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American Outlook – Socialism: Crisis to Control Episode #2

Beating Covid-19 with Dr. Richard Bartlett

The 3 Most Important Things To Corporate Media Don’t Matter At All (And That’s The Point)

Good government is hard. It’s often boring and unrewarding. Some of the most important policies we can enact won’t make for a good cable news hit — but we need them.

Of course you do. It happened eight months ago and it’s still in the news every single day. They call it an “insurrection.”

It was the 20th anniversary of 9/11 on Saturday, and the corporate press’s main way of remembering that awful tragedy was to call it a grim foreshadowing of what they now say is, “The worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” That’s even what George W. Bush wanted to talk about, and his performance in the days after the attack is just about the only good memory we have of his entire presidency.

Remember, this is a country with the news-cycle attention span of a sugar-high child: Twitter can deplatform a president and Jeff Bezos can murder the American Dream on live TV, and 48 hours later it’s not even a story; yet the Capitol riot lives on. The level of obsession devoted to this one event is astounding. So what else?

Remember COVID? Of course you do, because it is literally the most important thing in your entire life. It’s more important than being with your family, it’s more important than your parents visiting their grandkids, it’s more important than burying your dead, and it’s more important than your children’s education. You better believe it’s more important than your little Sunday God hobby.

Or how about racism. Remember racism? Of course you do, because it is the defining characteristic of the American experience. Everything is racist. Objectivity is racist, being on time is racist, sandwiches are racist, history is racist. The Constitution is 100 percent racist, and of course there’s you — you’re definitely racist.

Like the Force in “Star Wars,” racism is invisible yet omnipresent; it binds the universe together. Only a national mobilization on par with a world war will root it out, but instead of leveling Germany or Japan, we’ll be flattening our own traditions and institutions.

But do you know what’s weird about these things? About the Capitol Riot, and COVID, and even our big racism panic?

In the long run, they don’t matter that much. That might seem insane until you realize that if all of these things — that riot and that disease, and the ever present specter of racism — were to disappear right now never to be seen again, this country would still be very, very sick. The United States — our home — would still be feeble compared to five years ago, let alone 10, 15 or 30.

Our culture would still be decayed. Our political leaders would still be rotten and cowardly. Our churches would still be misled by hired hands. Our working poor would still be dying of fentanyl. We’d still have cities that are covered in homeless encampments and beset by an exploding crime rate.

So why do we talk about those other things so much, and not the problems that are literally killing us? The answer is to distract.

This is not a conspiracy theory; there is no grand plan here. When people want to know how D.C. operates, it’s a lot more like an episode of the comedy “Veep” than the drama “House of Cards,” but stupid people are dangerous, and as the quip goes, never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups — in other words, Washington, D.C.

Here’s how it goes: The boss doesn’t want to talk about something he’s doing because it’s bad, it’s awful for the country, and it’s not working, but AOC or whoever else made him to do it anyway. So what would he rather talk about? How about instead of the day-to-day burden of government, he just reacts?

React to the latest news story; puff up the flashiest issues, even if they’re totally symbolic or don’t matter at all. Use those shiny issues to convince the public that, hey, things might be terrible, but it’s more the other guy’s fault than mine. Use this tactic, and congratulations, you’re ready for a decades-long career on cable news or in politics.

So, what are the traditional jobs of government? Are they to destroy Donald J. Trump or to stop all disease or end all discrimination?

Not so much; the actual reasons government exists are a lot more modest. Government exists to defend our borders and our nation from dangerous, predatory people who might harm us. Government exists to establish fair laws, and enforce them. It exists to create the infrastructure we all benefit from, but which no single one of us has enough resources to build. In short, governments exist to do things that allow their citizens to flourish.

So look around at this country. Regardless of party, be honest with yourself: Do you think your government is as good at any of those things as it was 20 years ago?

The press and cable news have whipped this country into a frenzied crusade against racism, but what does more to rob non-white Americans of opportunity? Is it racism, or is it the city governments that let the murder rate of our largest cities go up by one-third last year, and which allow shoplifting, rioting, and lockdowns to proliferate until successfully running a business is nearly impossible?

