Hi. Yes, it's been a few weeks. We had some problems with our MailChimp account. It gets complicated, but now that our account is up and running again, I want to share some observations from the current pandemic. I'll try not to repeat all the stuff you've been hearing over and over because there's literally nothing else in the world going on right now.
You know progressives have been trying to get the government to implement single payer healthcare, trying to get money into people's pockets, things like paid family leave, trying to change our whole economic system so that it's not about packing as many people into stores and trying to get people to consume as much as is humanly possible. Some of us even support a universal basic income.
People on the right told us these things were impossible. Not realistic. Pie-in-the sky. It'll never happen. That's socialism. That's communism. That'll destroy the economy and turn us into Venezuela. Well guess what? A pandemic- well, maybe it's a pandemic during election season, but a pandemic nonetheless- a pandemic has flipped everything around. Suddenly the government is trying to keep people alive, rather than squeeze them for profit. The government wants to give money to people to make sure they don't starve. This is different. Just a few months ago you could get arrested for giving food to someone who was homeless or who had just crossed the southern border illegally.
Now both sides of the country club that "We, The People" aren't invited into are trying to give us money. For once, the wealthy don't want us to work as much as possible for as little as possible. Evictions and foreclosures are being frozen. And the economy is changing to focus only on what is necessary, like food or repairing your car. The government is even paying for people's healthcare.
But here's the real kicker: this health crisis, whether you're freaked out by it or not worried at all, would have been handled so much better, so much more smoothly, if we had these things in the first place. People wouldn't have been panicking about $3000 virus tests if we had Medicare For All. People wouldn't have gone into a panic about their rent or their mortgage if we had a homes guarantee, or if we had six weeks paid family leave like almost all of Europe does. I'm not saying that this virus is good, or that people dying is good. That would be insane. But it is exposing a lot of what's wrong, and how a lot of what the right said was impossible wasn't. You might say "But Jason, this was a temporary thing, for an emergency. It can't stay this way." But we COULD keep Medicare For All, a homes guarantee, universal basic income, all of that. We need to transform our whole system so that it stops trying to raise our rates to pay for shareholder dividends and nickle and diming us on bank fees and subsidizing unhealthy foods so that healthy food is more expensive, and focus on meeting people's basic needs rather than focus on enriching the wealthy.
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Sanctions, as you know, are an act of war that targets the innocent. The goal is to starve people until they're dissatisfied enough with their government that they overthrow it. Government officials and wealthy citizens do not starve. Now whether you are alarmed at the latest Corona Virus scare or are handling it calmly, the shelter at home orders are very real, as are the empty shelves at the super market. It is not only wrong, it is immoral to continue sanctions against a country, like Iran, which is struggling with the Corona Virus. The Trump regime has done one better (worse) and actually ADDED to the sanctions against Iran. There is a time to put political and personal differences aside and remember that we, as humans, are all interconnected, and we may disagree on political boundaries or nuclear power or support of allies/enemies but I wouldn't let my brother starve to death just because we had an argument, and neither should the United States be allowing people to starve, even without a pandemic, but especially so now.
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Think it sucks that stores are closed or that it's hard to find toilet paper? Worried about how you'll pay your bills? Just imagine how much worse it is for someone living on the streets, who depends on the kindness of strangers who suddenly don't want to get within six feet of anyone, or the restaurants where you eat are closed. So if you have an abundance, please share a little love with your fellow human and feed a homeless person.
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Low voter turnout always favors the conservative. We knew that before March 17. But the party that supposedly believes in science encouraged states not to delay primaries in the face of a pandemic, knowingly creating low turnout primaries and putting millions at risk. DNC Chair Tom Perez even threatened states with a delegate penalty. Perez said this about Ohio, which moved to postpone their primary despite Perez' pressure "What happened in Ohio last night has only bred more chaos and confusion", and yet turnout was drastically reduced in the three states which plunged ahead with primaries. Tom Perez, when all is said and done, ought to face charges for putting so many lives at risk. Florida, Illinois and Arizona had the stage set against Sanders, and when states considered postponement, Tom Perez was there to make sure democracy was assaulted. If there's any justice, those three states will revote, along with any other states who run shoddy primaries that no one shows up for. But they won't revote, because there IS no justice, there's just us. And they've got all the power.
