And let me note this from Eric London's latest WSWS piece:
For example, Brennan Center co-director Elizabeth Goitein wrote in the Atlantic in February that the military-intelligence agencies now interpret a section of the 1934 Communications Act as granting the executive branch the power to “seize control of US internet traffic, impeding access to certain websites” as well as to shut down the internet, block the delivery of email and manipulate smart speakers like Amazon Alexa upon the president’s proclamation “that there exists a state or threat of war involving the United States.”
The government is also developing plans to abolish the Constitution and carry out mass arrests.
Since 2012, Congress has granted the Justice Department’s requests for funds to update secret executive directives called Presidential Emergency Action Documents (PEADS) used to plan “continuity of government” operations in case of national emergencies including mass social unrest, strikes and protests.
Perhaps the most well-known PEAD was the directive that authorized Lt. Col. Oliver North and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to establish a contingency plan authorizing “suspension of the Constitution, turning control of the United States over to FEMA, appointment of military commanders to run state and local governments and declaration of martial law during a national crisis,” as The Miami Herald reported in its 1987 exposure of the program, known as “Rex 84.”
Goitein notes that such plans are far from dormant:
“A 2007 Department of Homeland Security report lists ‘martial law’ and ‘curfew declarations’ as ‘critical tasks’ that local, state, and federal government should be able to perform in emergencies. In 2008, government sources told a reporter for Radar magazine that a version of the Security Index [the mass arrest list of the mid 20th century] still existed under the code name Main Core, allowing for the apprehension and detention of Americans tagged as security threats.”
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Wednesday:
Wednesday, August 28, 2019. The race for 2020 continues with Howie
Hawkins calling for the declaration of a Climate Emergency, Bernie
Sanders fighting for workers, Elizabeth Warren fighting the sexism
ingrained in the press and Joe Biden fighting for more corrupt deals
that his brother James and his son Hunter can get rich off of.
As the rain forest burns, Howie Hawkins (DISSIDENT VOICE) notes:
The next president should declare a Climate Emergency, which will give the president powers to act rapidly and decisively to confront the climate crisis. The president should also create a cabinet-level Office of Climate Mobilization for the coordination of all federal agencies in mobilizing the nation’s resources to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% clean renewable energy by 2030.
On July 29, I signed the 350 Action’s Day One Pledge, which asks presidential candidates to take four steps their first day in office:
350 Action’s Day One Pledge is certainly a good start on climate action. I think their call for presidential actions to immediately curtail fracking and new fossil fuel projects is particularly important. Those actions are the immediate cutting-edge demands of the climate movement now.
If we don’t stop these projects, we will be locked into at least three or four decades of greenhouse gas emissions because that is how long investors expect to profit from their investments. If we let these projects develop – new fracked-gas and fracked-oil wells, pipelines to transport fracked gas and oil, gas-fired power plants, and more – it will be too late to stop a climate holocaust.
I believe the president should take more actions on Day One. My campaign platform goes much farther and is centered around an Ecosocialist Green New Deal, which includes an Economic Bill of Rights for economic and environmental justice as well as a Green Economic Reconstruction Program for zero emissions and 100% clean energy by 2030 in all productive sectors – agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and buildings as well as electric power production.
Like Dario Hunter, Howie is seeking the Green Party's 2020 presidential nomination.
As the rain forest burns, Howie Hawkins (DISSIDENT VOICE) notes:
The next president should declare a Climate Emergency, which will give the president powers to act rapidly and decisively to confront the climate crisis. The president should also create a cabinet-level Office of Climate Mobilization for the coordination of all federal agencies in mobilizing the nation’s resources to achieve zero greenhouse gas emissions and 100% clean renewable energy by 2030.
On July 29, I signed the 350 Action’s Day One Pledge, which asks presidential candidates to take four steps their first day in office:
- Reject all new federally-approved coal, oil, gas, and other fossil fuel project permits.
- Phase out oil and gas drilling and fracking on public lands and off our coasts.
- Rejoin the Paris Climate Accord.
- Ask Congress to investigate the fossil fuel industry’s role in misleading the public and stalling climate action, and to prepare to hold the industry accountable.
