... Twitter finally comes around

From:    SquadVictoryFund.com <info@squadvictoryfund.com>

Reply-to:    "SquadVictoryFund.com" <info@squadvictoryfund.com>

Date:    Oct 9, 2020, 1:43 PM 

Subject:    Twitter finally comes around

 

Shortly after Donald Trump announced that he’d contracted COVID-19, Twitter announced their official policy: Anyone wishing harm or death on an individual or group would be suspended from the platform or be required to remove their content.  

That’s the correct stance, but why did it take so long?

If Twitter truly wanted to prioritize eliminating hate speech and threats of violence on their platform, why have they been ignoring the flood of death threats, racial slurs, and sexist attacks that every member of the Squad has faced for years?

Twitter has been fully aware of the problem. A quick search of Ilhan, Alexandria, Ayanna, or Rashida’s mentions shows a torrent of verbal abuse, hatred, and death threats. Yet Twitter’s officials apparently didn’t see this dangerous and disturbing content as reason enough for them to take action.

What’s the root cause of this flood of hatred and threats of violence? Everything the Squad represents and who they are: A group of powerful, progressive women of color leaders who are unafraid to speak out against injustice. If you can afford it, contribute $3 to help each member of the Squad keep speaking truth to power.

Contribute $3

We hope that Twitter will take concrete action to combat the rise of hatred on their platform. It's just too bad that it’s taken so long and that, once again, the violence and trauma experienced by BIPOC women has been discounted. Meanwhile, the continued attacks won’t cause the Squad to falter – the fight for justice is too important to let that happen.

In solidarity,

Squad Victory Fund

 

 

 

Vote them out... Vote them all out.

 Vote-them-out ... Vote-them-all-out

by David Nir, Political Director, DailyKos.com

Donald Trump could have—should have—been the very last person in the country to contract COVID-19. He had access to the most up-to-date science, limitless rapid testing, the best of modern medicine, a personal physician round-the-clock, and a miniature army devoted to nothing else but ensuring his safety.

Yet he got the disease anyway, and it’s entirely his fault, for reasons both small and monumental. On the individual level, Trump ignored, overruled, and distorted the scientific findings his own administration produced, most notoriously in his mockery of masks and his refusal to wear one. He has, of course, also engaged in multiple high-risk behaviors, like holding the indoor rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that likely killed Herman Cain, one of Trump’s own campaign chairs, as well as frequent travel with a large entourage, including a jaunt to his New Jersey golf club for a fundraiser Thursday evening after learning that his own aide, Hope Hicks, was sick with the coronavirus.

But much more broadly, Trump’s failure to combat the pandemic has left the virus rampaging throughout the country. With a national mask mandate, smart lockdowns, a universal testing strategy, and regular stimulus checks for idled workers and shuttered businesses, the U.S. could be in the far healthier and freer situation today enjoyed by Australia or South Korea or Vietnam or our neighbor Canada. Ordinary civilians and top government officials alike would be vastly less likely to come down with COVID. Yet here we are.

The most important lesson in all this is that it’s not just Trump’s fault: Our alarming state can be laid at the feet of the entire Republican Party. 

Ask yourself this: When have GOP leaders ever criticized Trump’s response? When have Republicans in Congress ever sought to pass legislation over his veto threats? When have they simply stood up and said, “Wear a g-ddamn mask, for f-ck’s sake!”?

Sure, a few isolated Republican governors who don’t have a personal death wish have, often belatedly, taken some steps to halt the pandemic’s spread. But the party as a whole has, as ever, gone along with the menace who leads it.  

Republicans have always known Trump was a danger, never more literally so than now. But when GOP senators had the chance to remove him from office, they declined, even though they would have would up with a less embarrassing and even more conservative president instead.

This, then, is all on the GOP—everything from the mess we’re in today to Trump’s own sickness. There is only one cure: Vote them out. Vote them all out.

