This morning, President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping spoke about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, speaking personally for the first time since last November. In early February, before the invasion, Xi and Russian president Vladimir Putin met and issued a 5000-word statement pledging limitless “friendship.” But it is not clear Xi expected either the invasion or how badly it would go for Russia, as Ukraine has held its own against a military eight times its size and as countries across the globe have isolated Russia.
"...and discussion of race will be banned from American society."
Well, Sen. Scott, that simply isn't possible. Unless of course your diabolical plan includes a section written in invisible ink that includes burning the Constitution, shuttering Congress, neutering the Supreme Court, and rigging the "election" to put Trump or DeSantis or other Putin wannabes in the White House. Not as president but dictators.
But thank you for releasing the plan so America is forewarned that Republicans like you are more vile than we imagined.
So much of Scott's plan for the country strikes me as a 21st century reworking of of James Henry Hammond's "mudsill" theory: those at the bottom deserve to be there and the government should stop all supports for them, while those at the top (read Trump acolytes) deserve all the benefits of their wealth.
For the country to survive, ALL believers in democracy must get out to vote this cycle.
Argh…. Rick Scott the CEO of hospital corporation who defrauded Medicare with fraudulent claims and who was forced to resign. “he co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation. Columbia later merged with another corporation to form Columbia/HCA, which eventually became the nation's largest private for-profit health care company.[6] Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997. During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs. The Department of Justice ultimately fined the company $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history.[7][8] Following his departure from Columbia/HCA, Scott became a venture capitalist and pursued other business interests.
He and so many others like him present themselves as pure and true. But they use that image to steal and gather more power. Not unlike the lead German Nazis who presented as the pure family men, while having illicit affairs, and go on to murder, pillage and torture, those who weren’t “pure”.
Rick Scott, and men like him have no internal conscience. Why do we as a people, not remember and learn to “see these monsters for what they Are?
Perhaps those people with thinning (or no) hair on their heads should not read that portion of this column where the Republican campaign "plan/platform" has been written out by Rick Scott. Even those of us with remaining strands will find them standing on end. Democrats definitely need to make the platform plans well known to voters of all parties. Shades of living under Putin right here at home!
As to the issue of world hunger which will be made only worse by the absence of grain grown in Ukraine this year - no thanks to Russian troops - perhaps American farmers should be encouraged to plant as much as they can so that we will be able to include grain as part of the U.S. support of humanitarian aid to Ukraine (and all other countries that usually depend on that heroic country).
Seems to me the Republicans will try to use the attention to the war in Ukraine as cover and distraction from its own political plans for an autocracy if they are successful in the November 2022 elections. There can be no sleep or rest here at home for any of us if we want to save democracy here as well as in Ukraine.
One piece of nice news. When the new Russian crew arrived today at the International Space Station, they were conspicuously wearing yellow flight suits trimmed in blue.
Thank you, Heather, for discussing Rick Scott's insidious plan for America. I balked when I read it...it's a vision of a dystopian wasteland if ever there was one.
"Republicans, the plan says, will dramatically increase taxes on Americans earning less than $100,000, raising $1 trillion over ten years, although since they will also cut the Internal Revenue Service by 50%, the government might be hard pressed to collect those taxes"
What it means is the IRS will go after the "low-hanging fruit" of lower-income taxpayers who can't afford tax avoidance schemes and lawyers and accountants who make it hard for the IRS to collect from the rich. It's what they do now, with the cuts the Republicans made to the IRS when they were last in power. (Ask me how I know this)
Remember when you, Dr Richardson, spoke of gaming Facebook? Forget the glory articles about the Biden party helping Americans; make the RICK SCOTT RNC article go viral. Make sure everybody knows they’re going to get hit w a bigger tax bill by voting Republican! IT IS IN THEIR PLATFORM STATEMENT!
Mitch McConnell is furious! If I had to guess, at least 3/4 of all Kentuckians make less than 100k, and now they’re going to raise taxes?
If this isn’t the foundation of every DNC ad running this summer, they have forgotten how to fight.
