The big news of the day is that presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden named his running mate: California Senator Kamala Harris. Harris was born in Oakland, California. Her mother was an endocrinologist who immigrated to the U.S. from India; her father is an economist from British Jamaica who is now retired from the Stanford University economics department. Harris has a degree in political science and economics from Howard University and a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco. She spent seven years as the District Attorney of San Francisco, then six as the Attorney General of California. Both are elected offices, and in both she developed a reputation as a tough prosecutor. In 2016, California voters elected Harris Senator with more than 60% of the vote. Shortly after arriving in Washington, she was placed on the important Senate Judiciary Committee, so she has had a front-row seat at the hearings and proceedings of the past three years.
As Napoleon pointed out, "Never interrupt an enemy who is destroying himself." Let Trump and the Republicans continue to screw up the conornavirus relief. They're machinegunning themselves in their feet. Today I had an e-mail from a friend of mine who we broke apart over the election of Trump. It had three words: "You were right." Further e-mailing back and forth, I find that he and his friends are now opposed to Trump over what has happened with the response to the coronavirus. Sadly what opened his eyes was the death of a favorite elderly aunt to it, but once the gate opened, the flood has come through. I suspect this may happen with other people too. I can tell you that six months ago if you'd have asked, I'd have said I would never forgive him for what he did in 2016, but no, I don't think so. he opened his eyes to the facts however that happened, and I am fine with welcoming him back to vote for Biden-Harris.
As for Harris - whoopee! She was my first choice for president. And since it's really unlikely that Joe is going to run again in 2024, I'll still get to vote for her for president. If there's anyone with the backbone to stand up to the fascist scum and actually go after them, someone who wouldn't have a problem with arresting them all for conspiracy to commit treason - which they are all guilty of - it's Kamala.
I am glad the VP slot is filled. While Biden and Harris are far from my dream ticket, I think that they will run roughshod over Trump and Pence and, with Harris in the wings, she will pursue the malefactors of the Trump regime with all the intensity of the Greek furies. Or so I hope.
Two things bother me, however. First, the response of the Left to the ticket. I consider myself Left of Liberal, somewhere between a Social Democrat and a Democratic Socialist. I was firmly in the Sanders/Warren camp, and thought, last summer, that they were working as a team in the debates. (I was worried that both are kind of old, meaning even older than me, but so is Biden, so let that pass.) They did not make the cut: the people of the Democratic Party had spoken. But now, on the simulated reality that is Twitter, Leftists are going after Biden and Harris as if they were Hitler and Goebbels. "Well it is a contest between a rapist and a transphobe on one side, and another rapist and transphobe on the other: which to choose?!", one comment read.
This bothers me no end. It is all strategy and no tactics. It ignores the reality that politics is a long slog, and that you might need to tactically retreat for a later strategic victory. It is also a confusion between holding abstractly one's principles and actually acting on them to bring about a good result. If both parties are equally bad (they can BOTH be bad without being EQUALLY bad!), and 3rd parties are made into spoilers by our electoral system, then you need to embrace being a revolutionary. Period. Put up or shut up. Or grow up and realize that sometimes you need to compromise to get things done, and this does not mean you aren't idealistic. It only means you like losing. You'll feel real noble as they lock more kids in cages and shoot protesters. How saintly.....
Second: Democrats, especially centrists, are euphoric. I can understand this, but I caution them to tone it down and not think this is a pre-victory party for Liberal Republican Democracy. There is still plenty of time for Trump to rig the election and pull a Lukashenko move like he other day in Belarus. And if he loses he can do a lot of damage between November and January. He has often said he is a big fan of revenge to the 10th power. This will be ugly.
So vote Biden and Harris -- and congratulations to them. Vote early if in person, so as to deny Trump any rhetorical leverage about an early lead. And if you vote by mail, do so early and drop it off NOT in the mail but a drop-off box or directly at your board of elections.