That’s not an exaggeration: In Chicago, murders went up 50 percent from 2019 to 2020. They’re on track for even more this year. In Atlanta, murders went up 58 percent. In Boston, 54 percent.

In St. Louis, there was nearly a 1:1,000 chance that you were murdered in 2020. That city is more dangerous than any city in South Africa or in Brazil. It’s more dangerous than Caracas. What do you think is doing more damage to the lives of people in St. Louis: A riot on Capitol Hill, or all those murders?

And what do you really think caused those murderers? Omnipresent-yet-mysteriously-invisible racism, or a local government that decided to stop enforcing the law (except against homeowners who brandished guns to defend themselves from a mob)?

Speaking of racism again, when people in our poorest cities struggle to find jobs, is it because of bigotry, or because our elites have spent 40 years cutting out the bottom of the labor market with nearly unlimited illegal immigration that we could easily stop but choose not to?

We’re on track to have 1.7 million illegal immigrants be apprehended at the border this fiscal year. About half of those people will simply be released into the United States until they have their “day in court,” for which they don’t actually have to show.

This isn’t some fact of nature. We know what’s really happening. We’ve chosen to have a broken system. Our leaders choose every day not to fix it.

And how about at the other end of things? In many parts of the country, small businesses say they can’t find people who will show up to work. Is that because everyone suddenly decided they hated being employed? Or could it be that our own governments have paid millions of people just as much or more to stay home than they used to earn working?

If you could earn the exact same amount for doing nothing, would you? A lot of people said yes.

We hear that the Capitol riot was an assault on our democracy, but what puts our democracy in more danger? Some unarmed 50-year-old men cavorting in the Rotunda, or a government that sits paralyzed while private equity loots small towns, tech behemoths monopolize free speech, and H.R. departments force you to pledge allegiance to a rainbow flag?

And let’s be clear: Conservatives can be just as guilty of consuming the junk food of daily news-cycle distractions. How many Republicans are talking about Nikki Minaj three days after Gen. Mark Milley told Bob Woodward he committed treason?

Or how about the war in Afghanistan, which ended in cataclysmic national humiliation? How many Republicans bashing the Biden administration’s handling of that retreat are just using it as just an excuse to hurt the other guy and hope they win in 2022? How many are willing to confront the deep, decades-long rot that is the actual reason we lost in Afghanistan?

Not many. That would require admitting that our military has been badly mismanaged by Republicans as well as Democrats.

Good government is hard. It’s often boring and unrewarding. Some of the most important policies we can enact won’t make for a good cable news hit — but we need them.

It’s difficult to stay focused: We exist in perpetual distraction entirely dictated by the latest news item or communication flashing across our smart phones. We’re connected (and addicted) to flashing images, to remote work, to easy lust and self-affirming outrage; and all we need to do to release a dopamine hit is touch a button on our phone.

It’s distracting us, it’s making us stupid, and it’s taking our eyes off the ball. There’s no grand conspiracy here — we choose to consume the junk food, the junk news, the junk entertainment. Now, it’s time to disconnect.

America is sick. It’s a sickness that started years ago, but we still refuse to acknowledge it. Instead, we talk on and on and on about COVID or racism or a riot, like an ill person blaming the weather or smog or our neighbor’s dog keeping us awake at night.

But the problems don’t care about our excuses or our explanations — they simply are, and they’re getting worse every day. If we don’t make the choice to confront it directly, it will kill us.

Democrats’ proposed tax hikes could eventually hit middle-class Americans: Here’s how

Dems’ proposal could mean higher taxes for middle-income workers

House Democrats unveiled a sweeping tax-hike plan this week that dramatically raises the rates paid by wealthy Americans and corporations – but the proposal could also have long-term implications for the middle class.

The proposal would roll back key parts of Republicans’ 2017 tax law, including restoring the top individual income rate to 39.6%.

