Hot Air

-

We just spent $2T dollars on a Corona Stimulus Package to rescue people the corporations. We were, once again, caught off guard because, we expected our ‘leaders’ to have a certain level of integrity. Even though, again and again, they disappoint. This is a Lucy pulling the football out from under us; throwing us off balance. Lurching. Enraged.

We are incrementally approaching authoritarianism and extreme wealth inequality, if we are not already there. It is a fine point of balance. How far we can be pushed. A bit at a time. Until it is too far. A tipping point.

For young people it is unambiguous.

Henry wants to be a political organizer. Henry turned 22 while we were working together on the UCSC Bernie campaign. Every day we would show up around 7:30 am and tear down around 4:00 pm. Henry’s parents are Catholic, Republicans, and from Southern California. They are Trump supporters. They’re okay with his political ambitions, organizing, and hopes.

So, I got this text from Henry:

This year we went through:

-PG&E blackouts
-Cola strikes
-Covid-19
-Online classes
-Elections
-No commencement

And that was before the CA state lockdown, business and travel shutdown, the stock market meltdown, and the passage of the $2T Corona Stimulus Bailout Package.

And yesterday…
Bernie withdrew from the campaign.

What the fuck is his generation going to do?

pogonip far and near.jpg

Share
up
29 users have voted.

Comments

sparked a small revelation to me that the gouging of young people for college tuition and student loans may not be solely about profit, although that is obviously significant. Conservatives never liked or benefited at the polls by an educated and enlightened populace. They have been sabotaging the education system at all levels for a long time. Gouging the shit out of young people who want a higher education is a way to discourage them, and/or punish them financially if they pursue it. It's one more way for haves to pull up the ladder to keep the riff raff down where they belong.

up
21 users have voted.
magiamma's picture

@entrepreneur
Good point. Keep them down (where they belong). Certainly when you're hungry, stressed and working full boar you have less energy to fight the system. And a more educated populous tends to organize better. Albeit there are ways to organize and educate without having a college education. e.g. the Zapatistas.

Henry's generation is the last stand imho.

Have a good one.

up
8 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Raggedy Ann's picture

There are definitely challenges ahead, but we are working our way to a better world. We are in a shift of consciousness. I know I say this here quite a bit, but I'm hoping it will sink in, someday.

We are in a shift of consciousness. We are moving from 3rd dimension consciousness to 5th dimension consciousness. We are in the fight of our lives in the 4th dimension, at this point in time, where 3rd dimensioners are trying to keep us there and 5th dimensioners are trying to pull us forward. It is a battle royale.

The millennials and Gen Xers are the ones pulling us toward 5th dimension. Herr Drumpf and Biden are trying to keep us in the 3rd dimension. We are in for a mulit-year struggle. We should begin to push out of this by 2026. Stay tuned and keep paying attention.

It is playing out before our eyes. People on this site talk, every day, about the struggle. The struggle has a NAME - it is a shift in consciousness. Get on board to the 5th dimension (most of you already are there)!

Have a lovely Friday and weekend, folks! Pleasantry

up
18 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

TaZsa's picture

@Raggedy Ann I'm on-board the 5th dimension!!! I believe you are right about the shift of conscience. It sure is a painful grow though.

up
13 users have voted.
Raggedy Ann's picture

@TaZsa
but we haven't felt the half of it. Get ready. The other side will be a thing of beauty, though!

up
11 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

magiamma's picture

@TaZsa
I am definitely ready!

Have a good one.

up
2 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@Raggedy Ann
Gen X has been the rightward force. Their conservatism is a reaction to their parents liberalism. As many times before. Millennials return to their grandparents' liberalism.
Sometimes I wonder if it's just generational rebellion that stokes this pendulum.

up
9 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Raggedy Ann's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness
This shift in consciousness will bring people around. Those that don't want to come around - well, look what's happening.....

up
9 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

enhydra lutris's picture

@Raggedy Ann @Raggedy Ann

confusing, one minnit it was "Hey, hop in the balloon", and an hour later it was "C'mon, climb in my surrey".

be well and have a good one

up
7 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Raggedy Ann's picture

@enhydra lutris ?
Get in your surrey and meet me in the 5th dimension!

up
7 users have voted.

