alternet--2020-11-17--The strange and wonderful world of John Oliver in the miserable 2020

Underneath this avalanche of the unthinkable under which we 're buried – the obscene count of preventable deaths , the laments over time 's meaninglessness , the emergence of end-of-days creatures , all this and much more – lurks a simple truth that surely must be universally acknowledged : 2020 is a sadist .
What 's strange and wonderful is that `` Last Week Tonight '' host John Oliver chose to help us laugh about that by fantasizing about that force as a live human mascot played by Adam Driver .
To be clear , never has Oliver implied that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ uncaring .
But for reasons that may only be slightly more apparent now , Oliver ushers his bizarre , violently sexualized fantasy statements about what the `` Marriage Story '' star could do to him into a recurring bit apropos of nothing .
`` Last Week Tonight '' has a tradition of ending its seasons with a massive stunt its viewers anticipate with the same glee as other holiday traditions .
Some people look forward to annual broadcasts of `` Frosty the Snowman '' or `` Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer . ''
Oliver @ @ @ @ @ @ @ whether he 'll send off the year that was with a smile or a massive F. U .
In 2016 producers compiled a montage of statements from people on the streets of New York listing all the ways that year sucked .
Oliver referenced Trump 's election as a dispiriting capper while also adding , `` We can not lose sight of all the other multiple ways this has been a s****y year . ''
Looking back on those complaints now , most people would give anything to be subjected to the irritations @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for 2016 's celebrity losses .
That was the year we lost Prince , David Bowie , Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest and Alan Rickman , for starters .
However , what we remember most fondly is how he wrapped up that litany of woe : by gleefully blowing up a gigantic `` 2016 '' in the middle of an empty stadium .
As we approach the end of 2020 we have very little of such fire left in us .
Replacing it instead is an urge to feel – more @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all .
Maybe that 's why Oliver 's Driver obsession somehow makes sense .
Bewildering , unexplainable and a tad frightening , it is the murder hornets of late-night bits .
At various points during Season 7 of `` Last Week Tonight , '' Oliver saucily invites Driver to `` Shatter my knees , you f***able redwood '' ; or `` jam your mandible claw down my throat , you irredeemable steer '' or other lines even E.L. James would characterize as `` a bit much . ''
This walked up to Sunday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seen coming : Driver , at last , confronting Oliver via FaceTime with a rage that was decidedly non-erotic .
Instead he is frustrated and confused , particularly after Oliver 's request that Driver `` crush his larynx '' while lending him the pet name of `` you unwieldy boulder . ''
`` I was having some weird fun , '' Oliver explains to the actor , who he yells at the host for creating a situation in which the Internet stans the pair of men and declares , `` That you thirsting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ' '' Fair enough .
Also , and I 'm just throwing this out there .
.
.
.
what if it is ?
Across the board , late night comedy has provided us with clarity , catharsis and bracing honesty wrapped in laughter in a time of extreme separation on many fronts – physical , emotional , certainly political .
Quarantine and divisiveness have worn on us in large ways and small , and while several hosts are getting us through this nightmare with gentle , soothing jokes and counseling tenderness with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seized upon the surreal nature of our collective lot to create some next-level screwiness .
Then there 's John Oliver and his void .
Oliver long ago proved that he does n't need an audience to pump up his jokes .
But like everyone else , being in other people 's presence lights him up in ways that the void simply can not .
Do n't get me wrong – `` Last Week Tonight '' has been as searing , effective and necessary as ever , but recent episodes also reveal its host @ @ @ @ @ @ @ depletion .
You can see it in the shift in energy between early in the season and later half-hours either by watching a few of them , or simply scanning the tiles on the HBO Max episode page and noticing the weight in his facial expression as our collective mood transformed from early 2020 bemusement to late-year exhaustion .
But the Driver fiending is something else .
Oliver 's first sexy Driver reference occurred during a February segment exploring the dangerous nationalism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi , in which he used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` Fresh Air '' conversation with Terry Gross as a point of contrast with Modi storming out an interview .
The contexts are very different .
Modi stormed off because a journalist asked him whether he felt a sense of accountability for riots that occurred in 2002 under his watch as chief minister , in which more than 1,000 people lost their lives .
Driver was angry at Gross because she played an audio clip of him performing on Broadway despite knowing that Driver does not like hearing or seeing himself perform .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Modi .
He affirmed the actor 's exit simply because , in his estimation , Driver can do `` whatever the f*** he wants . ''
And here is where the dirty talk began .
`` Step on my throat , Adam Driver , you rudely large man .
Break my fingers , you brooding mountain . ''
Oliver initially busted this out in front of a studio audience , one of only four such telecasts that `` Last Week Tonight '' was able to host in its 30-episode seventh season that ended @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
reasons .
.
.
Oliver kept finding ways to come back to his fictional obsession with having Driver `` demolish him '' ( his words , not mine ) .
`` And what of Adam Driver himself ?
Is he bothered by this continued sexualization ? ''
Oliver asked midway through the season .
`` He seems like a fairly private guy who 's generally uncomfortable with attention , making what I 'm doing possibly some form of harassment !
He might actually have pretty good grounds to have my reprimanded legally @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Slap a restraining order on me , you forlorn block .
Beg me to stop , you menacing obstacle . '
'' In the season finale , Driver did not beg .
He ordered Oliver to stop .
.
.
and Oliver , playing the shocked and mildly titillated submissive , complied .
It was the culmination of a season-long gag that good-naturedly reminds us of how strange we 've gotten in the absence of normality or public places to visit , see others and be seen , save via Zoom .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ender , down to the explosion – this one taking place in what appeared to be some sort of quarry .
`` This year has been an absolute parade of misery , '' Oliver says before listing everything that occurred before the pandemic , including the Australian wildfires and Kobe Bryant 's death .
Now we 're living with mass unemployment and evictions on top of mourning the losses of Chadwick Boseman , civil rights pioneer John Lewis and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg .
`` This year ruined lives , jobs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also brought on a new wave of wrenching videos of police brutality that brought on a national reckoning with race , and a ferocious and depressing backlash .
And sure , the presidential election ended well , but it was grim to live through , '' he said .
Taking all that into account , perhaps we can understand why Oliver , a host who describes himself as `` six feet of nasty , spankable bird meat crammed into a suit , '' took a bit in which he daydreamed about a famous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it for 10 months .
At first it was absurd and seemed to come out of nowhere .
Soon enough we came to wait for it , wondering what that was all about .
Maybe that mood prevented us from completely retreating into our own numb nothingness .
More realistically , it was just the sort of strange that felt right for right now .
As he does every year , Oliver ended his season with a warning for the future , laced in faint hope .
`` I really hope next year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the truth is , what happens is up to all of us .
It 's going to depend on how willing we are to fight , how well we learned from what 's happened , and how much we 're able to care about each other .
So I do n't know what happens next .
But I do know what happens now . ''
At this point he takes a pen-sized detonator and fulfills an explosive fantasy on behalf of millions of us by demolishing something as opposed to getting demolished .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ commands , adding for emphasis , `` Get f***ed . ''
All episodes of Season 7 of `` Last Week Tonight '' are currently streaming on HBO Max .

