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President Biden is not a good negotiator, with a history of needlessly capitulating to the GOP. He's said he will not negotiate on the debt ceiling, but his hiring Jeff Zients as Chief of Staff does not inspire confidence.
From DWT, “nothing would fundamentally change”. Biden Unleashed: Appoints Predatory Plutocrat Chief Of Staff
…
Jake Johnson, who endeavored to explain why progressives are concerned about Zients’ new position, knows more about him than I do. He wrote that “Revolving Door Project executive director Jeff Hauser called the elevation of Zients to White House chief of staff a ‘catastrophic decision,’ saying in a statement that ‘the Biden administration has been at its best when it has been on the attack against corporate excesses that wide majorities of Americans find abhorrent. Americans are appalled by profiteering in healthcare— Jeff Zients has become astonishingly rich by profiteering in healthcare,’ said Hauser. ‘Americans are aghast at how social media companies have built monopolies and violated privacy laws— Zients served on the Board of Directors of Facebook as it was defending itself against growing attacks from both political parties.’” On Twitter, Hauser put the announcement like this: “Quite possible this is the day Ron DeSantis became president. Catastrophic decision.”
The Revolving Door Project’s Daniel Boguslaw and Max Moran wrote for The American Prospect last year that Zients— who was replaced as Covid-19 response coordinator back in April— has “controlled, invested in, and helped oversee” healthcare companies that “were forced to pay tens of millions of dollars to settle allegations of Medicare and Medicaid fraud.” “They have also been accused of surprise-billing practices and even medical malpractice,” Boguslaw and Moran noted. “Taken together, an examination of the companies that made Zients rich paints a picture of a man who seized on medical providers as a way to capitalize on the suffering of sick Americans. In the end, it seems to have all paid off.” “The most egregious violation is documented in a 2015 Justice Department settlement announcement,” they added. “Portfolio Logic— the investment firm Zients founded with his own money— agreed to pay almost $7 million to resolve allegations of fraudulent Medicare and Medicaid billing, involving a subsidiary (Pediatric Services of America Healthcare, or PSA) that it purchased in 2007.”
In the 1950s, CEOs were paid 20x more than the average worker. In the 1980s, CEOs were paid 59x more. In 2009, CEOs were paid 180x more. Today, CEOs are paid 399x more than the average worker.
We must put an end to this rampant greed and inequality.
At a time when half of older Americans have no retirement savings & 55% of seniors are trying to survive on less than $25,000 a year, our job is not to cut Social Security or raise taxes on workers. Our job is to expand it so all seniors can live with the dignity they deserve. pic.twitter.com/eCBTETdUOa
Out of nowhere two Senators proposed a social wealth fund to deal with the Social Security shortfall. Here's @ryanlcooper on why that's a pretty good idea, especially compared to another catfood commission.https://t.co/9AyIRcqbSd
Good breakdown of social wealth funds from @ryanlcooper. Similar funds in Norway & Alaska have been successful and cheap. But political hurdles are numerous to establish one, rendering a traditional outcome like slashing benefits/raising taxes more likelyhttps://t.co/OyJ165b0wlpic.twitter.com/oTQkLQbhA5
I’m not sure which is worse: the idea that Hochul just didn’t consult with the senate and stakeholders before announcing her pick, or that she did and then just ignored them.
It was innovative, no one had created a hip-hop musical on a historical theme, so it broke the mold. Probably makes a difference to see it in person; I watched it on one of the streaming platforms a couple of years ago. I was not mesmerized either.
Michelle Yeoh may end up winning the Oscar, although I think Cate Blanchett’s role in Tar is a force to reckon with. The ending is a little strange, but I’m old school, I think.
Growing up poor, all I had was the American dream. It kept me going: as a kid sleeping on the floor, a student scrubbing toilets, a Marine losing brothers in Iraq.
Today, too many Arizonans see their dream slipping away. I’m running for the U.S. Senate to win it back for you! pic.twitter.com/ofUvUYRcTP
Not just Arizonans, a lot of the middle class too remember; It’s Called the American Dream Because You Have To Be Asleep to Believe It” – George Carlin.
IN 2020, Democrats were closer than they ever had been to reforming U.S. intelligence agencies’ vast surveillance powers since the most damaging parts of the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act, or FISA, were signed into law almost two decades prior. By that point, Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations, showing that both the Bush and Obama administrations were sweeping up American phone records in bulk, had been festering in the public consciousness for years. The leaks — combined with right-wing outrage at how the FISA court had treated the Trump campaign — created an opening for civil liberties champions and their allies in Congress to start reining in rogue collection methods.
