NOW IS THE TIME FOR WORKERS TO SECURE LONG-TERM PROSPERITY

Employers are hiring more part-time workers than full-time workers, commonly referred to as a 'gig economy. The whole idea of a 'gig economy' is to eliminate full-time jobs and benefits in order to reduce labor costs.

Those jobs that were shipped overseas decades ago by pro-corporate Republican't policies will never return as full-time manufacturing jobs. They will only return as mechanized and automated jobs.

The reduction in work hours, benefits, wages, and manufacturing jobs, and the whole chain of associated supporting labor will mean that in order to sustain and survive families will have to work multiple jobs by multiple family members.

Self-employment and public welfare will be the only viable option for middle-class families. It will be unsustainable resulting in the destruction of the middle class.

A massive expansion of the welfare system or the establishment of a 'Basic Universal Income' will become the only viable option. This will be a hard pill to swallow for the American working family and it will be aggressively fought by the pro-corporate lobby via their Republican't sycophants who will fight both options without offering any real solution of their own. They will cry 'socialism', 'communism' and"Let's go Brandon" while they fortify themselves in their ivory towers.

Glenn DL

• Prepare for the Matrix
• Prepare for Skynet and the terminators
• Soylent Green is tasty

ent Green is tasty

17 Things we didn't hear about in 2020 because they weren't connected to COVID-19 or Trump:

1. We almost started World War III

2. Mr. Peanut was killed off, then reincarnated as Baby Nut

3. The weather went wild

4. A man named Deval Patrick ran for president

5. Bob Dylan released a 17-minute song about the JFK assassination

6. The Defense Department shared bona fide UFO videos

7. Murder hornets invaded the U.S.

by Jeva Lange

8. Grimes and Elon Musk named their baby X Æ A-12

9. NASA detected a parallel universe in Antarctica where time runs backward, or something?

10. SpaceX launched astronauts into space, sadly left all of us behind

11. A gigantic star 2 million times brighter than the sun just up and … disappeared

12. Kanye West announced he was running for president

13. A bunch of people planted mystery seeds from China, despite that obviously being a bad idea

14. We may have discovered the first proof of extraterrestrial life

15. Wormholes might not kill you!

16. Kellyanne Conway's 15-year-old daughter broke a major news story by telling on her mom

17. Please do not feed the monoliths

from: 17 things you've already forgotten happened in 2020
by Jeva Lange

Spree of federal executions during Trump's lame-duck period and pandemic is unprecedented

If you're OK with Capital Punishment then please don't tell me how Christian you are, how All Lives Matter, how you're against a women's right to choose because all life is sacred...

I'm not listening.

Click here to leave comments on Facebook Post

Four of the five coming executions by the federal government involve Black men, while the first woman in 70 years will be executed in January.

READ MORE.

MOTHER'S DAY: Its Surprisingly Dark History

from National Geographic:

…In the postwar years Jarvis and other women organized Mother's Friendship Day picnics and other events as pacifist strategies to unite former foes. Julia Ward Howe, for one—best known as the composer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"—issued a widely read "Mother's Day Proclamation" in 1870, calling for women to take an active political role in promoting peace…

"Mother's Day," Not "Mothers' Day"

…Anna Jarvis never had children of her own, but the 1905 death of her own mother inspired her to organize the first Mother's Day observances in 1908.

On May 10 of that year, families gathered at events in Jarvis's hometown of Grafton, West Virginia—at a church now renamed the International Mother's Day Shrine—as well as in Philadelphia, where Jarvis lived at the time, and in several other cities…

Storming Mother's Day

…Anna Jarvis's idea of an intimate Mother's Day quickly became a commercial gold mine centering on the buying and giving of flowers, candies, and greeting cards—a development that deeply disturbed Jarvis. She set about dedicating herself and her sizable inheritance to returning Mother's Day to its reverent roots…

Born of war, Mother's Day grew to horrify its own mother, whose fight to fix the holiday "cost her everything, financially and physically."

 

read complete article

So far, the Trump Administration has put ideology ahead of common sense

Dear Friend,
20 million Americans have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus outbreak. And nearly half of them have also lost the health insurance they got through their employer, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

The middle of a deadly pandemic is NOT the time to be without health insurance and access to affordable medical care.

An easy solution is staring us in the face. The Trump Administration can open up the federal marketplace, which 38 states belong to, and REQUIRE that ALL state Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplaces reopen now, so people can sign-up for the health insurance they need.

