... how are we to call-ourselves a great-nation ... when

~ Racism-Rules-Society ~

Top-10 most-racist-country in-the-world ... reason Trump still-in-running 4-POTUS
A country not willing to tackle-racism isn't-going-anywhere 
... for slavery to-be-such an critical-part of-our-past-present
... until we-get-real w-hipocracy-of American-exceptionalism-progress
... we'll-keep-suffering its-divisiveness
...“Ignoring-history [we]-don’t-like isn’t a-victimless-act” 

~ White-Supremacy-Is-Exploding ~
Racially & ethnically-motivated-terrorism ... especially from white-supremacists 
... is on-the-rise & spreading-geographically

~ Poverty-Homelessness Is-Rampant ~

 U.S. poverty-level is highest in developed-world ... gap in social-classes is sick
gap between richest & poorest U.S. households now largest it's been in past-50-years

  
~ Adequate-Healthcare Is-Denied Tens-of-Millions ~
U.S. does not enjoy the right to healthcare ... we have a system designed to deny, not support, the right-to-health ... U.S. does not really have a health care system, only a health-insurance-system

~ Government Is Fully-Controlled by Plutocrats ~

forces of massive-accumulated or inherited-wealth have succeeded in taking-full-control of our-nation, replacing-a-democracy, where the will of the people is accomplished through their elected-representatives, with a form-of-government where most-government-functions reinforce the power, wealth & control of the morbidly-rich

~ Education-System Is Badly-Broken ~
U.S. scored 16th in literacy-proficiency, 21st in numeracy-proficiency, 14th in problem-solving in technology-rich environments in a survey that tested 23-developed-countries
... that's-dangerously-low in education.
America is not-properly-educating their-children.
Students in Germany, Finland, France, Sweden, Norway, Slovenia, Brazil, Luxembourg, & Iceland, receive quality education that's free. Exemplifies why Americans don't meet average-intelligence ... because they can't-afford-education.

 .
~ We Are A Majority-War-Economy ~

making-larger-investments fighting-distant useless-wars than updating-national-infrastructure

U.S. military budget is largest in-the-world ... roughly size of next 7-largest (10-actually) military-budgets around-the-world combined... 
any-all-recovery starts by-ending-war

~ Immigration-Is-Criminalized ~

More than a century, innumerable studies have confirmed two simple yet powerful-truths about relationship between immigration & crime: immigrants are less-likely to commit-serious-crimes or be behind-bars than-native-born ... & high rates-of-immigration are associated w-lower-rates of violent-crime & property-crime.
Overwhelming majority of immigrants are not 'criminals' by any commonly accepted definition of the term ... for this reason, harsh-immigration-policies are not effective in fighting crime ... unfortunately, immigration policy is frequently-shaped more by fear & stereotype than by empirical evidence.
As a result, immigrants have stigma of 'criminality' ascribed to them by an ever-evolving assortment of laws & immigration-enforcement mechanisms.
Put differently, immigrants are being defined more & more as threats.
Whole new classes of 'felonies' have been created which apply only-to-immigrants, deportation has become punishment for even-minor-offenses, & policies aimed at trying to end unauthorized-immigration have been made-more-punitive rather than more rational & practical.
In short, immigrants themselves are-being-criminalized.
.

~ We Are World's-Jailers Having Incarceration Rates Punitive-Obscene ~
U.S. has highest rate of incarceration of any nation on Earth: We represent only 4% of planet’s population yet nearly-quarter of its imprisoned.
Angola, a penitentiary considered one of America’s most-violent-abusive is immense, larger than Manhattan, covering land once-occupied by slave-plantations.
Prisoners work in fields under supervision of horse-riding, shotgun-toting guards forcing them to pick crops, including cotton ... unbearable degradation being forced to pick cotton on a plantation in 21st century.

~ Environmental-Degradation Is Rampant ~
Americans constitute 5%-world's-population ... consume 24%-world's-energy ... twice as much energy as Japan, six times more than Mexico, 13 times more than China ... we don't need that-much-energy ... a rate-of-consumption wasteful-hurtful to-the-environment

~ Leadership-Praises-Rewards Dictators-Tyrants ... Punishes-Democracies ~
funny if weren’t all-so-tragic ... despite having some of world’s greatest intelligence agencies at his disposal, Trump instead prefers to believe whatever a strongman-dictator tells him
wondering where foreign policy has gone wrong under Trump, look no further than his fawning-over-autocrats
all seems to result from Trump’s somewhat bizarre-but-persistent belief you can only-trust word of other-strongmen

~ We Are Violent Beyond All-Sane-Measure  ~

Americans 10x's more-likely to-be-killed by guns than in-other-countries ... yet gun-control still-not-being sufficiently-regulated despite US gun-related murders rating 25x's higher-than all-of high-income-countries

