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#Post#: 597--------------------------------------------------
"They perpetuate a narrative that it is right to behave in
a strictly selfish, exploitative manner towards all."
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 14, 2022, 11:46 am
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In Between Times 10-13-2022
OCT 7, 2022 • 11M
[center][size=18pt]A MOMENT OF BS ;)[/center]
[center]Bill Shireman Disrupts the 🎩😈 Dividers -
The 🔊 Podcast
HTML https://inbetweentimes.substack.com/p/the-in-between-times-podcast-disrupting<br
/>for the Silenced Majority 🗽[/center]
October 14, 2022
AGelbert COMMENT:
[center]It's the SOCIAL DARWINISM, stupid![/center]
Social Darwinists believe that the dictum “survival of the
fittest” (a term coined not by Charles Darwin but by sociologist
Herbert Spencer) means that only the fittest should survive.
Darwin's book published later ("Descent of Man") made it clear
that Darwin completely supported the morally bankrupt views of
Spencer.
Enthusiastic converts to Social Darwinism have, to this day,
used the language of evolution to frame an understanding of the
growing gulf between the rich and the poor, as well as the many
differences between cultures all over the world. The explanation
they arrived at, and continue to use to justify biosphere
trashing profit over people and planet, regardless of any
alligator tear filled mendacious claims to the contrary, is that
businessmen and others who are economically and socially
successful are so because they are biologically and socially
“naturally” the fittest. 🙄🤔
Conversely, they reason that the poor are “naturally” weak and
unfit and it would be an error to allow the weak of the species
to continue to breed. 😨
The 😈 money lenders have played a key role in funding
this deceit propagated in high schools and universities, where
it is passed off as "the Capitalist fiduciary duty of
corporations to make a profit above ANY OTHER CONSIDERATION, be
it the health and wellbeing of employees or the environment". It
is, and always was, legerdemain formulated by the monied elite
to dress up selfish, abusive, exploitative and cruel behavior
towards "less important" humans and/or animals experimented upon
in research labs, as "scientifically justified".
The wealthy, privileged whites served by the dominant political
class are a small minority of the population. That’s the ongoing
legacy of conquest, colonialism and proletarianization. Seen in
this light, the unnecessary human suffering and death during the
current environmental and social catastrophe — whose full
effects are only now beginning to be felt — connect every
community in the USA where short-term economic and political
expediency have combined with racist, classist and ableist
dehumanization to render mass populations disposable before,
during, and after natural and human-induced disasters.
As Americans are subject to the brutal impacts of inevitable
climate change, we face a clear choice: strong government
intervention to save our lives, or a “survival of the fittest”
dystopia that contemporary conservatism promises.
IT'S THE SOCIAL DARWINISM, STUPID!
The Social Darwinist Oligarchs hate you. They want you to be
slaves on their plantation. They want you to have no rights, no
freedom, and no future. The Social Darwinist DUOPOLY is there to
turn your energy state into fear and anger and sorrow.
Whether he realized it or not at the time, when Sinclair Lewis
wrote this in 1935, he was describing the Social Darwinist
worldview: “Every man is a king so long as he has someone to
look down on.” -- Sinclair Lewis
The celebrated social theorist and geographer David Harvey
explains that neoliberal ideology serves the following
principle:
"There shall be no serious challenge to the absolute power of
money to rule absolutely. And that power is to be exercised with
one objective: Those possessed of money shall not only be
privileged to accumulate wealth endlessly at will, but they
shall have the right to inherit the earth, taking either direct
or indirect dominion, not only of the land and all the resources
and productive capacities that reside therein, but also assume
absolute command, directly or indirectly, over the labor and
creative capacities of all those others it needs. The rest of
humanity shall be deemed disposable."
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422133654.gif<br
/>If that isn't Social Darwinsm, I don't know what is.
🤷‍♂️😡
"Look at our world, our country, our interactions with each
other……… this is not the mark of a healthy society, and if these
are the self-appointed leaders of this flaming meteor…..it’s
time to move on to new ideas and new people. Let’s relegate
these fools to history. They perpetuate a narrative that it is
right to behave in a strictly selfish, exploitative manner
towards all. We simply can’t survive it any longer. Things will
change because they have to." -- Kathleen Wallace
Kathleen Wallace is right about how criminally insane those
assaullting our society, and the environment, are, but until the
overwhelming majority of we-the-people collectively decide to BE
ETHICALLY RESPONSIBLE (see below), instead of egocentric, we
have no hope of successfully convincing the Social Darwinsist
greedballs, who continuously divide and conquer us for profit
over people and planet, to reject their socially destructve
Social Darwinist Ideology and, instead, embrace sine qua non
ETHICAL VALUES.