"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

enhydra lutris's picture

@Raggedy Ann

was it, right?

up
2 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@Raggedy Ann
The first shift in consciousness came in the early 70s. It was amazing. This is the second wave and it's tsunami. Shift or be shifted.

We are here to assist in it's unfolding imho. Thanks, as always, for your wonderful words.

Be well and have a good one.

up
10 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Lookout's picture

The gubmint using the cover of COVID to promote corporations and consolidate power. They have built a strong fascist foundation focused on oil, war, and the banks.

I've been trying to imagine how we unwind this disaster, and I don't see a thread to pull to start the process. The only avenue I can imagine is a general strike now...while the pawns are so important to the survival of TPTB. Not holding my breath. Workers rarely recognize when they hold sway. Same with Bernie. This is the time to push M4A, a living wage and so on. He could have led a real movement. Another opportunity lost.

We need to think about the next phase after the pandemic.

In the meantime, I'm gardening and being as self-sufficient as possible. Passing on some plants to friends and neighbors who normally buy them cause the farm supply is out. Will plant out heirloom tomatoes, peppers and eggplant next week after the little cold spell starting today (dogwood winter). Got almost 1/2" of rain last night which will sure boost the lettuce and greens.

Focusing on nature rather than politics is better right now for our mental health, but we do need to formulate some sort of strategy to re-distribute the wealth currently cascading upwards.

Take care and try to keep a good thought!

up
20 users have voted.

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

magiamma's picture

@Lookout
Yes, keep a good thought. Doing a lot of gardening these days and feels good. Though at times I look up at the trees and wonder.

I've been trying to imagine how we unwind this disaster, and I don't see a thread to pull to start the process.

It could happen, that thread being pulled. I keep hoping, and indeed it may come from somewhere we least expect. We know that tipping points keep tipping, be they climate related or populous related.

This lost opportunity, the end of Bernie's campaign, may just be the straw that broke the camels back. One can hope. But I agree that it seems far away now.

After the pandemic, what? Sure makes sense to me to start planning now. Newsom has a 'war room' for the CA pandemic and gives a presser every day to update folks. We need that now. A virtual war room figuring out what to do. It's clearly not going to come from the 'top'. But how and who? It's a big deal.

It's raining here again. Up potted a couple of maple trees that volunteered because I have no where to plant them. Cleaning detritus, composting, planting. Good to be outside. Really good.

Have a good one.

up
8 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

As we lose fighters and truth tellers
our rights, freedoms and dignity

try to maintain a soul strength
depression is not good
we need to offer help

backed into a corner
come out swinging
fight back for the sake
of a positive future

try not to give in
to darkness
a struggle we share

up
18 users have voted.
magiamma's picture

@QMS
Here's the thing. More monopoly players loose than win. But every so often you get a Che or a Mao and a shift happens. So color me woo woo, but just sayin'

Shifts happen...

Smile

up
7 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@magiamma

are getting moved around just now
as randtntx so eloquently points out
we are not alone

up
4 users have voted.
smiley7's picture

concerns; worried disillusioned younger generations throw their hands up; my son, nearing forty, for instance, disdains anything political saying it's bullshit on both sides. And i recall my generation fading away into the capitalist journey for the most part, as well, leaving in our wake a void quickly filled by the machinery of night, four-dead-in-Ohio.

Today, innocent people, mostly the working poor pay the Oil Piper's price. A quick aside, study shows more deaths from c-virus in areas with polluted air. A deeper irony of the US of A angers me as those most imperiled cast their votes for Trump and Biden while the forth estate plays tiddly-winks.

