Robert Reich, Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California - Robert Reich Substack
Stephan: Like many who study democracy, including myself, Robert Reich is deeply concerned that American democracy is on life support and may perish after the November election unless the Democrats increase their majorities in the House and Senate and reclaim power in Red states. Reich lays out his thinking, with which I agree, in this essay.
Robert Reich
Decades ago, America’s wealthy backed a Republican establishment that believed in fiscal conservatism, anti-communism, and constitutional democracy. But today’s billionaire class is pushing a radically anti-democratic agenda for America — backing Trump’s lie that the 2020 election was stolen, calling for restrictions on voting, and even questioning the value of democracy.
Peter Thiel, the billionaire tech financier who is among those leading the charge, writes “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”
Thiel is using his fortune to squelch democracy. He donated $15 million to the successful Republican Ohio senatorial primary campaign of J.D. Vance, who alleges that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s immigration policy has meant “more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” And Thiel has donated at least $10 million to the Arizona Republican primary race of Blake Masters, who also claims Trump won the 2020 election and admires Lee Kuan Yew, the authoritarian founder of modern Singapore.
The former generation of wealthy conservatives backed candidates like Barry Goldwater, who wanted to conserve American institutions. Thiel and his fellow billionaires in the anti-democracy movement […]
Stephan: As you read this story keep in mind that at the same time as they are voting against terrorism prevention -- read White nationalist terrorism -- Republicans in Red states are also trying to get laws passed that allow anyone to carry a concealed weapon, with no background check, license, or training. What do you think will happen as a result of all this?
203 House Republicans on Wednesday voted against legislation to help monitor and prevent domestic terrorism just days after an avowed white supremacist and antisemite drove 200 miles to a Buffalo neighborhood and slaughtered 10 Black people at a local grocery store. Only one Republican, Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, voted with all the Democrats to pass the bill.
Three Republicans were original co-sponsors of the legislation. All three voted against it.
The bill is similar to one that passed the House just two years ago. Many Republicans who voted for that bill voted against the one that passed Wednesday by a 222-203 margin.
The move to try to block every Democratic bill they possibly can followed 192 House Republicans voting against a bill to help protect and expand the nation’s access to baby formula amid a shortage, and 9 Republicans voting against expanding access to families on government assistance.
“House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) urged members of his party to vote against the legislation,” The Washington Post reports. “He argued, in part, that the […]
Stephan: When the U.S. converted from a conscription model military to an all-volunteer meritocracy military, I can guarantee you that not a single person involved with that transition even thought about abortion as a factor to be considered. How do I know this? Because I was part of the team that did it, and I wrote most of the speeches and Congressional testimony explaining it.
Well, it turns out we missed an important consideration, as this article describes.
Thousands of demonstrators march to the Supreme Court during the abortion rights rally in D.C. on May 14. Credit: Craig Hudson / The Washington Post
Overturning Roe v. Wade could have disastrous consequences for the U.S. armed forces, and here’s how I know: When I was 21, I was drugged and raped violently while serving in the military, a crime that resulted in pregnancy.Sign up for a weekly roundup of thought-provoking ideas and debates
Had I not had access to abortion, the assault would have ended my career and derailed my life. Should Roe be overturned and access to abortion restricted for female service members across the United States, military readiness would be directly affected.
Women make up 14.4 percent of our active-duty military and about 18 percent of our reserve and National Guard. Rape in the military is prevalent: In 2018, the Defense Department reported that roughly 20,500 service members experienced sexual assault, up from 14,900 two years before.
Many states have trigger laws banning or criminalizing abortion that will go into effect as soon as Roe is […]
Stephan: MAGAt Republican Roger Stone thinks he can see a "Satanic Portal" above the White House, and anti-abortionist MAGAt Republican Catherine Gleen Foster, president of Americans United for Life, thinks street lights are powered by aborted fetuses being burnt in incinerators to power generators. Thirty-two percent of Republicans still believe the 2020 election was rigged to steal it from Donald Trump. And 319,000 Americans died from Covid, overwhelmingly Republican anti-vaxxers who voluntarily committed pandemic suicide by not getting vaccinated.
By any rational evaluation, it seems clear that about a third of the American adult population suffers from various forms of mental illness, and they have all signed up to be members of the Republican White supremacy christofascist cult. It is the Jim Jone followers drinking the poisoned Koolaid writ large.
The question is, as yesterday's vote revealed, can American democracy survive this madness? To be honest, I'm not sure.
It was only one half-hour into Wednesday’s congressional hearing on abortion access when it became clear that the Republican contributions to the day would be loonier than a QAnon message board.
Catherine Glenn Foster speaking during a congressional hearing. Credit: Screenshot/CSPAN
“In places like Washington D.C.,” fetuses are “burned to power the light’s of the city’s homes and streets,” claimed Catherine Glenn Foster, who had, just minutes before, sworn not to lie under oath. The GOP-summoned witness let loose the wild and utterly false accusation that municipal electrical companies are powered by incinerated fetuses.
Stephan: As I have been telling my readers since SR began anytime you read something promoting nuclear power that doesn't also address the issue of dismantling the reactor, and dealing with the radioactive waste it has produced is just nuclear power propaganda. Ever since December 20, 1951 when the first civilian nuclear power reactor became operational no one has come up with answers to those issues. This article describes the current attempt to do so, and it is not terribly promising and is going to cost billions.
FORKED RIVER, NEW JERSEY — The new owner took over the Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station in 2019, promising to dismantle one of the nation’s oldest nuclear plants at minimal cost and in record time. Then came a series of worrisome accidents.
One worker was struck by a 100-ton metal reactor dome. Another was splashed with radioactive water, according to internal incident reports and regulatory inspection reports reviewed by The Washington Post. Another worker drove an excavator into an electrical wire on his first day on the job, knocking out power to 31,000 homes and businesses on the New Jersey coast, according to a police report and the local power company.
All three incidents occurred on the watch of Holtec International, a nuclear equipment manufacturer based in Jupiter, Fla. Though the company until recently had little experience shutting down nuclear plants, Holtec has emerged as a leader in nuclear cleanup, a burgeoning field riding an expected wave of closures as licenses expire for the nation’s aging nuclear fleet.
Over the past three years, Holtec has purchased three plants […]
