Trump Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is heading the administration’s effort to force schools to reopen in the fall for in-person instruction. What’s her plan to reopen safely? She doesn’t have one. Continue reading
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America doesn’t have presidential debates, but it should
On August 6, the Commission on Presidential Debates denied US president Donald Trump’s request to increase the number of debates between himself and Democratic nominee Joe Biden from three to four. Continue reading
U.S. defense secretary tells EU: ‘deter peace,’ confront Russia & China
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told Europeans, in statements on July 29th and August 9, “I’ve said that very publicly, I’ve said that very privately to my counterparts as well, about the importance of NATO, any alliance, sharing the burden so that we can all deter Russia and avoid peace in Europe.’” Continue reading
The smartest guy in his West Point class
The imaginary inner world of a fool is a dangerous place, especially if he happens to be the Secretary of State of the United States of America. Continue reading
Trump’s payroll tax deferral aims to weaken and kill Social Security and Medicare
All politicians lie. Rare exceptions prove the rule. Continue reading
Lawmakers demand removal of Postmaster General DeJoy over ‘nefarious’ efforts to destroy the Postal Service and ‘aid Trump reelection’
‘He is working to dismantle a fundamental institution of our democracy. He needs to resign or be removed, now.’
On the heels of a “Friday Night Massacre” at the U.S. Postal Service that deeply alarmed lawmakers, activists, and ordinary citizens nationwide, two House Democrats are demanding the immediate removal of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over his sweeping operational changes to the beloved government service that have slowed the delivery of essential packages and jeopardized mail-in voting. Continue reading
Letter Carriers union files nationwide grievance against mail slowdown scheme
WASHINGTON—The Letter Carriers union has filed a national grievance, an unusual move, against Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who took over the agency, promptly fired 21-31 top staffers, and imposed shutdown actions and an overtime ban that slows the mail down. Continue reading
Within health care USA, risk and reward have never been more out of kilter
Nurses are losing lives and jobs while execs rake in million after million.
How’s pandemic life been going for you? If you work in America’s health care industry, that depends. That totally depends. Continue reading
The evilness of America’s ruling class
The landmark Gilens & Page study in 2014, which was the first study anywhere to examine the data to determine scientifically whether or not a given government is a democracy or instead a dictatorship, studied the U.S. data, and found conclusively that it’s a dictatorship. The U.S. is controlled by its six or seven hundred billionaires (the study identified America’s ruling class as only “economic elites and organized groups representing business interests”, but the people who own the controlling interest in over 90% of that and hire their lobbyists and fund the careers of the winning politicians are simply America’s billionaires, the U.S. oligarchy or “aristocracy”). After that landmark 2014 study, other reports came forth, all adding further confirmation to its findings. Continue reading
Trump usurps congressional appropriations authority
On Saturday, Trump unconstitutionally breached exclusive congressional appropriations authority. Continue reading
COVID ‘has laid bare’ the crisis of healthcare in America
Wendell Potter’s new group, the Center for Health and Democracy, investigates money in politics and how it stubbornly resists health insurance reform.
Time flies. Hard to believe that it was twelve years ago that healthcare reform activist Wendell Potter left his job as head of corporate communications at Cigna and shortly after, loudly blew the whistle on the gross malpractices of the health insurance industry that had employed him. Continue reading
Trump’s dangerous lies about the COVID economy
“The recovery has been very strong,” Donald Trump said last week. Then the Commerce Department reported the U.S. economy contracted between April and June at the fastest pace in nearly three-quarters of a century, which is as long as economists have been keeping track. The drop wiped out five years of economic growth. Continue reading
The Likud conspiracy: Israel in the throes of a major political crisis
Protests against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have raged on for weeks, turning violent sometimes. Israelis are furious at their government’s mediocre response to the coronavirus pandemic, especially as COVID-19 is experiencing a massive surge throughout the country. Continue reading
Individuals with a cervix
A recent flash in the pan on Twitter was this tweet from CNN. Continue reading
Can Trump legally suspend payroll taxes by executive order?
Trump pushed the dubious scheme earlier. Continue reading
Retirees vow to ‘fight this attempt to gut Social Security’ as Trump announces executive order to suspend payroll tax
‘President Trump just betrayed seniors, ordering cuts in Social Security funding because Congress wouldn't go along with his payroll tax cut scheme.’
An advocacy group representing more than four million American retirees warned Thursday that President Donald Trump took a dangerous step toward “single-handedly” dismantling Social Security by announcing he plans to sign an executive order suspending collection of the payroll tax as early as Friday afternoon. Continue reading
Trump’s pathological racism and COVID-19
Donald Trump’s pathological racism, which he displays every day, has hampered international efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19. Trump’s insistence on using terms like the “Chinese flu” or “China flu” to describe COVID-19 is merely designed to stoke tensions with China and, by default, between Trump’s racist white nationalist base and Asian-Americans. Worse is Trump’s use of the blatantly racist “kung flu” to denote COVID-19. Continue reading
P Is for Predator State: The building blocks of tyranny from A to Z
While America continues to fixate on the drama-filled reality show scripted by the powers-that-be, directed from the nation’s capital, and played out in high definition across the country, the American Police State has moved steadily forward. Continue reading
Apartheid or one state: Has Jordan broken a political taboo?
