Jake Johnson, Staff Writer - AlterNet / Common Dreams
Stephan:
I am becoming increasingly worried that because the Republicans really don't have real programs, all they have is grievances and theater so the debt ceiling is an easy cheap shot, if you don't care about fostering wellbeing. It is important to remember that the Republican Party, on the basis of what they are doing, that can be objectively measured, not what they are saying, have made it clear they don't care about the wellbeing of middle-class or poor people. Here's the proof.
Republicans on the House Budget Committee offered a preview Wednesday of the programs they’re looking to cut or overhaul as part of any agreement to lift the debt ceiling, a target list that includes food aid for low-income families, climate justice and electric vehicle funding, student debt relief, and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The proposed cuts were outlined in a press release issued by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chair of the House Budget Committee.
In total, Arrington put forth roughly $780 billion in proposed spending cuts, nearly half of which would come from reversing President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation—a plan that is currently blocked pending a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Notably absent from the House GOP’s outline was any mention of the U.S. military budget, which currently represents more than half of the federal government’s discretionary spending […]
You may remember that a week or so ago, In the Mississippi edition, I made the comment that The United States, which has the largest incarcerated population of any nation in the world. (See SR Archive). as turned that population into a new kind of slavery that has emerged in the United States. Here is much more on this trend that is hardly being noticed.
Wages for prisoners range from 13 cents to 52 cents an hour. Credit: Anadolu Agency / Getty
When prison reformer Johnny Perez was incarcerated he made sheets, underwear and pillowcases working for Corcraft, a manufacturing division of New York State Correctional Services that uses prisoners to manufacture products for state and local agencies. His pay ranged between 17 cents and 36 cents an hour.
“We have a system that forces people to work and not only forces them to work but does not give them an adequate living wage,” said Perez. “Slavery by any name is wrong. Slavery in any shape or form is wrong.”
Perez is now part of a nationwide movement that hopes to reform what some have called the “slavery loophole” that allows incarcerated people to be paid tiny sums for jobs that – if they refuse to do them – can have dire consequences.
The 13th amendment of the US constitution, ratified in 1865, abolished slavery and involuntary servitude. But it contained an exception for “a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted”.
President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on the economy, outlining his plan to to target and end bank ‘junk fees’, in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on October 26, 2022 in Washington, D.C. Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
In what was probably the first reference to “junk fees” during a State of the Union address, President Joe Biden said Tuesday that his administration is cracking down on “those hidden surcharges too many companies use to make you pay more” and urged Congress to pass legislation expanding on the effort.
“The idea that cable, internet and cell phone companies can charge you $200 or more if you decide to switch to another provider? Give me a break,” Biden said to applause.
Junk fees — various late fees, overdraft fees and service fees — are quietly added to the total cost of products ranging from checking accounts to airplane tickets, and Biden is likely telling voters that he is looking out for their pocketbooks. However, advocates say the most harmful junk fees are not found on receipts from […]
Kara Fox, Krystina Shveda, Natalie Croker and Marco Chacon, Reporters - CNN Wire Service / The Mercury News
Stephan:
This was written three weeks ago, so it misses several mass murders, Michigan, for instance. They happen so frequently now -- we have had 67 mass killings (4 people or more died) in the last 46 days -- that it is hard to keep them all straight. I spent part of the day watching CNN. MSNBC, and BBC interview school children who have experienced. not one but two mass shooting events. Think about that for a minute. And then think about Republicans who are going onto the floor of Congress wearing jewelry pins of AK-47s and AR-15s, the favorite weapon of mass murderers, as signed they advocate for reduced gun regulations. We are a very sick and increasingly violent country.
America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier. Credit: CNN
Monterey Park. Atlanta. Orlando. Las Vegas. Newtown. Parkland. San Bernardino. Uvalde.
Ubiquitous gun violence in the United States has left few places unscathed over the decades. Still, many Americans hold their right to bear arms, enshrined in the US Constitution, as sacrosanct. But critics of the Second Amendment say that right threatens another: The right to life.
America’s relationship to gun ownership is unique, and its gun culture is a global outlier.
As the tally of gun-related deaths continue to grow daily, here’s a look at how gun culture in the US compares to the rest of the world.
There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS). No other nation has more civilian guns than people.
The Falkland Islands — a British territory in the southwest Atlantic Ocean, claimed by Argentina and the subject of a 1982 war — is home to the world’s second-largest stash of civilian […]
In Florida, in Texas, and in other Republican-controlled states governors and state legislatures are trying to reduce or eliminate gun regulations. They would like the regulations to allow even young children to carry canceled weapons, with no licensing or training. Basically, the Republican Party wants the number of mass murders by random shooters to go up in the United States. Do you live in a Red state? How do you feel about that?
America’s favorite mass murder weapon, the AR-15 assault rifle. Credit CNN
I was in Israel in November when two bombs went off at bus stops in Jerusalem, several miles from where I was renting an apartment for the month. Two people died and about 20 were injured. I happened to be in Haifa, about two hours away, when it happened. When I returned later that day, I got a call from a friend back home asking if I was OK.
I said yes, and what about you, I asked, referring to a shooting that had just occurred in Chesapeake, Va., in which a Walmart employee opened fire in the store, killing six.
He paused and said, “well, you’ve got a point.”
America needs to look in the mirror to see just how sick it is, how accepting it is of domestic terrorism by lone wolves, how in love it is with guns, how indifferent it has become to mass shootings, day after day after day.
Monday night, a 43-year-old gunman, Anthony McRae, opened fire on the Michigan State campus […]