What it Means to be Responsible - Reflections on Our
Responsibility for the Future by Theresa Morris, State
University of New York at New Paltz
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/catastrophic-climate-change/future-earth/msg27/#msg27
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-141022142341.png[/center]
#Post#: 625--------------------------------------------------
“.., understand it plain and clear: Justice in the United States
is an illusion unavailable to most of us.”
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: October 30, 2022, 1:42 pm
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COUNTERPUNCH
OCTOBER 28, 2022 BY MATTHEW STEVENSON
[center]Michael Cohen’s Revenge[/center]
SNIPPET:
Cohen continues:
Finally, as for the Russia stuff—as we now know by others who
were in Trump’s orbit, including Stephanie Grisham—Trump was
indeed Putin’s puppet. But I wasn’t. Never had been and wouldn’t
be. And I never dreamed prosecutors would go after me for some
of the things I was accused of doing. Sure, I paid off Stormy
Daniels. But that doesn’t make me Sammy the Bull Gravano to
Trump’s John Gotti. Trump isn’t that smart and I’m not Sammy. I
dealt with campaign issues. We stiffed contractors. I fixed an
CNBC poll to assuage Trump’s fragile ego. I paid off Stormy
Daniels—for Donald Trump. So, yes, I paid off a p o r n star so
my employer and Republican presidential candidate could avoid
embarrassment and destroy the little hope everyone had in the
general election. Those are the shitty things I did. Trump may
have sold out his country, because Trump has no loyalty to
anyone but himself. He doesn’t care what happens to any of us. I
was stupid for hitching myself to that wagon—but it’s a far cry
from messing over a bunch of contractors to being a traitor to
your country.
Cohen also quotes a legal scholar on the obvious flaw in his
prosecution:
Most will say, as did Mark Zaid, a nationally known attorney who
deals with free speech constitutional claims and government
accountability: “It is inconceivable to me that you would
prosecute Michael Cohen for committing a crime and not prosecute
the man who instructed him to do so.”
So far, however,
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-1406786.gif<br
/>Donald Trump has proved that it pays to suborn witnesses,
obstruct justice, tamper with federal elections, sexually abuse
women, defraud banks, cook corporate books, lie to Congress,
shortchange the IRS, steal classified documents, and plot
sedition.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080422121109.gif
Read more:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164555-532108.png
Revenge: How Donald Trump Weaponized the US Department of
Justice Against His Critics by Michael Cohen
HTML https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/10/28/michael-cohens-revenge/
"This is not a new world. It is simply an extension of what is
the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122619-6812456.gif<br
/>old one. It has refinements, technological advances and a more
sophisticated approach to the destruction of human freedom, but
like every one of super states that preceded it, it has one iron
rule: Logic is an Enemy and Truth is a Menace.
[move]Any state, any entity, any ideology that fails to
recognize the worth, the dignity, the rights of man, that state
is obsolete." -- Rod Serling[/move]
[center]Rod Serling Twilight Zone predicts Trump:[/center]
[left]
HTML https://youtu.be/oADlQPJ_Zfc[/left]
#Post#: 709--------------------------------------------------
📢 It's the 😈 Social 🦍☠️
Darwinism, stupid! 🚨😱🥵
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 14, 2022, 4:10 pm
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HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-141222170321.jpeg
December 14, 2022
[center]The Chris Hedges Report Podcast with Dennis Kucinich on
the folly of the proxy war in Ukraine and how the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-110822203938-17581013.png<br
/>military-industrial-complex has become the
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122619-6812456.gif<br
/>enemy from within.[/center]
HTML https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/the-chris-hedges-report-podcast-with-e0f
[center]
HTML http://www.createaforum.com/gallery/renewablerevolution/3-050515144544.png[/center]
[move]Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a fall. -- Proverbs 16:18 The Lord hath made all things
for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. --
Proverbs 16:4
Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord:
though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. --
Proverbs 16:5 [/move]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-170422173138-788458.jpeg[/center]
#Post#: 727--------------------------------------------------
Courts too often shield information about products and toxic
conditions that put our lives at risk.
