Slouching Toward Bethlehem

 Well, slouching may be an exaggeration, but my reluctance can’t be described any other way.  The subject is nuclear, both war and energy.  And of all our planetary issues,  nuclear, the nuclear of power and the nuclear of war, both joined at the hip, one not possible without the other,  is—at least in my view—the most dire. Even more dire than global warming And that probably explains my reluctance. Bear with me.

 

There is something to celebrate, and something to mourn. The good news first. After years and years of patient work for peace, by, among thousands of others in this country alone, the Women’s League for International Peace and Freedom, and the Catholic Plowshares-Catholic Worker Movement, the Treaty to ban nuclear weapons was signed by, of all countries, Honduras, which became the 50^th to do so, and at last the Treaty entered into full force and effect on Jan. 22 of this year.

 

Here is pre-forever-war FDR in 1936: “I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded….I have seen the dead in the mud….I shall pass unnumbered hours thinking and planning how war may be kept from the Nation .”

 

As my readers can imagine, the Treaty is binding only on its signatories, none of which are bomb-blessed countries; all the 8 bomb blessed-countries won’t sign the Treaty. This includes not only the Big Brother Nuclear Eight but also all the little toady NATO subscribers.  #45, our former very own Very Magnificent and Glorious Caudillo, sent all those little shit hole signatory countries letters ordering them under all circumstances, to walk back their talk. Many such letters found their way to the nearest paper basket for recycling.

 

Nonetheless, the Treaty represents a colossal effort by all of humankind which has made this amazing benchmark possible We cannot even begin to imagine the years and years of diplomacy at top levels, the untold quantity of international flights by all people working at the NGO level, and all the strivings of all the grassroots people world over,  getting arrested and jailed, some of them for years, trying, trying with all their might to reverse the course of The Great Blundering Ship of States.

 

And that is what we must celebrate. Against Might, we have the great weapon of Spirit.

 

And now, to mourn

 

In the U.S. The new $100 billion Ground Based Strategic Nuclear Deterrant, a weapon of mass destruction the length of a bowling lane, carries a warhead 20 times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, and is slated to replace the Minuteman. It is on order by the Air Force—600 of them.

 

Soon after yet another mega earthquake roiled Japan Feb. 13, and following the tenth anniversary this week of the Disaster at Fukushima, Japan is still hell bent on restarting all their rectors, and holding their Olympics in heavily contaminated areas. After the relocation of millions of people, many of whom took their own lives, after scraping the Earth of millions of tons of top soil, decomposing vegetation of acres of forest land, only to have to decontaminate them all over again, and despite the resistance of its people, Japan still has not learned, and neither has the U.S. for that matter.

 

One picture is worth 1,000 words, and for that please go to

 

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/piapeterson/fukushima-10-year-anniversary-memorials

 

And for those still wanting to resist the media blackout on the events of Jan, 6, here are the Zexs Kashes:

 

https://www.propublica.org/article/6-questions-officials-still-havent-answered-after-weeks-of-hearings-on-the-capitol-attack#1053554

 

and on  March 18, if your appetite for war has become sated, check out:

https://cindysheehanssoapbox.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

No more Hiroshimas! No more Fukushimas! Please sign.

 

Read Ray Acheson’s new book: Banning the Bomb, Smashing the Patriarchy.

 

 

 

Resilient women farmers fighting climate change in six Jamul district villages transform lives by carrying out organize kitchen gardening with support of Greenpeace India.

 

Chile to elect convention to rewrite constitution replacing that written by Pinochet.

 

Brazil judge annuls convictions against Lula Da Silva, leaving him free to challenge Bolsonaro.

 

Lula goes after Bolsonaro’s ‘moronic’ handling of COVID pandemic.

 

Far-Right Bolivia coup leader Jeanine Añez arrested on terrorism, sedition charges.

 

First Atikamekw Nation asks UN expert to probe systematic racism in Canada

 

Canadian protesters call for end to arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

 

Assange’s father takes fight to free son to Canberra.

 

In the UK, study shows school street plan to keep them traffic free improves AQ.

 

New report to expose war industry’s lobby behind $24 billion US nuclear missile ‘boondoggle.’

 

NRDC DOE stike five-year deal allowing nuclear education of state energy regulators.

 

Supreme Court reject final #45 appeal.

 

Biden signs sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief package into law.

 

‘The kind of speed and efficiency we should always expect’ as $1,400 checks already hitting bank accounts.

 

Biden administration announces Pentagon will conduct an  urgently needed ‘Global posture review.’

 

Biden administration tells Supreme Court it won’t defend previous administration’s ‘public charge’ rule.

 

Supreme Court rejects final #45 appeal.

 

Biden administration‘s vaccine promotion efforts will look to take politics out of the picture.

 

US lawmakers call on Biden administration to oppose Israeli Palestinian home demolitions.

 

Congress urged to take ‘immediate action’ to stop debt collectors from snatching relied checks.

 

Black alliance for peace solidarity network demands NATO support peace process in Afghanistan.

 

Over 350 groups urge Biden to stop Line 3 pipelines, protect climate and indigenous rights.

 

Biden urges House to approve Protecting the Right to Organize Act following his support of Amazon  Alabama workers.

