushing Medicare For All

  [Editor’s Note: Whenever you have the chance to met with a democratic party office holder or candidate or party official who is not clearly, strongly and publicly in favor of Medicare For All ask them why the children of members of congress are more valuable than your children; than your family. Ask them to explain why all of the tax payers who make the health insurance available for their children should not also have health coverage for their children and grandchildren … for all children in America. “Please, Congressman, explain why your children are more valuable than mine.” Put…


Medicare For All Is The First Way To Sift Out The 2020 Dems Candidates

By Tom Crofton The Commoner Call (2/7/19) Affordable Health Insurance vs Health Care… This is really the crux of the issue and is the divide we need to emphasize in our next round of fixing the Democratic Party. There is no such thing as affordable health insurance, because on a purely moral basis, no one should have to pay for administration costs to deny coverage, and to generate a profit for such a universal basic human need. Insurance 101 teaches us that making small regular payments to build up a buffer for a large emergency expense is a good and…


Robert Reich: Grotesque Imbalance Is Undermining American Democracy

Let’s Be Clear Who The Real Enemy Is “Over the last four decades, the median wage has barely budged. But the incomes of the richest 0.1% have soared by more than 300% and the incomes of the top 0.001% (the 2,300 richest Americans), by more than 600%. The net worth of the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans almost equals that of the bottom 90% combined.”   — Robert Reich “State Of Disunion: Democrats Must Not Give In To Trump’s Hateful Speech” (2/4/19)  


Time For Bravery: Dear Democrats, On Health Care & Climate Change Stop Substituting The So-Called “Possible” For What’s Morally Necessary

    By John Atcheson Common Dreams (2/3/19) In a recent column in the New York Times, David Leonhardt cites a Kaiser survey on Medicare for all, and concludes that supporting it would be an “unforced error” for Democrats. Sherrod Brown, a genuine progressive, made the same observation. Richard Eskow, writing in Common Dreams last week shows why Kaisers’ survey is flawed. But there is a bigger flaw embedded in Leonhardt’s and Brown’s assumption—specifically, the entire notion that Democrats should only run on things that poll well. This perspective is shared by the party’s leadership, by most of the media, and virtually all of the political consultants and contributors….


Not ‘Left-Wing Fantasy’ But ‘Mainstream & Really Popular’: Poll Shows Enormous Public Support For Higher Taxes On Rich

Billionaire breakdown ***** “Raising taxes on the wealthy isn’t just good policy. It’s also good politics.” By Jake Jonson Common Dreams (2/4/19) Likely 2020 contenders and progressive members of Congress have proposed a variety of plans in recent days to make the rich pay more in taxes and begin reversing soaring inequality—from a wealth tax to a 70 percent top marginal rate to a higher estate taxon the richest families—and a survey published on Monday found that such ideas are extremely popular among the American public. According to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll, 76 percent of registered voters believe that the wealthiest Americans should pay more…


Democratic Presidential Candidates Say ‘No’ To Corporate PAC Money: But What Does That Really Mean?

    (Editor’ Note: Sounds good, but what does it really mean? — Mark L. Taylor] By Peter Overby Morning Edition / NPR (2/1/19) Several Democrats have already entered the 2020 presidential race, and they all have one thing in common. They’ve agreed not to accept money from corporate political action committees. Link to 3-Minute Audio (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2019. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )


Joke’s On You, Suckers! Inside The Bizarre Bipartisan Pro-Corporate ‘Alfalfa’ Political Club

“The marriage of our law makers and corporate interest.” [Editor’s Note: This is both a Republican and Democratic corruption scene. The embodiment of all that is corrupt in American politics. Democrat John Kerry is the president of this rotten little cabal of thieves. Alfalfa Club? Talk about a bad seed! — Mark L. Taylor] The Young Turks (1/28/19) “It’s that time of year again: when the biggest of bigwigs don black tie garb and descend upon the Capital Hilton ballroom to bask in the collective glow of their stunning accomplishments — and consume lots of booze. It’s the 106th annual…



‘Shock Doctrine’ Author Naomi Klein Worries ‘What Next?’ If Trump Succeeds In Inventing A ‘National Emergency’

“What is to stop him from declaring emergencies again and again if this works?”   By Jon Queally Common Dreams (1/10/19) As a result of creating a fake crisis in order to appease his far-right base and achieve a policy goal that has majority public opposition, President Donald Trump continues to threaten to declare a “national emergency” as a way to commandeer military funds in order to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. But even as experts debate whether or not Trump has the authority to make such a declaration—and consensus that an immediate legal battle would ensue—author and activist Naomi Klein…