The new rate would apply to single individuals with taxable income of more than $400,000, according to a copy of the legislative outline. It would also apply to married individuals filing jointly whose taxable income tops $450,000; to heads of households with income topping $425,000; to married individuals filing separate returns over $225,000; and to estates and trusts over $12,500. 

The plan also includes a 3% surcharge on income exceeding $5 million and keeps in place a 3.8% net investment income tax. 

A distributional analysis released by the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation on Tuesday found that taxes would only increase for the top sliver of households in the first year the increases were implemented. But over time, once the expansion of the child tax credit ended, the average tax rate would also increase for lower earners.

By 2027, the average tax rate for individuals earning between $50,000 and $75,000 would climb about 1%, the analysis shows. The rate would be slightly higher for individuals earning between $75,000 and $100,000, rising by 1.3%. The tax rate would increase 1.5% for those making between $100,000 and $200,000 would see a 1.5% increase.

Average rates would also be higher for those income brackets through 2031, the analysis shows.

Still, the increases seemingly contradict Biden’s campaign promise that no one earning less than $400,000 would pay higher taxes if he were elected. 

“Anybody making more than $400,000 will see a small to a significant tax increase,” Biden told ABC News earlier this year. “If you make less than $400,000, you won’t see one single penny in additional federal tax.

Assuming the proposal becomes law – which hinges on a deeply divided Congress – the new tax rate would start to apply during the 2022 tax year. It would generate an estimated $2.1 trillion over the next decade, according to an estimate from the Joint Committee on Taxation.

The top rate is currently paid by single individuals earning more than $518,401 and married individuals filing jointly who earn more than $622,051.

The enhanced child tax credit is poised to end next year, although Democrats are hoping to include a five-year expansion as part of the $3.5 trillion tax and spending bill, which would dramatically expand the social safety net if enacted.

WATCH: Gen. Milley’s Shocking Admission About ‘Commonalities’ With the Chinese Communist Party

General Milley is captured on camera lauding the brutal, oppressive, genocidal regime.

General Mark Milley – who participated in secret phone calls with Chinese military leaders while pledging to not carry out then-President Donald Trump’s orders – revealed he “hesitates” to call China an enemy, insisting he trusts the Chinese Communist Party to be forthright with its military ambitions in remarks unearthed by The National Pulse.

Milley – who used a treasonous backchannel to inform Chinese Communist Party officials that he would alert them ahead of U.S. military actions – divulged his view of the regime while speaking at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Land Warfare Conference in 2017.

“I would hesitate to call China an enemy. Some would say adversary. Others would say enemy. Some would say hostile. I think they are what the slide implies.”

– General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2017

The slide referenced by Milley reads: “The Modernisation of Land Forces to Deliver Land Power Decisively in an Era of Constant Competition.”

“They’re a competitor and the competition between the United States and China has a military dimension to it, but that is a far cry and that’s a long leap between that and enemy,” he added, before concluding, “there is a lot of time between now and any time the United States and China would become quote-on-quote an enemy where armed conflict were to be pursued.”

RUSI, an establishment British think-tank, summarized Milley’s speech by noting “China and the United States are competitors, not enemies” in a tweet from the event.

Speaking about his worldview regarding China, Milley admitted “that is a construct, though, that we use, that I use within the United States Army” at the event which he noted had Chinese Communist Party military officers in attendance.

“There’s a lot of commonality, areas of common interest.”

In addition to his rejection of the belief that the Chinese Communist Party is not an enemy of the United States, Milley also reveals he takes the regime “at their word” concerning their military ambitions:

The Chinese military is clearly and unambiguously developing a very modern, capable military. Why are they doing that? The Chinese have their own reasons, but they have clearly published it in unclassified documents. I believe them. I take them at their word. I believe the declaratory policy, that they want to assert themselves and be a co-equal partner with the United States on the global scene and they want to dominate the region in general and assert their historical rights.

The Chinese Communist Party has run influence operations across the United States and Europe for decades, culminating in the bribery of public officials, as well as outright propaganda successes.

Study: COVID Hospitalizations Exaggerated—48 Percent of Cases Are Mild

A new study suggests the data on COVID-19 hospitalizations is exaggerated by the fact almost half of those hospitalized have mild or asymptomatic cases, The Atlantic reported.