But on the cusp of their most promising effort to date, reformers were stymied by the unlikely alliance of then-Freedom Caucus Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and then-House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff, D-Calif. Schiff, desperate to prevent reforms which would alienate him from both House leadership and the intelligence community, worked to water down progressive demands, as was reported at the time. In exchange for Freedom Caucus votes, Jordan received concessions to increase the attorney general’s oversight of FISA and toothless language increasing penalties for deceiving the FISA court. Having successfully neutered progressives’ hopes, and secured Jordan’s vote to force the weakened bill through committee with an up-or-down vote, the bill was sent to the Senate, where a brief authorization extension was approved but ultimately killed when it came back to the House, dooming reform.
Now, as the deadline for another FISA reauthorization looms at the end of this year, both lawmakers are in influential positions to again crush reform. Despite being stripped of his seat on the Intelligence Committee by new GOP majority in the House, Schiff has endeared himself with Democratic Party leadership chairing Trump’s impeachment hearings. Jordan, christened with new powers wrung from House Speaker Kevin McCarthy during a bloody leadership election, now controls the House Judiciary Committee.
“One major battle coming up this year is warrantless wiretapping authorization,” David Segal, co-founder of the progressive advocacy organization Demand Progress, told The Intercept. “We expect the same factors from 2020 will be in play and will create a serious opportunity to reform these opaque government surveillance authorities.”
“We expect this fight to pit ideologues in both parties against the national security establishment which has been responsible for myriad surveillance abuses from warrantless wiretapping to the metadata collection Snowden revealed and surely practices that we are not even aware of right now.”
No, I think he’s still working on his message, and probably will announce a kickoff sometime soon. I have no idea what his fundraising looks like at this juncture. Katie Porter raised a cool million when she announced.
Rep. Ro Khanna said on Wednesday that he’s weighing a Senate bid in California.
But recent moves have sparked a new round of speculation among Democrats in several key states that the California congressman continues to have his eye on a higher office.
Khanna has retained consultants who are veterans of New Hampshire’s primary and Nevada’s. He paid one Iowa firm as well, before the Democratic National Committee made plans to revoke the state’s first-in-the-nation status. He’s also begun to more forcefully draw contrasts with potential political rivals, chief among them transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. Those close to Khanna say he’s keeping his options open ahead of a potential presidential run in 2028 or beyond. But others in his orbit are talking about an even more compressed timeline: running in 2024 if President Joe Biden decided not to.
“I think he would be a great United States senator,” said Mark Longabaugh, a Democratic strategist whose firm did media consulting for Khanna last year. “But I also think, should Biden decide not to run, I think he’s a very plausible candidate for president of the United States. So I think that those decisions are yet to be made.”
Khanna, for his part, denied in an interview that he would go for the White House should Biden ultimately forgo a reelection bid, saying “I’ll rule that out definitively.” He has also said he would support Biden if he were to run. More immediately, he has begun talking openly about a possible run for the Senate as his next step, as other California Democrats formally and informally announce their own bids.
“There are a lot of Bernie [Sanders] supporters and progressives who have reached out to me to encourage me to look at the race and what I’ve told them is I will do so over the next few months,” Khanna told POLITICO of a Senate bid.
But despite his protestations otherwise, some consultants whose firms have worked with the congressman in early primary states say they have a different impression about the extent of his political ambitions.
“I would just have to assume that while Ro has been incredibly interested in the great state of Iowa for a number of reasons, that perhaps it had to do with laying the groundwork for any potential future national bids,” said Stacey Walker, the former Iowa campaign co-chair for Sanders and founder of the Iowa-based firm Sage Strategies, which Khanna paid $8,000 last year. “If President Biden didn’t seek reelection, his name would have to be on the list of top contenders. That’s Stacey Walker speaking.”
Just before and during the 2022 campaign cycle, Khanna showered money far afield from his district in Silicon Valley — and even his would-be Senate territory. He paid $22,000 last year to Sanders’ former New Hampshire state director, Shannon Jackson; $25,000 to the Sanders-founded progressive group Our Revolution for digital advertising; and $8,000 each to political firms in Nevada and Iowa. Walker said the payment to the Iowa firm was for help setting up meetings with labor leaders in the state.