Very sad Bernie and us could not break the logjam of corporate broadcasters and entrenched political hacks, think tanks, billionaires and the party apparatus. They lied voraciously and cheated at every turn and it doesn't help knowing we knew they would lie, cheat and steal to stop Sanders going in, but the blatancy surprised and overwhelmed.

"You can't fight City Hall,"
a very common refrain from childhood expressed all around which inevitably came no doubt from the trials and tribulations and stories passed down from those oppressed before. This thinking, unfortunately, perpetuates and feeds the machine releasing the mad dogs from their leashes to roam neighborhoods, stand in pulpits and fatten sheriffs.

In this, only Bernie stands tall, the other candidates, all of them also exposing their commitment to the established dollar. At least we see the pretenders for who they really are and Sanders deserves thanks for this as well, adding the talking heads professing liberalism to that exposition, a bitter gravy on top for journalism.

"What the fuck are we to do?" I don't know, magi, frankly; but i do know this that blaming Bernie as many of such great integrity and track records of wonderful accomplishments seemingly wish to do won't fly. Those people choosing to do just that, blame Bernie, reveal truths about themselves in the process, earning this morning's new title of mendacious sycophants to their own humanity. To those folks, i say, fuck you.

Our local hospitals sent out press release appealing for hand sanitizing donations giving our rural community little faith we're prepared for the disease's arrival; my god, the hospitals don't have alcohol. I write this to ask, is there a breaking point in this fake society's political fabric? Can we expect a sea change? Or will thousands continue to die while casting their votes for the company store?

After all, "You can't fight city Hall."

up
15 users have voted.

@smiley7
He is right. As long as there are only two choices - the Right Wing bank party and pseudo-Left bank party. Trying to recapture the Democratic Party was a good strategy. Now that it has failed (through lack of will IMHO), it's time to start a broad-based (not narrow ideologically pure) alternate party.

up
12 users have voted.

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

enhydra lutris's picture

@The Voice In the Wilderness
numbers to get it on the ballot everywhere. For example, we fought to get this one on the CA ballot back in 1968, and have kept it there :

The Peace and Freedom Party is a left-wing political party with affiliates and former members in more than a dozen American states, including California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Indiana and Utah, but none now have ballot status besides California. Wikipedia

and these folks:

The Green Party of the United States (GPUS) is a federation of Green state political parties in the United States. The party promotes green politics, specifically environmentalism; nonviolence; social justice; participatory, grassroots democracy; gender equality; LGBTQ rights; anti-war; anti-racism and ecosocialism.

If either were to see an influx of a million or two people saying Hey, we want to coalesce around your party as THE party of the disenfranchised, disaffected, downtrodden, and disgusted, how about we get together starting to day to revitalize the organization and get on all 50 state ballots I don't see them as too likely to turn folks away.

be well and have a good one.

up
13 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@smiley7
Wow, very well said. That's a lot to unpack, but here goes. First things first.

money man.jpg

The forth estate plays tiddly winks
releasing the mad dogs from their leashes
to roam neighborhoods, stand in pulpits and fatten sheriffs

blatancy surprises and overwhelms

(your words rearranged - changed surprised to surprises and overwhelmed to overwhelms)

Yes, you're right - "You can't fight city Hall." Not a lot of difference between the Company Store and City Hall, my friend. Thanks for your comment.

Be well, stay safe and have a good one .

up
9 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

enhydra lutris's picture

of us are supposed to do in the sense of how to bring about change. All of my life a large faction has said that the best plan is to "work from within" which is, of course, simply the most comfortable plan, no resistance is required or even desired. They have, as far as I can see not really accomplished a hell of a lot, in fact, we seem to have lost some rights we once had gained, yet, everybody must eat and all that, so some concessions in the form of obtaining sustenance must be made. I can say that taking over either major political for the purpose of making it serve the people seems laughably futile except at the most local levels.