~ We-Don't-Have Participatory-Government ~
voting is cornerstone of our democracy, but for far too many disenfranchised-Americans, their vote -- and their voice -- has-been-silenced
Kentucky reduced number of polling places from 3,700 to just 170 — a 95% reduction 

 .
~ Majority of Power-Wealth Possessed-by Minuscule-Few ~
one of the most frequent shortcomings of capitalism is inequality ... people at the top of the economic ladder have-soooo-much-more than those-at-the-bottom
inequality is capitalism’s biggest challenge because there is so much popular support for public policies that would cripple capitalism’s economic engine 
even policies that would completely-replace-capitalism
 .
~ Trump-Dismantling Destroying-Government  ~
exactly what he's-done is-doing to-our-world's virus-defense-system ... he's systematically-doing to ALL parts-of-our-government

~ ~ ~  

10 Reasons America Isn't Greatest Country Anymore ... Don't Kid Yourselves
by Maya Manzanero-Lopez  Jun 21, 2016  Odyssey

Here’s a Preview of America’s 2020 Nightmare if Trump Loses
by Michael Tomasky Special Correspondent  Updated May. 11, 2019  DailyBeast

Health Care As a Human Right
by Mary Gerisch, American Bar Association

Will America’s billionaires start a second Civil War to protect their wealth and power? The stakes couldn’t be higher.
by Thom Hartmann Nov 24, 2019 Salon

Inequality: Capitalism’s Biggest Challenge
by Randall G. Holcombe  July 25, 2019 Independent Institute

Criminalization of Immigration in the United States
by Walter Ewing, Ph.D, Daniel E. Martínez, Ph.D & Rubén G. Rumbaut, Ph.D  July 13, 2015

Slavery gave America a fear of black people & a taste for violent punishment. Both still define our criminal-justice system.
by Bryan Stevenson  Aug 14, 2019  New York Times

White-Supremacist-Terrorism ‘On-Rise-Spreading’
by Carlie Porterfield  Jun 25, 2020  Forbes 

John Oliver Examines Why U.S. “History” Varies So Wildly From State to State
by Rachelle Hampton  Aug 03, 2020  Slate

U.S. Income Inequality Worsens, Widening To A New Gap
by Bill Chappell  Sept 26, 2019  NPR 

Trump-Loves-Dictators
by Alex Ward  Oct 18, 2019  Vox

~ ~ ~ 

... anyone-wants to-comment-debate-issues ... gladly
... ONLY-request ... do-it-in PUBLIC-Social-Media
... let-others hear-see...able-to-reply-respond

note: have just-begun this-post ... items to-will-be filled-in ... or-not 

  

... voicemail-msg

... folks-mention ... u-know ur-voicemail's not-working
... yep ... deliberately

... w-all phone-social-media msging-services got-now
... don't-need 'voice-msgs' ... mostly-useless don't-want-to get-return

... 'recent-calls' indicate-who's-called
... can-take-it from-there

  

Basic Needs of All-Society

***

Healthcare

 ... to be free-from continuing stress of-not having adequate healthcare is basic to all stable-healthy-societies ... there should-must be no-profit as major-consideration ... keeping healthcare-affordable accessible-to-all is paramount

Housing

 ... w/o safe-affordable housing for all its populace no society can-will function-properly ... leaving citizens to 'fend-for-themselves' exposes them to bc-destitute when circumstances go-against-them

Jobs

 ... markets alone will-not cannot-provide direction-necessary ... not-all-jobs being-deemed-profitable ... yet-essential-necessary in-to a well-functioning-society

Education 

... well-educated-populations are crucial ... w/o them true-democracy doesn't-survive ... u-want to-control-masses ... keep-them near-totally uninformed-misinformed

Safety-Security 

... other-viruses are-among-us ... constantly-keeping all-of-us looking over-our-shoulder ... peace in all circumstances can-only be achieved by-renouncing all-war-violence in any-part-form 
... leaders must-never be-haters

INDEPENDENT-NEWS-SOURCES (INS)

... these just a few (have-many-more) independent-new-sources have-found proven-over-time to be highly-reliable  ... publishing accurate-fair-reporting on major-issues of-our-time

... where-are-you getting your-information-from

Democracy Now

Common Dreams

The Atlantic

truthout

The Intercept

Daily Kos 

VICE

Common Cause 

Politico

The Real News 

Bill Moyers

The Guardian

Yes! Magazine

The Nation

SLATE 

Jacobin Magazine 

TomDispatch

POGO

 CounterPunch

The Week 

Salon 

AVAAZ

... and numerous-others

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

... we're still NOT-getting-it

... we don't appear-today to truly understand meaning of the term 'pandemic'
.. if we did we'd be going nowhere near-anyone-else ... much less out to the beaches as-if little to nothing's happening