I’m going to propose we rip them out by the very root. Republicans have devoted decades to developing their farm system in the states by winning elections for legislatures that have produced battalions of drones who’ve zealously carried out the Trumpist agenda. That’s where Lindsey Graham got his start. Thom Tillis, Joni Ernst, and Cory Gardner, too.

Daily Kos has endorsed several dozen stalwart Democrats seeking to flip Republican seats across the country. We can not only take back a whole bunch of GOP-held chambers, we can terminate the careers of the next generation of Republican apparatchiks before they can even start. If we want to cut out the rot that’s infected this great nation, this is where we begin.

Thank you,
David Nir, Political Director
DailyKos.com

 

... For The Public-Good ... FDT & Melinia Too

Whatever Removes Donald Trump—a Miserable Bastard—From Public Life Is Good

Donald Trump has been laying waste to our Constitution, our democracy, and our very society.
by Jeffrey C. Isaac

Published on Friday, October 02, 2020 by Common Dreams

“First and foremost, I pray for a speedy recovery for President Trump and the First Lady.”

Okay. I got that out of the way.

The honest truth is that Donald Trump is a miserable bastard, and indeed a sociopath, who routinely demeans and debases others in his personal life and in his public performances.

That lead is a quote of what virtually every pundit and politician has said this morning upon learning of the COVID diagnosis of Donald and Melania Trump. Indeed, it is reasonable to think that many of those people also spoke with those quotation marks implied. They were saying what others have said, or what they think The Ideal Human Being would say, or at least what any decent human being would be expected to say under normal circumstances.

These are not normal circumstances.

One small sign: some skeptics have raised questions about whether the entire announcement is a ploy by Trump to gain sympathy and curry favor with voters. The very fact that smart people can wonder about this is a sign of how dangerously low things have fallen in this country. Anything is possible with Trump. In other words, we are all still in real danger.

It is often said that “hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue.” One can slightly extend the notion, and fairly observe that civility is the tribute that vice often pays to virtue. It is often good to be nice even to those we despise. It is good to perform a basic decency in our interactions with others, whoever they may be, as a way of enacting integrity for oneself, and of promoting some minimal level of decency in the world.

It is also true that honesty is the tribute that virtue pays to vice.

And the honest truth is that Donald Trump is a miserable bastard, and indeed a sociopath, who routinely demeans and debases others in his personal life and in his public performances.

This was on full display in Tuesday’s so-called “Presidential debate,” when he abused Joe Biden, went out of his way to viciously attack Biden’s son, and could not even show a minimal amount of respect for Biden’s other dead son, a man who did something that no person in Trump’s family has ever done—volunteered for military duty and devoted his life to public service.

Trump’s COVID diagnosis is The News today, the major headline in every medium, including the New York Times.

But today’s Times also features these stories on its web “front page”:

“Trump Virtually Cuts Off Refugees as He Unleashes a Tirade On Immigrants.”

“In Profane Rant, Melania Trump Takes Aim At Migrant Children and Critics.”

“Wisconsin Is Frazzled By Surging Virus Cases and Growing Campaign Frenzy.”

“After Wild Fires Stop Burning, a Danger in the Drinking Water.”

“Why ‘Stand Back and Stand By’ Should Set Off Alarm Bells.”

The point is simple: as every honest person has been saying for at least months now, Donald Trump has been laying waste to our Constitution, our democracy, and our very society.
He has promoted the most cruel and vicious tendencies among us. He has deliberately lied about the pandemic and has defiantly held huge public rallies, both indoors and out, in which many thousands of people have been crammed together without masks. He has deliberately conducted business in the Oval Office in defiance of all social distancing and mask guidelines.

Donald Trump is personally responsible for the many tens of thousands of deaths that could have been prevented through an honest and serious response to the pandemic. Over 200,000 Americans have died of COVID in the past nine months. It will be at least 300,000 by the end of the year. And Trump has not cared.