 

Amazon workers in Italy to go on first strike.

 

Deb Haaland confirmed as Interior Secy.

 

With appointment of Columbia U law professors Timothy Wu to the White House National Economic Council and Lina Khan to Federal Trade Commission, antitrust is back in the US.

 

House passage of historic union rights bill intensified pressure on Dem Senators to ‘stop hiding behind’ filibuster.

 

Broadband infrastructure bill centers affordability and equity.

 

Warning against ‘Democratic’ version of Ajit Pai,’ groups call for FCC pick without telecom ties.

 

Growing chorus implore Biden to fire #45 holdovers who support ‘dismantling and cutting ‘ social security.

 

Progressives hail official end of DCCC consultant blacklist.

 

Progressive takeover of Nevada Dem party sparks mas exodus of staff consultants.

 

Interior take first step evaluating leasing moratorium.

 

Applause as Biden picks antitrust trailblazer Linda Khan for FTC spot.

 

Jimmy Carter condemns Georgia GOP’s voter suppression push.

 

Stimulus package aids Puerto Rico still reeling after two years from Hurricane impacts.

 

Representative Smith re: F-35 boondoggle: ‘finally we have a shot to stop feeding that rathole at the Pentagon.’

 

Jayapal vows to fight for $15 minimum wage.

 

Jayapal demands investigation into 3 House Republicans for ‘involvement in the deadly attack on the Capitol.’

 

‘Don ‘t  patronize me”: Katie Porter tears into oil exec for claiming his industry doesn’t get special tax breaks.

 

Report finds raising minimum wage to $15 would boost pay of 32 million workers.

 

Support keeps building for #BAmazon Union Drive as three dozen organizations add the names urging Biden to come out for union organizers.

 

Poll shows majority of US adults support govt action to require COVID vaccine

manufacturers to share formulas, and forego patents to hasten vaccine deployment globally.

 

Progressive health care and global justice groups to rally across country and push pharmaceutical  companies to commit to just global vaccine distribution.

 

N.Y. State’s top legislators call on Cuomo to resign.

 

Georgia House passes repeal of citizen’s arrest law in aftermath of Ahmaud Arbery’s death.

 

Abortion ban repealed in N. Mex. after years of struggle.

 

Victory for BDS as Orange judge slaps down Zionist attempt to stifle free speech

 

Queens County judge blisters prosecutors in decision to release 3 wrongfully convicted Black men after 24 years.

 

ACLU, civil rights groups call on DHS to abandon proposed expansion of face surveillance at airports.

 

Push for Robinhood tax grows as poll shows majority in NY support levy on Wall St. trades.

 

Atlanta DA’s latest hire in #4 investigation is a racketeering expert.

 

Youth climate activists seek court ruling that US fossil fuel-based system is unconstitutional.

 

Climate activists applaud Rutgers University’s fossil; fuel divestment plan.

 

College athletes demand NCAA pull championships from states with anti-trans sport legislation.

 

Culver City calls on Gov. Newsom to slow neighboring gas storage facility in Playa del Rey.

 

Kansas City tenants’ month of activism breaks systems preventing 919 eviction hearings, 90% of all evictions scheduled for January.

 

Hundreds protest on eve of Derek Chauvin’s trial.

 

‘Say Her Name’: rallies and marches mark one-year anniversary of Breonna Taylor’s killing.

 

Bayer’s Roundup class action settlement draws widespread outrage.

 

SLAVERY BY ANOTHER NAME

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that in 2021, some 156 years after the Civil War, Congress managed still to vote down a $15.00 minimum wage. To cite the names of the eight Democrats who voted against it (Manchin, Sinema, King, Carper, Tester, Shaheen, Hassan, and Coons) is a distraction. To point out  their net worth (Coons $10 million,  King, 9.49 million, Manchin $7.62 million, Carper, $5.73 million, Shaheen, $3.82 million, Tester, $3.67 million, Hassan, $3.47 million, Hassan, $3.47 million, Sinema, N/A) is a distraction. To plead that this is “the richest country in the world” that won’t guarantee universal sick pay and family leave is a distraction, to shame these feckless marauding filibusterers by reminding them that jobless benefits expire in 9 days is a distraction (to delay debate, Johnson forced a speed reading of the 628 page bill, which took 11 hours).

 

Garcia-Marquez, who said America is the country of forgetting, the country of “dust” because it suffers from amnesia about its history, got it bass ackward. We learned not too long ago that all that Paul Revere stuff we heard in school obscured the essential fact that the U.S. (at that time “the thirteen colonies”) rebelled against Great Britain not because we lusted for freedom (for Just Us but not anyone else), but because Britain was abolitionist, and we… well, we just couldn’t let go the idea of getting people to work for us “free”. We called it slavery (1619 – 1865); after the Civil War was supposed to end that, we had to call it something else. So we created the 13th Amendment, which set the idea in concrete once and for all, and which perpetuated the old system under a new name. It guaranteed that we could go on stealing people’s labor except we had to put them in prison first.