... hundred-years-ago there was a-fifth of today's population (1.5 billion-people)
... and Spanish-Flu virus is still-estimated to have killed 20 to 50 million-people (possibly up to 100 million)

... for lower death-estimate that's 13,000 deaths-per-million... wow

... to get the scope just how bad that Spanish Flu was century-ago
... look at NYC's extreme-case today ... now with more than 1600 deaths-per-million ... Spanish Flu was eight-times worse across entire world's-population ... at-minimum

... in the U.S. at the time near 700,000 died ... that's 6800 per-million... unimaginable

... as of today with 176,000 deaths worldwide that's 22 deaths-per-million
... U.S. now having 134 dpm ... climbing-fast ... month-ago there-were practically-none

... right now we are defenseless from this virulent-disease except for social-distancing
... with-leadership in many-countries dangerously-wanting to 'open-up-economies' ... in support of-business-interests ... NOT-people's health-safety

... should that happen ... we can be assured we'll reach death-totals much higher than what we're experiencing  so early in this contagion
... ultimately how-bad this disease ravages-the-nation is anyone's-guess ... except-to-say


... at this moment we're on the wrong-course ... having leadership criminally-negligent with little-concept-care just how-much they're exposing the-entire-society to potentially-devastating-consequences

Hart Island, New York ... Potters-Field Covid-19 mass-burials

... right-now ... this-disease is out-of-the-box ... on-the-verge of out-of-control

one gravely-dangerous-gamble catching

next 2-3 weeks determine-fate for well-into-the-future

... we need EVERYBODY get-this ... can be no-easing-up

we now have more-than half-million confirmed-Covid19-cases in the U.S.
 

last year regular-flu infected nearly 50 million-people in the U.S. ... 61,000 died

'18-19 flu mortality-rate was only-slightly-more than tenth of one-percent (0.00123)

yet still killing 61,000 people

***

 

Covid19  w-a much-higher mortality-rate going-that-deep getting-that-bad

we must try and prevent at any-all-cost

right now as of today 04.11.20 ... Covid19 has a 3.86% fatality-rate in the U.S. 

that rate is still-increasing nearly-every-day ... (world-rate currently 6.12%)

that means for every 10-million-Americans-infected ... 386,000 will die

do-the-math ... for-50-million (projected-infected-exposure) ...

est. 1,930,000 American-deaths

there can be no-letting easing-up 

this opportunistic disease thrives on such-arrogance 

giving it a chance at 2nd-3rd wave-of-opportunity

ABSOLUTE-MADNESS

history 100 years ago telling-forewarning-us ... BEWARE

 

... #15 ... &-last

• ... this next will-be my 15th election voting-4-POTUS ... &-my-last ... not that I plan-on-going anywhere-soon ... just they're-all not-to-matter-much past-this-one

• ... in-addition it's another-milestone ... 1st time I'll be voting for someone .. I really-genuinely believe-wholehearted would be The-Best-President of my[our]-entire-lifetime[s] ... one world-needs most-badly realizing-it or-not

• ... apparently-2b another-1st ... my-1st write-in-vote ... EVER ... could-never-ever let my-final presidential-vote be-for-anyone I'd not-want-winning.. just to-vote-against another-one I'd not-want-winning ... already been-there too-many-times care-to-remember ... & w-this-one all-of-us just having too-much-at-stake to-relinquish

•  ... do I believe my-our-guy could-will-win ... truly-doesn't-matter ... he does, we-move-on boldly ... he-doesn't, we still-do.. just not-as-long-far ... & WAAAAY-more-stupid-crazy

• ... we've a fast-closing window to-tackle a growing-number of major-crisis-issues ... #1-forever-remains-CLIMATE ... once we've past Earth's major run-a-way climate-disruption tipping-points ... what we'll have set-in-motion we just don't presently have-the-capability to-bring-back into-control ... it'll be just far-too out-of-hand to-any-longer-matter

• ... maybe-small-portion of the then-current-population finds a few-isolated-locations life-could-survive past-the-holocaust we're now setting-in-motion ... maybe-it-doesn't

• ... & the existence those societies would-will be-encountering is-anyone's-guess ... yet needless-to-say will-be-challenging beyond-any wildest-scenarios ... & how-much-time will society be-set-back ... this-time-around

... so-yes ... there's only-one-vote has-offers a-potential-future ... future-potential

... remote-as-it-may-be at-this-moment ... imho

... not-seeing-anything would now-make-happen a-better-one

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

04.08.20
... have-voted in too-many-elections for individuals really did not want-to-win
... could never cast a ballot for either of these-two will be running in November

