11 Comments

So depressing, more evidence that SCOTUS (and most of our representatives) are beholden to the corporations and billionaires = 'American Plutocracy'!

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The remarkable family history in this Report is right up there with W finishing off Iraq for his damn dad. Then along comes Trump and his "Wrecking Crew" that he called a cabinet to help kill the rest of us and everything living on this planet.

It really is murder, plain and simple, way beyond the termites and Bolsonaro analogy. The Republicans desperately want to prove Dems are evil. It is obvious who has the blood-lust, destroys,and who doesn't value the living beings, compared to who builds, nurtures people, and tries to take care of the planet.

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It's far too late to start acting now. Actually, that's not even planned, the plan is to discuss AGW more often, but still do nothing.

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It's long past time that we eliminated all elected and appointed positions.

We need to change Congress so they just poll us and post the top 10 issues so we can vote on the order we want them addressed. Then Congress can do the research and post proposed solutions, including cost, which we can vote on.

We make one simple change to the SCOTUS. Require all 9 justices to agree on any law struck down, and do not allow ANY interpretation (creation of laws out of thin air). If SCOTUS has an issue with wording, they need to mark up the law and send it back to Congress, where we the people decide to keep it or change it. The POTUS can be a committee of 5 people, with all 5 required to agree and 100% of congress to war on innocent people. We will soon eliminate the war budget and that alone will clean up most of the corruption.

Oh, and to serve in any government position, you cannot have a law degree, and we limit all government workers to a LIFETIME MAXIMUM of 10 years TOTAL drawing a public paycheck, which means military, cops, politicians, or county clerk. Civil service jobs, of course, are given by merit and they can stay forever.

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More than half the greenhouse gas emissions world wide that are causing global warming are the result of meat and dairy production. Simply switching from beef to chicken or fish would make a big impact. Cow milk is for calves and not human consumption and there are many healthy alternatives. How hard is it to cut back on meat and dairy consumption and cut greenhouse gas emissions? No need to put solar on your roof or buy an electric car when more is accomplished by reducing the amount of meat and dairy being consumed. The corporate media is very careful never to mention the problems caused by the meat and dairy industry which is subsidized to an even greater extent than the oil industry.

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It seems America and its voters are living in separate echo chambers, each supported by their own PR systems. Each stuck in a repetitive circle of 'cognitive bias,' eager to reaffirm old and existing points of view (https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-a-cognitive-bias-2794963).

Most US data analysis has confirmed that voters 'run away' from most concepts that feature words like 'radical,' regardless of inherent truths and justifications. There just aren't enough voters in America to support anything 'radical.'

The Democratic Party and its supporters whole-heartedly believe that their world outlook and social systems have always been 'best." Yest, a huge portion of our current troubles can be laid at the feet of one of the most popular recent Democratic presidents, Mr. Clinton. When he signed the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999 (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/1999/11/bank-n01.html) he enabled all of Wall Street and all the huge corporate monopolies to free-wheel their way into the near collapse of the 2008 financial crisis, and set up the rising wave of global derivatives that are threatening to pull the rug out from under all of us Anno 2022 (https://dinarrecaps.com/our-blog/the-derivatives-bubble-will-cause-the-biggest-financial-crises-the-world-has-ever-seen).

In a recent New York Times Opinion piece, Senator Warren warns of the 2022 mid-term election collapse that is waiting for the Democratic party and Mr. Biden: Democrats win elections when we show we understand the painful economic realities facing American families and convince voters we will deliver meaningful change. To put it bluntly: if we fail to use the months remaining before the elections to deliver on more of our agenda, Democrats are headed toward big losses in the midterms." (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/18/opinion/elizabeth-warren-democrats-biden-midterms.html?algo=clicks_decay_96&block=5&campaign_id=142&emc=edit_fory_20220419&fellback=true&imp_id=588879724&instance_id=58911&nl=for-you&nlid=93962273&pool=pool%2F459f4697-9859-45a3-b805-02773acebb03&rank=1&regi_id=93962273&req_id=32927779&segment_id=89668&surface=for-you-email-rotating-guestessays&user_id=2c641a8c67a728b58590bdb943b61816&variant=0_best_algo). Surprisingly, or not, the opinion piece is accompanied by over 3000 reader comments illustrating "Wow, nearly 3,000 comments and so few are positive or optimistic. So many mention Warren completely missing on what's important to people right now such as crime, inflation, and immigration as well her complete disconnect that the Democrat party is not the party of working people any longer but rather of rich white women. And this is the New York Times comment section, not FoxNews."

American legislators and President Roosevelt tried to protect the next generations after the 1930s Crashes with sound controls, but President Clinton and a coalition of democrats and republicans tore it all down in 1999 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_legislation and https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-banking-reform-after-the-new-deal-1147513.)

Mr. Hartman is completely correct about all the shenanigans the corporately owned legislators in both the Republican Party and the Democratic party have engineered. However, a lot of independent voters will never be inclined to support anything labeled as a 'Radical Solution.' Thus, it might be productive to step out of our echo chambers and begin talking with our neighbors about some small steps that are simply of practical benefit for all of us. Two themes stand out: 1. Get rid of the student loan system, 2. Raise income levels for Social Security taxes to include all income.

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