Hospitalization data has been significant during the pandemic because those numbers tend to predict death totals, but they now might be losing meaning because of the testing of individuals coming to the hospital for other reasons, only to find they have mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to boot.

Hospitals may test all admissions for any reason for COVID-19, regardless of whether the stay at the hospital was due to COVID-19, and any patient in the hospital with the virus is recorded as a COVID hospitalization.

“As we look to shift from cases to hospitalizations as a metric to drive policy and assess level of risk to a community or state or country, we should refine the definition of hospitalization,” Tufts Medical Center’s Shira Doron, an infectious-disease physician and hospital epidemiologist and a co-author of the study, told The Atlantic.

“Those patients who are there with – rather than from – COVID, don’t belong in the metric.”

The study look at the electronic records for nearly 50,000 COVID-19 admissions at Veterans Affairs hospitals in the U.S., checking blood oxygen levels below 94% and whether the patient required supplemental oxygen. Failing either of those conditions, the study deemed the COVID-19 case as mild or asymptomatic.

In the pre-vaccination period March 2020 to early January 2021 – before the rise of the delta variants – mild or asymptomatic COVID hospitalizations were 36%.

But, vaccines have brought on a higher rate of mild cases among the hospitalized, representing 48% from mid-January to June 2021, according to the report.

Also, according to the findings, the vaccinated that were hospitalized had even a higher percentage of mild or asymptomatic COVID cases (57%) than the unvaccinated (45%).

Doron suggested the latter data point might be impacted by younger patients, who are less vulnerable to serious COVID-19 complications and are more likely not opt against vaccination because of youth, good health, or a past infection, The Atlantic reported.

There are some limitations to the findings, according to the report, because VA patients are not necessarily representative of the U.S. population, because of fewer women and children. Also, the VA hospitals test all admissions for COVID-19, but not all hospitals are required to.

And, finally, the data is only through June, so the data might have since changed.

“People ask me, ‘Why am I getting vaccinated if I just end up in the hospital anyway?'” Daniel Griffin, Columbia University infectious-disease specialist, told The Atlantic. “But I say, ‘You’ll end up leaving the hospital.'”

Lawmaker in another state plans to duplicate Texas Heartbeat Act

‘I am absolutely going to file a bill as soon as I can’

A Missouri pro-life legislator has announced she plans to introduce a bill similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act. The unique Texas law empowers citizens to enforce the state’s restriction on abortion once an embryonic heartbeat can be detected by allowing them to sue abortionists and others who aid in the abortion. The child’s mother is exempt from liability.

Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman vowed last week to introduce a version of this Texas legislation that aims to end abortion in Missouri. “I am absolutely going to file a bill as soon as I can,” she said. “We are committed as a group to work together to do absolutely any and all procedural or legal avenues to end abortion.”

Missouri passed a law in 2019 meant to restrict abortion to the first eight weeks of pregnancy, but that law is currently not in force and is tied up in the court system. The Supreme Court is set this fall to hear the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which centers on Mississippi’s restriction on abortion at 15 weeks. In the meantime, Coleman and other pro-life Missouri legislators could write a bill similar to the Texas Heartbeat Act and have it signed by Gov. Mike Parson by early next year. They have hope that the law would go into effect since the Supreme Court allowed the Texas Heartbeat Act to take effect, making it the first successful heartbeat act to do so.

But that isn’t to say the bill won’t face challenges. Pro-abortion organizations are already gearing up to fight any and all pro-life legislation. “History continues to show us that this will not remain a Texas problem for very long,” said NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri Executive Director Mallory Schwarz. “Given the precedent set earlier this week by the highest court in the land by allowing this law to stand, we anticipate we’re going to see a copycat bill come to Missouri as soon as filing opens.”

NARAL and other pro-abortion groups plan to rally abortion enthusiasts to help fund organizations that pay for abortions in Missouri and Texas as well as to put pressure on Missouri legislators to not pass pro-life laws. But according to NPR, Republican supermajorities are in both houses of the Missouri legislature and are likely to vote pro-life.