... seeing as of right-now ... 9 states do not allow write-ins at-all
... Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, & Hawaii

.. so this my 1st POTUS-election ... will not-be-voting ... living-in-Nevada

 

..."..afraid a tipping point could happen with little warning"

from:		The Week <newsletter@theweek.com>
to:		bjarias@gmail.com
date:		Apr 4, 2020, 12:05 PM
subject:		Preview of this week's issue: Life on the pandemic's front lines

Dear newsletter reader,

We thought you'd appreciate this special preview from the latest issue of The Week magazine, where you’ll find everything you need to know about the unprecedented coronavirus crisis. Today's preview comes from the Controversy of the Week section:

Health-care workers: Life on the pandemic's front lines

The situation in New York City hospitals is "‘post-apocalyptic — like in one of those movies I used to watch,’" emergency nurse Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez told Ariana Eunjung Cha in The Washington Post. As the city’s Covid-19 death toll passed 1,000 this week, and with the "apex" of infections and deaths still weeks away, New York health-care workers are already close to their physical and emotional breaking point.

With personal protective equipment (PPE) in short supply, doctors and nurses are reusing disposable masks and wearing goggles and helmets and even plastic bags brought from home as they navigate hallways and waiting rooms filled with coughing, gasping, dying patients. These heroes are working 12-hour shifts to save lives even as they know that they could be next, said Bari Weiss in The New York Times. 

The now-common task of intubating Covid-19 patients with pneumonia requires medical workers to insert a plastic tube down a patient’s throat, often resulting in coughing that sprays the worker with droplets teeming with the virus. Hundreds of U.S. doctors and nurses have already become sick. Hospital staffers in their 20s and 30s are "drawing up their wills," choosing surrogate parents for their orphaned children, and scrubbing themselves raw in the shower, conscious that even "a trace of the coronavirus under a fingernail or on a strand of hair" could cost them — and family members — their lives.

And the real horror still lies ahead, said Jennifer Senior, also in the Times. Without enough ventilators and intensive-care beds, doctors may have to make unilateral decisions about who gets treatment and who is left to die. For people who’ve dedicated their lives to saving others, making these decisions may inflict "moral injury" like that suffered by soldiers in war zones. The result: nightmares, guilt, and lasting trauma.

Yet doctors and nurses keep showing up to work, said Leslie Marshall in FoxNews.com. In New York, in fact, some 76,000 retired health-care workers have volunteered to work on the front lines, as has my own husband, an orthopedic surgeon.
Why? They "took an oath" to care for the sick, and deeply feel "a responsibility to help stop the spread of this virus." This is doctors’ "version of running into a burning building," said Ruth Marcus in The Washington Post. Our country isn’t even providing them with sufficient protective equipment, yet still they care for the sick, simply because it is "what they do." When this is over "we must be forever grateful, and we should not fail them again."

Don’t assume doctors and nurses will keep showing up, said Dr. Thomas Kirsch in TheAtlantic.com. As the number of cases soars, and more and more of us get sick, "I am afraid a tipping point could happen with little warning."

Facing an impossible caseload and insufficient beds, a dire shortage of PPE, and the high likelihood of infection, some doctors and nurses and poorly paid support staff may stop coming to work. We have families. We are scared. "Our duty is not boundless."

To avoid a worst-case scenario, the government must do "dramatically more" to support those of us on the front lines — with more PPE, yes, but also with free places to stay so we don’t infect our families, and a guarantee of "preferential access to care and medications" if we ourselves get sick.

If society does not take care of the caretakers, at some point soon 
... "the system could break, and we will all be gone."

.

COVID-19 Cases Update - 04.10.20 -12:40 PM (PST)

04.10.20 - until reaching higher-numbers ... tested ... confirmed ... deaths 
we'll not really understand the true-scope of this pandemic 
now w-only 1.6M confirmed-infected that's merely 0.000217% of world-population

our regular flu last year infected near 50M ... killing 61,000
w-deaths from Covid-19 now-nearing 18,000 ... w-less than 1% of 50M infected 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

World Health Organization - COVID-19

 

data.rgi.com - Latest World Mortality-Rate

04.10.20 - World Mortality-Rate - 6.06% ... 606,000 per 10M Infections
04.10.20 - U.S. Mortality-Rate - 3.70% ... 370,000 per 10M Infections

(world-mortality-rate held-close .. U.S. still rising)

04.09.20 - World Mortality-Rate - 6.07% ... 607,000 per 10M Infections
04.09.20 - U.S. Mortality-Rate - *3.53% ... 353,000 per 10M Infections

