Our Current Political Crisis (in addition to Trump and Trumpism)

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Trump acts like a neo-fascist dictator. Here are a few articles from April and early May 2020.

May 13, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

Everybody knows the old story about putting a frog in water and warming it slowly enough that the frog won’t notice the change from one moment to the next, so it won’t jump out of the water, but after a while the frog has been cooked to death. That familiar story seems to pertain to the U.S. under Trump and his loyal supporters in the Executive Branch and Congress.  Here are some alarming stories about what Trump and Trumpism are doing to our nation:   How Trump is turning the American presidency into a dictatorship: https://thefulcrum.us/balance-of-power/donald-trump-dictator   The U.S. is […]

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A Department of Actual Defense in a Time of Coronavirus

May 12, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. wastes our tax dollars on militarism and nuclear weapons, when we should be funding better health. You cannot defeat Coronavirus with nuclear weapons or any kind of military violence. This article by David Swanson urges us to think differently – and to push our government to act more wisely and effectively: A Department of Actual Defense in a Time of Coronavirus By David Swanson https://davidswanson.org/a-department-of-actual-defense-in-a-time-of-coronavirus/                  

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What Happens If Trump and Biden Both Claim Victory? Legal Scholars Fret Over Plausible Scenarios

May 12, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

In the past few years all of us have seen how Trump and Republicans and the right wing have been threatening democracy.  We’ve even seen constitutional crises based on Trumpism and related power grabs. Now here is a new, related worry.  Legal scholars discussed the real possibility that Trump and Republican-dominated states might screw around with the November 2020 presidential election in ways that could result in them claiming victory even if the Democrats have legitimate grounds for claiming victory. See this long, but interesting article: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com/news/265025541/what-happens-if-bush-gore-result-happens-again-with-trump-biden            

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MOST members of Congress are millionaires. Some have serious conflicts of interest.

May 12, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

MOST members of Congress are millionaires: The Center for Responsive Politics (www.OpenSecrets.org) is a smart, effective watchdog that works largely through their award-winning website, www.OpenSecrets.org, which is the most comprehensive resource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere.  I subscribe to their e-mail list. Their e-mail on April 24, 2020, they reported that MOST members of the current (116th) Congress are millionaires.  Their e-mail stated:  “Much of the wealth in Congress is concentrated at the top. The top 10 percent of wealthiest lawmakers have three times more wealth than the bottom 90 percent.” Read more at this […]

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U.S. gov’t official body urges REQUIRING WOMEN to REGISTER FOR MILITARY DRAFT!

May 1, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

In January 2020 — and previously — I had reported that the U.S. government was seriously studying what to do about the military draft.  Here is my blog post from January 2020:  http://parallaxperspectives.org/tell-congress-to-abolish-the-agency-that-runs-the-military-draft  You can see my blog’s category for posts about military service to see the previous posts. On March 25, 2020, the National Commission on the Military, National and Public Service has ended its three years of effort and produce an official report that recommends REQUIRING WOMEN TO REGISTER FOR THE MILITARY DRAFT. Draft inductions ended in 1973.  Draft registration ended in 1975, but President Jimmy Carter brought […]

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Medical experts urged VP Mike Pence to use science and promote adequate funding

May 1, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

Trump keeps appointing incompetent persons to positions of power.  As you know, he appointed VP Mike Pence to head federal efforts to deal with Coronavirus.  Pence has ABSOLUTELY NO credentials for dealing with scientific issues.  But — as always — Trump valued absolute loyalty to him rather than competence in making this appointment.  Pence got off to a bad start. In early March 2020 medical experts were urging Pence to use valid science to shape federal policy on Coronavirus.  In early March more than 800 physicians and public health experts have signed an open letter to Vice President Mike Pence […]

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Here are several smart articles about the Green New Deal

May 1, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

The Green New Deal was devised for good reasons. Before the 2018 election season ramped up, people wanted to stimulate populist constituencies – including those who were not yet active in the climate movement – to start supporting bold climate actions. For this purpose – and to generate support from the labor movement and from areas that needed jobs – a federal jobs program made sense. Now people do understand at a visceral level that we need bold actions for the climate AND youth organizing such as the climate strikes AND grassroots organizing to meet the needs of local communities, […]

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Learn about the Green New Deal from my MAY 2020 TV program. It’s also posted to this blog.