Donald Trump is personally responsible for the cruel family separations and mass immigrant detentions at our border.

Donald Trump is personally responsible for deploying federal forces to assault a peaceful protest in Lafayette Square, and for deploying federal forces to kidnap people off the streets of Portland, and for encouraging police brutality, and for threatening martial law.

Donald Trump is personally responsible for inciting the violence of his right-wing, white supremacist supporters.

Donald Trump is personally responsible for repeatedly and deliberately announcing that the only legitimate election result is one where he is the winner, and that if there is another result, he will refuse to honor it.

Donald Trump’s very existence has been a disaster for the vast majority of U.S. citizens and residents not named Trump.

Donald Trump is personally responsible for more cruelty and injustice than any president, and any single American citizen, in recent memory.

Is it “cosmic justice” that he is now infected by the very disease that he has allowed to spread among us? The Plague gets the plague? Let the philosophers argue about this. One of my colleagues posted on Facebook last night that “Karma is a Bitch!” That seems about right to me.

Donald Trump is no different to me than any other stranger who is also a tyrant responsible for mass suffering. I really do not give a shit about him or his rather vile family members. If I am being honest, I will admit that, having been subjected to his Public Domestic Abuse for four years, I was not the slightest bit sorry to learn about his illness.
Why should I be sorry? It’s not like my feelings about the matter caused his illness. Indeed, his own irresponsibility caused it. And surely caused many others around him to also become ill. He is a despicable man, and he deserves nothing more than he has given to others. It is normal and legitimate for those whose lives have been disrupted and threatened by a bully or a tyrant to feel some exultation when the tyrant suffers.

Pundits are now worrying about the “national security” implications of Trump’s illness. It is true, such instability in the Presidency is always a cause for concern. But can those of us who are responsible for public commentary at least be honest:
Trump at full capacity is a malevolent, ignorant, and irresponsible man who has never taken his job or its public responsibilities seriously. Do you really think we are in greater danger now with Trump in bed than we were when Trump was sitting in front of his TV threatening war via Twitter?
Yes, the President of the U.S. is responsible for the nuclear codes. And quite honestly, I would feel safer with those codes entrusted to my neighbor’s fifteen year old daughter than to Donald Trump.

Donald Trump’s very existence has been a disaster for the vast majority of U.S. citizens and residents not named Trump.

Nothing that takes Donald Trump even the slightest bit away from public life is bad.

And, honestly, all further consideration of his illness bores me.

The only thing that matters politically is the decisive defeat of Trump next month, and his expeditious removal from office by January 20, 2021.

Nothing else matters.

Fuck Donald Trump, and Melania too.

Constitutional democracy is on the ballot next month. Defending it is the most urgent imperative of our time.

We must defeat Donald Trump and elect Joe Biden.

~Jeffrey C. Isaac

Jeffrey C. Isaac is James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science at Indiana University, Bloomington. His books include: Democracy in Dark Times (1998); The Poverty of Progressivism: The Future of American Democracy in a Time of Liberal Decline; and Arendt, Camus, and Modern Rebellion.
.

.
“Fascism's not-a way-of-life but a-murderous-mode of-deadening-reality by-smothering-it with-lies.”

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

 

... growing up in NY.. was two-years-older

... ​we had ​actually ​attended​ a-business-charity-event-dinner in NYC​..​ he also w​as-present​​

... those-days as now he's-always hard-to-avoid

... big-deal-news-now is how much-an a-hole he-is

... seriously.. his ENTIRE-miserable-life he's been a royal-d!ck-bastard

... screwing-everyone (near-literally) he's come-into-contact

... he's-filthiest-garbage literally

... voting-him-again in-fact s/b considered a-criminal-act

... cause-most-all-his​..​ sure-are-2-be

 

... facing most-important-election in-history - time-for some-serious-questions to-get-answers ... more2b-added... keep-returning

 ... so-who-knows ... how-why did-does it-happen.. ??