04.02.20 - World Mortality-Rate - 5.22% ... 522,000 per 10M Infections
04.02.20 - U.S. Mortality-Rate - *2.42% ... 242,000 per 10M Infections

(*In just this past-week there's been a 45.8% increase in U.S. Mortality-Rate)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COVIDView: Surveillance Summary of U.S. COVID-19 Activity

CDC estimates:  during 2018-2019 flu-season ... 42.9 million-people became-sick  ... 647,000 were-hospitalized ... with 61,200 deaths (an-average-year)

Should 15% of the U.S. population (50M) become infected from Covid-19

Upwards-of 1.5 million-Americans could-die from this-pandemic-outbreak

Easing-up in-the-least-bit can-NEVER-be-justified

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Daily Update - COVID-19 Cases - Clark County, NV

Clark County, Nevada - 07.30.2019 - Population Estimates;  2,325,798
Henderson: 321,781  - Las Vegas:  661,824  -  No Las Vegas:  258,638
 

 03.29.2020 - Total Cases:   753 - Deaths: 15 - 1.99%

 04.01.2020 - Total Cases: 1125 - Deaths: 34 - 3.02%   

04.08.2020 - Total Cases: 2009 - Deaths: 71 - 3.53%

  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

click link below - go to pg 2 for interactive chart

NVHealthResponse.NV.GOV

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Bloomberg - Tracking the Spread of the Coronavirus Outbreak

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

TIME -  How Quickly Coronavirus Is Spreading in Your State

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CDC Coronavirus Disease COVID-19 - Cases in U.S

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 in a world having any logic-reason-justice
we would immediately-remove this individual-from-power
replacing-him with someone-having ANY considerable
clear-sense of the seriousness-of our-situation
potentially-saving hundreds-of-thousands ... if not millions-of-lives

 

Voting-Made-Simple ... contradiction-in-terms

... started-out voting-life as-republican
... going to majority business-oriented college-grad-school universities
... that's all the thinking-belief-systems you had all-around in-your-world ... then

... coming out of the Navy during the Vietnam War started working at a New York bank
... being a-bank-officer ... was-requested .. no-expected ... all-officers make-political-contributions ... to republican-party-candidates ... and

...  your 'donation' deemed not-substantial-enough (percentage-income)
... were made-inclined to-donate-more ... might-your-career bc-stinted
... most big-business there's little exposure to other-positions-ideology besides support of business-interests in-general

... that entire 'business-only' philosophy through-the-years ... morphing-democracy (both-republican-democrat) into today's ... full-on-plutocracy
... as wealth-power dramatically-rose ... increasing-throughout-the-decades in the business-sector-community to dizzying-heights reached-this-century

... where today we have the likes of a Bloomberg-Bezos oligarch-cabal
... mega-billionaires ... w tens hundreds of thousands-of-millions ... to buy-control whatever deemed-desired-demanded ... to include government-leader-fealty ... thusly all-our government-branches-themselves

... a system so weighted-down by its own biased-corrupted lobbying-efforts
... now on immediate-edge of complete-anarchal-collapse

... wanting-expecting only-to-have leaders that will-can be controlled-solely by-business-interests ... mainly-for imperious-benefit of-business-interests
... all-American-people in totally-disadvantageous secondary-position

... history shows-proves we are now-heading only-one-direction
... populations penalized-pushed-stifled against-their-need & will only so-long

... if anything this pitiful-horrid-administration has actually-achieved for-us

... it's to-finally-completely-show to an-awakening-majority

... just-how corrosively-bad it all-can-get ... real-fast

... when left-to-allow group-of-moguls - one-small uber-wealthy-class of an entire-society-population ... having-amassed such unbridled-wealth-power ... to unforgivably-erode-crush functioning of an entire-society-nation

... society-culture having-unsustainable-groundings 

... must-will-fail 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... current Republican-White House ... "a ghost-town of scientific-expertise
... rudderless, blindsided, lethargic, uncoordinated in the time of this greatest-crisis our nation has ever-faced

... America mishandling COVID-19 crisis to a substantially-worse-degree than what most-every health expert had feared ... much-worse

... U.S. may-end-up with worst-outbreak in the industrialized-world"


... any-all wanting to quickly-endorse ... 'Straight-Republican-Ticket'
... need-reconsider ... thinking-long-hard

... what they're all so-unknowingly-swift & willing ... to infect-us-all-with once-again

  Note: ... have-courage-to re-post-this

Email received today from Sanders-camp ... what a crippling-loss this will-be

 ... as it appears right now ... we are not going to have an opportunity to be lead by him
... loss for the country & the-world to be felt forever into the future

... read-his-words ... understand what his loss-means to all-of-us
... this-is-how 'true-leaders' respond to-crisis

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

from:		Bernie Sanders <info@berniesanders.com>
reply-to:		info@berniesanders.com
to:		BJ Arias <bjarias@gmail.com>
date:		Mar 19, 2020, 8:14 AM
subject:		"What am I going to do? How am I going to take care of my family?"

