Time for Change

This morning I woke from a nightmare... that $trillions in stimulus money has one again ended up in the hands of the big banks and Trump-supporting corporations, like Panama-registered Carnival Cruise Line, which "...according to its SEC filings... is 'currently exempt from US federal income and branch profit taxes'".

Sadly, it wasn't a bad dream - just another night in Trumpland.

So, while the millions of Americans are once again taking it on the chin, our system is working great guns for the Trump-supporting-global-corporations. Our system is not working for us and it is way past time to make a major CHANGE.

Economic Update: Virus Triggers Capitalist Crash
Prof. Richard D. Wolff


Democracy At Work
Today’s episode features an analysis (part 1) of how, why capitalism - especially in US - failed to prepare for or cope with a virus thereby enabling it to trigger another crash of capitalism (third this century: dot.com in 2000, sub-prime mortgage in 2008). In part 2, Prof. Wolff provides an analysis of  how to respond to crash better than the US govt by emphasizing re-employment in millions of new jobs rather than unemployment, emphasizing worker-coops, etc.

Green is Now Smart Green

Rusty oil drums in Chukotka, Russia © Staffan Widstrand / WWF

So, the other day the value of petroleum fell below zero.

Yes. A barrel of the stuff once touted as "Black Gold" on the likes of the 1960s Beverly Hillbilly's TV show is now worth "nothin’"... as in less than a penny.

"On Monday (20 Apr 2020), the price of WTI plunged to record lows, closing in negative territory for the first time, at about negative $37 per barrel, as traders worried about scare storage capacity for a supply glut of the commodity." (businessinsider.com)

Ah, that's -$37 per barrel. It could go even lower, down, down, down, around -$100 or more.

This morning, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, we find ourselves at a rare tipping point. Even though the price of a barrel of oil, along with stock market in general, is making a comeback (thank you for the market comeback) we now have a society changing opportunity to distance ourselves from our predatory capitalistic, earth/humankind-killing oil and gas industry.

 Please see, A Brief History of Big Tax Breaks for Oil Companies, motherjones.com, 14 Apr 2014.

and
Don’t Bail Out Oil and Gas — Use the Money for Environmental Cleanup Instead, Sharon Zhang, Truthout, 26 Apr 2020.

and
Fact Sheet: Fossil Fuel Subsidies: A Closer Look at Tax Breaks and Societal Costs, 29 July 2019.

Today, every other source of energy production is cheaper that oil and gas.

Even for hardcore capitalists it must be crystal clear that sustainable energy investment is smarter than antiquated oil and gas investment.

It’s time to make a game plan change and go smart green. From a society built to benefit the wealthy and their corporations to one built to benefit human beings... all of us.

Please go here for more.

Flatt & Scruggs - The Ballad of Jed Clampett (Theme from The Beverly Hillbillies) - 1962

Don't stop believin'

Image Credit: Starlit Sky Coaching

We are billions. Billions.Don't stop believin'.
We will win.
Together, we will overcome.
There is a better world for all of us.
And, together, we will make it so.


Journey - Don't Stop Believin' - 1981


"Don't Stop Believin'"

Just a small-town girl
Livin' in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin' anywhere

Just a city boy
Born and raised in South Detroit
He took the midnight train goin' anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
The smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on, and on, and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night

Streetlights people
Livin' just to find emotion
Hidin' somewhere in the night

Workin' hard to get my fill
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin' anything to roll the dice just one more time

Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on, and on, and on

Strangers waiting
Up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night

Streetlights people
Livin' just to find emotion
Hidin' somewhere in the night

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that feelin'
Streetlight people

Don't stop believin'
Hold on
Streetlight people

Don't stop believin'
Hold on to that feelin'
Streetlight people

Wisconsin Heroes

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, voters line up in Wisconsin to cast their ballots. Photo: Sara Stathas for the Washington Post via Getty Images/2020 The Washington Post

We salute and honor those Wisconsin voters who risked their lives to vote.

They alone braved the COVID-19 Pandemic. They served on the front lines in our battle to save our Democratic Republic. They alone thwarted the Trump Republican Party's disgustingly putrid attempt to disenfranchise the majority vote in Wisconsin.

Heroes all. Each one deserves the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Here is the whole story...

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices Voted Absentee Before Making Everyone Else Vote in Person, Zak Cheney-Rice, New York Magazine, 14 Apr 2020.

"Wisconsin Republicans were dealt a humiliating defeat on Monday. Daniel Kelly, a conservative State Supreme Court justice, lost his reelection bid to Jill Karofsky, his progressive challenger, by a decisive margin. (Returns are still incoming, but as of Monday night, Karofsky was up by 120,000 votes in the nonpartisan race; the New York Times reports that the last election for a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat was decided by fewer than 30,000 votes.) The result shocked members of both parties, in no small part because the state GOP did all it could to guarantee the opposite outcome. The novel coronavirus pandemic has forced most Wisconsites into seclusion, but earlier this month, the Republican-held legislature rejected Governor Evers’s efforts to postpone the election, forcing people to vote in person and risk infection. (In accordance with public-health guidelines, no other U.S. state is holding an in-person election in April.)"