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: December 23, 2022, 11:20 am
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HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922195111.png
[move]Courts too often shield information about products and
toxic conditions that put our lives at risk.[/move]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-231222123533.png[/center]
[center]The Public Right to Know Act (SB 1149) brings
transparency to the courts.[/center]
Authored by Senator Connie M. Leyva 🗽 and co-sponsored
by Public Justice 🗽 and Consumer Reports
🕯️, this bill will ensure Californians are able
to learn the facts about ☠️ dangerous public
hazards that are discovered during litigation, ensuring that
this vital information cannot be secretly concealed or routinely
restricted by over-broad court orders or settlements.
Learn all about it and
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202545-13961729.png<br
/>pass this on to friends and family:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164555-532108.png
HTML https://www.publicjustice.net/when-secrecy-kills/
#Post#: 829--------------------------------------------------
"The biggest prize of all for the uses of
corporate-dominant inequality over real people is the control of
the Congress
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 6, 2023, 12:39 am
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[center]The [shadow=red,left]Progenitor[/shadow] of Inequalities
– [glow=red,2,300]Corporate Personhood[/glow] vs.
[glow=teal,2,300]Human Beings[/glow][/center]
February 3, 2023 By [glow=teal,2,300]Ralph Nader[/glow]
SNIPPETS:
Ever since 1886 when a U.S. Supreme Court reporter, in a
headnote for the Court’s opinion, wrote that corporations
possessed equal rights under the Constitution, judges and
corporatist legislators have equipped corporations with an
arsenal of inequitable rights. (The Constitution makes no
mention whatsoever of “corporation” or “company”). ... ...
The modern history of corporate law is now aimed at maximizing
the limited liability of the corporation itself.
The following twelve examples of inequality are shocking:
1. The corporate entity protects owners and shareholders from
business debts and other liabilities. Yet, individual business
owners are not personally shielded from business related debts
or liabilities.
2. Bankruptcy laws favor corporations mightily over individuals.
Bankrupt corporations can cancel their labor union contracts,
are free from lawsuit liabilities against them, and can even get
judges to grant retention bonuses for the culpable executives so
they can provide parties with their alleged historical memory.
Then under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the company, having shed its
liabilities, can reorganize and be back in business. If it is a
giant bankrupt company like General Motors was in 2009, its
recreation can get many billions of taxpayer dollars because it
is considered “too big to fail.” Compare all these privileges
with an individual going bankrupt no matter how wealthy he or
she may have been. No contest.
3. Under criminal laws, corporations have huge advantages.
Unlike most individuals who commit serious crimes, corporations
have lawyers who shield them with “no-prosecution” or “deferred
prosecution” agreements instead of criminal penalties. Unlike
individual criminals, corporations cannot be jailed, and are
almost never executed (that is having their charter pulled and
put out of business, unless they are small business crooks).
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said the big banks may
even be too big to be prosecuted. While the big corporations,
having cost the lives of many people and sickened more, continue
on their merry profiteering ways. In this category are the large
drug, chemical, auto, oil, coal and hospital chains.
4. Wrongfully injured people suing corporations under tort law
find corporations can endlessly delay, with their insured or
deductible legal expenses. Victims who are desperate for money
to pay medical and other bills, cannot deduct their legal
expenses and may not have insurance. Corporations can force low
settlements because of their inequality of status and power.
5. Unequal taxation is a Niagara of inequality. The top federal
tax rate for individuals is 37% and only 21% for corporations,
before a plethora of loopholes. Why should an individual
businessperson or any individual have to pay 37% and face an
economic disadvantage vis-a-vis a competitor that only pays 21%?
The baseless response is that there is a rational classification
for this unfairness – nonsense.
6. Unlike individuals, corporations can create their own parents
– (holding companies) for evasive purposes. They can also create
hundreds of children (subsidiaries) to evade all kinds of law
enforcement. The tax and non-regulatory haven of the Grand
Cayman Islands has thousands of corporations “domiciled” there.
One large building – Ugland House – “houses” 12,000
corporations. Real humans would be insufferably cramped if they
attempted to quarter themselves with such inorganic
efficiencies.
