Stephan: Today I read that Jeff Bezos is the first man in the history of the world to have a net worth of $200 billion. To give you a sense of scale there are 189 countries in the world, and that is more than the Gross Domestic Product of 137 of them. Jeff Bezos is personally the 52nd richest nation in the world, just behind New Zealand at $204 billion, and Greece at $203 billion. It made me think again, I have done stories on this earlier (see SR archives), how billionaires, in general, are doing under Trump during this pandemic when 20% of American kids aren't really sure where their next meal is coming from, or if it is coming at all, and tens of millions of Americans couldn't write a $4o0 check in a crisis. Here's what I found.
As President Donald Trump and top members of his administration continue their push to deliver another round of tax cuts to rich investors, an analysis published Tuesday by the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness showed that U.S. billionaires have seen their collective wealth soar by nearly $800 billion since Covid-19 began spreading rapidly across the country in March.
The new research found that between March 18 and August 20—a five-month period in which the economy tanked and tens of millions of people across the U.S. lost their jobs—the combined wealth of America’s more than 600 billionaires jumped by $792 billion, bringing their collective net worth to a staggering $3.7 trillion.
“By demanding even more tax cuts for the rich at this crucial moment, President Trump shows he is as out of touch with our nation’s needs as America’s billionaires are disconnected from our nation’s misery.” —Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness
“For billionaires, this is a heads we win, tails you lose economy, boosted by Trump policies to funnel wealth to the top,” Chuck Collins, director of the IPS Program on Inequality, […]
Stephan: As I have watched the Republican convention this week, and listened to speaker after speaker spew baldfaced lies, describe the Pandemic in the past tense as 75,301 new cases were reported and 1,969 died, I saw the fantasy world of the Trumpers on display. The talk about how the violence we are seeing in the news each day is the fault of the Democrats. They describe how great the economy is, and how any problems are due to the Democrats, when Trump and the Republicans in Congress have controlled the economy for the past four years, and on and on. It made me think it would be useful to list all Trump's lies and failed promises on those issues. So here is a top 40 list -- the whole list would require you to read several hours worth of material. It will stand as the Friday Republican Scum Report.
Trump voters. Nearly 4 years in, here’s an updated list of Trump’s 40 biggest broken promises.
1. He said coronavirus would “go away without a vaccine.” You bought it. But it didn’t. While other countries got the pandemic under control and avoided large numbers of fatalities, the virus has killed more than 130,000 Americans*, and that number is still climbing.
2. He said he won’t have time to play golf if elected president. But he has made more than 250 visits to his golf clubs since he took office – a record for any president – including more trips during the pandemic than meetings with Dr. Fauci. The total financial cost to America? More than $136 million.Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.
3. He said he would repeal the Affordable Care Act, and replace it with something “beautiful.” It didn’t happen. Instead, 7 million Americans have lost their health insurance since he took office. He has asked the Supreme Court to strike down the law in the middle of a global pandemic with no plan to […]
Stephan: As I have been watching the Republican convention four things have stood out for me. First, the grotesque violation of the Hatch Act and the misuse of our public properties and symbols; I wonder who is paying for all the staff these violations require. Is the RNC convention being funded by taxpayers? Has anyone else noticed that last night when Trump entered the scene with two marines opening the door and then standing at attention it was an exact mirror of Putin's entrance in the Kremlin? Second, the lies that make up almost every presentation. Third, the complete lack of any detailed policy statement; it is nothing but a homage do our "Dear Leader". Fourth, the blatant racism. It isn't just the endless White blonde-haired women, it is also the fear-mongering; they're (Black and Brown people) coming to steal your suburbs. And it is this last that particularly concerns me because it is deliberately designed to stimulate hate and violence.
Why am I so concerned about that. Precisely because of what just happened in Kenosha, Wisconsin. As you read this story note particularly the support these White militiamen received from the police. Remember that the police have killed over 700 people so far this year.
Note that this 17-year-old could not legally carry such a weapon, or even buy it. So who did buy it for him? Is he living at home? How did his parents let him go out armed like that? Why didn't the police confiscate the weapon?
I think we are moving into a period where violence caused by the White militias is going to become an increasing problem. These are domestic terrorists. They seek violence.
Kyle Rittenhouse
Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old charged with shooting three people — two of them fatally — during a Kenosha protest Tuesday evening, considered himself a militia member trying to protect life and property, according to videos, interviews and social media posts.
Video recorded in the hours before the shooting shows Rittenhouse hanging out with older armed men who say they’re protecting a car lot. Rittenhouse, of Antioch, Ill., also did a video interview with the Daily Caller in front of a boarded up building.
“People are getting injured and our job is to protect this business,” Rittenhouse says in the clip. “And my job also is to protect people. If someone is hurt, I’m running into harm’s way. That’s why I have my rifle; I’ve gotta’ protect myself, obviously. But I also have my med kit.”
Earlier Tuesday, a local militia group known as the Kenosha Guard created a Facebook event called “Armed Citizens to Protect our Lives and Property.” The invitation was re-posted by the far-right website Infowars.
The Kenosha Guard’s Facebook page, which was taken down late Wednesday morning, called it a social club. […]
Stephan: This article lays out some important facts about Trump, his administration, and White militia terrorism.
In my view, we are seeing this trend develop because it is being encouraged and stimulated by Trump, and I think that is undeniable.
Elizabeth Neumann spent March 13 and 14 of 2019 at a conference in the picturesque Spanish port city of Málaga. The topic: terrorism. Western leaders were deeply worried about the dangers foreign terrorist fighters traveling back from places like Iraq, Libya and Syria would pose to their home countries. And that’s what Neumann expected to dominate the two-day event.
Neumann was DHS’s assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy at the time, handling counterterrorism work from the Department of Homeland Security’s headquarters. In Málaga, a history-drenched resort town on Spain’s Costa del Sol that once marked the fault line between the Muslim and Christian worlds, she and her counterparts from scores of countries spent long hours talking about the terrorism threats that concerned them most. After a while, she began to see a pattern: Though concerns about instability in the Middle East dominated most public discussions on counterterrorism, about 80 percent of the leaders at the conference ranked far-right extremism among their top concerns.
The next morning, when Neumann woke up early to catch a cab […]
Stephan: In the richest country in the world, the idea that hunger and food stress not only exists but is prevalent is hard for many to believe apparently, and yet that is the reality. This is one of the most fundamental demonstrations that we are a very sick culture whose values are badly dysfunctional.
Neisha Davis cradles brown paper lunch bags in the crook of one arm, while holding on to Demitri, her wriggling baby son, in the other and keeping a careful eye on Naya, her four-year-old daughter, as she runs around the church car park with another little girl.
It’s hectic but the free packed lunches have become a crucial part of their daily nutrition. So everyday at noon the family make the two-mile journey from Homewood, a low income predominantly African American Pittsburgh neighbourhood with no grocery stores, to the East End Community Ministry’s pop-up lunch stall in East Liberty.
“The lunches help a lot, the food is healthy and it fills them up, the food stamps are never enough,” said Davis, 36, who has enough freshly cooked hot dogs, fruit pots, carrots, and milk and juice cartons for her eldest two children who stayed home.
Once a week or so Davis also picks up groceries from the food pantry which provides fresh produce rarely available at her local convenience stores. “I was raised to be humble, and right now I’ve […]
