alternet--2020-12-12--Hightower: This holiday season, think about the Amazon workers

During the hectic holiday shopping season , Jeff Bezos ' Amazon may seem like a great option , especially for us procrastinators .
Anything you want can be shipped directly to your doorstep .
All it takes is a few clicks on the Amazon website — and , of course , some of your hard-earned money .
The media sings the praises of Bezos ' concept and business .
But what you may not know is that , as head of the Amazon beast , Bezos is hard on his labor force .
In fact , he was awarded a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Confederation in 2014 : `` World 's Worst Boss . ''
Consider one of the most difficult of Amazon jobs : the `` pickers . ''
In each warehouse , hundreds of them are simultaneously scrambling throughout a maze of shelves to grab products .
This is hard , physically painful labor for two reasons .
First , pickers reportedly must speed-walk on concrete an average of a dozen miles a day , for an Amazon warehouse is shockingly big — more than 16 football fields big , or eight city blocks .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ shelves running along the narrow aisles on each floor of the three-story buildings , requiring the swarm of pickers to stoop continuously .
They are directed to each target by handheld computers .
For example , `` Electric Flour Sifters : Dallas sector , section yellow , row H34 , bin 22 , level D. '' Then , they scan the pick and put it on the right track of the seven miles of conveyor belts running through the facility , immediately after which they 're dispatched by the computer to find the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is hellish .
The pickers ' computers do n't just dictate where they 're to go next but how many seconds Amazon 's time-motion experts have calculated it should take them to get there .
The scanners also record the time each worker actually takes — information that is fed directly into a central , all-knowing computer .
The times of every picker are reviewed and scored by managers who apparently have an unmerciful mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds .
All this for $ 15 to $ 17 an hour @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , for they do n't get year-round work .
Rather , Amazon 's warehouse employees are `` contingent '' hires , meaning they are temporary , seasonal , part-time laborers entirely subject to the employer 's whim .
Worker advocates refer to these jobs as `` precarious . ''
On the one hand , when sales slack off , you 're let go ; on the other hand , when sales perk up and managers demand you do a 12-hour shift with no notice , you must do it or be fired .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cyber Monday , Election Day , July 4 or ( for God 's sake ) Labor Day — do n't even think of taking those days off .
Also , technically , you do n't actually work for Bezos .
You 're hired by temp agencies with Orwellian names like Integrity Staffing Solutions , or by such warehouse operators as Amalgamated Product Giant Shipping Worldwide Inc. that do the retailer 's dirty work .
This gives Amazon plausible deniability about your treatment — and it means you have no labor rights , for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health care , no vacation time , no scheduled raises , no promotion track , no route to a full-time or permanent job , no regular schedule , no job protection and — of course — no union .
Bezos would rather get COVID-19 than be infected with a union in his realm , and he has gone all out with intimidation tactics , plus hiring a notorious union-busting firm to crush any whisper of worker organization .
Jeff Bezos is no Santa .
His treatment of workers is downright disgusting .
We @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to his Amazon by doing our holiday shopping at locally owned , independent businesses .
Visit the American Independent Business Alliance website to get started .
To find out more about Jim Hightower , and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists , visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com .

During the hectic holiday shopping season, Jeff Bezos' Amazon may seem like a great option, especially for us procrastinators. Anything you want can be shipped directly to your doorstep. All it takes is a few clicks on the Amazon website — and, of course, some of your hard-earned money.
The media sings the praises of Bezos' concept and business. But what you may not know is that, as head of the Amazon beast, Bezos is hard on his labor force. In fact, he was awarded a less-coveted prize by the International Trade Union Confederation in 2014: "World's Worst Boss."
Consider one of the most difficult of Amazon jobs: the "pickers." In each warehouse, hundreds of them are simultaneously scrambling throughout a maze of shelves to grab products. This is hard, physically painful labor for two reasons. First, pickers reportedly must speed-walk on concrete an average of a dozen miles a day, for an Amazon warehouse is shockingly big — more than 16 football fields big, or eight city blocks. Then, there are miles of 7-foot-high shelves running along the narrow aisles on each floor of the three-story buildings, requiring the swarm of pickers to stoop continuously. They are directed to each target by handheld computers. For example, "Electric Flour Sifters: Dallas sector, section yellow, row H34, bin 22, level D." Then, they scan the pick and put it on the right track of the seven miles of conveyor belts running through the facility, immediately after which they're dispatched by the computer to find the next product.
