Day: December 21, 2020

Closing Thought–21Dec20

All this threat of violence from the Far Right has a lot of us Americans worried about the possibility that these idiots will actually start a wave of violence. I mean they have threatened many government officials and even had there plans to kidnap and possibly kill the governor of Michigan thwarted by law enforcement.

The more the calls get louder the closer we get to this type of violence……

The former Governor of Mexico’s “violence-wracked” state of Jalisco died early Friday morning after being shot in the back while in a restaurant bathroom, the Guardian reports. Authorities say that Aristóteles Sandoval, 46, was vacationing in Puerto Vallarta when he was gunned down, per the New York Times. No suspects had been identified as of Friday, but some security experts tell the Times that the killing could be the work of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Security analyst Eduardo Guerrero says the cartel has “complete dominion” over the resort city located on Mexico’s Pacific coast: “No other group has the reach of these guys to assassinate a former governor,” he adds. “They are a cartel of great audacity, that isn’t intimidated, that aims at the highest levels.”

Sandoval, who was at the restaurant with four others, went to use the bathroom about 1:40am and was shot, according to reports. His two bodyguards attempted to evacuate him, but were met by more gunmen outside, and a bodyguard was seriously injured when shooting began. Sandoval died soon after at a hospital. The attack was “not a fortuitous or circumstantial act,” Jalisco Attorney General Gerardo Solís said, per the BBC. “There was a synchronization of events to find the former governor in his most vulnerable moment.” Sandoval’s killing may indicate that cartels are becoming more involved in local politics, the Times notes. “There are still questions to be asked about how separate politics and organized crime really are,” says analyst Falko Ernst. “This unleashes the beast.” Guerrero tells the paper that Mexico is going to see “unprecedented levels of electoral political violence” in the coming months.

Is this what these idiots have in store if they finally get the way and grow some spine to act?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

A Media Purge

The last few days of the Trump presidency and he, Trump, seems to be trying to make life miserable for the incoming president ……..

We hear all about the government purges….how politicians rid themselves of troublesome opponents…..(Stalin comes to mind)….well the US government news media is NO different since Trump boy toy has taken over command….

In June, a Steve Bannon ally and conservative filmmaker appointed by President Donald Trump took over running the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), a vast international network of news agencies funded and operated by the US government.

Within hours of introducing himself to employees, the new CEO, Michael Pack, purged four top officials. He then went on to ban visas for certain foreign reporters and began investigating journalists at the agency for suspected anti-Trump bias. In October, he announced he was eliminating the agency’s regulatory “firewall” — longstanding internal policies aimed at protecting the editorial independence of journalists at the agency from political interference from the government.

Critics accused Pack of abusing his power to turn America’s state-run news organizations, whose mission is to disseminate factual, unbiased news to people who live in countries where freedom of the press is either strongly curtailed or nonexistent, into Trump-friendly propaganda outlets.

While Pack and his team haven’t achieved a pro-Trump project, a federal watchdog has found accusations of gross mismanagement to be credible.

In letters to 11 whistleblowers on Wednesday night, the US Office of Special Counsel (OSC) — an investigative and prosecutorial government body — revealed that it had found “a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” at the USAGM, which oversees four media organizations: Voice of America, Middle East Broadcasting, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

https://www.vox.com/2020/12/3/22150002/special-counsel-whistleblower-global-media

This seems to be a common thread running through the Trump administration…..MISMANAGEMENT.

Plus the use of overt propaganda is a common thread as well…..NO fact based information.

And the mental midgets dance to their doom.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Another Inadequate Stim Package

It is reported that Congress has reached a deal for the next round of stim payments…….I do not think it will do much to avoid the coming doom for many American families.

What will this stim package be?

Congressional leaders announced Sunday that a COVID relief bill is in the bag, the New York Times reports. “We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: More help is on the way,” said Sen. Mitch McConnell. With just hours left before the feds ran out of money, the House and Senate came to terms on a $900 billion stimulus package that will include direct payments along with support for schools, hospitals, businesses, and vaccine distribution. Once on paper, the agreement will be fused with a bigger spending measure to keep America running for the rest of the fiscal year. Cost: $2.3 trillion.

Sources tell the Washington Post that many Americans will receive $600 stimulus checks, but the number will be lower for those who banked over $75,000 the preceding year—a similar arrangement to the last stimulus checks. Looks like Congress will also continue unemployment benefits reaching up to $300 per week, possibly starting Dec. 27. Final numbers are yet to come, and McConnell said lawmakers just need to “promptly finalize text” as they “avoid any last-minute obstacles.”

Sorry but that $600 will do little to calm the nerves of the people……

Democratic and Republican congressional leaders late Sunday reached an agreement on a roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief package that would send $600 direct payments to many Americans, boost unemployment benefits by $300 per week, and provide billions of dollars in funding for vaccine distribution, rental assistance, and other programs.