Until the decision last month by the Third Circuit of Appeals,
saying no to profitable Johnson & Johnson’s corporate lawyers,
corporations could create a subsidiary and put in it all the
pending lawsuits by injured consumers, declare the subsidiary
bankrupt and then leave the harmed plaintiffs with little
recourse. This is called the “Texas two-step” a creation of
corporate lawyers.
7. Corporations’ one-sided contracts requiring you to sign or
click on, turn you into contract peons. Freedom of contract is
gone. Your status is reduced to obeying the harsh impositions by
banks, auto dealers, insurance companies, credit card companies,
utilities, etc. Try to escape and go to a competitor. No dice.
They all have the same restrictions, with minor variations.
These long, inscrutable fine-print handcuffs require you to
waive your right to go to court for a trial by a jury of your
peers. ... ...
All these drives for maximum power and control are maturing the
[glow=red,2,300]corporate state[/glow] – as Wall Street and
Washington merge. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in a
formal message to Congress in 1938, called the control of
government by private power “[shadow=red,left]fascism[/shadow].”
In 1933 Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote an opinion
warning about big corporations becoming a
“[shadow=red,left]Frankenstein monster[/shadow]” in our midst.
Full article:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-110422141413-627726.png
HTML https://nader.org/2023/02/03/the-progenitor-of-inequalities-corporate-personhood-vs-human-beings/
[move]Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit
before a fall. -- Proverbs 16:18 The Lord hath made all things
for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. --
Proverbs 16:4
Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord:
though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished. --
Proverbs 16:5 [/move]
#Post#: 834--------------------------------------------------
TPTB champion identity politics and diversity because it does
NOTHING to address the systemic injustices or the scourg
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 6, 2023, 5:37 pm
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HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-141222170321.jpeg
February 5, 2023
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-060223182433.jpeg[/center]
[center] [glow=red,2,300]Woke Imperialism[/glow] [/center]
[move]Woke culture, devoid of class consciousness and a
[glow=navy,2,300]commitment[/glow] to stand with the oppressed,
is another tool in the arsenal of the [glow=red,2,300]imperial
state[/glow].[/move]
SNIPPETS:
Diversity is important. But diversity, when devoid of a
political agenda that fights the oppressor on behalf of the
oppressed, is window dressing. It is about incorporating a tiny
segment of those marginalized by society into unjust structures
to perpetuate them. ... ...
Diversity when it serves the oppressed is an asset, but a con
when it serves the oppressors.
Read or 🔊 listen to full article:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-090422150144.png
HTML https://chrishedges.substack.com/p/listen-to-this-article-woke-imperialism<br
/>
#Post#: 896--------------------------------------------------
Texas 😈 Two-Step STUMBLES! 👍
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: February 28, 2023, 1:57 pm
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HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922195111.png
February 2023 Justice Briefs
Even though February is the shortest month, 2023 feels well
underway as we near its end.
With the chaotic, disorganized start of the 118th Congress
behind us, we believe that the House GOP leadership will once
again take up legislation aimed at wiping away most class action
lawsuits — just as they did when they gained control of the
House in 2017. Though there is not yet a specific bill pending
in Congress, Public Justice isn't waiting: This month, we
launched the first in an anticipated series of stories aimed at
educating the public about what's at stake when class actions
are attacked (linked below).
