In this clip he compares and contrasts the progressive democratic and the fascist Repugnacon definitions. Granted he uses actual examples from each but the latter never admits the reality of their policies, rather spinning them with lies, racism and division to hide that reality.
Hartmann: What is patriotism?
Omar: Progressives ready to withhold votes from bi-partisan infrastructure deal
I've heard this from them before. And I've encouraged them time and again to use this veto block on legislation. So I'll believe it when they actually do it. By the way, Biden also promised the same thing and then backed away from it.
"Congresswoman Ilhan Omar said Tuesday that Democratic lawmakers in the House's nearly 100-member Progressive Caucus are prepared to withhold their votes from the White House-backed bipartisan infrastructure deal in order to guarantee the concurrent passage of a separate bill that invests in climate action, child care, and other priorities."
CDC Director update
Dr. Walensky is asked about the WHO recommendations for the vaccinated to keep wearing masks due to the Delta variant. She understands why they are doing that given that they cover the entire world where vaccination rates are low. But in the US where they are higher, and because the two-dose vaccines are effective against the variant, it is still safe for the fully vaccinated to go without masks. And yes, there will be Delta spikes in areas of low vaccination. And the unvaccinated must continue to wear masks and social distance to mitigate that.
What she did not address is why Israel is experiencing a Delta spike when they are 80+% vaccinated. And that up to half of the new Delta infections are among the vaccinated. US pandemic policy here really is dropping the ball and living in the fantasy land of arrogant American exceptionalism. In a short time we'll see how that policy is or is not stemming the tide of Delta.
Military marching chant
It's been 50 years already since I naively enlisted in the Army. And for no discernible reason this chant came back to me today. Yes, it's crass. Maybe even racist. That's our military.
Bitecofer: We are at war with fascism
And need to frame it as such if we want to defeat them. They know it's a war and treat it as such. Calling them neo-fascists--I prefer just fascist--is not only an accurate description but part of the sort of messaging we must do to hammer home that reality and influence voting behavior. We also need to accurately frame the disaster that is Reaganomics destroying the working class, and champion the sort of working class politics as spearheaded by Bernie.
Bottom line: This is a war for democracy and against fascism and we need to keep that message forefront if we want to win. If we do not we will lose big time in '22 and '24. And we'll lose more than a political battle: We will lose democracy.
See her Salon interview for more.
Dr. Fauci on masks and the Delta variant
Fauci doesn't see the CDC changing its no mask policy for the vaccinated. He's confident that the two-dose vaccines will protect us against it. However he does see that there will certainly be spikes in those communities with low vaccination rates. As I noted earlier it's no surprise that the US will not follow the WHO recommendations on this.
As an aside, even with the no mask policy for the fully vaccinated, it's still utterly irresponsible for dance communities to allow the unvaccinated to go without them. And the policy of not requiring proof of vaccination only encourages the unvaccinated to do so and further spread this more contagious and more dangerous variant. Anyone who supports that sort of policy by default supports the irresponsible spread of the disease. The responsible dance communities continue to require proof of vaccination for public health.
Dr. Marvasti: Vaccinated or not, wear masks against Delta variant
He teaches at the University of Arizona School of Medicine. He agrees with the World Health Organization's recommendations to continue precautions given the outbreaks of the Delta variant. He also thinks the US CDC should follow WHO's recommendation as soon as possible. Will the arrogant Americans follow this cosmopolitan advice? Or as usual have to learn the hard way at the cost to our health and lives?
“We don’t want to wait until after the fact and get caught with this thing already ahead of us when we know that masks work. [...] The CDC needs to act quickly, without waiting, to follow the WHO guidelines and ask everyone to put the masks back on so we can stay open, protect folks, and keep the economy going. We’re already seeing preliminary numbers out of Israel where fully vaccinated people are getting sick."
Also see others who agree with this approach.
PDACNM on the neoliberal Dem Party
Today the Central NM chapter of the Progressive Democrats of America issued this statement on the topic. Therein they "regretfully find ourselves in the position of having to fight for our own rights within the party we loyally serve" because the "neoliberal power brokers who run the party have done everything in their power to prevent progressives from claiming our fair share of Congressional seats and from occupying other influential party positions as well." They specifically refer to the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
They bring the issue home to NM in the recent CD1 runoff election between their chosen progressive candidate and one favored by the Dem "neoliberal power brokers." Senator Heinrich joined other Party leaders to influence the State Central Committee to tip the scales against the progressive. So the corporate media hype that NM is a bellwether indication of a progressive trend to come is really just more of the same Party establishment status quo maintaining their stranglehold. It's much the same dynamic that happened to Bernie in the primary when Obama and the neoliberals went all out to stop his candidacy by bribing his opponents to side with Biden.