ABOUT BIDEN'S CHOICE OF KAMALA HARRIS: What I observed yesterday was the palpable joy, humongous and contagious, among black women and men as a result of this historic, mega equality moment in American history. No. Make that in world history. I cried real tears several times watching all of this unfold. Did anyone else kinda/sorta feel tectonic plates shifting?
It is, IMO, a brilliant choice. Morally and strategically. This from a white woman who fully supported two other candidates early on. (NOTE: Tulsi Gabbard was not one of them.) This team is far more than a nod to blacks in general and black women in particular.
Harris has mad skills. A boatload of relevant experience. She's fearless. She has energy and comparative youth. So, yeah, a brilliant decision, right? Hang on!
So, after I'd kind of risen to the rafters, I trotted my vicarious joy to the internet where I found no small amount of corresponding joy, but also the concerns of those less certain, whose take ran the gamut from damp to soaking wet blankets. Whew! A reality check. Frankly, I wasn't ready for that in the early hours of this Big Thing. No new revelations, but things to consider. Giddy vicarious joy came down a notch.
Then, for reasons still not clear to me, I dared myself to tune in to Fox Scary Fairy Tales. I was curious to see their version of this historic thing. OMG, people. Gird your loins before you venture there. Seriously! I endured several minutes of Tucker Carlson. And then several minutes of Sean Hannity. I've never watched either of them before. You know the expression "slack-jawed amazement"? What a stunning, um, feces-show that was/is. They sound and look so sincere. So certain, even as they distort, spin, lie. Experiential learning re "know your enemies."
I encourage you to brave Fox sometime, for as long as you can bear it. Really! If I can, you can. It's an education in rabbit-hole madness. You will know when it's time to back away from the peep-hole in order to bleach your eyeballs. My Big Happy was validated more by Fox than by MSNBC. I came away from Fox even more confident that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are what our country needs in this moment and beyond--their individual flaws and iffy past decisions notwithstanding.
I believe Harris and Biden can defeat the beast and then begin to plug the holes through which our nation is hemorrhaging its stature, credibility and chunklets of its moral compass. So, yeah. I'm in.
I too am pleased about Biden choosing Kamala Harris. I normally tended towards being Moderate, but after seeing Elizabeth Warren’s warnings and ideas, I felt a more Progressive approach (I see Progressivism as more a decidedly more people-oriented / better quality of life version of Democrat) was necessary. I am hoping both Biden and Harris feel that way too and stray more towards helping the Lower & Middle income people than the wealthy like Conservatives. I think even now, their quality of life is just fine, even if they had sell off one or two of their multiple homes.
Someone’s comment about the Western portion of America’s business growth being better because of less government regulations caught me. To my mind, I see regulation of business as protecting workers & environment (no dumping/polluting air, water, land)- a necessary thing. Can’t businesses do the right thing and succeed? Must we all suffer for them to do well? This is something very close to my heart as I was permanently injured at work and if my employer had its way, I’d be out on my ear even though I can still do my job.
Anyway, I feel positive for the first time in a while and now I am going do my best to minimize my time on social media before the election.
I think Lyndon Johnson's feelings might be hurt. Democratic candidate for Vice President in 1960 and President in 1964. And very much from Texas! A flawed President, who screwed up on Vietnam, but he got some other things (Civil Rights, knowing when to quit) quite right.
I'm still smiling about Biden-Harris. I liked Kamala a lot in the Primaries and think she will make an excellent VP candidate and Vice President. I'll also quote something from her book to help everyone out as we get to know her: "It's pronounced 'Comma-la.' Like the punctuation."
Yesterday was the BEST day in a long time for me...while I haven't put my "moving to Costa Rica" file away....this morning on my walk I actually could envision our future in my own country for the first time in a long time. She is simply everything I could want in a VP candidate...even her mistakes serve her...I want to be able to say "Madame Vice President" so, so much. Now, we all must work to make sure the votes for Biden-Harris are too great for any cheating to matter.