“We are absolutely going to do everything we have in power to try to eliminate abortion in Missouri,” said Coleman. “And not just eliminate it, but make it unthinkable.”

DeSantis May Buy COVID Antibody Treatment Directly From Manufacturer, Will Bypass Fed. Gov’t

On Thursday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that he was, “very very concerned” about President Joe Biden’s decision to restrict distribution of monoclonal antibodies to states while there is a rise in COVID-19 cases prompting a surge in the demand for the treatment in mainly southern states.

Late last week, Biden announced that the administration would be increasing shipments for the month of September by 50%.

But earlier this week, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it was seizing control of the nationwide supply of the COVID-19 treatment, and would be controlling distribution.

Fighting COVID In The Sunshine State

Immediately after the announcement that HHS would be controlling the supply of monoclonal antibodies came another statement that the supply that would be used in Florida would be cut by 50%.

DeSantis explained, “So this is a dramatic reduction, and I’d say it’s doubly problematic because what Shane Strum and folks in Tampa General and these other hospital systems that have been doing this, they’re not getting it from the state.”

DeSantis continued, saying that from the reduced amount given to the state, that anyone providing monoclonal antibody treatment in Florida, including hospitals will have to obtain their supply from the state.

The Governor added that he is going to, “work like hell to make sure” that Florida “can overcome the obstacles that HHS and the Biden administration” are placing not just on Florida, but other states as well. He continued, “There’s going to be a huge disruption and patients are going to suffer as a result of this.”

DeSantis also said that he had spoken with executives at GlaxoSmithKline, one of the manufacturers of monoclonal antibodies, and he believes that Florida will be able to order the treatment directly from them. 

Are There Ulterior Motives?

Also on Thursday, HHS issued a statement that read in part:

“HHS will determine the amount of product each state and territory receives on a weekly basis. State and territorial health departments will subsequently identify sites that will receive product and how much. This system will help maintain equitable distribution, both geographically and temporally, across the country — providing states and territories with consistent, fairly-distributed supply over the coming weeks.”

According to U.S. News & World Report, just seven states, Florida, Texas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana have accounted for roughly 70% of orders from the manufacturer.

However, with the exception of Louisiana, all of these states have on thing in common.

They all have Republican governors.

During a press conference on Thursday, President Biden attacked DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott and claimed they were undermining “the life-saving requirements” being touted by his administration.

Biden also said, “This is the worst kind of politics, because it’s putting the lives of citizens of their states, especially children, at risk and I refuse to give into it.”

In a tweet, Donald Trump Jr. also speculated that Biden’s actions may be the result of political payback, “Americans will die because of Biden’s despicable decision to punish his political enemies in red states by restricting their ability to secure life-saving monoclonal antibody treatments for all that need them. Their blood is directly on Joe’s hands.”

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) also accused Biden and his administration of playing politics with the lives of Floridians. “Antibody treatments aren’t a substitute for vaccines But they have prevented thousands of hospitalizations including in breakthrough cases. Now in a move that reeks of partisan payback against states like Florida, the Biden administration is rationing these treatments.”

History Between Biden And DeSantis

The slap fight between Ron DeSantis and Joe Biden has been an ongoing one since Biden suggested that any governors who opposed restrictive COVID rules should “get out of the way.”

DeSantis was having none of it, and immediately ripped into Biden, mentioning his poor job on the southern border, and declared he would do what he needed to in order to keep Floridians safe.

Later, when asked about DeSantis’ statements, Biden smirked and said, “Governor who?” Joe Biden has continued to make comments about GOP governors that criticize their handling of COVID in their respective states.

DeSantis called him out yet again.

This time blasting him for the chaos of the withdrawal in Afghanistan, “If he spent a little less time talking about Florida and more time doing his job as Commander-in-Chief, we might not have 13 service members who were killed in action in Afghanistan because of his ineptitude and dereliction of duty.”