REPORT: ICE Brutalizing Protesting Detainees With Forced Nasal Feeding Torture

“Monstrosity.” The Young Turks (1/31/19) Immigrants have gone on hunger strikes over the past month to protest conditions inside detention facilities, prompting officials to force-feed six of them through plastic nasal tubes at a Texas location, The Associated Press has learned. More detainees are refusing food at the El Paso Processing Center than at any other ICE facility, and lawyers say some detainees are losing weight rapidly after not eating or drinking for more than 30 days. Detainees, a relative and an attorney told the AP that nearly 30 men in the El Paso, Texas ICE detention center, mostly from…


Some Prominent Democrats Join With Trump, Media, CIA & War Criminal Elliot Abrams To Overthrow Nicolás Maduro & Steal Venezuela’s Oil

    “We learn from history that we do not learn from history.” — Friedrich Hegel   By Jeremy Scahill The Intercept / Intercepted podcast(2/2/19) The Trump administration is openly engaging in a blatant effort to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. It’s a campaign aimed at regime change, and it’s being publicly promoted as an opportunity to steal Venezuelan oil for the benefit of U.S. corporations. They’re not even pretending. But this is not some insane Twitter thought spewed by Trump after guzzling down gallons of Fox and Friends. It’s open imperialism, and it’s not just being…


Edward Bernays, Corporate Propaganda & Engineering Consent For Empire With Mark Crispin Miller

The most influential man of the 20th and 21st centuries… ***** [Editor’s Note: While few know his name, Edward Benays was nephew of Sigmund Freud and can arguably be tagged as the most influential person of the 2oth — and on into the 21st — century. His work on how to form, shape and direct public opinion through subtle framing of wants, desires, hates and loves created the field of corporate public relations and government propaganda. If you want to get a deep understanding of it do a YouTube search of the four-part BBC series “Century of the Self”. —…


Exotic Dancer Big Pharma ‘Executive’ Gave Lap Dance To Doctor In Drug Bribes Scheme, Witness Says

CBS News (1/30/19) The executives are charged with conspiring to pay doctors kickbacks in the form of fees for sham speaking events that were billed as opportunities for other physicians to learn about the drug, a highly addictive fentanyl spray. In reality, prosecutors say, the events were mainly social gatherings for doctors and their friends to enjoy a fancy meal. Boston —  A former pharmaceutical executive accused of joining in a scheme to bribe doctors into prescribing a powerful painkiller once gave a lap dance to a doctor the company was pressuring to get his patients on the drug, her onetime colleague said…


Israel’s New Military Commander In Chief: “We’ll Create A Deadlier Army!”

  (Editor’s Note: As if they need to kill even more. — Mark L. Taylor] The Real News (1/30/19) Eyal Weizman studied the philosophy that guides Aviv Kochavi, the officer who was just appointed commander of the Israeli military. It is a philosophy that objectifies Palestinians and ignores the human suffering caused by new Israeli technologies and tactics of repression. Link to 12-Minute Video


Dear FBI, I Would Like A Word With The Manager Regarding The Arrest Of My Dear Associate, Mr. Stone, Please

  By Alexandra Petri Washington Post (2/1/19) Dear FBI, I would like to complain about the service Roger Stone recently received. There were a lot of problems with the raid! First, we can all clearly see that Roger Stone is not only a white gentleman who owns numerous hats, but furthermore, is a cable news personality. How dare arresting officers burst unexpectedly into this man’s home with undue force, nearly as though he were a black man who had done nothing wrong? This is not the treatment for a Roger Stone. I believe (I do not have the guidelines in front of me) the arrest…


Russia Monitor: With The Arrest Of Roger Stone The Right Wing Has Their ‘MAGA Six’

“Trump is killing us.” — Agritek president Larry Kooiker ***** “There’s no intelligence to the way this is being done. The tariffs are designed to hurt China, but they are being paid by American companies.” — EBW president Cory Steeby ***** “I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this. I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” — 38-year old hurricane survivor Crystal Minton By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (2/4/19) Dear Fellow Readers, A deliberately careful view would say that many who voted for Trump wanted…


Heaping Helpings Of Democracy From Blue Jean Nation

    Blue Jean Nation (2/1/19) If ideas are what nourish a democracy, then Blue Jean Nation is a food pantry with fully stocked shelves. On our Seat of the Pants blog, there are close to 130 articles on every imaginable subject, from improving health care here at home and nationally to making college affordable. There is an article titled “The party of big government” (and it’s not the one you might think). Another is headlined “Our small politics” (about the need to think big). Back in August 2015, a commentary was posted on our blog explaining whyDonald Trump might very well become president. That was…


Bipartisan Ethical Conflict: Members Of House Committee Overseeing The Environment Have Millions Invested In Fossil Fuels