First, what relief! With some mix of despair, fatigue, but then Biden's announcement of Harris followed by Heather's video talk conclusion of 3 points of hope, I've been weepy all evening.
If you need another bit of uplift, listen to the last 5 minutes of Heather's video talk today. She listed 3 things about which she is hopeful in today's political milieu with the preface, "The flip side of chaos is always opportunity." Good signs:
1. "...that Russian psy-ops...would not be trying to cause this much trouble if they thought Trump had sewn up this election." "Trump would not be trying to rig the Census, and rig the vote, and kill the United States Postal Service if he thought he were going to win."
2. "The degree to which Americans are involved now in a way that they have not been in my lifetime." "Now look at all you people here, caring about our country!"
3. "I believe in human self-determination." "...we fought and won a civil war to determine it, and we fought and won a war against fascism...to establish it, and I believe we will prevail again." "I also see people waking up and realizing that democracy is not a spectator sport...and caring once again about what America stands for. And that is both the concept of human self-determination and the concept of democracy that enables us to put human self-determination into a form under which we can all live."
I did wonder about Heather's thought that in selecting a candidate from California: "That the Democrats are cracking into that Republican stronghold with a national candidate suggests they are marking a sea change in American Politics." I get that Dixiecrats expanded into the West, extractive businesses grew free of government regulation, Nixon, Reagan...but how did we get the Left Coast as the blue bookend of the country?
As to Kamala Harris, I support her and understand fundraising, but we have had our eyes opened to the real threat of oligarchs. What do we have to look out for with benevolent oligarchs and Big Tech?
My bank, Charles Schwab, has an announcement on their site (after login) stating that the USPS has announced they will no longer deliver mail to 111 countries (a concern for those expecting statements by mail). You have to admit, when it comes to disenfranchising American voters, the Trump administration leaves nothing to chance. There are 9 million expat Americans overseas.
I was very happy that news of Kamala Harris's selection broke during yesterday's history chat. Your comments about Senator Harris made me feel quite optimistic about the selection. I also really appreciate your analysis about the selection in this letter. Now let the games begin!
Trump’s advisors need to tell him never to speak extemporaneously. He is unable to form a coherent thought and convert it into a meaningful sentence. I have seen very young children form more intelligent and coherent thoughts on serious and complex issues than Trump. He is functionally illiterate as well as inarticulate. How is it possible he was elected POTUS?
With the Harris announcement I felt some hope for the first time. I'm sure the repubs are worried, and they should be. She is whip smart, and can make most anyone who comes up against her into mincemeat. Yes, she will be called all the sexist names, "too aggressive" or "too whatever", but that's what we need.....someone to enter the fight with both fists raised. And as for tRump's continued blithering, he's in a place he's never experienced before with no way out. He's too dumb to realize if he just addressed the virus with sanity, his numbers might reflect that. Fear of being outed as the pathetic person he is has paralyzed him. May he go down to "Biden/Harris!"
Yesterday I felt the most hopeful of the last 3.75 years. But I must restrain myself. Also I’ve spent lots of time in Wisconsin, a beautiful place—is it the cold and snowy winters that produce Joe McCarthys and Ron Johnsons?
I just watched the Biden-Harris first joint campaign event - 8/12 Support Biden-Harris 2020. Build it back better! Inspiring! www.joebiden.com
Freedom is not free. It is a continual struggle to gain and to hold on to human rights and the equality of opportunity here in America.
Now that I understand through watching your lectures and reading that the “American Paradox,” is the idea that our history has been shaped by the fact that in America, equality for some has always depended on inequality for others, through your book, How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America and watching your videos as a family, the only way to make America Trump-proof in the future is to teach the unvarnished history of America to students--the road to keeping politics oligarch proof starts with teaching truthful history/civics courses, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the ERA, repeal Citizens United, pass the House's legislation to end the U.S. Postal Service's mandatory payment toward the health benefits for future retirees—an idiotic prefunding mandate in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (a Republican plow to kill the USPS).