The need to feed is an impediment to using our communicative technology to more or less force local direct democracy, plus that technology is catastrophically vulnerable until and unless the people build out a people's communication infrastructure, owned and controlled by the people, either as individuals or collectives as well as people's media. The fact that creating that will be a slog is a deterrent to doing it at all, because everybody wants quicker results than can come from that process.

be well and have a good one

up
9 users have voted.

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

magiamma's picture

@enhydra lutris
Many of us have been working on 'change' for a very long time and it's gotten worse. The rich are richer and the poor fucked, basically, for the most part. Not only have things gotten worse, 'that worse' was part of a well-scripted, long-term plan and at every turn, every one, the ptb have been able to turn the table to benefit themselves.

So, I am not thinking that change is going to come from within. We tried and failed just now. So what's next. I don't know. Something has to give. That's what I think.

Thanks for your thoughts. Be well and have a good one.

up
8 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

like a good percentage of the millennials know they are so screwed. The ones in my family absolutely know. The heartbreak over that fact is undeniable. We, and everybody I know, have worked so long and hard to prevent that from happening and yet....

Lookout said that these are dark times. That is also undeniable and I wish it were not so. But here we are. The feeling of being in dark times is so prevalent as to be almost palpable. It's surreal. I feel like I'm watching myself go through motions of daily life from the outside as if from a distance and in slow motion. (No, I'm not on drugs Smile ). It's just a bad movie, or a bad novel, or a hackneyed old plot and I'm repeating a hackneyed old cliche. Ugh.

The truth tellers and the fighters that QMS mentioned are the first to be targeted and silenced. They keep popping up though and that is gold....to be cherished. Every act of truth telling and every time someone stands up to show people that; 'hey, it doesn't have to be this way', ranks among our highest actions and should rank along side our most valued things. Things like trees, clean water, clean air, a healthy Mother Earth, healthy communities, mountains, snow, glaciers....the list of our shared treasures is miraculously, magnificently, fabulously, and beautifully long.

QMS mentions maintain soul strength, hold back the darkness, and a struggle we share. Those phrases are now in my brain, so thank you.
Here is a musical interpretation that expresses a bit of this.

up
14 users have voted.
magiamma's picture

@randtntx
Thanks for the music. Very nice.

Yes, the young ones are remarkably informed and know they are screwed. I wonder if they also know how hard it is to change the system. They are trying certainly. Just now Sunrise and others are asking byedone for promises. Easily broken, I say. I remember Obomba making all these promises and then breaking them. So easy to do again. No?

It's a double edged sword. A dance on the head of a pin. We must stay informed and in spite of the challenges presented by that information and stay centered. Both are important. Thanks for your thoughtful comment.

Take good care and have a good one.

up
6 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Cassiodorus's picture

up
6 users have voted.

"I'm starting to believe that they want Donald Trump to get elected." -- Compton Jay

magiamma's picture

@Cassiodorus
Thanks. Great article.

Biden was one of the key architects of the bankrupty bill, which made it impossible to declare bankruptcy on student loans.

The result of the bankruptcy bill is that millenials and zoomers who went to university and don’t have rich parents can’t own a house and many have decided they can’t afford families. They expect to live in poverty for decades as a result. (Not going to university means you can’t even apply for good jobs.)

Plus his push for three-strikes laws and the drug wars. We now have prisons full of mostly young black men. Still.

And this

Trump may be worse, but this a case of Beelzebub vs. Satan.

Heh. Have a good one.

up
7 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Daenerys's picture

@magiamma I dunno, I'd vote for Satan himself before I vote for either Trump or Biden, tbh.

up
4 users have voted.

This shit is bananas.

magiamma's picture

@Daenerys
Lol

Have a good one

up
1 user has voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

Unabashed Liberal's picture

but, think that young people outta push Sanders to run third Party, or, recruit someone else (equally as progressive) to do so--NOW! Biggrin

Wanted to share this Tweet with you. It's one reason I loved Interior Alaska so much--the lovely weather.