BJ -

I don’t have to tell anyone that our country and the world are facing an unprecedented series of crises. We’re dealing with the coronavirus, we’re dealing with a growing economic meltdown that will impact tens of millions of workers in this country, and we’re dealing with a political crisis as well.

The main point to be made is that in this period of crisis it’s imperative that we stand together. Understand that right now throughout this country, there are so many of our people throughout this country wondering what’s going to happen to them.

What happens to people who lose their jobs? What happens to people who worry they have the coronavirus but don’t have the resources to get the test they need, or the treatment they need?

This is a moment that we have got to be working together and going forward together.

What I wanted to do is talk about a series of proposals that we are working on and that we will introduce to the Democratic leadership about how we can best go forward.

I am going to tell you about all of these principles, and then I’m going to ask you to sign our petition to say you support these ideas, and want to see them taken up in Congress.

But it’s also important for me to hear your comments. We need to know what you are experiencing right now. It’s hard to write proper legislation if we are not familiar with the kinds of pain and problems that people across this country are facing.

We want to hear not only your ideas, but for you to talk about your experiences. In every state there is a different level of crisis, in every occupation there is a different level of concern.
Please communicate with us by emailing us at plan@berniesanders.com so we can come up with effective remedies.

So here’s what I think we should do. Read on, give your support, and then let us know what’s happening with you.

Solving the Health Care Crisis

Let’s start with the basics.

We need to make certain that everybody in our country who needs to go to a doctor can get health care they need regardless of their income. In this crisis we must empower Medicare to cover all medical bills during this emergency.
 

This is not Medicare for All. We can’t pass that right now. But what this does say is if you are uninsured, underinsured, if you have high copayments, high deductibles, or out of pocket expenses, Medicare will cover those expenses so that everybody — regardless of their health care needs, and not just for coronavirus — will get the health care they need. That is what we should be doing in this moment of crisis.

We need to make sure that hospitals have all of the ICU units and ventilators that are needed to respond to this crisis. What the fear is, is that there will be a surge of patients coming into the hospitals and we will not have equipment we need to deal with it. The federal government must work aggressively with the private sector to make sure that this equipment is available to hospitals and the medical community. 
The government needs to tell the private sector that this is a major priority and to get the job done.

We must also:

• Increase provider capacity. During this crisis, we need to mobilize medical residents, retired medical professionals, and other medical personnel to help us deal with this crisis.


• Implement successful testing models. Our testing capacity and process has been woefully inadequate. We must massively increase the availability of test kits for the coronavirus and the speed at which the tests are processed.


• Use the Defense Production Act to mobilize resources. Under this proposal, we will use existing emergency authority to dramatically scale up production in the United States of critical supplies such as masks, ventilators, and protective equipment for health care workers.


• Utilize the National Guard, the Army Corp of Engineers and other military resources to build mobile hospitals and testing facilities, assist providers, reopen hospitals that have been shut down and expand our health care capacity in at-risk areas.


• Dramatically expand community health centers. Pass emergency funding to dramatically expand access to community health centers which provide primary, dental, and mental health care, as well as low-cost prescription drugs, to nearly 30 million Americans, 63 percent of whom are racial and ethnic minorities.


• Keep health care workers safe. We need to make sure that doctors, nurses and medical professionals have the instructions and personal protective equipment that they need.

Solving the Economic Crisis

We must also respond to the global economic crisis that this pandemic is causing right now.

First and foremost, we must make sure that anyone who has a job right now receives the paychecks they need and does not lose their income.

Think about the millions of workers who are being laid off in the tourism industry, the fast food industry, the restaurant industry, the transportation industry.

These are folks that don’t have a lot of money, as you know. Some 40% of the people in this country cannot afford a $400 emergency. So people are sitting out there thinking, "What am I going to do? How am I going to take care of my family?"

That has got to be the major economic priority we address: how do we take care of the working families of this country?

Small and medium sized businesses, especially those in severely impacted industries such as restaurants, bars, and local retail need immediate relief.

We must tell these businesses, who are being forced to lay off their entire staff or possibly even shut down through no fault of their own, that we will not allow them to go out of business. The federal government will work with affected businesses to provide direct payroll costs for small and medium sized businesses to keep workers employed until this crisis has passed. 

We must provide direct, emergency $2,000 cash payments to every person in America every month for the duration of the crisis.

We are likely already in a recession. Workers are losing income while their bills pile up. We must begin issuing cash payments of $2,000 a month for every person in America to provide households with the assistance they need to pay their bills and take care of their families.