Underneath this avalanche of the unthinkable under which we're buried – the obscene count of preventable deaths, the laments over time's meaninglessness, the emergence of end-of-days creatures, all this and much more – lurks a simple truth that surely must be universally acknowledged: 2020 is a sadist.
What's strange and wonderful is that "Last Week Tonight" host John Oliver chose to help us laugh about that by fantasizing about that force as a live human mascot played by Adam Driver.
To be clear, never has Oliver implied that Driver is evil, or thoughtless or uncaring. But for reasons that may only be slightly more apparent now, Oliver ushers his bizarre, violently sexualized fantasy statements about what the "Marriage Story" star could do to him into a recurring bit apropos of nothing.
"Last Week Tonight" has a tradition of ending its seasons with a massive stunt its viewers anticipate with the same glee as other holiday traditions. Some people look forward to annual broadcasts of "Frosty the Snowman" or "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Oliver's devotees hang in there to see whether he'll send off the year that was with a smile or a massive F. U.
In 2016 producers compiled a montage of statements from people on the streets of New York listing all the ways that year sucked. Oliver referenced Trump's election as a dispiriting capper while also adding, "We cannot lose sight of all the other multiple ways this has been a s****y year."
Looking back on those complaints now, most people would give anything to be subjected to the irritations those 365 days served up, save for 2016's celebrity losses. That was the year we lost Prince, David Bowie, Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest and Alan Rickman, for starters.
However, what we remember most fondly is how he wrapped up that litany of woe: by gleefully blowing up a gigantic "2016" in the middle of an empty stadium.
As we approach the end of 2020 we have very little of such fire left in us. Replacing it instead is an urge to feel – more, or better, or anything at all. Maybe that's why Oliver's Driver obsession somehow makes sense. Bewildering, unexplainable and a tad frightening, it is the murder hornets of late-night bits.
At various points during Season 7 of "Last Week Tonight," Oliver saucily invites Driver to "Shatter my knees, you f***able redwood"; or "jam your mandible claw down my throat, you irredeemable steer" or other lines even E.L. James would characterize as "a bit much."
This walked up to Sunday's season closer that we should have seen coming: Driver, at last, confronting Oliver via FaceTime with a rage that was decidedly non-erotic. Instead he is frustrated and confused, particularly after Oliver's request that Driver "crush his larynx" while lending him the pet name of "you unwieldy boulder."
"I was having some weird fun," Oliver explains to the actor, who he yells at the host for creating a situation in which the Internet stans the pair of men and declares, "That you thirsting over me is 'a mood.'"
Fair enough. Also, and I'm just throwing this out there. . . . what if it is?
Across the board, late night comedy has provided us with clarity, catharsis and bracing honesty wrapped in laughter in a time of extreme separation on many fronts – physical, emotional, certainly political. Quarantine and divisiveness have worn on us in large ways and small, and while several hosts are getting us through this nightmare with gentle, soothing jokes and counseling tenderness with ourselves and each other, others have seized upon the surreal nature of our collective lot to create some next-level screwiness.
Then there's John Oliver and his void.
Oliver long ago proved that he doesn't need an audience to pump up his jokes. But like everyone else, being in other people's presence lights him up in ways that the void simply cannot.
Don't get me wrong – "Last Week Tonight" has been as searing, effective and necessary as ever, but recent episodes also reveal its host's humanity and the impact of surge depletion. You can see it in the shift in energy between early in the season and later half-hours either by watching a few of them, or simply scanning the tiles on the HBO Max episode page and noticing the weight in his facial expression as our collective mood transformed from early 2020 bemusement to late-year exhaustion.
But the Driver fiending is something else.
Oliver's first sexy Driver reference occurred during a February segment exploring the dangerous nationalism of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in which he used Driver's walking out on an NPR "Fresh Air" conversation with Terry Gross as a point of contrast with Modi storming out an interview. The contexts are very different. Modi stormed off because a journalist asked him whether he felt a sense of accountability for riots that occurred in 2002 under his watch as chief minister, in which more than 1,000 people lost their lives. Driver was angry at Gross because she played an audio clip of him performing on Broadway despite knowing that Driver does not like hearing or seeing himself perform.
But Oliver was not likening Driver to Modi. He affirmed the actor's exit simply because, in his estimation, Driver can do "whatever the f*** he wants." And here is where the dirty talk began. "Step on my throat, Adam Driver, you rudely large man. Break my fingers, you brooding mountain."
Oliver initially busted this out in front of a studio audience, one of only four such telecasts that "Last Week Tonight" was able to host in its 30-episode seventh season that ended on Sunday. But for . . . reasons . . . Oliver kept finding ways to come back to his fictional obsession with having Driver "demolish him" (his words, not mine).
"And what of Adam Driver himself? Is he bothered by this continued sexualization?" Oliver asked midway through the season. "He seems like a fairly private guy who's generally uncomfortable with attention, making what I'm doing possibly some form of harassment! He might actually have pretty good grounds to have my reprimanded legally to which I say, 'DO IT. Slap a restraining order on me, you forlorn block. Beg me to stop, you menacing obstacle.'"
In the season finale, Driver did not beg. He ordered Oliver to stop . . . and Oliver, playing the shocked and mildly titillated submissive, complied. It was the culmination of a season-long gag that good-naturedly reminds us of how strange we've gotten in the absence of normality or public places to visit, see others and be seen, save via Zoom.
It also bookends Oliver's 2016 season ender, down to the explosion – this one taking place in what appeared to be some sort of quarry.
"This year has been an absolute parade of misery," Oliver says before listing everything that occurred before the pandemic, including the Australian wildfires and Kobe Bryant's death. Now we're living with mass unemployment and evictions on top of mourning the losses of Chadwick Boseman, civil rights pioneer John Lewis and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"This year ruined lives, jobs, concerts, and sanity. It also brought on a new wave of wrenching videos of police brutality that brought on a national reckoning with race, and a ferocious and depressing backlash. And sure, the presidential election ended well, but it was grim to live through," he said.
Taking all that into account, perhaps we can understand why Oliver, a host who describes himself as "six feet of nasty, spankable bird meat crammed into a suit," took a bit in which he daydreamed about a famous stranger slapping him around and ran with it for 10 months. At first it was absurd and seemed to come out of nowhere. Soon enough we came to wait for it, wondering what that was all about. Maybe that mood prevented us from completely retreating into our own numb nothingness. More realistically, it was just the sort of strange that felt right for right now.
As he does every year, Oliver ended his season with a warning for the future, laced in faint hope. "I really hope next year is going to be better. But the truth is, what happens is up to all of us. It's going to depend on how willing we are to fight, how well we learned from what's happened, and how much we're able to care about each other. So I don't know what happens next. But I do know what happens now."
At this point he takes a pen-sized detonator and fulfills an explosive fantasy on behalf of millions of us by demolishing something as opposed to getting demolished. "F*** you 2020," Oliver commands, adding for emphasis, "Get f***ed."
Trump & Election Results: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO) www.youtube.com
All episodes of Season 7 of "Last Week Tonight" are currently streaming on HBO Max.


alternet--2020-11-17--Trump recently weighed an attack on Iran that could spark broader conflict: report

Following a report that Iran had substantially bulked up its reserves of nuclear material , President Donald Trump considered attack options against the Middle East country last week , according to the New York Times .
But other officials counseled the president on Thursday against aggressive steps , the report found , with at least one cautioning that `` a strike against Iran 's facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks '' of Trump 's term .
Though Trump has reportedly decided to refrain from taking action at this point , the Times made clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` Mr. Trump might still be looking at ways to strike Iranian assets and allies , including militias in Iraq , officials said , '' according to the report .
`` A smaller group of national security aides had met late Wednesday to discuss Iran , the day before the meeting with the president . ''
The news comes at a particularly insecure time for the president , as he has lost his re-election bid against Joe Biden but refuses to concede .
Trump also recently ousted and replaced top leadership at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be fully explained .
And the increasing tensions with Iran reflect a deeply regrettable fact : Trump pointlessly tore up the Iran nuclear deal that had been crafted under President Barack Obama and was never able to replace it .
That has given the regime much more latitude to ramp up its nuclear program .
Biden has expressed a desire to return the United States to the nuclear deal , but it 's hard to be confident that will even still be an option by the time he is inaugurated .
Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 resulted in a series of escalating tit-for-tat strikes , including an assault on American soldiers that reportedly caused dozens of injuries .
And in the fog of conflict , Iran shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 , a passenger jet , killing 176 people .

Following a report that Iran had substantially bulked up its reserves of nuclear material, President Donald Trump considered attack options against the Middle East country last week, according to the New York Times.
But other officials counseled the president on Thursday against aggressive steps, the report found, with at least one cautioning that "a strike against Iran's facilities could easily escalate into a broader conflict in the last weeks" of Trump's term.
Though Trump has reportedly decided to refrain from taking action at this point, the Times made clear he may be keeping his options open.
"Mr. Trump might still be looking at ways to strike Iranian assets and allies, including militias in Iraq, officials said," according to the report. "A smaller group of national security aides had met late Wednesday to discuss Iran, the day before the meeting with the president."
The news comes at a particularly insecure time for the president, as he has lost his re-election bid against Joe Biden but refuses to concede. Trump also recently ousted and replaced top leadership at the Pentagon for reasons that have yet to be fully explained.
And the increasing tensions with Iran reflect a deeply regrettable fact: Trump pointlessly tore up the Iran nuclear deal that had been crafted under President Barack Obama and was never able to replace it. That has given the regime much more latitude to ramp up its nuclear program. Biden has expressed a desire to return the United States to the nuclear deal, but it's hard to be confident that will even still be an option by the time he is inaugurated.
Trump's previous saber-rattling with Iran around the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020 resulted in a series of escalating tit-for-tat strikes, including an assault on American soldiers that reportedly caused dozens of injuries. And in the fog of conflict, Iran shot down Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752, a passenger jet, killing 176 people.


alternet--2020-11-18--New report finds that reducing overpopulation in jails doesn't hurt public safety