Second, the pace is hellish. The pickers' computers don't just dictate where they're to go next but how many seconds Amazon's time-motion experts have calculated it should take them to get there. The scanners also record the time each worker actually takes — information that is fed directly into a central, all-knowing computer. The times of every picker are reviewed and scored by managers who apparently have an unmerciful mandate to fire those exceeding their allotted seconds.
All this for $15 to $17 an hour. But few make even that much, for they don't get year-round work. Rather, Amazon's warehouse employees are "contingent" hires, meaning they are temporary, seasonal, part-time laborers entirely subject to the employer's whim. Worker advocates refer to these jobs as "precarious." On the one hand, when sales slack off, you're let go; on the other hand, when sales perk up and managers demand you do a 12-hour shift with no notice, you must do it or be fired. Christmas, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Election Day, July 4 or (for God's sake) Labor Day — don't even think of taking those days off.
Also, technically, you don't actually work for Bezos. You're hired by temp agencies with Orwellian names like Integrity Staffing Solutions, or by such warehouse operators as Amalgamated Product Giant Shipping Worldwide Inc. that do the retailer's dirty work. This gives Amazon plausible deniability about your treatment — and it means you have no labor rights, for you are an independent contractor. No health care, no vacation time, no scheduled raises, no promotion track, no route to a full-time or permanent job, no regular schedule, no job protection and — of course — no union. Bezos would rather get COVID-19 than be infected with a union in his realm, and he has gone all out with intimidation tactics, plus hiring a notorious union-busting firm to crush any whisper of worker organization.
Jeff Bezos is no Santa. His treatment of workers is downright disgusting. We can let him know there are alternatives to his Amazon by doing our holiday shopping at locally owned, independent businesses. Visit the American Independent Business Alliance website to get started.
To find out more about Jim Hightower, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.


alternet--2020-12-12--The horrifying American roots of Nazi eugenics

Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called `` Master Race . ''
But the concept of a white , blond-haired , blue-eyed master Nordic race did n't originate with Hitler .
The idea was created in the United States , and cultivated in California , decades before Hitler came to power .
California eugenicists played an important , although little known , role in the American eugenics movement 's campaign for ethnic cleansing .
Eugenics was the racist pseudoscience determined to wipe away all human beings deemed `` unfit , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Nordic stereotype .
Elements of the philosophy were enshrined as national policy by forced sterilization and segregation laws , as well as marriage restrictions , enacted in twenty-seven states .
In 1909 , California became the third state to adopt such laws .
Ultimately , eugenics practitioners coercively sterilized some 60,000 Americans , barred the marriage of thousands , forcibly segregated thousands in `` colonies , '' and persecuted untold numbers in ways we are just learning .
Before World War II , nearly half of coercive sterilizations were done in California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the state accounted for a third of all such surgeries .
California was considered an epicenter of the American eugenics movement .
During the Twentieth Century 's first decades , California 's eugenicists included potent but little known race scientists , such as Army venereal disease specialist Dr. Paul Popenoe , citrus magnate and Polytechnic benefactor Paul Gosney , Sacramento banker Charles M. Goethe , as well as members of the California State Board of Charities and Corrections and the University of California Board of Regents .
Eugenics would have been so much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies , specifically the Carnegie Institution , the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune .
They were all in league with some of America 's most respected scientists hailing from such prestigious universities as Stamford , Yale , Harvard , and Princeton .
These academicians espoused race theory and race science , and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics ' racist aims .
Stanford president David Starr Jordan originated the notion of `` race and blood '' in his 1902 racial epistle `` Blood of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ university scholar declared that human qualities and conditions such as talent and poverty were passed through the blood .
In 1904 , the Carnegie Institution established a laboratory complex at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island that stockpiled millions of index cards on ordinary Americans , as researchers carefully plotted the removal of families , bloodlines and whole peoples .
From Cold Spring Harbor , eugenics advocates agitated in the legislatures of America , as well as the nation 's social service agencies and associations .
The Harriman railroad fortune paid local charities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Industries and Immigration , to seek out Jewish , Italian and other immigrants in New York and other crowded cities and subject them to deportation , trumped up confinement or forced sterilization .
The Rockefeller Foundation helped found the German eugenics program and even funded the program that Josef Mengele worked in before he went to Auschwitz .
Much of the spiritual guidance and political agitation for the American eugenics movement came from California 's quasi-autonomous eugenic societies , such as the Pasadena-based Human Betterment Foundation and the California branch of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of their activity with the Eugenics Research Society in Long Island .