 

So we put a lot of people in prison and we called it ”convict leasing,” a system wherein if you were a private firm, or a business, or a planter or a corporation, you could “borrow” prisoners at no pay to work for you. This system of involuntary servitude became popular at first because it associated “work” with “punishment.”  And everyone knows miscreants  need to be punished. Soon “punishment” became “rehabilitation” because it sounded nicer. (Arbeit Macht Frei). The new system of prison labor became known as “state use,” the idea being that prisoners could work for their own upkeep. Have a little extra to send home to the wife and kids, not just a bus ticket and $20 on release. To this day, prisoners work for as little as $1 a day. They make license plates, staff prison kitchens, build furniture for state offices, and sew Victoria’s Secrets underwear. They fight forest fires (extremely hazardous work) but are not allowed to continue that kind of work following release.

 

The minimum wage has stayed the same ($7.25 an hour) since 2009.   Twelve years. Before taxes that comes to $290 a week., or $1,600 a month, or $13,920. a year.   There’s slight disconnect here because now (after 12 years) a studio apartment rents for minimum $2,000 a month. So in order to afford rent, food, and a few extras, someone earning minimum wage would have to work 2 jobs. That’s 16 hours a day not counting commutes, and might leave some 5 hours for sleep. Two jobs would yield $27,840 a year before taxes, but would allow you $3,840.00 for food, clothing, and carfare, which comes to $320 a month. The employees of such concerns as Walmart, Amazon, Costco, McDonalds, and many others have to subsist on food stamps; in other words, the U.S. taxpayer subsidizes corporations who hire employees at minimum wage.  A good reason never to patronize any of them.

 

 

So far, our discussion has included only single individuals; now if  someone has the misfortune of having a family (families consist of wives, or husbands, or children, or sometimes all three) how do three people (or more) live on $27,840 a year; or if two people are working two jobs, $55,680.00. Occasionally, there happens to be an unforeseen benefit: one bed can be shared in shifts.

 

Is this slavery by another name? Or is this only a revisit of post-industrial Industrial Revolution Britain? Does the subject person need to be Black or Brown? or can a person be White or Asian or Native American and still qualify?

 

So no. These feckless, marauding filibusterers in Congress have not forgotten American history.  They are remembering it all too well. Please help vote them out of office. We need a little more amnesia.

 

                                                ______________________

 

 

WAR NO MORE

 

An article appeared this week published by Common Dreams which casts a rare light on the events of Jan. 6 (which the MSM seems to have consigned to the dust heap of history). “Living Up Close and Personal With Our Endless Wars” is offered from the perspective of a military wife who happens also to earn her living as a social worker interested in the health impacts of war. She is also co-founder of Brown University’s Cost of War Project. 

 

Among the many points the article raises is the idea that, with the events of Jan. 6,  America’s Endless Wars are coming home to roost, and that D.C. has become a war zone, cities like Portland, practice runs.  Officially we might refer to Portland as military exercises.  (It is critical to keep in mind that Portland police, beneficiaries of the 1033 program, are using expired WWII and Korean war tear gas cannisters so toxic and blinding, demonstrators must avail themelves of gas masks. Subjected to chemical analysis, the likelihood of these substances being carcinogenic is high. Like Scott Olson in Oakland some ten years ago, one Portland demonstrator received a cannister directly in the face. He suffers from the loss of one eye, and his shattered brain pan will have to be completely reconstructed. He still suffers from neurological deficits, notably loss of short-term memory.) 

 

She writes, “We have been amazed at how few Americans, other than our fellow military families, have been preoccupied with the violence beginning to unfold on our nation’s streets and the way, in some strange fashion, America’s distant, never-ending wars of these last 20 years were threatening to come home.”And, to cap her argument she stresses that the unimaginable sums this country’s military machine have siphoned off increasingly massive portions of the domestic budget at the expense of social services ranging from healthcare to domestic job creation, at the same time retiring military grade weaponry from far flung war zones into the homeland hands of police departments across the country.

 

Whether Democrat or Republican, the presidents of the past 20 years have insured that the violence continuing in war zones world over has now begun to unfold at home, and that as a military wife in contact with many other military wives, she names and shares their unique and very appalling fears—all this at salaries reduced from the national average by 27%. 

 

 

Urge Biden to end forever wars.

 

Demand Congress bring the George Floyd Justice to Policing Act to a vote, ending the transfer of battle grade weaponry to municipal police.

 

End wage slavery now. No one can live on $7.25 an hour which has been the minimum since 2009.

 

Uphold the $15 an hour minimum wage.

 

 

After yet another major earthquake, Ex-Japanese PMs Kan and Koizumi urge Japan to quit nuclear power generation.

 

Greens seek to halt German uranium exports to Europe.

 

Aid groups reject charges over Mediterranean refugee rescue missions.

 

International Criminal Court prosecutor to open formal probe into war crimes in occupied West Bank.

 

French ex-president Sarkozy faces sentence to 3 years in prison for corruption.

 

Iran agrees to IAEA talks, Western powers pause censure plans.

 

Haitians continue to resist dictatorship and imperialist forces.

 

‘We need to be on war footing’: head of WHO calls for vaccine patent waivers to halt pandemic.

 

European powers scrap US backed plan for IAEA rebuke of Iran.

 

India: Farmers mark 100 days of protests.

 

In a huge win for labor, Biden issues public statement of support for Alabama workers fighting for union.

 

Fight is not over say rights groups as Biden administration lets separated families remain in U.S.