 

• ... we're-one of-the-worst-countries on-the-planet when-comes-to-inequality ... (only Chile-Mexico-Turkey have worse-income-inequality)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• ... we're-deeply continually-embroiled-in multiple-useless senseless-wars 

 

... January 17, 1961 ... 17yo at-the-time

... remember Ike's-farewell-address to the nation warning-of coming-power-control of-the-MIC.. (& the Generals)

 

... and on January 27th, 1973, as the Vietnam War drew to a close, Selective-Service announced there-would-be no-further-draft-calls ... (Nixon-campaign-pledge)

 

... ending-conscription & most-importantly citizens-direct-involvement in America's-future-wars

... giving-way allowing-for our-present-state of-permanent-war

 

... these are the-how ... the-why-as-always ... $$$$$$$

... wars-being-extremely-profitable for-all-those w-hands-involved

.

... neither-candidate-likely to-try-end-wars

... Biden more-likely not-to scale-up as-much

... Trump-admin wants-more-war

.

.

... from-whom do-you-get your-information

 ... name-names-of-people u-get-information-from 

... who-you-read ... who-u-listen-to ... that's how-u-think

... what are their backgrounds ... why do-you have-interest in-them

... example: one-person came-across just-recently is W.J. Astore

William J. Astore, a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and professor of history, has written for TomDispatch.com, Truthout, History News Network (HNN), Alternet, Salon, Antiwar.com, and Huffington Post among other sites.  He is the author or co-author of three books and numerous articles focusing on military history as well as the history of science, technology, and religion.  He earned a BS (with distinction) in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, an MA from the Johns Hopkins University (history of science and technology), and a D.Phil. (doctor of philosophy) from the University of Oxford (modern history).

... impressive individuals improve your-mind your-thinking
... finding-reading-listening to-them-enjoyable, as well-as enormously-informative

... every-so-often get-asked who-I-follow.. subscribing-to their-newsletters & such
... here's-just-a-few ... anyone-reading-my-social-media-posts should-recognize-names:

Bill Moyers - billmoyers.com
Linker - Kristain - Goldman - Weber - et al - theweek.com
Jeremy Scahill - theintercept.com
Brown - Conley - Corbett - Germanos - Queally - et al - commondreams.org
(W.J.) Astore - bracingviews.com
DeVega - Watkins - Cheung - Marcotte - et al  - salon.com
Tom Engelhart - tomdispatch.com 
Noam Chomsky - facebook.com/Noam-Chomsky-294468630182/
Henry Giroux - henryagiroux.com
Amy Goodman - democracynow.org
Robert Reich - robertreich.org
Matt Taibbi - taibbi.substack.com
Yves Smith - nakedcapitalism.com
Nomi Prins  -  nomiprins.com
Melvin Goodman -  counterpunch.org/author/ru8acub/
Hedges - Scheer - Sjursen - Cooper - Brown - Camp - Engelhardt -  scheerpost.com
Heather Cox Richardson - facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson
Robert Hunziker - counterpunch.org/author/robert-hunziker/
Hohlt - Benedikt - Bennett - &-many-more  -  slate.com
Heuvel - O’Mara - Ratner - Chávez - Nichols - et al  -  thenation.com
Anne Applebaum - Molly Jong-Fast  -  theatlantic.com
Bill McKibben - 350.org
theconversation.com

... should you really want to stop with-all the misinformation-disinformation
... reading-listening to these individuals is without doubt a very good place to begin

... they all talk about wanting a system that works ...