I've been reflecting on the many waves of losses sustained by this war. There's the loss of humans; lives that won't be lived, books not written, work not produced, creativity not express, contributions lost, "life-years" of loss due to premature death. There's the loss of useful work by those who survive, but diverted their attention towards acts of war and the consequences; millions displaced from homes, jobs, farms, factories, institutions of education and social progress. There's the loss of goods and services that would have otherwise been produced. There's the massive, wanton destruction of property, infrastructure that will have to be torn down, cleaned up, rebuilt. There's the crops not planted, mouths not fed, wasted articles of war like munitions, vehicles, aircraft. The rippling effects across geography, time, nations, cultures are bills that won't be paid by the perpetrators of war. They'll be absorbed, "paid" by those affected. Where would we be as societies had all the wars of the 20th century not been fought? This current war only directly effects 0.5% of the world's population but is creating disruption of one sort or another for at least a third of the 7.9 billion people on the planet. Who will pay for that? All of us. How can we possibly allow the precondition (autocracy) to allow a single human being to make a decision that has such an impact on so many of our species here on earth? We already watched this scenario a short 80 years ago, and potentially again several times since. When are we going to learn to expend our strenuous energies BEFORE the destruction and the killing starts, rather than after the tanks roll? We had literally months of forewarning for this one, even years. There may be 100+ billion dollars in damage to Ukraine already, but I'll wager the total bill for this war already exceeds 1 trillion dollars to the world. How much hunger could we have addressed, climate change averted with a similar investment?
This 11-point plan is more terrifying than anything ever written by Stephen King. It would not only reverse the gains of the last 80 years, it would hurl us back to the 17th century.
Oh Heather! What a letter. So much to consider, world and domestic challenges! And the repubs and Senator Rick Scott must hope Americans are too distracted to notice his blueprint for America that threatens to take us back to the dark ages. Everyone must read the platform and proposals. He wants to blow up every positive social and economic policy, racial and gender equality, human rights, and the list goes on. “The third story that has flown under the radar is that the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Florida senator Rick Scott, has provided a blueprint for what the Republicans will do if they get a majority in the next election. In “An 11-point plan to rescue America,” produced by the group responsible for electing Republican senators, Scott promised that the Republicans “will protect, defend, and promote the American Family at all costs.” We indeed need to rescue America from the repubs and maintain a Democratic majority in Congress. At the same time, continue the cooperation with other nations we have returned to since President Biden was elected. A lot of work for our Democracy.
"...and discussion of race will be banned from American society."
Well, Sen. Scott, that simply isn't possible. Unless of course your diabolical plan includes a section written in invisible ink that includes burning the Constitution, shuttering Congress, neutering the Supreme Court, and rigging the "election" to put Trump or DeSantis or other Putin wannabes in the White House. Not as president but dictators.
But thank you for releasing the plan so America is forewarned that Republicans like you are more vile than we imagined.
So much of Scott's plan for the country strikes me as a 21st century reworking of of James Henry Hammond's "mudsill" theory: those at the bottom deserve to be there and the government should stop all supports for them, while those at the top (read Trump acolytes) deserve all the benefits of their wealth.
For the country to survive, ALL believers in democracy must get out to vote this cycle.
Argh…. Rick Scott the CEO of hospital corporation who defrauded Medicare with fraudulent claims and who was forced to resign. “he co-founded Columbia Hospital Corporation. Columbia later merged with another corporation to form Columbia/HCA, which eventually became the nation's largest private for-profit health care company.[6] Scott was pressured to resign as chief executive of Columbia/HCA in 1997. During his tenure as chief executive, the company defrauded Medicare, Medicaid and other federal programs. The Department of Justice ultimately fined the company $1.7 billion in what was at the time the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history.[7][8] Following his departure from Columbia/HCA, Scott became a venture capitalist and pursued other business interests.
He and so many others like him present themselves as pure and true. But they use that image to steal and gather more power. Not unlike the lead German Nazis who presented as the pure family men, while having illicit affairs, and go on to murder, pillage and torture, those who weren’t “pure”.
Rick Scott, and men like him have no internal conscience. Why do we as a people, not remember and learn to “see these monsters for what they Are?
Rick Scott is a crook who oversaw the largest Medicare fraud in American history. Why he is not behind bars amazes me.
Perhaps those people with thinning (or no) hair on their heads should not read that portion of this column where the Republican campaign "plan/platform" has been written out by Rick Scott. Even those of us with remaining strands will find them standing on end. Democrats definitely need to make the platform plans well known to voters of all parties. Shades of living under Putin right here at home!
As to the issue of world hunger which will be made only worse by the absence of grain grown in Ukraine this year - no thanks to Russian troops - perhaps American farmers should be encouraged to plant as much as they can so that we will be able to include grain as part of the U.S. support of humanitarian aid to Ukraine (and all other countries that usually depend on that heroic country).