Is there an LGBTQIA rights act gathering dust on McConnell's desk from the House? Yes, there is. Pass it. “The Equality Act is a bill in the United States Congress, that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit, and the jury system.[1] While the Supreme Court's June 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia said that the Civil Rights Act protects sexual orientation and gender identity in matters of employment, the other areas remain undefined.
As of 2020, 29 states have not outlawed anti-LGBT discrimination, with members of the LGBT community being given very little protection at a national level[2][3] and two-thirds of LGBT Americans in the United States reporting facing or having experienced discrimination in their personal lives. The Equality Act seeks to remedy this lack of protection, applying existing state anti-LGBT discrimination laws nationwide.[1] The Equality Act passed the United States House of Representatives on May 17, 2019, in a bipartisan 236-173 vote.[4][5] The United States Senate received the bill for consideration on May 20, 2019, where the bill remains.[6] too.” - Wiki. It's a start.
I just watched the Biden-Harris first joint campaign event - 8/12 Support Biden-Harris 2020. Build it back better!
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris believe in science and facts. Joe and Kamala socially distanced until they donned their face masks. Their spouses joined them on stage wearing face masks. The couples wore face masks at the closing of their first joint campaign modeling the responsible behavior all Americans should follow during this pandemic. Biden-Harris are trustworthy leaders that care about Americans…it is the simplest of things that leaders do that show Americans and the world the true content of their character. Biden-Harris 2020.
Go, Joe! It is so invigorating and hopeful to listen to a leader that respects the American people and speaks about a positive future and how to attain that positive future by providing the opportunity of equality for all Americans, not just the wealthiest, including an economic opportunity for all. And he is called out the fascists—thank you! Silence is complicity. With the opportunity of equality for all, the possibilities for life-improving achievements are possible and the possibilities are endless.
Go, Kamala! Kamala’s mother said, “Do not sit around and complain about a problem, doing something!”
I love it! The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act! Thank you. All Americans are experiencing voter suppression because of the criminal in the White House. www.joebiden.com
As Napoleon pointed out, "Never interrupt an enemy who is destroying himself." Let Trump and the Republicans continue to screw up the conornavirus relief. They're machinegunning themselves in their feet. Today I had an e-mail from a friend of mine who we broke apart over the election of Trump. It had three words: "You were right." Further e-mailing back and forth, I find that he and his friends are now opposed to Trump over what has happened with the response to the coronavirus. Sadly what opened his eyes was the death of a favorite elderly aunt to it, but once the gate opened, the flood has come through. I suspect this may happen with other people too. I can tell you that six months ago if you'd have asked, I'd have said I would never forgive him for what he did in 2016, but no, I don't think so. he opened his eyes to the facts however that happened, and I am fine with welcoming him back to vote for Biden-Harris.
As for Harris - whoopee! She was my first choice for president. And since it's really unlikely that Joe is going to run again in 2024, I'll still get to vote for her for president. If there's anyone with the backbone to stand up to the fascist scum and actually go after them, someone who wouldn't have a problem with arresting them all for conspiracy to commit treason - which they are all guilty of - it's Kamala.
I am glad the VP slot is filled. While Biden and Harris are far from my dream ticket, I think that they will run roughshod over Trump and Pence and, with Harris in the wings, she will pursue the malefactors of the Trump regime with all the intensity of the Greek furies. Or so I hope.
Two things bother me, however. First, the response of the Left to the ticket. I consider myself Left of Liberal, somewhere between a Social Democrat and a Democratic Socialist. I was firmly in the Sanders/Warren camp, and thought, last summer, that they were working as a team in the debates. (I was worried that both are kind of old, meaning even older than me, but so is Biden, so let that pass.) They did not make the cut: the people of the Democratic Party had spoken. But now, on the simulated reality that is Twitter, Leftists are going after Biden and Harris as if they were Hitler and Goebbels. "Well it is a contest between a rapist and a transphobe on one side, and another rapist and transphobe on the other: which to choose?!", one comment read.