We progressives have to come to terms with this war against us by our own Party. We are fighting not only the fascist Repugnacons but the neoliberals purportedly on our own side. To play nice with Dem neoliberals is to capitulate to them which will only strengthen their power. Much as conflict is distasteful to progressives, if we ever hope to enact the policies we the people want they are going to have to openly fight that status quo instead of going along to get along. They mistakenly might think that such a fight will turn off we the people, but to the contrary it invigorates and inspires us to want more of them on Congress when we see they are willing to fight and stand strong for us.
Therefore it is encouraging the PDACNM concluded with the following. Now we just have to get the progressives in Congress to also boldly and openly declare war on the Party instead of their typical mealymouthed hedging.
"We New Mexico progressives now step forward to let it be known that we are resolved never to stand by and allow our internal party political process be pre-empted in such a way again. We hereby commit to call out any neoliberal moves of this sort at the time they occur, to do so publicly, and to do so in no uncertain terms."
David Faris: It's now or never
In 2018 he wrote the book advising Democrats: It's Time to Fight Dirty. In this recent interview he reiterates that the basic theme of that book is even more important now since the Repugnacons are making no pretense anymore about their blatant attack on democracy. He thinks the Democrats are in denial about the gravity of the situation and approaching it with disastrous complacency. If we do not get election reform passed we have lost. And to get it passed we must play Constitutional hardball.
So what does that entail? "You have to abolish the filibuster in the Senate, you have to mandate national nonpartisan redistricting, you have to make voting easier, and you have to outlaw some of these Republican voter suppression tactics."
That is, the For the People Act must pass. But how do you do that in light of Manikin's obstruction? "It’s a mistake to assume Manchin can’t be moved. That’s the job of leadership. That’s Joe Biden’s job. That’s Chuck Schumer’s job."
And if that means fighting dirty then so be it. They cannot give up without a fight so they better learn how to fight right now. Do what needs to be done. Whatever it takes. Short of that it's game over so it's up to we the people to pressure Biden and Schumer to get it done. To make excuses for them instead is surrendering to that fascism.
Delta variant in the news
This clip discusses how some of the fully vaccinated in Israel are getting it. This one discusses how Israel is adding restrictions as cases surge, as well as surging cases in the UK. It also notes that the way to protect against the increasing cases in the US is for everyone, including the vaccinated, to continue masking and social distancing. This one below discusses how it is affecting US States with low vaccination rates. Although one thing not mentioned in the last story is that per the previous stories Delta is also breaking through with the fully vaccinated. And it ignores the high vaccination rates in Israel are not preventing a spike. The careless deniers of course will ignore this new reality.
DOJ announces GA lawsuit
Continuing this post, the Dept. of Justice announced today their suit against GA voter suppression laws for violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act on racial discrimination.
Lincoln Project: It's democracy or fascism
Fight like hell to preserve democracy as the fascists are doing so to destroy it.
Politicians, philosophers, whatever
All talk, no action as the seas rise, Rome burns and fascists take over.
The aliens are coming
In this cartoon Tom Tomorrow uses an alien invasion as a metaphor for the current situation of fascist Repugs destroying democracy and wimpy Dems as usual making excuses for it.
Packer with Hartmann video
Continuing this post, Thom
finally published the video of the Packer interview. He notes that
Equal America is the kind of FDR New Deal policies (10:40). And he sees
Biden's rhetoric as coming close to that. Again the one whose not only
rhetoric but long policy proposal history most closely matches FDR is
Bernie, not Joe.
WHO: The vaccinated still need to take precautions
According to the World Health Organization, given the rapid spread of the Delta variant the vaccinated should still wear masks and socially distance in public because it is surging even in highly vaccinated countries. The vaccinated can "end up as part of the transmission chain" as noted previously about the spike in Israel. Unfortunately though the US CDC has yet to issue similar cautions.
AOC responds to Sinema's lame excuse for the filibuster
Todd sets her response up by describing Sinema's excuse: If we get rid of the filibuster then if the opposition takes over they'll just rescind it anyway. First AOC doesn't accept that false premise because even it it's true that is not an excuse to enact legislation, even it is for a short time. For the period of its enaction it accomplishes its objective. And that is the broader point: Once progressive legislation is enacted people then like it and want to keep it. And that is the real reason Repugs and their Dem enablers don't want to eliminate the filibuster: They know they cannot compete with progressive policy and therefore want to never give it a chance.