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Speaking of the primary, We had a presidential debate a week ago. Joe Biden lied about trying repeatedly to cut social security, he lied about supporting the Hyde Amendment, he's lied about working against desegregation, lied about getting arrested trying to see Nelson Mandella, lied about supporting the Iraq War, lied about supporting a fracking ban, lied about supporting a bankruptcy bill that hurt millions of people, lied about his support of gay marriage, lied about supporting the Green New Deal. Why doesn't the media ask deeper questions about what these journalists know is false? Why have the media covered up, not only his myriad lies, but his cognitive decline as well? Because Biden, the DNC, Bloomberg, Butigieg, Warren, O'Rourke, Harris, Klobuchar, Democrat donors- they're not trying to beat Trump, they're trying to beat Bernie.
So far in our primary, we've seen over 700 Texas polling locations closed the day before the primary, a malfunctioning voting ap in Iowa that was funded by Butigieg and Clinton donors, Los Angeles changed their whole system at the last minute and caused chaos and huge lines, and we've had exit polls in California, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Texas and Michigan that were so far off from the actual voting numbers that, according to the US' own standards for other countries' elections, clearly demonstrate election fraud. We're supposed to see the guy who is the most popular politician in the whole country, who attracts 50,000 people to his rallies, who has more individual donors and more individual volunteers than any presidential candidate in history, and we're supposed to believe that he is losing a fair election to a racist, sexist warmonger who has a long history of working for big banks, has difficulty putting a 5 minute comment together without forgetting who he is, where he is or what he's talking about, who had to withdraw from his 1988 campaign for plagiarism, and who, by the way, keeps arguing with voters, calling them names and telling them to vote for someone else. The DNC just wants you to close your eyes and go back to sleep, and when you wake up, nothing will have changed. "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."
Incidentally, in the last two days, Senator Sanders has been coordinating with medical professionals and disaster and relief specialists, and has raised $2 million for 5 different charities to help handle the pandemic. Joe Biden seems to be a no-show. His campaign announced yesterday that he would make a statement on Monday.
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Now I'd like to share this message with you from Mrs. Christine Assange (via Twitter):
"Save my sons life.. Please sign Petition to UK Home Secretary to release Julian from prison now: *Hes weak from illness *Non violent journalist *Detained w/out charge *Prisons to be hit hard w #Coronavirus Pls share widely/ ph YOUR MP! Many thanks
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In a related story, Chelsea Manning was finally freed by order of a federal judge after attempting to take her own life. Manning was being held indefinitely for refusing to testify against Julian Assange in a secret grand jury hearing. Manning maintained that she had already told them everything in previous testimony, and was happy to say it all again, as long as it was public. In addition to being held indefinitely, she was being fined an amount that went up every day. Upon release, that amount was $252,000 which supporters raised in two days.
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I know that it's no fun being cooped up at home, especially if you're worried about getting sick. I, for one, intend to look at the bright side and enjoy getting to spend quality time at home, which I haven't done a whole lot of during this election season. This is a great time to get to the census form, if you haven't filled that out yet. Remember, that's going to affect Supervisor, Assembly, State Senate and Congressional redistricting as well as funding for your local schools.
To help you pass the time, I know that Comcast, if you normally pay for data, is providing unlimited data free for the next 60 days. I've heard Verizon is doing the same, although I have no information on the terms. Many movie channels that require paid subscriptions seem to be providing free previews, although again I have no information on how long these previews will last. Many local restaurants are offering curbside pick-up (call first) and could really use your support. A special acknowledgement goes to Gott's, which is giving 100% of your purchase to their employees during this crisis. That's really a nice thing to see. And yes, I believe this is all Gott's locations.
Just remember, when the emergency ends and everything goes back to how it was- people barely getting by, even larger homeless populations, prices going up while the CEOs of companies that handled the crisis well get pay raises and the government goes back to telling us that we can't afford Medicare For All or a Green New Deal, that it IS possible. There was a time when the government was more concerned with keeping people alive than lining the pockets of filthy rich people, even if it was just to save their own miserable political careers. I mean even if you're the worst person in Congress, the lowest piece of crap- so low it's like you dropped out of a fish's butt and settled on the sea floor, only to be buried under piles and piles of crap from the manta rays that hang out in the area, even if you're Steve King of Iowa, who has openly questioned why "white supremacist" is such a bad thing, even Steve King doesn't want to be the guy who allowed millions of people to starve to death because he cut off the cash flow. And now we've all seen, plain as day, what the really important jobs are: the medical jobs, the food service jobs, the fixes your car. We can do just fine without elected officials, at least most of them.
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