Embedded Files
US Covid deaths surpass 350,000 as vaccination program chaos continues - Jan 4, 2021
WEAR YOUR MASKS. W.H.O. "When and how to use masks"
The Trump Administration is proving itself as inadequate in the Covid vaccination phase as it was in the early days of the pandemic. As Trump inspires his followers to demand Congress overturn the election results, he continues his lack of leadership and criminally bad example in confronting the virus. When the sad story of Trump's presidency is recalled sometime in the distant future, it will be with disbelief at his epic failure to protect Americans from the pandemic...READ
A fitting symbolic end to the Trump presidency - Jan 6, 2021
One of the most shameful and anti-democratic episodes in the nation's history unfolded Wednesday. "Responding to President Donald Trump’s call to disrupt the counting of electoral votes that would confirm his defeat, hundreds of his supporters broke into the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, forcing Congress to halt its work and Vice President Mike Pence to be evacuated as the mob overcame token resistance from the police." (The Intercept, Jan 6)
In what we can only hope is the final act of Trump's desperate attempt to overturn the vote and prevent Joe Biden from taking office, MAGA-land's most deranged showed up in Washington, listened to Trump lie about the election, rioted, stormed the Capitol Building, injured at least 50 police, planted explosive devices and tried to destroy the electoral college ballots. By the time it was over, four people were dead. A fifth person, a police officer defending the Capitol against the mob, would succumb to his injuries the following day...READ
Congress certifies Electoral College vote. Democracy survives. - Jan 7, 2021
After a day of violence by Trump supporters, Congress certified the Electoral College votes early this morning. The Trump coup failed, but not before some Republican Congressmen, repeating many of Trump's lies about election fraud, disgraced themselves by objecting to the certification. Even the violence stirred up by Trump did not deter them from continuing the Republican Party's decade-long phony narrative of massive election fraud, which has served as the excuse for GOP efforts to disenfranchise Democratic Party constituents...READ
I resolve not to rage... - Jan 13, 2021
I am not a Stoic though sometimes I wish I were. It is difficult not to rage over the events of Trump's final days and his egregious final executive orders and rule changes. Raging does no good but taking action based on hope does. Here are some belated New Year's resolutions and some hopes for better days...the assured failure of the Senate to convict Trump on the insurrection impeachment charge, the absurd claims by right-wing commentators and pols about the Capitol Insurrection, the gullible Trump supporters, Trump's post-election blitz of cruelty and actions designed to thwart a Biden presidency...READ
Moving Forward: Defending Voting Rights and Democracy - Jan 21, 2021
Two weeks after a mob of right-wing extremists stormed the Capitol in an attack on democracy itself, Joseph R. Biden took the oath of office to become the 46th president of the United States. In an empty Washington D.C., under the watchful eye of 25,000 National Guards, democracy prevailed. This time...Voting rights are the heart of a democracy. In 2013, the John Roberts Supreme Court gutted the landmark Voting Rights Act of 1965, further fueling the disenfranchisement efforts underway since the election of the nation's first black President...Seven years later, Donald Trump attempted to disenfranchise communities of color with bogus claims of voter fraud. Mass delusion gripped MAGA-land, and 70% of Trump voters believed the election was stolen. The end result was the violent attack on the Capitol during the certification of the Electoral College votes. The assault on voting rights will continue throughout Biden's term in Republican-held state legislatures with the lie of massive voter fraud endorsed by Republicans across the country...READ
Moving Forward: Defeating Mass Delusion - Jan 22, 2021
Spending more than my usual amount of time on social media in the weeks following the killing of George Floyd, I was worn out. A FB friend was re-posting some of the most bizarre, inane posts about George Floyd, the anti-racism protests, and other subjects. On June 9, I called it a day, stopped logging in to FB, and posted "Dark and Delusional: the new right-wing echo chamber". Seven months later, a mob of maskless Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, believing that the election had been stolen. Reporting on the insurrection, The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg called it a "mass delusion event" and a "rally against reason." Ninety-five percent of the mob were maskless as if, after 400,000 dead, the pandemic was a hoax. One hundred percent of the marchers believed, in spite of all evidence to the contrary and after 60 lost court cases, that the election was stolen from Trump. READ
Moving Forward: Overcoming Racism - Jan 28, 2021
Watching Trump's term in office condensed into an hour in the PBS documentary Trump's American Carnage reminded me of how much he damaged America over his four years and gave us a concentrated look at his hateful demagoguery and the sycophancy and silence of many. It was almost sickening to watch. Trump may be gone from the Oval Office but the elements that brought this supremely unfit man to the most powerful position on the planet are still with us. At the top of the list is racism, "America's original sin." From the first moments of Trump's arrival on the national political scene championing the racist birther lie to his insurrection-inciting assault on democracy three weeks ago, racism has been at the core of his message and his appeal.
