California Free Press

Off the Top of My Head

Former CIA Director John Brennan Says Trump's Disinformation Campaign More Dangerous Than Russia's

by John Lawrence, November 30, 2020

Fantastic! The President of the United States is more dangerous to US interests than Putin's Russia. Former CIA Director John Brennan said so. Trump is probably the worst head of state since Caligula. Forget ranking him against US Presidents. He seems determined now to leave Joe Biden and Kamala Harris with the biggest mess he possibly can. A mess in terms of foreign policy. A mess in terms of the economy. A mess in terms of the coronavirus. It seems obvious now that domestic terrorism is a bigger threat than foreign terrorism, and Trump is stoking the fires. Thank God, that at least so far there hasn't been gun fire in the streets by Trump supporters.

Trump has his echo chamber amplifiers like Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones, conservative talk show hosts who have no hesitation to stoke the flames as high as they can because that's how they make their money. It should be obvious by now that there is no foreign threat to the US comparable to the threat caused by US disinformation campaigns and the spreading of conspiracy theories and other false information. So why is there still a trillion dollar a a year defense budget aimed at foreign supposed enemies, some of whom at least want to cooperate with the US instead of competing with it or trying to destroy it. The forces of destruction are coming from inside the US, and they are coming from those who have shown how to exploit every loophole or unforeseen consequence in the Constitution. But trying to plug those holes is virtually impossible.

The New York Times reported:

A deluge of misinformation is hitting the U.S. elections, and this time election experts are more worried about it coming from Americans.

Back in 2016, Kremlin-linked Russian trolls surprised social media companies with an online disinformation campaign. Russian trolls developed an effective playbook — they used a large network of fake accounts to spread incendiary political content to millions of Americans, took advantage of existing divisions in American society and sowed doubt about the election process. In the years since, the U.S. intelligence community, social media companies and the public have become aware of the threat of foreign disinformation campaigns. But America’s election information problem has evolved.

“We see that playbook being used by political operatives in the U.S. and we see that same playbook being used by individuals in their basements who are angry and frustrated with life,” said Claire Wardle, the U.S. director of First Draft, a nonprofit organization focused on addressing misinformation and disinformation.

Whoever creates these memes on Facebook is unknown. But then people hit "share" and they get passed around. Perhaps Facebook should credit the originators of these memes and banners. Social media really needs a makeover. Some tweets are being fact checked. Fact checking should be in place for all social media. The rest should all be either taken down if they are false or at least challenged. This is the only way to tamp down misinformation and disinformation. Much firmer control has to be implemented either by the platforms themselves or by the US government. Hiring more people to do this will eat into the profits of the social media platforms but so be it. They don't want to limit disinformation because it's so profitable. There are many more eyeballs on their ads than there are from sober reporting of the news.

In any event something must be done about the fake news and conspiracy theories being purveyed over social media even if it cuts into the profit margins of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc.

Off the Top of My Head

Why is the Stock Market Surging in the Midst of Huge Unemployment

by John Lawrence

Simple answer is that the stock market has nothing to do any more with the Main Street economy. There are two economies: Main Street and Wall Street. There's the economy of rich investors, and the economy of the 90% who aren't investors. The stock market is dominated by large multinational corporations like Apple and Google, and is invested in by rich people from all over the world. As COVID has shown, we have a bifurcated economy. Secondly, interest rates for Treasury bonds are zero so why would an investor buy them when investing in stocks amounts to a self fulfilling prophecy? The more money going in, the greater the rate of return, and rich people are continuing to make huge amounts of money. Business Insider reported that billionaires saw their net worth increase by half a trillion dollars during the pandemic. All that money has to go somewhere. Meanwhile, middle class people with 401(k)s are draining them to meet expenses. Thirdly, the Federal Reserve has all but gifted rich investors trillions of dollars.

More than 1 in 4 Americans are raiding their retirement accounts after a coronavirus-related job loss. The unexpected loss in income is causing many Americans to tap their retirement savings just to make ends meet. And many people who lost a job — or have a spouse or partner whose income has declined — didn’t have much money saved in the first place. Half of Americans who were recently furloughed or let go have saved less than $500 for retirement in the past year — and 70% have saved less than $1,000, according to a report by fintech firm SimplyWise. Of those who have an individual retirement account, 401(k) plan or retirement savings account, 1 in 5 now plan to tap those funds. Of course rich investors don't suffer job losses because they don't have jobs other than managing their money. That they can do from home.

Some has been written about a K-shaped recovery from the pandemic. In a K-shaped recovery, the economic bounce-back is bifurcated like a "K": The wealthiest Americans are quickly rebounding, even thriving, while the middle- and lower-income set are not. As of the first quarter of 2020, the wealthiest 10% of American households owned 87% of all stocks and mutual funds, according to the Federal Reserve. So where does that leave the other 90%? Struggling. Waiting in line at food banks. Getting evicted and foreclosed on. Losing their small businesses in droves. The fact that a second relief package has not been implemented and in all probability won't be for another 2 months till after Biden takes office will hinder those people in the lower part of the K even more.

So what does this say about essential workers? Are rich investors essential workers? I don't think so. Are doctors and nurses? You bet. But they are being shafted by the American people who won't obey simple guidelines in the midst of a surge upon a surge in COVID. Many of them are committing suicide. Others will soon throw up their hands and quit their jobs rationalizing that their own families are more important than taking care of sick patients which puts them at risk. Multitudes of Americans traveled during the Thanksgiving holidays ignoring pleas to stay home. Now doctors and nurses will pay the price for those who exercised their "freedom" as Americans to ignore the pleas of others and only think of themselves. Even family members of these will pay the ultimate price. Another ghastly statistic: the US with 4% of the world's population has 19% of the world's COVID cases. An in November there were an average of a million new cases per week.

Having a President for the past four years who has dumbed down the American people has not been a big help in contributing to a better society for Americans or those in the rest of the world who had looked up to America. Now the question is to what degree the Biden administration can recover some semblance of American democracy and respectability among other world leaders and also economic equity for all Americans. A lot of it will hinge on whether or not Democrats will control the Senate after the two runoff elections in Georgia. If Republicans continue to control the Senate, we can expect four more years of gridlock and straitjacketing of Biden's ambitious agenda. This will be devastating for America and the world. The US will continue to diminish in importance in the world community. Economic inequality will be exacerbated, and global warming will get even worse as hurricane and fire seasons become normal year round events.

Off the Top of My Head

How Joe Biden and the Democrats Can Attract Trump's Base to Their Side

by John Lawrence, November28, 2020

Aside from the entertainment value of the Trump Presidency, his main appeal and the main appeal of Republicans in general is that they stand for reducing taxes. Democrats can co-opt this issue. Here's how: before the next election, they announce that, if elected, they will reduce taxes on everyone making less than $400,000. Joe said he wouldn't raise taxes on that group, but he didn't go far enough. He needs to reduce taxes on everyone making less than $400,000 while raising them on everyone making more than $400,000. Trump's base, I assume, are people making less than $400,000. They are attached party wise to the wealthy Republicans who make up the top 1% with whom they have nothing in common economically. How will Joe pay for this? Simple: the money raised by raising taxes on the rich, making corporations pay their fair share, closing loopholes like the "carried interest" loophole and a financial transactions tax (FTT). And it wouldn't have to balance out equally. In other words the money raised in increased taxes on the rich would not have to equal the money spent on tax breaks for everyone making less than $400,000. It would represent the destruction of the Republican meme: "Democrats will raise your taxes."

The Federal budget need not balance out exactly. It hasn't done that since President Clinton balanced the budget in 2001. He had budget surpluses for fiscal years 1998-2001, the only such years from 1970-2020. Clinton's final four budgets were balanced budgets with surpluses, beginning with the 1997 budget. Since then Republicans, supposedly the guarantors of fiscal conservatism, have deficit spent by means of tax cuts going mainly to the rich. Even before Clinton, Reagan deficit spent with tax cuts in the 1980s. This meme that Republicans represent tax cuts and fiscal conservatism needs to come to an end and be exposed by Democrats for what it is. Evidently, the middle class Republican voters are satisfied with a meager tax cut and don't mind that the rich are getting a more hefty one. That's why Democrats have to take over this meme by giving tax cuts to the middle class and tax raises to the rich. This is the only way finally to get economic inequality under control.

Modern Monetary Theory and the Federal Reserve's own history prove that Deficits Don't Matter. The US dollar is a sovereign currency. The Federal Reserve can just print money and spend it into the economic system without adding it to the national debt. This is exactly what Abraham Lincoln did during the Civil War when he printed greenbacks instead of borrowing the money at interest which would have created huge debts for the United States. So there are two ways that money can be created by the Fed. 1) They can buy US Treasury bonds which would require Congress to deficit spend. 2) They can just print the money and pour it into Federal coffers. This does not add to the national debt but goes on the Fed's balance sheet. The bottom line is what is the money to be used for? If it's for a good cause like building green infrastructure and creating jobs in the process if the economy is less than fully employed, it probably won't create inflation. If it's just a gift to people in an already fully employed economy, it will most definitely create inflation or even hyper inflation.

So in the long run deficits do matter in the sense that, if the money is spent frivolously, inflation and potentially a loss in the value of the dollar on international markets could occur. However, if the money is spent constructively on building and repairing of infrastructure and other useful purposes, deficits won't matter. It boils down to prudent and responsible spending by government. Is Congress up to this task? Is the Fed? At this point a deal between the Executive branch and the Fed would seem more appropriate than running the whole thing through Congress where political ambitions of one party or the other can get in the way. The problem is that there is no consensus in Congress unless one party holds control over both Houses and the Presidency. Barring that, each party will try to limit the other party's spending goals which are tax breaks for the rich (Republicans) or government spending on social programs (Democrats). One way to break this stalemate is for Democrats to be the party of tax breaks for the 99% and tax increases for the 1% while maintaining their commitments to the social safety net.

'Hunger Like They've Never Seen It Before': US Food Banks Struggle as 1 in 6 Families With Children Don't Have Enough to Eat

Published on Friday, November 27, 2020

by Common Dreams

"We're now seeing families who had an emergency fund but it's gone and they're at the end of their rope," said one Texas food bank director. 

by Brett Wilkins, staff writer

 

74 Comments

People queue on November 21, 2020 at a food distribution site at Lake-Sumter State College in Clermont, Florida sponsored by the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. (Photo: Paul Hennessy/SOPA Images/Light Rocket/Getty Images)

One in six U.S. families with children don't have enough to eat this holiday season, a national emergency exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the unemployment crisis it has generated. Over the past several days, remarkable reporting in the Washington Post and National Geographic, among other outlets, has explored this alarming trend. 

"It's been hard to survive. Money is low. No jobs. Hard to find work."
—Randy Young, Houston 

According to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S., more than 50 million people will experience food insecurity by the end of the year. Among U.S. children, the figure rises to one in four. The group, which runs a network of some 200 food banks across the nation, says it distributed over half a billion meals last month alone, a 52% increase from an average pre-pandemic month. 

The latest U.S. Census Bureau pandemic survey, published earlier this month, found that fewer than half of U.S. households with children were "very confident" they could afford to provide enough food for their families in the next month. 

As is so often the case when it comes to matters of economic inequality, Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities are disproportionately impacted by the hunger crisis. Among the 25 U.S. counties experiencing the worst food insecurity, only four have majority white populations, all of them in rural Kentucky. Census Bureau data reveals that fully 27% of Black and 23% of Latinx households with children reported not having enough to eat over the past week—compared with just 12% of white families. 

"This is a story about racial and ethnic disparities—both food insecurity and the story of coronavirus," Emily Engelhard, managing director of Feeding America's research unit, told National Geographic. "The populations and geographies that started in the most disadvantageous state of food insecurity are the ones that are getting hit the hardest" during the pandemic. 

"People are seeing hunger like they've never seen it before," Trisha Cunningham, president of the North Texas Food Bank—where cars lined up for miles and people slept in their vehicles waiting for Thanksgiving food boxes—told National Geographic. On November 14, its busiest day on record, North Texas Food Bank provided groceries—including 7,000 whole turkeys—to more than 25,000 people.

In northeastern Ohio, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank planned to distribute 12,000 meals, a 5,000-meal increase from a year ago. 

"We're now seeing families who had an emergency fund but it's gone and they're at the end of their rope," Kristin Warzocha, president of the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, told the Guardian. "We're going to be doing this for a really long time, and that's frankly terrifying given the impact hunger has on physical health, learning and development for children, and parents' stress."

In Texas' second-largest city, the San Antonio Food Bank distributes eight semi-trucks full of food every day, but still was forced to resort to rationing due to soaring need. 

"Covid-19 has taken so much, people's jobs, their loved ones, and now we're just trying to stop it from taking Thanksgiving," San Antonio Food Bank CEO Eric Cooper told CNBC. "Pre-pandemic we were feeding around 60,000 people a week, and now we're seeing around 120,000... and most of those are new to the food bank. They've never had to ask for help before." 

 

Indeed, among the thousands of cars that lined up starting in the pre-dawn hours for free Thanksgiving meals at Houston's NRG Stadium last weekend, there were more than a few luxury makes. 

"I was just telling my mom, 'You look at people pulling up in Mercedes and stuff, come on,'" Randy Young, a recently laid-off cook at the stadium who was waiting in line with his elderly mother, told the Post. "If a person driving a Mercedes is in need of food, you know it's bad."

"It's been hard to survive," Young said. "Money is low. No jobs. Hard to find work." 

Loudoun County, Virginia is per capita the wealthiest county in the nation, with a median household income of just under $140,000. Yet the Post reports Loudoun Hunger Relief recently handed out meals to 887 households in one recent week, a 300% increase from pre-pandemic activity.  

"We are continuing to see people who have never used our services before," Jennifer Montgomery, Loudoun Hunger Relief's executive director, told the Post. 

In the nation's largest city, Food Bank for NYC president Leslie Gordon told France 24 that "even before the pandemic, there were 1.5 million residents here across the five boroughs who didn't always know where their next meal was coming from or what it would be, and that's escalated considerably to nearly two million of our neighbors." 

"Across the country demand has not let up, and food banks do everything they can to make sure families have food on the table for Thanksgiving," Zuani Villareal, a spokesperson for Feeding America told the Guardian. "There's no end in sight, but we can't be the only solution." 

Celia Call, CEO of Feeding Texas, stressed to the Post that "without sustained aid at the federal level, we'll be hard-pressed to keep up" with demand. "We're just bracing for the worst," she added. 

Several progressive lawmakers tweeted the Post article over the past two days. One of them, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), said that "Congress has the power to address this crisis," and asked, "Why aren't we doing it?" 

Our work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 License. Feel free to republish and share widely.

About the "Holy-Days"

Dear friends,

The holidays this year will be different as we commit to keeping ourselves and our families healthy and safe.  But we need not miss out on the good cheer and heart-warming feelings we have when we are with the ones we love. They can be generated by giving to others.  What if we bought what is required to make that big Turkey dinner, and then donated it all to a family in need? Would that be a way to experience gratitude ourselves? There will be many opportunities to give this year. Rather than sit out the holidays altogether, why not participate in them by sharing our good?

