Biden’s rambling justification of the status quo was peppered with straw men, invocations of false scarcity and non-solutions. He pitted working-class Americans against each other, implying that people who attend private schools aren’t worthy of relief, as though poor students don’t also attend such schools. He said that money would be better spent on early childhood education instead of debt cancellation, as if educators aren’t themselves drowning in student debt, and as if we can’t address both concerns at once. He suggested relying on parents or selling a home at a profit to settle your debt, a luxury those without intergenerational wealth or property cannot afford. And he touted various programs, including Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), that have totally failed borrowers: over 95% of PSLF applicants have been denied.
In contrast to Biden’s smug comments, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley recently revealed that she defaulted on her student loans. Similarly, at a recent Debt Collective event, congressional hopeful Nina Turner said that she and her son owe a combined $100,000. Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams has, of course, proudly confessed to being in debt, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has said that becoming a congressperson was easier than paying off her debt. Philadelphia councilmember Kendra Brooks (who is planning to introduce a city resolution calling on the Biden administration to cancel all student debt) has also spoken out about her own struggles as a borrower. Their experience and candor – and commitment to real solutions including cancellation – demonstrate why we need debtors, not millionaires, in our public offices.
Let’s be clear about another thing. Biden ABSOLUTELY has the legal authority to use executive power to cancel all federal student debt. Congress granted this authority decades ago as part of the Higher Education Act. It’s even been put to the test: in response to the Covid pandemic, Donald Trump and his former education secretary, Betsy DeVos, used that authority three times to suspend payments and student loan interest.
Biden owes this country debt relief not only because he campaigned on it, but because he helped cause the problem. A former senator from Delaware, the credit card capital of the world, he spent decades carrying water for financial interests and expanding access to student loans while limiting borrower protections.
Instead of acknowledging this generational disparity, Biden reiterated a common criticism of more generous forms of student debt cancellation – that it would help the privileged, specifically the minuscule subset of debt-holders who attended the Ivy League. But as Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response: “Very wealthy people already have a student loan forgiveness program. It’s called their parents.” As things stand, poor and working people typically pay more for the same degrees than their affluent counterparts due to years or decades of monthly payments and accumulating interest. Our debt-financed higher education system is a tax on poor people who dare pursue a better life.
More “Nightbreed” comics.“Hellraiser-Nightbreed: Jihad”.
Both “Nightbreed” and “Hellraiser” were given comic series by Marvel’s Epic Comics imprint. Epic was an attempt to compete with the likes of Dark Horse Comics with more adult themed comics including creator owned projects and film adaptations.
Since Epic had two great Clive Barker creations, they made the epic decision to cross them over. The result is an awesome confrontation between the Tribes of the Moon and the Cenobites.
In the story, The Cenobites were a driving force for pushing the Nightbreed into hiding. Since the Cenobites want to impose their idea of order on a chaotic universe, the Nightbreed’s uniqueness made them targets. Pinhead and a force of Cenobites have decided to finished the job the humans started and destroy the Nightbreed. It also brings into conflict Baphomet, the pagan god of the Nightbreed and Leviathan, the lord of the Labyrinth and god of the Cenobites, possibly the Devil himself.
It makes for a great horror crossover.If you can, track it down and read it. It is very well written, the art is beautiful, and along with the other “Nightbreed” comics it is the closes we will get to a sequel to the film. It comes in two books.
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