This bothers me no end. It is all strategy and no tactics. It ignores the reality that politics is a long slog, and that you might need to tactically retreat for a later strategic victory. It is also a confusion between holding abstractly one's principles and actually acting on them to bring about a good result. If both parties are equally bad (they can BOTH be bad without being EQUALLY bad!), and 3rd parties are made into spoilers by our electoral system, then you need to embrace being a revolutionary. Period. Put up or shut up. Or grow up and realize that sometimes you need to compromise to get things done, and this does not mean you aren't idealistic. It only means you like losing. You'll feel real noble as they lock more kids in cages and shoot protesters. How saintly.....
Second: Democrats, especially centrists, are euphoric. I can understand this, but I caution them to tone it down and not think this is a pre-victory party for Liberal Republican Democracy. There is still plenty of time for Trump to rig the election and pull a Lukashenko move like he other day in Belarus. And if he loses he can do a lot of damage between November and January. He has often said he is a big fan of revenge to the 10th power. This will be ugly.
So vote Biden and Harris -- and congratulations to them. Vote early if in person, so as to deny Trump any rhetorical leverage about an early lead. And if you vote by mail, do so early and drop it off NOT in the mail but a drop-off box or directly at your board of elections.
Then the work really starts.....
On the Corona relief bill, I find it ironic that the refusal of Republicans to shore up cities and states is in effect Defunding the Police.
ABOUT BIDEN'S CHOICE OF KAMALA HARRIS: What I observed yesterday was the palpable joy, humongous and contagious, among black women and men as a result of this historic, mega equality moment in American history. No. Make that in world history. I cried real tears several times watching all of this unfold. Did anyone else kinda/sorta feel tectonic plates shifting?
It is, IMO, a brilliant choice. Morally and strategically. This from a white woman who fully supported two other candidates early on. (NOTE: Tulsi Gabbard was not one of them.) This team is far more than a nod to blacks in general and black women in particular.
Harris has mad skills. A boatload of relevant experience. She's fearless. She has energy and comparative youth. So, yeah, a brilliant decision, right? Hang on!
So, after I'd kind of risen to the rafters, I trotted my vicarious joy to the internet where I found no small amount of corresponding joy, but also the concerns of those less certain, whose take ran the gamut from damp to soaking wet blankets. Whew! A reality check. Frankly, I wasn't ready for that in the early hours of this Big Thing. No new revelations, but things to consider. Giddy vicarious joy came down a notch.
Then, for reasons still not clear to me, I dared myself to tune in to Fox Scary Fairy Tales. I was curious to see their version of this historic thing. OMG, people. Gird your loins before you venture there. Seriously! I endured several minutes of Tucker Carlson. And then several minutes of Sean Hannity. I've never watched either of them before. You know the expression "slack-jawed amazement"? What a stunning, um, feces-show that was/is. They sound and look so sincere. So certain, even as they distort, spin, lie. Experiential learning re "know your enemies."
I encourage you to brave Fox sometime, for as long as you can bear it. Really! If I can, you can. It's an education in rabbit-hole madness. You will know when it's time to back away from the peep-hole in order to bleach your eyeballs. My Big Happy was validated more by Fox than by MSNBC. I came away from Fox even more confident that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are what our country needs in this moment and beyond--their individual flaws and iffy past decisions notwithstanding.
I believe Harris and Biden can defeat the beast and then begin to plug the holes through which our nation is hemorrhaging its stature, credibility and chunklets of its moral compass. So, yeah. I'm in.
I too am pleased about Biden choosing Kamala Harris. I normally tended towards being Moderate, but after seeing Elizabeth Warren’s warnings and ideas, I felt a more Progressive approach (I see Progressivism as more a decidedly more people-oriented / better quality of life version of Democrat) was necessary. I am hoping both Biden and Harris feel that way too and stray more towards helping the Lower & Middle income people than the wealthy like Conservatives. I think even now, their quality of life is just fine, even if they had sell off one or two of their multiple homes.