[center]The [glow=red,2,300]GOP Assault[/glow] on the Courts is
Coming Again. Here Are [glow=red,2,300]Lies[/glow] They’ll Tell
& Truths They Won't
HTML https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/15/2153101/-The-GOP-Assault-on-the-Courts-is-Coming-Again-Here-Are-Lies-They-ll-Tell-Truths-They-Won-t?_=2023-02-15T06:33:56.000-08:00[/center]
[left]
HTML https://ci3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Pk_UrG1wlJJf4ppLyRmnDo7AbBksiRaOxzihvCmT23M9yslJZyGggxEA0ml6LBtQN7RuUCH0rmCCI5sxSs5ZdVVl5CFHBoem97b4GrOiSkfDo81nPEKEPmPULyr08E_wb6C_EQ1TMmp5=s0-d-e1-ft#https://files.constantcontact.com/47d59cb2401/6f8dc4f7-eee4-47b9-85d8-f784c2855e72.pnghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>
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/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922192452.gifhttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080422121611.png[/left]
[left]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422142505.gif[/left]
[center][glow=red,2,300]Texas 😈 Two-Step[/glow]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422155724.png<br
/>Stumbles in 🗽 Third Circuit
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422144605.png
HTML https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/15/2153101/-The-GOP-Assault-on-the-Courts-is-Coming-Again-Here-Are-Lies-They-ll-Tell-Truths-They-Won-t?_=2023-02-15T06:33:56.000-08:00[/center]
Click HERE to Read the Decision
HTML https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/222003p.pdf<br
/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040422164615-5351419.gif
#Post#: 904--------------------------------------------------
The right wing called for a “Leninist Strategy on Social
Security” back in 1983. And reading it today, much of that stra
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 2, 2023, 3:10 pm
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HTML https://ci5.googleusercontent.com/proxy/Ozfq1EeKv3XWZ9I__KVBfQUHfXObcSiaa70tEYezsiH15uqGxYz9fPtcWcynQoYqM4uSqkPPvryZUzuHc_GEVzcNhKmdnaNdum8yX1n9IecYyY3qkN-aamDA1hPQ5rmHrFJCfsU=s0-d-e1-ft#https://actionnetwork.org/user_files/user_files/000/028/714/original/web_color.gif
March 2, 2023
By [glow=green,2,300]Nancy Altman, Social Security Works [/glow]
[center]A 40 year 🐘
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>campaign to [glow=red,2,300]destroy[/glow]
[glow=green,2,300]Social Security[/glow][/center]
Social Security is the most popular and effective program in
America. That’s why Wall Street has spent 40 years on an
insidious campaign to undermine the people’s faith in the
system.
Think we’re exaggerating? The right wing called for a “Leninist
Strategy on Social Security” back in 1983. And reading it today,
much of that strategy looks just like reality.
Social Security Works is pushing back against the Wall Street
[glow=red,2,300]lies[/glow]. But [glow=red,2,300]they[/glow]
have a head start. Chip in $7 to fight back!
HTML https://secure.actblue.com/donate/leniniststrategy-2023?link_id=1&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security-3&email_referrer=email_1834107
In 1983, Social Security was in a real crisis, but the system’s
popularity protected it from destruction, much to Wall Street’s
disappointment. Wall Street sees our Social Security system as a
cash cow that they can’t access. They would give anything to get
their hands on Social Security’s $2.9 trillion trust fund, which
is instead invested in [glow=green,2,300]US Treasury
bonds[/glow].
So Wall Street-funded conservative think tanks got to work,
outlining a long-term strategy to chip away at the public’s
confidence in Social Security. And it was extraordinarily
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422182057.gif<br
/>[glow=brown,2,300]successful[/glow].
The right-wing Cato Institute published a plan in 1983 called a
[glow=red,2,300]Leninist Strategy[/glow]
HTML https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1983/11/cj3n2-11.pdf,<br
/>designed to 😈 [glow=brown,2,300]“neutralize”[/glow]
[glow=teal,2,300]elderly voters[/glow] while continuing to
🐍 [glow=red,2,300]undermine [/glow]confidence for Social
Security among the [glow=teal,2,300]young[/glow]. Their model
was the [glow=red,2,300]Leninist[/glow] movement's "success in
[glow=red,2,300]isolating and weakening [/glow]its opponents."
(Yes, they really were taking cues from V.I. Lenin, even in the
depths of the Cold War. :o)
This strategy of undermining Social Security is exactly what
Rick Scott and Mike Pence are doing to this day! Chip in $7 to
fight back against opponents of Social Security. Together, we
will expand and defend Social Security!
HTML https://secure.actblue.com/donate/leniniststrategy-2023?link_id=1&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security-3&email_referrer=email_1834107
The strategy had two main prongs: Make younger Americans lose
faith that Social Security will keep its promise to them, and
create an alternative in the form of private accounts that could
be gambled on the stock market, similar to 401ks.
The strategy took a decade to be mainstreamed by the
Republicans.
In 1988, a presidential candidate sharing their views about
Social Security appeared on the scene. Former Delaware governor
Pierre S. “Pete” du Pont IV, an heir to those who had thrown
money at any FDR-hater they could find, sought the Republican
nomination for president and ran on a platform of privatizing
Social Security.
