Since being elected, Kenya’s President William Ruto has travelled across Africa and beyond touting Kenya’s economic potential Kenyan shop attendant Winnie Wanjiru Mwaura was brimming with hope when she signed up to be an election agent for William Ruto during the August 9 polls and elated when he became president....
Subsidies
The Rotten Core of the Republican Party -Binyamin Appelbaum -NYT Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the top House Republican, recently took to social media to warn that Democrats have hatched a dastardly plot. “Democrats,” he said, “want to track every penny you earn so they can then tax you and...
This is the sixth set of notes for a reading group on Marx’s Capital, and includes a Volume I refresher for further reading of Volume II. There are links to earlier posts and texts that may be useful. Marx is probably too taken with a kind of scientism by proposing...
Rising seas that inundate coastal properties cause billions of dollars in damage and essentially have bankrupted FEMA. You and I ( the country's taxpayers) fund the National Flood Insurance Program, and the program heavily subsidizes waterfront homeowner's flood insurance most of whom are extremely wealthy. But starting October 1 of this year, those subsidies...
Change as a rising tide seems to be falling short as history’s stream is not as mighty. Apparently slavery is still “ordained by God for ultimate good” at Baylor University, as a RW campus group wants to accuse the University of canceling its “Christian identity”. No mention of its athletic team’s...
The sparse number of actual carbon capture and sequestration projects plus weak carbon markets amplify the problems of the climate crisis yet to be revisited, post-Trump. Two heartland examples in North Dakota and Texas show how there are several interlocking problems addressing the climate crisis that must be included in future environmental policy. More specifically...
Democrats look for solutions, and Republicans look for blame. I am not sure where I heard that phrase and I probably rejected it as just political rhetoric. Recent events have given me reasons to examine and not dismiss the statement. Democrats are not perfect as demonstrated by the wavering support...
Here’s some big news on health care: Sen. Michael Bennet is leading the drive for a public health insurance option in the U.S. The Colorado Democrat and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine first introduced their public option bill, Medicare-X, three years ago and reintroduced it on Wednesday. Under the bill, Medicare-X...
Texas is the coalmine canary of failures in the GQP’s industrial policy. The “clusterfuzzle” appears to be only in Texas: perhaps they skimmed on costs and failed in winterizing their plants. The structural failure comes from the anti-federal, deregulatory policy of the Texas grid which reveals itself in the disinformation...
A young boy goes to the school nurse’s office, complaining of a sore throat. The nurse gives him a cup of ice and sends him back to class. My son is teaching science to a socially distanced class room, but the sick kid was often within 6 feet of him,...
It’s hard to argue that any citizens have been more targeted under the Trump administration than those living in Democratic-led states, which was by Donald Trump’s own vindictive design. Whether it was singling them out for punishment with tax legislation, stealing their medical supplies, holding out disaster relief, or even attacking their...
For years, I have been looking for the perfect rebut to the idea that the private sector is always better than the government, and Donald Trump may have given me the answer. I walked to the nearest corner store in my neighborhood, and posted on the front door is a...
The lawfare against the ACA now being heard in SCOTUS now resembles the attempts to reverse the results of the 2020 election. Scorched earth and total lawfare, total landscaping. Schrödinger's ballots. Sources close to Trump described his unsupported accusations as a desperate way to save face x Memo to my...
The crises facing the country are severe — from a pandemic to an economic recession, climate change to racial injustice — and the transition team will continue preparing at full speed so that the Biden-Harris Administration can hit the ground running on Day One. Biden Transition Team As I write...
Some very encouraging news today courtesy of Morning Consult’s latest poll: x #NCsen:Cunningham (D) 47% (+6)Tillis (R-inc) 41%.#AZsen:Kelly (D) 49% (+8)McSally (R-inc) 41%.#MIsen:Peters (D-inc) 49% (+9)James (R) 40%.#COsen:Hickenlooper (D) 50% (+10)Gardner (R-inc) 40%@MorningConsult, LV, 10/2-11https://t.co/7AsGqSmIR8— Political Polls (@Politics_Polls) October 13, 2020 And in the presidential election: x COLORADOBiden 54%Trump 40%...