COVID-19 has transformed the landscape of American life , from the mundane , like how people work and socialize , to the traumatic , such as how they are locked up .
The airborne and contagious nature of the virus has made claustrophobic , unsanitary places like our jails petri dishes for its spread .
Even in areas of the country where the political needle has not moved on mass incarceration and the drug war since the 1990s , local sheriffs , mayors and county commissions have felt enough pressure to take action to alleviate the jail overpopulation crisis that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occurred .
There are real questions about what many more conservative jurisdictions will do in terms of jail policy after the pandemic comes to an end .
However , even before COVID-19 , many other jurisdictions had already been experimenting with letting more people facing criminal charges await their trial dates from the safety of their own homes .
The Prison Policy Initiative , a national-facing nonprofit based in Easthampton , Massachusetts , just released a groundbreaking new report studying the impacts of these pretrial justice reforms on four states , as well @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Analyzing public safety data from before and after the implementation of local reforms , the report comes to the conclusion that releasing people from confinement pretrial does not harm public safety .
In 2017 , the New Jersey legislature virtually eliminated cash bail in favor of a risk-assessment approach to pretrial release .
By 2019 , the statewide jail population statewide had decreased by 45 percent .
Contrary to law enforcement messaging that both crime and victimization would increase , crime data showed a 16 percent drop from 2016 to 2018 , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of people arrested while on pretrial release .
The stories are similar for the other states studied .
Kentucky saw a decline in new arrests for people released pending trial , while New Mexico saw declines in both crime rates and rearrest rates .
In New York , there was a sharp decrease in the number of people incarcerated pretrial after reforms were enacted , but , thanks to the state 's district attorneys stoking fears of a hypothetical crime wave and particularly heinous crimes , it only took a few months for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the local level , Washington , DC has represented a success story on pretrial justice changes for years .
The city largely eschewed cash bail in the 1990s , and today , less than 10 percent of people released following arrest are released contingent on a financial bond .
In San Francisco , where progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin took office at the beginning of the year , prosecutors are no longer seeking cash bail ; just like in DC , only about 10 percent of people awaiting trial at home are arrested @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Santa Clara County , California , which includes San Jose , the results of a similar policy were even more impressive , with 99 percent of impacted people not getting rearrested .
If these data points seem to some to contradict common sense , it is because television shows about crime and justice , together wth other media depictions , focus on dramatic , terrible crimes like rape and murder .
In fact , the lion 's share of any local or state prosecutor office 's caseload consists of minor , even petty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ newly-elected reformist county attorney in Pima County ( Tucson ) , Arizona , importantly made crucial but little-known statistics about the county and state justice system front and center in her campaign .
Linking to data from Pima County Superior Court and the Arizona Department of Corrections , Conover explained how `` more people were charged with a felony drug offense as the most serious charge than with any other kind of felony offense , which has been true for fourteen of the last seventeen years . ''
In addition , she noted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to prison and jail and places more people on probation for drug possession as the most serious charge than for any other type of crime . ''
This holds true for Arizona as a whole , as well as many other places across the nation .
None of this stops the fear-mongering about pretrial reform , especially from law-and-order conservatives and last generation 's law enforcement officials .
What motivates these reactions ?
Aside from the desire to appear `` tough on crime , '' some of these figures may be looking out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , making the case to a judge that someone is an imminent menace to the community takes more effort than simply asking to hold someone on a routine bail amount on the basis of the underlying crime charged .
In New Mexico , Albuquerque DA Raul Torrez 's prosecutors often refused to give this extra information , even after voters said yes to a 2016 ballot initiative that required just this .
Across the nation in Brooklyn , assistant prosecutors quit in droves after a set of criminal justice reforms ( including bail @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hours they had to spend at work .
This article was originally published by Filter , a magazine covering drug use , drug policy and human rights .
Follow Filter on Facebook or Twitter .

COVID-19 has transformed the landscape of American life, from the mundane, like how people work and socialize, to the traumatic, such as how they are locked up. The airborne and contagious nature of the virus has made claustrophobic, unsanitary places like our jails petri dishes for its spread. Even in areas of the country where the political needle has not moved on mass incarceration and the drug war since the 1990s, local sheriffs, mayors and county commissions have felt enough pressure to take action to alleviate the jail overpopulation crisis that meaningful releases of pretrial detainees have sometimes occurred.
There are real questions about what many more conservative jurisdictions will do in terms of jail policy after the pandemic comes to an end. However, even before COVID-19, many other jurisdictions had already been experimenting with letting more people facing criminal charges await their trial dates from the safety of their own homes.
The Prison Policy Initiative, a national-facing nonprofit based in Easthampton, Massachusetts, just released a groundbreaking new report studying the impacts of these pretrial justice reforms on four states, as well as nine populous counties and cities. Analyzing public safety data from before and after the implementation of local reforms, the report comes to the conclusion that releasing people from confinement pretrial does not harm public safety.
In 2017, the New Jersey legislature virtually eliminated cash bail in favor of a risk-assessment approach to pretrial release. By 2019, the statewide jail population statewide had decreased by 45 percent. Contrary to law enforcement messaging that both crime and victimization would increase, crime data showed a 16 percent drop from 2016 to 2018, as well as negligible change in the number of people arrested while on pretrial release.
The stories are similar for the other states studied. Kentucky saw a decline in new arrests for people released pending trial, while New Mexico saw declines in both crime rates and rearrest rates. In New York, there was a sharp decrease in the number of people incarcerated pretrial after reforms were enacted, but, thanks to the state's district attorneys stoking fears of a hypothetical crime wave and particularly heinous crimes, it only took a few months for the legislature to reverse course.
On the local level, Washington, DC has represented a success story on pretrial justice changes for years. The city largely eschewed cash bail in the 1990s, and today, less than 10 percent of people released following arrest are released contingent on a financial bond. In San Francisco, where progressive District Attorney Chesa Boudin took office at the beginning of the year, prosecutors are no longer seeking cash bail; just like in DC, only about 10 percent of people awaiting trial at home are arrested again during that period. In neighboring Santa Clara County, California, which includes San Jose, the results of a similar policy were even more impressive, with 99 percent of impacted people not getting rearrested.
If these data points seem to some to contradict common sense, it is because television shows about crime and justice, together wth other media depictions, focus on dramatic, terrible crimes like rape and murder. In fact, the lion's share of any local or state prosecutor office's caseload consists of minor, even petty, crimes.
Laura Conover, the newly-elected reformist county attorney in Pima County (Tucson), Arizona, importantly made crucial but little-known statistics about the county and state justice system front and center in her campaign. Linking to data from Pima County Superior Court and the Arizona Department of Corrections, Conover explained how "more people were charged with a felony drug offense as the most serious charge than with any other kind of felony offense, which has been true for fourteen of the last seventeen years." In addition, she noted how Pima County "sends more people to prison and jail and places more people on probation for drug possession as the most serious charge than for any other type of crime." This holds true for Arizona as a whole, as well as many other places across the nation.
None of this stops the fear-mongering about pretrial reform, especially from law-and-order conservatives and last generation's law enforcement officials. What motivates these reactions?
Aside from the desire to appear "tough on crime," some of these figures may be looking out for their personal lives. For prosecutors, making the case to a judge that someone is an imminent menace to the community takes more effort than simply asking to hold someone on a routine bail amount on the basis of the underlying crime charged.
In New Mexico, Albuquerque DA Raul Torrez's prosecutors often refused to give this extra information, even after voters said yes to a 2016 ballot initiative that required just this. Across the nation in Brooklyn, assistant prosecutors quit in droves after a set of criminal justice reforms (including bail reform) allegedly increased the amount of hours they had to spend at work.
This article was originally published by Filter, a magazine covering drug use, drug policy and human rights. Follow Filter on Facebook or Twitter.


alternet--2020-11-18--An epidemiologist explains how to host a safe holiday meal during the coronavirus pandemic

Like many people in this unusual year , I am adjusting my family 's holiday plans so that we can all be safe during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic .
I am an epidemiologist and mother of four with a large extended family .
Given the serious nationwide resurgence of COVID-19 infections , gatherings of family and friends over the upcoming holidays have the potential to amplify the spread of the virus .
Several recent studies have further confirmed that indoor socializing at home carries a significantly higher risk of viral transmission than outdoor activities .
Health officials , including Dr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases , have warned that much of transmission this fall is happening across all age groups at small indoor gatherings .
For the past 15 years my family tradition is to travel from Washington , D.C. , along with both grandparents , to sunny Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with cousins .
This year we decided to skip the travel and will have fall and winter celebrations at home .
We are not canceling the holidays , but to keep ourselves and others safe , we are keeping plans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health of those we love is most important as we enter the season of gratitude .
First , it is important that everyone who will be attending any holiday celebration is on the same page about how to take precautions before getting together .
The idea is to lower infection risk in the weeks leading up to the holidays and then test to confirm .
In general , everyone should plan to be vigilant in their public health practices beforehand , especially since grandparents are at higher risk .
In my family , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ other people as much as possible the week before Thanksgiving .
We have also agreed that everyone needs to be extra cautious around the few close people we see regularly .
In conjunction with quarantining , testing is the second strategy .
Research has consistently shown that people are most contagious a day or two before they show symptoms , so everyone plans to get tested with an RT-PCR test within 72 hours of Thanksgiving , while still being able to get results in hand before we gather .
If the demand for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ long , we will get rapid tests .
But these are a second choice , as they are less reliable and can be expensive .
Where and how to eat and socialize No matter how careful you and your family are , there is some risk that someone will be infected .
With that in mind , the goal is to reduce the conditions that lead to viral spread .
The biggest risks are indoor spaces with poor ventilation , large groups and close contact .
So we are planning the opposite : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ group and plenty of space between everyone .
To reduce the risk of infection from flying and to keep the gathering small , the only people coming to Thanksgiving at my family 's home in D.C. are my mother , my aunt and my uncle – all of whom live within driving distance .
This is in addition to myself , my husband and our kids .
When deciding how many people will come to the holidays , keep it small and consider the amount of space you have to maintain social distancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plan to be outside for trivia games and the turkey meal .
Rather than eat around one table , we will have individual tables and place settings spaced far apart and space heaters around .
I 've got a mini care package planned for each guest so that everyone will have their own blanket , hand sanitizer , utensils and a festive mask .
My mother wo n't be helping out in the kitchen this year and , unfortunately , that goes for cleanup too .
We wo n't take a group picture @ @ @ @ @ @ @ some of the special moments .
If the weather does n't cooperate , Plan B is to be inside in the large family room with as many windows open as possible and with everyone spaced as far apart as possible .
Being outside is safer , but if you must be indoors , improve ventilation by opening doors and windows .
Consider turning on exhaust fans and using an air purifier .
Everyone who lives in the household will be in one section while my mom will have her own individual area , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Even though we wo n't hold hands before sharing the meal , we will still recite that we are “ thankful for family , friends and food . ''
Whether outside or inside , everyone will wear masks when they are n't eating , maintain 6 feet of distance and use the hand sanitizer that I will place throughout the house .
It is also important to be mindful of alcohol consumption , as a pandemic is not the time for lowered inhibitions and bad judgment .
I hope everyone enjoys the meal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in this melancholy year , but the work is not done once the dishes are clean and everyone is home safely .
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Everyone is planning to get another COVID–19 test one week after the meal .
Additionally , Thanksgiving is our family 's trial run for Christmas , so a few days after , I plan to call everyone and discuss what worked well and what did n't .
If all goes well , I hope to repeat @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Christmas .
The ending of 2020 deserves to be celebrated , given this difficult year .
This Thanksgiving will be different from those of other years , and my kids understand they need to manage their expectations .
But we still plan to uphold our tradition of writing all that we are thankful for and reading our messages aloud to one another .
We will still share love , some laughs and a good meal while everyone does their part to protect one another .
This article is republished from The Conversation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the original article .