Remember, everything is temporary. Everything changes, evolves, disappears. The day will come when we are mask-free and together again.  Let’s not bemoan what we think is missing but act on what is real in us. That is the natural tendency to circulate, to participate in creating happiness.  We are hard-wired to bless, to unite with, to facilitate good will.  It is nature’s way of making sure we thrive as a species.

 One year I chose a family to support through a program at my bank. I never met them but I had names and ages.  The young son wanted a bicycle.  I doubt that he expected to see one on Christmas morning. It gave me great pleasure to buy him a super bike that any boy would love.  I could only imagine how happy he would be. I was living in Canada, far from my own family and I was alone that holiday, but it did not matter. I had a wonderful time thinking of Ramon and his new bike.

Let’s rethink what it means to have “Holy-days.”  Perhaps it is an inner experience of our own wholeness. No matter what, we always have something we can share that will bring more joy into the world.

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

How Mitch McConnell’s Do Nothing Republicans are Killing You

by Robert Reich

Wednesday, November 25, 2020

The Senate adjourned and left town without even trying to pass a COVID disaster relief bill. By the time they return on November 30, based on current trends, an additional estimated 16,000 Americans will have died from COVID-19.

We pay these elected officials to keep us safe, and they’ve failed us. To them I ask: How much death and suffering must the American people endure before you act?

Remember: House Democrats passed a comprehensive relief bill all the way back in May. 

You, Mitch McConnell, have refused to lift a finger for months, and Senate Republicans have been happy to follow your lead.

Countless Americans are now paying the price for your malicious inaction.
You should have learned lessons about COVID during its first horrific wave last spring.

First, there’s no tradeoff between COVID and the economy, and no way to get the economy back until COVID is under control. As the virus surges and more shutdowns loom, the millions of jobs we’ve added since April are about to disappear again. I’ve said this since March and I’ll say it again: The only way to get our economy back to full strength is to control the virus.

Second, more shutdowns are necessary. Businesses like Tesla in Alameda County, California, and Tyson meat packing plants in Iowa remained open during previous shutdowns, and both companies suffered COVID outbreaks. No exceptions this time around.

Third, and most importantly, shutdowns are only viable if accompanied by disaster relief so Americans can survive financially.  So pass disaster relief.

Re-up expanded unemployment benefits. The extra $600/week provisioned in the CARES Act expired on July 31st, and all federal relief will expire on December 31st. Expanded unemployment benefits were a financial lifeline for millions during the first and second waves, and must be instituted again to keep millions out of poverty this winter. Don’t listen to people who claim that we have to get people back to work, or keep them working. The best way to stop the spread is to pay people to stay home.

Stop evictions and foreclosures. It would be the height of cruelty to force even more people out onto the streets in the middle of winter as the virus surges. And with more job losses around the corner, we must ensure that a missed rent or mortgage payment isn’t a death sentence.

Distribute another round of Paycheck Protection Program loans to businesses, with strict oversight to ensure the funds actually go to businesses that need them, not massive, publicly-traded companies that have plenty of other options. 

Shore up state and local budgets. State and local governments are facing huge budget shortfalls. Without federal aid, vital public services are on the chopping block – schools, childcare, supplemental nutrition, mental health services, low-income housing, healthcare – when the public needs them more than ever. And local governments need funds to shelter unhoused residents, especially as temperatures drop and COVID intensifies.

Protect essential workers. Tens of thousands of workers on the frontlines have contracted COVID over the past 10 months – including nearly 20,000 Amazon warehouse workers. At a minimum, they need generous hazard pay and paid sick leave.

When the last COVID relief package was passed on March 27th, there were 18,093 new cases that day. Now, there are over 100,000 new cases every day. With hospitalizations lagging behind cases, and deaths lagging behind hospitalizations, it’s clear that this is going to get much, much worse unless people shelter in place. But most Americans can’t do this without relief.

The writing is on the wall. Do your job, Mitch McConnell. Our lives depend on it. 

Off the Top of My Head

Going Green As Rapidly As Possible

by John Lawrence, November 27, 2020

Now is the time for a paradigm change on many levels. Our whole way of life needs to be redesigned. For instance, entrepreneurs are changing their mindsets from maximizing profits by any means necessary to inventing tools and methods to save the environment and the planet. We also need to design an economy so that the benefits which are widely available to the rich and the upper middle class are available to everyone, not only in the US but in the world in general. Instead of America First we need to think: Planet First. But there is resistance to the fact that government needs to guide this development so that it doesn't proceed haphazardly and is directed toward a greening of the economy because climate change on the planet is not waiting for us to take our sweet time. They are proceeding in Europe despite resistance from Poland's coal mining region. Justin Worland wrote:

The plan is simple yet bold. In December, the E.U. outlined plans to spend what would total €1 trillion ($1.17 trillion) on a “Green Deal” aimed at eliminating the bloc’s carbon footprint by 2050 and refashioning the economy around new, low-carbon industries. The investment, originally meant to be funded through the E.U. budget, private-sector financing and other country contributions, includes everything from retrofitting buildings to scaling up the infrastructure necessary for electric vehicles to investing in hydrogen-energy storage. After the pandemic struck, the E.U. structured its COVID-19 recovery package around accelerating the plan. “We need to change how we treat nature, how we produce and consume, live and work, eat and heat, travel and transport,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive body, in a September speech.

Correct. 1) How we treat nature. 2) How we produce and consume. 3) How we live and work. 4) How we eat and heat. 5) How we travel and transport. That about says it all. We need entrepreneurs who, in addition to wanting to make money, have the incentive to improve the environment and the planet. Those entrepreneurs who are entirely profit motivated might as well stay home. We don't need them. It's well known that, if all you want to do is to make money, the best way to achieve that is to come up with another novel alcoholic drink or another snack food loaded with sugar, salt and fat. Those are the roads to riches that we need to demolish, and instead build roads to new developments that are effective and safe for the planet just as a COVID vaccine must be safe and effective for human consumption. The economy must become a hybrid of private initiative combined with government participation. We need both. If you want to call that socialism, so be it.

Even in Europe there is resistance to going green despite the fact that polls show that 90% of the people support aggressive action on climate change. If the US is not to become the backwater of the world, we must get on board with rapid change because global warming is not waiting for us while we dilly dally around. Very soon fire and hurricane seasons are not going to be seasonal any more. They will be occurring year round. In transitioning away from fracking and fossil fuels in general we need to follow Europe's lead and create what they call a Just Transition:

So officials in Brussels crafted a so-called Just Transition plan to direct some €150 billion ($177 billion) to the regions most vulnerable to a move away from fossil fuels. The money is intended to act both as a catalyst for these regions to adapt and as an insurance policy to make sure the climate agenda maintains broad popular support. The Green Deal broadly—and Just Transition specifically—are altering the politics of climate change in Europe and the nature of the bloc’s economic development. It might determine the jobs and industries that employ workers across the Continent for the next century. In Poland, the Green Deal has already fueled a rush to chart a new path, one that honors the country’s coal-mining heritage while also preparing it for a new future. In September, the country committed to shutting down its coal mines for good. The question now is how to do that, and whether the country can move fast enough to meet the E.U.’s deadlines. “We are at a key, critical moment in the history of Poland and in the making of the European Green Deal,” says Michal Kurtyka, Poland’s Climate Minister.

Even the coal miners in Katowice are on board knowing that they will be taken care of when their coal mining jobs disappear. The US needs to follow the same path with emphasis on taking care of displaced workers in the fossil fuel industry. They can be transitioned to the renewable energy industry with minimal hardship if the process is done right. Joe Biden's idea to transition from the fracking industry is correct. Perhaps coordinating with European leaders will help so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel.

A LIFETIME ON TWO DIFFERENT CONTINENTS – WHERE IS AMERICA GOING?

by Frank Thomas

I have worked and lived with my family 42 years in America and 40 years in Europe now. Fourteen years ago, I decided to use my retirement time in the Netherlands to write about what’s happening in America, and comparing that to Europe. My many writings were published by the San Diego Free Press and in recent years by the California Free Press. I would like to share with the Bowdoin community some thoughts from one of my writings on a tension-filled issue tearing our nation apart, “The Alienation Rut Our America Is In.”

A question that haunts me is : What is basically at the core of our nation’s incapacity to rise above the destructive infighting divisions and divisive forces effectively poisoning constructive dialogue in our political and social lives for the last 40 years? I’ve concluded it’s about money, questioning the reality whether capitalism improves the quality of life for everyone. It’s now about a politics and media of online disinformation, provocative lies, conspiracy theories. However, something much deeper is occurring as we continue putting forward shoebox-size solutions to huge societal problems, thus taking us nowhere as a collective. I believe it’s essentially about the erosion of Common Purpose in America serving the Common Good. It’s about the erosion of listening to each other, of putting oneself in another’s shoes to really hear other perspectives. After 40 years in Europe, I have seen how advanced Europeans are in this open discourse and interchange of ideas; we Americans have become totally dysfunctional in the give-and-take process.

We are afflicted by a social-political virus that’s poisoning a constructive, creative, reasonable degree of rationality and compromise in solving societal problems. A disease that has led to an ugly political and social divide where +- 60 million Americans prefer in my view an irredeemable sociopath as president. An authoritarian leader full of guile who exploits political polarization and a resentful population ripe for: manipulation, shredding constitutional principles, egging on his rank and file full of nationalistic white rage, a vile dislike of immigrants, no respect but often contempt for those who disagree with them.

Our deep social divides are nurturing instability and attracting people who have given up, even hate their government. Historical examples show that an Empire collapses after it first erodes from within. Will Durant’s prophetic words, “A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within.” Empires break down when there’s little touch and feedback from the real world, an eroded accountability and respect for facts, no purpose other than maximizing profit and wealth gains, no common good being served fairly. In such situations, the incorruptible and competent are obstructed or ignored, the weak or vulnerable are marginalized, while the self-serving, corrupt and incompetent become con artists at gaming the system for their own power and financial benefits.

Rather than reveling in an economic model that extols greed as virtue, why not significantly reform or replace it with an economic system that has effective democratic checks and balances to contain people’s greed. Why not more democracy and Bottom-Up sharing in societal decisions instead of leaving those decisions predominately in the hands of the rich and powerful who buy politicians.

One observer noted: “The entire premise of a self-ruling democracy rests on some reasonable degree of rationality and a reasonable degree of an ability to discriminate between real information and falsehoods. And it goes deeper than that still. The entire premise of any society - democracy or not – is that it possesses a certain degree of shared community, a ‘we-ness’ that transcends narrow tribalisms and self-interests in critical ways and at critical moments.”

That social-democratic dynamic was in good health in the U.S. after WWII through the 1970s. But since then it has been unraveling step-by-step. Now, we’ve reached a critical imbalance point where we must redistribute power much more equally and widely … and nurture more sustainable and equitable ways to arrange the social and economic relations in our society. Both the Democrat and Republican party machines have obviously failed miserably over recent decades in creating adaptable change that benefits All working class Americans fairly. We have an ineffective, inefficient two-party political system that controls and drives change largely beneficial to the Top 10%. We are nearing the peak in system fragility and inequities where a social implosion could well occur.

What is critically needed is a much more engaging Bottom-Up governing process where parties and government cooperate with, rely on and trust a process where communities identify and collaborate on their own needs and policy decisions to solve problems. Having lived in the Netherlands for many years – and Belgium and Denmark for a few years - I’ve seen a broad, representative social democracy in operation in Holland that steers a healthy societal balance of social protections and a thriving market capitalism (similar to what we had up to late 1970s). The Netherlands, a country with 17.5 million people on a land territory half that of my state of Maine, has developed some very reputable, innovative world firms, e.g., Shell, Phillips, Unilever, Heineken, KLM, DSM, ASML, Tata Steel.

Success in Europe has NOT been achieved by being more Right or more Left nor by being more Capitalistic or more Socialistic. Labeling people, policies, programs “socialistic” and “capitalistic” as a discussion norm is seldom if ever done to evoke emotional reactions or to make prejudgements or charges that distort reality or debate. The degree to which American conservatives automatically invoke the frightful specter of ”socialism” – used often interchangeably with “fascism”- serves NO constructive purpose in advancing inclusive, creative, balanced policy discussions and legislative actions in Europe.

Mature EU countries with multi-party, coalition governance systems don’t see their unique form of hybrid “capitalism” with its high degree of economic freedom AND “socialist” elements – e.g., strong job protections, centralized unions, well-trained worker markets, affordable health care for excellent coverage, low cost trade schools and colleges – as a conflicting societal norm … but rather as a mutually reinforcing norm for improving the lot of ALL citizens. Conflicting and competing interests behind capitalism’s vast wealth creating capacity are sorted out so that income and social benefits are broadly and fairly shared. It’s generally a very self-critical, exceptionally transparent process of working together in common cause where constructive compromise is a sine qua non and fact based.

It’s all about building a more inclusive, sustainable economy. Actions must not just stimulate the economy for the short term, but transform it as well for the long-term. If we don’t get serious with substantive reform, the mistakes that caused the 2008 Great Depression crisis will return with a vengeance unimaginable! As one person said, “Democracy is never static; it must evolve in order to flourish. Countries, for example, that attached smart conditions to bailouts will have made the most headway in recalibrating the public-private relationship. That’s a mammoth challenge in times when humankind is radically divided in America – when even something as simple as wearing a mask to protect others and oneself during a deadly virus pandemic might provoke a violent confrontation.”

In our own renewal process of deep, collaborative, inclusive discussions to find timely solutions to crushing problems by a unique policy blend of capitalism and social welfare, we would do well to pause and not quickly, dismiss, ignore, belittle, misrepresent, ridicule others who disagree with us. Otherwise, most of us will ALL become self-obsessed, polarized and polarizing Trumpians.

Our divisive tribalism has reached an intractable social-political stage where it’s killing give-and-take communication and compromise for the Common Good of our nation, particularly the Bottom 90% … as opposed to enriching the already rich Top 10%. If we can come together in a mind-opened, balanced, common sense manner – acknowledging no party is perfect – we have the brains, energy, means to achieve longer cycles of a healthy social safety net, environmental protection, economic progress all Americans can fairly share in. “

That’s a BIG IF!

Frank Thomas The Netherlands November 17, 2020

FOOTNOTE

Michael D. Rich, president and CEO of the non-profit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and Jennifer Kavanagh, a senior political scientist at RAND had an article in the Los Angeles Times Nov. 19, 2020 on our nation’s “Truth Decay.” This relates to the decline in public trust due to a lack of fact-based analysis as the basis of political discourse, including a serious gap in the transparent disclosure of government deliberations, plans, actions. Over time, this has been sadly undermining public confidence and faith in our government, politicians, and public institutions. What to do to rebuild that trust? Without going into the detailed explanations, Rich and Kavanagh state their main message so:

“Much like our bridges and roads, America’s civic infrastructure – the practices and policies that enable a nation to solve its communal problems – has been allowed to crumble. This has allowed Truth Decay to set in. Reconstructing this infrastructure will require concerted effort across many areas, starting with increasing government transparency, promoting expertise in the executive branch, assembling an inclusive administration , and investing in civic education.

I couldn’t agree more and this must occur Bottom-Up and Top Down.