Please go here for more.

Only Good for Humankind

Sworn Duty

Washington Crossing the Delaware River, by Leutze Emanuel Gottlieb
Metropolitan Museum of Art New York USA The Bridgeman Art Library*

Here is the message for each Elected Congressional Democrat: Get off your a**!

Pull on your combat boots and Do Your Sworn Responsibility to, "Support and Defend the Constitution of the United States".

This is your moment. Now is Your Time to muster up courage and live up to your heritage.

Remember the oath you affirmed when you took office?

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God."

Now is that "Come to Jesus" moment to fulfill you sworn duty and ensure that every vote counts this November.

Here is the story...

Investigative reporter breaks down the real reason Republicans ‘threw a fit in Wisconsin’: Trump’s GOP is ‘canceling the American people’s right to vote’, Chauncey DeVega, Salon, alternet.org, 12 Apr 2020.

Excerpts:

"Last week, Trump admitted that “You’d never have a Republican elected in this country again” if Americans were universally permitted to vote by mail."

"Trump is just channeling a belief that has long been expressed both in private and in public by Republicans and other members of the right-wing movement. On this, Trump and the Republicans are correct: According to public opinion polls and other research, the American people overwhelmingly reject their policies and goals."

"Because democracy is antithetical to today’s Republican Party, Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned voting by mail because he believes it will be disadvantageous to his chances of winning another presidential term in 2020. In the final analysis, Republicans want to make voting more difficult even if it means more Americans will fall ill and die from COVID-19."

"Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court endorsed Trump and the Republicans’ ongoing assault on American democracy. In a 5-4 decision, the court’s “conservative” majority ordered that Wisconsin’s primary election could not be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic, and no extension would be allowed for mail-in ballots. This decision forced the people of Wisconsin — most notably nonwhite people, students, young people, and other Democratic Party’s base in cities like Milwaukee and Madison — to choose between their lives and their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote."

"The Democratic Party’s leaders have apparently decided that expanded mail-in voting is a necessary measure, and the best way to defeat Donald Trump in the context of the coronavirus pandemic."

"In reality, matters are not so simple."

*The Significance of Washington Crossing the Delaware: Do Not Give Up!

Independent, Investigative Reporter Greg Palast


Please go here for the interview transcript.

God Works in Mysterious Ways

Photo Art Credit: The Easter Renewal.

Today, Easter Sunday, many of us celebrate rebirth, resurrection, forgiveness of sins, overcoming death and life everlasting.

Today, while we rejoice, we also suffer.

We cower, tottering on the edge of the abyss, hands on our backs pushing us toward certain doom. Unless we turn and face our assassins, into the chasm we may fall, plunging down and down to certain loss of our rights and freedoms as Americans.

As inheritors of our Democratic Republic, earned with the blood of our ancestors over tyranny and built upon the bedrock of our Constitution and the laws of our land, we must summon up our courage, honor our heritage and demand equal justice under law.

We will prevail over the evil that would rule our land.

Here is how we fight evil. Here is a beginning. Here is how we Slay the Dragon.

Slay the Dragon


Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing

Follow Slay the Dragon
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A secretive, high-tech gerrymandering initiative launched 10 years ago threatens to undermine our democracy. SLAY THE DRAGON follows everyday people as they fight to make their votes matter.

Directed by Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance
Produced by Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance
Coming to theaters and on demand April 3rd
https://www.slaythedragonfilm.com

For more great titles, check out Magnolia Selects: https://www.magnoliaselects.com

2020 Good Friday Was a Hard Day

Drone Footage Shows Apparent Coronavirus Mass Grave At New York City’s Hart Island

Good Friday 2020 was a tough day for people throughout the world. In the USA we saw more than 2,000 people die due to COVID-19 infection and thousands forced to wait in line for food and likely exposure, too.

2,000 U.S. Dead In a Day, Carla Russo, huffpost.com, 10 Apr 2020.

"The U.S. is the only country in the world to see more than 2,000 people die in a day from complications of the virus."

‘Unforgettable’ footage of endless car lines at food banks reveals the stark COVID-19 crisis in the U.S., Eoin Higgins / Common Dreams and alernet.org, 10 Apr 2020.

Hundreds of cars wait to receive food from the Greater Community Food Bank in Duquesne. Collection begins at noon. @PghFoodBank @PittsburghPG pic.twitter.com/94YFaO7dqX

— Andrew Rush (@andrewrush) March 30, 2020

Please go here for the whole story.