by Melissa Hawkins, American University
Like many people in this unusual year, I am adjusting my family's holiday plans so that we can all be safe during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
I am an epidemiologist and mother of four with a large extended family. Given the serious nationwide resurgence of COVID-19 infections, gatherings of family and friends over the upcoming holidays have the potential to amplify the spread of the virus. Several recent studies have further confirmed that indoor socializing at home carries a significantly higher risk of viral transmission than outdoor activities. Health officials, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, have warned that much of transmission this fall is happening across all age groups at small indoor gatherings.
For the past 15 years my family tradition is to travel from Washington, D.C., along with both grandparents, to sunny Florida to celebrate Thanksgiving with cousins. This year we decided to skip the travel and will have fall and winter celebrations at home.
We are not canceling the holidays, but to keep ourselves and others safe, we are keeping plans small and flexible and remembering that the health of those we love is most important as we enter the season of gratitude.
Before you gather
First, it is important that everyone who will be attending any holiday celebration is on the same page about how to take precautions before getting together. The idea is to lower infection risk in the weeks leading up to the holidays and then test to confirm.
In general, everyone should plan to be vigilant in their public health practices beforehand, especially since grandparents are at higher risk. In my family, we have agreed to limit contact with other people as much as possible the week before Thanksgiving. We have also agreed that everyone needs to be extra cautious around the few close people we see regularly.
In conjunction with quarantining, testing is the second strategy.
Research has consistently shown that people are most contagious a day or two before they show symptoms, so everyone plans to get tested with an RT-PCR test within 72 hours of Thanksgiving, while still being able to get results in hand before we gather.
If the demand for tests is high and wait times are long, we will get rapid tests. But these are a second choice, as they are less reliable and can be expensive.
Where and how to eat and socialize
No matter how careful you and your family are, there is some risk that someone will be infected. With that in mind, the goal is to reduce the conditions that lead to viral spread. The biggest risks are indoor spaces with poor ventilation, large groups and close contact. So we are planning the opposite: a short outdoor Thanksgiving with a small group and plenty of space between everyone.
To reduce the risk of infection from flying and to keep the gathering small, the only people coming to Thanksgiving at my family's home in D.C. are my mother, my aunt and my uncle – all of whom live within driving distance. This is in addition to myself, my husband and our kids. When deciding how many people will come to the holidays, keep it small and consider the amount of space you have to maintain social distancing.
If the weather cooperates, we plan to be outside for trivia games and the turkey meal. Rather than eat around one table, we will have individual tables and place settings spaced far apart and space heaters around. I've got a mini care package planned for each guest so that everyone will have their own blanket, hand sanitizer, utensils and a festive mask. My mother won't be helping out in the kitchen this year and, unfortunately, that goes for cleanup too. We won't take a group picture but I will be sure to capture some of the special moments.
If the weather doesn't cooperate, Plan B is to be inside in the large family room with as many windows open as possible and with everyone spaced as far apart as possible. Being outside is safer, but if you must be indoors, improve ventilation by opening doors and windows. Consider turning on exhaust fans and using an air purifier.
Everyone who lives in the household will be in one section while my mom will have her own individual area, as will my aunt and uncle. Even though we won't hold hands before sharing the meal, we will still recite that we are “thankful for family, friends and food."
Whether outside or inside, everyone will wear masks when they aren't eating, maintain 6 feet of distance and use the hand sanitizer that I will place throughout the house.
It is also important to be mindful of alcohol consumption, as a pandemic is not the time for lowered inhibitions and bad judgment.
After the event
I hope everyone enjoys the meal and quality time spent with one another in this melancholy year, but the work is not done once the dishes are clean and everyone is home safely.
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Everyone is planning to get another COVID–19 test one week after the meal. Additionally, Thanksgiving is our family's trial run for Christmas, so a few days after, I plan to call everyone and discuss what worked well and what didn't. If all goes well, I hope to repeat this quarantine, test and gather process for Christmas.
The ending of 2020 deserves to be celebrated, given this difficult year. This Thanksgiving will be different from those of other years, and my kids understand they need to manage their expectations. But we still plan to uphold our tradition of writing all that we are thankful for and reading our messages aloud to one another. We will still share love, some laughs and a good meal while everyone does their part to protect one another.
Melissa Hawkins, Professor of Public Health, Director of Public Health Scholars Program, American University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


alternet--2020-11-18--Trump says he's firing top cyber official who debunked claims of voter fraud

On Tuesday evening , President Donald Trump announced that he is firing Chris Krebs , the top official overseeing cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security , for openly disputing his claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election .
Krebs , echoing many independent experts as well as state and local officials , has been clear that there was not widespread voter fraud or technical glitches affecting the results of the 2020 presidential election , as Trump has claimed .
Without calling out the president directly , Krebs ' assessment of the situation from within the administration stood as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ campaign .
So it was widely believed Krebs ' position was at risk .
Trump confirmed those suspicions and reports Tuesday on Twitter with a stream of false claims : The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency , which Krebs has been leading , directly addressed these kinds of claims in a recent statement , saying : The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history .
Right now , across the country , election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will recount ballots .
All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote , allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary .
This is an added benefit for security and resilience .
This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors.There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes , changed votes , or was in any way compromised .

On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump announced that he is firing Chris Krebs, the top official overseeing cybersecurity at the Department of Homeland Security, for openly disputing his claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Krebs, echoing many independent experts as well as state and local officials, has been clear that there was not widespread voter fraud or technical glitches affecting the results of the 2020 presidential election, as Trump has claimed. Without calling out the president directly, Krebs' assessment of the situation from within the administration stood as a notable rebuke to Trump's disinformation campaign.
So it was widely believed Krebs' position was at risk. Trump confirmed those suspicions and reports Tuesday on Twitter with a stream of false claims:
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which Krebs has been leading, directly addressed these kinds of claims in a recent statement, saying:
The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Right now, across the country, election officials are reviewing and double checking the entire election process prior to finalizing the result.
"When states have close elections, many will recount ballots. All of the states with close results in the 2020 presidential race have paper records of each vote, allowing the ability to go back and count each ballot if necessary. This is an added benefit for security and resilience. This process allows for the identification and correction of any mistakes or errors.There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.


alternet--2020-11-17--'Our worst fears have come true': Study shows the new coronavirus wave is battering nursing homes