Off the Top of My Head

Will We Be Able to Gather Safely by Next Thanksgiving?

by John Lawrence, November 26, 2020

A vaccine is on the way, but what about the time frame? Will we be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with large family multigenerational gatherings next year? Probably not safely. It won't be until spring when most Americans can start to get vaccinated. So what if half the family has been vaccinated by next Thanksgiving and half hasn't? Will it be safe to gather? Perhaps not. A person who has been vaccinated can still be contagious even if they are asymptomatic. So they can give COVID to the half of family members who haven't been vaccinated yet. It will take everyone at the Thanksgiving table to be vaccinated before we can gather safely for Thanksgiving dinner in 2021. To make matters worse, the vaccines will undoubtedly be released without the normal approval protocol. The vaccine makers will apply for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) and probably get it. This means that the normal follow-up study which typically takes 6 months will not be undertaken. Instead the EUA lets pharmaceutical companies monitor trial participants for only 2 months. The follow-up is to make sure that the vaccines are safe and don't lead to serious side effects. We already know that there are "long haulers" that experience severe symptoms months after they have tested negative for COVID.

The mRNA technology used by Moderna and Pfizer allows fast development, but it hasn't ever been used before in the development of a vaccine. The vaccines are said to be 95% effective. What that means is that 5 people out of 100 actually came down with COVID even after they were vaccinated. If you are older or have underlying conditions, you need to bear in mind that being vaccinated will not guarantee that you will not get COVID or even die from it although the chances are that the vaccine will protect you. However, because the COVID virus will still be out there floating around, safety precautions should still be undertaken long after everyone has been vaccinated. Until everyone has been vaccinated and the number of new positive cases is down to zero, people shouldn't let down their guards.

Another thing about the Pfizer and Moderna studies is that not everyone that either got the vaccine or the placebo was tested. Only those were tested that displayed symptoms. That means that there could have been far more positive cases both in those who got the vaccine and those that got the placebo. The studies did not test everyone to see how many people in the vaccinated group got infected compared to the placebo group. The bottom line is that the vaccine will likely prevent you from getting seriously sick. However, it won't prevent you from getting infected and passing it along to others. That's why it is important that public health measures like mask wearing and social distancing stay in effect until not only when everyone is vaccinated but until the hospitalization rate comes down to zero. Depending on how much testing will be in effect next year it is also a consideration that the number of positive cases come down to almost zero. Especially if you're older or have underlying conditions, don't jump the gun and let down your guard prematurely. Another thing we don't know is what happened to the ones that did get sick both in the vaccinated group and in the unvaccinated group. Did any of them die or were intubated? What kind of treatment did they get and how effective was the treatment? Did they get monoclonal antibody therapy/ If so and it prevented them from becoming seriously ill, why isn't that treatment (similar to what President Trump got) more readily available to the average person?

Because there is so little testing in the US, there are a lot of asymptomatic cases out there who have never been tested. That means that there is a lot more COVID that can be transmitted to those who are vulnerable. The problem right now is that the testing of vaccines so far has not shown whether the vaccine protects you from the disease or does it also protect you from being infected? That is unknown at this time. So public health measures must stay in place long after everyone has been vaccinated. The only reliable measure is the number of hospitalizations. When that number comes down to zero, then it will be safe to return to normal. Until then, we are all guinea pigs. The vaccine is no panacea.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Off the Top of My Head

by John Lawrence, November 25, 2020

Why Janet Yellen is the Perfect Choice for Treasury Secretary?

Because as former Fed Chairman she knows where the bodies are buried, figuratively speaking of course. She was the first woman to head the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, and now will be the first female Treasury Secretary. She knows that the Federal Reserve has the capacity to just print money and that money does not get added to the national debt or the deficit. The charade that goes on between Mnuchin and Nancy Pelosi represents an unnecessary exercise in futility The Fed has printed trillions of dollars to bail out the banks, and it has swallowed large amounts of Treasury bills if nobody wants to buy them at auction. The Fed's charter is 1) to insure full employment and 2) to check inflation. With all the money the Fed has printed so far with their policy of "quantitative easing", there has been no inflation. So money printing is a viable strategy to keep the economy functioning, but so far it has only functioned well for rich people. Now there can and should be a policy of "quantitative easing for the people." If Congress won't cooperate, Janet Yellen could do an end run around Congress and make a deal between her and the present Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell.

Joe Biden is going to need a lot of money to build green infrastructure, and Congress, if under Republican control, will deny him that money. Is that blunt enough? If MItch McConnell is leader of the Senate, he will make sure that what he did to Obama, he will do to Joe Biden, that is to deny him the wherewithal for any of his progressive programs even if they are less progressive than the left wing of the Democratic party wants. So let's expose this fiction that money is not available for a Green New Deal which amounts to doing what might not even be sufficient to forestall climate change. It would also create millions of good paying jobs by the way. What's wrong with that? Republicans will say that it will add trillions of dollars to the national debt. But did the trillions spent bailing out the big banks add trillions to the national debt? No, it didn't add a penny. That's because the Fed just printed the money, and it didn't increase inflation either. So the money is available for much needed social programs involving renewable energy and green infrastructure. A by product is eliminating unemployment and creating good paying jobs just like the Federal Reserve is tasked to do.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has spoken out to encourage more spending to help the economy. He knows that the Fed can and will pick up the slack by buying Treasury bills and deep sixing them on the Fed's balance sheet even as politicians keep up the fiction that Congressional leaders are concerned about the deficit:

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday urged Congress to spend more money to limit the economic damage of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest in a chorus of current and past Fed officials to tell lawmakers that inaction could lengthen the recession.

“There’s a reasonable probability that more will be needed both from you, and from the Fed,” Powell told the Senate Banking Committee, echoing nudges he has made in nearly every public statement since the pandemic began.

Powell has noted that COVID-19’s economic devastation has fallen hardest on low-income workers — 40 percent of individuals making under $40,000 lost their jobs during the crisis.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., asked whether congressional spending would be a more effective response than the Fed’s monetary policy.

“In the short and medium term, yes: fiscal policy,” Powell said, adding that, in the long term, fiscal and monetary policies encouraging maximum employment were the way to go.

Powell’s urging has been voiced more explicitly by other Fed leaders past and present in recent days. Former Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke co-wrote a letter to congressional leadership Monday that was also signed by Janet Yellen, another former leader of the Fed, and 131 other economists.

“Insufficiently bold congressional policy responses to the Great Recession unnecessarily prolonged suffering and stunted economic growth,” Bernanke wrote, along with Washington Center for Equitable Growth CEO Heather Boushey and Cecilia Rouse, dean of the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton. “Congress should not make this mistake again.”

In the past week, regional Fed presidents have also asked Congress to do more — not just to respond to the pandemic, but to encourage more inclusive growth as Black Lives Matter protests continue across the nation.

“Systemic racism is a yoke that drags on the American economy,” Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed and the only African American to lead a regional Fed bank, wrote in a blog post on the regional bank’s website. “A commitment to an inclusive society also means a commitment to an inclusive economy.”

Those comments have been matched by the heads of the Fed’s San Francisco, Richmond and Dallas branches in recent days.

These comments reveal the barely disguised fiction that Congress has to act first in order to open up the flood gates of Federal Reserve money printing. However, even if that is the case, Congress needs to get off its butt. Because of arcane laws, the Fed can't act directly. Powell's barely disguised Fed speak is implying that money is available for bailing out the economy, and that the powers that be should just go ahead and use it. The argument that it would add to the national debt is null and void. The secret that some Congressional leaders want to maintain is that the Fed's trillion dollar bailout of the big banks in 2008 did not add to the national debt. Nevertheless, some Congressional leaders are aware of Modern Monetary Theory which maintains that Deficits Don't Matter. In 2014 the author of this book, Stephanie Kelton, was designated as Chief Economist for the Democratic Minority Staff of the Senate Budget Committee and later became an economic advisor to the Bernie Sanders campaign.

So money is available for a massive Green New Deal which will benefit both the economy and the salvation of the planet from global warming. Other aspects of Joe Biden's and Kamala Harris' agenda are also doable if the US can get off its butt and use the facilities that were available to bail out the big banks for the benefit of middle class and poor Americans and save the planet while doing it.

Off the Top of My Head

What Can Joe Biden Do to "Restore the Soul of the Nation"?

by John Lawrence, November 24, 2020

The Biden Administration has its work cut out for them. Rejoining the Paris Accords on climate change, rejoining the World Health Organization, appointing a head to the Environmental Protection Agency who is actually not trying to destroy the Environment etc etc. All of these things while so necessary are kind of obvious. To restore the soul of the nation, the number one thing Biden needs to do is to demilitarize the nation. The US spends about a trillion dollars a year on its military more than the ten next highest spending countries combined. It's not just a question of the defense budget; it's all the spending in the military-industrial complex as well. This is at a time when the main threat to the US is domestic not foreign terrorism. Dwight Eisenhauer warned about the encroaching military-industrial complex. "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

The violence, discord and division that we see within the United States is a direct reflection of the violence and discord the US has perpetrated in Vietnam and Iraq, two wars which Presidents of the US lied about. The 80 million refugees living in horrible refugee camps in the world are a direct result of US military policy which currently stations soldiers at nearly 800 military bases in more than 70 countries and territories abroad. The US military is the largest employer in the US. The next largest employer, Walmart, employs 1.5 million people. There were a total of 1.3 million active duty military and more than 800,000 reserve forces as of September 2017, according to Defense Department personnel data. But this doesn't count the number of civilians in the military-industrial complex employed by companies like Lockheed Martin (110,000 employees), Boeing (161,133 employees), Raytheon (195,000 employees), BAE Systems (85,800 employees), Northrop Grumman (90,000 employees), General Dynamics (107,000 employees) and many more.

The fact of the matter is that high school graduates who have neither the money nor prospects for college usually go into the military where many benefits await them like free advanced and specialty training, a guaranteed paycheck, free health and dental care, enlistment bonuses, free room and board, educational benefits, a pension and much more. Going into the military right out of high school does not deprive you of a college education. The military can help pay for college or pay off college loans. Most enlistees are eligible for up to 100 percent of college tuition through the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) while on active duty. Additionally, the Air Force has the nation’s largest community college, the Community College of the Air Force for which enrollment is automatic upon enlistment in the Air Force. Armed Forces education benefit programs include the Forever GI Bill, Army, Navy, Marine and Navy College Funds, College Loan Repayment (including Student Loan Forgiveness) and Student Loan Deferment and Forbearance. As an Uber driver I pick up a lot of military people. One Navy guy told me he joined the Navy so that after 5 years he could get free training to become a helicopter pilot at a civilian school. They even can get a pension after 5 years.

Now the high school graduates like me who have college prospects often like me,, end up in the military-industrial complex. I worked at General Dynamics Convair Division in San Diego for several years, later at the Naval Electronics Lab on Point Loma which has changed its name several times to protect the guilty as they say. So many college graduates especially in the engineering fields end up in the milkitary-industrial complex while high school graduates that don't go to college end up in the military, not because they love the military, but because they love the generous benefits. When you add up all the people in the military plus all the people in the military-industrial complex, it's clear that the US is a militarist state whose employment base is military related. This is nonsensical when a greater threat is from domestic terrorism than foreign terrorism, and there is no threat from foreign nation states only from scattered terrorists which could be dealt with with a fraction of the military and military-industrial complex budget that presently exists.

Now consider the benefits accruing to those who join the peace Corps and AmeriCorps. What there still is a Peace Corps. You never hear a word about it in the media. The Peace Corps provides each Volunteer with housing and a living stipend that enables them to live in a manner similar to people in their community of service. Unlike other international volunteer programs, there is no charge to participate in the Peace Corps. There is no application fee, although costs may only be partially covered for required medical examinations during the application process. Upon completion of two years of service, the Peace Corps provides each Volunteer with more than $10,000 (pre-tax) to help with the transition to life back home. This money is yours to use as you wish. AmeriCorps has some educational benefits after completion. The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award is a post-service benefit earned by individuals who complete approved terms of national service in AmeriCorps programs. Well, suffice it to say, the benefits of joining the Peace Corps or AmeriCorps don't compare with the benefits of joining the military and the funding available for these two programs is meager compared to the military budget.

So what Joe Biden can do is to increase the benefits for Peace Corps and AmeriCorps while increasing the funding for those programs and decreasing the funding for the military and the military-industrial complex. This will have the effect of demilitarizing the consciousness of American citizens and will actually do a lot of good in America and the world. When I was in the military-industrial complex, they encouraged you to vote Republican because Republican administrations would increase military funding while, Democratic administrations would reduce it. The message was clear: If you wanted there to be funding for your job, you'd better vote Republican. That's why there should be a pathway for transitioning to a Peace economy from the Militarist economy which guarantees jobs in the Peace-Industrial complex for those presently employed in the military-industrial complex. In the same way there should be a guarantee of employment in the renewable energy field for those losing their jobs in the fossil fuel field.

A transition to a Peace economy away from the military economy in parallel with a transition to a renewable energy economy away from the fossil fuel economy will do a lot to make the United States and the world a better place, and also, by the way, to restore the soul of the nation.

Off the Top of My Head

Why Do We Need All These People to Rubber Stamp Election Results?

by John Lawrence, December 23, 2020

If Dr Seuss were alive, he might write a book, "Oh, the Votes We Can See." Run the Star Belly Sneetches through the voting machine and they come out with certified votes on their bellies. Run the Sneetches without stars on their bellies through the voting machine and they uncertify the votes. This is nonsense. The US electoral system is nonsense. Why do we need a four member board in Michigan to certify a vote? Why do we need to send a board of electors whose whole purpose is just to rubber stamp the electoral votes that have already been decided? Layers of lawyers are going to sue Star Belly Sneetches to change their stars from Biden to Trump. Other layers of lawyers will sue to get the Sneetches without stars on their bellies to put a Biden on their belly. Meanwhile Joe Biden is Bidin' his time.This is all ridiculous. The United States of Ridiculousness that can't even modernize its election system from the time when electors at least had to ride their horses to Washington with election results.

I think the electors should have to ride horses to Washington, and once there they could be put up in the Trump hotel where they would be coddled and catered to in order to persuade them to cast their electoral vote for Trump. Biden could put up his electors at the Notel Motel where they would get a continental breakfast and a promise of a better job if they cast their vote for Biden. Star Belly Sneetches would pull up their horses outside the Trump hotel and Sneetches without stars could pull up their donkeys at the Notel. Star Belly Sneetches would dine on filet mignon and chant "USA USA" while Sneetches without stars would dine on bologna sandwiches and chant "Black Lives Matter." All the layers of lawyers for both sides would be invited either to the White House for a convocation or to Greene Memorial Stadium for a pep rally. The purpose of these rallies would be to get the electors either to cast their electoral vote for Trump or for Biden irregardless of whether they had a star on their bellies or not.

