I got home late but so far the #DemDebates seem to be this:
Amy Klobuchar: I’M the most Republican friendly Democrat on this stage. Here’s a folksy story (maybe it’s even true) to make me seem more relatable ……
Cory Booker: No, I’M the most Republican friendly Democrat. And if you squint, I’m Obama 2.0. Now here’s MY folksy story to seem more relatable. Now be nice to Republicans guys
Joe Biden: I took my meds tonight, so I’m sharp as a black. I MEAN SHARP AS A TACK. *massages Elizabeth Warren’s shoulders*
Kamala Harris: Obviously I’M the most Republican friendly Democrat here. And if you squint, I’m Hillary 2.0. NO WAIT…!
From the article: “Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been hosting informal talks and small, off-the-record dinners with conservative journalists, commentators and at least one Republican lawmaker in recent months to talk about issues like free speech and discuss partnerships.
The dinners, which began in July, are part of Zuckerberg’s broader effort to cultivate friends on the right amid outrage by President Donald Trump and his allies over alleged “bias” against conservatives at Facebook and other major social media companies.”
Decoration on the side of the throne of King Senusret I showing the theme of the unification of the Two Lands ‘Sema-Tawy’, which was associated with the Nile god, Hapi. He was replaced by Horus and Seth.
Furthermore, we have here one of the rare cases in which the image of Seth, god of confusion, power and desert, was not destroyed through the superstition of later generations.
Middle Kingdom, 12th Dynasty, reign of Senusret I, ca. 1971-1926 BC.
Limestone, from Al Lisht.
Now in the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. JE 31139
Ms. Hervin Khalaf, a 35 year old Kurdish political activist, was executed by Turkish forces. Trump is a Russian pawn, and his administration of traitors are doing Putin’s bidding. Trump’s decision to abandon Kurdish allies, made in a tweet, has and will cost more innocent people their lives.
A year after a neglected Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) power line sparked a wildfire that tore through northern California, presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday visited Chico, Calif., where many who fled the fire made a new home. He held a town hall the same day he released a new climate plan, in which he declared that the days of investor-owned utilities—with their profit incentives to underinvest in the electric grid and double down on fossil fuels—have to end.
He’s right: It is time for a massive public takeover of the nation’s electric grid.
The for-profit companies that reign over our energy system now have shown no meaningful sign of being willing to transform our energy system; they are much more interested in shareholder gains and business as usual. Together, for-profit utilities and fossil fuel companies have created powerful political-economic machines across the country to solidify the status quo of extraction and extortion. In contrast, democratic public ownership of our energy system could prioritize community benefit over profit, paving the way for a just and equitable energy system.
“We will end greed in our energy system,” says Sanders’ climate plan. “The renewable energy generated by the Green New Deal will be publicly owned.”
His plan comes as public power ownership campaigns mobilize across the country. California’s movement took off after the state’s largest for-profit utility, PG&E, requested a bailout after the fire forced the utility to declare bankruptcy under the weight of liability claims. Communities across the state are now demanding public ownership, and the company’s hometown of San Francisco has begun looking into municipalization.
In New York, in the midst of a July heat wave, Con Edison sacrificed low-income communities of color in Brooklyn by cutting their power to avoid a larger blackout. Residents responded with outrage, and Mayor Bill de Blasio, another presidential contender, called for kicking out the utility in favor of public ownership.
The birthplace of the monopoly for-profit utility, Chicago, just introduced an order to study the feasibility of taking over Commonwealth Edison after years of rate hikes and inaction on climate change. Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said that “through municipalization, Chicago could accelerate decarbonization, and implement a progressive rate structure that ensures better rates for working-class Chicagoans.”
Over the past months, multiple Democratic presidential candidates have come out in favor of democratizing our energy system. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (who this week dropped out to run again for governor) centered much of his plan for a clean energy economy on community-owned and community-led renewables. And Julian Castro—the former mayor of San Antonio, where one of the more progressive public utilities is located—has voiced support for policies that empower the public to set up democratic utilities not only for electricity but also internet services and water.
But Sanders has voiced the most direct support for 100% public power, and this demand is fundamental to his climate plan. Unlike other proposals to date, Sanders’ plan explicitly commits to using public dollars for everything, refusing to leave the transition to corporate investors who so far have failed the public. By doing so, the Green New Deal proposal also ensures that the benefits of the plan don’t disappear into the pockets of billionaires like Elon Musk but are directed toward a more equitable society. Publicly funded projects, when structured so communities have a say in the types of projects and jobs they create, also have the potential to be more accountable, and can prioritize marginalized communities’ access to high-paying, unionized public jobs and respect the rights of the communities where this new infrastructure is built.
Sanders’ plan envisions harnessing and expanding the four already-operating federal Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs) and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), as well as creating a fifth PMA, to build out renewable energy. It would inject $1.52 trillion into renewable energy expansion and $852 billion into energy storage, working particularly with publicly or cooperatively owned utilities. By 2035, this plan would essentially decommodify energy generation through the federal authorities. Unlike the TVA of the past, designed largely for the benefit of white men in search of work in the South, the entire plan is based on the Jemez Principles of environmental justice that focus on bottom-up organizing and including all people in decision-making.
Not really a revelation here, but I’ve learned to think of extreme wealth in new terms. The old adage that absolute power corrupts absolutely is, I think, true enough, but now I tend to think of it more like this: having a million dollars is kinda like having one infinity stone. Having several million dollars is maybe like having two infinity stones. Having a billion dollars is roughly the equivalent of having three infinity stones. But having several hundred billion dollars? That’s like having the whole infinity gauntlet. All you have to do is snap your fingers, and suddenly you can change reality. The rules no longer apply to you when you’re a multi, multi-billionaire. None of them. You can buy private islands to rape young girls, you can buy police forces, you can buy elections, you can change public opinion on a whim, and you can reshape your image into a benevolent god. You can even rewrite (whitewash) history and turn villains into heroes. Hell, you can literally buy the courts and presidents (in multiple countries), and even redefine words like “rape” and “torture” and “slavery” so that they no longer apply to you personally.
Across the United States, there are 556 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native nations. Each one has it’s own unique history and culture. American education has not bothered to tell us that Native people lived in peace and effectively governed themselves before the Europeans came along. American education has not informed us that Native Americans have been slighted ever since, not even being recognized as citizens (despite the fact that they were here first) until the 20th century.
But we don’t have to push these facts aside. We can stop celebrating a man that began a genocide and a terrible theft of land and culture, and start celebrating Indigenous Peoples for their rich history and their equal contributions to society.
To all Indigenous Peoples out there: we’re glad you’re here!
We will stand with you in your continued battle to be recognized as legitimate human beings instead of the stereotypes perpetuated by Columbus and those that came after him.