It is key that we get this money out and to families as soon as possible, which means we must make the payments universal with little bureaucracy. For those who will not need their payments, we will partner with organizations to take donations from patriotic families who can contribute their payments to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

We must also do the following to solve the economic crisis we’re facing:

• Expand Unemployment Insurance. We must provide emergency unemployment assistance to anyone who loses their job through no fault of their own. Under this proposal, everyone who loses a job must qualify for unemployment compensation at 100 percent of their prior salary with a cap of $75,000 a year.


• Protect non-traditional workers. In addition, those who depend on tips, gig workers, domestic workers, freelancers, and independent contractors shall also qualify for Unemployment Insurance to make up for the income that they lose during this crisis.


• Guarantee that no one goes hungry. We need to make sure that seniors, people with disabilities and families with children have access to nutritious food. That means expanding the Meals on Wheels program, the school meals programs, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) so that no one goes hungry during this crisis and everyone who cannot leave their home can receive nutritious meals delivered directly to where they live.


• Place an immediate moratorium on evictions, foreclosures, and utility shut-offs, and suspend payment on mortgage loans for primary residencies and utility bills. No one should lose their home during this crisis and everyone must have access to clean water, electricity, heat and air conditioning. And we must restore utility services to any customers who have had their utilities shut off. We must also provide funding for states and localities to provide rental assistance for the duration of the crisis.


• Waive all student loan payments for the duration of the emergency. More than 45 million Americans struggle with $1.6 trillion in student debt. We must lift this burden during the crisis and for one month after. Long-term, we must cancel all student debt and make public colleges, universities, and trade schools tuition free and debt free.


• Construct emergency shelter and utilize empty or vacant lodging. We must ensure the homeless, survivors of domestic violence and college students quarantined off campus are able to receive the shelter, the health care and the nutrition they need and connect those individuals with social services to ensure nobody is left behind. We must also utilize empty hotel beds and other vacant properties to ensure everyone is safely housed during this crisis.


• Use the power of the Federal Reserve to support state and local governments. Through the power granted under section 14(2)(b) of the Federal Reserve Act, the Fed will buy short-term municipal debt securities. This will help stabilize state government finances and provide states and localities the financial support they need to address this health and economic crisis.


• Protect farmers. Suspend all Farm Service Agency loan payments to protect farmers during this crisis, extend crop insurance and emergency loans to all affected farmers, extend rural development loans, and expand the Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) to both help alleviate hunger throughout the country and support our farmers during this crisis.

Making Sure Our Response is Not a Money-Making Opportunity for Corporate America

Our response to this health and economic crisis cannot be another money-making opportunity for corporate America and Wall Street. We need to ensure no one is profiting off of the economic pain and suffering of our people in crisis.

• Bail out working people, not corporate executives. Any emergency credit extensions or loans to insolvent companies or industries as a result of this crisis must come with strict protections and benefits for workers, unions, and customers, not no-strings-attached handouts for executives. During this crisis, we will ban stock buybacks and bonuses for executives. We will put conditions on this financial assistance to make sure that any corporation in America that benefits from emergency aid does not lay off workers, pays workers a livable wage, provides equity to the government, puts workers on corporate boards, and does not rip-off consumers.


• Prevent price gouging by pharmaceutical companies. As soon as a coronavirus vaccine is developed it must be sold for free. Further, all prescription drugs that are developed with taxpayer dollars must be sold at a reasonable price. This agency shall use the federal government’s authority to take away patents from pharmaceutical companies that are gouging consumers and allow generic companies to manufacture prescription drugs at a substantially reduced cost. The pharmaceutical industry must be told in no uncertain terms that the medicines that they manufacture for this crisis will be sold at cost. This is not the time for profiteering or price gouging.


• Investigate and prosecute price-gougers and corrupt dealings. This agency will have the authority to crack down and prosecute illegal price gouging and corruption. It shall also conduct an independent and transparent audit of all of the emergency financing programs to make sure that American taxpayer dollars are not wasted.

We Are All In This Together

What this country is experiencing right now is something that we have not experienced in the modern history of this country: a pandemic and an economic crisis, threatening the lives and income of millions of people.

I have the strong belief that if we work together, that if we do not turn to fear and panic, but if we understand that the way we solve this is by going forward as one people, remembering those that are hurting tonight and those that will be hurting in the future.

This is the richest country in the history of the world. This is a country with unbelievable energy, unbelievable talent, and with incredible resources. We can address this crisis and minimize the pain. 

Please add your name to say you support these ideas to ease the health, economic, and political crises we are facing.

Again, I look forward to hearing from you as well.  