From The Kansas City-Star: The bulk of Kansas Republican Rep. Roger Marshall’s Senate campaign team have health insurance because of the law their boss and other Republicans have repeatedly sought to repeal. Marshall’s campaign staff are independent contractors rather than employees. It means that the campaign does not have to...
Some big news out of Mississippi: The Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans opposed to President Trump, plans to support Democratic Mississippi U.S. Senate candidate Mike Espy against incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in the final month of a race that has otherwise seen scant national attention or outside spending....
From The American Prospect: Meanwhile, the Loeffler family farm continues to operate, and several of Loeffler’s family members continue to pull in significant sums of money from government agriculture subsidies. Despite allies of Loeffler slamming her conservative opponent Collins for supporting the farm bill that provides such subsidies to farmers, five of...
Recent Trump appearances have revealed that his giving lip service to vaccines has remained secondary to a continuing belief in herd immunity as if death would be a luck of the draw, or just bad luck, perhaps sacrifices rationalized by some religion. The vaccine is a panacea in terms of any pre-November announcement...
So the guy who says nearly any kind of malarkey accuses his opposition of “massive disinformation”. Firehose of gaslight projected on an entire nation. x #SundayThoughts: The word “trumpery” appeared in the 15th century with the meanings “deceit” or “fraud”. 100 years later, it was being applied to objects of...
“I’m the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness and chaos.” Trump at the Council for National Policy Recalling that Mark Burnett wanted once to have Trump arrive at an event like Hitler at the Nuremburg rallies, next week’s GOP convention should have bombast to compensate...
From Ian Silverii at The Denver Post: Sen. Gardner’s record is not in dispute when it comes to his votes to eliminate the ACA without a replacement that protects people with preexisting conditions. He voted for every single repeal bill the Trump administration put forward, none of which protected people...
Trump has pimped for the fossil fuel industries because it’s still about money, just like dialing back some election promises in order to reinstate them after election day. Because the Trump recession needs to be fixed, and taking back Congress will move re-regulation back to the clean energy agenda, rather...
This is the second time she’s done this: x YouTube Video The camera pans across pictures of a woman in the hospital before Whitney from Queen Creek begins telling viewers about her rare blood disorder that requires monthly chemotherapy. In the 30-second ad that began airing last week, Whitney says...
Apparently the disinformation default for the GOP is to ridicule the iconoclasm of decommissioning US monuments and exaggerate illogical alternatives, while trying to get its base to waive its right to sue for damages if they go to a rally and get sick. The Obelisk of Wokeness actually sounds kind...
I know I touched upon this in a diary last week but I’m happy that Eleanor Clift at The Daily Beast brought this up today: Texas Senator John Cornyn voted 20 times to do away with Obamacare, but says that the “good news” for the millions of people who lost...
Michelle Goldberg from The New York Times has a piece out that I recommend sharing to any fellow progressives who still aren’t sold yet on Joe Biden’s campaign to deliver on progressive policy: Lawrence Mishel, a well-known labor economist, has been a critic of centrist Democrats for decades. “My adult...
This is what the new slavery looks like, antiseptic slavery. When one reads between the lines of every Donald Trump press conference, it is clear he is all about making corporations whole; people damn. Hell, he is even willing to risk the lives of Americans by having them go back...
A few mornings ago my wife was concerned that even as I expressed my likelihood of voting for Biden if he wins the primary in the November election, that my tone may lead some listeners not to do so as well. Here is my answer to her. Please listen in...
“We are in the midst of a crisis where people are literally having to skip work and may miss paychecks or face medical debt” because of coronavirus, said Robert Hockett, a professor at Cornell University who has advised Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on economic policy. “The...