These organizations -- which functioned as part of a closely-knit network -- published racist eugenic newsletters and pseudoscientific journals , such as Eugenical News and Eugenics , and propagandized for the Nazis .
Eugenics was born as a scientific curiosity in the Victorian age .
In 1863 , Sir Francis Galton , a cousin of Charles Darwin , theorized that if talented people only married other talented people , the result would be measurably better offspring .
At the turn of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were imported into the United States just as Gregor Mendel 's principles of heredity were rediscovered .
American eugenic advocates believed with religious fervor that the same Mendelian concepts determining the color and size of peas , corn and cattle also governed the social and intellectual character of man .
In an America demographically reeling from immigration upheaval and torn by post-Reconstruction chaos , race conflict was everywhere in the early twentieth century .
Elitists , utopians and so-called `` progressives '' fused their smoldering race fears and class bias with their desire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reinvented Galton 's eugenics into a repressive and racist ideology .
The intent : populate the earth with vastly more of their own socio-economic and biological kind -- and less or none of everyone else .
The superior species the eugenics movement sought was populated not merely by tall , strong , talented people .
Eugenicists craved blond , blue-eyed Nordic types .
This group alone , they believed , was fit to inherit the earth .
In the process , the movement intended to subtract emancipated Negroes , immigrant Asian laborers , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Jews , dark-haired hill folk , poor people , the infirm and really anyone classified outside the gentrified genetic lines drawn up by American raceologists .
How ?
By identifying so-called `` defective '' family trees and subjecting them to lifelong segregation and sterilization programs to kill their bloodlines .
The grand plan was to literally wipe away the reproductive capability of those deemed weak and inferior -- the so-called `` unfit . ''
The eugenicists hoped to neutralize the viability of 10 percent of the population at a sweep , until none @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were explored in a Carnegie-supported 1911 `` Preliminary Report of the Committee of the Eugenic Section of the American Breeder 's Association to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means for Cutting Off the Defective Germ-Plasm in the Human Population . ''
Point eight was euthanasia .
The most commonly suggested method of eugenicide in America was a `` lethal chamber '' or public locally operated gas chambers .
In 1918 , Popenoe , the Army venereal disease specialist during World War I , co-wrote the widely used textbook , Applied @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an historical point of view , the first method which presents itself is execution… Its value in keeping up the standard of the race should not be underestimated . ''
Applied Eugenics also devoted a chapter to `` Lethal Selection , '' which operated `` through the destruction of the individual by some adverse feature of the environment , such as excessive cold , or bacteria , or by bodily deficiency . ''
Eugenic breeders believed American society was not ready to implement an organized lethal solution .
But many mental institutions and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ euthanasia on their own .
One institution in Lincoln , Illinois fed its incoming patients milk from tubercular cows believing a eugenically strong individual would be immune .
Thirty to forty percent annual death rates resulted at Lincoln .
Some doctors practiced passive eugenicide one newborn infant at a time .
Other doctors at mental institutions engaged in lethal neglect .
Nonetheless , with eugenicide marginalized , the main solution for eugenicists was the rapid expansion of forced segregation and sterilization , as well as more marriage restrictions .
California led the nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ little or no due process .
In its first twenty-five years of eugenic legislation , California sterilized 9,782 individuals , mostly women .
Many were classified as `` bad girls , '' diagnosed as `` passionate , '' `` oversexed '' or `` sexually wayward . ''
At Sonoma , some women were sterilized because of what was deemed an abnormally large clitoris or labia .
In 1933 alone , at least 1,278 coercive sterilizations were performed , 700 of which were on women .
The state 's two leading sterilization mills in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ operations and Patton State Hospital with 363 operations .
Other sterilization centers included Agnews , Mendocino , Napa , Norwalk , Stockton and Pacific Colony state hospitals .
Even the United States Supreme Court endorsed aspects of eugenics .
In its infamous 1927 decision , Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote , `` It is better for all the world , if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime , or to let them starve for their imbecility , society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enough . ''
This decision opened the floodgates for thousands to be coercively sterilized or otherwise persecuted as subhuman .
Years later , the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials quoted Holmes 's words in their own defense .
Only after eugenics became entrenched in the United States was the campaign transplanted into Germany , in no small measure through the efforts of California eugenicists , who published booklets idealizing sterilization and circulated them to German officials and scientists .
Hitler studied American eugenics laws .