Calling on federal lawmakers to take responsibility for the wellbeing of Americans living in nursing homes amid the current surge in coronavirus cases , the nation 's top organization of long-term care providers demanded urgent action as they released a report Tuesday showing that the recent spike across the country has corresponded with rising cases in nursing homes .
`` Our worst fears have come true as Covid runs rampant among the general population , and long-term care facilities are powerless to fully prevent it from entering due to its asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread , '' stated Mark Parkinson , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living ( AHCA/NCAL ) , the industry groups that produced the new findings .
`` Our health are heroes are doing everything they can to prevent it from spreading further , '' Parkinson added , `` but this level of Covid nationwide puts serious strain on our workforce , supplies , and testing capacity . ''
The new AHCA/NCAL study ( pdf ) shows that weekly Covid-19 cases in nursing homes have reached record numbers this month and traces the spike to community spread outside the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , weekly new cases of Covid-19 rose 140 % in the first week of November , with more than 572,000 Americans infected .
That same week , more than 10,000 people living in long-term care facilities tested positive , and nearly half of those cases were in Midwestern states with huge spikes in community transmission , including North Dakota and Minnesota .
Since mid-September , northern states in the Midwest have seen a 200 % weekly increase in nursing home cases .
While White House officials including Dr. Scott Atlas , a top @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have pushed a `` herd immunity '' strategy in which relatively young and healthy people would be urged to go about their daily routines without wearing face masks or social distancing , while nursing home residents and other medically vulnerable people would be quarantined , the AHCA/NCAL study demonstrates the impossibility of such an approach—as medical experts have warned for months .
`` Trying to protect nursing home residents without controlling community spread is a losing battle , '' Tamara Konetzka , an expert on long-term care at the University of Chicago , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` Someone has to care for vulnerable nursing home residents , and those caregivers move in and out of the nursing home daily , providing an easy pathway for the virus to enter . ''
Dr. David Grabowski , professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School also recently stated , `` The strongest predictor of whether or not we 'll see cases in [ a particular setting ] is community spread . ''
The prevalence of community spread as a cause of outbreaks in nursing homes has caused care providers to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for a drastically scaled back holiday season .
`` We are especially concerned that this situation will only get worse with Thanksgiving just around the corner , '' Parkinson said in a statement .
`` We urge everyone to do their part to slow the spread immediately and exercise caution when celebrating Thanksgiving . ''
While he said that nursing homes are doing everything possible to protect those under their care , Parkinson added : `` If everybody would wear a mask and social distance to reduce the level of Covid-19 in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reduce these rates in long term care facilities . ''
Parkinson 's comments came shortly after Atlas insisted on Fox News that Americans should consider celebrating the holidays as they normally would , including traveling and spending time indoors with family members , to combat the isolation faced by many elderly Americans .
Atlas also recently decried lockdown measures put in place by Michigan Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer .
Atlas 's approach , Parkinson suggested , is precisely what puts elderly Americans in danger of both Covid-19 infection and prolonged isoltion .
`` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not only endanger our nation 's most vulnerable , but also trigger government lockdowns of facilities , keeping these residents from their loved ones , '' said Parkinson .
`` This is detrimental to their health , wellbeing , and happiness . ''
While Covid-19 cases in nursing homes only account for 8 % of total cases in the U.S. , the virus has proven especially deadly for populations in long-term care facilities , where many patients have multiple co-morbidities .
Forty percent of Americans who have died of Covid-19 lived in nursing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in nursing homes , Parkinson said , the federal government must replenish the $ 175 billion Provider Relief Fund which was included in the CARES Act in March .
Most of the funds have been spent , leaving care providers scrambling to secure enough personal protective equipment to mitigate Covid-19 transmission , testing supplies , and staff to care for patients .
`` Congress must fulfill its duty , '' said Parkinson .
`` Without adequate funding and resources , the U.S. is repeating the same mistakes made during the initial outbreak last @ @ @ @ @ @ @ summer .
We need Congress to prioritize our vulnerable seniors and their caregivers in long-term care facilities , by passing another Covid relief package during the lame duck session in Congress . ''
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ( R-Ky. ) has shown no signs of budging on his plan to provide the public with just $ 500 billion in Covid-19 relief , while Democrats have pushed for a $ 2.2 trillion package including $ 400 billion for state and local governments and small business loans to potentially enable businesses to shut down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Tuesday , a day after more than 166,000 people in the U.S. tested positive for Covid-19 , McConnell directed the Senate to vote on a lifetime appointment for one of Trump 's federal judicial nominees .
`` McConnell is still prioritizing Trump 's judges over Covid relief , '' tweeted Vanita Gupta , president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights .

Calling on federal lawmakers to take responsibility for the wellbeing of Americans living in nursing homes amid the current surge in coronavirus cases, the nation's top organization of long-term care providers demanded urgent action as they released a report Tuesday showing that the recent spike across the country has corresponded with rising cases in nursing homes.
"Our worst fears have come true as Covid runs rampant among the general population, and long-term care facilities are powerless to fully prevent it from entering due to its asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic spread," stated Mark Parkinson, president and CEO of the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL), the industry groups that produced the new findings.
"Our health are heroes are doing everything they can to prevent it from spreading further," Parkinson added, "but this level of Covid nationwide puts serious strain on our workforce, supplies, and testing capacity."
The new AHCA/NCAL study (pdf) shows that weekly Covid-19 cases in nursing homes have reached record numbers this month and traces the spike to community spread outside the facilities.
According to Johns Hopkins University, weekly new cases of Covid-19 rose 140% in the first week of November, with more than 572,000 Americans infected. That same week, more than 10,000 people living in long-term care facilities tested positive, and nearly half of those cases were in Midwestern states with huge spikes in community transmission, including North Dakota and Minnesota.
Since mid-September, northern states in the Midwest have seen a 200% weekly increase in nursing home cases.
While White House officials including Dr. Scott Atlas, a top coronavirus adviser to President Donald Trump, have pushed a "herd immunity" strategy in which relatively young and healthy people would be urged to go about their daily routines without wearing face masks or social distancing, while nursing home residents and other medically vulnerable people would be quarantined, the AHCA/NCAL study demonstrates the impossibility of such an approach—as medical experts have warned for months.
"Trying to protect nursing home residents without controlling community spread is a losing battle," Tamara Konetzka, an expert on long-term care at the University of Chicago, told the Associated Press earlier this month. "Someone has to care for vulnerable nursing home residents, and those caregivers move in and out of the nursing home daily, providing an easy pathway for the virus to enter."
Dr. David Grabowski, professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School also recently stated, "The strongest predictor of whether or not we'll see cases in [a particular setting] is community spread."
The prevalence of community spread as a cause of outbreaks in nursing homes has caused care providers to underscore calls by immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci for a drastically scaled back holiday season.
"We are especially concerned that this situation will only get worse with Thanksgiving just around the corner," Parkinson said in a statement. "We urge everyone to do their part to slow the spread immediately and exercise caution when celebrating Thanksgiving."
While he said that nursing homes are doing everything possible to protect those under their care, Parkinson added: "If everybody would wear a mask and social distance to reduce the level of Covid-19 in the community, we know we would dramatically reduce these rates in long term care facilities."
Parkinson's comments came shortly after Atlas insisted on Fox News that Americans should consider celebrating the holidays as they normally would, including traveling and spending time indoors with family members, to combat the isolation faced by many elderly Americans. Atlas also recently decried lockdown measures put in place by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Atlas's approach, Parkinson suggested, is precisely what puts elderly Americans in danger of both Covid-19 infection and prolonged isoltion.
"The public must realize that their actions not only endanger our nation's most vulnerable, but also trigger government lockdowns of facilities, keeping these residents from their loved ones," said Parkinson. "This is detrimental to their health, wellbeing, and happiness."
While Covid-19 cases in nursing homes only account for 8% of total cases in the U.S., the virus has proven especially deadly for populations in long-term care facilities, where many patients have multiple co-morbidities. Forty percent of Americans who have died of Covid-19 lived in nursing homes.
To reduce the mortality rate in nursing homes, Parkinson said, the federal government must replenish the $175 billion Provider Relief Fund which was included in the CARES Act in March. Most of the funds have been spent, leaving care providers scrambling to secure enough personal protective equipment to mitigate Covid-19 transmission, testing supplies, and staff to care for patients.
"Congress must fulfill its duty," said Parkinson. "Without adequate funding and resources, the U.S. is repeating the same mistakes made during the initial outbreak last spring and the major spike over the summer. We need Congress to prioritize our vulnerable seniors and their caregivers in long-term care facilities, by passing another Covid relief package during the lame duck session in Congress."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has shown no signs of budging on his plan to provide the public with just $500 billion in Covid-19 relief, while Democrats have pushed for a $2.2 trillion package including $400 billion for state and local governments and small business loans to potentially enable businesses to shut down temporarily, limiting coronavirus spread.
On Tuesday, a day after more than 166,000 people in the U.S. tested positive for Covid-19, McConnell directed the Senate to vote on a lifetime appointment for one of Trump's federal judicial nominees.
"McConnell is still prioritizing Trump's judges over Covid relief," tweeted Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.


alternet--2020-11-17--Top GOP senator is positive for COVID-19 at age 87

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa revealed on Tuesday evening that he has tested positive for COVID-19 , the infection caused by the coronavirus .
The 87-year-old occupies the role of president pro tempore of the Senate , putting him third in line for the presidency .
At such an advanced age , Grassley is at heightened risk of complications and death from the virus .
`` This morning , I learned that I have been exposed to the coronavirus , '' he said in a statement .
`` I received a COVID-19 test and immediately began to quarantine .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ still feel fine , the test came back positive for the coronavirus .
I am continuing to follow my doctors ' orders and CDC guidelines .
I 'll be keeping up on my work for the people of Iowa from home .
I appreciate everyone 's well wishes and prayers , and looked forward to resuming my normal schedule when I can . ''
The only senator older than Grassley , Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California , was seen not wearing a mask around others in the Senate building on Tuesday .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ lax attitude toward the virus , following President Donald Trump 's lead in downplaying its threat and dismissing the importance of countermeasures .
This behavior may be particularly dangerous in Congress , where many members are elderly and at risk for severe consequences from infection .
However , they may be somewhat protected because they 're likely to receive high-quality medical care should they fall ill .

