August 24, 2021

Defying War Hawks, Biden Plans to Stick With Afghan Exit Deadline

President Joe Biden reportedly intends to stick with his self-imposed August 31 deadline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, rejecting calls for an extension from hawkish GOP lawmakers, members of his own party, and European allies.

During a Tuesday call, according to the Wall Street Journal, Biden told the leaders of G7 nations that the U.S. is on track to meet the withdrawal deadline and that the Pentagon is developing contingency plans in the case of any delay.

The U.S. president's decision to stand by the August 31 deadline provoked immediate howls of outrage from pro-war Republican lawmakers, who accused Biden of capitulating to the Taliban's demand for a timely withdrawal—even though the Pentagon has recommended adherence to the original deadline, warning that staying longer could pose security risks.

On Monday, as Common Dreams reported, Taliban leaders made clear that they would not accept any U.S. effort to push back the withdrawal date—and that any extension would "provoke a reaction."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/24/defying-war-hawks-biden-plans-stick-afghan-exit-deadline?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1629833595

August 23, 2021

We Reject the Right-Wing Attacks on Racial Justice and Our Classrooms

As of the middle of August, more than two dozen states have introduced—and 11 states have enacted—bills or rules to restrict the teaching of history and contemporary social realities. Right-wing activists have mounted similar attacks at school board meetings throughout the country. This stunning barrage of legislation and policies aims to ban teaching critical race theory (CRT), and supposedly “divisive topics” in the curriculum.

But the real target is the truth.

The anti-CRT campaign echoes the Big Lie that Trump won the election. It is the curricular counterpart to the wave of voter suppression laws promoted by the same far-right political forces that have tried to rewrite the history of the 2020 election and cover up the attempted coup on Jan. 6. Although the particular framing of these laws and penalties varies across states, they are all part of a coordinated campaign of repression meant to enforce a single emphatic message to educators: Shut up or else. The Republican sponsors of these measures fear that in the wake of last summer’s massive Black Lives Matter protests, the anti-racist debates and discussions that have permeated society are seeping into the classroom. With scary buzzwords and misleading framing, both right-wing and corporate media have amplified and spread the perception that classroom teachers are poisoning the minds of children, inviting a wave of harassment against them.

Some provisions of these laws are so sweeping one can imagine teachers finding it virtually impossible to follow the law even if they wanted to. In Tennessee, teachers are prohibited from even including any material in the curriculum that promotes “division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people.” This law would make it impossible to teach Thomas Jefferson’s letter proposing colonization of formerly enslaved people outside the United States or Andrew Jackson’s justification of the Indian Removal Act or Franklin Roosevelt’s “second bill of rights” speech. The penalties for violating these teaching bans range from fines levied against individual teachers and revocation of their teaching licenses, to withholding state funding and rescinding accreditation of school districts, to the threat of lawsuits by parents.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/08/23/we-reject-right-wing-attacks-racial-justice-and-our-classrooms

August 22, 2021

Ilhan Omar's Genuine Progress Indicator Act: An Important Step for Sustainability

On July 30, Representative Ilhan Omar introduced the Genuine Progress Indicator Act, which would require federal agencies to evaluate economic policies using the metric known as GPI, alongside the traditional Gross Domestic Product (GDP). If other representatives get on board, this could be an important step in building a socially and environmentally sustainable society.

GDP measures how much is bought and sold within an economy. It assumes that more is always better. The GPI is a more nuanced measure, and it subtracts for things that are bad for society and the environment. GDP was invented to try to calm boom and bust cycles in an economy. It was not intended by its inventors to measure the health of an economy. The GPI measures an aggregate of about 26 different factors and combines them into one simple number. It adds for things such as consumption and leisure, and subtracts for things such as inequality, pollution, and crime. Vermont, Maryland, Oregon, and several countries are already experimenting with using the GPI.

Economic growth is a nickname for increased GDP. Many nations, and many commentators on the economy, have come to use increased growth as an indicator of a healthy economy. They do this even though more growth can be terrible for the environment and for human wellbeing. More growth often goes along with increasing levels of poverty. GDP counts as positive things that are bad for society, such as more economic activity that has to happen to deal with a natural disaster. And GDP doesn’t measure bad things such as poverty, increased greenhouse gas emissions, or death from air pollution. In terrible times we can have high levels of inequality, the rich getting richer, pollution levels soaring and money being spent cleaning the pollution, and increased GDP. Focusing only on GDP discourages us from asking a deeper set of questions of our economic policies: What are we doing that helps us meet real human needs? What are we doing to develop environmentally sustainable practices?