By Alex Kotch Sludge (1/30/19) The House Committee on Energy and Commerce oversees environmental protection, clean air, climate change, energy policy, and drinking water safety. But many of its members appear heavily conflicted: nearly half are personally invested in companies that produce, distribute, or facilitate the distribution of oil, gas, and coal—fossil fuels that are among the biggest threats to the health of the planet and the future of the human species. A Sludge analysis of financial documents has found that 22 of the 55 members of the 116th Congress’ Energy and Commerce Committee have disclosed investments in fossil fuel…


Doomsday Scenario Of Foreign Power Shutting Down Power System Or Natural Gas During A Future Polar Vortex

“The Russians and Chinese are in our networks and they can shut things down if they wish to.” — Rebecca Smith, Wall Street Journal energy reporter. By Bob Brigham The Raw Story (1/30/19) MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow on Tuesday showed video of a parking lot light pole “shivering” as a fatal polar vortex grips the upper midwest. “Now imagine — imagine the impact — if in these conditions somebody hostile to the United States decided to knock out the power and the heat on purpose, and they wouldn’t turn it back on,” Maddow said. Maddow reported on the World Threat Assessment…


GOP Greed Has ‘No Limit’ — As Millions Go Without Health Care, McConnell Estate Tax Repeal Would Siphon Off Billions To Walton & Koch Families

  “This legislation is insulting to those millions of Americans who are struggling, it is harmful to the fabric of our democracy, and it is blatantly bad policy that is intended only to please ultra-wealthy Republican donors.” By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (1/29/19) Just over a year after the GOP rammed through its $1.5 trillion tax plan—which has predictably rewarded the ultra-rich while doing virtually nothing for workers—Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his Republican colleagues were condemned for pushing yet another “blatant giveaway to their wealthy donors” by introducing a bill on Monday that would permanently repeal the estate tax. “Greed has no…


Wall Street Executives Make Their 2020 Preferences Known: “It Can’t Be Warren And It Can’t Be Sanders”

“Wall Street likes Biden, Booker, Harris, Gillibrand, and Beto. Guess who they hate? Sanders and Warren. All the rest is commentary.” By Jake Johnson Common Deams (1/28/19) The first 2020 Democratic presidential primary is still over a year away, but Wall Street executives are reportedly already freaking out about two likely progressive candidates: Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). “It can’t be Warren and it can’t be Sanders,” the CEO of a “giant bank” anonymously told Politico, which reported on Monday that Wall Street executives are “getting panicked” about the presidential prospects of the Senate’s two fiercest financial sector critics. Warren launched an exploratory committee…


New Dem Health Subcommittee Chair Has Taken More Big Pharma Cash Than Any Other Rep

When it comes to bills that address the issue of rising drug prices, Dem Rep. Eshoo has not been a supporter.  By Donald Shaw Sludge (1/25/19) The Democratic rep who will lead the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health in the new session of Congress has taken more money from the pharmaceuticals and health products industry over her career than any other member of the House. Rep. Anna Eshoo of California’s 18th Congressional District will chair the subcommittee after accepting more than $1.6 million in campaign contributions from PACs and individuals affiliated with pharmaceutical and health products companies over the course of…


Scott Walker’s Big Con Job: Foxconn Reconsidering Plans To Build LCD Production At Huge Racine County Facility

By James B. Nelson & Rick Romell Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (1/30/19) Foxconn Technology Group is reconsidering plans to make advanced liquid crystal display panels at its Racine County campus, Reuters reported on Wednesday. Foxconn “said it intends to hire mostly engineers and researchers rather than the manufacturing workforce the project originally promised,” the report says. The report is based on an interview with Louis Woo, special assistant to Foxconn Chief Executive Terry Gou. Woo’s remarks to Reuters marked the latest in a string of modifications by Foxconn – and for Wisconsin the most ominous – to its originally announced plans for a…


The American ‘Just-Us’ System Subjects Poor To Grinding Cycle Of Injustice & Hopelessness

  ‘I’m going to be paying it down until I die.’   Southern Poverty Law Center (1/25/19) The women incarcerated in Corinth, Mississippi, have a phrase for it: “sitting it out.” We have another name for it: “debtors’ prison.” Since the 1970s, the Supreme Court has been clear that it’s unconstitutional to jail people simply because they can’t afford to pay fines and fees. But in states across the South — and across the country — that’s exactly what cash-strapped municipalities are doing. Take Glenn Chastain. He owed $1,200 to the city of Corinth for expired vehicle tags. Because he missed a hearing, he…