He tried to legitimize his anti-Semitism by medicalizing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more palatable pseudoscientific facade of eugenics .
Hitler was able to recruit more followers among reasonable Germans by claiming that science was on his side .
While Hitler 's race hatred sprung from his own mind , the intellectual outlines of the eugenics Hitler adopted in 1924 were made in America .
During the '20s , Carnegie Institution eugenic scientists cultivated deep personal and professional relationships with Germany 's fascist eugenicists .
In Mein Kampf , published in 1924 , Hitler quoted American eugenic ideology and openly displayed a thorough knowledge of American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ state , '' wrote Hitler , `` in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [ of immigration ] are noticeable .
Of course , it is not our model German Republic , but the United States . ''
Hitler proudly told his comrades just how closely he followed the progress of the American eugenics movement .
`` I have studied with great interest , '' he told a fellow Nazi , `` the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would , in all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ be injurious to the racial stock . ''
Hitler even wrote a fan letter to American eugenic leader Madison Grant calling his race-based eugenics book , The Passing of the Great Race his `` bible . ''
Hitler 's struggle for a superior race would be a mad crusade for a Master Race .
Now , the American term `` Nordic '' was freely exchanged with `` Germanic '' or `` Aryan . ''
Race science , racial purity and racial dominance became the driving force behind Hitler 's Nazism .
Nazi eugenics @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a Reich-dominated Europe , how people would live , and how they would die .
Nazi doctors would become the unseen generals in Hitler 's war against the Jews and other Europeans deemed inferior .
Doctors would create the science , devise the eugenic formulas , and even hand-select the victims for sterilization , euthanasia and mass extermination .
During the Reich 's early years , eugenicists across America welcomed Hitler 's plans as the logical fulfillment of their own decades of research and effort .
California eugenicists republished Nazi propaganda for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Nazi scientific exhibits , such as an August 1934 display at the L.A. County Museum , for the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association .
In 1934 , as Germany 's sterilizations were accelerating beyond 5,000 per month , the California eugenics leader C. M. Goethe upon returning from Germany ebulliently bragged to a key colleague , `` You will be interested to know , that your work has played a powerful part in shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind Hitler in this epoch-making program .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ been tremendously stimulated by American thought.…I want you , my dear friend , to carry this thought with you for the rest of your life , that you have really jolted into action a great government of 60 million people . ''
That same year , ten years after Virginia passed its sterilization act , Joseph DeJarnette , superintendent of Virginia 's Western State Hospital , observed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch , `` The Germans are beating us at our own game . ''
More than just providing the scientific roadmap , America @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1926 , Rockefeller had donated some $ 410,000 -- almost $ 4 million in 21st-Century money -- to hundreds of German researchers .
In May 1926 , Rockefeller awarded $ 250,000 to the German Psychiatric Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute , later to become the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Psychiatry .
Among the leading psychiatrists at the German Psychiatric Institute was Ernst Rüdin , who became director and eventually an architect of Hitler 's systematic medical repression .
Another in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute 's eugenic complex of institutions was the Institute @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it had operated out of a single room .
Everything changed when Rockefeller money arrived in 1929 .
A grant of $ 317,000 allowed the Institute to construct a major building and take center stage in German race biology .
The Institute received additional grants from the Rockefeller Foundation during the next several years .
Leading the Institute , once again , was Hitler 's medical henchman Ernst Rüdin .
Rüdin 's organization became a prime director and recipient of the murderous experimentation and research conducted on Jews , Gypsies and others .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ taken from old age homes , mental institutions and other custodial facilities were systematically gassed .
Between 50,000 and 100,000 were eventually killed .
Leon Whitney , executive secretary of the American Eugenics Society declared of Nazism , `` While we were pussy-footing around…the Germans were calling a spade a spade . ''
A special recipient of Rockefeller funding was the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology , Human Heredity and Eugenics in Berlin .
For decades , American eugenicists had craved twins to advance their research into heredity .
The Institute was now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unprecedented level .
On May 13 , 1932 , the Rockefeller Foundation in New York dispatched a radiogram to its Paris office : JUNE MEETING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS OVER THREE YEAR PERIOD TO KWG INSTITUTE ANTHROPOLOGY FOR RESEARCH ON TWINS AND EFFECTS ON LATER GENERATIONS OF SUBSTANCES TOXIC FOR GERM PLASM .
At the time of Rockefeller 's endowment , Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer , a hero in American eugenics circles , functioned as a head of the Institute for Anthropology , Human Heredity and Eugenics .