Please email us at plan@berniesanders.com to let us know what your ideas are and what you’re experiencing — we are here, and we will be reading replies.

Let us go forward together. Thank you. 

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

... like Sanders is saying ... needs of all-Americans ... MUST-come-first

... can hear the right already ... how we gonna-pay-for-it
... seriously ... we can spend unending-TRILLIONS-for wars ... AND
... more-TRILLIONS for tax-breaks for the wealthy

... money's there ... now Americans been paying for all-that-crap for decades-now ... want their leadership to feel their-pain ... like Bernie Sanders does 
... and-HELP-THEM ... for-a-change

Making Coronavirus Much-More-Lethal

... for decades upon decades we've elected leadership that uses their positions to enhance-support-plutocracy

... should it be ... we've cast Sanders aside once-again ... we'll remain status-quo another 4-8 years

... younger you-are more you should-must be-interested-fearful
... don't get that feeling ... far-too-many not-knowing caring-enough

... sure it all can quickly-change
... yet w top-leadership & major-media we've-now-got (and what's looking to-stay similar-same)

... bottom's yet to-be-reached

          ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

by Chauncey DeVega
March 19, 2020

Social inequality is making the coronavirus much more lethal. The rich will find a way to survive and thrive and profit. The rest of us here in the United States and around the world will suffer (even more). That is a public policy decision. Never forget that poverty and class inequality are forms of structural violence. The coronavirus is but another weapon in that war.

Ultimately, the coronavirus will make the obscene levels of social inequality in America even more obvious. One person especially qualified to discuss this is Jonathan Metzl, the Frederick B. Rentschler II Professor of Sociology and Psychiatry, and director of the Center for Medicine, Health, and Society at Vanderbilt University. He is the author of several books, including "Prozac on the Couch" and "The Protest Psychosis." His new book is "Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment is Killing America's Heartland."

He is also the guest on this week's episode of my podcast The Truth Report.

https://thetruthreportwithchaunceydevega.libsyn.com/ep-42-the-coronavirus-and-social-inequality-in-america?fbclid=IwAR2WSpdWNIB76RnqyLVf_vD8h3LQQLqrraSuTwzrCkLbcg2j390oLIXfeJA

Here is an excerpt from my conversation with Dr. Metzl where he explains how Trump is making his own supporters even more sick via the coronavirus -- but they will never abandon him, he who is the Great Leader.

"Me: Predictably, Donald Trump is blaming Barack Obama for his administration's failure to properly respond to the coronavirus. Of course, this is just another example of Trump's pathological racism, as manifested through his obsession with Barack Obama. But that is also connected to why so many white conservatives and their leaders rejected the Affordable Care Act. In your book "Dying of Whiteness," you write about white Trump supporters who would rather die than accept "Obamacare." How does that connect to the coronavirus?

Dr. Metzl: Donald Trump, like so many other demagogues, is very good at focusing the blame on other people — especially groups that are marginalized, stigmatized and considered the other. In crisis, demagogues attack vulnerable people. That is related to Donald Trump not taking responsibility for his own actions. It is always someone else's fault. With the coronavirus, the temptation for Trump to use that strategy is going to be very great.

Donald Trump is also a very skilled manipulator of anxieties and the worst aspects of human behavior. People always ask me about my book "Dying of Whiteness": Did the white people profiled in it realize that Trump's policies were killing them? If so, why didn't they reject him?"

I would tell people, "No. The irony is that the people being hurt by Trump's policies actually supported him more."

Because of that, I worry that the same dynamic is going to take place with Donald Trump and the coronavirus. The more desperate that some Americans become, the more Trump will tell them that it's someone else's fault. Then the more that things get worse, the more Trump becomes popular and his ideology becomes entrenched among his followers.

It is a fantasy of liberals to believe that Trump supporters are going to wake up one day and turn on Donald Trump. It is not going to happen.

When I was doing the research for "Dying of Whiteness" I would often be asked, "When are Trump supporters going to wake up? When are they going to see what is really going on?" I keep hoping that maybe there will be a moment when conservatives wake up and say, "Yeah, we're Trump supporters. Yeah, we're Republicans. But in exchange for our votes, we want to have better health care, better education, and better schools in exchange for our support."

Who knows? Maybe if that somehow happened there could be a moment when liberals and conservatives could find some type of common concern that would help the country create a better health care system.

You can read my full conversation with Dr. Metzl via the link below over at Salon. Please share this very informative conversation about the coronavirus pandemic with your friends, family, and other contacts so that they have a better context for what is happening with the dual disasters of Trumpism and the coronavirus plague.


How Coronavirus Reveals America's Extreme Social Inequality
Trump's response has been 'exactly wrong' for-America ... but his-base doesn't-care