Jackson, who is close to Sanders, said he has been working with Khanna to help him build relationships with Sanders activists nationally as well as in states such as New Hampshire. He said Khanna “is not running in 2024,” but “[f]arther down the line, I believe he is one of the progressives who can build on Bernie’s work in the future.”
Khanna, meanwhile, said his payments to the Nevada firm were related to “building support in the Latino community around the country around a new economic patriotism, particularly focused on the Southwest.”
POLITICO has previously reported on Khanna making preparations for a future presidential run. The congressman has said his semi-regular travels to key presidential states help him commandeer a media spotlight on the issues he wants to discuss. But his moves evince the national ambitions of a politician who finds himself at a political crossroads. And what stands out now is that those with ties to him are openly floating the congressman as a potential contender if Biden doesn’t run even as other Democrats with higher ambitions have fallen in line following the midterm elections.
Khanna is seen as one of the leaders of his party’s progressive wing — a relative newcomer on the scene who has broad appeal and formidable skills. At 46, he is comfortable in liberal circles, Silicon Valley boardrooms and even Fox News, where he is ensconced as a regular. He has traveled the country campaigning in blue and red states alike on “economic patriotism.”
Khanna has also shown a willingness to take on members of his own party, including potential Democratic primary rivals. Most notably, as Southwest Airlines’ holiday season meltdown left some 15,000 flights canceled, Khanna dinged Buttigieg, a potential future presidential primary competitor and frequent target of Sanders supporters, tweeting that the Transportation secretary should take a tougher tack with the airlines. “The Department of Transportation’s job is not to be buddy-buddy with airlines,” Khanna said.
Dan Kanninen, a Democratic operative and veteran of multiple Democratic presidential campaigns, said Khanna’s criticism of Buttigieg represented a proxy war between two likely future leaders in the party.
“Some folks say ‘well, this is about Iowa, and about Pete winning Iowa,’” Kanninen said. “Maybe there’s some of that. But I don’t think it’s score-settling. I think it’s more forward-looking: ‘He’s a rival, and we’re trying to hurt a rival.’”
But others in the party said the attacks on the secretary were unfair and unfounded.
“Buttigieg literally was way ahead of the curve on this — months and months and months ahead of the curve, and to most consumers, Pete Buttigieg is a fucking hero,” said John Anzalone, Biden’s longtime pollster.
Khanna denied that his criticism of the Department of Transportation was done with an eye on politics. “I don’t think it has anything to do with Buttigieg,” he said. “Whoever the Department of Transportation secretary was, I would have said the same thing.”
Still, Khanna, who is well-connected among the activist left, likely knows tweaking Buttigieg carries with it a certain cachet. Asked about where all this is leading — a 2028 bid and a face-to-face primary debate with Buttigieg, perhaps? — Khanna didn’t close the door to a run at that time.
“We need to have a message of new economic patriotism that brings a production renaissance in America,” he said. “I believe that the message I’m articulating is the message that the Democratic Party should adopt post-President Biden’s eight years.”
History dictates that House members don’t advance that far in the POTUS Dem primaries. It will be interesting to see if Pelosi’s endorsement bears fruit for Schiff (I’m guessing it would be him over Ro, but who knows).
I will not vote for Byedone period. He is mentally unfit for office, and senility is becoming more and more an issue which it should have been with Raygun!
Schiff has probably always been a DNC/Turd Wayer. Lee’s age will hurt her. I’m backing Katie Porter; she knows her constituents including conservatives.
One of the AGFP grandmothers sent out this copy of a letter penned by doctors from Emory.
Emory Doctors Condemn Police Violence Against Cop City Protesters
Monday, January 23, 2023
As health care workers, we strongly condemn the repeated escalation of police violence in their interactions with members of the public protesting the construction of Cop City. On various instances, in both the streets of Atlanta as well as in the Weelaunee Forest/Intrenchment Creek Park which is under threat of destruction, police have used violence including reports of toxic chemical irritants such as tear gas, rubber bullets and now live ammunition which most recently resulted in the police killing of one of the forest defenders, Manuel ‘Tortuguita’ Teran. A year after police in the U.S. killed more people than any prior year since records started to be tracked in 2013, we recognize violence perpetrated by police to be harmful to public health. We are also concerned by the detentions and the charges of domestic terrorism levied at individuals arrested while protesting the destruction of the forest. This fits within the context of a disturbing pattern and threat to public health whereby the USA has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world; perpetuated by a judicial and legislative system that targets Black and Indigenous peoples, migrants, those living in poverty, those who are unhoused, as well as environmental and social activists.
