VIDEO OF THE DAY: Democratic Leader brings the house down on Trump, Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene
Brian Tyler Cohen sits down with Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries to discuss the Matt Gaetz report, how Republicans keep getting away with it, and the biggest villains in the GOP caucus.
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Why many Americans are celebrating the UnitedHealthcare CEO’s murder
Matt Ford, The New Republic: "The lack of sympathy is unsurprising. Few institutions in American life are as ubiquitously autocratic as a health insurance company. Anyone who has had even a passing brush with a health insurer knows how humiliating it can be to interact with them, begging for coverage of major health events for which you have theoretically paid thousands of dollars. The majority of adults in this country are legally required to pay health insurers each month under the theory that their payments will help defray future medical expenses. As publicly traded companies that are accountable to their shareholders, however, health insurers are incentivized to avoid making those payments whenever possible. What can anyone do to address this? The entire premise of government is that it can resolve disagreements and correct abuses without interpersonal violence, either through law or might. Crimes are investigated by police and prosecutors instead of the victims or their families. Wills and estates are settled in court instead of among feuding heirs. Contract disputes are resolved by courts instead of brute force. Most Americans today, however, do not have the resources to challenge a health insurer in court. Appealing to lawmakers for reforms is even harder. The health insurance industry spent more than $60 million on campaign contributions to Democratic and Republican candidates alike in the last election cycle, giving them access and influence to stop potential changes. American culture teaches its citizens that democracy is the ideal method for resolving disputes, but that political violence can be acceptable in the face of tyranny or to preserve that democracy. There is a broad consensus about certain tyrannies that have justified it: the British redcoat in 1776, the slaver’s whip in 1860, the swastika in 1939, and so on. But tyranny is an inherently subjective idea. It is unsurprising that the few Americans who are inclined to use violence may have different standards and targets for doing so."
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Give thanks for your eyesight — and then give to help others see!
Orbis: Being able to see the world around them is so important for growing kids, but over 450 million children around the world can’t get the treatment they need for vision issues. Something as simple as a pair of glasses can transform a child’s life for the better. As Giving Tuesday approaches, now is the perfect opportunity to make a donation and help Orbis deliver the gift of sight to a child in need. Chip in today!
The Supreme Court’s hearing on trans rights was bigotry masquerading as law
Elie Mystal, The Nation: "The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in US v. Skrmetti, a major case concerning transgender rights. During the two hours of bigotry disguised as a hearing, it became clear that the conservative majority is almost certain to uphold the Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care that lies at the center of the case; but what stood out the most was the conservatives’ dedicated attempt to erase the trans community. When conservatives want to deny rights to whichever group is asking to be given the same constitutional protections that cishetero white men have enjoyed since 1787, they have a number of tricks to get around constitutional prohibitions against discrimination and legalize bigotry. Their most common trick is to argue that the discriminatory law at issue is not really discriminatory. Their most insidious trick is to question whether the group appealing for basic rights and justice exists as a cognizable group in the first place, and, if they deem they do not, the Republicans reject the possibility that they can be discriminated against as a threshold constitutional issue. The argument against non-conformity is all the anti-trans arguments ever boil down to: Republicans, MAGA lawmakers, and conservative Supreme Court justices hate people who are different. This time, the bigots on the Supreme Court didn’t even try that hard to hide their antipathy to difference behind legal jargon. They just pretended that people who are different don’t really exist."