TODAY 3PM ET; Noon PT: How To Win The Climate Struggle photo: Climate Activists Demand the Declaration of a Climate Emergency, (Takver • CC BY-SA 2.0) In solidarity, Mike Hersh for Alan, Mike F., Dan, Deb, Janis, Kimberly, Bryan, Dr. Bill, and Donna—Your PDA National Team Join Activists On The...
Before you start throwing out accusations of violating site rules about using Republican talking points, hear me out. I am providing this link to an opinion piece from the Murdoch owned Wall Street Journal on the public option as a preview of incomming fire from Republicans for 2020. I am...
The moment of crisis has come. Sir David Attenborough Adani is a global company based in Ahmedabad, India. Adani and its CEO, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, have their fingerprints over some of the worst environmental extraction sites on the planet. The company builds power plants and operates them with coal and gas....
The report is out on Donald Trump’s tax cut and it is not pretty. Just as we expected it helped corporations and not the people. David Cay Johnston said the tax cut scam was nothing but a future tax increase with interest. He was unequivocal in the clip below as he slammed...
Donald Trump is declaring victory in his trade war with China. Of course he is. He always claims victory, even — in fact, especially — when he loses. Remember the 2018 midterm elections? You’d have thought Republicans had won every seat and exacted punitive damages from Democrats who’d had the temerity...
All of the reporting on Ukraine-gate deliberately discusses the held up military aid in terms of dollars, specifically $391 million – and reports the story in terms of holding up “funds” for Ukraine (or in one misleading example that I read: Ukraine was left “checking to see if the money had...
Just how bad do you have to be to lose re-election as the right-wing conservative incumbent in one of the reddest states in the union? I ask because that’s exactly what is happening right now in Kentucky. The election is less than a month away, and Matt Bevin is ranked the most unpopular...
Rep. Al Green Calls for Impeachment(Photo Screen Shot from C-Span Video) In solidarity, Mike Hersh for Alan, Shayna, Deb, Kimberly, Bryan, Mike F., Dr. Bill, Dan, and Janis—your PDA national team. Demand Accountability For Trump This past week, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) called upon you to join us...
Apparently, the metric shit-ton of manure Donald Trump spread over the Midwest while running for president has not materially improved the outlook for the region’s farmers. They’re worried, anxious, and increasingly pissed off, as Trump’s agriculture secretary, Sonny Perdue, learned today during a panel discussion at a fair in rural...
photo: Rep. Al Green Calls for Impeachment(Photo Screen Shot from C-Span Video) In solidarity, Mike Hersh for Alan, Shayna, Deb, Kimberly, Bryan, Mike F., Dr. Bill, Dan, and Janis—your PDA national team. Demand Accountability For Trump This past week, Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) watched two nights of debates...
You think it'd be a no-brainer. After multiple articles, national attention, much bewailing and pledges to correct the injustice, it should be tough to screw it up. But screw it up the California Legislature did. They failed to enact legislation to stop one of the more egregious injustices in our...
photo: PDA Activists Know Healthcare Is A Human Right Onward to Healthcare Justice! Mike Hersh for Dr. Bill, Alan, Dan, Janis, Deb, Kimberly, Bryan, Mike F., and Shayna—your PDA national team. We Need Medicare For All! When one of my loved ones is ill or hurt, the only thing...
“The Romans did in these instances what all prudent princes ought to do, who have to regard not only present troubles, but also future ones, for which they must prepare with every energy, because, when foreseen, it is easy to remedy them; but if you wait until they approach, the...
A retired Kentucky farmer who only does limited farming now has written a short article about how Republican land owners and Republican bankers are keeping dissent down on the farm against Trump’s trade war with China. Besides the trade war, there is budget that cuts insurance subsidies by 15%, and...
So, daddy’s widdle man whipped out his wallet, pulled out daddy’s credit card, and treated his farmer buddies to another free lunch today, huh? Before Trump waddled out to the podium to peddle his latest bottle of snake oil, he had his Agriculture Suckretary, Sonny Perdue sunburn his bald pate...