 

Word by word, Biden administration is easing #45’s language of racism, xenophobia, and hate.

 

Supreme Court dismisses so-called sanctuary city cases following Bidden administration request.

 

Progressives push Biden to end ‘vaccine apartheid.’

 

Biden administration brokers deal between two corporate competitors to vastly boost vaccine supply.

 

Biden rolls out array of climate-related orders calling on all agencies to factor climate into their work.

 

Biden withdraws Neera Tanden’s nomination.

 

Pressure building on Biden to rejoin Iran nuke deal.

 

80 House Dems urge Biden to repeal #45’s cruel sanctions on Cuba

 

Sea. Kaine (D-Va) plans new push on war powers resolution after Biden attacks Syria.

 

‘We need to make sure it’s done right’: peace advocates welcome Biden move to limit war powers.

 

Biden open to repealing US laws that enable ‘forever wars’.

 

Biden orders temporary limits on drone strikes outside war zones.

 

Senate passes $1.9 trillion pandemic relief package, without however approving $15 minimum wage.

 

Biden says $1,400 payments can start to go out this month.

 

ACLU to Biden: Do not ‘review’ drone killing program-end it once and for all.

 

States are moving to end National Guard role in unauthorized wars.

 

Could be worse department: Biden calls off strike on second military target in Syria last week.

 

USDA pauses land transfer of Oak Flat  including Bildagoteel, site of southwest tribal religious beliefs to mining company. 

 

Protesters block intersection in support of jailed indigenous elder.

 

Marshall Islanders remember ‘Castel Bravo’ nuclear bomb that destroyed their island, and ruined their health.

 

Citing harm to tribal lands and wildlife, groups call on Biden administration to remove certain border wall.

 

150 former aides, surrogates urge Sanders to help secure citizenship pathway for undocumented immigrants.

 

Bill to expand federal background checks on all gun sales reintroduced in Senate.

 

House new voting rights bill now curtails gerrymandering right away.

 

To help fund COVID recovery and redress inequality, Warren unveils wealth tax on ultra billionaires and billionaires.

 

To ensure justice and accountability for police brutality, Pressley leads Masssachusetts’ progressive lawmakers in new bill to end qualified immunity.

 

Part of he George Floyd Justice in Policing Act newly introduced in Congress is called the ‘Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act.

 

AOC among N.Y. lawmakers saying Gov. Cuomo cannot hand pick investigator into allegations against him.

 

California Senator Alex Padilla’s first bill would protect millions of undocumented essential workers.

 

Sanders attempted to force vote on $15 minimum wage amendment.

 

Advocates urge permanent closure after parents and kids released from Pennsylvania’s Berks migrant family jail.

 

New study find about 300 fewer police killing have occurred in most cities where BLM protests occurred.

 

Evanston, Ill. becomes first city to make reparation amends for black residents.

 

108 illegal immigrants in Texas who tested positive for COVID reportedly released.

 

US journalists form union to survive ‘hedge fund vampires’ and COVID 19.

 

While tens of thousands of New Yorkers have been unable to cover rent due to COVID, tenant organizers protest re-opening of Housing Court.

 

Rooftop solar forms an alternative to monopoly utility models.

 

San Francisco, Minneapolis, Portland, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Baltimore and a dozen more cities have reduced police spending in favor of transferring money to the community.

 

 

Reliability: Whose, and How Long?

Greg Abbott, the Cancun misadventures of Ted Cruz, even Texas is a distraction. Ever since Katrina, Gulf Coast disasters have followed thick and fast one upon the other. After Katrina, which affected Louisiana and Mississippi most drastically, New Orleans was never given a change at recovery. Two years ago Hurricane Harvey flooded Houston in two feet of water. The snow storm affecting the entire state last week was preceded last August by Hurricane Laura forcing half a million to evacuate, and affecting the Lake Charles area, located just 3 miles from Houston. A month after Laura, Delta again left Lake Charles reeling under mass devastation. Weeks later, Zeta knocked out New Orleans power for nearly a week. 

 

In case no one’s noticed, the Gulf Coast has become uninhabitable.  That’s the real news.  All else is distraction, the politicians quick to pin blame on the Green New Deal and on wind turbines (Texas’ are not hardened against the cold) and not the  utility managers who sit on ERCOT’s board (Electric Reliability Council of Texas). Not the failure of its coal and gas plants, and its reliance on fossil fuels generally. Texas insisted on having its own grid in order to avoid regulation. Ten years ago after a severe storm, ERCOT’s managers were advised to harden their infrastructure, but they chose to do absolutely nothing that would stand in the way of more and more profits at the expense of rate payers statewide who have been without power, most without water, without heat in freezing temperatures, so severe it has resulted in several deaths, and whose uninsulated water pipes are located on the exterior of their homes. Many days of snow, and freezing temperatures eluded the Texas imagination—as did so much else. Because like everything else, Texans are immune to the ravages of global warming. Until it strikes.

 

Austin: Texans carrying potable water

Throughout the state now, millions of houses have burst water pipes, with severe water damage making many homes uninhabitable. Texans have had to scramble to obtain water and food as super market shelves have emptied; some have had to burn furniture to try to stay warm, and most hospitals are without power or  potable water, unable to care for the severely ill who keep their emergency rooms overflowing.  Like Katrina, the snow storm has impacted millions of people, but unlike Katrina, this disaster has reached deep into the white middle class as well.  Whereas one Katrina survivor described caravans of escaping white folks speeding by on the state interconnector, waving at them with “So, long, niggers,” this time some of these white folks don’t even get to exercise any ready-to-hand racism. In a great evening of the playing field, this time all Texans have been “so longed,” and ERCOT is slapping them with utility bills somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,600 for just trying to keep warm over the cold snap. My, oh my. oh my, just think what that’s going to do to Texas real estate values.

 

Homes in darness while corporate Houston glows

But Texas is just one sacrifice zone, the Gulf Coast is just another sacrifice zone. What about Iowa which not too long experienced flooding on a scale never before imagined, destroying some 43% of its corn crop? What about California which experienced skies the color of dark chocolate with massive wild fires too hot to control, reportedly because of the geo-engineered aerial spraying over its forests coupled with the fecklessness of PGE, the Northern California utility which alone managed to cause over 400 fires, and nearly one hundred deaths? Is California too to become a sacrifice zone to the global warming caused by human activity? And what about the U.S. military which produces more greenhouse gases than several developed countries?

 

And is all the United States between California and Texas to become one gigantic sacrifice zone, and is continental U.S.A. to become one mega sacrifice zone? And is Central America with so many of its inhabitants feeling drought to become just part or a Northern Hemisphere sacrifice zone, and as the Andes glaciers continue melting depriving much of Peru and Bolivia of water is Latin America to join a hemispheric sacrifice zone? And while the Western Hemisphere parches, burns, freezes and floods, will the Eastern Hemisphere, home of a great part of the world’s population, remain immune?

 

In the absence of local, state or federal agencies,  a number of articles, point to the heroic efforts of mutual aid groups all over Texas and Mississippi assisting neighbors, despite their own homes being subject to flooding, fires, freezing cold water damage, and their own food lockers all but empty. Neighbors turned absent homeowners water mains off. But despite the deep humanity to which these gestures attest, global warming is of such a vast scale that only the essentially radical approaches of governments uniting in one-world government can possibly encounter it.

 

Last night I watched the miracle of moon rise.  The moon stares down on all of this with an indifferent eye—as indifferent as most of the Earth’s people who do nothing and could care less.  Until disaster visits them.

 

 

 

 

CUT the Pentagon budget.

 

 

NO MORE WAR in the Middle East.

 

 

 

Academics at UK university reject IHRA anti-Semitism definition.

 

Iran and IAEA reach ‘temporary’ agreement to maintain nuclear surveillance.

 

China declares victory over poverty as World Bank estimates that in the past 40 years, this accounts for more than 70% of the world’s total.

 

India, China PMs to set up hot line as border crisis eases.

 

India and China complete pull-back of forces.

 

So Korea agrees to partial release of blocked Iranian money.

 

Israel lashes out as ICC okays war crimes probe.

 

Magpie River becomes first in Canada to be granted legal personhood.

 

Mexico to ban glyphosate and GM corn.

 

Victory for Uber drivers as UK decision clarifies drivers’ employment status and time for which they must be compensated.

 

U.S. says Saudi crown prince approved Khashoggi’s murder, imposes visa restrictions on 76 Saudis.

 

SCOTUS denies Trump’s “shameful” effort to block tax returns release green lighting their release to NYC prosecutor.

 

Latest from SCOTUS conservatives compels Senate to ditch filibuster, restore voting rights.

 

Texas mutual aid groups meet people’s long-term needs.

 

Dozens of House Democrats call on Biden to give up sole nuclear launch authority.

 

Biden’s proposed Civilian Climate Corps is positive step.

 

Biden evokes #45 order designating Democratic cities ‘anarchist’ designation.

 

Biden team considering halting some arms sales for Saudis.

 

Citing concerns about corporate power, Sanders votes against Biden’s choice for USDA chief.

 

Sanders warms Biden about attack on Syria.

 

Neer Tanden’s bid to head OMB on verge of collapse.

 

Slavery is alive and well: Progressives reject Manchin plan to cut $15 MWP to $11.

 

With $15 wage included, House Dems fulfill election promises with passage of sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID relief package.

 

AOC spends weekend raising millions and delivering aid to Texans.

 

Jewish groups urge Biden to review and revoke Trump-era ‘made in Israel’ settlement good policy.

 

Ahead of hearing, calls grow for Postmaster General DeJoy’s removal.

 

California State legislature passes Golden State stimulus with governor signing it.

 

California appellate court holds that Wi-Fi sickness is a disability.

 

Newsom administration sued over thousands of unlawful oil and gas projects.

 

Judge upholds California’s gold standard net neutrality law.

 

Virginia to become first state in South to ban capital punishment.

 

California becomes first stats in country to repeal many onerous administrative fees in the criminal justice system.

 

Advocates applaud as Illinois approves elimination of cash bail.

 

Coastal Annapolis MD becomes 25^th U.S. community to file climate suit that aims to #MakePollutersPay.

 

Under pressure from activists, fracking banned in Delaware River basin.

 

Coalition of activists tell Gov. Wolf, no sacrifice zones in Pennsylvania.

