"The government always seeks to give just enough wealth to just enough people to avoid revolution." That is an over arching theme of Howard Zinn's writing.
Today, after 45 years of rapidly growing economic inequality and barely staving off a political revolution...
through primary election rigging, we see a Congress and a president who are traditionally right wingers giving poor families a few hundred extra dollars, providing stimulus checks and now, pushing a green infrastructure bill, despite Biden's refusal to ban fracking and...
actually increasing oil drilling.
What we are seeing is not neoliberals not being as bad as we've been saying all along, it is not Joe Biden trying to be progressive and it is not some big awakening where Nancy Pelosi has realized she's just a government employee.
It is the government, seeing that discontent is very high, and trying to give just enough to just enough of us to keep doing what they do- enriching themselves and their big donors using public money.
Do not be fooled into thinking these people are "on your side". A few hundred dollars to parents temporarily is not REALLY cutting child poverty in half. That's just the establishment building up the little it is doing so it will have to do as little as possible.
$3800 in one-time checks did not cover anyone's rent for year. Many of us didn't even get any of those stimulus checks. Do not be satisfied with "better than Trump". That is a very low bar indeed. We can do MUCH better! In Europe, most countries covered at least 80% of...
paychecks. And THEY have universal healthcare and universal college education. Not just that, most European countries have higher wages and weeks of guaranteed vacation that most Americans don't get. We can do much, much better. Don't be sold short!
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Thread⬇️
Why is it important to pay attention to what they DO and not what they SAY? This is the perfect example: HR 4373, introduced by @RepBarbaraLee, is yet another bill funding coups and funding Israeli crimes as well. The bill, which incidentally....
continues to use "Russian aggression" as an excuse, gives $3.3 billion to Israel unconditionally, gives money to the National Endowment For Democracy (which is a CIA front), USAID, which is a regime change engine, pays Juan Guaido's salary and funds....
coup actions in Colombia/Venezuela, Syria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, Pakistan, Nicaragua and Cuba. It even funds airplanes to fight the war on drugs in the Andes, which it specifically states can be used for any program in any region and has a section... congress.gov/bill/117th-con…
Thread⬇️
My cannabis themed comment for today's city council meeting:
"I am asking again for the council to re-examine the city's cannabis ordinance based on 4 points: 1. The ventilation requirement is illegal and discriminatory. 2. The city should not be banning people from...
growing a plant in their back yard. 3. Residents should be able to purchase their products here in town. As stated in previous comments, cannabis is less harmful and less addictive than tobacco, alcohol or opiates- all of which are available in town. 4. This council gave the...
people its word, over nine months ago, that it would re-examine this ordinance in just six months, and it is important for elected bodies to keep their word. 5. Cannabis dispensaries will provide a few tax dollars, but will also provide a few jobs. It's just bizarre to watch...
Thread: This was a flyer from my first city council race. Although I did not win election: glyphosates were banned in public spaces, the skate park war repaired and a new section added, and because of my advocacy left turn lanes were added to American Canyon Road between....
the highway and Flosden Rd, making that stretch of road safer for the residents on that section as a number of people had told me was their priority when I canvassed it for the race. I also happen to know I have the ear of a few city council members regarding bringing back the...
farmer's market.
Am I saying all this to blow my own horn? No. Even though I did not win election, I was able to make positive things happen around me, and I want to encourage YOU to run for office, too. A lot of important dates, regarding filing for 2022 elections, will be...
Thread⬇️
So, Congressional progressives have been trying to rally support around extending the eviction moratorium. Somebody was angry at the Squad for not withholding a key vote to force a vote on Medicare For All, and they made excuses to this person...
for about an hour. The next day, Grayzone journalist Max Blumenthal asked Cori Bush if she would explain why the Squad chose not to withhold said votes, and the response @CoriBush gave was a totally dishonest erasing of Medicare For All activists that...
insulted all of our intelligence. And then her staff ended the questioning as soon as the journalist mentions Pelosi. Are people who demand progressives challenge leadership not allowed to ask questions anymore? No! We're not!
Independence Day thread⬇️
Independence Day is such a ludicrous, gaslighting holiday it's amazing! This is the day where the government says "Hey, congratulations! You're living on land stolen from Indigenous Americans, using an economic infrastructure that was built on....
excluding everybody who wasn't a White male, and has never been redesigned to make it equal and fair for everybody who lives here, but at least the forces of greed that are crushing you and everyone around you, driving people to live under overpasses and stand on street....
corners asking for spare change aren't the British! They're Americans, just like you! You may not be able to afford your rent next month and wind up on the street, or go bankrupt if someone in your family has a heart attack; the amount of money you possess may be worth more or...
Thread⬇️
When Israel conducted another massacre in Gaza in May, US media told us that antisemitic attacks against Jews were rising. The truth is that the pro-Israel lobby paid for an advertising campaign that included deceptively edited videos and...
misinformation, to convince American Jews that they need Israel in order to be safe.
For example: a video of a Jewish guy being beaten by Arabs, one of them using a crutch, did not include the part where the guy (who no one could have known was Jewish)..
attacked a Palestinian protest, so all that was shown was the response to his attack.
And this same dynamic- Jews attacking and then pretending to be the victims, while only focusing on the response, is totally in line with how Israel and American...