350 Action’s Day One Pledge is certainly a good start on climate action. I think their call for presidential actions to immediately curtail fracking and new fossil fuel projects is particularly important. Those actions are the immediate cutting-edge demands of the climate movement now.
If we don’t stop these projects, we will be locked into at least three or four decades of greenhouse gas emissions because that is how long investors expect to profit from their investments. If we let these projects develop – new fracked-gas and fracked-oil wells, pipelines to transport fracked gas and oil, gas-fired power plants, and more – it will be too late to stop a climate holocaust.
I believe the president should take more actions on Day One. My campaign platform goes much farther and is centered around an Ecosocialist Green New Deal, which includes an Economic Bill of Rights for economic and environmental justice as well as a Green Economic Reconstruction Program for zero emissions and 100% clean energy by 2030 in all productive sectors – agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and buildings as well as electric power production.
Like Dario Hunter, Howie is seeking the Green Party's 2020 presidential nomination.
I wonder what the Democrats might do if you were willing to support candidates in other parties - say the Green Party - who are much stronger on climate change. A lesson much of the rest of the world long ago absorbed.
We need robust public discussion on climate change NOW. Don't be held hostage by the oil & gas-funded DNC. Help us signal boost Howie's campaign so we can have a real discussion. Sign up to volunteer or donate TODAY! howie2020.us/nodnc #greennewdeal #ecosocialism
Again, Dario Hunter is also among those seeking the Green Party's presidential nomination.
Attorney Dario Hunter (@dario4america) of @OhioGreenParty just became second official @GreenPartyUS candidate seeking Green presidential nomination, joining race against Teamster @HowieHawkins of @gpny.
#Election2020 #GreenCandidates #GreenParty
Youngstown's Dario Hunter qualifies for recognition as Green Party presidential candidate
The Democrats and the Republicans (often referred to as the duopoly) are not the only political parties in the United States. There's the Green Party. There's also the Libertarian Party.
Who will advance #Liberty #Peace #Prosperity by winning the LPNational #2020Election Convention?
maxabramson #abramson2020
adamkokesh #kokesh2020
officialmcafee #mcaffee2020
RuffPhillips #ruff2020
#Libertarian #GoldRush2020
(#DemExit #GOPExit) … … …
In addition to the Democrats, the Republicans, the Greens and the Libertarians, there are many other political parties that will be fielding candidates over the next months.
Among the Democrats?
I have genuine concerns about @JoeBiden’s ability to beat Donald Trump. The polls say he is a sure thing. The media has practically coronated him. But when you watch him on the campaign trail and at the debates he doesn’t look like a sure thing at all. Do your homework Democrats.
Plz don't vote for Joe Biden. Healthcare should be a right and not a consumer product.
Healthcare is a problem for Joe. He has publicly stated -- in writing, no less -- that Barack Obama covered Beau Biden's healthcare costs. And now he's yet again making public statements that have everyone scratching their heads.
Joe Biden just cut an incredibly exploitative ad which states that Obamacare covered his dying son Beau. Biden previously said that President Obama *personally* covered Beau’s healthcare bills
obama literally had to pay for beau biden's healthcare costs & joe biden still campaigned against single payer, that is how miserable & spineless of a human being he is lol. his son died of cancer & his boss had to pay the bill & he still thinks socialized medicine is bad.
Tuesday, the media ran with Joe was getting "personal" leading many of us to fret, "Who the hell did he touch this time?" Fortunately, no girls or women were touched, Joe just stroked his cynicism as he played craven in a new TV ad where he yet again used dead family members to make an argument that he can't make logically. There's something really sick and pathetic about the way Joe continues to exploit the deaths of his first wife, daughter and son.
Eoin Higgins (COMMON DREAMS) notes:
Journalist Chris Person was even harsher on Biden.
"This is easily the cruelest, dirtiest, and most manipulative thing Joe Biden has done so far," said Person, "dangling his son's cancer against the fight for Medicare For All."
Media critic Adam Johnson, in a tweet, called Biden's use of his family tragedy "extremely cynical."
"Again he's equating those pushing Medicare for All with GOP trying to undermine Obamacare by misleading what it means to 'tear it down' BUT this time the added bonus of using images of his dead children!" added Johnson.
The ad wasn't the first time Biden has used his family tragedy to sell his healthcare plan.
So is part of the Biden healthcare plan that when a spouse dies, a sibling moves in on the widow? Or is that just a Biden family move? It really was sick, gross and disgusting how Hunter left his wife to pursue Beau's widow. Let's stop pretending that was ever normal.
If Joe wants to use his dead family members as a block against any questions of his political policies, then let's talk about that trashy family. Let's talk about Hunter and all his sleeping around and how he's a lousy father to his own kids -- does that reflect on you, Joe? -- or at least on the ones he claims -- currently being sued for paternity, this isn't the first time a woman has told Hunter he fathered a child with her. Let's talk about Hunter and Joe's brother James and how they used the family connection to profit with unethical and possibly illegal business moves. If Joe wants to refuse to address the serious need for Medicare For All and, more importantly, wants to shut down debate by hiding behind dead family members, let's talk about that family.
We need Medicare For All. Joe needs? Joe needs to get his corrupt and irresponsible family in line. Maybe he should have spent a little more time with Hunter and a little less time in government all those years? He certainly should had a talk with Hunter about realities when Hunter was a drug addict (while Joe was vice president). Joe was happy to lock up drug addicts if they were people of color but he didn't have any straight talk for his son, did he?
We need Medicare For All. The United States needs it. And Joe Biden is determined to oppose it.
As the Democratic presidential field continues to grapple with plans to address health care, a significant majority of Democratic voters are more likely to back a 2020 primary candidate who supports “Medicare for All” than building on the Affordable Care Act, a new poll found.
According the POLITICO/Morning Consult poll out Wednesday, 65 percent of Democratic primary voters would be more likely to support a candidate who wants to institute a single-payer health care system like Medicare for All; 13 percent said they’d be less likely to back a candidate based on that support.
While the Democratic base has essentially demanded that its White House hopefuls offer up a plan for universal health care, the party has devolved into infighting over the nuances of such plans, centering almost entirely on the role of private insurers in the health care market.
“Democrats are increasingly more inclined to back a 2020 candidate who supports Medicare for All versus revamping Obamacare,” said Tyler Sinclair, Morning Consult’s vice president. “In January, 57 percent of Democrats said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who backs a Medicare for All health system over expanding the Affordable Care Act. That number has now risen to 65 percent.”
The issue has been one of the more contentious policy divides rippling through the extensive primary field. White House hopefuls like former Vice President Joe Biden, former Rep. John Delaney and Sen. Michael Bennet have railed against the idea, arguing instead for building on Obamacare.
Let's all grasp what's going on because this is really important. The American people want Medicare For All. The Democratic Party does not have Abe Lincoln (Lincoln was a Republican). We have one truly great former president: FDR. FDR knew we needed Medicare For All, had he not died when he did, the American people would have it today.
FDR is the giant of the Democratic Party. Continuing his legacy, expanding on it, should be a goal of every Democrat running for public office.
But Joe sees it differently. Instead of advocating for what people need, he wants to advocate for Big Money. This is when he's running for the nomination. Can you imagine how much more craven he will be if he gets the nomination or the White House?
He's promising the American people nothing but he wants their vote.
It’s still baffles me that the leading Democratic presidential candidate voted to allow Bush and Cheney to spend trillions of dollars on an unjust war in Iraq and yet keeps asking how this country can afford Medicare for All and free public colleges.
He's disgusting.
Senator Bernie Sanders is among the many also seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Shaun Richman (IN THESE TIMES) notes:
Bernie Sanders released his Workplace Democracy Plan on Wednesday. His campaign’s labor platform makes the strongest case of any of the candidates so far that he would be unions’ best ally in the White House in generations.
At a time when the Democrats’ official labor law reform proposal, the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, would essentially overturn the anti-union Taft-Hartley Act, the race to the left for labor’s support in the primaries demands bolder policies. Bernie Sanders does not disappoint.
Where Sanders’ labor platform is most exciting is its proposal for new workers’ rights and forms of union representation that transcend the National Labor Relations Board framework of enterprise-based contract bargaining.
One is a “just cause” legal standard of employment, which would mean that non-managerial workers—whether they are represented by a union or not—could only be fired only for a legitimate, serious, work-performance reason. This has been a cause that In These Times has long championed, and as Moshe Marvit and I explained elsewhere, “would open up new pathways to organizing.” Bernie Sanders is the third candidate (so far) to embrace the reform, after Bill de Blasio and Jay Inslee, but he’s the first leading contender for the nomination to do so.
But the best proposal in Sanders’ platform is what he refers to as “sectoral collective bargaining” but others in the academic and think tank world have been calling “wage boards.” Basically, he proposes to work with trade unions to construct new industrial standards boards—with representatives for the employers, workers and possibly that nebulous concept, “the public”—that can set minimum standards for wages, benefits and hours across entire sectors of the economy thereby taking those issues out of competition. This is essentially the framework of the First New Deal legislation, which the Lochner-era Court overturned, and which the National Labor Relations Act was initially meant to operate alongside of.
Sanders’ wage board proposal was clearly influenced by the Center for American Progress’ David Madland’s and University of Michigan’s Kate Andrias’ dogged research and advocacy for reviving the wage board model. It’s also not insignificant that a revived wage board is how Service Employees International Union (SEIU) local 32BJ won a $15 minimum wage for fast food workers in New York state, and that SEIU is rather bullish on expanding and exporting the model.
This is possibly the most important labor law reform that a Democratic president (with a Democratic Senate willing to nuke the filibuster) could achieve. It’s that one that could put a union in every workplace in America on day one. Because if unions had the legal reach to improve wages and working conditions across an entire industry, workers would join and support the unions that were fighting for them—particularly if we made it easy for them to make voluntary paycheck contributions—even before they win a collective bargaining election at their specific workplace.
In fairness to Joe, we should note he has a labor plan as well. As various court documents note, his labor plan is to allow his son Hunter and his brother James to promise various buisness officialls that Joe can get unions to do this or to do that. That's the friend of the worker Joe Biden.
It is bulls**t, 100%, that the press is not forcing him to respond. We're not talking just one witness or one legal case. That he thinks he can run for the presidency -- constantly hiding behind his dead family members -- and never be forced to respond to these charges?
What James Biden and Hunter Biden are accused of is the stuff that Congressional probes are made up of, it's the stuff that leads to impeachment. And Joe thinks he can coast to the nomination without ever being forced to address this?
The press has carried Joe's water for some time now. They've insisted he's the most electable. He's not. But their narrative has carried him and it has also hurt others. That would include Senator Elizabeth Warren. She's electable by the polling (as is Bernie and as is Senator Kamala Harris). But the press narrative has used sexism to disqualify her. The facts don't disqualify her. At NPR, Domenico Montanaro writes about the rising support for Elizabeth:
"She's so good at explaining her ideas in a way that makes sense to the audience," said Karen Finney, a Democratic strategist who worked on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign and Stacey Abrams' Georgia bid for governor but is not currently affiliated with any presidential campaign. "And she's winning people over; the challenge will be all the money that will be spent to make her ideas sound scary."
Debbie Walsh, director of the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, said the questions about Warren's electability are something of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
"In some ways, it seems like it's a story that is self-perpetuating," Walsh said. "There are a lot of people who say they're enthusiastic about her, but afraid others aren't — and that creates this notion that she or a woman in general won't become electable."
Let's wind down with this:
The following sites updated:
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No Country for Old Protest Marchers4 hours ago
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Harry Styles10 hours ago
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Epstein10 hours ago
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Once more on the Fifth10 hours ago
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Pete Davidson, Cherokee Nation10 hours ago
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Oh, NPR, stop fake assing10 hours ago
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Money and music10 hours ago
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F**k Subway10 hours ago
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i'd say we have a climate emergency in brazil10 hours ago
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Tuesday Reads17 hours ago
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The Quevedos22 hours ago