 

Environmentalists sound alarm over Texas refineries’ release of hundreds of thousands of pounds of pollutants during storm.

 

Investors managing $250 million in assets call on big banks to stop funding Mountain Valley Pipeline.

 

Fighting ‘disease of greed and destruction,’ water protectors blockade over a dozen Line 3 worksites.

 

Law students announce boycott of Chevron law firm, Seward & s.

 

Asian and Black progressives stress unity and understanding amid attacks on Asian Americans.

 

Minnesota returns land to lower Sioux Indian community.

 

New database aims to track police use of force, bypassing current government inaction.

 

Santa Barbara approves Medicare for All resolution.

 

Chicago City Council unanimously passes resolution to end blockade of Cuba.

 

 

 

Those Golden Arches

 

A nation that contents itself to eat McDonald’s has the government it deserves.  Our representatives in Congress with few exceptions are like Big Macs, bad for you, bad for the fear you eat with each bite of the butchered cow that was slaughtered to feed you, bad for the fear of all the trees in the Amazon which are felled to feed your habit, and bad for Earth which needs her lungs to breathe. We seem not to know how to stop.

 

Our insatiable habit is to keep electing the government we think we deserve, expecting better results, yet year after year we see the outcome.  Now our government has perpetrated the greatest crime of all.  I do not refer to the pitiable Kabuki of an “impeachment trial” meant to decapitate Grendell, and whimped out on by the ice cream empress Pelosi and all the whimpublicans in Congress. I refer to a Pentagon budget in the trillions while our people, if they are lucky enough still to have a job are paid starvation wages, while others die of starvation and disease, living in tents by the railroad tracks all over the United States because our government can’t be bothered to house them, or educate them out of their sad delusions, or help them learn how to think critically, or manage their finances to have a crack at basic survival.  That’s the crime behind our Golden Arch.

 

Of all industrialized nations, not only are we last in healthcare, we have the worst worker benefits. the worst income inequity, and we are by far the largest incarcerater in the world. We require forced  labor of prisoners at anywhere from 86 cents to $3.45 per day: in five states, prisoners are forced to work for free under the draconian provisions of the 13th amendment, many doing dangerous work, fighting California’s wildfires for example, work they are barred from doing on release.

 

And our life of crime is our chief export.  Making the rest of the world’s people miserable seems to be a specialty. Twenty years of misery exported to Afghanistan, more years in Iraq, bombing Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, and those are just the wars for fun and profit. The economic wars spread their largesses to Venezuela, Haiti, Iran, 30 emiserated counties in all, not to mention Cuba. I leave Cuba with its now 60 year’s blockade for last because in my lifelong travels it is the only country I have visited that is a victim of U.S. economic sanction.  I can attest with my own eyes that the results look very much like a shooting war.  It just takes a little longer.

 

Like the Marshall Islands, whose people have been irradiated for all eternity, Haiti is another laboratory country, namely a country where we like to experiment with horror to see what effect it has on the people living there. Conveniently, laboratory countries are often populated by people of color. Thanks to the Clintons and many before and around them, Haiti now provides an excellent picture of what happens to a country when its president refuses to step down.  Jovenal Moise has been replaced one week ago; his people have taken to the streets. His police is arresting them as they demonstrate. Throughout his “presidency”, violence has been waged against opponents of his dictatorship. State sanctioned gangs have massacred people in opposition communities. Both police and military trained in repressive measures by (you guessed it) the United States, have attacked and arrested demonstrators and journalists, making use of live ammunition.

 

Thanks to the events of January 6 and February 13, Americans are now in a much better position to understand what that feels like. 

 

ACTION

 

 

Using e-mail and tweets, express support for Haiti to your representatives and public officials.

 

Demand Biden end economic sanctions worldwide.

 

Push Congress (remember them?) and Biden to undo #45’s damage.

 

Oppose Feinstein for voting for changes to social security.

 

THIS WEEK'S ROSES AMONGST THE THORNS

 

China and India announce joint troop withdrawal from Kashmir border.

 

Venezuela parliamentary commission charges Guidó.

 

Damning UN report urges UK to unfreeze Venezuelan gold.

 

UN Special Rapporteur urges U.S. to lift blockade against Venezuela.

 

Palestinian groups call on ICC to take swift action.

 

U.S. firms behind Agent Orange stand trial in France.

 

Claiming fight is not over, women’s rights activist  Loujain al-Hathloul released after 1000 days from Saudi prison.

 

With 10-point declaration, global coalition of top energy experts says 100% renewables is possible.

 

‘End this human atrocity’ says amnesty after Biden signals goal to close Gitmo.

 

Muslim Advocates files brief on #45’s anti-Muslim motives in detaining Gitmo prisoner.

 

GAO report shows Biden should scrap #45’s economic sanctions on Venezuela.

 

Under Biden, U.S. DOJ drops lawsuit filed under #45 challenging California’s net neutrality law, which could set the baseline for future federal rules.

 

Net neutrality to come back under Biden.

 

Applause as Biden plans ending Medicaid work requirements. targeting one of #45’s most cruel policies.

 

Thousands of advocates push Biden to end fossil fuel era.

 

Dems have massive COVID support so they can keep minimum wage hike.