Delta hits Israel hard
Keep
in mind that Israel has an 80% vaccination rate and the rapidly
spreading Delta variant caused them to require masks indoors again.
"About half of adults infected in an outbreak of the Delta variant of
Covid-19 in Israel were fully inoculated with the Pfizer Inc. vaccine."
The Delta variant has arrived in NM and will also spread rapidly and
cause a spike. Will we learn from other places where Delta has wreaked
havoc or learn the hard way since we'll be fully opening with a 60% vaccination rate?
Delta variant spreading rapidly in US
And irresponsible dancers and dance clubs in NM are going without masks or checking vaccinations like there's no tomorrow. For the unvaccinated there very well might not be a tomorrow. For the vaccinated, they seem to be protected for now but could very well be passing on this variant to the unprotected. NM dancers have gone insane in light of dancers and dance clubs in other States still requiring proof of vaccination. When, not if, the Delta spike happens in NM I can hear their denial now.
Hartmann: Don't negotiate with Republican terrorists
Thom lays into this absurd insistence that we need to negotiate in good faith with Republicans. He points out the so-called bi-partisan "problem solver" group who worked out a compromise on infrastructure which is being touted by Biden and the media. Thom rightly sees is as yet another Lucy moves the football tactic, nothing more. Dems need to cut it out and treat the Repubs like the terrorists they are. And they need to play hardball with the terrorist-lovers in their own Party. Thom:
"Democrats, if they played like Republicans, would have stopped negotiating with these Republican terrorist-lovers months ago. They would have ended the filibuster and passed the entire slate of legislation on which they ran. But they’re hindered in this by a few 'problem solving' members in the Senate…and by Biden and Schumer’s unwillingness to strongarm those Democrats the way LBJ did back in the 1960s to get the Civil Rights Act, Voting Rights Act, Medicare and Medicaid passed (among other things) over violent objections within his own caucus. There are things the so-called 'Problem Solver' senators both want and fear losing even more than the support of the No Labels billionaires, from committee assignments to leadership positions to earmarks helping their states. Like LBJ did regularly, Schumer and Biden do have the power to use those carrots and sticks. If only they will."
Delta variant in NM
According to this report, based on NM Dept. of Health statistics, Delta has arrived and is "increasing swiftly." As of June 21 "the state has sequenced 18 such specimens with the variant and matched 17 of them to cases." They "expect that this variant will do what the Alpha variant [B.1.1.7] did and become 70% of all cases in [two] months or so." Here we go NM. Get ready to re-mask.
Dept. of Justice sues Georgia over voter suppression law
I am pleasantly surprised to see Garland is following through on his word to do this. This of course will end up in the US Supreme Corp., so we'll see how that goes. I'm also concerned that the below list of complaints doesn't include challenging the provision allowing a Repug controlled Election Board to replace county election boards. Garland said:
"Our complaint alleges that recent changes to Georgia's election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging the right of Black Georgians to vote on account of their race or color, in violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act."
From the complaint fact sheet:
"The Department’s complaint challenges several provisions of Georgia Senate Bill 202, including the following:
•A provision banning government entities from distributing unsolicited absentee ballot applications.
•The imposition of costly and onerous fines on civic organizations, churches and advocacy groups that distribute follow-up absentee ballot applications.
•The shortening of the deadline to request absentee ballots to 11 days before Election Day.
•The requirement that voters who do not have identification issued by the Georgia Department of Driver Services photocopy another form of identification in order to request an absentee ballot without allowing for use of the last four digits of a social security number for such applications.
•Significant limitations on counties’ use of absentee ballot drop boxes. •The prohibition on efforts by churches and civic groups to provide food or water to persons waiting in long lines to vote.
•The prohibition on counting out-of-precinct provisional ballots cast before 5 p.m. on Election Day."
Jimmie Herrod sings Tomorrow on AGT
He did so after Simon said it was his worse song ever. Simon was impressed and changed his mind and Sophia gave him her Golden Buzzer. An inspiring performance.
You can't argue with the facts
Well you can but then you'd be a Twitiot or a Repugnacon. Pretty much the same thing these days.
Israel reinstates mask mandate
Just 10 days after it was lifted due to increasing cases of Covid, doubling every few days. It is due to the highly contagious Delta variant. Welcome to the next phase in the pandemic coming to the US.