The construction of Cop City will not solve a government’s failures to listen to the wishes of members of the community, its failure to stop the widening gap between rich and poor, the lack of affordable housing, the negative effects of gentrification and racism, or the poor and unequal access to nutritious food, healthcare and mental health services. As physicians, we recognize that these failures have negative consequences on the public’s mental and physical health. Instead of strengthening community health, Cop City will be a dangerous attempt to invest in harmful and violent solutions, strengthening the corporate and political powers that seek profit over the well-being of the people, while simultaneously eroding and transforming natural and public spaces into privately owned property. The public health evidence for developing healthy and thriving communities strongly opposes the expansion of policing and its subsequent violence. All Atlanta communities deserve more life affirming investments, not those that value private property over human life.
For the well-being of the city and its residents, it is imperative that all police forces cease their continued escalation and violent activity by permanently withdrawing from the forest. We call on Georgia State University to end its support of the Cop City project and also the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) project. We also call on Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens, the Atlanta city council and the Dekalb County government to withdraw from all plans regarding the construction of Cop City; and for the Dekalb County government to withdraw from the land swap with Ryan Millsap and instead keep Intrenchment Creek Park a public park. We also call on Brasfield & Gorrie to end their contract with the Atlanta Police Foundation and cease all construction that furthers the destruction of the forest which has and will harm the community and the public health.
Signed, Michel Khoury, MD, Co-director of Georgia Human Rights Clinic Amy Zeidan, MD, Co-director of Georgia Human Rights Clinic Mark Spencer, MD, Co-Leader, Internal Medicine Advocacy Group Suhaib Abaza, MD, Co-founder, Campaign Against Racism ATL chapter Social Medicine Consortium
Greedy pharma firms rip off Americans while Pfizer, Moderna swim in profits
5 of the largest US pharma firms totaled $80 billion in profits, but millions of Americans can’t afford medicine
By Sen. Bernie Sanders
There is a lot of discussion about how “divided” our nation is and, on many issues, that is absolutely true. But on one of the most important matters facing our country the American people – Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Progressives, Conservatives – could not be more united. And that is the need to take on the unprecedented corporate greed of the pharmaceutical industry and to substantially lower the outrageously high price of prescription drugs.
Today, millions of Americans are making the unacceptable choice between feeding their families or buying the medicine they need. Seniors from Vermont to Alaska are forced to split pills in half and many have died because they did not have enough money to fill their prescriptions.
All over this country, the American people are asking why it is that they pay, by far, the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs?
Why is it that nearly one out of every four adults in America cannot afford their prescription medication?
Why do nearly half of all new drugs in the United States cost more than $150,000 a year?
Several years ago, I took a busload of people with diabetes from Detroit, Michigan, to a drugstore in Windsor, Ontario. There, they were able to purchase the same insulin products they bought in the United States for one-tenth the price.
How is it that in Canada and other major countries the same medications manufactured by the same companies, sold in the same bottles are available for a fraction of the price that we pay in the United States?
The answers can be summed up in three words: Follow the money.
Over the past 25 years, the pharmaceutical industry has spent $8.5 billion on lobbying and over $745 million on campaign contributions to buy politicians. Incredibly, last year, the drug companies hired over 1,700 lobbyists including the former congressional leaders of both major political parties – over 3 pharmaceutical industry lobbyists for every Member of Congress.
The situation has become so absurd that Pfizer donated a million dollars to the Republican Party in Kentucky to expand its headquarters named after Senator Mitch McConnell, after Pfizer increased its profits by 140% in 2021 to $22 billion.
Meanwhile, as Americans die because they cannot afford the medications they need, five of the largest drug companies in the U.S. made nearly $80 billion in profits last year (a 104% increase from the previous year) while the CEOs of just 13 pharmaceutical companies made over $1 billion in total compensation in 2021.
Over the past decade, 14 major pharmaceutical companies spent $747 billion not to make life-saving drugs more affordable, but to make their wealthy shareholders richer by buying back their own stock and handing out huge dividends – a sum that is $87 billion more than what they spent on research and development.