... one keeps adding tens-of-millions to poverty w-millions-homeless ... at-same-time ... billionaires-grab-TRILLIONS ... & controlling-government ... this-one NOT-WORKING

 

 ... that's-textbook-definition: plutocracy to tyranny

 ... two-thousand billionaires having more wealth than five-billion people on the planet

... system-needs dramatic-progressive-changes ... FAST

... following-new-progressives.. the-smart-best-play

... no-matter-what ... he's-our-guy

... a man that does not believe in science
... a man that does not believe in justice-rule-of-law
... a man that does not believe in morality-decency-honesty-integrity
... a man that does not believe in having regard-caring-respect for-lives-of-others

... a man that to-this-day we-continually-choose to-defend-support regardless

... a man belonging-with all-those he-deeply-admires.. (himself-included)
... Trump ... Putin ... Bolsonaro ... Xi Jinping ... Jong un ... Aziz Al Saud ... Duterte ... et al

... a man that we-avidly-want to remain-as-POTUS
... a man that is always to-command our-vote 

"Let us not hedge about one thing. Donald Trump may win or lose, but he will never concede."... (url-link)

 

 ... we'll-not-let-him

... we-don't get-this-right ... we-live-in-a-time

 ... of virus-wars that-can-KILL-MILLIONS... having a POTUS-cares-little, if-at-all

... of-extreme-climate-disruption ... he-claims doesn't-exist..  a-Chinese-hoax

 

... he-gives-trillions to-wealthy-individuals-corporations not-needing-a dime-of-it

... same-time insisting-social-security must-be-cut because-it's too-expensive 

 

... same-way we-can't-afford healthcare-for-all ... or higher-education for-all

... yet-there's plenty-$$$$$ to-be spent on-endless-useless-wars... mof-TRILLIONS

 

... all-the-while his-golfing-tab to-U.S.-taxpayers recently-surpassed-$150,000,000

 

... meanwhile-his-nepotism-cabal goes-continually completely-outta-control

... appointments-to critical-government-positions awarded-to totally-wrong-unqualified-persons as-patronage-rewards  ... to-individuals beholding-to-him 'he-can-control'

 

... his-lying-outright grows more-flagrant-dangerous each-passing-day 

... along-w his-hatred-racism towards-all-minorities... racist his entire-life.. continuing-doing-great-harm resulting-from his-discriminatory-hateful-beliefs

 

... despite-continuing-series of-racially-motivated-attacks POTUS-saying he does-not-consider "white-nationalism" to-be a-growing-problem-threat for-America

... a-leader w-absolutely NO-standards ... turning-the-country-against-itself ISN'T-leadership ANYONE-should-want... (video)

 

... as-dozens-of-women line-up-accusing-him of-all-manner of-sexual-assaults-crimes

... jockeying in-the-courts with attorneys-general seeking-to-prosecute-him for-growing-numbers of-varying-offenses-crimes

... his-entire-administration one-huge-criminal-corruption-scandal... we'll-be surrounded-by dealing-with-for-years more-likely decades to-come

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"The minority having voted to-elect-this madman-con-man ...
didn't have a god-damn-clue what-they-were getting-the-world-into...
granting-him-a-stage he'd-never-willingly-peaceably choose-to-exit."

 

Trump Plots 'Flat-Out Coup,' Voters Urged to Deliver Biden Landslide to Avoid Chaos

..."... openly and explicitly considering a coup to-hold-onto-power. Make-no-mistake: Autocracy-is at-our-doorstep."

... anyone-not-seeing what's-happening right-in-front of-their-eyes are-damn-fools ... and-or cult-members

 

  

 

.

 

TODAY'S BIG QUESTION: WHO CAN REPLACE RBG?

 

 

By Debra Adams Simmons, HISTORY Executive Editor, National Geographic

Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Say her name.

Few legacies in the history of American jurisprudence are deserving of more reverence or of a nation’s tribute than that of Supreme Court Justice Ginsburg, who died Friday at age 87. The second woman ever appointed to a seat on the nation’s high court, Ginsburg didn’t just break glass ceilings; she was the Hope Diamond that shattered them.

A pioneering feminist, towering intellect, and unlikely cultural rock star, Ginsburg will long be remembered as a relentless champion of the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. She made it her mission to navigate the court—and America—into a clearer understanding of legal equal protection and how the concept applied not only to racial and ethnic minorities but also to women.