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Trump will lower American workers' standards of living
Robert Davis, Jacobin: "Donald Trump was elected for a second term as president by millions of working-class voters who believe the economy no longer works for them. These voters were largely motivated by standard-of-living issues like inflation, wage growth, and affordable housing. Many of these votes were seemingly won by scapegoating immigrants as a major cause of the working class’s economic troubles. However, economists and union representatives largely agree that the incoming president’s economic policies could worsen the issues that blue-collar workers care about. Trump’s economic agenda essentially amounts to a ticking time bomb for the American economy. He has proposed deporting millions of undocumented immigrants, most of whom have jobs and pay taxes. The self-proclaimed 'tariff man' has also floated the idea of imposing import duties as high as 60 percent on items shipped from China and maybe 20 percent for goods from any other country. Economists say this would require American consumers to pay higher prices for necessary goods like food and gasoline and create significant headwinds for the US economy overall. Trump also supports increasing corporate power over workers, which union reps say could reverse the wage and membership gains they saw over the last four years. During a town hall with X/Twitter owner Elon Musk in 2022, Trump said striking workers should be fired. He has also appointed anti-union officials to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) — the federal agency that advocates for workers’ rights — and encouraged employers to offshore jobs to find cheaper labor. With more measures like these likely in store, Trump’s second term could be devastating for American workers."
Low-Income countries are falling behind
Joseph Politano, Apricitas Economics: "Over the last forty years, the world has made historic progress in reducing the scourge of global poverty. The share of the human population living in extreme poverty (less than $2.15 a day) has fallen from more than 40% to less than 10% within a generation, lifting hundreds of millions of people out of acute suffering. Yet progress has been too slow—and even worse, it has now stalled. The COVID-19 pandemic, ensuing inflation, and the rise in international conflict have made it so that global extreme poverty rates have actually risen over the last four years. Declines in the less-extreme forms of global poverty more common in middle-income countries have continued but at a much slower pace than during the 2010s. Unless something changes, institutions like the World Bank warn of a possible 'lost decade' for the war on global poverty. That would be a disaster given the massive existing disparities within the global economy."
Cash crisis in Gaza: “I barter my belongings to eat”
Abubaker Abed, Drop Site News: "Every morning, 14-year-old Abdullah al-Basoos leaves his dilapidated tent in Deir al-Balah and heads to the open market to try to find food for his mother and five siblings. As the eldest child, al-Basoos is responsible for making sure everyone gets something to eat. His father, who stayed behind after the rest of the family fled their home in the al-Shujaiya neighborhood in Gaza City at the outset of Israel’s genocidal assault, was killed in an Israeli airstrike. Al-Basoos now spends much of the day manning a makeshift stall selling staple items like sugar, salt, and rice to try and earn some money to buy food for his family. But with skyrocketing prices and a severe cash shortage across Gaza, like many Palestinians he now finds himself having to barter. “I have to barter my belongings to eat. I sometimes have to give up some basic necessities to get food. It’s a matter of prioritizing things when all things are desperately needed,” al-Basoos told Drop Site News. 'I work all day and only make about 20-40 shekels a day'—about $5 to $11. 'But what does that actually get for me or my family? It is not at all sufficient as that would only buy me two cucumbers and two tomatoes. It takes two days of work to buy one kilo of rice...I haven’t had any flour or bread for nearly a week. I lack many basic necessities, including food, water, protection, and many things. I lack everything. I live in a shabby tent where rain comes in on us. I shiver with fear and cold every day. The same for all my siblings. I never worked in my life. I was a happy school student, but I am now forced to work. We only have one meal per day from the nearby free food distribution centers. But this option is not always guaranteed,” al-Basoos said. 'We barely eat and have to save our earnings to buy most of the most basic things.'”
Trump plots disastrous Day 1 attack on Biden legacy
350.org: A new POLITICO report shows that Donald Trump is planning to revive the destructive Keystone XL pipeline project as soon as he gets back into office — even though no companies are trying to build it anymore! This kind of short-sighted nihilism is exactly what we can expect from a Trump administration intent on extracting every last drop of profit out of the land, no matter how many people get hurt or how much permanent damage is done — which is why we need to start fighting back ASAP! Will you add your name to let him Trump know we won’t stand for the revival of the Keystone XL pipeline or the rest of his destructive, regressive fossil fuel agenda?
DEEP DIVE: Fall of the Assad regime
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