But George H. W. Bush won the Republican nomination and the
election that year. As president, he showed his understanding of
the program, when he said, “In my budget plan, I say we’ve got
to control the growth of . . . mandatory programs, but set
Social Security aside. It’s not a welfare program. It’s
sacrosanct.”
In 1994, the House of Representatives returned to Republican
control for the first time in over 40 years, the first time
since Eisenhower was president. The Republicans had run in
support of the “Contract with America,” drafted and promoted by
Congressman Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.). Unfortunately for those
opposing Social Security, the Contract with America expressed
implicit support for the program by proposing only minor
modifications.
However, in 1994, as the law had required since 1956, the
Secretary of Health and Human Services appointed 14 members to
serve on Social Security’s quadrennial advisory council. The
trustees had begun to project a long-term deficit in Social
Security’s financing occurring somewhere more than 35 years in
the future. Included in the report was an appendix, entitled
“Developments Since 1983,” which addressed the causes of the
projected shortfall. The appendix began by debunking the myth
that the inexorable tide of aging baby boomers had anything to
do with the projected deficit.
The report clarified: “the fundamental ratio of beneficiaries to
workers was fully taken into account in the 1983 financing
provisions and, as a matter of fact, was known and taken into
account well before that.”
The report then explained that the shortfall resulted from a
variety of factors. By the time the advisory council reported,
almost 31 million workers participated in 401(k) plans, which
contained assets of over $1 trillion. As the stock market went
up and up in the 1990s, these arrangements became more and more
popular.
This was the opportunity the Leninist Strategy envisioned. More
and more Americans were becoming used to private accounts for
retirement income.
The Cato Institute, who had first called for this 😈
[glow=red,2,300]Strategy[/glow]
HTML https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/cato-journal/1983/11/cj3n2-11.pdf,<br
/>formed the [glow=red,2,300][glow=red,2,300]Project on Social
Security Privatization[/glow][/glow] on August 14, 1995. A
co-chairman of the project was José Pinero, the Pinochet
minister of labor who had designed the Chilean system of private
accounts. Just as supporters of private accounts had been doing
since almost the moment Chile had privatized its Social Security
program, Cato touted the Chilean system as a model for the
United States, despite its decidedly mixed results.
The [glow=red,2,300]new 🐘 right-wing project
[/glow]fueled privatization talk with publications and
conferences. In less than a decade, the project could proudly
boast that it had “published more than forty books, articles,
and reports” criticizing Social Security and advocating private
accounts.
Conservative think tanks have spent decades working to undermine
Social Security. Stand with Social Security Works today to
protect and expand Social Security and invest in our future!
During these years, Social Security produced large surpluses, as
it had been projected to do when the 1977 and 1983 amendments
had been enacted—but the federal deficit produced record
deficits.
On March 7, 1999, the wealthy governor of Texas had announced
that he was forming a committee to explore a run for the
presidency. Despite his limited political experience and his
weaknesses as a speaker, he had one huge asset. He happened to
be the son of a former president, and the two men shared the
same first and last names, George Bush.
Well before Bush formed his exploratory committee, he had been
thinking about the presidency and had been thinking about Social
Security, as well. He had a long history of hostility to the
program. As a student at the Harvard Business School in the
early 1970s, he had railed against Social Security and other New
Deal programs. In his losing bid for a congressional seat in
1978, he had ventured that “people [should] be given the chance
to invest [Social Security] the way they feel.”
The patience of the anti-Social Security forces seemed to have
paid off. They finally had a president who seemed to see the
world their way.
Just as in the Bush years, Wall Street continues to try and get
their hands on our hard-earned Social Security benefits. Donate
to Social Security Works today to fight back against attempts to
privatize this critical program.
Despite Social Security’s absence from the campaign,
[glow=red,2,300]President
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-14071062.gif<br
/>Bush[/glow] established a presidential commission on May 2,
2001, to study and make recommendations about Social Security.
Naturally, the members consisted only of people who were
dedicated to destroying Social Security’s universal promise, and
it resulted in Bush’s privatization scheme.
Unlike most presidential commissions, which are given broad
guidelines within which to work, this commission was to be
tightly constrained. Among the stipulations dictated by Bush was
that the commission’s recommendations “must include individually
controlled voluntary personal accounts.” It was not a commission
to consider what should be done; rather, it was a commission to
advise the president how to do what he had already made up his
mind to do.