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa revealed on Tuesday evening that he has tested positive for COVID-19, the infection caused by the coronavirus.
The 87-year-old occupies the role of president pro tempore of the Senate, putting him third in line for the presidency.
At such an advanced age, Grassley is at heightened risk of complications and death from the virus.
"This morning, I learned that I have been exposed to the coronavirus," he said in a statement. "I received a COVID-19 test and immediately began to quarantine."
He continued: "While I still feel fine, the test came back positive for the coronavirus. I am continuing to follow my doctors' orders and CDC guidelines. I'll be keeping up on my work for the people of Iowa from home. I appreciate everyone's well wishes and prayers, and looked forward to resuming my normal schedule when I can."
The only senator older than Grassley, Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, was seen not wearing a mask around others in the Senate building on Tuesday.
Many Republican officials have had a relatively lax attitude toward the virus, following President Donald Trump's lead in downplaying its threat and dismissing the importance of countermeasures. This behavior may be particularly dangerous in Congress, where many members are elderly and at risk for severe consequences from infection. However, they may be somewhat protected because they're likely to receive high-quality medical care should they fall ill.


alternet--2020-11-17--The new politics of the poor in Joe Biden’s and Mitch McConnell’s America

In the two weeks since Election 2020 , the country has oscillated between joy and anger , hope and dread in an era of polarization sharpened by the forces of racism , nativism , and hate .
Still , truth be told , though the divisive tone of this moment may only be sharpening , division in the United States of America is not a new phenomenon .
Over the past days , I 've found myself returning to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King , Jr. , who , in 1967 , just a year before his own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ `` The Other America '' in which he vividly described a reality that feels all too of this moment rather than that one : '' There are literally two Americas .
One America is beautiful ... and overflowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of opportunity .
This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies ; and culture and education for their minds ; and freedom and human dignity for their spirits.. '' But tragically and unfortunately , there is another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ daily ugliness about it that constantly transforms the ebulliency of hope into the fatigue of despair .
In this America millions of work-starved men walk the streets daily in search for jobs that do not exist .
In this America millions of people find themselves living in rat-infested , vermin-filled slums .
In this America people are poor by the millions .
They find themselves perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity . ''
In Dr. King 's day , that other America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bare to the nation through mass social unrest and political change , through the bold actions of the freedom fighters who won the Voting Rights Act and then just kept on fighting , as well as governmental programs like the `` War on Poverty . ''
And yet , despite the significant gains then , for many decades since , inequality in this country has been on the rise to previously unimaginable levels , while poverty remained locked in and largely ignored .
Today , in the early winter of an uncurbed pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , there are 140 million poor or low-income Americans , disproportionately people of color , but reaching into every community in this country : 24 million Blacks , 38 million Latinos , eight million Asians , two million Native peoples , and 66 million whites .
More than a third of the potential electorate , in other words , has been relegated to poverty and precariousness and yet how little of the political discourse in recent elections was directed at those who were poor or one storm , fire , job loss , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poverty and economic chaos .
In the distorted mirror of public policy , those 140 million people have remained essentially invisible .
As in the 1960s and other times in our history , however , the poor are no longer waiting for recognition from Washington .
Instead , every indication is that they 're beginning to organize themselves , taking decisive action to alter the scales of political power .
For years , I 've traveled this country , working to build a movement to end poverty .
In a nation that has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and freest in history , I 've regularly witnessed painful divisions caused by hunger , homelessness , sickness , degradation , and so much more .
In Lowndes County , Alabama , for instance , I organized with people who lived day in , day out with raw sewage in their yards and dangerous mold in their homes .
On Apache land in Oak Flats , Arizona , I stood with native leaders struggling to cope with generations of loss and plunder , most recently at the hands of a multinational copper mining @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Washington , I visited millennials living in homeless encampments under constant siege by militia groups and the police .
And the list , sadly , only goes on .
As the future administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris heads for the White House ( no matter the recalcitrant loser still ensconced there ) , the rest of us must equip ourselves with both courage and caution , living as we do in a divided nation , in -- to be exact -- two very different Americas .
Keep in mind that these @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of MSNBC and Fox News , of Republicans and Democrats , of conservatives and liberals .
All of us live in a land where there are two Americas , one of unimaginable wealth , the other of miserable poverty ; an America of the promised good life and one of almost guaranteed premature death .
Unleashing the Power of Poor and Low-Income Voters One enduring narrative from the 2016 election is that poor and low-income voters won Donald Trump the White House , even if the numbers do n't bear it out .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ voters who made less than $ 30,000 a year and by 9 points among voters who made less than $ 49,999 ; the median household income of Trump voters then was $ 72,000 .
Four years later , initial estimates suggest that this trend has only intensified : Joe Biden attracted more poor and low-income voters than President Trump both in the aggregate and in key states like Michigan .
Trump , on the other hand , gained among voters with annual family incomes of more than $ 100,000 .
Last week , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Science Lab noted that this `` appears to be the biggest demographic shift I 'm seeing .
And you can tie that to [ Trump 's ] tax cuts [ for the wealthy ] and lower regulations . ''
In 2016 , there were 64 million eligible poor and low-income voters , 32 million of whom did not vote .
In 2020 , it 's becoming clear that poor and low-income voters helped decide the election 's outcome by opting for a candidate who signaled support for key antipoverty issues like raising @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and protecting the environment .
In down-ballot races , every congressional member who endorsed Medicare for All won reelection , even in swing states .
Imagine then how many dispossessed and disenfranchised voters might have turned out if more candidates had actually been speaking to the most pressing issues of their lives ?
Seventy-two percent of Americans said that they would prefer a government-run healthcare plan and more than 70 % supported raising the minimum wage , including 62 % of Republicans .
Even in districts that went for Trump , voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ few years ago , would have been unheard of .
In Mississippi , people voted to decriminalize medical marijuana , while in Florida a referendum for a $ 15 minimum wage got more votes than either of the two presidential candidates .
If nothing else , Election 2020 revealed a deeply divided nation -- two Americas , not one -- though that dividing line marked anything but an even or obvious split .
A startling number of Americans are trapped in wretched conditions and hungry for a clean break with the status quo @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rampant voter suppression and racialized gerrymandering of the last decade of American politics suggests that extremists from the wealthier America will go to remarkable lengths to undercut the power of those at the bottom of this society .
They have proven ready to use every tool and scare tactic of racist division and subterfuge imaginable to stop poor Black , Latino , Asian , Indigenous , and white potential voters from building new and transformative alliances , including a new electorate .
It 's time to move beyond the defeatist myth of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of a Midwestern `` blue wall . ''
Across the South and the Midwest , there are voter-suppression states still to win , not for a party , but for a fusion movement of the many .
The same could be true for the coasts and the Southwest , where there remains a sleeping giant of poor and low-income people yet to be pulled into political action .