May 1, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

Here is an article about my MAY 2020 TV program about the Green New Deal. It is airing on Channel 22 of Thurston Community Television (TCTV, TC Media, for cable TV subscribers in Thurston County WA) three times a week all month long:  every MONDAY at 1:30 pm, every WEDNESDAY at 5:00 pm, and every THURSDAY at 9:00 pm throughout May 2020. A technical problem is preventing the TV program’s video itself from being linked to this blog, but I did type up a thorough summary of what we planned to discuss during the interview.  Our actual interview differed somewhat […]

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Governments should take PROMPT, STRONG actions for the climate — as they did for Coronavirus

May 1, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

Some governments did take PROMPT, STRONG actions to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. The climate crisis is a serious emergency, but they keep dawdling and failing to act. We must push governments to act with the same sense of urgency for the climate crisis. See this: https://www.ecowatch.com/coronavirus-response-climate-change-2645571474.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2        

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Obama did NOT do enough for the climate. See MLK’s quotation about real leadership.

May 1, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

I wrote this a good number of years ago, but it needs to be repeated now: President Obama says the climate crisis is serious, but he shies away from taking the bold Executive actions that this crisis requires. Instead, in mid-February 2013 he said he would wait to work out a bipartisan deal with Republicans in Congress. This is, of course, doomed to failure. A real leader would lead. Obama persistently refuses to act as boldly as the climate crisis requires. In early 1968, when Martin Luther King, Jr., was being criticized for taking a bold, unpopular stand against the […]

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Sign up NOW for my 6 practical workshops to help you organize at the grassroots for the climate

April 21, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

The climate crisis is serious, and powerful forces keep making it worse. But YOU can reverse those trends and proactively push to make progress to help the climate! I’m offering again my series of 6 workshops on Nonviolent Grassroots Organizing so YOU can empower yourself with insights, strategies, and practical ways to make progress on the climate – and, indeed, on the other issues YOU care about. Instead of dealing with technical scientific information, these workshops provide PRACTICAL information, insights, inspirations, resources and tools to HELP YOU ORGANIZE at the grassroots to build a strong movement to protect the climate. […]

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PART 2 of “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World”

April 15, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

The December 2018 episode of “Glen’s Parallax Perspectives” TV program is PART 2 (following up on the November episode) of the topic, “Choose a Better Worldview to Build a Better World.”  The November program focused especially on problems with worldview that has been dominating the U.S., and the December program focuses more on solutions and how to achieve them. Cable TV subscribers in Thurston County WA can watch the December program on TCTV channel 22 three times a week all month long:  every Monday at 1:30 pm, every Wednesday at 5:00 pm, and every Thursday at 9:00 pm. Links for […]

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The “Back from the Brink” campaign promotes FIVE SMART CHANGES to reduce the danger of nuclear war.

March 19, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

Nuclear weapons are a VERY SERIOUS issue.  But grassroots people and many organizations are ORGANIZING SMART CHANGES in our nation’s policies in order to reduce the likelihood of nuclear war. The “Back from the Brink” campaign proposes five policy solutions to prevent nuclear war. See the website www.preventnuclearwar.org and this page about their five policy solutions:  www.preventnuclearwar.org/our-five-policy-solutions/   In 2017 two nationwide organizations – the Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org) and Physicians for Social Responsibility (www.psr.org) – created the “Back from the Brink” campaign. Some other organizations have joined the effort. The “Back from the Brink” campaign recognizes problems and […]

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Abolish nuclear weapons. Replace our nukes with simply leaving our shoes untied.

March 19, 2020 GlenAnderson 0

The U.S. government keeps promoting more nuclear weapons in order to make Americans secure. Instead of that, I propose that we ABOLISH NUCLEAR WEAPONS and INSTEAD, SIMPLY LEAVE OUR SHOES UNTIED. NEITHER POLICY PROTECTS OUR NATION, but my alternative policy offers two benefits: 1. We will save many billions of dollars. 2. And although either policy – nuclear weapons or untied shoelaces – could cause an accident, if an accident occurs, tripping on shoelaces will cause much less damage than a nuclear war. PLEASE SHARE THIS NEW POLICY PROPOSAL – and my reasoning – to other people. Also invite people […]