Seeking common ground was crucial to Ginsburg, even as a 13-year-old in a world emerging from the horrors of World War II and the Holocaust. In an essay in her temple bulletin entitled “One People,” she wrote that America must never fall into the division that destroyed Germany. “For righteous people hate and prejudice are neither good occupations nor fit companions,” she wrote.

Seventy-four years later, upon her death, a divided nation faces twin challenges to its future in replacing the justice and in electing a president in November.

But how or should the nation replace a justice in the weeks before an election? And, if a Supreme Court choice is rammed through despite the will of most of the people, should the court be enlarged to respect the people’s wishes?

In two stories, Nat Geo’s Amy McKeever examines precedent for election-year judicial appointments and the supposed “sanctity” of the size of the high court, which has stood at nine members for a century and a half.

In both cases, there are challenges to conventional wisdom. Presidents have appointed justices without Senate approval in the past. The size of the court ping-ponged in its first decades, from six to as little as five to as many as 10, before settling at nine. One president wanted to make it 15.

As with so much about American democracy or democracies worldwide, we are discovering there are fewer or weaker guardrails to the pure exercise of power. To some, Ginsburg’s words as a teen, and her dissents in later life, had a through-line to a more idealized nation; to others, she represented an unwelcome path to inclusion, or an obstacle to attempts to outlaw abortion.

Both conservatives and liberals, however, agreed on her focus and impact upon the nation.

From three quarters of a century ago, Ginsburg urged Americans to use their brains and not their emotions in choosing the way of what she called our beloved land. “Prejudice,” the 13-year-old Ginsburg wrote, “saves us a painful trouble, the trouble of thinking.”  

(Pictured above, Ginsburg sits at right in artist Nelson Shanks’ painting “The Four Justices.” It also portrays, from left, Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Sandra Day O’Connor. It hangs at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington.)

 

 

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... friendships-in-lockdown ... and ... the-disease-of-lethargy

 ... we have numerous-crises going-on-together same-time right-now

... most would first think Covid-pandemic.. or the disease of our-political-morass. ... yet

... by-far-though greater-magnitude is-that-of-climate-disruption

 

... every-passing-day we-don't-have clear-solid positive-action-occurring

... is-another-lost ... leading-us-closer to-ultimate-doom

... not to-be-happening all-at-once but what's going-to-be-happening more-n-more

... is clearly-evident-today.. & has-been for-long-while

... we-can-do-nothing as-much-as we-choose ... earth-doesn't-care ... majority living-things-do

... even as-most-disappear.. enough-will-may-remain until-a-time there's-opportunity-to-return

... does-our-species-survive.. honestly-no-one truly-knows

... but that 20th century world my generation spent most-time-in is essentially-not-returning

... my-mom-Josie wanted-to-realize there-actually-are other-intelligent-life out-in-the-universe

... I'll go-to-grave-wondering does-our-intelligent-life survive-this our-culminating insane-era

 

... and-would-have several-lost-friendships returned-recovered over-time

 

... to any-all family-friends not on facebook-social-media

 

... have been posting in the 'Public' setting on Facebook for long time now
... this means whatever's posted, anyone signed-on-Facebook can see

... so anyone w-just an email address can sign-up & view-all-of-them
... easy-simple-registration all-it-takes
... u-need-not-have much-more-involvement w-FB than-that

... would-hope anyone-still-considering voting-against all-truth-logic
... please-make-a-point to-see-read-them

... every-vote to-count
... would-employ-u-consider exceedingly-carefully-ur-choice

... there's LOTS-LOTS ridding on-this-one-election
... more-than-ever-before ... our-entire long-term-future

 

... #DoNotVoteTrump ... #ProtectDemocracy

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

www.facebook.com/bj.arias.usa

 

 

... need-to-stop-end ... one-dangerous-autocracy ... at-a-time

 