If this country is ever going to be built back better , to borrow Joe Biden 's campaign pledge , it 's time to turn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that is , the other America of Martin Luther King that still haunts us , whether we know it or not .
Fusion Politics in the Other America When Dr. King gave his `` Other America '' speech , he was preparing for what would become the last political project of his life : the Poor People 's Campaign .
At a time when the nation appeared to be fraying at the seams , he grasped that a giant social leap forward was still possible .
In fact , he envisioned a protracted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a new era of human rights and revolution not through sanguine calls for unity , but via a rousing fusion of poor and dispossessed people from all walks of life .
And that , as he imagined it , would also involve a recognition that systemic racism and other forms of hate and prejudice were crucial to the maintenence of the two Americas and had to be challenged head-on .
The idea of such fusion politics echoed earlier chapters of political reckoning and transformation in this country .
From the post-Civil War era @ @ @ @ @ @ @ emancipated Blacks built unprecedented , if fragile , alliances with poor whites to seize governing power .
Across a new South , fusion parties expanded voting rights , access to public education , labor protections , fair taxation , and more .
In North Carolina in 1868 , for instance , legislators went so far as to rewrite the state constitution to codify for the first time the right of all citizens to `` life , liberty , and the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor . ''
For nearly 30 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a modern version of fusion organizing , even as I studied earlier examples of it -- and this country 's history is rich with them .
Indeed , the modern Poor People 's Campaign that I co-chair is itself inspired by such past fusion movements , including the version of politics I was first introduced to by multiracial welfare rights and homeless organizing in the 1980s and 1990s .
Organizations like the National Welfare Rights Union and the National Union of the Homeless first grew in response to the neoliberal politics of President @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poor , especially the Black poor , or , as he put it , `` welfare queens . ''
In response to such myths and deep , divisive cuts , out of shelters and from the streets , poor people began to organize projects of mutual aid and solidarity , including `` unions '' of the homeless .
By the 1980s , the National Union of the Homeless had been created and had upwards of 30,000 members in 25 cities .
Meanwhile , organizers across the country soon escalated their efforts with waves @ @ @ @ @ @ @ federally owned buildings at a time when the government had abdicated its responsibility to protect and provide for its poorest citizens .
Those poor and homeless leaders also helped the Homeless Union secure guarantees from the federal government both for more subsidized housing and for protections of the right of the homeless to vote .
Today , in the middle of an economic crisis that could , in the end , rival the Great Depression , I 'm reminded not just of those moments that first involved me but of the fusion movements @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , in those years , shanty towns called `` Hoovervilles '' -- given that Herbert Hoover was still president -- cropped up in cities across the country .
Not unlike the tent cities of the Homeless Union and the Welfare Rights Movement in the 1980s and the ones appearing today , those Hoovervilles were where masses of the unemployed and homeless gathered to survive the worst of that depression and strategize on how to resist its misery .
Multiracial Unemployed Councils organized and fought for relief for workers without jobs then , preventing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Meanwhile , in the abandoned fields of the Southern Delta from Arkansas to Mississippi , groups like the Southern Tenant Farmers Union pioneered the dangerous work of organizing Black and white tenant farmers and sharecroppers .
When the New Deal coalition bet its future on compromise with white Southern extremists , members of that union were among the last guardians of the rights of poor agrarian workers .
Their lonely clarity on the significance of fusion politics in the South stood in stark contrast to the rise of an unmitigated politics of white @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Democrats like Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claim the legacy of Great Depression-era President Franklin Delano Roosevelt , remember the fusion organizing that helped bring him to power and pushed him to enact change .
I 'm thinking in particular of the more than 40,000 unemployed veterans of World War I who arrived in Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand the early payment of promised bonuses , previously only considered redeemable after 1945 .
That Bonus Army , as the veterans called it , collected many of the fraying threads @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , sometimes with wives and children , on seized public land just across the Potomac River from the capital 's federal office buildings , while holding regular nonviolent marches and rallies .
Eventually , President Herbert Hoover ordered the U.S. Army to tear down the camp in a violent fashion .
The mistreatment of those poor and war-weary veterans in the process proved to be a lightning rod for the public and so Hoover lost to FDR in the presidential election later that year , setting the stage for a decade defined by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ policy .
The Mandate of the Poor Today There are already those in the media and politics who are counseling restraint and a return to the pre-Trump days , as if he were the cause , not the consequence , of a nation desperately divided .
This would be nothing less than a disaster , given that the fissures in our democracy so desperately need mending not with nice words but with a new governing contract with the American people .
The battleground states that won Joe Biden the presidency have also been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the poor .
In Michigan , hit first and worst by deindustrialization , millions have struggled with a failing water system and a jobs crisis .
In Wisconsin , where unions have been under attack for years and austerity has become the norm , both budgets and social welfare policies have been slashed by legislatures .
In Pennsylvania , rural hospitals have been closing at an alarming rate and , even before the pandemic hit , the poorest large city in the country , Philadelphia , had already become a checkerboard of disinvestment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ million renters -- 45 % of the households in that state -- were at risk of eviction this year .
And in Arizona , the climate crisis and Covid-19 have ravaged entire communities , including the members of Indigenous nations who recently turned out to vote in record numbers .
The people of these states and 15 more helped elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris , and count on one thing : with their votes , they were calling for more than just an end to Trumpism .
They were demanding that a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ poor and marginalized .
The first priority in such an era should , of course , be to pass a comprehensive relief bill to control the pandemic and buoy the millions of Americans now facing a cold , dark winter of deprivation .
The House and the Senate have a moral responsibility to get this done as soon as the new administration takes office , if not before ( though tell that to Mitch McConnell ) .
The first 100 days of the Biden administration should then be focused , at least in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in securing permanent protections for the poor , including expanded voting rights , universal healthcare , affordable housing , a living wage , and a guaranteed adequate annual income , not to speak of divestment from the war economy and a swift transition to a green economy .
That should be the mandate of our next government .
And that 's why we , the overflowing millions , must harness the fusion politics that was so crucial to the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and organize in the best tradition of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ comes slowly and steadily , but in leaps and bounds .
The predictable stalemate of the next administration and its Republican opposition ca n't be broken by grand speeches in the House or Senate .
It can only be broken by a vast social movement capable of awakening the moral imagination of the nation .
It 's time to get to work .
Liz Theoharis , a TomDispatch regular , is a theologian , ordained minister , and anti-poverty activist .
Director of the Kairos Center for Religions , Rights and Social Justice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ City and co-chair of the Poor People 's Campaign : A National Call for Moral Revival , she is the author of Always With Us ?
What Jesus Really Said About the Poor .
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook .
Check out the newest Dispatch Books , John Feffer 's new dystopian novel ( the second in the Splinterlands series ) Frostlands , Beverly Gologorsky 's novel Every Body Has a Story , and Tom Engelhardt 's A Nation Unmade by War , as well as Alfred McCoy 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : The Rise and Decline of U.S .
Global Power and John Dower 's The Violent American Century : War and Terror Since World War II .