So far, the Trump Administration has put ideology ahead of common sense and refused to open the exchanges. 11 states and the District of Columbia did it on their own, allowing people to apply for coverage right away. But that leaves millions with no coverage -- and no access to affordable coverage.

Please sign today.

Thank you for all you do.

Sincerely,

Richard Fiesta
Executive Director
Alliance for Retired Americans

Sign the petition: EVERY ACA exchange must reopen ACA enrollment to ensure everyone has access to healthcare amid the coronavirus pandemic

Some States Still Putting Seniors at Risk by Failing to Issue Stay-at-Home Orders

The current patchwork of state social distancing policies continues to threaten vulnerable populations, including older Americans. States that were late or continue to avoid enacting social distancing policies are more likely to be home to populations older than the national average, according to public health experts.
The idea of risking the health of older people and those working on the front lines to boost the overall economy has been endorsed by several conservative elected officials, including Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and this week, Rep. Trey Hollingsworth (IN).
“Besides the moral issues, this idea is dangerous,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “More infections and casualties will again grind the economy to a halt.”
Americans over the age of 50 years and older account for 40% of U.S. gross domestic product despite being 35% of the population.

U.S. Postal Service Threatened by Coronavirus Pandemic

Millions of Americans, especially retirees, rely on the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) for daily home delivery of mail, medicines and important goods and services no matter where they live. Like many institutions, the coronavirus pandemic has hit the Postal Service hard as business activity has slowed.

The federal government has approved hundreds of billions of dollars to help individuals, small businesses and big corporations. The House of Representatives sought to include relief for the Postal Service but it was not included in any of the stimulus bills passed so far. In March, the president personally rejected Postal Service funding and his administration even suggested it would block the Congressional stimulus package if it included help for the USPS, according to the Washington Post.

The Postal Service was given a loan, but it won’t be enough. Without more funding, the Postmaster General told Congress it will run out of money in September, just before a vote by mail and absentee voting for the 2020 presidential election gets underway.
“Our Postal Service is a vital American institution that has served our nation for more than
200 years,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “Congress can’t let it
fail.”

White House rejects bailout for U.S. Postal Service battered by coronavirus

Payroll Tax Cut Scheme is a Severe Threat to Social Security

On Wednesday President Trump said he supported a permanent cut in the payroll tax which funds Social Security and Medicare, stating that even without the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis he would call for this cut. Senate Republicans have also suggested a payroll tax cut be part of any future economic stimulus package.

With record levels of unemployment, cutting Social Security and Medicare’s funding would extend the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic on these vital social insurance programs for decades.

“Advocating for a payroll tax is the latest evidence that the president has no intention of keeping his 2016 campaign promise of 'no cuts' to Social Security and Medicare,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance, in a statement. “The pandemic has disrupted all our lives and put the health of millions at risk. We will fight tooth and nail any attempt to use this crisis as a way to dismantle the retirement security of our earned benefits.”
                                                                                          source: Alliance for Retired Americans

COMMOMDREAMS.ORG

note:
Social Security Advisory Board Urges Action Amid Pandemic
On Monday, the Social Security Advisory Board sent a letter to Andrew Saul, Commissioner of the Social Security Administration (SSA), urging the agency to make sure Supplemental Security Income (SSI) beneficiaries receive their stimulus payments quickly and automatically, rather than having to fill out special forms.

The Board’s mission is to provide the President, Congress, and the Commissioner with bipartisan guidance on how these programs can best provide economic security.

The Board is also asking the Commissioner to continue new representative payee reviews and other operational capabilities. Representative payees are appointed when a beneficiary cannot manage his or her benefits. SSA has decided to suspend these reviews, even though they are required by law.

“The Social Security Advisory Board is looking out for the millions of Americans who receive SSI benefits, to ensure they do not have to jump through unnecessary hoops to collect the money they need to survive,” said President Roach. “The SSA should follow its recommendations to help as many people as possible as quickly as possible.”

source: Alliance for Retired Americans

COVID-19 Post/information April 5, 2020

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COVID-19 Post/information April 3, 2020

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COVID-19 Post/information April 2, 2020

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COVID-19 Post/information March 27, 2020

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COVID-19 Post/information March 26, 2020

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You'll Never Guess What They Found On McDonald's Touchscreens

see also:

• You'll Never Guess What They Found On McDonald's Touchscreens
• Once again, contributing to our own demise.
• The contribution of automation/mechanization and Artificial Intelligence to a smaller job market.
• Self-checkout - killing jobs

New Cases Daily: Declines in China & South Korea

Self-checkout - killing jobs

read more...

Trumps Middle-east Policy: All just a matter of real estate buy-offs...

 ...what comes in the next 4 years? flipping countries like flipping houses:

• 'America is not the whole world'
  One impeached, the other indicted, they posed as honest brokers with a common vision of a mythical Middle East peace.
  
• Israel's Netanyahu indicted in corruption cases. 
  
  "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was formally indicted on corruption charges Tuesday, just hours before he was set to meet President Donald Trump for the unveiling of the US administration's long-anticipated Middle East plan."
• Trump unveils Middle East plan that caters to Israel and was swiftly rejected by Palestinians
  "But the economic proposal was met with a thud in the Palestinian territories, where mistrust in the Trump administration reigns following a steady stream of policy moves that have bolstered Israel and undermined the Palestinian position: from US recognition of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory to cutting off all US support for aid projects aimed at helping Palestinians."
• Brookings experts on the Middle East react to the White House’s peace plan.
  "On January 28 at the White House, President Trump unveiled his plan for Middle East peace alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjanim Netanyahu. Below, Brookings experts on the peace process and the region more broadly offer their initial takes on the announcement."

Related:

• Have Trump and Kim Jong Un fallen out of 'love'?
  North Korea is celebrating a "very important test" at a launch site that US President Donald Trump declared would be dismantled earlier this year -- the real-life culmination of a recent exchange of verbal projectiles across the Pacific.
• Oslo Accords Fast Facts:
  (CNN)Here's a look at what you need to know about the Oslo Accords, a series of agreements between Israel and the Palestinians signed in the 1990s.

They're coming for your Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid... again... this time remember who it is(Republican'ts)... the same people it always is... until it is election time when they start preaching promises they will not keep.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid have never been funded for eternity. There is always a date at which it is anticipated they will run out of funds and this date is used misleadingly to paint the programs as unsustainable. It is a common argument for privatization and an excuse to cut benefits. In reality, the process is that they will be continually funded by routine adjustments and additional revenues. Trump, Romney and the republican party knows this when they promise you at election time that they won't touch these benefits, and they know this later when they try to sneak in legislation to gut these programs (like now), but most of all they know that most of us pay attention at election time but tend to stop paying attention between elections.                                                                  GlennDL

Mitt Romney’s Plan to Gut Social Security and Medicare
Through the TRUST Act Advances

The Senate Homeland Security Committee held a hearing on the TRUST Act, proposed by Sen. Mitt Romney (UT), this week. The bill is an attempt to gut earned benefits by creating a closed-door and fast-tracked process. The stated goal of this bipartisan legislation is to address the solvency problems of multiple trusts funds set to be depleted by 2035 through the creation of “rescue committees,” but the plan is dangerous for seniors, people with disabilities and others who rely on Social Security and Medicare.

The trusts impacted are Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare Hospital Insurance, and the Highway Trust Fund. Through these “rescue committees,” any fixes for these trusts that legislators agree upon is fast-tracked to a vote in the Senate. The secret process lacks transparency, which would allow for cuts to be made easily to these programs.  

“Sen. Romney’s track record on Social Security indicates his motive,” said Richard Fiesta, Executive Director of the Alliance. “In calling to raise the retirement age during the 2012 presidential campaign, he showed his true colors. He wants to cut Americans’ hard-earned benefits. He is no friend of retirees.” ce for Retired ance

The Alliance for Retired Americans

Trump Pushes Medicaid Block Grants,
Allows States to Roll Back the Affordable Care Act

The administration is intensifying its assault on Medicaid by converting some Medicaid funding into block grants. Under the proposed plan, states could request to receive fixed payments from the federal government for poor adults now covered under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicaid expansion. It would also allow states to limit benefits and drugs available for some beneficiaries. 

“This drastically changes the way Medicaid is funded and will result in harsh benefit cuts that will hurt vulnerable Americans,” said Joseph Peters, Jr., Secretary-Treasurer of the Alliance. “It is the latest cruel scheme and it shirks responsibility for ensuring that every American has access to health care.”