Someone’s comment about the Western portion of America’s business growth being better because of less government regulations caught me. To my mind, I see regulation of business as protecting workers & environment (no dumping/polluting air, water, land)- a necessary thing. Can’t businesses do the right thing and succeed? Must we all suffer for them to do well? This is something very close to my heart as I was permanently injured at work and if my employer had its way, I’d be out on my ear even though I can still do my job.
Anyway, I feel positive for the first time in a while and now I am going do my best to minimize my time on social media before the election.
I think Lyndon Johnson's feelings might be hurt. Democratic candidate for Vice President in 1960 and President in 1964. And very much from Texas! A flawed President, who screwed up on Vietnam, but he got some other things (Civil Rights, knowing when to quit) quite right.
I'm still smiling about Biden-Harris. I liked Kamala a lot in the Primaries and think she will make an excellent VP candidate and Vice President. I'll also quote something from her book to help everyone out as we get to know her: "It's pronounced 'Comma-la.' Like the punctuation."
Yesterday was the BEST day in a long time for me...while I haven't put my "moving to Costa Rica" file away....this morning on my walk I actually could envision our future in my own country for the first time in a long time. She is simply everything I could want in a VP candidate...even her mistakes serve her...I want to be able to say "Madame Vice President" so, so much. Now, we all must work to make sure the votes for Biden-Harris are too great for any cheating to matter.
First, what relief! With some mix of despair, fatigue, but then Biden's announcement of Harris followed by Heather's video talk conclusion of 3 points of hope, I've been weepy all evening.
If you need another bit of uplift, listen to the last 5 minutes of Heather's video talk today. She listed 3 things about which she is hopeful in today's political milieu with the preface, "The flip side of chaos is always opportunity." Good signs:
1. "...that Russian psy-ops...would not be trying to cause this much trouble if they thought Trump had sewn up this election." "Trump would not be trying to rig the Census, and rig the vote, and kill the United States Postal Service if he thought he were going to win."
2. "The degree to which Americans are involved now in a way that they have not been in my lifetime." "Now look at all you people here, caring about our country!"
3. "I believe in human self-determination." "...we fought and won a civil war to determine it, and we fought and won a war against fascism...to establish it, and I believe we will prevail again." "I also see people waking up and realizing that democracy is not a spectator sport...and caring once again about what America stands for. And that is both the concept of human self-determination and the concept of democracy that enables us to put human self-determination into a form under which we can all live."
I did wonder about Heather's thought that in selecting a candidate from California: "That the Democrats are cracking into that Republican stronghold with a national candidate suggests they are marking a sea change in American Politics." I get that Dixiecrats expanded into the West, extractive businesses grew free of government regulation, Nixon, Reagan...but how did we get the Left Coast as the blue bookend of the country?
As to Kamala Harris, I support her and understand fundraising, but we have had our eyes opened to the real threat of oligarchs. What do we have to look out for with benevolent oligarchs and Big Tech?
https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/1293349907487526914?s=20
My bank, Charles Schwab, has an announcement on their site (after login) stating that the USPS has announced they will no longer deliver mail to 111 countries (a concern for those expecting statements by mail). You have to admit, when it comes to disenfranchising American voters, the Trump administration leaves nothing to chance. There are 9 million expat Americans overseas.
I was very happy that news of Kamala Harris's selection broke during yesterday's history chat. Your comments about Senator Harris made me feel quite optimistic about the selection. I also really appreciate your analysis about the selection in this letter. Now let the games begin!
Trump’s advisors need to tell him never to speak extemporaneously. He is unable to form a coherent thought and convert it into a meaningful sentence. I have seen very young children form more intelligent and coherent thoughts on serious and complex issues than Trump. He is functionally illiterate as well as inarticulate. How is it possible he was elected POTUS?
The Democrats have a wicked ticket for November now that Harris is on board.