 

New House bill reaffirms strong Congressional support for trillions in special drawing right as part of global COVID responses from Washington.

 

Mask wearing and lockdowns eliminate fluunivserities season this year.

 

Youth plaintiffs to take landmark case to Supreme court after Ninth Circuit denies en banc review to Juliana vs. U.S.

 

Ecologists and trade unionists demand just transition towards less air traffic.

 

Beyond Nuclear files federal lawsuit challenging high-level radioactive waste dump targeted at Texas-New Mexico Border.

 

Attorneys and anti-nuclear groups ask Biden administration to take fresh look at risky plans for plutonium pits.

 

In  what might be one of the largest  antimonopoly cases of this century, Justice Department files antitrust action against Google and its parent, Alphabet for controlling more than 878% of US search market.

 

BAP Solidarity Network demands Biden end war in Afghanistan.

 

Biden removes all 10 members of anti-worker Federal Services Impasses Panel.

 

Bden can be pushed for fundamental change at USDA and beyond.

 

The Black anti-war movement demands Biden take concrete steps to end the wars at home and abroad.

 

At confirmation hearing, Sanders call out Neera Tanden’s vicious attacks on progressives.

 

Progressives applaud FAIR Act reintroduction aimed at ending ant-worker, anti-consumer forced arbitration.

 

New York’s new law covering 67,000 fast food workers is a leap forward for just cause for all.

 

N.Y.C. taxi drivers shut down Brooklyn Bridge in demand for debt forgiveness.

 

Calls continue to drop charges against the 646 mass-arrested on interstate 94 in Minneapolis.

 

Press freedom groups call on DOJ to drop Assange charges.

 

Free Assange demands grow as Biden DOJ says it will continue to seek extradition.

 

Amnesty International joins civil liberties groups to ask Biden to drop case against Assange.

 

Local Georgia prosecutor launches criminal probe into #45’s request to ‘find the votes.”

 

Study finds increase in anti-Zionism at U.S. universities.

 

Court rules Arkansas’ Israel boycott pledge law is unconstitutional.

 

Philadelphia educators defy district.

 

After threatening strike, Chicago teachers set ‘n standard’ with safer school reopening plan.

 

St. Louis inmates take over units after weeks of complaints.

 

Wrongly jailed Queens youth organizes own defense from prison.

 

In study detailing #45-inflicted death and misery Lancet panel declares Medicare for all only way forward.

 

B of A announces net-zero emissions target financing goal.

 

Climate activist target major banks in fight to defund toxic Line 3 Pipeline

 

Tribes reclaim control of national bison range at long last.

Newly elected Orleans Parish DA cleans house of predecessor’s filth.

 

Baltimore democratizes economy one ice cream pint at a time at Taharka Bros. worker-owned co-op.

 

Fences and protesters return to Berkeley’s People’s Park as UC tries bid to expand yet again.

 

SPELLING IT OUT

It’s not quite been a fortnight since Dana Milbank published her article in the Wapo about “the soul of the GOP,” surely an oxymoron for oxy-morons if there ever was. But just in case you missed it, I’m revisiting it this week.

 

In probably the best post mortem we will ever see following the events of January 6^th when a bunch of jail-happy insurrectionists, aided and abetted by their fearless leader who cowered in his fortified quarters while they rampaged, Milbank provides the roster of GOP miscreants in the House and Senate who may have talked a good game in the rampage’s aftermath, but who made sure to switch their stories once the excitement died down:

 

McCarthy heads the House list.  Following recantation of his promise to introduce the censure resolution he described as ‘prudent,” he made news appointing QAnon anti Semite sweetie, Marjorie Taylor Greene of GA to sit on the House Education Committee,  and in search of a photo op, traveled to Mar-a-Lago headquarters to kiss the pontiff’s ….well you get the idea.

 

The  Senate’s chinless, spineless scourge, McConnell, although he may have initially  criticized #45’s role in the uprising, promptly blocked the impeachment trial from happening before #45 finally called the moving van, and by Jan. 26, along with 44 other GOP miscreants, in a handy 180 degree switcheroo, he voted to dismiss the trial altogether as “unconstitutional” on the grounds that #45 was already out of office! And he failed to purge #45 and his violent devotees from the party, exposing the five braver GOPers who voted to proceed with the trial to the death threats awaiting them.   

 

Follows a list of lesser miscreants, including Gaetz (R-Fla) Nikki Haley, Lindsey Graham (S.C.), the AZ, HI and OR, GOP parties, the latter claiming that the events of Jan 6. were a mere “false flag” op.

 

Thirty-one members of Congress (one of them a Republican) have called on House leaders for more personal security for themselves and their families. The Dept of Homeland Security issued a warning that advocates of violet overthrow may target elected officials, and the FBI disclosed one such extremist, possibly targetting CA Governor Newsome, stockpiled pipe bombs, firearms, 15K rounds as well as bomb-making materials. Others threatened Fauci and his family, another expressed desire to assassinate AOC, and one arrestee threatened to put a bullet thru Pelosi’s head. By Jan. 29, federal authorities had already developed cases against 164 people.

 

Wrote Milbank, “Yet just three weeks after feebly trying to quit Trump, [Republican leaders] have relapsed. It’s as though Abraham Lincoln had offered the Union’s unconditional surrender after the first shots were fired at Fort Sumter.”

