Republicans' Alternate Universe of Delusion and Disinformation

Weekend Reading

U.S. Herd Immunity

Rush Limbaugh captivated dads like mine and created America's modern fascist aesthetic

Newsmax Host Attacks Biden’s 12-Year-Old Dog Champ: “Looks Like It’s From a Junkyard”

Donald Trump Jr. Rips Teachers Unions In Front Of A Gun Wall; Critics Go Ballistic
The Green New Deal Threatens Republicans’ Bread and Butter, it’s Not Just Competition in the Battle of Ideas
The Failure of the Media in Responding to the Lying Right

Born to Run: U.S cannabis enters the sweet spot

LESSONS FROM MY 4-MONTH SOCIAL MEDIA BREAK AND WHY DIGITAL DETOX IS NECESSARY

Utilities Offer Yield and a Way to Play Green Energy. And Their Stocks Are Cheap.

Negotiations 101

Obama says that Americans are seeking “improvement” not “revolutionary” change

In general, this is true.  We don't need to blow everything up and start over.  But, as a good negotiating tactic, you start with everything and the kitchen sink and work your way back from there.  You don't start small because then you usually end up with nothing ... which seems to be the Democrats' plan for the last few decades.

Donald Trump pretended he was going to bring back coal mining jobs.  Republicans keep selling that tax cuts will trickle down.  These were all lies.  But voters believed them and voted for them.

So why shouldn't Democrats forcefully advocate for health care, clean water, a higher minimum wage, green jobs, etc.?  These are policies that will help the majority of citizens and actually create jobs.  These are the policies citizens want.  This isn't revolutionary change, this is the historical platform of the Democratic Party.

Democrats - enough with the baby steps.  Get a spine and fight for policies that will help the American people.  Voters are sick of the double-speak and goose-stepping.  They don't want the calm, practical status quo.  They want someone with principles to get shit done.  Enough of the middle-of-the-road, mealy-mouthed politicking.  Take a stand and get something done.   

Weekend Reading

The U.S. Only Pretends To Have Free Markets
So We're Supposed To Treat Donald Trump With Respect, After All This? Oh, Hell No
Elizabeth Warren's Plan To Pay For Medicare-For-All, Explained
Elizabeth Warren Proves She Does Her Homework With Impressive Plan To Fund Medicare For All
Senator Warren's Answer On Taxes And Medicare For All Is Exactly Right
How Elizabeth Warren Can Address The Medicare For All Question
The Happy, Healthy Capitalists Of Switzerland
Upgrade The New Deal, Riemer Declares
Everyone Deserves Clean Water
For Elizabeth Warren, The Wealth Tax Is About More Than Money
United States Spend Ten Times More On Fossil Fuel Subsidies Than Education
Thousands Of Scientists Around The World Declared A Climate Emergency And Warned Of "Untold Suffering"
The Debate Over Whether The Very Rich Pay Lower Taxes Than You, Explained
Unions Are Pushing Members To Run For Office - And It's Paying Off
We Get It, Rich Guys Are Not Into Elizabeth Warren
If Corporations Are Being Run To Maximize Returns To Shareholders, Why Are Returns So Low?
Did Warren Pass The Medicare Test? I Think So
Only A Global Green New Deal Can Save The Planet
Never-Before-Seen Trump Tax Documents Show Major Inconsistencies
If You're So Smart, Why Aren't You Rich? Turns Out It's Just Chance

Weekend Reading: Economics Edition

Society-Wide Benefits of Raising The Minimum Wage
The Puzzle In The Labor Data
The Trump Tax Reform, As Seen In The U.S. Balance Of Payments Data
Why The 'Free-Market' Economy Is A Myth And How To Rebuild Public Power
The Failures of Neoliberalism Are Bigger Than Politics
What Kansas's Rebounding Economy Tells Us About The Farce of Republican Tax Cuts
How The Federal Government Rigs The Game Against Small Businesses
Make Corporations Pay For The Green New Deal
Rich Get Richer, Everyone Else Not So Much In Record U.S. Expansion
Unions Did Great Things For The Working Class