Trump is floundering.
I’d say it’s about time for the Orange Beast to do something very nasty.
With the Harris announcement I felt some hope for the first time. I'm sure the repubs are worried, and they should be. She is whip smart, and can make most anyone who comes up against her into mincemeat. Yes, she will be called all the sexist names, "too aggressive" or "too whatever", but that's what we need.....someone to enter the fight with both fists raised. And as for tRump's continued blithering, he's in a place he's never experienced before with no way out. He's too dumb to realize if he just addressed the virus with sanity, his numbers might reflect that. Fear of being outed as the pathetic person he is has paralyzed him. May he go down to "Biden/Harris!"
I can't decide which I find more discombobulating - Trump's purple prose or the word salads that continue to show how unspooled he's becoming.
Yesterday I felt the most hopeful of the last 3.75 years. But I must restrain myself. Also I’ve spent lots of time in Wisconsin, a beautiful place—is it the cold and snowy winters that produce Joe McCarthys and Ron Johnsons?
I just watched the Biden-Harris first joint campaign event - 8/12 Support Biden-Harris 2020. Build it back better! Inspiring! www.joebiden.com
Freedom is not free. It is a continual struggle to gain and to hold on to human rights and the equality of opportunity here in America.
Now that I understand through watching your lectures and reading that the “American Paradox,” is the idea that our history has been shaped by the fact that in America, equality for some has always depended on inequality for others, through your book, How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America and watching your videos as a family, the only way to make America Trump-proof in the future is to teach the unvarnished history of America to students--the road to keeping politics oligarch proof starts with teaching truthful history/civics courses, pass the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, the ERA, repeal Citizens United, pass the House's legislation to end the U.S. Postal Service's mandatory payment toward the health benefits for future retirees—an idiotic prefunding mandate in the 2006 Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act (a Republican plow to kill the USPS).
Is there an LGBTQIA rights act gathering dust on McConnell's desk from the House? Yes, there is. Pass it. “The Equality Act is a bill in the United States Congress, that, if passed, would amend the Civil Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, public education, federal funding, credit, and the jury system.[1] While the Supreme Court's June 2020 ruling in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia said that the Civil Rights Act protects sexual orientation and gender identity in matters of employment, the other areas remain undefined.
As of 2020, 29 states have not outlawed anti-LGBT discrimination, with members of the LGBT community being given very little protection at a national level[2][3] and two-thirds of LGBT Americans in the United States reporting facing or having experienced discrimination in their personal lives. The Equality Act seeks to remedy this lack of protection, applying existing state anti-LGBT discrimination laws nationwide.[1] The Equality Act passed the United States House of Representatives on May 17, 2019, in a bipartisan 236-173 vote.[4][5] The United States Senate received the bill for consideration on May 20, 2019, where the bill remains.[6] too.” - Wiki. It's a start.
I just watched the Biden-Harris first joint campaign event - 8/12 Support Biden-Harris 2020. Build it back better!
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris believe in science and facts. Joe and Kamala socially distanced until they donned their face masks. Their spouses joined them on stage wearing face masks. The couples wore face masks at the closing of their first joint campaign modeling the responsible behavior all Americans should follow during this pandemic. Biden-Harris are trustworthy leaders that care about Americans…it is the simplest of things that leaders do that show Americans and the world the true content of their character. Biden-Harris 2020.
Go, Joe! It is so invigorating and hopeful to listen to a leader that respects the American people and speaks about a positive future and how to attain that positive future by providing the opportunity of equality for all Americans, not just the wealthiest, including an economic opportunity for all. And he is called out the fascists—thank you! Silence is complicity. With the opportunity of equality for all, the possibilities for life-improving achievements are possible and the possibilities are endless.
Go, Kamala! Kamala’s mother said, “Do not sit around and complain about a problem, doing something!”
I love it! The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act! Thank you. All Americans are experiencing voter suppression because of the criminal in the White House. www.joebiden.com