Currently, the federal government matches state Medicaid spending. This allows anyone who has qualified for Medicaid benefits to receive them without delay. Funding automatically increases in times of need, such as economic downturns or when health care costs increase. However, fixed cost block grants will not increase, leaving states to cut benefits or the number of people who qualify for the program. 
Despite renaming the program “Healthy Adult Opportunities,” the program erodes the federal government’s commitment to protecting low-income Americans. 
“The Administration’s plan also gives states the flexibility to cut what it spends on Medicaid or use the funding for non-health related things, including paying for other programs or financing tax cuts,” added Peters. A video of an Emergency Room doctor confronting Vice President Mike Pence over Trump's Medicaid cuts has been viewed more than a million times.

The Alliance for Retired Americans

Iowa Alliance Calls out Broken Promises on Drug Prices

On Thursday, the Iowa Lower Drug Prices Now coalition, which includes the Alliance, launched their campaign to demand comprehensive reform to lower drug prices for everyone. The coalition’s mission includes ending Big Pharma’s power to pad their profits by setting and keeping prices high.

The campaign held a news conference at the State Capitol in Des Moines on the same day that President Trump visited the state, serving as a reminder to voters of his many broken promises to curb skyrocketing drug costs and price gouging. Iowa Alliance members, state legislators, health care professionals, impacted Iowans and labor representatives participated in the event

“30% of Iowans reported that they had stopped taking medication as prescribed due to cost in 2017. The situation has only gotten worse since then,” said Iowa Alliance president Mike McCarthy. “Americans pay the highest prescription drug prices in the world and we seniors bear the biggest burden.”

“While the president and Senator Joni Ernst (IA) say they care about this issue, neither has taken real action,” added Jan Corderman, Recording Secretary of the Iowa Alliance. “Trump used to say that Medicare should negotiate prices, but he threatened to veto H.R. 3, a strong drug price negotiation bill passed by the House of Representatives, within hours of its passage in December.”

The Alliance for Retired Americans

see also:

• Mitt Romney pushes new plan to fix Social Security. Critics say it isn’t a solution.
• ‘Block grants’ no more: Trump's Medicaid overhaul has new name, same goals.
• The Problems with Block-Granting Entitlement Programs.
• "It's Their Lifeline": Video of ER Doctor Confronting Mike Pence Over Trump Medicaid Cuts Viewed 1 Million+ Times.

Doris “Dorie” Miller: The Hero of Pearl Harbor

From <https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/64767/doris-dorie-miller-hero-pearl-harbor/>

Doris “Dorie” Miller, an African American sailor, was one of the most unsung American heroes of World War II. His actions during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor helped save many lives and served as an inspiration to countless others.

Doris “Dorie” Miller was an unsung hero of World War II. His bravery during Japan’s surprise attack on Pearl Harbor helped to save countless lives.

Miller was born on October 12, 1919, in Waco, Texas. He worked on the family farm with his three brothers until September 16, 1939, when Miller enlisted in the Navy to earn extra money for his family. Miller completed training at the Naval Training Station in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was promoted to Mess Attendant Third Class. This was one of the only positions available to African-Americans at the time, due to Navy segregation.

Following his promotion, Miller was assigned to the USS Pyro, where he served as a mess attendant before being transferred in 1940 to the USS West Virginia. It was there that Miller became the ship’s heavy-weight boxing champion, earning the respect of his compatriots.

On December 7, 1941, Miller woke up early to begin his workday. As he began collecting the ship’s laundry, an alarm from General Quarters sounded. Miller raced for his battle station, the anti-aircraft battery magazine amidships. But when he got to his position, he found it destroyed by torpedo. Miller returned to deck, and because of his physical prowess, was assigned to help carry his fellow wounded sailors to safety. He carried several men to safe quarters, then retrieved the ship’s injured captain, Mervyn Bennion.

Then, without rest, and before being ordered to abandon ship, Miller fired an unmanned .50-caliber Browning anti-aircraft machine gun until it ran out of ammunition. When asked how he managed to fire with such prowess, Miller said, “It wasn’t hard. I just pulled the trigger and she worked fine. I had watched the others with these guns. I guess I fired her for about fifteen minutes. I think I got one of those Jap planes. They were diving pretty close to us.”

The USS West Virginia sank to the bottom of the harbor. Of the ship’s 1,541 men, 130 were killed and 52 wounded. For his actions, Miller was commended by the Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox on April 1, 1942. On May 27, 1942, he was awarded the Navy Cross by the Pacific Fleet’s Commander in Chief, Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

On November 24, 1943, a Japanese torpedo struck the USS Liscome Bay off the coast of Buritaritari Island. Two-thirds of the crew died or went missing—including Miller.