Seems to me the Republicans will try to use the attention to the war in Ukraine as cover and distraction from its own political plans for an autocracy if they are successful in the November 2022 elections. There can be no sleep or rest here at home for any of us if we want to save democracy here as well as in Ukraine.
One piece of nice news. When the new Russian crew arrived today at the International Space Station, they were conspicuously wearing yellow flight suits trimmed in blue.
Thank you, Heather, for discussing Rick Scott's insidious plan for America. I balked when I read it...it's a vision of a dystopian wasteland if ever there was one.
Talk about radical, GOP plan makes the Green New Deal seem mainstream.
"Republicans, the plan says, will dramatically increase taxes on Americans earning less than $100,000, raising $1 trillion over ten years, although since they will also cut the Internal Revenue Service by 50%, the government might be hard pressed to collect those taxes"
What it means is the IRS will go after the "low-hanging fruit" of lower-income taxpayers who can't afford tax avoidance schemes and lawyers and accountants who make it hard for the IRS to collect from the rich. It's what they do now, with the cuts the Republicans made to the IRS when they were last in power. (Ask me how I know this)
Remember when you, Dr Richardson, spoke of gaming Facebook? Forget the glory articles about the Biden party helping Americans; make the RICK SCOTT RNC article go viral. Make sure everybody knows they’re going to get hit w a bigger tax bill by voting Republican! IT IS IN THEIR PLATFORM STATEMENT!
Mitch McConnell is furious! If I had to guess, at least 3/4 of all Kentuckians make less than 100k, and now they’re going to raise taxes?
If this isn’t the foundation of every DNC ad running this summer, they have forgotten how to fight.
I've been reflecting on the many waves of losses sustained by this war. There's the loss of humans; lives that won't be lived, books not written, work not produced, creativity not express, contributions lost, "life-years" of loss due to premature death. There's the loss of useful work by those who survive, but diverted their attention towards acts of war and the consequences; millions displaced from homes, jobs, farms, factories, institutions of education and social progress. There's the loss of goods and services that would have otherwise been produced. There's the massive, wanton destruction of property, infrastructure that will have to be torn down, cleaned up, rebuilt. There's the crops not planted, mouths not fed, wasted articles of war like munitions, vehicles, aircraft. The rippling effects across geography, time, nations, cultures are bills that won't be paid by the perpetrators of war. They'll be absorbed, "paid" by those affected. Where would we be as societies had all the wars of the 20th century not been fought? This current war only directly effects 0.5% of the world's population but is creating disruption of one sort or another for at least a third of the 7.9 billion people on the planet. Who will pay for that? All of us. How can we possibly allow the precondition (autocracy) to allow a single human being to make a decision that has such an impact on so many of our species here on earth? We already watched this scenario a short 80 years ago, and potentially again several times since. When are we going to learn to expend our strenuous energies BEFORE the destruction and the killing starts, rather than after the tanks roll? We had literally months of forewarning for this one, even years. There may be 100+ billion dollars in damage to Ukraine already, but I'll wager the total bill for this war already exceeds 1 trillion dollars to the world. How much hunger could we have addressed, climate change averted with a similar investment?
This 11-point plan is more terrifying than anything ever written by Stephen King. It would not only reverse the gains of the last 80 years, it would hurl us back to the 17th century.
Republicans will be horrifyingly terrible if they get power in the November 2022, election. It will be devastating.
Oh Heather! What a letter. So much to consider, world and domestic challenges! And the repubs and Senator Rick Scott must hope Americans are too distracted to notice his blueprint for America that threatens to take us back to the dark ages. Everyone must read the platform and proposals. He wants to blow up every positive social and economic policy, racial and gender equality, human rights, and the list goes on. “The third story that has flown under the radar is that the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Florida senator Rick Scott, has provided a blueprint for what the Republicans will do if they get a majority in the next election. In “An 11-point plan to rescue America,” produced by the group responsible for electing Republican senators, Scott promised that the Republicans “will protect, defend, and promote the American Family at all costs.” We indeed need to rescue America from the repubs and maintain a Democratic majority in Congress. At the same time, continue the cooperation with other nations we have returned to since President Biden was elected. A lot of work for our Democracy.
Did you ever imagine writing something like this?
Last night as I woke around 3am listening to the soft rain, I remembered a Haiku from the 70's which reminded me of Ukraine:
From Vietnam: Tonight
Wishing the lightening were lightening
The thunder, thunder