Examples of corporate greed within the pharmaceutical industry are limitless. Let’s start with Moderna. This is a company that received $1.7 billion from U.S. taxpayers to research and develop the COVID-19 vaccine and billions more to distribute it to the American people. As a result, Moderna made $19 billion in profits over the past two years and its CEO (Stéphane Bancel) became a billionaire who is now worth over $6 billion. What is Moderna doing to thank the American taxpayer for their generous support? It plans to raise the price of the COVID-19 vaccine by 400% up to $130 when it goes on the commercial market. Meanwhile, it costs just $2.85 to manufacture the product. And, by the way, Moderna has already approved a $926 million golden parachute for Mr. Bancel once he leaves the company.
Moderna is far from alone. A number of years ago, the former CEO of Gilead became a billionaire by charging $1,000 for Sovaldi, a hepatitis C drug that was discovered by scientists at the Veterans Administration, costs just $1 to manufacture, and could be purchased in India for $4.
The Japanese drugmaker Astellas, which made a billion dollars in profits in 2021, recently raised the price of the prostate cancer drug Xtandi by more than 75% in the United States to nearly $190,000. This is a drug that was invented by federally funded scientists at UCLA and can be purchased in Canada for one-sixth the US price.
Last year over 1 million Americans with diabetes had to ration insulin because they could not afford to take it as prescribed. Why? In large part because Eli Lilly, which made $5.6 billion in profits in 2021, increased the price of Humalog by 1200% since 1996 to $275 while its CEO made nearly $50 million in compensation making him one of the highest-paid pharmaceutical CEOs in America. Humalog costs an estimated $8 to produce and can be purchased for about one-tenth the price in Canada.
It does not have to be this way. The reality is that if Congress had the courage to take on the greed of the pharmaceutical industry, we could cut the price of prescription drugs in America by at least 50%. How? By preventing the pharmaceutical industry from charging more for prescription drugs in the U.S. than they do in Canada, Britain, Germany, France and Japan – a concept that is not only supported by progressives, but former President Donald Trump. I will soon be re-introducing legislation in the Senate to do just that.
There is no rational reason why the HIV treatment Biktarvy costs $45,540 per year in the U.S but only $7,500 per year in France. Or why a weekly dose of the autoimmune medicine Enbrel costs $1,762 in the U.S. but just $300 in Canada. Or why a vial of insulin costs $98.70 in the U.S., but just $11 in Germany.
A life-saving drug is not effective if a person who needs that drug cannot afford it. How many more Americans must die before Congress finally has the guts to stop the pharmaceutical industry from getting away with murder?
$8.5 billion + $745 million = a helluva lot of coin in bribes. 1700 craporate bribers aka “lobbyists” is one big army of $$$$influence$$$$. Nothing new neither.
The American way, If they cant afford our product and if they die- they die, but we made our profit goal from the ones the could pay for our price gouging.
Wow. @MorePerfectUS investigation finds that Kyrsten Sinema received more than $40,000 from private equity after killing a bill closing tax loopholes for private equity.
Sinema “interned” at a winery owned by a private equity CEO who hosted the event. https://t.co/5kqfALvftw
McCarthy announces these 9 Republicans on the Rules Committee.
The Massie-Norman-Roy trio is hugely consequential. They’re among the most hard-right members of the House GOP and, if they vote together, will usually be able to approve or block any bill from reaching the floor. pic.twitter.com/pkel33bVY8
“It will get resolved. And it will involve some spending decisions on the part of the administration. But there'll be a lot of standoffs and brinkmanship before that. And it will not be done unilaterally,” he says.
I read an essay co-penned by Bill McKibben in the NYT yesterday. The editors allowed a comment thread and it hit the 1000-plus mark quite fast. One comment summed up exactly what I’ve dealt with in my age group in terms of political awareness. (Warning: it’s lengthy.) ———————————- “I’m old 70+. I know many my age who are utterly clueless. They watch FOX all day long. I know many folks who are on the ‘dole’ (SSN) who vote GOP because Dems are socialist. Don’t ask them to define ‘socialism’, might as well ask them to define crypto-currency or a unicorn (what’s the difference). Cash the SSN check, run down to the liquor store for a case of Bud, sit on the sofa getting riled up watching Tucker on FOX. This is simultaneously an eye-rolling and forehead-slapping occasion for me. The GOP will throw you and your SSN and Medicare under the bus in a New York minute.” __oldBassGuy/massJan. 23 ————————————– See what I mean?
wpDiscuz
From DWT, “nothing would fundamentally change”.