Doris Miller’s legacy paved the way for other African-American service members to serve in combat roles. And his likeness was used in Navy recruitment drives, including an iconic World War II enlistment poster featuring the words, “Above and beyond the call of duty.”

In addition to the Navy Cross, Doris Miller received the Purple Heart, the American Defense Service Medal – Fleet Clasp, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, and the World War II Victory Medal. In 1973, the Knox-class frigate USS Miller was named in his honor.

We honor his service.

More about Miller’s service is at https://www.hilbert.edu/social-justice-activists/doris-(dorie)-miller.

From <https://www.blogs.va.gov/VAntage/64767/doris-dorie-miller-hero-pearl-harbor/>

Pearl Harbor: Three films

From <https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/pearl-harbor-three-films/>

Promotional painting for the 1970 movie Tora! Tora! Tora!

by artist Robert McCall via Airport Journals

On the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mark Glancy looks at three films covering the Japanese raid on the US naval base on 7 December 1941...

“December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy,” declared President Roosevelt on the day after the Japanese attack on the main US naval base in the Pacific. Hundreds of Japanese planes took the base by surprise early that Sunday morning, sinking or disabling 21 warships, destroying nearly 200 planes, and killing over 2,000 people. It was a rude awakening for a country that had seemed determined to find its own path in the global conflict. Hollywood immediately seized on the topic in a number of low budget films about how America came to be ‘stabbed in the back’ by Japan. Since the war, the events of that fateful day have been dramatised on a much larger scale, but in strikingly different films.

1) From Here to Eternity (1953)

This is by far the most acclaimed and admired of all Pearl Harbor films. Its appeal lay, in part, in its timeliness: eight years after the end of the war, audiences were ready to look back without the flag-waving or moral certainties that characterise wartime films. Thus, in From Here to Eternity the attack on Pearl Harbor does not serve as the springboard for revenge scenarios or for exposés of Japanese treachery. Rather, it represents an awakening from the malaise and drift of the prewar period…

But is it accurate?

The film was based on a bestselling novel by James Jones, who served in the army and was stationed at Schofield Barracks, where the film is set, at the time of Pearl Harbor. Jones’s portrait of service life had to be toned down considerably for the film. The army would not agree to co-operate with the filmmakers unless it was portrayed more favourably. Hence, while Captain Holmes is actually promoted in the novel, in the film he is made to resign for his misdeeds. The Hollywood censors required prostitutes to be hostesses, brothels to be social clubs, and other elements of the Honolulu nightlife to be eliminated altogether.

Accuracy: 5/10

2) Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970)

In the midst of the Vietnam War, Twentieth Century Fox produced this ambitious, two-and-a-half hour semi-documentary account of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The film was intended as a warning against complacency in the Cold War and also as a means of affirming the current state of good relations between the USA and Japan…

But is it accurate?

Admiral Yamamoto (Soh Yamamura), who planned the attack, reflects in the ending on its potential consequences. Despite its immediate success, he gravely observes: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.” This is the best line and the most memorable moment in the film, but there is no record that Yamamoto actually said it. A larger complaint would be that the film fails to set the conflict in a wider political context. Japan’s invasion of China and its alliance with Nazi Germany are mentioned, but in its eagerness to offer a balanced account, the film skates over these contentious points.

Accuracy: 7/10

3) Pearl Harbor (2001)

…The attack on Pearl Harbor is vividly recreated – in detail and at length – with computer generated effects that are entirely convincing. Hence, we see the mass of planes swoop in over the island, and a myriad of explosions, fires, and casualties as the action reaches a frenzied climax. The film’s signature shot – a bomb falls from a plane high above the harbour, descends through the air, and pierces the decks of the USS Arizona – is nothing short of spectacular…

But is it accurate?

The characters of Rafe and Danny are loosely – very loosely – based on two real army air force fliers, George Welch and Kenneth Taylor, who were stationed in Oahu and on their way home from an all-night poker game when the attack on Pearl Harbor began. They were quickly airborne and shot down seven of the attacking planes…

Accuracy: 3/10

To see full review of the films:

From <https://www.historyextra.com/period/second-world-war/pearl-harbor-three-films/