Announcing the deal on the Senate floor Sunday evening, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)—who has repeatedly stonewalled additional relief since the summer, when he said he had “not yet felt the urgency” of passing more aid—declared, “We can finally report what our nation has needed to hear for a very long time: More help is on the way.”

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/20/600-not-enough-say-progressives-congressional-leaders-reach-covid-relief-deal

Progressives fought for a better deal for the people….but as usual they we silenced by the spineless Centrists…..I agree with Bernie on this situation……

Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday took to the Senate floor to once again make the case for sending another round of $1,200 stimulus checks to working-class Americans, denouncing as “unconscionable” the fact that U.S. billionaires have seen their wealth grow by $1 trillion during nine months of crisis while ordinary people have received just one direct payment from Congress.

“One trillion dollars for billionaires. One $1,200 check for the working class,” said the Vermont senator. “That is immoral and that has got to change.”

Following Sen. Josh Hawley’s (R-Mo.) unsuccessful effort earlier Friday, Sanders requested unanimous consent to pass legislation that would provide $1,200 direct payments to U.S. adults and $500 to children, a relief proposal modeled after the stimulus checks provided under the CARES Act.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/18/after-billionaires-gained-1-trillion-wealth-says-sanders-it-not-radical-demand-more

The day after Christmas is not looking bright or promising for the masses of Americans struggling to survive day to day.

The package, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called a “strong shot in the arm,” does nowhere near enough to make whole the over 10 million people who have lost their jobs since March and the millions whose hours or wages have been reduced.

The bill does not provide health insurance for the estimated 15 million who have lost it during the pandemic. It will not house the over 162,000 who have been evicted during the pandemic, nor does it provide enough money to cover the nearly $6,000 in average back rent owed by some 12 million people, according to Moody’s analytics.

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/12/21/stim-d21.html

It equals a band-aid for a gun shot wound.

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Iran And Nukes And Sanctions

The news is that the new president, Joe Biden, will return to the nuke deal with the Iranians……but what will all that mean after the gutting of a deal from the Trump clowns?

Iran has stated that they will return to the table as soon as the US does….

Reiterating his desire to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that Tehran could come into compliance with the agreement within an hour of the US doing so.

Rouhani also said that Iran would not accept any preconditions for returning to the deal, known as the JCPOA, including limitations on Iran’s ballistic missile program.

(antiwar.com)

The IAEA has said to return to the Nuke deal would require a new agreement…..

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog told Reuters in an interview published on Thursday that a new agreement would be needed to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

Over the past year, Iran began gradually violating its commitments to the JCPOA, a response to the US unilaterally withdrawing from the deal in 2018 by reimposing sanctions. Iran’s president and other officials insist these violations are easily reversible and that Iran can quickly come back into compliance in exchange for sanctions relief. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) seems to disagree.

“I cannot imagine that they are going simply to say, ‘We are back to square one’ because square one is no longer there,” Rafael Grossi told Reuters. “There is more (nuclear) material, … there is more activity, there are more centrifuges, and more are being announced. So what happens with all this?”

…

Iran’s public stance on the deal is that they will not negotiate any new arrangements with Washington until the US lifts sanctions and returns to its commitments under the JCPOA. For his part, Joe Biden has said he plans to work with Iran to return to the JCPOA and then negotiate a follow-on deal on top of it. Biden’s plan seems like it could be acceptable with Tehran, but Grossi’s comments are a sign of the complications ahead.

(antiwar.com)

Will the sanctions against Iran be rolled back by the Biden Admin.?

According to a report from Reuters, the incoming Biden administration will continue to use sanctions as a foreign policy weapon, a favorite tool of President Trump.

Sources told Reuters that when Joe Biden is inaugurated on January 20th, he will immediately begin to reshape US foreign policy but will take time to deliberate over sanctions on top targets like China and Iran.

The report raises questions about Biden’s Iran policy. The former vice president has said he plans to work with the Islamic Republic to return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which would require the US to lift sanctions.

…

The report said Biden will sort through the Trump administration’s sanctions to decide what will be kept in place and what could be lifted. The sources said that while his strategy might be slightly different, Biden will make it clear that sanctions are still on the table.

“It won’t be a pullback or a push forward,” one source close to Biden’s transition team told Reuters. “It will be a readjustment in the use of the sanctions tool.”

Some changes Biden could make, according to the sources, are lifting sanctions on the International Criminal Court that the Trump administration slapped on over the court’s investigation of US war crimes in Afghanistan. Biden could also increase sanctions on Russia for its alleged role in the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.
(antiwar.com)

This will be an interesting test for the Biden policies…..I think he will try hard to make his own way….but will it succeed?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”