“An elective despotism is not the government we fought for” Thomas Jefferson
The two chief characteristics of despotism — restricted respect and concentrated power — are defined and illustrated in this short 1946 film from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Two of the conditions which have historically promoted the growth of despotism are explained and exemplified. These are a slanted economic distribution and a strict control of the agencies of communication.
We have been honored and a bit overwhelmed by the outpouring of support since the presidential election from people who want to make a difference as we embark on what ACLU national Executive Director Anthony Romero has called “the fight of our life.”
Based on the policy proposals put forward by President-elect Donald Trump, we are facing an unprecedented assault on civil liberties in the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia. We have made it clear that if Mr. Trump intends to implement his unconstitutional proposals — which include mass deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants, a ban on Muslims entering the U.S., punishing women who access abortions, reauthorizing waterboarding and other forms of torture, and restricting free speech rights — we will see him in court.
We welcome others to join us as volunteers in this important effort. We want to be sure that we can do this right, that is, use volunteers where we need them most and do so in a way that syncs as much as possible with the skills and passion of the people volunteering.
If you are willing, please complete our volunteer sign-up form. Upon submission, you’ll receive suggestions for some things you can do to help right away, and we will be in touch with other opportunities as events unfold.
The ACLU of Virginia is ready to fight for your civil liberties. Are you?
Sincerely,
 |
 Claire G. Gastanaga Executive Director, ACLU of Virginia |
P.S. If you aren’t already a card-carrying member of the ACLU, now is the time to become one — join and support our advocacy work!
A week ago at this time, pundits were speculating that Paul Ryan had so alienated the right wing with his tepid support for soon-to-be-presidential-loser Donald Trump that he might not retain his job as Speaker of the House when a new Congress is sworn in early next year.
What a difference a week makes.
Today, because 45% of Americans chose not to vote, Ryan finds himself with a surprising opportunity to enact his long-held dream of shredding America’s social safety net like Oliver North going after a filing cabinet full of Iran-contra documents. And first up on his chopping block is Medicare.
Ryan’s plan is to replace the totally-not-going-broke Medicare with what he calls “premium price supports.” This is fancy wonk-speak for “vouchers that would be used to buy private insurance but would not keep up with the cost of inflation, thereby saddling seniors with enormous additional healthcare expenses out of their own pockets.” Good luck stretching out those Social Security checks, folks! Assuming Ryan doesn’t gut that next.
http://www.salon.com/2016/11/15/paul-ryan-has-medicare-in-the-crosshairs-ryans-been-gunning-to-kill-the-program-for-years-and-he-senses-his-moment/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a U.S. government agency that makes sure banks, lenders, and other financial companies treat you fairly. Most recently, the CFPB ordered Wells Fargo to refund thousands of customers who were charged fees for unauthorized accounts.
In case there was any doubt about Elizabeth Warren’s feelings toward John Stumpf, the C.E.O. of Wells Fargo, it was cleared up during a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. “Okay, so you haven’t resigned, you haven’t returned a single nickel of your personal earnings, you haven’t fired a single senior executive,” Warren said to Stumpf, during an interaction that might properly be characterized as a verbal evisceration. “Instead, evidently, your definition of ‘accountable’ is to push the blame to your low-level employees who don’t have the money for a fancy P.R. firm to defend themselves.”
Senator Warren warns that the CFPB may be among the early victims of a Republican administration. Social Security, Food Stamps and Health Care won’t be far behind.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren – Timeline | Facebook
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, Washington, District of Columbia. 1,760,271 likes · 36,458 talking about this. Official page of the office of U.S. Senator…
Donald Trump ran on racial bigotry and misogyny — not implicitly and covertly, but explicitly and overtly. In an America that is rapidly changing demographically and culturally, Donald Trump chose to run on white identity politics and to bring white nationalism back into the mainstream of American public life. The beginning and foundation of his political career was to become the primary promoter of a racist, conspiratorial birther movement, saying our first black president wasn’t really one of “us” — that he was not a real American. At the core of his opening speech to launch his presidential campaign, he chose to denigrate Mexicans and immigrants as “criminals” and “rapists.” Then he called for the banning of all Muslims coming to America. Trump ran as the “law and order” candidate, promised to build a wall, and regularly boasted of his endorsements from police, border patrol officers, and the ICE agents who round up and deport undocumented immigrants. His ubiquitous hat that famously says “Make America Great Again,” now clearly does mean “Make America White Again.” Donald Trump ran a campaign based on racial bigotry, misogyny, and xenophobia — and an overwhelming majority of white American men voted for him. And, very sadly, a majority of white Christians voted for him.
https://sojo.net/articles/time-healing-and-resistance
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