Rockefeller funding of that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ research conduits during Verschuer 's early tenure .
In 1935 , Verschuer left the Institute to form a rival eugenics facility in Frankfurt that was much heralded in the American eugenic press .
Research on twins in the Third Reich exploded , backed up by government decrees .
Verschuer wrote in Der Erbarzt , a eugenic doctor 's journal he edited , that Germany 's war would yield a `` total solution to the Jewish problem . ''
Verschuer had a long-time assistant .
His name was Josef Mengele .
On May 30 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Verschuer notified the German Research Society , `` My assistant , Dr. Josef Mengele ( M.D.
, Ph.D. ) joined me in this branch of research .
He is presently employed as Hauptsturmführer [ captain ] and camp physician in the Auschwitz concentration camp .
Anthropological testing of the most diverse racial groups in this concentration camp is being carried out with permission of the SS Reichsführer [ Himmler ] . ''
Mengele began searching the boxcar arrivals for twins .
When he found them , he performed beastly experiments , scrupulously @ @ @ @ @ @ @ paperwork back to Verschuer 's institute for evaluation .
Often , cadavers , eyes and other body parts were also dispatched to Berlin 's eugenic institutes .
Rockefeller executives never knew of Mengele .
With few exceptions , the foundation had ceased all eugenic studies in Nazi-occupied Europe before the war erupted in 1939 .
But by that time the die had been cast .
The talented men Rockefeller and Carnegie financed , the institutions they helped found , and the science it helped create took on a scientific momentum of their own @ @ @ @ @ @ @ declared a crime against humanity -- an act of genocide .
Germans were tried and they cited the California statutes in their defense .
To no avail .
They were found guilty .
However , Mengele 's boss Verschuer escaped prosecution .
Verschuer re-established his connections with California eugenicists who had gone underground and renamed their crusade `` human genetics . ''
Typical was an exchange July 25 , 1946 when Popenoe wrote Verschuer , `` It was indeed a pleasure to hear from you again .
I have been very anxious about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sterilization has been discontinued in Germany ? ''
Popenoe offered tidbits about various American eugenic luminaries and then sent various eugenic publications .
In a separate package , Popenoe sent some cocoa , coffee and other goodies .
Verschuer wrote back , `` Your very friendly letter of 7/25 gave me a great deal of pleasure and you have my heartfelt thanks for it .
The letter builds another bridge between your and my scientific work ; I hope that this bridge will never again collapse but rather make possible valuable mutual enrichment @ @ @ @ @ @ @ once again became a respected scientist in Germany and around the world .
In 1949 , he became a corresponding member of the newly formed American Society of Human Genetics , organized by American eugenicists and geneticists .
In the fall of 1950 , the University of Münster offered Verschuer a position at its new Institute of Human Genetics , where he later became a dean .
In the early and mid-1950s , Verschuer became an honorary member of numerous prestigious societies , including the Italian Society of Genetics , the Anthropological Society @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for Human Genetics .
Human genetics ' genocidal roots in eugenics were ignored by a victorious generation that refused to link itself to the crimes of Nazism and by succeeding generations that never knew the truth of the years leading up to war .
Now governors of five states , including California have issued public apologies to their citizens , past and present , for sterilization and other abuses spawned by the eugenics movement .
Human genetics became an enlightened endeavor in the late twentieth century .
Hard-working , devoted scientists finally cracked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Project .
Now , every individual can be biologically identified and classified by trait and ancestry .
Yet even now , some leading voices in the genetic world are calling for a cleansing of the unwanted among us , and even a master human species .
There is understandable wariness about more ordinary forms of abuse , for example , in denying insurance or employment based on genetic tests .
On October 14 , America 's first genetic anti-discrimination legislation passed the Senate by unanimous vote .
Yet because genetics research is global @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stop the threats .
Edwin Black is the author of `` IBM and the Holocaust '' and `` War Against the Weak : Eugenics and America 's Campaign to Create a Master Race , '' from which the following article is drawn .

Hitler and his henchmen victimized an entire continent and exterminated millions in his quest for a co-called "Master Race."
But the concept of a white, blond-haired, blue-eyed master Nordic race didn't originate with Hitler. The idea was created in the United States, and cultivated in California, decades before Hitler came to power. California eugenicists played an important, although little known, role in the American eugenics movement's campaign for ethnic cleansing.