On the designated day the electors would gather at Union Station to cast their electoral votes except for a last minute challenge in court by the layers of lawyers who want a revote, a recount, a reaudit and a recertification. Hold the phone folks. We must ascertain whether or not there were enough eyeballs on the volunteers who counted the votes. They will be challenged in court because it is alleged that they don't know how to count. Their arithmetical skills must be recertified. One by one they must come before a judge and count from one to a hundred and then do it backwards. If they can't accomplish this simple test, they will be required to go back to the third grade and all votes counted by them will be declared to be tainted. Tainted votes must of necessity and by prudent jurisprudence be thrown out. Because of all these legal challenges this case will be taken to the state Court of Appeals, then to the state Supreme Court. Reaching no decision there the case will be taken to the Federal Court of Appeals and then to the Federal Supreme Court where the Justices will rubber stamp the outcome according to which candidate they are pledged to which is the candidate that appointed them.

When all is said and done the new US President will be sworn in 16 months after the election having denied his opponent's transition team the right to transition. However the layers of lawyers will go back to state court, then Federal court, then Supreme Court to assert their right to transition. I submit to you sir that every worthy gentleman should be able to transition if he feels a need to. The will of the Court turned out to be that the lawyers were directed to the transition room where they could transition to their heart's content in whatever manner they deemed appropriate. But wait a minute. Senator Mitch McConnell just received a letter from one of his constituents, little Johnny Harwood, 8 years old. "Dear Mr McConnell, Why couldn't all the votes be counted in one place and the winner decided then and there. One person, one vote. Just think of all the horse manure that could be alleviated if you simply did just that."

Off the Top of My Head

Why Are Republicans Being So Deferential to Trump?

by Kay Oss and Pam Dennick, November 22, 2020

Why are Republicans still going along with Trump's fantasy that he won the election? Why aren't they speaking out telling him it's over and recognizing Joe Biden as the next President of the United States? The answer is that they realize that the Republican base is really Trump's base. 70 million Americans voted for Trump, and these people are more loyal to Trump than they are to the Republican party. If Trump wanted to, he could take these voters with him and form his own party. Then where would that leave the Republican party? It would be a head without a body. Trump could effectively decapitate the Republican party. That's why the Republican leadership is handling Trump with kid gloves.

The Republican party is an incongruous amalgam of an old line Republican head exemplified by Mitch McConnell, Lindsay Graham and Mitch Romney and a base consisting of white supremacists and other disgruntled people with a multitude of grievances. These two quasi Republican groups have little in common. The Republican head represents rich people and are mainly interested in using politics as a means to wealth and power. The Republican base, which is really Trump's base, consists of aggrieved and uneducated people who are readily amenable to conspiracy theories and the entertainment value of political theater. The problem with the Republican party is that the head needs Trump's base in order to even have a viable political party. Without this ill fitting base they represent very few people. So Trump only needs to repudiate the Republican party and tell his base that he is forming his own party. This spells doom for the Republican party which needs Trump's base to get elected.

Trump has already formed a PAC, and most of the money he is raising is money that he has complete control over. Trump is very interested in monetizing his popularity. This money could be used for political purposes or it could be used for paying off Trump's humungous debts once he leaves office. This is money that would be evacuated from Republican coffers and be used to fill Trump's personal coffers. If Republican leadership repudiates Trump, they will live to rue the day as Trump takes his base and goes home with it. Republican leadership must maintain the fiction that their values and the values of Trump's base are really compatible. They're not.

The fact is that the Republican party doesn't stand for anything but sheer ambition for wealth and power. On the other hand the Democratic party stands for helping the middle class and the poor and saving the earth from the ravages of global warming. We are very soon arriving at the stage of global warming where fire season and hurricane season are year round events. In other words they are no longer seasonal. The seasons are getting longer year after year. Nevertheless, despite the fact that wealthy Republicans are taking measures to protect their wealth from the ravages of global warming, they must keep up the fiction in public that global warming is a hoax. Hoaxes and conspiracy theories are the stock in trade which Trump uses to feed his base and keep them entertained. Without them there would be nothing to keep them interested. Reality just is not as much fun. Fact based science is boring. The problem is that fact based science will help us get better; conspiracy theories will lead us down the rabbit hole of self-deception and disaster.

It can only be hoped that Joe Biden and the Democratic party will have the courage to do what is necessary to get the United States on the right track, to build on a constructive agenda which benefits the American people and the world, extracts Trump's base from their rabbit hole and heals the underlying condition of the complete denial of reality which Trumpism represents. America has come very close to a fascist takeover of democracy, and we're not out of the woods yet. Trump is still a force to be reckoned with in or out of office.

Off the Top of My Head

Are We Really All in This Together?

by John Lawrence, October 21, 2020

The pandemic in terms of dying has affected mainly old people and minorities, but also there have been many at the highest level White House related cases including 87 year old Senator Chuck Grassley. I assume that these high level cases have been and will be treated with monoclonal antibodies like Remdesivir which "cured" President Trump. These treatments it should be noted are not available to everyone. Why not if they are so efficacious. Those who have the best treatments available can subscribe to the thesis that the coronavirus is no big deal. Mainly others are doing the dying.

Pope Francis' words of wisdom, Fratelli Tutti, his encyclical letter on Fraternity and Social Friendship represents a plea that we all should be in this together even though it's clear that in many parts of the world we're not. His words of wisdom follow:

"All too quickly, however, we forget the lessons of history, “the teacher of life”. Once this health crisis passes, our worst response would be to plunge even more deeply into feverish consumerism and new forms of egotistic self-preservation. God willing, after all this, we will think no longer in terms of “them” and “those”, but only “us”. If only this may prove not to be just another tragedy of history from which we learned nothing. If only we might keep in mind all those elderly persons who died for lack of respirators, partly as a result of the dismantling, year after year, of healthcare systems. If only this immense sorrow may not prove useless, but enable us to take a step forward towards a new style of life. If only we might rediscover once for all that we need one another, and that in this way our human family can experience a rebirth, with all its faces, all its hands and all its voices, beyond the walls that we have erected.

"Unless we recover the shared passion to create a community of belonging and solidarity worthy of our time, our energy and our resources, the global illusion that misled us will collapse and leave many in the grip of anguish and emptiness. Nor should we naively refuse to recognize that “obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction”. The notion of “every man for himself” will rapidly degenerate into a free-for-all that would prove worse than any pandemic."

Yet in the US we are divide into two nations fundamentally at war with each other. Even religious institutions fan the flames of political divides. Masc wearing has become something that freedom loving Americans feel free to not do on Constitutional grounds. Caring about the welfare of others is unAmerican when it takes away from some Americans' freedoms. That's the American way: freedom trumps "Fraternity and Social Friendship" as the Pope would say. Is freedom the only value worth supporting? Must it dominate all other values? Must saving the earth from global warming be politicized into a Left-Right issue? Those who want to convert to renewable energy are characterized as "too far Left?" It isn;t a matter of Left Right. It's a matter of what is the right thing to do.

When it comes time to give the American people a tax break, there's no hue and cry about deficit spending. When the big banks were bailed out costing trillions of dollars, there was no hue and cry about deficit spending. Even though many of the bankers had committed fraud, none of them went to jail and the fines were just a slap on the wrist. But when a government program that forgives student loan debt or funds a massive green infrastructure program is mentioned, all of a sudden Republicans are concerned about deficit spending. It's "too far Left." Providing affordable housing, feeding the hungry, creating jobs for the unemployed - all those ideas are "too far Left." It's more important to preserve American values than it is to solve social problems. In other words despite the Pope's pleas, we are not all in this together. Freedom is more important than social cohesion.

Off the Top of My Head

Trump's Götterdämmerung

by John Lawrence, November 20, 2020

As Russian troops were entering Berlin in the last days of WW II, Hitler, deep in his bunker in Berlin, issued his final orders that all German bridges and roads were to be blown up. Anything of value in Germany was to be destroyed. He didn't want anything but a destroyed Germany turned over to the Allies. Fortunately, the German Generals ignored his orders. Similarly, Trump, still the most powerful man in the world, for the next two months, is taking his revenge for losing the election, as Hitler did for losing the war, by destroying as much of the US as possible before handing it over to Joe Biden. Hitler had lost faith in the German people because they had betrayed him by losing the war. Trump is showing his total disregard for America for turning him into a loser.

Götterdämmerung is the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four music dramas titled Der Ring des Nibelungen in which Valhalla is destroyed by flames. It can be interpreted as a death wish for society if the leader himself must die. It has been interpreted as Hitler's wanting to destroy German society if he himself must be destroyed. If he could not prevail, he wanted to totally bring Germany down with him. Trump is acting in a similar manner. He is presiding over the worst pandemic in US history while steadfastly refusing to do anything about it. He will not do anything at this point to help the American people. There will be no stimulus or relief package as long as Trump remains as President. He has ordered an end to the Federal Reserve's emergency relief funds just today. Neil Bradley, US Chamber of Commerce VP & Chief Policy Officer said, "A surprise termination of the Federal Reserve's emergency liquidity programs ... prematurely and unnecessarily ties the hands of the incoming administration, and closes the door on important liquidity options for businesses at a time when they need them most." Of course Trump's main goal is to "tie the hands of the incoming administration." He wants to make Joe Biden's job as the next President as difficult and hamstrung as possible. Why do you think he won't let the GSA give access to the normal transition funds and office space? Why do you think he won't cooperate with the incoming Biden administration in any way?

As a LOSER, Trump is becoming the most dangerous man in the whole world. If he can't be America's Führer, he wants to destroy America just as Hitler issued orders to destroy Germany. It is the American Valhalla. Just as in Trump's America, Hitler's Germany was rife with conspiracy theories. The historian John Roberts suggested that the killing of Siegfried by Hagen with a stab in the back gave inspiration for the myth that the German Army did not lose World War I, but was instead defeated by a treasonous "stab in the back" from civilians, in particular Jews and Socialists. So Trump did not actually lose the election, but a vast conspiracy was concocted to overturn its results. How else could Joe Biden win? Richard Wagner himself was a notorious anti-Semite. In America circa 2020. there are too many conspiracy theories to shake a stick at, the flames of which are fanned by numerous conservative talk show hosts and passed around on social media, one of the biggest of which is that George Soros, a Jew, is responsible for the fact that the Democrats have defeated Donald Trump.

The New York Times reported:

On both sides of the Atlantic, a loose network of activists and political figures on the right have spent years seeking to cast Mr. Soros not just as a well-heeled political opponent but also as the personification of all they detest. Employing barely coded anti-Semitism, they have built a warped portrayal of him as the mastermind of a “globalist” movement, a left-wing radical who would undermine the established order and a proponent of diluting the white, Christian nature of their societies through immigration.

In the process, they have pushed their version of Mr. Soros, 88, from the dark corners of the internet and talk radio to the very center of the political debate.

As in Germany, so in America: conspiracy theories, the entertainment value of hate and anger purveyed by vitriolic blowhards including Hitler and Trump themselves, the blaming of "the other" for their problems. Trump could make his Götterdämmerung complete by launching a military strike on Iran thus starting World War 3. It has just been reported that Iran is stockpiling more fissile material than it was supposed to although Trump vacated the JCPOA nuclear agreement with Iran so he left them free to do so. Trump seems determined to leave Joe Biden an unholy, unmanageable, ineffably destructive mess. His determination to tie Joe Biden's hands as much as he possible can before he leaves office is apparent. If he cannot overturn the results of the election, Trump will pull America down with him.

Off the Top of My Head

Trump's Scattershot Foreign Policy

by John Lawrence, November

Trump never had a foreign policy per se just a lot of disconnected impulses and hunches some of which might have borne fruit if there had been some coherent plan for following up. Take Kim Jong Un for instance. I think it was a good thing that he managed to have a personal relationship with him. But nothing came of it because there was no attempt to continue the relationship with any concrete plan. Trump's latest move is to withdraw more troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. But he should have gone ahead and withdrawn them all and ended those ongoing disasters once and for all. Instead he leaves a "token" force there. This is the US military establishment's basic problem; they want a token force in every country of the world. If Trump wanted to be consistent, he would have removed the 50,000 troops from Germany and the 30,000 troops from South Korea. There is no need to occupy all these countries - at great expense to American taxpayers, I might add - since the US has excellent intelligence of all kinds including satellite and human intelligence so that it knows what's happening anywhere in the world and can react almost instantaneously if the need be. A troop presence is unnecessary. Remember the drones?

Trump made a point that NATO - meaning basically Germany - was not paying its fair share. They should have been paying more and doing more to defend themselves and not relying so much on the US. So far, so good. He did get Germany to increase its defense budget, but then he turns around and increases the US defense budget instead of reducing it commensurately. Plus he could have withdrawn the 50,000 US troops from Germany saving a ton of money. Trump's inconsistency is the hallmark of his foreign policy since to call it even a policy is a stretch. A policy connotes some kind of intelligent forethought and planning neither of which were in Trump's skill set.

As far as becoming friends with Vladimir Putin, I think this was a good thing. It is better to have warm personal relationships with the leaders of countries with whom we have potentially tense or adversarial relationships. It is important also not to let those leaders take advantage of or manipulate the US by means of these relationships. It's not clear if this was what was happening. Trump started out with China on the same wavelength which was also a good thing until he decided that it was in his interests to blame China for the "China virus" and start another cold war with China. It is extremely important to have good relationships with Russia and China at this point because cooperation on global warming is essential. Also China is going to come out of the pandemic with the world's leading economy. America will be relegated to number 2. It was more or less tied before the pandemic, but China got the pandemic under control and reopened its economy several months ago.

Trump's attitude towards Iran is not constructive. He withdrew from the JCPOA, and is now contemplating evidently a strike on Iran which would be disastrous. Despite Trump's possible personal business interests in Russia and/or China which led him to be initially more friendly towards those countries, I still think that his detente with them was a positive thing. The Democratic leadership on the other hand seems intent on demonizing Vladimir Putin instead of working with him in a more friendly fashion. I suspect that a Biden administration will try to have a more constructive and positive relationship with China than the Trump relationship devolved into. The boneheaded attempts by Trump to compete with China by demonizing Tik Tok and Huawei will come to an end, I hope. Again the importance of cooperation with regard to global warming between the world's two largest economies cannot be overstated.

Trump's delight in selling billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia was just abhorrent. Fanning the flames of war because it's good for the economy is reprehensible. Let us hope that the Biden administration takes a more constructive approach to reducing the US' occupation forces in many countries of the world, reducing the US footprint, ending finally by means of a total troop withdrawal the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and working cooperatively with the major countries of the world with whom somewhat adversarial relationships have been developing unfortunately. Cooperation and diplomacy should be the watchwords as we try to repair the harm that that US military forces have inflicted in the Middle East and elsewhere putting more emphasis on constructively rebuilding those countries and resettling the millions of refugees that these wars have caused.

Who Wins from Trump’s Final Travesty?

by Robert Reich

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Leave it to Trump and his Republican allies to spend more energy fighting non-existent voter fraud than containing a virus that has killed 244,000 Americans and counting.

The cost of this misplaced attention is incalculable. While Covid-19 surges to record levels, there’s still no national strategy for equipment, stay at home orders, mask mandates or disaster relief.

The other cost is found in the millions of Trump voters who are being led to believe the election was stolen and who will be a hostile force for years to come – making it harder to do much of anything the nation needs, including actions to contain the virus.

Trump is continuing this charade because it pulls money into his newly formed political action committee and allows him to assume the mantle of presumed presidential candidate for 2024, whether he intends to run or merely keep himself the center of attention.

Leading Republicans like Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell are going along with it because donors are refilling GOP coffers.

The biggest beneficiaries are the party’s biggest patrons – the billionaire class, including the heads of the nation’s largest corporations and financial institutions, private-equity partnerships and hedge funds – whom a deeply divided nation serves by giving them unfettered access to the economy’s gains.

Their heist started four decades ago. According to a recent Rand study, if America’s distribution of income had remained the same as it was in the three decades following the second world war, the bottom 90% would now be $47 trillion richer.

A low-income American earning $35,000 this year would be earning $61,000. A college-educated worker now earning $72,000 would be earning $120,000. Overall, the grotesque surge in inequality that began 40 years ago is costing the median American worker $42,000 per year.

The upward redistribution of $47 trillion wasn’t due to natural forces. It was contrived. As wealth accumulated at the top, so did political power to siphon off even more wealth and shaft everyone else.

Monopolies expanded because antitrust laws were neutered. Labor unions shriveled because corporations were allowed to bust unions. Wall Street was permitted to gamble with other peoples’ money and was bailed out when its bets soured even as millions lost their homes and savings. Taxes on the top were cut, tax loopholes widened.

When Covid-19 hit, Big Tech cornered the market, the rich traded on inside information, and the Treasury and the Fed bailed out big corporations but let small businesses go under. Since March, billionaire wealth has soared while most Americans have become poorer.

How could the oligarchy get away with this in a democracy where the bottom 90% have the votes? Because the bottom 90% are bitterly divided.

Long before Trump, the GOP suggested to white working-class voters that their real enemies were Black people, Latinos, immigrants, “coastal elites,” bureaucrats and “socialists.” Trump rode their anger and frustration into the White House with more explicit and incendiary messages. He’s still at it with his bonkers claim of a stolen election.

The oligarchy surely appreciates the Trump-GOP tax cuts, regulatory rollbacks and the most business-friendly Supreme Court since the early 1930s. But the Trump-GOP’s biggest gift has been an electorate more fiercely split than ever.

Into this melee comes Joe Biden, who speaks of being “president of all Americans” and collaborating with the Republican party. But the GOP doesn’t want to collaborate. When Biden holds out an olive branch, McConnell and other Republican leaders will respond just as they did to Barack Obama – with more warfare, because that maintains their power and keeps the big money rolling in.

The president-elect aspires to find a moderate middle ground. This will be difficult because there’s no middle. The real divide is no longer left versus right but the bottom 90% versus the oligarchy.

Biden and the Democrats will better serve the nation by becoming the party of the bottom 90% – of the poor and the working middle class, of black and white and brown, and of all those who would be $47 trillion richer today had the oligarchy not taken over America.

This would require that Democrats abandon the fiction of political centrism and establish a countervailing force to the oligarchy – and, not incidentally, sever their own links to it.

They’d have to show white working-class voters how badly racism and xenophobia have hurt them as well as people of color. And change the Democratic narrative from kumbaya to economic and social justice.

Easy to say, hugely difficult to accomplish. But if today’s bizarre standoff in Washington is seen for what it really is, there’s no alternative.

'It's Even Worse on Video': Trump Adviser Welcomes Killing Loved Ones With Covid-19 as This May Be 'Their Final Thanksgiving' Anyway

Published on Tuesday, November 17, 2020

by Common Dreams

"Eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow my policies may kill you."

by Julia Conley, staff writer

 

8 Comments

Dr. Scott Atlas, a top White House coronavirus adviser, said Monday that Americans should flout public health guidance and gather as normal for the holidays as this may be "the final Thanksgiving" for many. (Photo: screenshot)

In his latest anti-science appeal to Americans, White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas on Monday night called on families to ignore the guidance of public health experts who say the holiday season should not include indoor gatherings—suggesting to Fox News that families should take the risk even for elderly or sick relatives this Thanksgiving because they will no longer be alive next year.

"This kind of isolation is one of the unspoken tragedies of the elderly who are now being told don’t see your family at Thanksgiving," Atlas, who has no public health expertise, told Fox host Martha MacCallum. "For many people this is their final Thanksgiving, believe it or not. What are we doing here?"

Stanford University, where Atlas was a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution before joining President Donald Trump's coronavirus team, promptly distanced itself from the doctor's comments, while political observers expressed shock on social media.

 

Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall wrote that for many Americans it will be their last Thanksgiving "because they're attending Thanksgiving."

Protecting the elderly from Covid-19 is one of the main reasons infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and other officials have called on Americans to skip indoor family gatherings and traveling this year. Last week he advised Americans to wear face coverings at any gatherings they do have if they don't know the Covid-19 status of all attendees. 

Meanwhile, Atlas has falsely stated that face masks don't reduce transmission of Covid-19 and is a proponent of the U.S. government taking a "herd immunity" approach to the pandemic—encouraging people who are relatively young and healthy to go about their daily lives with no regard for mask-wearing, social distancing, or the existence of a virus that's killed more than 246,000 people in the U.S. this year, while using unspecified methods to separate them from people who are elderly or at high risk for severe Covid-19 infections.  

The "herd immunity" approach, euphemistically rebranded as "focused protection" by some proponents, has been denounced as "fringe" by seasoned public health officials. 

On Sunday, Atlas also called on Michigan residents to "rise up" against public health guidance after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced that in-person learning, indoor dining, organized sports, and other activities would be shut down for three weeks to mitigate the spread of Covid-19.

"This guy is a public health menace and it needs to stop now," tweeted one emergency room physician on Monday evening following Atlas's comments about Thanksgiving.

---

Everything Seems Quieter

Dear friends,

Everything seems quieter. The collective unconscious has exhaled. Not that all our issues are gone, but many feel we will now see some serious efforts to solve them.  For those of us in the Spiritual community, as it were, our part now is to charge the atmosphere with love and compassion.  Gloating is not a healthy response.  Neither is shaming and blaming.  It was, and is, our shared creation whether we like it or not.  Now is our best chance to shape our future by being in the Light, not succumbing to the temptation of the Dark.

Emerson: “It is greatest to believe and to hope well of the world, because he who does so, quits the world of experience, and makes the world he lives in.” 

     Our personal day to day life is filled with our own thoughts and not much else.

The quality of our experience is the content of our mind.  Knowing that, let’s not give any space to anger, resentments or fear.  Let’s take up the hue and cry of the evolved “Life is Good right where I am.” Jesus. Buddha, Eckhart, and my Grandma all pointed us to Love as the highest healing energy.  Are we ourselves big enough to widen the circle to include those we thought were our enemies?  It is important for those who know the power of mind to use it wisely.  If we want peace, we must be peaceful.  Our inner awareness is the Cause of our immediate reality.

Affirm: “I use my mind to shape a glorious experience for all of us.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes www.carol-carnes.com

Off the Top of My Head

Why Isn't Monoclonal Antibody Therapy Widely Available?

by John Lawrence, November 17, 2020

Monoclonal antibody therapy similar to what knocked out COVID for Donald Trump has been shown to knock out the virus if administered within the first couple days of showing symptoms. Trump is a living example that it works, but now as of November 9 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued an emergency use authorization for the monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab for the treatment of mild-to-moderate COVID-19. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) showed that Eli Lilly's COVID-19 convalescent plasma–derived virus-neutralizing monoclonal antibody treatment reduced viral loads, lowered the severity of symptoms, and had no serious adverse effects in outpatients. So it knocks out the virus and also may give short term immunity. "It is important to treat people with COVID-19 as soon as possible after diagnosis in order to forestall development of more severe disease," said Peter Chen, MD, of Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles and first author of the NEJM study. "Our findings indicate that neutralizing antibodies may have the potential to be useful in this early-stage intervention," he added.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that starting November 13, Medicare beneficiaries can receive coverage of monoclonal antibodies to treat COVID-19 with no cost-sharing during the public health emergency. CMS’ coverage of monoclonal antibody infusions applies to bamlanivimab, which received an emergency use authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“Today, CMS is announcing a historic, first-of-its kind policy that drastically expands access to COVID-19 monoclonal antibodies to beneficiaries without cost sharing,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “Our timely approach means beneficiaries can receive these potentially life-saving therapies in a range of settings – such as in a doctor’s office, nursing home, infusion centers, as long as safety precautions can be met. This aggressive action and innovative approach will undoubtedly save lives.”

The only problem is that this life saving treatment is not widely available. The President got it in the form of Remdesivir, and it worked for him. Why are so many people dying who could have been treated with this therapy? The question remains as to why this therapy was not factory produced in the millions of doses just in case it worked like several of the potential vaccines have been.So many Americans are dying just because they have not had access to the same therapy that the President of the US had access to.

Off the Top of My Head

Will Trump Detach His Base From the Republican Party?

by John Lawrence, November 15, 2020

It is becoming clear that the base of the Republican party is more loyal to Trump than they are to the Republican party. The base has really become the Trump party and old guard Republicans like Mitch McConnell are getting nervous that they will not remain loyal to the Republican party. That's why Republicans are showing deference to Trump and his pique that the election was illegitimate. They know he lost the election, but they won't come out and say so. Trump's base even held a huge post election rally last Saturday showing their loyalty to Trump not necessarily the Republican party. This makes it more likely that Trump will take his base with him when he leaves office. Effectively, they would become the Trump party. Whether Trump creates his on media empire or associates himself with Fox news or some other media empire, it's clear that there is an audience he can count on.

The Republican party made a deal with the devil in the 1960s after the Democrats passed the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Hitherto southern white supremacists and racists had been loyal to the Democratic party.They decided en masse that, if the Democrats were not going to continue to represent their racism and white supremacy, they would switch parties. Republicans then made a deal with the devil and accepted them with open arms because, while Republicans basically represent the interests of the rich, there are not enough of them to form a majority in a constitutional democracy. So far Trump has represented the interests of the old line Republicans by signing into law huge tax breaks for the rich and deregulating everything that could be regulated. His base hardly noticed except for the pittance of a tax break they got. They were more interested in Trump's conspiracy theories and ongoing campaign rallies where Trump sowed his racist and nativist sentiments and stoked their anger. Now it's clear that, if Trump so desired, he could detach his base that is the Republican base and take them with him forming a separate party devoted to Trump and his conspiracy theories. Trump and his henchmen in the alternative and social media world could create their separate entity and reality, which they've already to a large extent, created. So doing would continue the deep divides within the United States and further sow discord and division.

Aligning themselves with Mitch McConnell and a Republican controlled Senate, if the elections in Georgia don't result in two Democratic Senators, will hamper Joe Biden's attempts to enact any of his agenda in the same way that they blocked Obama's agenda for eight years. Then Trump and/or his family members could storm back in 2022 and 2024 to win back what they perceive they have unfairly lost in the 2020 election. They have labeled any middle of the road Democratic programs as far left or socialist and they will use the same tactics to demonize Joe and particularly Kamala as not representative of their racist and white supremacist values. Meanwhile, all the good work which Joe Biden's agenda represents will not get accomplished just like Obama's agenda was prevented from getting much of anything done except for a watered down version of Obamacare which they demonized ever since its enactment. Democrats, heretofore, have tried to cooperate with Republicans and be nice guys while Republicans have been playing hard ball using every bit of their power to promote their interests without any compromise whatsoever. They even went to the extent of denying Ruth Bader Ginsburg's dying wish that the next President replace her on the Supreme Court. This was after they swore up and down that the next President should replace a Supreme Court Justice a year before the end of the Obama Presidency thus denying Obama that privilege.

Joe Biden could fall into the same trap of watering down his agenda just to please Republicans under the guise of cooperation. He supposedly wants to "work across the aisle." He thinks he can get Mitch McConnell to cooperate with him. My advice is to "speak softly and carry a big stick" in the immortal words of Teddy Roosevelt. He mustn't fall into the same trap that Obama - and for that matter Bill Clinton - fell into by playing nice with Republicans. Trump's base will continue to be more loyal to Trump than they will be to Mitch McConnell or the Republican party. Trump will be more concerned about staying out of jail and deferring his $431 million debt repayment so he will enlist his base along those lines. Trump knows that his personal concerns will diverge from legitimate Republican party concerns once he's out of office, and he will enlist his minions to give him their support. Prodigious and ongoing conspiracy theories will fuel the anger of Trump's base, and there will be demands for his reinstatement as the rightful President of the United States.

Off the Top of My Head

It's Almost Thanksgiving: Let's Talk Turkey

by John Lawrence, November 14, 2020

So what are Republicans saying about a Biden administration? That the progressive wing of the Democratic party will push him too far to the left. Well, what exact policies would be "too far to the left"? Defund the police? That's just a radical slogan that means about as much as "Lock her up." In other words it means nothing in terms of either Biden's agenda or progressives in the Democratic party. Reform the police - that would be more like where the Democratic party actually stands. As far as Medicare for All, Biden favors Medicare for All Who Want It. I guess there are those Republicans who so love their employer based health insurance that they are terrified by the possibility that it might be taken away from them and replaced with something better. So Biden's position is go ahead and keep it. He just wants to make it possible that those who do want it will be able to have it or a public option which amounts to the same thing.

So Republican concerns amount to whipping up a bunch of meaningless hysteria just like Trump has always done. It's his stock in trade. So what about the Green New Deal? Who could object to creating jobs to build infrastructure and combat global warming? Oh maybe it's that they fear their taxes will go up? There's actually no reason why anyone's taxes should go up based on the realities as they exist in the 21st century. The government has shown that any amount of money can be found and spent to bail out banks or to add to the debt to give people tax breaks. Trump's tax cuts added a trillion dollars to the debt. Quantitative easing and the money to bail out the big banks amounted to several trillion dollars and yet it has had no adverse effect on inflation or anything else. Modern Monetary Theory has shown that Deficits Don't Matter whether those deficits originate from bailing out the banks or a Green New Deal or Biden's Green Deal which is more or less the same. Expect Republicans to cry bloody murder any time government threatens to formulate a program to combat global warming or to create jobs for poor people or to raise wages for essential workers to $15. an hour.

Money spent constructively on infrastructure or other things will never cause inflation. What will cause inflation is money that is pissed away frivolously or unconstructively. Reorienting out priorities can and should be done even if deficit spending is required to do it. When the economy is rebalanced, it eventually will mean that the rich will have to pay their fair share of taxes in order to reduce inequality. That's the main thing that Republicans are afraid of - that eventually the rich will have to pay their fair share of taxes. In the meantime economic history since 2000 has demonstrated the fact that, if trillions of dollars were found to bail out the banks and give tax cuts to the rich, trillions of dollars can be found to repair and rebuild infrastructure and prevent the world from the disaster of global warming. Private enterprise has done nothing but accelerate global warming because private enterprise consists of the fossil fuel industry. Private enterprise profits from pollution that it doesn't have to compensate for. Therefore, it's up to government to balance out what private enterprise seems incapable of doing. That's not to say that private enterprise is unimportant. It does some things very well, some things that government does not do well. It's a matter of finding the correct balance between private enterprise and government enterprise.