GDP measures throughput in the money economy. The aspects of our world where we take care of each other without using money are invisible to it. Feminist economists have argued since the 1980s that much of what we do to meet our needs through household labor should be considered productive economic activity. If I cook dinner for friends, that does not count as economic activity in the GDP. If they buy dinner at a restaurant, it counts. Measuring an economy based on GDP encourages us to think that more buying and selling is in itself a good thing, even though a world where more of what we do to meet our needs is done without buying and selling is likely to be more satisfying than one where all labor becomes capitalist wage labor.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2021/08/22/ilhan-omars-genuine-progress-indicator-act-important-step-sustainability?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1629647574

August 19, 2021

No, George W. Bush doesn't deserve a pass on Afghanistan

It seems like only yesterday that the President of the United States was standing on the pile of rubble of the World Trade Center with a bullhorn telling the world, "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon." That iconic image of President George W. Bush promising vengeance 20 years ago was America's primal scream in the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the echoes of that scream still reverberate today.

But to watch the febrile pundits on TV and read the agitated screeds of hundreds of observers and experts over the past few days, you would never know that the Afghanistan "mission" came out of such a primitive war cry. The sad truth is the war was an act of revenge. The attacks of 9/11 were truly terrifying and wanting to hit back was a natural human response. But leaders are supposed to rise above such emotions and make rational decisions in the national interest. Clearly, that doesn't always happen. For a variety of reasons, they instead start wars, which are the most irrational human activity of all. America has been acting irrationally about Afghanistan ever since.

Of course, they always have a reason and the Afghanistan war had a bunch of them. It was said that we needed to invade to find the villainous mastermind Osama bin Laden who had been sheltered there. President Bush famously said, in another of his primitive statements that everyone seemed to relish, "Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." But he rejected an offer by the Taliban to hand over bin Laden in exchange for the U.S. to stop bombing their country. He wanted that war.

Sensing that it was important to provide some reasoning that wasn't quite as crude, it didn't take long for other rationales to quickly become part of the marketing for the war. There was also the long-held dream of such neoconservative think tanks as the Project for a New American Century of a Pax Americana, a grandiose plan to bring Jeffersonian democracy to the world at the hands of the mighty U.S. military. Where Bush had once promised a "humble" foreign policy, he now backed the idea that wreaking revenge by invading Afghanistan would be very good for Afghanistan.

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/18/no-george-w-bush-doesnt-deserve-a-pass-on-afghanistan/

August 19, 2021

US to erase student debt for those with severe disabilities

The Biden administration announced Thursday it will automatically erase student loan debt for more than 300,000 Americans with severe disabilities that leave them unable to earn significant incomes.

The move will wipe out more than $5.8 billion in debt, according to the Education Department, and it marks the start of a broader overhaul of a program that has been criticized for having overly burdensome rules.

“We’ve heard loud and clear from borrowers with disabilities and advocates about the need for this change and we are excited to follow through on it,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.

The federal government offers student debt relief for people who are “totally and permanently disabled” and have limited incomes. But the current rules require them to submit documentation of their disability and undergo a three-year monitoring period to prove they’re earning little pay.

https://apnews.com/article/education-32f68a2779c8f3366e7c7499a1f39afc?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=AP&utm_source=Twitter

August 18, 2021

NRA Must Be Dissolved After Failing to Clean Up Misconduct, New York Says

The National Rifle Association hasn’t cleaned up rampant financial and managerial misconduct as it claimed over the past year, illustrating the need for the gun-rights group to be dissolved, New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a court filing.

A failed bid for bankruptcy protection earlier this year exposed the hollowness of the organization’s claim to have corrected the mismanagement, which included lavish spending by its longtime leader Wayne LaPierre and other serious lapses, James said in an amended lawsuit in New York state court. The attorney general said even the bankruptcy judge had cited the “shocking” level of authority LaPierre exercised over the group.

James, who sued to dissolve the New York-chartered nonprofit a year ago, said in her new complaint Monday that the NRA’s “evasion of accountability” has “continued unabated.” She said the organization’s leaders intentionally disregarded proper corporate governance, wasted charitable assets, falsely reported improper transactions, and allowed insiders to take advantage of the NRA.