 
... just found out Saudi-Arabia’s-monarchy has blocked-Freedom-Forward-on-Twitter.
... why ... bc YOU-WE r-having-impact

... Saudi-Arabia's-hosting G20-summit this-year -- global-gathering of-world’s-wealthiest-nations ... using their-G20-spotlight to pretend-to-be positive-force in-the-world

... meanwhile, they're imprisoning women’s-rights-advocates, jailing-reformers ... bombing-Yemen -- using U.S.-weapons to-do-it


... here’s example of Saudi-monarchy-propaganda -- and how we're-disrupting-it 

... ridiculous as-it-sounds, Saudi rulers r-hosting global-conversation on-women’s-issues -- the “W20” -- even-while they-imprison & torture women’s-rights-activists

... but things haven’t-gone according-to-plan
... thousands-r-seeing their-hypocrisy for-what-it-is

... one-leading women’s-rights-advocate -- Lyric Thompson -- even decided to-drop-out of the Saudi-G20

... that’s-why Freedom-Forward just-got-blocked by Saudi Arabia’s bogus “W20”
... they-don’t-want interference-w-their-propaganda

... make-no-mistake ... we're creating global-environment which-Saudi-torturers prison-guards can-no-longer get-away w-imprisoning-women daring-to-demand freedom-to-live-lives as they-see-fit

... there is much more work to be done
... call on Congress to stand in solidarity with Saudi & American women who-are-trapped under-Saudi-monarchy’s terrible-horrid-rules -- or whose-children-are

 ... we-need-will force-Saudi-monarchy to-open torture-chambers ... free-every-single prisoner-of-conscience -- including-major-political-reformers who-want-their-country to-be place-of-freedom

... we-push for-full-cutoff of all-U.S.-weapons to-Saudi-Arabia
... NO MORE U.S.-arms-sales for-this-dictatorship

... doing-this-together -- we've-lots-of-allies on-our-side
... coordinating-global-coalition of-organizations determined-to-stop Saudi-dictatorship from-using-propaganda hiding-human-rights-crimes

... please-join-us in-this-campaign 

... Freedom Forward

... a fight-for-our-lives ... w-our-own-government

Trump & his-administration cares absolutely-nothing what happens to people due to his callous-damaging-actions ... he's totally-clueless to all harm-he's-causing.

"Yesterday, America recorded the most new cases of COVID ever in a single day. 
And the Trump administration’s response was to file a brief with the Supreme Court, asking them to kick 23 million people off of their health insurance.

We have the worst-response in-the-WORLD to this pandemic, and instead of trying to fix that, the Trump administration is obsessed with destroying the Affordable-Care-Act, which is currently all that’s standing between 23 million people & going uninsured with a-deadly-disease on-the-loose.

Taking away health care of millions of people in the midst of a highly-contagious-pandemic puts every single one-of-us in danger―especially seniors, who are most-at-risk if they contract COVID.

Trump spent his first year in office trying to kick millions of people off of their health care, claiming he would replace it with something better (though that-something was never-quite-specified). Americans came together to overwhelmingly reject Trumpcare.
Now, the Trump administration isn’t even pretending there’s an alternative to ACA―he’s simply trying to destroy it, without any regard for the tens-of-millions of newly-uninsured-people that would create.

This is part of a pattern with the GOP. They don’t see the pandemic as something to fight; they only want to use-chaos to ram through their massively-unpopular-agenda.

That’s why Trump’s idea of stimulus is defunding Social Security.

That’s why Mitt Romney is trying to set up a fast-tracked, closed door process to cut Social Security & Medicare benefits.

That’s why instead of promoting policies that would stop the spread of COVID and save the lives of seniors across the country, Trump is promoting conspiracy theories and cutting federal funding for testing!"

~ socialsecurityworks.org

... we're in-a-fight for-our-lives ... w-our-own-government ...

.

... 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