At the same time,
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-14071062.gif<br
/>[glow=red,2,300]Bush[/glow] used the administration of
government to sow distrust in Social Security. Though Trustees
Reports between 2001 and 2004 grew slightly more optimistic,
with the projected year of exhaustion of the trust funds
slightly further into the future, Social Security Administration
publications became more alarmist. No longer confirming that
Social Security faced “no immediate crisis,” the publications
now warned that the program was “unsustainable,” and
“underfinanced.”
Most disturbing was the change in the annual statement sent to
all of the 125 million workers age 25 and over who pay into the
trust funds. This statement, completely unsolicited, simply
arrives in each worker’s mailbox. The 2001 statement proclaimed,
“Will Social Security be there when you retire? Of course it
will.”
This reassurance was gone by 2002, and in 2005, the unsettling
remark “Congress has made changes to the law in the past and can
do so at any time” was now in the mailing, just in case workers
were feeling too secure.
The same tactics are being used today: Republicans in Congress
are systematically underfunding the Social Security
Administration, forcing office closings and longer wait times to
receive the world class service Americans are promised.
Social Security Works is dedicated to fighting back against
[glow=red,2,300]these
💵🎩🐘🐍🦍🐉
schemes[/glow] that fly 😈 under the radar. Donate $7 to
support our work!
HTML https://secure.actblue.com/donate/leniniststrategy-2023?link_id=1&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security-3&email_referrer=email_1834107&email_subject=a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security&refcodeEmailReferrer=email_1834107
[glow=red,2,300]George W.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-14071062.gif<br
/>Bush[/glow] set the agenda for 🐘 today’s Republicans:
Pass a massive tax cut, and then try to cut Social Security in
the name of
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202527-13931485.png<br
/>fiscal discipline.
This isn’t a new fight―it is the same thing we have been
fighting for nearly a century. With our voices together, we beat
Bush’s privatization scheme, we beat President Obama’s fiscal
commissions, we beat Paul Ryan’s supercommittees, and we beat
Donald Trump’s defunding attempt
Now, Republicans are holding the global economy hostage in
exchange for unspecified budget cuts. While many of them claim
not to have Social Security and Medicare in their sights at the
moment, they are also quick to feed the same false narratives
that the Leninist Strategy demands.
The way we win is to go on
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202540-1395150.gif<br
/> offense: We need to EXPAND [glow=green,2,300]Social
Security[/glow], never
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-110822203905-1755931.png[glow=red,2,300]🔨[/glow]<br
/>cut [glow=green,2,300]it[/glow].
We’re rallying members of Congress behind a bill to expand our
Social Security system, which will protect and expand benefits
for millions of Americans and keep Social Security strong
through the 21st century and beyond!
We need to stand together to fight back against efforts to
undermine confidence in Social Security. Donate to Social
Security Works to ensure Social Security thrives for future
generations!
Thanks,
Nancy Altman
Social Security Works
P.S. Can’t donate right now, but still want to help? Cast a vote
for[glow=blue,2,300] Social Security Works[/glow] in CREDO’s
donation pool for this month!
HTML https://www.credodonations.com/organizations/social-security-works/?utm_source=org&utm_medium=social-security-works/&utm_campaign=202303_/_promo&link_id=6&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&email_referrer=email_1834107&email_subject=a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security<br
/>
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-200123150257.gif
[glow=green,2,300]Social Security Works[/glow] leads the fight
every day to expand and protect our Social Security system.
Become a member today.
HTML https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ssw2023?link_id=8&can_id=f6a3d966836d5b36db494f1237d9b97d&source=email-a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security-3&email_referrer=email_1834107&email_subject=a-40-year-campaign-to-destroy-social-security&refcodeEmailReferrer=email_1834107
[glow=green,2,300]Social Security Works for Everyone![/glow]
HTML https://www.amazon.com/Social-Security-Works-Everyone-Protecting/dp/1620976226?keywords=social+security+works+for+everyone&qid=1651002170&sprefix=social+security+works+for+,aps,73&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=socsecworks-20&linkId=d42dddde544575c891f001f01cd0d012&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
From SSW's co-founders, Nancy Altman and Eric Kingson, this book
builds on the success of 2013's Social Security Works: The Book,
updating and expanding its argument that Social Security is the
best way to protect and expand the insurance Americans love and
count on. [glow=green,2,300]Order your copy today![/glow]
HTML https://www.amazon.com/Social-Security-Works-Everyone-Protecting/dp/1620976226?keywords=social+security+works+for+everyone&qid=1651002170&sprefix=social+security+works+for+,aps,73&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=socsecworks-20&linkId=d42dddde544575c891f001f01cd0d012&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl
Contact info@socialsecurityworks.org
#Post#: 920--------------------------------------------------
" ... uncovered a vast network of as many as hundreds of
thousands of fake Twitter accounts designed to promote Trump
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 8, 2023, 12:37 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Graphics are by yours truly.
