On December 21, the United States Congress passed the COVID-19 Relief Package, as part of a larger $2.3 trillion bill meant to cover spending for the rest of the fiscal year. As usual, US representatives allocated a massive sum of money for Israel. 

The Republicans may lose majority control of the United States Senate if they are unable to pick up one of the last two seats, both in Georgia where automatic run-off elections will be held Tuesday, January 5th.

The Republicans have secured 50 of the 100 total US Senate seats leaving them one seat shy of a majority. In Georgia, the two US Senate races were so close last November that local laws triggered automatic run-off elections scheduled for January 5th. 

With the two Senate races neck and neck, voting rights activists have been fighting to get hundreds of thousands of disenfranchised voters back on track to vote.

The races will impact the Senate in the coming years since with Biden as president, if Republicans are not able to pick up another Senate seat, Vice President Kamala Harris will be able to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate overpowering the Republican voting bloc for votes along party lines.

“There’s class warfare alright. But it’s my class, the rich class, that’s making war, and we’re winning.” – Warren Buffett

“The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence.” - Martin Gilens and Benjamin Page - Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens

“Total liberty for the wolves is death to the lambs.” – Isaiah Berlin

Revisiting the Great American Retro-Reset 1970-2020 –

Democracy Down the Tubes?

As the prospect of the World Economic Forum’s proposed ‘Great Reset’ as an international response to the current Covid crisis looms, it’s worth reminding ourselves that other ‘resets’ - i.e., radical transformative shifts in the socio-political-economic structure - have happened before, historically and recently, at both the international and national levels. 

As the New Year approaches you can almost feel the global sense of relief felt by leaving 2020 behind. It was truly a difficult year that met us head-on with unique challenges, tested our resiliency, and stole both people and traditions we hold dear. The theme of uncertainty was woven into every aspect of our lives - school, work, healthcare, activism - few things were spared.

It is difficult to predict what lies ahead - but one thing is certain - we have the creativity, vision, and power to create the just, fair, and sustainable communities we desire. This truth should illuminate the path we choose in 2021.

In response to crippling economic uncertainty - mutual aid groups cropped up across the nation and continue to offer support and locate resources.

Legal protections offered to racial injustice wore thin and the veil of community police protection was torn away by Black Lives Matter protests paired with a demand to defund (and ultimately restructure) a system that perpetuates racism, poverty, and violence.

Don’t let the door hit you in the ass. That’s the way most of us feel about 2020.

In Yearly Departed, the hated year gets a funnier and slightly more thoughtful sendoff. A group of female comics deliver a series of “eulogies” that reveal feelings ranging from relief to regret—relief that 2020 is over and regret over some of the things it and its pandemic stole from us.

Tiffany Haddish leads off with one of the funnier bits, a mournful farewell to casual sex. “Casual sex was my rock,” she says tearfully, remembering how much comfort it brought her when, for example, she had a bad night at the comedy club. She adds that the loss is even harder when she goes out in public and realizes how sexy men are when they’re wearing masks and standing 6 feet away.   

Natasha Rothwell invokes the Black Lives Matter movement when she satirically (and probably prematurely) mourns the loss of TV cop shows. Given all that’s happened, she says, it’s just too hard to believe dramas in which the police actually solve crimes and treat everybody equally.