Of course, the long very termperate summer days are gorgeous, too. Smile

Thanks for reading my OAP blurb the other day. Hope you saw my reply to you.

Take good care, and stay well. Pleasantry

Mollie

THANK YOU America's Physicians & Nurses, All Medical Personnel, First Responders, To Include Medical (EMT/Paramedics/Ambulance), Pharmacy Personnel, Fire Depts, Police Depts, Retailers/Grocers--Especially, To Marginally-Paid Frontline Retail Cashiers & Clerks.

Last, but not least,

THANKS to America's Truckers/Delivery Persons, Especially, To Over-The-Road/Long Haul Truckers Who Obviously Have The Capacity To Shut Down The Entire Country, If They Were To Choose To Sit Out The Current Public Health Crisis, In Order To Protect Their Own.

You are all truly heroes.

Godspeed. Give rose

FYI

From the website Concierge Medicine Today,

Concierge Care for Congress: Attending Physician of the United States Congress

July 15, 2014

OAP provides members of Congress with physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. When specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.[4]

Members of Congress do not pay for the individual services they receive at the OAP, nor do they submit claims through their federal employee health insurance policies. Instead, as of 2009, members pay a flat, annual fee of $503 for all the care they receive. The rest of the cost of their care is paid for by federal funding, from the U.S. Navy budget. The annual fee has not changed significantly since 1992.[4]

and,

Yearly Fee

One aspect of the office’s operations which remains unclear is just how the annual $503 fee is determined.

Until 1992, OAP services were free to members of Congress. But after former Sen. Harris Wofford of Pennsylvania angered members by introducing a bill to make Congress members pay market rate prices for using the OAP, a compromise was reached.

Instead of charging for each service, Wofford said, members of the House and Senate agreed to hire independent consultants to determine the average value of the services offered and to use that amount to determine an annual fee.
“We thought of the pricing much like an HMO,” Wofford said of the compromise pricing model. “The attending physician at the time told me he had no interest in handling insurance or billing for each service available.”

But Wofford said the House and Senate committees tasked with determining the fee each insisted on hiring their own consultants, leading to a split pricing system. According to press accounts from 1992, the Senate set the fee at $520; the House fee was set at $263 for the same care. At some point, sources say, the separate rates were scrapped and replaced with the single fee, now set at $503.

The Office of the Attending Physician refused to comment on the fee or why it has not changed significantly in 17 years, despite rampant inflation in all other areas of health care costs.

Anderson refused repeated requests for the Committee on House Administration to provide details of how the rate is determined or who determines it.

“Members pay an annual fee determined by an independent actuary for use of the OAP services,” Anderson responded each time he was asked about the pricing model.

Gotta put an end to this Congressional Perk, if we hope to ever have a decent healthcare program.

IOW, our lawmakers' current excellent OAP healthcare program allows them to be exempt from any austerity/managed care tools that they seek to impose on the masses, as evidenced by several Dem Party MFA/public option proposals.

up
4 users have voted.

Everyone thinks they have the best dog, and none of them are wrong.

magiamma's picture

@Unabashed Liberal
gosh golly gee whiz

Dunno, dunno, dunno. It looks like we are in for a rough ride. I wish I could say to all the young ones that we tried and it didn't work. That what is left is not enough. And I hope they can think outside the box and do better, because they have to. And that I, and many of us have there backs. Use us because we can help.

I read your reply and yeah, let's not take this lying down. Thanks Mollie. Take good care of you and yours. Have a good one.

up
4 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

smiley7's picture

The White House press office announced today that it would start administering rapid coronavirus tests to reporters after one journalist, who was last at the White House on Tuesday, started developing symptoms. The guardian

up
3 users have voted.
magiamma's picture

@smiley7
I keep telling myself there is a difference between being a cynic and being a realist and I am a realist. Funny how there were no tests in early January. /s

up
4 users have voted.

Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook