
This Republican party traffics in conspiracy and thuggery – the new president must be bold on healthcare, equality and more
Biden cannot govern from the center – ending Trumpism means radical action | Joe Biden | The Guardian
This Republican party traffics in conspiracy and thuggery – the new president must be bold on healthcare, equality and more
Biden cannot govern from the center – ending Trumpism means radical action | Joe Biden | The Guardian
Call me old-fashioned, but when the president of the United States encourages armed insurgents to breach the Capitol and threaten the physical safety of Congress, in order to remain in power, I call it an attempted coup.
Accountability for the Attempted Coup | The Smirking Chimp
I’ve been in or around politics for over a half century now, and I never imagined how low and looney the Republican Party would become. Eleven Republican senators and senators-elect said today they will vote to reject President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory next Wednesday when Congress meets to formally certify it.
Sedition! | The Smirking Chimp
Sun 3 Jan 2021 17.00 AEDT Last modified on Mon 4 Jan 2021 06.29 AEDT 3,054 361 If America learns nothing else from these dark times, here are seven lessons it should take from 2020:
Healthcare to the electoral college: seven ways 2020 left America exposed | Coronavirus | The Guardian
About the only good thing that can be said about 2020 is that it’s over. It was an annus horribilis. COVID took the lives of more than 340,000 Americans, about 1 out of every 1,000 of us. Over 22 million of us lost our jobs in March and April, and unemployment is again surging. The trend of fatal police shootings increased this year, with a total 864 civilians having been shot, 192 of whom were Black (as of December 1, 2020, the latest data available). Climate change has worsened. The U.S. suffered an extraordinary 12 hurricane landfalls in 2020, smashing previous records. California had the worst wildfire season ever, burning a staggering 4.1 million acres. The President of the United States made all these crises worse. He played down and lied about COVID. He condemned Black Lives Matter protesters and encouraged right-wing violence. He made the climate crisis worse than it might have been by rejecting climate science and rolling back environmental protections.
Good Riddance to a Terrible Year | The Smirking Chimp
Most of the 74,222,957 Americans who voted to reelect Donald Trump – 46.8 percent of the votes cast in the 2020 presidential election – don’t hold Trump accountable for what he’s done to America. Their acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy.
Trump’s Vilest Legacy | The Smirking Chimp
Trump has brought impunity to the highest office in the land, wielding a wrecking ball to American democracy
Americans’ acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy | Donald Trump | The Guardian
Hidden in the bill combining Covid relief and government spending is a cool $200 billion in tax breaks. An estimated $120 billion of those tax breaks will go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. Those giveaways include:
How the Richest 1 Percent Came Out Big Winners in the Covid Relief Bill | The Smirking Chimp
A new study confirms tax cuts for the rich do not benefit the rest. Recovery from the pandemic is a chance to change course
Trickle-down economics doesn’t work but build-up does – is Biden listening? | US economy | The Guardian
We need an informed public that sees through the poisonous myth billionaires want us to believe: that income is a measure of your market worth
To reverse inequality, we need to expose the myth of the ‘free market’ | Opinion | The Guardian
Now America is being subject to a stress test to see if it has enough strength to withstand Trump’s treacherous campaign to discredit the 2020 presidential election. Trump will lose because there’s no evidence of fraud. But the integrity of thousands of people responsible for maintaining American democracy is being tested as never before.
Profiles in Cowardice | The Smirking Chimp
A low-income American earning $35,000 this year would be earning $61,000. A college-educated worker now earning $72,000 would be earning $120,000. Overall, the grotesque surge in inequality that began 40 years ago is costing the median American worker $42,000 per year. The upward redistribution of $47 trillion wasn’t due to natural forces. It was contrived. As wealth accumulated at the top, so did political power to siphon off even more wealth and shaft everyone else.
Who Wins from Trump’s Final Travesty? | The Smirking Chimp
In other words, despite zero evidence of voter fraud, the GOP should attack the outcome of the election because a Democrat was elected president
Can Biden Heal America when Trump and his Allies Don’t Want it Healed? | The Smirking Chimp
You’ve been in or around politics for more than 50 years. How are you feeling about Tuesday’s election? I’m more frightened for my country than I’ve ever been. Another four years of Donald Trump would be devastating. Nonetheless, I suspect Biden will win.
FAQs About What’s Ahead | The Smirking Chimp
I think the Democratic nominee will win the White House on Tuesday. Here’s how and why – and what the president will do
USA OK? My FAQs about Trump, Biden, the election and what happens next | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
Barring a miracle, Amy Coney Barrett will be confirmed on Monday as the ninth justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. This is a travesty of democracy.
How to Reverse the GOP’s Power Grab | The Smirking Chimp
Amy Coney Barrett is heading for confirmation but supreme court and Senate reform is possible if Biden wins and acts fast
Trump assaulted American democracy – here’s how Democrats can save it | Amy Coney Barrett | The Guardian
Biden was more passionate and forceful than he’s been in any debate so far – including in the primary debates. But Trump’s lies and bizarre outbursts were no less toxic. Here are the 4 biggest takeaways.
The 4 Biggest Takeaways from The Final Debate | The Smirking Chimp
The world’s most advanced Democracy prevents Voting
Trump and many Republicans insist that the decisions whether to wear a mask, go to a bar or gym, or work or attend school during a pandemic should be personal. Government should play no role. Yet they also insist that what a woman does with her own body or whether same-sex couples can marry should be decided by government.
The Public, the Personal, and the Utter Hypocrisy of the GOP | The Smirking Chimp
I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters,” Donald Trump boasted in 2016. He thought his almost unlimited bravado, bombast and dominance of any situation allowed him to get away with figurative murder.
Trump said he could kill and win – Covid and cheating may prove it | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
Biden is praying for him – and yet the Trump campaign’s negative ads continue. There’s an asymmetry of decency here
Trump, Covid and empathy for the world’s least empathetic man | Donald Trump | The Guardian
What is America really fighting over in the upcoming election? No particular issue. Not even Democrats versus Republicans. The central fight is over Donald J Trump.
The Coming Civil War Over Trump’s Ego | The Smirking Chimp
As the West Goes Up in Flames, Trump Couldn’t Care Less | The Smirking Chimp
Nonetheless, Americans have a clear choice. In a few weeks, when they decide whether Trump deserves another four years, climate change will be on the ballot. The choice shouldn’t be hard to make. Like the coronavirus, the dire consequences of climate change – coupled with Trump’s utter malfeasance – offer unambiguous proof that he couldn’t care less about the public good.
As the West Goes Up in Flames, Trump Couldn’t Care Less | The Smirking Chimp
A half-century ago, the economist Milton Friedman wrote an article in the New York Times Magazine that got a lot of attention. In it, he argued that CEOs should not try to be socially responsible. Their sole obligation was to maximize shareholder returns. It was the responsibility of government to respond to social needs.
Milton Friedman, 50 Years Ago Today | The Smirking Chimp
The choice shouldn’t be hard to make. Like the coronavirus, the dire consequences of climate change – coupled with Trump’s utter malfeasance – offer unambiguous proof that he couldn’t care less about the public good.
Trump doesn’t care if wildfires destroy the west – it didn’t vote for him | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
The problem isn’t only that Elon Musk has a net worth of about $100 billion when tens of millions of Americans are barely getting by. It’s that he’s made this money while treating his workers so badly. His wealth quadrupled during the 4 months Tesla forced all workers to take a 10 percent pay cut.
Citizen Musk | The Smirking Chimp
If wealth continues to concentrate at the top, no one will be able to contain the corrupting influence of big money on the American system and the anger it unleashes. As Justice Louis D Brandeis once said, “We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
Robert Reich (Labor Day 2020: The Power Shift)
If wealth continues to concentrate at the top, no one will be able to contain the corrupting influence of big money on the American system and the anger it unleashes. As Justice Louis D Brandeis once said: “We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”
On Labor Day, remember this: Trump’s America works only for the rich | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
The real threats to American law and order are Trump’s craven enablers | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian
Since Trump promised he would hire ‘the best people’, 14 Trump aides, donors and advisers have been indicted or imprisoned
The real threats to American law and order are Trump’s craven enablers | Robert Reich | Opinion | The Guardian