This Is An Actual Crisis

Wisconsin Reading

Taxpayers Make Bucks, Brewers Rich
Gov. Tony Evers Wants To Renegotiate Foxconn Deal
Wisconsin Republicans Are Yucking It Up About AOC's Green New Deal While Trade Wars Crush Dairy Farmers
7 Numbers That Explain The Election
Committee Questions Grand Avenue Deal
Canadian National Investing $120 Million In Wisconsin Rail Infrastructure
True Colors Show In State Capitol

Weekend Reading

Shopko Creditors: $117 Million In Dividends Paid To Owners 'Fraudulent,' 'Illegal'
401(K)s Versus 403(B)s
Sigh....No, Tax Cuts Won't Boost Growth
Supreme Court Sides With Union Giving Milwaukee County Employees $6.8 Million Pension Benefit
Make Corporations Pay For Green New Deal
The Rapid Decline Of The Natural World Is A Crisis Even Bigger Than Climate Change
Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution And Who Breathes It
Here's What Republicans And Billionaires Really Mean When They Talk About 'Freedom'
Wisconsin Judge Blocks Republicans' Lame-Duck Power Grab
Study Cited In Wisconsin Debate On Expanding Medicaid And Taking Federal Money Called 'Garbage'
Make America Great Again By Raising The Minimum Wage

Any Democrat Will Do 2020

So many good candidates and good ideas.  Hopefully the Democratic Party can coalesce into a strong, coherent platform with unwavering candidates for President and Vice President.

Elizabeth Warren wants to break up Apple too

With Estate Tax on Nation's Richest, Bernie Sanders' "For the 99.8% Act" Applauded for Targeting "Tyranny of Plutocracy"

The Democratic Party Wants to Make Climate Policy Exciting

The Green New Deal, explained

Cory Booker’s plan to fight wealth inequality: give poor kids money

Proposal to impose a progressive annual wealth tax on American households with net worth (sum of all assets net of debts) above $50 million

Sen. Sanders’ College for All Act

Sanders Files Bill to Strengthen, Expand Social Security

Bernie Sanders's new Medicare-for-all plan, explained

Two senators are proposing national rent relief bills. Here’s why it matters

Warren Proposes Universal Child Care Plan Funded by Wealth Tax

Ending the War on Marijuana

Cows Are (Part Of) The Problem

Kansas rancher sends letter to Ocasio-Cortez fact-checking the Green New Deal

Big surprise a cattle rancher wouldn't admit to methane being part of the problem.  [Just as oil companies don't admit fossil fuels pollute.]

Yes, they provide food.  But they also pollute.

As one article noted, "What remains undisputed is that animal husbandry does generate harmful emissions.  Firstly, the animals themselves release emissions — cows, for example, produce methane gas in the digestion process. In addition, the entire industry contributes to the greenhouse gas effect, from the fertilizer on the fields to the transport of feed for the animals and the use of milking machines."

Another article explains, "Livestock are responsible for about 14.5 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).  According to calculations by some experts, this puts the livestock sector on par with transport. The U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says transport is responsible for 14 percent of emissions.  Ruminants such as cattle, buffalo, sheep and goats produce nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide and methane, which is the most emitted gas and is released through belching."

As The New York Times put it, "The impact of agriculture, a category that includes everything from growing lettuce to raising livestock, is tricky to express because the gasses produced — mostly methane and nitrous oxide — have much more warming potential than carbon dioxide but also dissipate more quickly. According to the latest thinking, though, farming is responsible for the equivalent of 574 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States each year and 56 million metric tons in Canada.  That’s about 8 percent of each country’s total greenhouse gas emissions...Worldwide, livestock accounts for between 14.5 percent and 18 percent of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions."

NPR wrote, "Livestock is a major source of greenhouse gases worldwide. About quarter of the methane emissions due to human activity in the U.S. can be chalked up to gas released from these animals, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency."

Again, the Green New Deal isn't about getting rid of cows, planes and everything else we've come to know.  It's about recognizing the impact of our many different lifestyle choices and working to modify our behaviors so we make less of a negative influence on the planet.  It's really all about ensuring our own survival and the survival of the planet.

So, sorry ranchers, coal miners and fossil fuelers, we need to make some changes in the way we live. These aren't the first industries in the history of mankind that have had to adjust to environmental or other factors.  And, they won't be the last.  But to keep arguing against what the science is clearly telling us ... we're only hurting ourselves and the planet.

For Further Reading:
Methane isn’t just cow farts

Methane From Cattle Are 11% Higher Than Estimated