Several alleged abuses were highlighted during a bankruptcy trial in Texas federal court, where a judge in May rejected the NRA’s attempt to reorganize as not having been filed in good faith. The court wrote that the NRA’s bankruptcy was part of an inappropriate attempt to avoid James’s lawsuit. The judge also said he was concerned about the “surreptitious manner” in which LaPierre excluded NRA board members and executives from his decision to file for bankruptcy.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-08-17/nra-failed-to-clean-up-misconduct-must-be-dissolved-n-y-says?srnd=premium

August 13, 2021

Here Are the 9 Right-Wing Democrats Threatening to Tank Their Party's $3.5 Trillion Agenda

“The greatest threat to Biden's agenda is not the Progressive Caucus or the Squad, but these conservative Democrats."

JAKE JOHNSON

August 13th, 2021

A group of nine conservative House Democrats on Friday threatened to torpedo a $3.5 trillion budget resolution—the cornerstone of their party's social spending and climate agenda—unless Speaker Nancy Pelosi first allows a vote on a $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill that has been criticized as inadequate and potentially harmful to the environment.

"It what world is it 'moderate' to kill a $3.5 trillion agenda against the majority of your own party? It's far-right austerity."
—Zack Burley, The Climate Mobilization

In a letter to Pelosi (D-Calif.), Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Carolyn Bourdeaux of Georgia, Filemon Vela of Texas, Henry Cuellar of Texas, Ed Case of Hawaii, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, Jared Golden of Maine, Vicente Gonzalez of Texas, and Jim Costa of California warned that they "will not consider voting for a budget resolution until the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passes the House and is signed into law."

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/13/here-are-9-right-wing-democrats-threatening-tank-their-partys-35-trillion-agenda?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1628868619

August 12, 2021

Britney Spears' Father Jamie Spears Steps Down From Conservatorship

Britney Spears’ father, Jamie Spears, has agreed to step down from his daughter’s conservatorship.

The turn of events is a massive win for the international pop star, who has been under a conservatorship for 13 years, ever since Mr. Spears placed his famous daughter under the court-ordered arrangement in 2008 when she suffered a very public breakdown.

But, in the 13 years since, Spears has been fit enough to perform, go on tour, hold a Las Vegas residency and earn hundreds of millions of dollars.

Speaking up more than ever before, Spears has been urging the judge to remove her father from her conservatorship through a series of blistering testimony this summer, even telling the court that she wants to “press charges” against her father for “conservatorship abuse,” and stating that she wants her father in jail.

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/britney-spears-father-jamie-spears-quits-conservator-1235040690/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

August 11, 2021

Secret IRS Files Reveal How Much the Ultrawealthy Gained by Shaping Trump's "Big, Beautiful Tax Cut"

In November 2017, with the administration of President Donald Trump rushing to get a massive tax overhaul through Congress, Sen. Ron Johnson stunned his colleagues by announcing he would vote “no.”

Making the rounds on cable TV, the Wisconsin Republican became the first GOP senator to declare his opposition, spooking Senate leaders who were pushing to quickly pass the tax bill with their thin majority. “If they can pass it without me, let them,” Johnson declared.

Johnson’s demand was simple: In exchange for his vote, the bill must sweeten the tax break for a class of companies that are known as pass-throughs, since profits pass through to their owners. Johnson praised such companies as “engines of innovation.” Behind the scenes, the senator pressed top Treasury Department officials on the issue, emails and the officials’ calendars show.

Within two weeks, Johnson’s ultimatum produced results. Trump personally called the senator to beg for his support, and the bill’s authors fattened the tax cut for these businesses. Johnson flipped to a “yes” and claimed credit for the change. The bill passed.

https://www.propublica.org/article/secret-irs-files-reveal-how-much-the-ultrawealthy-gained-by-shaping-trumps-big-beautiful-tax-cut

August 5, 2021

Democrats Introduce Right to Vote Act to Beat GOP Voter Suppression Blitz

The Right to Vote Act, introduced in the House by Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) and in the upper chamber by Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), would for the first time establish a statutory right to vote in federal elections, shielding Americans from laws making it harder to cast ballots.

If passed, the bill would allow Americans to mount legal challenges to any policies that restrict ballot access, and would counter governments' efforts to suppress the franchise by compelling them to prove claims of voter fraud—a statistically insignificant occurrence.

"The right to vote is foundational in our democracy, and must be protected as such," Jones said in a statement. "But in recent years, states like Georgia have launched an all-out assault on our democracy. The Right to Vote Act would stop this attack and prevent a new era of Jim Crow by requiring states to prove that any proposed restrictions on the right to vote advance an important interest in the least restrictive way possible."

"In this defining moment for our country, I'm proud to introduce this important legislation to secure the sacred right of every American to make their voice heard in our democracy," he added.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/08/05/democrats-introduce-right-vote-act-beat-gop-voter-suppression-blitz?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_campaign=echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1628189878