Dr. Feigl-Ding update on Delta variants
This epidemiologist from the American Federation of Scientists notes that the Delta variants are the main ones of concern due to being highly transmissible with a higher risk of hospitalization. Vaccination with one dose is only around 30% effective with two doses around 85% effective and a lowered 94% hospitalization efficacy. Delta also only needs 5-10 seconds of fleeting exposure to become infected. Delta is now 30% of new infections in the US and climbed there from 10% in two weeks. In about a month the surge will hit.
Israel, which has a 60% vaccination rate, is even seeing a surge. For places with a lower vax rate it's going to be pretty bad. Unvaxxed children under 12 are at increased risk and have a 10% hospitalization rate with the variant. The fully vaxxed elderly and immunosuppressed are also at greater risk with Delta. It's time to take this seriously and quit with the dangerous "this pandemic is over" care-free attitude.
Packer: The Four Americas
I just heard Hartmann interview Packer on his new book. In this article he lays out the Four Americas. See the link for a detailed, in-depth exploration of each one.
Free America is a libertarian vision of consumer capitalism, of personal freedom over all. To them State's rights are inviolate with very limited federal regulation. Better yet, drown it in a bathtub. The self-made man of Ayn Rand is the standard. It's pretty much today's Repugnacon Party.
Smart America is the upwardly mobile, elite, professional class, the top 10%. They are comfortable and skilled with technology. Novelty, diversity and merit are their key values. Some government interventions are necessary to ensure equal opportunity. But they share with libertarians the emphasis on individual effort as necessary for success and if you don't make it it's your own damned fault. It's pretty much today's Democratic Party.
Real America is the blue-collar, poorly-educated, working class common person who feels betrayed and left behind by the above rigged, expert elitism. It's the home of authoritarian populism with a strong leader supposedly not corrupted by and outside of those classes, a man of the people. They attach to traditional religion and patriotic, white nationalist policy, as well as being threatened by outsiders.
Just America is the home of the social justice movement. It's a rebellion of the slavery at the root of all of the others. It's a never-ending fight to redress all of their wrongs. It's the home of critical theory and identity politics that upends Enlightenment objectivity; it's all about power relations and subjugation. It also repudiates meritocracy since most people are left out of its benefits, though many in this class reap its privileges.
While the article doesn't mention it, Packer talked briefly with Hartmann about Equal America as a solution to the above. He didn't though go into detail about it, I guess as a tease to buy the book. In the above article though he did give an indication of what we should take from each of the Americas in this vision:
"Each offers a value that the others need and lacks ones that the others
have. Free America celebrates the energy of the unencumbered individual.
Smart America respects intelligence and welcomes change. Real America
commits itself to a place and has a sense of limits. Just America
demands a confrontation with what the others want to avoid."
In my own terms from this essay I'd say that we need to include and incorporate the healthy elements from each and coordinate them in an overall narrative or paradigm that transcends the limited narrative contexts from which they originated. I called that transcending narrative the collaborative commons.
Reich: Repugnacons are the real threat to democracy
Their shared insanity is rapidly speeding down the Autobahn to fascism.
Wake the f___ up Democrats!
You need to pass the For the People Act, whatever it takes, or it's game over for democracy.
Hartmann: Delta, Delta+ and passports
Thom makes a strong case for Covid passports due to the outbreak of the Delta and Delta+ variants. We need to know who is and is not vaccinated because the latter increasingly endanger the former due to continued evolution of this virus.
"Particularly given how deadly the Delta variant is, and
how often it can even create 'breakthrough infections' in fully
vaccinated people when they’re heavily exposed to the virus. [...] The original and early variants of the Covid virus required repeated or
sustained exposure to become infected; the new Delta Plus variant can
apparently be caught by simply walking past an infected person.
"But vaccine passports are what will save us, particularly since the Delta variant has already spawned a new variant of its own, Delta Plus, that’s 'more transmissible, more easily binds to human cells, and is potentially more resistant to antibody therapy' than even the deadly Delta variant itself.
"This is why more than half of Americans surveyed want vaccine passports now, as do many business owners. When it’s impossible to know if the person sitting next to you on a plane or in a restaurant is vaccinated or a Trump-humper who’s trusting in Jesus or hydroxychloraquine, many people are still reluctant to dine out, vacation, or go shopping the way we did before the pandemic."