MARCH 7, 2023 By [glow=teal,2,300]HEATHER COX RICHARDSON[/glow]
SNIPPETS:
[glow=red,2,300]CPAC [/glow]started in 1974, and since then it
has been a telltale for the [glow=red,2,300]direction [/glow]the
🐘 Republican Party is 🦍
[glow=red,2,300]going[/glow]. This year was no exception. ...
...
The headliner was former president [glow=red,2,300]Trump[/glow],
twice impeached, deeply involved in an attempt to overturn the
2020 presidential election, and embroiled in a range of criminal
investigations. In his speech, Trump embraced his leadership of
those hardening around a violent mentality based in grievance
that echoes that of fascist movements.
“In 2016, I declared: I am your voice,” he said. “Today, I add:
I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have
been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-250422162847-10321563.png[/center]
He claimed that he and his followers are “engaged in an epic
struggle to rescue our country from the people who hate it and
want to absolutely destroy it…. We are going to finish what we
started.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-310322170737.jpeg...<br
/>...
[glow=red,2,300]Republicans[/glow] are planning to take this
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622210450-1415528.gif<br
/>[glow=brown,2,300]disinformation campaign[/glow] across the
nation. Despite their insistence that
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202527-13931485.png<br
/>they want to slash government spending, Republican leaders are
in fact urging their colleagues to engage in “field hearings”
that will take their “message” straight to voters at a time when
they are not managing to accomplish much of anything at all in
Washington.
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-040622202719-14071062.gif<br
/>[glow=red,2,300]Jordan’s Judiciary Committee[/glow] has
requested a travel budget of $262,000
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080422121611.png,<br
/>more than 30 times what it spent on travel last year and 3
times
what it spent before the pandemic, and it is not just the
Judiciary Committee that is hitting the road.
As Annie Karni and Catie Edmondson of the New York Times noted
today, this also means that they speak at the plants of
[glow=red,2,300]🐘🦕🦖[/glow] Republican
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-010922192452.gifdonors,<br
/>thus giving them free advertising. Congressional Democrats say
they received almost no notice of these trips.
News broke today that an Israeli tech firm has uncovered a vast
network of as many as hundreds of thousands of fake Twitter
accounts designed to promote Trump and his vision, creating the
illusion that he is more popular than he is. The analysts at the
firm, Cyabra, believe the system was created within the U.S.
“One account will say, ‘Biden is trying to take our guns; Trump
was the best,’ and another will say, ‘Jan. 6 was a lie and Trump
was innocent,’” said the engineer who discovered the network,
Jules Gross. “Those voices are not people. For the sake of
democracy I want people to know this is happening.”
Full article:
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-080422121331.gif
HTML https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/march-6-2023
#Post#: 921--------------------------------------------------
“Florida is officially a laboratory for fascism in the U.S.:
DIR By: AGelbert
Date: March 8, 2023, 2:26 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
[glow=blue,2,300]The Class Struggle[/glow]
Friday, March 3, 2023
[move] [glow=brown,2,300]“Florida is officially a laboratory for
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122619-6781750.png<br
/>fascism in the U.S.: [/glow][/move]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-230622140628.jpeghttps://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-021022180016.gif[/center]
[center]
HTML https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-050422142505.gif[/center]
[center][url=
HTML https://ongoingclassstruggle.blogspot.com/2023/03/american-fascists.html][glow=red,2,300]https://soberthinking.createaforum.com/gallery/soberthinking/1-120422122619-6812456.gif<br
/>Ron DeSantis[/glow] is just fine with this. Cruelty is
[glow=red,2,300]his[/glow] trademark[/center]
*****************************************************
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