Does any fossil fuel worker object to working in the renewable energy industry providing they are guaranteed a job in that industry? I don't think so. There's no one that loves fossil fuels per se or just because they are fossil fuels. They are not like Scrooge who just loves the look and feel of money. Are there people who so much like the look and feel of oil that they can't bear the thought of working in an industry that doesn't pollute the planet? There are new industries coming - a straw with the look and feel of a plastic straw that biodegrades and doesn't stay in the ocean for hundreds of years like the plastic straw does. These straws are being manufactured today. If government can assist in the ramping up of this private enterprise - Newlight Technologies - we will be all better off except for the plastic straw manufacturers which are using mainly robots to produce their straws so there are not that many jobs involved there.

Huntington Beach, California-based Newlight produces an ocean-degradable biopolymer called PHB using air and greenhouse gas. Newlight's methods are supported by more than a decade of research and development as well as an extensive patent portfolio. Newlight's Series F finance round coincides with the commissioning of a new commercial-scale production facility in California called Eagle 3 and the launch of branded products including a line of cutlery and drinking straws for the food-service industry. Newlight's foodware products deliver a unique level of material safety and certified sustainability, resulting in high-performance, ocean-degradable foodware that works for people and the planet. 

Government can provide an assist to private enterprise as long as that enterprise is headed in a new direction which doesn't pollute and which doesn't produce greenhouse gasses. Which is more important - hanging onto the familiar past or striking out in a new direction that saves the planet and makes it better for our grandchildren? Are we pioneers and adventurers like our ancestors or what?

Off the Top of My Head

Trump's Purported Coup d'Etat

by John Lawrence, November 12, 2020

Trump's path to a second term goes through the Courts and the Republican state legislatures. It is up to the state legislatures to choose the electors who cast the state's electoral votes. So far they have always chosen those electors that are committed to cast their votes for the candidate that won the popular vote. But, as the song says: "It ain't necessarily so." It is conceivable that Trump could win the electoral votes in states in which Biden won the popular vote. Take Georgia for example. Here's how it would work. The Republican Secretary of State decides that there will be a hand recount of all 5 million votes cast in Georgia. That takes time. If the hand recount doesn't get done by November 20, Trump's lawyers could step in and ask the Supreme Court, which is controlled by conservative justices three of whom Trump appointed himself, to decide the election. This is not unprecedented. In 2000 George W Bush asked the Supreme Court to stop the recount process in Florida which they did costing Al Gore the election. If the recount had continued Gore, who won the popular vote not only in Florida but in the US generally, would have been elected. If something like this happens this year, this would give Georgia's 16 electoral votes to Trump instead of Biden.

However, Georgia's 16 electoral votes would not be enough to change the results of the election. Trump's lawyers would have to do the same process in a number of other states as well. In particular they would have to overturn the results in Pennsylvania with its 20 electoral votes. Pennsylvania, it is to be noted, also has a state legislature controlled by Republicans so it is not inconceivable. Currently Trump has 217 electoral votes including Alaska. He is winning in North Carolina with its 15 electoral votes so let's give him that. If he could use the courts and the state legislatures to flip Georgia and Pennsylvania, he would then have another 36 electoral votes for a total of 268, still not the 270 required to win the election. He needs another 2 electoral votes. Where could he find them? Let's see. Arizona's state legislature is controlled by Republicans. Let's assume Trump can do the same thing there. That would give him another 11 electoral votes bringing him to 279. Ipso facto Trump wins the election.

When the framers of the U.S. Constitution outlined the workings of the electoral college system, they didn’t specify how presidential electors should or must be chosen, leaving it up to the various state legislatures to each decide for themselves how to appoint their electors. However, the courts have decided that the states can't change the way they choose their electors after an election. This would throw the whole process into chaos. But chaos is precisely what we have now with Trump refusing to concede the election. Conservative talk show host Mark Levin has tweeted the following:

REMINDER TO THE REPUBLICAN STATE LEGISLATURES, YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY OVER THE CHOOSING OF ELECTORS, NOT ANY BOARD OF ELECTIONS, SECRETARY OF STATE, GOVERNOR, OR EVEN COURT. YOU HAVE THE FINAL SAY -- ARTICLE II OF THE FED CONSTITUTION. SO, GET READY TO DO YOUR CONSTITUTIONAL DUTY

— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) November 5, 2020

So if Trump and his allies can sow enough confusion into the process of determining certain states' election results, for example, calling for recount after recount, it's conceivable that Trump's lawyers will then ask the Supreme Court to intervene, and they might do the same thing they did in Bush v. Gore in 2000 and award the election to Trump. They might go even further and decide that, since the US Constitution does not specify that state legislatures must pick a slate of electors dedicated to the popular vote, they can decide for any candidate they please. This would effectively make Trump dictator because no one could ever trust election results again. Trump has a considerable base of support in the American electorate and could rely on the fact of this tremendous public support although half the nation at least wants Biden to be the next President, not Trump. After all Biden won the popular vote by over 5 million votes. But Hillary won the popular vote in 2016 and Al Gore won the popular vote in 2000. Having delegitimized the democratic process with his refusal to concede among other things, Trump hardly needs widespread skepticism about the electoral college to sow doubt about the voting process itself. Many people feel that the electoral college should be abolished and that the President should be elected by popular vote. This is only the latest blow to the American political system which is based on the wisdom of a few white men and their understanding of how things should be over 200 years ago. Yet the process can not be changed without three quarters of the states agreeing to a Constitutional amendment.

Off the Top of My Head

Expand Habitat for Humanity in Honor of Jimmy Carter

by John Lawrence, November 11, 2020

The best way to build wealth among poor people is to expand a program that gets them into a house. The debt industry profits off of poor people whether it's Payday lenders, student loan debt, car loan debt, credit card debt or mortgage debt. The debt industry, aka the banking industry, profits off of poor people's debt. That's why the poor need to build wealth which will also close the economic inequality gap. Home ownership is the main way the middle class builds wealth which is then intergenerationally transferable. Habitat says "In fiscal year 2019, we helped more than 7 million people, and an additional 2.3 million gained the potential to improve their housing conditions through training and advocacy." It's not clear how many new houses that 7 million figure represents because they also help people by doing housing improvements. Looking at Habitat's Form 990 reveals some interesting data. They have annual revenues of approximately $300 million. Revenues less expenses for FY 2018 was about $13 million. Without doing an exhaustive analysis of this Form 990, it would seem that $13 million is a paltry amount of money to build new homes if in fact it all went to building new homes. It is to be noted that the CEO made about $400,000. They also seem to spend an enormous amount on advertising and fundraising.

A government program based on the Habitat model could magnify the number of new affordable homes built per year and could be combined with AmeriCorps which is already working with Habitat. Government service building affordable homes should be an alternative to military service with comparable benefits. One drawback of Habitat is that it does not serve homeless or low income families who can't afford a modest mortgage. So a government program based on the Habitat model should look at improving on the Habitat model. Another thing is that Habitat claims to be a "Christian organization." Does that mean that religiously nonChristian families are not eligible? A government program should not have connections to a particular religion but should be open to people of all or no religions. It should be nondenominational. The people who eventually own the homes have to put in a certain amount of "sweat equity." This is good because it makes the homes more affordable. A program based on FDR's Civilian Conservation Corps could employ youths in public service for 2 years building houses in return for free college education and other benefits. These homes need to be solarized and be built in such a way as to be non-emitting of greenhouse gasses.

The best way to co-opt Trump voters is to offer them economic opportunities. Promised economic opportunities (promised but not delivered) are the thing that pushed Trump over the top in 2016 in the rust belt states. A program of building houses ala Habitat not only would help poor people, who are disproportionately minorities, but would tend to placate poor whites who are mainly Trump voters. That's why programs helping the poor can't be labeled "Black Lives Matter" programs. They can't be just for black people although black people would disproportionately benefit. To design a program only for black people would further alienate Trump voters. Bringing this country together, as Joe Biden has professed he wants to do, means that all programs to help people must of necessity be color blind. Another benefit is that people who contribute to public service in AmeriCorps or the Peace Corps will tend to vote Democratic because they will have seen how Democratic programs have benefited not only themselves but other people as well.

Many people who join the military do so for the benefits and because they have no better prospects after high school. Military service for 5 years gains them a free college education plus many other generous benefits, even a pension. They also get brainwashed to vote Republican. Even those working in the military-industrial complex are brainwashed to vote Republican. As a college graduate the jobs available to me were mainly in the military-industrial complex. Once there I was pressured to vote Republican because it was believed that Republicans would expand funding for the military and hence the military-industrial complex. It was thought that a Democratic administration would cut funding for the military-industrial complex and we could be RIFd (Reduction in Force). Expanding programs in the peace industry should have the opposite effect. I left the military-industrial complex many years ago fortunately, and my economic future doesn't depend on future funding it. Many others are not in the same position.

As the nation transitions from fossil fuels to renewables, it's important that workers in the fossil fuel industry have a path to transition to new jobs. The same holds true in transitioning workers in the military-industrial complex to the peace-industrial complex. It's also important to give young people the possibility of serving their country in a way that contributes to peace and economic stability with comparable benefits instead of serving in the military. The peace industry (like building houses here and abroad) needs to become more important than the war industry. The issue of global warming in particular means that all nations of the world must cooperate and foster a spirit of cooperation while putting their antagonisms aside. Peace, renewable energy, economic development for poor and middle class people need to replace a power structure that fosters political antagonism among the nations of the world. Jimmy Carter not only wields a hammer for Habitat for Humanity in his nineties, but also put solar panels on the roof of the White House (which Ronald Reagan took down). If we had had Jimmy Carter for a second term and Al Gore instead of George W Bush (with his fossil fuel loving vice President, Dick Cheney), we would be further along the path toward replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and further along the path of dealing with global warming.

Off the Top of My Head

Democrats: Don't Let Republican Narratives Define You

by John Lawrence, November 9, 2020

Labels and sloganeering are not important. Global warming is not a question of Left and Right. It's a question of Smart and Dumb. If science shows that we have to get to net zero carbon emissions by 2035, then we have to do whatever it takes to get there. It's not enough to compromise to get half way there. Half way is not good enough. Half way means that the destruction of the earth is a certainty. This is not a political football. It's something that needs to be done post haste. That's why it's important to force the appropriate legislation through Congress based on the power to do so. If Democrats win the 2 Senate runoff races in Georgia, they will have the power to do so. If not Republicans will still control Congress, and all bets are off.

Republicans are adept at defining people and issues with labels, and then getting us to fight over the labels even defining the labels as too far left or too far right or meeting in the middle. How is a Green New Deal too far left if it saves the planet from global warming? It is not constructive to fight over this label. We just have to do what needs to be done. Already we are seeing the destructive power of nature caused by global warming with intense and widespread wild fires all over the world and relentless, destructive hurricanes and flooding in the Gulf states and elsewhere. This year alone several powerful hurricanes have hit the Gulf states, and they are still coming. They are coming so frequently that people have not recovered from ones 3 hurricanes ago. We have to go full steam ahead on attacking global warming not half speed ahead. Call it a Green New Deal or a Biden Green Deal or whatever you want to call it. The label is unimportant. The action taken is.

What put Trump over the top in 2016 was his appeal to working class voters. Trump's support of the fossil fuel industry appealed to all the workers in that industry especially in Pennsylvania and Texas. Let's be clear. Workers in this industry are not wedded to that industry; they are wedded to their jobs. They don't want their jobs to go away. If Joe Biden and the Democrats guarantee fossil fuel workers jobs in the renewable energy industry at higher wages, they will abandon whatever allegiance they had to fossil fuels in a heartbeat. This needs to be the message. And with it will come a flip of Texas from red to blue. Pennsylvania will stay squarely in the Democratic column. Republicans know this so they will do whatever they can to obfuscate, confuse, demonize and obstruct a transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy. That's why it's so important for Democrats to control the Senate. Otherwise, Mitch McConnell will block any progressive legislation including legislation designed to get us to net zero carbon emissions by 2035.

Republicans obviously don't care about the issue of global warming. Their tactic is to demonize the label: "Green New Deal." That's how they operate. They have money at stake in fossil fuels. They could care less about the workers. They care about the investors and the financial class that's invested in fossil fuels. The Democratic strategy should be to care about the workers by guaranteeing them jobs in the renewable energy field and let the investing class fend for themselves. Once they see the profits to be made in renewable energy they also will flip in a minute and abandon fossil fuels investments. Already many of them are divesting. When humans discovered the efficacy of metals they left the stone age and left the remaining stones in the ground. We need to do the same thing with fossil fuels: leave them in the ground.

Joe Biden has been very careful about the slogan: Defund the Police. Republicans are trying to hang that label around the Democrats' necks also. Nobody in his right mind wants to defund the police. Allocate more funds to social workers who may be better able to deescalate mental health situations? Of course. So nuance is important, but Republicans don't deal in nuance; they deal in labels and in particular the use of labels to demonize the other side. Joe Biden has threaded the needle very agilely. Also Republicans have not demonized Joe like they did Hillary for 25 years or more. That's why Joe is considered "more likable." In the final analysis labels are not important. The label - socialism - is not important. What is important is to make contructive - I will not even say progressive - change in this country, first to save the earth from global warming, and, secondly, to put the US on a more constructive track with regard to a host of other issues. Let Smart win over Dumb!

'Great News for Progressives Around the World': International Applause After US Voters Fire Donald Trump

Published on Sunday, November 08, 2020

by Common Dreams

"It's time to get back to building bridges, not walls." Leaders from around the world congratulate the Democrats, but say much damage done by Trump requires repair.

by Jon Queally, staff writer

 

30 Comments

A young girl walks past Kenyan daily newspaper with headline "Donald Trump Fired" in the capital Nairobi on November 8, 2020. (Photo: Simon Maina/AFP via Getty Images)

Celebrations took place across the globe and congratulations from world leaders for U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-election Kamala Harris poured in Saturday and into Sunday after the Democratic ticket was declared the decisive winner in the 2020 election and results showed that President Donald J. Trump had been soundly "fired" by the American people.

"Great news for progressives around the world that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have defeated Trump," tweeted former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn from the United Kingdom, one of America's longest and closest allies. "Let's work together internationally to build a better, fairer, greener, peaceful and more equal world."

From London, the city's progressive Mayor Sadiq Khan—who often clashed with Trump and denounced the U.S. president's racism—congratulated both Biden and Harris on their victory. "London looks forward to working with you," Khan tweeted. "It's time to get back to building bridges, not walls."

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden, who recently won a landslide reelection victory in her country, sent well-wishes to the incoming U.S. leaders.

"Congratulations President-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on your victory in the U.S. presidential election," Arden declared in an Instagram post. "With so many issues facing the international community, your message of unity is one we share. New Zealand looks forward to working with you both!"

While Trump, as of this writing, has still refused to acknowledge his defeat or issue a concession, Slate's Ben Mathis-Lilley on Saturday explained that Biden's victory is quite decisive in historical terms:

Defeating a sitting United States president is an extraordinarily hard thing to do, but with the vote count mounting in his favor, Biden turns out to have done it with relative ease. Per current estimates, he will receive something like 51.3 percent of the national popular vote, 3 percentage points more than Hillary Clinton and a higher total than any candidate challenging an incumbent president since FDR got 57 percent against Herbert Hoover in 1932. That’s more than Ronald Reagan got (50.7 percent) in his 1980 win over Jimmy Carter, which is still (accurately!) heralded as a paradigm shift in American politics.

Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, also congratulated the pair in a Sunday statement and urged the new U.S. administration to "strengthen the Palestinian-American relationship" as a way to foster "peace, stability, and security" throughout the Middle East region. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, tweeted: "Joe, we've had a long & warm personal relationship for nearly 40 years, and I know you as a great friend of Israel."

From Iran, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif—who criticized Trump relentlessly for imposing brutal sanctions on the Iranian people and pulling out of the international nuclear agreement that was implemented under the Obama-Biden administration—suggested it was a new day for future relations between the two nations. "The American people have spoken," said Zarif.

Separately, Iran's Vice-President Eshagh Jahangiri said his government hopes for "a change in the destructive policies of the United States, a return to the rule of law and international obligations, and respect for nations" now that Trump will soon be leaving the White House.

And President Hassan Rouhani said Sunday that Biden must work to repair the damage done by Trump and the betrayal committed against previous international commitments made by the United States.  

"An opportunity has arisen now for the next U.S. administration to make up for the past mistakes and return to the course of commitment to international obligations by respecting international principles," Rouhani said. "The Islamic Republic," he added, "considers constructive interaction with the world to be its strategy."

Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took a more hesitant approach to the U.S. election results, indicating in a Saturday statement that he would withhold his congratulations until any legal challenges related to vote count were resolved or when the results are officially certified.

"With regard to the U.S. election, we are going to wait until all the legal matters have been resolved," López Obrador said at a news conference.  "I can't congratulate one candidate or the other. I want to wait until the electoral process is over."

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said the "emphatic win" by Biden and Harris in the U.S. was "a demonstration of Americans' confidence in the leadership credentials of the former vice-president." And in Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari said Trump's ouster arrived at "time of uncertainty and fear in world affairs" as he congratulated Biden. "His election," Buhari added, "is a reminder that democracy is the best form of government because it offers the people the opportunity to change their government by peaceful means."

But most people of the world—like most within the United States—have been able to see that Biden's win was decisive, and despite Trump's refusal to concede and his continued unhinged proclamations that he won when all the evidence shows he clearly lost, led to street celebrations both in the U.S. and abroad.

As Slate reports, fireworks erupted across Europe and people across the continent were queuing up for champagne at local shops and dancing in the streets.

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Let's Stop Calling Things Political When They Are Human Issues That Affect Us All

Dear friends,

You cannot predict what will be your teacher. It could be a wildly inappropriate leader or a pandemic. With a bit of hindsight, we might see how the worst of times led to the best of times, or at least the beginnings of a higher level of awareness.  While we would never be thankful for the effects the disease had on so many, if we can pull back to a more expanded point of view, we might see how “even this” is a kind of gift.  Anything that awakens humanity to its inner power and its oneness with all life, is beneficial.

Are you not a bit more compassionate, loving, appreciative, caring, generous, self-aware than you were, say, a year ago?  I believe our collective consciousness has been accelerated by the threat of the loss of freedom and the violent rhetoric coming from so-called leaders.  We woke up and we got up and we voted them out! Now we have more work to do, but we know we are up to the task.

We need to stop calling things “political” when they are issues that affect us all. We must address them, not as adherents to a particular party, but as human beings who care about the entire population of this planet.  It is time for us to see how powerful we are.  When we care about our future together and are willing to give up some unwarranted prejudices that have held us back for too long, we unleash tremendous healing energy.

 “We are the ones we have been waiting for.”

Stay tuned in,

Carol Carnes

http://www.carol-carnes.com

Off the Top of My Head

Robots Will Not Replace Us

by John Lawrence

Joe Biden wants to bring the country together. Here are 3 programs guaranteed to do it. 1) Guarantee that every worker who loses his job in the fossil fuel industry, as the energy industry transitions to renewables, is guaranteed a job in the renewable energy industry including free retraining if necessary. 2) Free apprenticeship programs for electricians, plumbers and other occupations for which no robot can replace them. Let's change that white supremacist chant to "Robots will not replace us." 3) A huge build-up of a Habitat for Black Humanity program (open to participants of all races) in honor of Jimmy Carter who famously wields a hammer for Habitat for Humanity. At $171,000, the net worth of a typical white family is nearly ten times greater than that of a Black family ($17,150) in 2016. Gaps in wealth between black and white households reveal the effects of accumulated inequality and discrimination, as well as differences in power and opportunity that can be traced back to this nation’s inception. The black-white wealth gap reflects a society that has not and does not afford equality of opportunity to all its citizens.

Middle class Joe knows that the main way the middle class has built up wealth is through home ownership - equity in a home. This equity also facilitates the intergenerational transfer of wealth which the black community is notorious in lacking. Blacks are less likely to receive wealth transfers from parents than whites, and conversely, they’re under more pressure to transfer their own limited wealth to parents or relatives than whites. So whereas each white generation starts from somewhere above zero, each black generation is more likely to start from zero. A greater proportion of white adult children receive financial support from their parents than blacks in all three categories of parental support. The share of whites receiving financial support from their parents is 34% for higher education, 12% for home ownership, and 26% for other purposes. The comparable figures for blacks are 14%, 2%, and 19%, respectively.

Trump supporters in the Rust Belt could rest assured that their means of livelihood will not be taken away from them as the country transitions from fossil fuels to renewables. Biden has assured workers that he will not ban fracking. Then it's a logical next step to guarantee those workers a job as the country transitions away from fracking. Leave it in the ground should be our motto, but just because we do that, there is no necessity for workers to suffer. Biden has said that he will create millions of new jobs in infrastructure and green industries. Then let's guarantee that the first workers to get those jobs will be old fossil fuel workers. Let's transition the workers as well as the source of energy. This will go a long way towards placating Trump supporters in Pennsylvania and Texas and also adding supporters to the Democratic party which more represents the interests of workers than does the Republican party.

Similarly, the Black Lives Matter Movement should embrace the Black Home Ownership Matters movement. When we talk about creating wealth, it's not in the context of Lamborghinis or yachts or multimillion dollar houses. We're talking about wealth on the order of the price of a middle class house. Wealth distributed among a large number of people not just ridiculous amounts of wealth of the 1% and billionaire class. Reducing economic inequality starts with an ambitious program to create wealth among the 99%. Debt reduction and forgiveness is also important especially for student loan debtors. Joe Biden can redeem himself here. Formerly known as the Senator from MBNA (MBNA is now a subsidiary of Bank of America), Biden voted for a provision to take bankruptcy protection away from student loan debtors. The senator was a key supporter of a bill -- the "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005" -- that actually made it harder for consumers to get protection under bankruptcy.

Joe Biden will resuscitate America's reputation in the rest of the world as he had a wealth of experience in dealing with foreign policy for 8 years in the Obama administration. He has to be careful both in how he treats black citizens and how he treats white former Trump supporters in order to build a coalition for the Democratic party. If he does it right, the Democratic party will predominate for a generation or more. The US dodged the bullet of fascism by voting Trump out of office. The US was heading down the rabbit hole of fascism and a second 4 years of a Trump administration would have sealed the deal. By the way including a public option in Obamacare would practically be a guarantee of a transition to Medicare for All. Many of Joe Biden's positions amount to the same as Bernie Sander's positions but in a less stark and abrupt way and for more care placed in the transition process. Let's hope that Democrats take control of the Senate with the two yet to be resolved Senate races in Georgia. Working across the aisles is nice, but Republicans have never backed away from using raw power to get their way. Democrats should follow that example also.

'Nightmare Coming to an End': Vanquishing Donald Trump, Joe Biden Wins US Presidential Election

Published on Saturday, November 07, 2020

by Common Dreams

"We, the voters, decided this!"

by Common Dreams staff

 

30 Comments

Beryl McCrainey Slevin from California and who voted using a mail in ballot stands in front of the mural of Joe Biden on November 7, 2020 as locals celebrate in anticipation of Biden being elected as the next US President in Ballina, Ireland. (Photo: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images)

After days of uncertainty amid concurrent global crises, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was declared the winner of the closely-watched contest that denied President Donald Trump a second term Saturday morning, after votes tallied in the battleground state of Pennsylvania pushed Biden over the 270 electoral vote threshold.

According to NBC News: "The former vice president amassed 273 Electoral College votes after winning Pennsylvania’s 20 electors, according to NBC News, surpassing the 270 needed to win the White House and defeat President Donald Trump."

The Associated Press, which put both Arizona and Pennsylvania in Biden's column, also called the race:

The determination in Pennsylvania put Biden at 273 electoral votes to Trump's 214—a deficit the president has no way of overcoming even as five other states—Alaska, Georgia, Nevada, and North Carolina—continue to process their results. Adding Arizona's eleven electortal to Biden's column, put his electoral count to 284.

Shortly after the news broke, Biden said in a tweet addressed to the nation that he was "honored that you have chosen me to lead our great country."

"The work ahead of us will be hard," he added, "but I promise you this: I will be a President for all Americans—whether you voted for me or not. I will keep the faith that you have place in me."

Progressives immediately celebrated Biden's victory and expressed elation over Trump's pending departure.

"This nightmare is coming to an end. Despite every attempt to silence our voices and block our vote, the will of the people won," declared George Goehl, director of the grassroots advocacy group People's Action.

"We, the voters, decided this!" said Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, North America director for 350 Action, in a statement when the news broke. "By working together, our unapologetic movement for people and planet has been steadfast and patient as our votes were counted. People power stood up to Donald Trump's fascist vision for America and elected Joe Biden and Kamala Harris into the White House. The government we chose must be sworn in because this is the people's democracy."

The subject line in an email from the Sunrise Movement was expressive: "We fucking did it."

"Excuse my language," said the group's executive director Varshini Prakash, "but we fucking did it. It's official. We WON."

"We won. And this is a big win," said María Urbina, acting co-executive director and national political director of Indivisible. "A record number of voters turned out amidst a pandemic to express the will of the people, and to put a historic ticket in the White House by clear margins. Come January, we'll move forward together to swear in a President and Vice President who are serious about governing and will be expected to deliver on an agenda of dignity and justice for all."

"Together," Urbina added, "we can make good on the promise of an America that works for all of us, that prioritizes the most vulnerable, and that ensures we can all live with dignity. For now, we celebrate. This victory belongs to all of us."

Biden's victory comes in the midst of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and related economic crisis, a monthslong national reckoning over systemic racism, seemingly endless U.S. war, and the global climate emergency. There have been more than 9.7 million Covid-19 cases and nearly 236,000 deaths in the United States out of over 49 million infections and 1.24 million deaths worldwide.

On top of that is the broader crisis of Trump's presidency, which has featured rollbacks of environmental and public health protections at the behest of deep-pocketed polluters, a "pro-corporate, anti-worker agenda," efforts to degrade the rights of historically marginalized groups, inhumane immigration policies—including forcibly separating migrant children from their parents at the border—and constant lies.

Since Election Day, Trump has escalated his attacks on American democracy by falsely declaring victory early Wednesday, tweeting disinformation about the election, and delivering on Thursday evening what one reporter called "the most dishonest speech he has ever given." His campaign has also filed multiple lawsuits this week related to the race, validating pre-election warnings that he would try to steal the vote to retain power.

The president's actions sparked nationwide demonstrations demanding election officials "count every vote." Amid fears that Trump may refuse to concede, Biden campaign spokesperson Andrew Bates said in a statement on Friday that "the United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."

Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1942, Biden studied history and political science at the University of Delaware then earned a law degree at Syracuse University. After practicing law as a public defender and at a firm, and entering local politics in Delaware's New Castle County, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972.

Biden represented Delaware in the Senate for nearly four decades—with stints chairing the Foreign Relations and Judiciary committees—before serving as vice president for both terms of President Barack Obama's administration. After declining to run in 2016, Biden beat 27 primary competitors to secure the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Biden's running mate, was among his primary competitors. Born in 1964, Harris hails from Oakland, California. After graduating from Howard University, she earned a law degree from the University of California, Hastings. She was district attorney of San Francisco and attorney general of California before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016. She will be the first woman, as well as the first Black and South Asian American, to serve as vice president.

Since Biden selected Harris in August, progressives have pledged to continue engaging with the pair and pushing them to embrace bold, popular policies including Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. As climate campaigners have pressured Biden and Harris to pursue more ambitious proposals, they have also emphasized that "Trump's climate policies are a raging dumpster fire." On Wednesday, the U.S. ditched the 2015 Paris climate agreement at Trump's direction; Biden has vowed to reenter the accord.

While progressives—including former primary rivals Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—have rallied behind Biden's bid to oust Trump, the future president has also faced extensive criticism for his political track record on numerous fronts, such as his support for the Iraq War, his primary role in the 1994 crime bill, and his refusal to back universal public healthcare or a ban on fracking for fossil fuels.

"The evident defeat of Donald Trump would not have been possible without the grassroots activism and hard work of countless progressives," Norman Solomon wrote in a column for Common Dreams early Friday. "Now, on vital issues—climate, healthcare, income inequality, militarism, the prison-industrial complex, corporate power, and so much more—it's time to engage with the battle that must happen inside the Democratic Party."

Some news outlets, such as Vox and Business Insider, declared Biden victorious on Friday morning, based on a determination from their election-calling partner, Decision Desk HQ, at 8:50 am ET that the former vice president had won Pennsylvania—hours before other election-calling operations or major news network announced a winner.

"The race is over, as far as our call is concerned, because of the vote totals coming out of Philadelphia this morning," Drew McCoy, the president of Decision Desk, told Vox senior politics correspondent Andrew Prokop. "It became pretty obvious that as the remaining votes across the state and in Philadelphia are counted, Biden's lead will continue to grow."

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Off the Top of My Head

Whither Goeth the Republican Party?

by John Lawrence, November 11, 2020

It may be whimsical for me, a Democrat, to speculate about the future of the Republican party, but I am a speculator at heart and curious to see how all this plays out after the demise of Donald Trump. The Republican party, as it exists today, is an unholy alliance of Trump's base - mainly white supremicists - and the financial elite, the wealthy. The party could split in two which would result in Trump's cult like following which I've labeled the WPP (white people's party) and an assortment of principled and unprincipled conservatives. The unprincipled conservatives are only in it for the money and the power. Their problem is that they are a small minority while the WPP represents the vast majority of Republicans.

But let's examine for a moment what a principled conservative represents: fiscal prudence and propriety. A principled conservative wants government to only spend the money that it takes in in taxes and no more. In other words principled conservatives don't want the government to run deficits and further increase the national debt. Given that there are still decisions to be made about what to spend the money on, that is also what conservatives need to be concerned about. Here, in the past, conservatives have mainly made the wrong decisions. In short they've mainly decided to spend it on the military instead of on the well being of the American people. This has clearly been a major mistake on the disbursement of government monies when you consider that in the last 50 years the US has engaged in two disastrous wars - the Vietnam and the Iraq wars. These wars have involved duplicity and mendacity on behalf of two US Presidents - Lyndon Johnson and George W Bush - not a particularly good track record. The money might have been better spent. Principled conservatives, who want taxpayer money spent wisely, should be more alarmed.