Watch, If You Can, The Tortured Face Of What America Has Become

Screen shot of hysterical toddler Grethshell during a television ‘visit’ with her mother Sindy, a Honduran immigrant separated from her young daughter by U.S. border police. ***** “This type of prolonged exposure to serious stress—known as toxic stress—can carry lifelong consequences for children.”   – American Academy of Pediatrics   [Editor’s Note: All this child abuse is being done in our name, on our dime and thus — as citizens — we all bear moral responsibility for such ongoing brutal travesties to immigrant children and their families. Indeed, young Grethshell is the face of what America has become. — Mark L. Taylor]…


As Mainstream Media Falls Into Line With Trump Aggression Toward Venezuela Journalist Allan Nairn Tells The Rest Of The Story

As U.S. Moves To Oust Maduro, Is Invading Venezuela Next? Allan Nairn On Trump’s Attempted Coup Democracy Now! (1/30/19) The United States is continuing to ratchet up pressure on the Venezuelan government in an attempt to topple President Nicolás Maduro. On Tuesday, the State Department announced it is giving control of Venezuela’s U.S. bank accounts to opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who declared himself to be president last week. Meanwhile, the U.S. has also refused to rule out a military invasion of Venezuela. We spend the hour with prize-winning investigative journalist Allan Nairn. Link to Story, Transcript and 16-Minute Video *****…


Inside America’s Meddling Machine: The US Funded Group Interfering In Elections Around the Globe

  By Max Blumenthal Grayzone Project (8/20/18) On June 13, 2018 the US government-funded National Endowment for Democracy presented its 2018 Democracy Award to a collection of Korean activists who aim to topple the communist government of North Korea. The event was timed to coincide with President Donald Trump’s peace summit in Singapore with Kim Jong-Un. The ceremony appeared to be the opening shot of a massive public relations effort aimed at stifling normalized relations with North Korea. I covered the ceremony because these organizations are doing precisely what Congress accuses Russia-funded media outlets and troll farms of doing in the United…


Empty Words & Emptier Action: Majority Of Congressional Democrats Support GOP Climate Crisis Deniers

The Democrats are afraid to treat climate change as the crisis it is. We must make them afraid not to. By Branko Marcetic Jacobian (1/28/19) Imagine for a second that the scientific community has just told the world in no uncertain terms there is a meteor headed to Earth that will almost certainly wipe out most, if not all, life on the planet. One of the major political parties in the US is skeptical. They cast aspersions on the scientists, call the whole thing a hoax, repeat meteor-denying propaganda even as the enormous space rock becomes more visible in the…


“Where’s My Roy Cohn?”: Film Explores The Twisted Roots Of How Joseph McCarthy’s Ex-Aide Mentored Trump & Roger Stone

Donald Trump is a kind of delayed re-emergence of this dirty pool transactional type of politics that now really is verging onto a type of fascism.  Democracy Now! (1/28/19) Former Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, who was arrested on Friday, and Donald Trump share a unique history: Both were heavily influenced by the infamous attorney Roy Cohn, who served as a chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Red Scare in the 1950s and would later become a leading mob attorney. Cohn represented Trump for years and once claimed he considered Trump to be his best friend. Cohn is…


A Commoner Writes: Media Mum On Any Questions Regarding Corporate Line On Decommissioned Genoa Nuke Plant

  It’s always amazing to me how reporters can take company press releases that have been massaged and sterilized to reduce concerns about a viable risk to human and environmental health and reduce that threat to the equivalent of eating a hot dog: “No foul, no risk, but we are required to report.” From the Monday (1/28) La Crosse Tribune: Report: Source of radioactive groundwater located; no contamination of drinking water, Mississippi River. I wonder how the people of Genoa feel? The workers at the plant? Were there any real questions to people outside the self-interested PR department of Dairyland Power…


Are Corporate Dems Quietly Sticking A Shiv In Medicare For All Behind Closed Doors?

Here’s A Simple Question To Ask Your Congress Critter: Why don’t ALL citizens have health care at least as good as that enjoyed by you members of congress and your families on our tax money? Really, next time you get a chance — be it a democrat or republican — ask them that question and let us know what they tell you. ***** Rep. Ron Kind studiously avoiding the issue of Medicare4All and HR 676 at the 2018 Third Congressional District Convention, despite the signs and bright red “Medicare 4 All” buttons dotting the convention all. He said not a…


A Message To Davos Oligarchs: Act As If Our House Is On Fire. Because It Is.

(Image: World Economic Forum)   By Greta Thunberg Common Dreams (1/25/19) The following is a slightly edited version of remarks delivered by 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg to attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday, January 25, 2018. Our house is on fire. I am here to say, our house is on fire. According to the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), we are less than 12 years away from not being able to undo our mistakes. In that time, unprecedented changes in all aspects of society need to have taken place, including a reduction of our CO2…