politics

Bloomberg Calls For Technocracy Over Democracy, Says "Defend the banks... these are my peeps."

Posted on: Mon, 02/24/2020 - 17:05 By: Tom Swiss
photo of Michael Bloomberg

One simply cannot kick Michael Bloomberg enough. On Twitter, Walker Bragman posted video from 2010 where Michael Bloomberg argues, in the most literal possible sense, against democracy and for authoritarian technocracy without checks on the executive.

Prominent Clintonist Literally Calls For Bloomberg To Buy The Election
article image from CNN
Tom Swiss Sat, 02/22/2020 - 21:17

Joe Lockhart was White House press secretary to impeached President and accused rapist Bill Clinton. For some reason CNN gives him a platform, which he is now using to call for racist Islamophobic authoritarian billionaire Michael Bloomberg to buy the primary election out from under frontrunner Bernie Sanders, long one of the most popular politicians in the nation.

The Census Helped Put Japanese-Americans In Concentration Camps

Posted on: Thu, 02/20/2020 - 00:35 By: Tom Swiss
Japanese internment instructions from WWII

February 19th is the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, FDR's order to put Japanese Americans into concentration camps. At this time when anti-immigrant sentiment is rising and we are preparing for the US Census, it is worth pausing to remember how census information was used in this state kidnapping of our fellow Americans, to consider how it could be so used again, and to resolve to answer the census only with a count of people and not with any further information, in accordance with the Constitution's provision for an "enumeration", not an interrogation.

Profiteering From Prisons: The Cost of Reading

Posted on: Tue, 02/18/2020 - 11:05 By: Tom Swiss
prisoner reading

Incarceration is a racket. We've heard a lot the past few years about how awful privately owned prisons are, but an underexplored issue is the profiteering of vendors of inmate services. From telecommunication companies that charge outrageous fees to let inmates speak to their families (or lawyers!), to charging inmates by the minute to read books, it's a wealth transfer from the bottom to the top. Capitalism at its finest.

VA Dems Serve Their Corporate Masters
Ralph Northham
Tom Swiss Sun, 02/16/2020 - 21:30

Virginia was one of the first sates to enact a so-called "right to work" law, undermining unions by allowing workers to enjoy the benefits of unionized bargaining without paying their fair dues.

The General Assembly was considering a bill to repeal the "right-to-work" law, but it turns out the Democrat's bosses were not happy with that:

"Michael Bloomberg is the only Democratic contender who might actually be worse than Trump."

Posted on: Sat, 02/15/2020 - 10:51 By: Tom Swiss
photo of Michael Bloomberg

At Jacobin, Ross Barkan details the awfulness of Michael Bloomberg: authoritarian crack-downs on protestors (the 2004 Republican convention, Occupy Wall Street), racist stop-and-frisk and surveillance of Muslim communities, support for the criminal invasion of Iraq, apologetics for China and Saudi Arabia, and policies that increased inequality and economic injustice.

It is shameful that the Democrats are even considering this guy.

Nashville Courts Sued for Using Bail As Down Payments For Fines

Posted on: Sat, 02/15/2020 - 10:08 By: Tom Swiss
generic criminal justice image

The purpose of bail is to help ensure that a defendant shows up for trial. But in a bold new way to wring money out of poor defendants, Davidson County, Tennessee (the county corresponding to the city of Nashville), the courts are taking that money as a down payment on fines the defendant may owe if convicted. This means that if family or friends help someone make bail, they're not just putting their money on their relative or friend showing up for their day court, they are gambling against conviction.

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