 

We may be shut of the day-to-day twitterings of a White-House-embedded fearless leader, but in retirement he becomes far more dangerous because his maneuvers and those of his devotees can’t easily be tracked.

 

Meantime today’s headlines read: GOP lawmakers call for Pelosi to be fined for not going through the metal detectors; Eleven Republicans vote to remove Greene from House Committees over incendiary social media posts; According to new poll, two-third Republicans say ‘Biden not legitimately elected’; and 64% GOP voters say they would join a Trump-led new party.

 

 

End Citizens United.

 

No on Vilsack for Secy Agriculture.

 

End all economic sanctions in face of global pandemic.

 

Urge Biden to commute all federal death penalty sentences.

 

Fire DeJoy.

 

Demand Congress pass HR 1 expanding voting rights, and getting money out of politics.

 

 

UN court rules UK has no sovereignty over Chagos Islands (Diego Garcia).

 

ICC clears way for war crimes probe of Israeli actions.

 

U.S. call for halting Israel settlement, demolition of Palestinian homes.

 

After Biden move, anti-war groups call on Boris Johnson to end UK support for Saudi assault on Yemen.

 

U.S., Russia extend last major arms control treaty.

 

EU warns Kosovo against opening Jerusalem embassy.

 

Italy blocks arm sales to Saudi Arabia and UAE over Yemen crimes.

 

Haiti begins general strike and intensifies struggle against President Jovenel Moise who refuses to step down.

 

Ecuador’s Left is back.

 

Court orders Quebec Government to exempt homeless people from curfew.

 

Canadian Govt. designates Proud Boys terrorist group.

 

Microsoft backs Australia’s proposed media laws targeting Facebook, Google.

 

Federal charges upgraded to conspiracy for Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

 

SCOTUS grants Biden admin request to remove border wall, anti-asylum cases from calendar.

 

U.S. releasing hundreds of Central American families from increasingly busy custody.

 

US. to end deals sending asylum seekers back to Central America.

 

Biden wants better nuclear deal with Iran.

 

Majority of U.S. voters don’t want billons spent on Americas “Nuclear Sponge.”

 

Biden reverses Houthis terrorist designation.

 

Biden rolls back some of #45’s sanctions on Venezuela.

 

Biden to end U.S. support for Saudi-led war on Yemen which has caused vast humanitarian suffering.

 

Biden set to boost U.S. refugee admissions to 125,000 after #45 cut.

 

Biden’s order terminates private prison contracts.

 

Biden gives back of his hand to deficit trolls including Larry Summers, on covid relief.

 

110+ groups demand Buiden close Gitmo without delay.

 

Biden’s child tax credit plan could right historic wrong.

 

Senior Dems to unveil $3,000-per-child benefit as Biden stimulus gains steam.

 

After 14+  hours of votes, Senate approves covid relief resolution with zero GOP support.

 

After Senate all-nighter, Harris breaks tie to move forward on covid relief.

 

Federal mask cops to start targeting travelers Feb. 3.

 

New bill aims to scrap mandate forcing postal service to prefund retirement benefits years in advance.

 

Senators introduce bipartisan DREAM act putting DACA recipients on citizenship path.

 

100 lawmakers urge House leaders to include legalization for essential workers.

 

Congressional staffers implore Senators to convict #45 for sake of country.

 

DHS nominee to lead task force reunited separated families.

 

ICE cancels deportation flight to Africa after  claims of brutality.

 

Lawsuit filed over migrant deaths at U.S.-Mexico border.

 

Joining powerful finance committee, Warren vows to introduce wealth tax as first order of business.

 

Senators Whitehouse and Warren push Treasury Secy Yellen to rein in dark money groups.

 

120 Dems demand repeal of millionaire taxa cut buried in GOP former covid relief bill.

 

NLRB’s new top lawyer dumps #45-era changes to agency’s law enforcement, including several intensifying union policing.

 

Federal judge scraps #45 polluter-friendly ‘Censored Science’ rule.

 

Northrup to walk away from cluster bomb contract.

 

Black Alliance for Peace demands Biden administration abolish 1033 program.

 

Stacey Abrams nominated for Nobel Peace Prize.

 

Standing Rock Lakota youth call for Biden to shut down Dakota Access Pipeline.

 

Protesters call on Hopkins to drop nuclear research.

 

Students pressure Northwestern to abolish police.

 

UC Berkeley acquires FBI records of surveillance of Black leaders.

 

Oregon decriminalizes low-level possession of all drugs.

 

Virginia Senate votes to abolish death penalty, 23^rd state to do so.

 

Austin uses police budget cuts for supportive housing.

 

Bronx produce workers 6-day strike inspires N.Y.

 

Oakland passes emergency ‘hazard pay’ ordinance mandating grocers to pay workers an extra $5.00 an hour.

 

Alabama workers fight to form first U.S. Amazon union.

 

Workers given go-ahead for union vote fingering Amazon in the eye.

 

Groups in South work to fix broken farm labor system

 

Amazon to pay $61.7 million to delivery drivers after withholding tips.

 

Marjorie Greene stripped of all committee assignments.

 

 

Pompeo pushes Nobel for #45.