How can we achieve solidarity and end racism as a nation and as individuals?...READ
Dear Joe Biden... (February 2021) - Feb 3, 2021
As devastating to a progressive and civil society as Trump's domestic policies and rhetoric were, his foreign policy and disdain for international law posed an even greater threat to a humanitarian, just and peaceful world....There is much to be done in the coming months if the US is to regain its respected place in the world community and lead by our example. While it will take time to implement some policies - e.g., a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis, there is much that can be done immediately. The peace organization Code Pink has suggested these "Ten Foreign Policy Fiascos Biden Can Fix on Day One" It's as good a place to start as any...READ
Protests erupt against Myanmar military coup - Feb 9, 2021
It's been 8 days since Myanmar's military staged a coup ending the power-sharing agreement with Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy. Like the coup attempts in the United States and Venezuela, this one was based on election results disputed by the losing side. Unlike the coup attempts in the United States and Venezuela, this one had the support of the military. The people of Myanmar have reacted with protests and work actions...READ
20 years in Afghanistan - Feb 17, 2021
On October 7, we will observe the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan. It was the first step in the neocon's misguided and tragic "war on terror" that eventually destabilized the entire Middle East. A stuttering peace process is underway between the Taliban and the Afghan government with a framework for the peace talks finally agreed in December. One of the best options for successful Afghan peace negotiations is that presented by the Heart of Asia - Istanbul Process...READ
Democracy endangered: talking up the Big Lie, playing down the insurrection - Feb 25, 2021
It's been an eventful week. Congress held the confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland for Attorney General and its first hearing on the Capitol Insurrection. Garland's statements were encouraging - recognizing the prevalence of systemic racism and the danger of right-wing domestic terrorism. Meanwhile, during the insurrection hearing and elsewhere, right-wingers are still endorsing Trump's Big Lie about voter fraud that led to the insurrection as well as denying the nature of the insurrection itself. READ democracy watch
Biden must reverse ALL of Trump's foreign policy fiascos: why the delay? - Mar 2
As President Biden attempts to restore America's credibility abroad, his first priority must be cleaning up the wreckage of Trump's foreign policy blunders, cruelties, and violations of international law and agreements...Biden has taken some notable steps, but there remain many Trump policies still to be remedied There are no acceptable excuses for delaying the reversal of these Trump disasters. Taken in the context of many of his foreign policy advisers, Biden's hesitancy in addressing these injustices is troubling.
READ world news/ foreign affairs
Bring 'em home - Mar 7
In his first military action, President Biden, like his predecessors, misused the post 9/11 AUMF in an airstrike that killed 22 Iranian-backed Iraqi militia operating in Syria. The strike was in retaliation for an attack on a base in Iraqi Kurdistan that killed one American contractor. He President Biden is fond of ending his words to the nation with "God bless America and protect our troops." Yet he leaves them in harm's way in nations that are no threat to us and that do not want us there in the first place...A deconstruction of the Pentagon's statement and media response.
READ Middle East
World News Briefs - Mar 12
Brazil's Supreme Court throws out the corruption convictions against former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva; Myanmar's deadly crackdown on anti-coup protesters continues; EU backs ICC inquiry into alleged Israeli war crimes; China approves plan to veto Hong Kong election candidates
Immigration: undoing Trump and addressing root causes - Mar 16
In his campaign for the presidency, Joe Biden pledged a return to a humane immigration policy. Since he has taken office, he has seen how difficult it may be to fulfill that pledge. For decades, the US immigration system has been inadequate for the task. The pandemic, an increasing number of migrants at the southern border, and the challenge of dismantling Trump’s policies have added to the difficulty.
Seven mass shootings in seven days - Mar 25
Drenched in guns and blood, stymied by a powerful gun lobby, cowardly politicians, and an incredibly wrong Supreme Court decision, America refuses to address its gun violence pandemic. After particularly horrific mass shootings, conservative politicians call for "prayers for the victims" and liberal groups call for "common sense" gun laws. We talk about it for a while and nothing gets done - legislative proposals blocked by conservative politicians and good laws struck down by conservative justices. Politicians call these small anti-gun violence measures "common sense" gun laws. A better term would be "common decency" gun laws, sort of like wearing a mask to protect others from a deadly virus.
Ending murder-by the-state: Virginia abolishes the death penalty - Mar 30
More than two-thirds of the world's nations have abolished the death penalty. The United States is not among them. In 2019, we ranked sixth in the number of executions behind China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Egypt. Among our allies, we are alone in these pre-meditated killings by the state. Add to this, the unequal application of the death penalty to poor and African-American defendants, the execution of wrongfully convicted defendants, its failure as a deterrent, and the human rightsand moral arguments against the death penalty, any progress towards abolishing it is to be celebrated. On March 24, Virginia became the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty...READ
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