2022 Archives

Is our economy here to serve average Americans, or are we here to serve those who own and control most of the money flowing through our economy? At the urging of Republican Senators Hawley and Rubio, a new think tank is working out ways for the GOP to change their messaging. They want to shift their rhetoric from support for corporations and the morbidly rich to pretending they care about working people. This new organization will, they say, "think differently about labor vs. capital than Republicans have in recent generations." It's a cynical effort to capture Trump's working class base. He'd promised he'd bring our jobs home from China, empower labor unions, raise taxes on the rich so high that "my friends won't ever talk to me again," and give every American full health insurance that cost less than Obamacare. Those promises helped win him the White House. All were lies, but the GOP base bought it and gave him tens of millions of votes; now Hawley, Rubio, et al think they can bottle that populist rhetorical magic and repeat Trump's shtick for 2024.

The Best of the Rest of the News — Next week will be the last official public meeting of the January 6th Select House Committee. — When Twitter bans journalists, does it hurt Twitter or democracy? — Is more voter suppression coming to Georgia after Democratic runoff wins? — Will Puerto Rico become a state? That's great, but why not DC first? — Are cars freedom machines or a new tool for destroying Black people's lives? — As astonishing as it may seem, Ron DeSantis is empaneling a state grand jury to investigate Covid vaccines. — Geeky Science! India's renewable plans include exporting solar energy globally. — Crazy Alert! Yes - You are going to jail for an NFT Salesman... — Good News! Oregon's Governor Kate Brown has commuted the death sentences to life without parole for all 17 people on that state's death row.

Let’s join the rest of the developed world and bring competition to the business of providing the internet to our homes and businesses... Perhaps you’ve noticed there are several new phone companies offering very low-cost cell service, some for as little as $5/month. There’s competition in the cellphone space that’s driving down prices and driving up service, at least in many parts of the country. So why isn’t the same thing happening on the internet side, with the company that brings the web into your home? Why can’t Americans in as much as half the country pick among multiple companies offering high-speed internet and get the one whose price and service best matches their needs?

The American media needs to call this movement what it is, fascism, and demand accountability and answers from the thousands of Republican politicians nationwide who refuse to repudiate it... Reporters for TPM obtained text messages between Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (formerly a Tea Party congressman) and 34 Republican members of Congress advocating stragegies to end democracy in America by keeping Trump in office after he lost the 2020 election. For example, South Carolina’s Republican Congressman Ralph Norman texted Meadows... pushing to end the American experiment in much the same way Robert E. Lee tried to do in 1861.