So going forward I see the role of principled conservatives as being making sure that the government spends its money wisely. We have seen that the issue of deficit spending is moot. If the government can add a trillion dollars to the deficit (and hence the debt) to give tax breaks to the rich, as Trump and formerly Reagan have done, and government can spent a few trillion bailing out the too big too fail banks with its continued policy of quantitative easing, it has been made clear that deficits don't matter as Modern Monetary Theorists maintain. The US has a sovereign currency and the Federal Reserve can print as much money as it wants although this power should not be used frivolously for a number of reasons. But there is much flexibility here. So if the money is available for government to spend, the question for principled conservatives is how to spend that money wisely not how little to spend. What is clear is that spending a trillion dollars a year on the military is not spending money wisely. What's also clear is that taxation policy is necessary to redress the balance between rich and poor because economic inequality is getting out of hand. This also means that there will be less and possibly no reliance on deficit spending at all.

The wise use of government money at this point in time is exactly what is contained in Joe Biden's agenda. Addressing global warming by creating green infrastructure as well as repairing and rebuilding existing infrastructure is of paramount importance. Mitigating the effects of global warming by undergrounding utilities so that violent storms don't consistently take down the power grid is important. Creating more renewable energy installations and power plants as well as modernizing the power grid is important. Repairing roads, bridges, levees and dams is important. More dams should be built in areas where considerable rainfall is experienced. This can prevent flooding and prevent potable water just going to runoff. It also generates renewable power. Wise use of government money would also be relief of student loan debtors since this would also mean that money would be in private hands which then would go into expanding GNP. Building a reasonable national health care system which contains the runaway costs of drugs and hospitalizations would be a wise use of money that conservatives should be in favor of. Other countries have better health outcomes at half the cost of the US fragmented system. Conservatives are concerned about getting the most bang for the buck. Currently, that's not the case with our health care system. Spending government money on virus research and pandemic prevention should be an obvious investment at this time.

Some people think that Trump will continue to be a major player in Republican politics, but I don't. First of all he will lose a lot of followers just because he will be proven to be a loser. Their whole ethos is based on winning and power, and, when it becomes clear that Trump has neither power nor has he won, many of his followers will turn on him. Secondly, an out of power Trump will have to face numerous lawsuits over his taxes and his debts. The hundreds of millions of debt which Trump is personally liable for (no liability limitations for this debt) cannot be paid so he will go down as not only a loser but a deadbeat debtor with millions in tax liabilities as well, not to mention lawsuits over his sexual peccadilloes. So I suspect that the thankfully shortlived Trump era will be soon over and at last sanity will be restored to the White House. Biden has a long road ahead of him restoring the respect and prestige that the US formerly had with regard to the other nations of the world, and I think he will make much progress in this area. Rejoining the Paris Accords on global warming and the JPCOA will be the first steps.

Greta Thunberg Tells Trump to 'Chill, Donald, Chill' After Unhinged, Lie-Filled Ballot Tirade

Published on Friday, November 06, 2020

by Common Dreams

"Donald must work on his Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend!"

by  Andrea Germanos, staff writer

 

11 Comments

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg protests during a "Fridays for Future" protest in front of the Swedish Parliament Riksdagen in Stockholm on October 9, 2020. (Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP via Getty Images)

International climate leader Greta Thunberg on Thursday cleverly mocked President Donald Trump's all-caps, unlawful demand that election officials "stop the count" of ballots in several states, with a response using the same words the U.S. leader had directed at her last year.

"So ridiculous. Donald must work on his Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Donald, Chill!" Thunberg tweeted.

As of this writing, the climate activist's tweet has been "liked" over 1.5 million times.

Fellow youth climate leader Vanessa Nakate responded to Thunberg's taunt with her own sarcastic quip:  "He actually seemed like a very happy man looking forward to a bright and wonderful future."

Democratic candidate Joe Biden even weighed in as well:

Thunberg's suggestion to Trump mirrors one the president issued in December in response to Thunberg's being chosen TIME's 2019 Person of the Year for her role in sparking the global youth climate strike movement. The president seemed to suggest that the world's youth, hundreds of thousands of whom have been taking to the streets to demand urgent climate action, were unfounded in their anger over global leaders and fossil fuel companies setting the planet on fire.

Weighing in on the U.S. elections in October, Thunberg endorsed Biden, who's now leading in electoral votes. She said that while she "never engage[s] in party politics... the upcoming U.S. elections is above and beyond all that." Thunberg also urged Americans to "get organized and get everyone to vote" for the former vice president.

Thunberg further appealed to U.S. voters in an Election Day tweet, writing, "Your vote will affect billions of people around the world" and "will affect countless of generations to come."

"Every election is a climate election," she added.

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Off the Top of My Head

The Urbanization of the Electorate Means That the US is Turning Left

by John Lawrence, November 6, 2020

Urbanization is happening not only in the US but all over the world. In the US the phenomenon is that the rural/urban split signifies also a liberal/conservative split. People in the rural hinterlands supported Donald Trump and people in the cities supported Joe Biden. As the country urbanizes, there are now more people living in cities than in rural areas. The voting maps in some states showed huge areas of red and only small areas of blue, and yet there were more people in the blue areas who voted Democratic than there were in the red areas who voted Republican.

This election was notable because of the huge turnout which was facilitated by the extensive use of mail in balloting. It's clear at this point that Biden will win the Presidency. What's not clear is how the crucial Senate races will pan out. If Republicans maintain control of the Senate, their leader Mitch McConnell will do to Biden what he did to Obama. He said after Obama was elected that his number one priority was to make Obama a one term President. He did this by blocking almost every progressive measure that the Democratic controlled House put forward. These measures never reached Obama's desk for his signature. In order for any progressive legislation to be enacted into law, it must be passed by both the House and the Senate. Mitch McConnell saw to it that no progressive legislation got passed the Senate. So a lot of the things that Obama would have liked to have done didn't stand a chance because of one man who in the last analysis is as powerful or more powerful than the President of the United States.

Right now two Senate races in Georgia are headed for run offs. If the Democrats win both races, it's possible that there would be a 50 - 50 tie in the Senate. In this case vice President Kamala Harris would cast the deciding vote in any legislation. This would be a good thing since it means that progressive legislation developed by the House could not be blocked by the Senate. The only caveat is that the filibuster rule would have to be eliminated because, if it were not, any Republican Senator could nix any legislation. It's not clear how this would play out with the Supreme Court whether or not they would play the role of declaring any progressive legislation unconstitutional. At any rate with Joe Biden as President we will be rejoining the Iran nuclear deal - the JCPOA. What is also clear is that we will be rejoining the Paris Accords on global warming. These are two crucial things that Joe Biden can do singlehandedly.

What is clear about this election is that there was a record turnout. The massive use of mail in ballots favored Democrats. Traditionally Republicans have won elections by suppressing the vote of the other side. Conservative political activist Paul Weyrich famously said: "So many of our Christians have what I call the goo-goo syndrome: good government. They want everybody to vote. I don't want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of people, they never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down." That quote says it all. Leaving Aside the fact that Weyrich was encouraging Christian voters to go along with him in suppressing the voting rights of some Americans - a not very Christian thing to do, Republicans have always used voter suppression as a tactic. This year, thanks to mail in voting, that Republican strategy was not so successful. Many essential workers who would probably vote Democratic have had to work rather than taking off a day to wait in long voter lines at the polls. This year they did not have to make that decision to lose a day's pay in order to vote. That's why the voter turn out was so high.

It is clear that a new era is dawning. What is not clear yet is whether or not Democrats will be able to go full steam ahead with Joe Biden's agenda to strengthen Obamacare by adding a public option, something Republicans blocked in the original legislation, launching a full on attack on global warming, augmenting social security for seniors, easing student loan debt for debtors, launching a massive infrastructure program, reducing economic inequality by taxing the rich and other progressive measures. This will depend on how much control Democrats wield in Congress.

Off the Top of My Head

Trump Campaign Rallies COVID Superspreader Events

by John Lawrence, November 2, 2020

A Stanford study concluded that Trump's campaign rallies ultimately resulted in more than 30,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and likely led to more than 700 deaths, though not necessarily among attendees. One benefit of the election no matter how it turns out is that Trump will not be holding any more superspreader events thus saving the American public from even more cases and deaths from COVID. Today I will be glued to the tube (except for my 11:15 AM reservation for a lane at the Y pool). This election like no other will set the course for human history on planet Earth. Will we have a humane society or will we have a super narcissistic egotist at the helm? Four more years of Donald Trump will doom the Earth to a fiery and a watery (depending on where you live) demise. The effort to mitigate global warming will be for nought and it will be full steam ahead for the superspreading of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Bishop Gerald Green a 66 year old prominent evengelical pastor in Chesterfield, Virginia, exhorted his congregation on the fourth Sunday in March not to fear the virus. Like many ecumenical leaders, Glenn, a former police officer, didn't heed the advice of Virginia governor Ralph Northam and others who warned against gatherings of more than 10 people. "I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus," Glenn told his parishioners. "If I had to deliver my own eulogy, I'd say, 'God is greater than any challenge you and I face.' That would be my epitaph." Glenn died from COVID-19 three weeks later. His religious faith never appeared to waver, but neither did the deadly resolve of the virus.

I wonder if his preferred epitaph is emblazoned on his gravestone. It seems that Glenn's beliefs about God were somewhat invalid. After all God created viruses as well as every other living being or entity (is the virus a being?) on planet Earth. Perhaps we would be better served by a belief in God that acknowledged that we better take care of the planet or else suffer the fate of extinction as many other animals have. Perhaps God wants us to heed his warnings or else suffer the consequences. So far humans have exploited the planet for profit. We have not been good stewards. Money has been more important than saving the environment. Trump has exemplified this by putting lobbyists for the fossil fuel industry in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency. His message is hardly indecipherable: go ahead pollute all you want and maximize your profits. President Trump's first EPA Administrator, Scott Pruitt, resigned effective July 6, 2018, amid a series of scandals. Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, started serving as Acting Administrator on July 9, 2018. Wheeler was confirmed as EPA Administrator on February 28, 2019.

Before his short stint in the Federal government, Scott Pruitt was elected Attorney General of Oklahoma. In that role, he opposed abortion, same-sex marriage, the Affordable Care Act, and environmental regulations as a self-described "leading advocate against the EPA's activist agenda." In his campaigns for Oklahoma Attorney General, Pruitt received major corporate and employee campaign contributions from the fossil fuel industry, taking in at least $215,574 between 2010 and 2014 even though he ran unopposed in the latter year. As Oklahoma's Attorney General, Pruitt sued the Environmental Protection Agency at least 14 times regarding the agency's actions. In 2012, Pruitt was elected as chairman of the Republican Attorneys General Association and re-elected for a second term in February 2013.

How ironic that a pandemic which arguably came about due to environmental degradation was unleashed on a nation the President of which didn't give a damn about the environment, and then President Trump completely mismanaged the response to this pandemic. He doesn't deserve another 4 years as the most powerful man on the planet when he clearly has no regard for the planet. Anyway today's outcome will be known soon enough. The American citizens will decide which road they want to go down, the road of a narcissist who cares about nothing but himself or the road of a man dedicated to making the country and the world a better place.

I voted for Joe Biden. I hope you did too. I think God gave us a brain so that we could figure out the correct way to take care of planet Earth. If we could figure out how to use fossil fuels as an energy source, we are intelligent enough to know when we should stop using them. Instead of a nation led by a self serving President and his cult like followers, I pray we elect a President who is not only religious but compassionate and intelligent.

Off the Top of My Head

Trump's 'Cull the Herd' Philosophy wrt COVID

by John Lawrence, November 2, 220

Trump's philosophy is that people who succumb to COVID are 'suckers and losers' which is what he said about those who die in war. He himself exemplifies this survival of the fittest philosophy. Take him as an example. He got COVID and bounced back within a couple of days. He's out there doing four or five campaign rallies a day, quite remarkable for a 74 year old man. So he must have some superior constitution to overcome the virus and be bouncing back big time. His example is that people with superior constitutions will hardly be affected with COVID, and that the US should cull the herd of suckers and losers that are so affected. Especially since most of the suckers and losers that succumb to COVID are blacks Latinos and old people who were going to die anyway.

Hitler had a somewhat similar philosophy. In addition to Jews, he was culling the herd of mentally defectives, homosexuals and non-Aryans, in other words people he considered to be weaklings or inferiors. Trump has the same philosophy: why let the American economy go down the tubes in order to try and save the lives of suckers and losers especially since a preponderance of them are minorities ^i.e. non-Americans. Beyond that Trump and his followers are only interested in short term profits for themselves. They adhere to the Ayn Randist philosophy of extreme selfishness. Nobody counts for anything except themselves. It's the extreme opposite of the philosophy of caring which the Biden campaign represents. Trump and his cultlike following don't care about anyone but themselves.They don't want to diminish their own prospects in order to do anything (example: mask wearing) to help anyone else, especially those whom they consider inferior to themselves. Hitler would smile on this philosophy.

The Trumpistas worship power whether that power is political, financial or athletic. They relish powerful pickup trucks flying Trump flags, sports bars, football and anything else that represents power and winning. They could care less about what happens to the earth 10 years or 100 years from now. They want their selfish interests to be realized now. They're not interested in doing anything about gloabal warming because it's not in their immediate interests. Wall Street seconds this emotion by only promoting those who can demonstrate short term profits. As in football winning is the only thing that matters, winning by any means necessary. The values of Trumpistas are that people who care for those who are poor or sick or vulnerable are suckers and losers. People who succumb to COVID are weaklings. People like Trump who get over it in a few days are the winners. They want to cull the herd of the losers who get COVID and die.

There are those like Joe Biden and mostly other Democrats who want to take care of those like the elderly and the sick and the weak rather than letting them die and have the herd culled from their prescence. After all they are someone's loved ones too. Nixon had a philosophy of "benign neglect." In other words just let them die. And let the earth die as well if it gets in the way of corporate profits which it does if respect and caring for the environment is taken into consideration. So let's just have another maskless motorcycle rally or campaign event and see who is superior and who is a loser that gets COVID and dies. After Trump's Tulsa rally Herman Cain, former black Presidential candidate and Trump supporter, got COVID and died. In Trump's view probably he was just another loser. Since mostly minorities are doing the dying, this just proves the superiority of the white race. Hitler would seem to be vindicated.

So the opposite philosophy from the philosophy of power and selfishness and winning is the philosophy of caring. It is exemplified by the Hippocratic Oath which all doctors take. It requires doctors and health care professionals to save every life if at all possible. If it were not for this attitude and philosophy, in a Trumpian value system, doctors might make the decision to let people die who couldn't pay for their services or to let people die who weren't of the same race or to let old people die who were going to die shortly anyway or to let people die who they considered to be suckers and losers. Joe Biden and the Democrats generally have the opposite philosophy, the philosophy which the Pope has called a  'preferential option for the poor,' a philosophy of caring for the weakest among us. In a few days we shall see which philosophy will hold sway in America and quite possibly in the rest of the world as America sets the example.