Biden Unleashed: Appoints Predatory Plutocrat Chief Of Staff
…
There’s more – https://www.downwithtyranny.com/post/biden-unleashed-appoints-predatory-plutocrat-chief-of-staff
Yeah, similar to Sick Rott, Medicare ripoff crook. Surprised? Nope.
Hired to maintain the craprate status quo
Unfortunately, Wall Street owns the all three branches now. Little chance for that.
Their would be no short fall IF!!!
The more I read, the more I believe there is some serious political dirt on this Hochul.
No offense meant, but I always thought Miranda’s rap musical “Hamilton” was vastly over-rated. Still do.
It was innovative, no one had created a hip-hop musical on a historical theme, so it broke the mold. Probably makes a difference to see it in person; I watched it on one of the streaming platforms a couple of years ago. I was not mesmerized either.
Along the same lines…
I watched it on one of the streams, and I cannot say I was overly impressed either. But it’s innovative, even if I’m not crazy about the storyline.
Michelle Yeoh may end up winning the Oscar, although I think Cate Blanchett’s role in Tar is a force to reckon with. The ending is a little strange, but I’m old school, I think.
The cosmic pendulum is swinging back towards true progress, but with climate crisis worsening, will it be in time?
Thats the trillion dollar question
Not just Arizonans, a lot of the middle class too remember;
It’s Called the American Dream Because You Have To Be Asleep to Believe It” – George Carlin.
I’m rooting for Katie Porter and I like Barbara Lee, but there’s one Dem who I am definitely hoping doesn’t become a California senator.
https://theintercept.com/2023/01/23/surveillance-adam-schiff-jim-jordan-freedom-caucus/
Is Ro sitting this one out?
No, I think he’s still working on his message, and probably will announce a kickoff sometime soon. I have no idea what his fundraising looks like at this juncture. Katie Porter raised a cool million when she announced.
And from small donors, too. Sound familiar? 🙂 I want to see exactly where Ro stands.
Might be more interested in a presidential run.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/12/ro-khanna-says-hes-looking-at-the-senate-his-allies-are-talking-about-the-white-house-00077672
History dictates that House members don’t advance that far in the POTUS Dem primaries. It will be interesting to see if Pelosi’s endorsement bears fruit for Schiff (I’m guessing it would be him over Ro, but who knows).
I will not vote for Byedone period. He is mentally unfit for office, and senility is becoming more and more an issue which it should have been with Raygun!
Me either.
Nor i
Schiff has probably always been a DNC/Turd Wayer. Lee’s age will hurt her. I’m backing Katie Porter; she knows her constituents including conservatives.
Nope. SOS.
And how many billions to Pfizer and J&J ?
One of the AGFP grandmothers sent out this copy of a letter penned by doctors from Emory.
Emory Doctors Condemn Police Violence Against Cop City Protesters
Bernie Fox News OpEd
smdh
$8.5 billion + $745 million = a helluva lot of coin in bribes. 1700 craporate bribers aka “lobbyists” is one big army of $$$$influence$$$$. Nothing new neither.
The American way, If they cant afford our product and if they die- they die, but we made our profit goal from the ones the could pay for our price gouging.
Not that it matters except when it comes to the debt ceiling.
Well, they’ll just jam everything up so nothing passes for now.
T and R x 2, jcb!! 🙂
Yippie, keep rewarding Sinemachin.
I read an essay co-penned by Bill McKibben in the NYT yesterday. The editors allowed a comment thread and it hit the 1000-plus mark quite fast. One comment summed up exactly what I’ve dealt with in my age group in terms of political awareness. (Warning: it’s lengthy.)
———————————-
“I’m old 70+. I know many my age who are utterly clueless. They watch FOX all day long. I know many folks who are on the ‘dole’ (SSN) who vote GOP because Dems are socialist. Don’t ask them to define ‘socialism’, might as well ask them to define crypto-currency or a unicorn (what’s the difference). Cash the SSN check, run down to the liquor store for a case of Bud, sit on the sofa getting riled up watching Tucker on FOX. This is simultaneously an eye-rolling and forehead-slapping occasion for me. The GOP will throw you and your SSN and Medicare under the bus in a New York minute.”
__oldBassGuy/massJan. 23
————————————–
See what I mean?
oh hell just go to any website comment section, Alot of the comments i read tells me Humanity is doomed.