Texas state troopers seal off U.S.-Mexico border in Del Rio

Texas state troopers used cars to erect a wall of metal this weekend, sealing off the U.S.-Mexico border in Del Rio, and Homeland Security said it was rushing agents and officers down to process the thousands of migrants who’d made it in beforehand, as officials moved on what has literally become an illegal immigrant beachhead inside the country.

Homeland Security also vowed more deportation flights and use of expedited removal, a speedy deportation process, to try to oust as many of the migrants, most of them Haitians, from the camp they’d erected on the banks of the Rio Grande.

With the stream of new migrants cut off, authorities had whittled the numbers down from a peak of about 16,000 people late last week to fewer than 13,000 Sunday afternoon.

Todd Bensman, senior national security fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, who has been observing the scene on the ground for several days, said the Biden administration is desperate to get the numbers down to a manageable level before those in the camp get unruly.

“They actually are genuinely fearful there will be a big riot,” he said.

The chaotic scene forced the feds to close the border crossing late Friday, after a day’s dithering. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he thought they’d agreed to shut the port of entry on Thursday, only to have Customs and Border Protection say it didn’t know anything about it.

On Sunday, Mr. Abbott said he deployed the National Guard and state troopers to seal off the shore of the Rio Grande, and it was working.

“More Law Enforcement & National Guard are added daily to secure the region from the potential influx of illegal immigrants,” the governor said on Twitter.

The Biden team has also started talking tough, saying it was looking to ramp up deportation flights to Haiti and to work with other countries where the Haitians may have been living before making the journey to the U.S., hoping to get those other nations to take them back.

Many of the Haitians had been living in places like Brazil and Argentina, not Haiti, and saw the Biden administration’s more relaxed approach to immigration enforcement as an invitation to try to jump the border.

Homeland Security said it’s trying to send a message that the border isn’t open and people shouldn’t make the attempt.

“Individuals and families are subject to border restrictions, including expulsion. Irregular migration poses a significant threat to the health and welfare of border communities and to the lives of migrants themselves, and should not be attempted,” the department said in an unsigned statement Saturday.

It’s not yet clear whether those words will be met with action.

Deporting many of the Haitians to Haiti seems a tough prospect, particularly because the Biden administration just last month declared that country so unstable that it was granting a deportation amnesty to Haitians already in the U.S.

Analysts said it’s just as likely the Haitians will be processed, will make iffy asylum claims, and be released to pursue those claims in coming years.

In addition to Haitians, there were some Venezuelans and Cubans in the camp, which sprang up as numbers of migrants became too overwhelming for Border Patrol agents to handle. 

Those in the camp were literally waiting their turn to be arrested by agents.

The reasons for the sudden surge are murky, though Mr. Bensman said he got some clues during his time in Ciudad Acuña, across the river from Del Rio.

He said migrants told him they’d been held in a camp at Mexico’s southern border for months, then all of the sudden the Mexican authorities said they were free to go.

So go, they did — heading north to the U.S., which had been their destination all along.

They ended up in Ciudad Acuña because the cartels in the city don’t control the human smuggling across the river the way cartels do along much of the rest of the border, Mr. Bensman wrote in an analysis.

Those who reach the city are free to swim across without worrying about harassment or paying the “piso,” or crossing fee, collected by cartels elsewhere. That fee can run upwards of $1,000.

The migrant beachhead was the latest test for a Biden administration still struggling to find its footing on immigration and border issues, having erased a network of get-tough policies the Trump team put in place, and watching as migrants reacted by coming in unprecedented numbers.

If September stays on pace, fiscal year 2021 will rival the all-time record for most illegal immigrants caught at the border.

Former President Donald Trump weighed in Sunday, wondering why National Guard troops were deployed in Washington to handle security at a pro-Trump rally at the Capitol, rather than deployed to Del Rio.

“The largest number of illegal aliens in the history of our Country are pouring in by the millions. They are totally unchecked and unvetted, can do whatever they want, and go wherever they want,” the former president said, asserting the U.S. “is rapidly becoming a cesspool of humanity.”

He complained that the press wasn’t giving enough attention to what he called the “greatest crisis in the history of our country.”

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