In the two weeks since Election 2020, the country has oscillated between joy and anger, hope and dread in an era of polarization sharpened by the forces of racism, nativism, and hate. Still, truth be told, though the divisive tone of this moment may only be sharpening, division in the United States of America is not a new phenomenon.
Over the past days, I've found myself returning to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who, in 1967, just a year before his own assassination, gave a speech prophetically entitled "The Other America" in which he vividly described a reality that feels all too of this moment rather than that one:
"There are literally two Americas. One America is beautiful... and overflowing with the milk of prosperity and the honey of opportunity. This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies; and culture and education for their minds; and freedom and human dignity for their spirits..
"But tragically and unfortunately, there is another America. This other America has a daily ugliness about it that constantly transforms the ebulliency of hope into the fatigue of despair. In this America millions of work-starved men walk the streets daily in search for jobs that do not exist. In this America millions of people find themselves living in rat-infested, vermin-filled slums. In this America people are poor by the millions. They find themselves perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity."
In Dr. King's day, that other America was, for a time, laid bare to the nation through mass social unrest and political change, through the bold actions of the freedom fighters who won the Voting Rights Act and then just kept on fighting, as well as governmental programs like the "War on Poverty." And yet, despite the significant gains then, for many decades since, inequality in this country has been on the rise to previously unimaginable levels, while poverty remained locked in and largely ignored.
Today, in the early winter of an uncurbed pandemic and the economic crisis that accompanies it, there are 140 million poor or low-income Americans, disproportionately people of color, but reaching into every community in this country: 24 million Blacks, 38 million Latinos, eight million Asians, two million Native peoples, and 66 million whites. More than a third of the potential electorate, in other words, has been relegated to poverty and precariousness and yet how little of the political discourse in recent elections was directed at those who were poor or one storm, fire, job loss, eviction, or healthcare crisis away from poverty and economic chaos. In the distorted mirror of public policy, those 140 million people have remained essentially invisible. As in the 1960s and other times in our history, however, the poor are no longer waiting for recognition from Washington. Instead, every indication is that they're beginning to organize themselves, taking decisive action to alter the scales of political power.
For years, I've traveled this country, working to build a movement to end poverty. In a nation that has so often boasted about being the wealthiest and freest in history, I've regularly witnessed painful divisions caused by hunger, homelessness, sickness, degradation, and so much more. In Lowndes County, Alabama, for instance, I organized with people who lived day in, day out with raw sewage in their yards and dangerous mold in their homes. On Apache land in Oak Flats, Arizona, I stood with native leaders struggling to cope with generations of loss and plunder, most recently at the hands of a multinational copper mining company. In Gray's Harbor, Washington, I visited millennials living in homeless encampments under constant siege by militia groups and the police. And the list, sadly, only goes on.
As the future administration of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris heads for the White House (no matter the recalcitrant loser still ensconced there), the rest of us must equip ourselves with both courage and caution, living as we do in a divided nation, in -- to be exact -- two very different Americas. Keep in mind that these are not the insulated, readymade Americas of MSNBC and Fox News, of Republicans and Democrats, of conservatives and liberals. All of us live in a land where there are two Americas, one of unimaginable wealth, the other of miserable poverty; an America of the promised good life and one of almost guaranteed premature death.
Unleashing the Power of Poor and Low-Income Voters
One enduring narrative from the 2016 election is that poor and low-income voters won Donald Trump the White House, even if the numbers don't bear it out. Hillary Clinton won by 12 points among voters who made less than $30,000 a year and by 9 points among voters who made less than $49,999; the median household income of Trump voters then was $72,000.
Four years later, initial estimates suggest that this trend has only intensified: Joe Biden attracted more poor and low-income voters than President Trump both in the aggregate and in key states like Michigan. Trump, on the other hand, gained among voters with annual family incomes of more than $100,000. Last week, the director of the MIT Election Data and Science Lab noted that this "appears to be the biggest demographic shift I'm seeing. And you can tie that to [Trump's] tax cuts [for the wealthy] and lower regulations."
In 2016, there were 64 million eligible poor and low-income voters, 32 million of whom did not vote. In 2020, it's becoming clear that poor and low-income voters helped decide the election's outcome by opting for a candidate who signaled support for key antipoverty issues like raising the minimum wage, expanding health care, and protecting the environment. In down-ballot races, every congressional member who endorsed Medicare for All won reelection, even in swing states. Imagine then how many dispossessed and disenfranchised voters might have turned out if more candidates had actually been speaking to the most pressing issues of their lives?
Seventy-two percent of Americans said that they would prefer a government-run healthcare plan and more than 70% supported raising the minimum wage, including 62% of Republicans. Even in districts that went for Trump, voters passed ballot measures that, only a few years ago, would have been unheard of. In Mississippi, people voted to decriminalize medical marijuana, while in Florida a referendum for a $15 minimum wage got more votes than either of the two presidential candidates.
If nothing else, Election 2020 revealed a deeply divided nation -- two Americas, not one -- though that dividing line marked anything but an even or obvious split. A startling number of Americans are trapped in wretched conditions and hungry for a clean break with the status quo. On the other hand, the rampant voter suppression and racialized gerrymandering of the last decade of American politics suggests that extremists from the wealthier America will go to remarkable lengths to undercut the power of those at the bottom of this society. They have proven ready to use every tool and scare tactic of racist division and subterfuge imaginable to stop poor Black, Latino, Asian, Indigenous, and white potential voters from building new and transformative alliances, including a new electorate.
It's time to move beyond the defeatist myth of the Solid South or even the dulling comfort of a Midwestern "blue wall." Across the South and the Midwest, there are voter-suppression states still to win, not for a party, but for a fusion movement of the many. The same could be true for the coasts and the Southwest, where there remains a sleeping giant of poor and low-income people yet to be pulled into political action. If this country is ever going to be built back better, to borrow Joe Biden's campaign pledge, it's time to turn to its abandoned corners; to, that is, the other America of Martin Luther King that still haunts us, whether we know it or not.
Fusion Politics in the Other America
When Dr. King gave his "Other America" speech, he was preparing for what would become the last political project of his life: the Poor People's Campaign. At a time when the nation appeared to be fraying at the seams, he grasped that a giant social leap forward was still possible. In fact, he envisioned a protracted struggle that might catapult this country into a new era of human rights and revolution not through sanguine calls for unity, but via a rousing fusion of poor and dispossessed people from all walks of life. And that, as he imagined it, would also involve a recognition that systemic racism and other forms of hate and prejudice were crucial to the maintenence of the two Americas and had to be challenged head-on.
The idea of such fusion politics echoed earlier chapters of political reckoning and transformation in this country. From the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction into the 1890s, newly emancipated Blacks built unprecedented, if fragile, alliances with poor whites to seize governing power. Across a new South, fusion parties expanded voting rights, access to public education, labor protections, fair taxation, and more. In North Carolina in 1868, for instance, legislators went so far as to rewrite the state constitution to codify for the first time the right of all citizens to "life, liberty, and the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor."
For nearly 30 years, I've been part of a modern version of fusion organizing, even as I studied earlier examples of it -- and this country's history is rich with them. Indeed, the modern Poor People's Campaign that I co-chair is itself inspired by such past fusion movements, including the version of politics I was first introduced to by multiracial welfare rights and homeless organizing in the 1980s and 1990s.
Organizations like the National Welfare Rights Union and the National Union of the Homeless first grew in response to the neoliberal politics of President Ronald Reagan and his attacks on the poor, especially the Black poor, or, as he put it, "welfare queens." In response to such myths and deep, divisive cuts, out of shelters and from the streets, poor people began to organize projects of mutual aid and solidarity, including "unions" of the homeless.
By the 1980s, the National Union of the Homeless had been created and had upwards of 30,000 members in 25 cities. Meanwhile, organizers across the country soon escalated their efforts with waves of coordinated and nonviolent takeovers of vacant federally owned buildings at a time when the government had abdicated its responsibility to protect and provide for its poorest citizens. Those poor and homeless leaders also helped the Homeless Union secure guarantees from the federal government both for more subsidized housing and for protections of the right of the homeless to vote.
Today, in the middle of an economic crisis that could, in the end, rival the Great Depression, I'm reminded not just of those moments that first involved me but of the fusion movements of the early 1930s. After all, in those years, shanty towns called "Hoovervilles" -- given that Herbert Hoover was still president -- cropped up in cities across the country.
Not unlike the tent cities of the Homeless Union and the Welfare Rights Movement in the 1980s and the ones appearing today, those Hoovervilles were where masses of the unemployed and homeless gathered to survive the worst of that depression and strategize on how to resist its misery. Multiracial Unemployed Councils organized and fought for relief for workers without jobs then, preventing thousands of evictions and utility shutoffs.
Meanwhile, in the abandoned fields of the Southern Delta from Arkansas to Mississippi, groups like the Southern Tenant Farmers Union pioneered the dangerous work of organizing Black and white tenant farmers and sharecroppers. When the New Deal coalition bet its future on compromise with white Southern extremists, members of that union were among the last guardians of the rights of poor agrarian workers. Their lonely clarity on the significance of fusion politics in the South stood in stark contrast to the rise of an unmitigated politics of white reaction there.
Today, as top Democrats like Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer claim the legacy of Great Depression-era President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, remember the fusion organizing that helped bring him to power and pushed him to enact change. I'm thinking in particular of the more than 40,000 unemployed veterans of World War I who arrived in Washington D.C. in 1932 to demand the early payment of promised bonuses, previously only considered redeemable after 1945. That Bonus Army, as the veterans called it, collected many of the fraying threads of the American tapestry, making camp, sometimes with wives and children, on seized public land just across the Potomac River from the capital's federal office buildings, while holding regular nonviolent marches and rallies.
Eventually, President Herbert Hoover ordered the U.S. Army to tear down the camp in a violent fashion. The mistreatment of those poor and war-weary veterans in the process proved to be a lightning rod for the public and so Hoover lost to FDR in the presidential election later that year, setting the stage for a decade defined by militant organizing and major shifts in national policy.
The Mandate of the Poor Today
There are already those in the media and politics who are counseling restraint and a return to the pre-Trump days, as if he were the cause, not the consequence, of a nation desperately divided. This would be nothing less than a disaster, given that the fissures in our democracy so desperately need mending not with nice words but with a new governing contract with the American people.
The battleground states that won Joe Biden the presidency have also been battlegrounds in the most recent war against the poor. In Michigan, hit first and worst by deindustrialization, millions have struggled with a failing water system and a jobs crisis. In Wisconsin, where unions have been under attack for years and austerity has become the norm, both budgets and social welfare policies have been slashed by legislatures. In Pennsylvania, rural hospitals have been closing at an alarming rate and, even before the pandemic hit, the poorest large city in the country, Philadelphia, had already become a checkerboard of disinvestment and gentrification. In Georgia, 1.3 million renters -- 45% of the households in that state -- were at risk of eviction this year. And in Arizona, the climate crisis and Covid-19 have ravaged entire communities, including the members of Indigenous nations who recently turned out to vote in record numbers.
The people of these states and 15 more helped elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and count on one thing: with their votes, they were calling for more than just an end to Trumpism. They were demanding that a new era of change begin for the poor and marginalized. The first priority in such an era should, of course, be to pass a comprehensive relief bill to control the pandemic and buoy the millions of Americans now facing a cold, dark winter of deprivation. The House and the Senate have a moral responsibility to get this done as soon as the new administration takes office, if not before (though tell that to Mitch McConnell). The first 100 days of the Biden administration should then be focused, at least in part, on launching a historic investment in securing permanent protections for the poor, including expanded voting rights, universal healthcare, affordable housing, a living wage, and a guaranteed adequate annual income, not to speak of divestment from the war economy and a swift transition to a green economy.
That should be the mandate of our next government. And that's why we, the overflowing millions, must harness the fusion politics that was so crucial to the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and organize in the best tradition of our predecessors. Real social progress rarely comes slowly and steadily, but in leaps and bounds. The predictable stalemate of the next administration and its Republican opposition can't be broken by grand speeches in the House or Senate. It can only be broken by a vast social movement capable of awakening the moral imagination of the nation.
It's time to get to work.
Liz Theoharis, a TomDispatch regular, is a theologian, ordained minister, and anti-poverty activist. Director of the Kairos Center for Religions, Rights and Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, she is the author of Always With Us? What Jesus Really Said About the Poor.
Follow TomDispatch on Twitter and join us on Facebook. Check out the newest Dispatch Books, John Feffer's new dystopian novel (the second in the Splinterlands series) Frostlands, Beverly Gologorsky's novel Every Body Has a Story, and Tom Engelhardt's A Nation Unmade by War, as well as Alfred McCoy's In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power and John Dower's The Violent American Century: War and Terror Since World War II.
Copyright 2020 Liz Theoharis