Hartmann: Time to fire AG Garland
Thom provides a legitimate rationale. Garland defended Twitler in a case brought against him for gassing, and multiple violent assaults against, protesters in front of St. John's church across from the White House. Garland is defending Twit in a rape case brought against him. Garland is stalling releasing the unredacted Mueller Report despite a federal judge order. Garland is defending Twit in a lawsuit over his incitement of the Jan. 6 insurrection. As for Garland's promise to defend our voting rights against the numerous Repugnacon legislative assaults, to date all he's done is send a letter of concern to the AZ Repugs who violated federal law in their QAnutty recount.
If we want accountability Garland is not the person for the job. It's time to fire him and appoint someone who defends we the people, not our perpetrators. That is, if Biden wants accountability or just someone to defend and make excuses for the inexcusable. Biden's actions in this case will speak far louder than any words or promises. What ya gonna do Joe?
Senator Warnock's speech to have debate on For the People Act
Despite this speech and good common sense, the Repugnacons all voted against even having a debate about the Act. How anyone can question accurately calling them fascists is beyond reason. Our democracy is in crisis and we better find a way to pass this Act or its doomed to the trash heap of history. Warnock:
"With all of the arguments taking place in the country right now, with all of the audits being ordered, and with all of the voting legislation being feverishly passed in states all across our country, clearly, ironically, there is agreement, albeit for different reasons, on the right and on the left that democracy itself is in danger. Folks on the left and folks on the right believe that there is something broken that needs to be fixed. And if that is, indeed, the case, what kind of Congress would we be in the whole history of congresses if seeing that discussion out there, we refuse to even debate the matter in here?"
"Who are we and how are we to hide in a moment like this? And so I rise, Mr. President, with what I think is a simple request to my colleagues: Let's do our job. Resist the easy route, the temptation to hide behind Senate procedure, and let's have a principled conversation in front of the American people about voting rights. Let's have that conversation right here right now."
Delta coronavirus variant: Scientists brace for impact
An excerpt from the article so named in Nature scientific journal. We are not out of the woods yet, particularly for the unvaccinated. To support or ignore the unvaccinated participating in social activities without masks is tantamount to complicity in the spike to come.
"Delta, also known as B.1.617.2, belongs to a viral lineage first identified in India during a ferocious wave of infections there in April and May. The lineage grew rapidly in some parts of the country, and showed signs of partial resistance to vaccines.[...] Delta is moderately resistant to vaccines, particularly in people who have received just a single dose.
"Delta seems to be around 60% more transmissible than the already highly infectious Alpha variant (also called B.1.1.7) identified in the United Kingdom in late 2020. [...] Preliminary evidence from England and Scotland suggests that people infected with Delta are about twice as likely to end up in hospital, compared with those infected with Alpha.
"Delta is also on the rise in the United States, particularly in the Midwest and southeast [...and] rising fast. [...] Jeremy Kamil, a virologist at Louisiana State University Health in Shreveport, expects Delta to eventually become dominant in the United States."
Just Democracy's ad campaign against Sinema
The progressive group Just Democracy launched a seven-figure ad campaign to make Sinema's constituents aware of just how badly she is representing them by supporting the filibuster. One of them is below, another here. I don't understand why the Democratic Party, with all of their vast war chest money, cannot do something similar to Manikin in West Virginia. Any ideas?
This is an emergency
And unlike Repug conspiracy misdirection this is a real one: Democracy is under attack. And we must pressure our Senators to retain it against this assault.
Palast: GA challenges 364,000 voters
And accuses them of voting illegally under Georgia's new anti-voting law. Of those challenged who Palast investigated, they still live in the county where they voted legally. The new GA law also takes such challenges out of the hands of the county and puts it in the hands of a Repug partisan Board under the Governor. And all this is due to a dark money operation funding such laws to ensure corrupt Repugs rig the vote for them.
This is what we're up against and why the For the People Act must pass so that federal law supersedes and eliminates such outright Repug fascism in States they control. If we don't stop it here and now we have lost what little democracy we have left.
The root of the problem
That is, if you really want to fix the problem. Thing is, the 1% created it and like it that way.
Democracy in crisis
Repugnacons currently control 30 State legislatures. Hence these measures will give them the majority of Senators and Representatives in Congress, as well as the next Presidency. And will for the foreseeable future. Bye bye democracy is we don't enact the For the People Act.
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Songs, lyrics, poems
Songs, lyrics, poems and other writing/media
Here are about a dozen songs I've recorded at YouTube.* And this link is to my lyrics and poems folder at Google docs, mostly from my ...