What will it take for the idea of a two-state solution, which was hardly practical to begin with, to be completely abandoned? Continue reading
Freedom Rider: How Trump can steal the 2020 election
The election was stolen from Clinton four years ago and the even weaker 2020 candidate can expect the same fate. Continue reading
Postal Union leader warns Trump assault on USPS and mail-in voting puts nation on ‘dangerous path toward dictatorship’
‘Anyone who believes in the right to vote should enthusiastically embrace voting by mail. Without it, tens of millions of voters will be denied the opportunity to safely exercise their cherished right to vote.’
The leader of the 200,000-member American Postal Workers Union warned Monday that President Donald Trump’s evidence-free attacks on mail-in voting, threat to delay the November election, and ongoing efforts to undermine the U.S. Postal Service are putting the nation on “a dangerous path toward dictatorship” and must be opposed. Continue reading
US war on Chinese enterprises
US war on China’s rising prominence on the world stage is a bipartisan affair. Continue reading
Majority forces need to combat market dictatorship
An economy on the brink of more serious failure than the usual cyclic form entered an even more critical state when the COVID virus hit. We now find the mind-boggling debt before the capitalist pandemic growing to be very near breaking the capitalist bank. Along with the awakening public opposition to racism experienced by some who are encountering it for the first time, this is producing the greatest surge for substantial change since the near transformation that took place back in the 1930s, when capitalism defensively improved the lives of much of its working class to avoid social revolution. So, naturally, our intellectually and morally crippled rulers are making every effort to incorporate into the market any and all efforts at creating change, while blocking when not totally smothering public consciousness in the thickest fog of dis-and mis-information to make all previous treatment of mind management seem almost thoughtful by comparison. Continue reading
How Mitch McConnell’s Republicans are destroying America
Senate Republicans’ shameful priorities are on full display as the nation continues to grapple with an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Continue reading
Attacking local and state government: Trump’s Nazi playbook
Donald Trump has made no secret of his admiration for Nazism and Adolf Hitler. After neo-Nazis marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, Trump called them “fine people.” Trump’s first wife, Ivana Trump, wrote that one of the only books Trump kept readily available was a compendium of Adolf Hitler’s speeches. According to Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, Donald Trump was raised in a household of constant racist and anti-Semitic words and deeds. Continue reading
Privacy advocates herald bill to curb corporate use of ‘enormously invasive’ facial recognition technology
‘Do we really want to live under constant surveillance by unaccountable corporations?" said Sen. Bernie Sanders. ‘I don't.’
New legislation put forward by Sens. Jeff Merkley and Bernie Sanders on Tuesday would curb the use of facial recognition software by corporations and help to slow the spread of “abusive” surveillance, according to leading privacy advocates. Continue reading
Israel considers human rights activists national security threats
Like the US and other Western states, Israel is a fantasy democracy. Continue reading
Too many Americans belong to the cult of selfish individualism. In the COVID era, this has become a death cult.
On a per capita basis, Belgium has been the European country hardest hit by the coronavirus. With a population of 11.5 million, it registered over 66,000 infections and nearly 10,000 deaths. In fact, Belgium’s level of mortality of 860 deaths per million inhabitants is the highest in the world. Continue reading
Visiting Wisconsin: The presidential Zoom convention that will make Milwaukee famous!
My reconnaissance trip to Milwaukee this week is going quite well. I’ve spied out the lay of the land here. Everything looks good. Let the invasion of happy Democratic convention delegates begin! Continue reading
U.S. Cold War China Policy will isolate the U.S, not China
Tensions between the United States and China are rising as the U.S. election nears, with tit-for-tat consulate closures, new U.S. sanctions and no less than three U.S. aircraft carrier strike groups prowling the seas around China. But it is the United States that has initiated each new escalation in U.S.-China relations. China’s responses have been careful and proportionate, with Chinese officials such as Foreign Minister Wang Yi publicly asking the U.S. to step back from its brinkmanship to find common ground for diplomacy. Continue reading
When corporate power is your real government, corporate media is state media
The New York Times published an astonishingly horrible article the other day, titled “Latin America Is Facing a ‘Decline of Democracy’ Under the Pandemic,” accusing governments like Venezuela and Nicaragua of exploiting COVID-19 to quash opposition and oppress democracy. Continue reading
Trump envoy for regime change in Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, adds Iran to his portfolio
Posted on August 12, 2020 by Stephen Lendman
Everything thrown at the Islamic Republic for over 40 years to return the country to US client state status failed. Continue reading →