Eugenics was the racist pseudoscience determined to wipe away all human beings deemed "unfit," preserving only those who conformed to a Nordic stereotype. Elements of the philosophy were enshrined as national policy by forced sterilization and segregation laws, as well as marriage restrictions, enacted in twenty-seven states. In 1909, California became the third state to adopt such laws. Ultimately, eugenics practitioners coercively sterilized some 60,000 Americans, barred the marriage of thousands, forcibly segregated thousands in "colonies," and persecuted untold numbers in ways we are just learning. Before World War II, nearly half of coercive sterilizations were done in California, and even after the war, the state accounted for a third of all such surgeries.
California was considered an epicenter of the American eugenics movement. During the Twentieth Century's first decades, California's eugenicists included potent but little known race scientists, such as Army venereal disease specialist Dr. Paul Popenoe, citrus magnate and Polytechnic benefactor Paul Gosney, Sacramento banker Charles M. Goethe, as well as members of the California State Board of Charities and Corrections and the University of California Board of Regents.
Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America's most respected scientists hailing from such prestigious universities as Stamford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics' racist aims.
Stanford president David Starr Jordan originated the notion of "race and blood" in his 1902 racial epistle "Blood of a Nation," in which the university scholar declared that human qualities and conditions such as talent and poverty were passed through the blood.
In 1904, the Carnegie Institution established a laboratory complex at Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island that stockpiled millions of index cards on ordinary Americans, as researchers carefully plotted the removal of families, bloodlines and whole peoples. From Cold Spring Harbor, eugenics advocates agitated in the legislatures of America, as well as the nation's social service agencies and associations.
The Harriman railroad fortune paid local charities, such as the New York Bureau of Industries and Immigration, to seek out Jewish, Italian and other immigrants in New York and other crowded cities and subject them to deportation, trumped up confinement or forced sterilization.
The Rockefeller Foundation helped found the German eugenics program and even funded the program that Josef Mengele worked in before he went to Auschwitz.
Much of the spiritual guidance and political agitation for the American eugenics movement came from California's quasi-autonomous eugenic societies, such as the Pasadena-based Human Betterment Foundation and the California branch of the American Eugenics Society, which coordinated much of their activity with the Eugenics Research Society in Long Island. These organizations--which functioned as part of a closely-knit network--published racist eugenic newsletters and pseudoscientific journals, such as Eugenical News and Eugenics, and propagandized for the Nazis.
Eugenics was born as a scientific curiosity in the Victorian age. In 1863, Sir Francis Galton, a cousin of Charles Darwin, theorized that if talented people only married other talented people, the result would be measurably better offspring. At the turn of the last century, Galton's ideas were imported into the United States just as Gregor Mendel's principles of heredity were rediscovered. American eugenic advocates believed with religious fervor that the same Mendelian concepts determining the color and size of peas, corn and cattle also governed the social and intellectual character of man.
In an America demographically reeling from immigration upheaval and torn by post-Reconstruction chaos, race conflict was everywhere in the early twentieth century. Elitists, utopians and so-called "progressives" fused their smoldering race fears and class bias with their desire to make a better world. They reinvented Galton's eugenics into a repressive and racist ideology. The intent: populate the earth with vastly more of their own socio-economic and biological kind--and less or none of everyone else.
The superior species the eugenics movement sought was populated not merely by tall, strong, talented people. Eugenicists craved blond, blue-eyed Nordic types. This group alone, they believed, was fit to inherit the earth. In the process, the movement intended to subtract emancipated Negroes, immigrant Asian laborers, Indians, Hispanics, East Europeans, Jews, dark-haired hill folk, poor people, the infirm and really anyone classified outside the gentrified genetic lines drawn up by American raceologists.
How? By identifying so-called "defective" family trees and subjecting them to lifelong segregation and sterilization programs to kill their bloodlines. The grand plan was to literally wipe away the reproductive capability of those deemed weak and inferior--the so-called "unfit." The eugenicists hoped to neutralize the viability of 10 percent of the population at a sweep, until none were left except themselves.
Eighteen solutions were explored in a Carnegie-supported 1911 "Preliminary Report of the Committee of the Eugenic Section of the American Breeder's Association to Study and to Report on the Best Practical Means for Cutting Off the Defective Germ-Plasm in the Human Population." Point eight was euthanasia.
The most commonly suggested method of eugenicide in America was a "lethal chamber" or public locally operated gas chambers. In 1918, Popenoe, the Army venereal disease specialist during World War I, co-wrote the widely used textbook, Applied Eugenics, which argued, "From an historical point of view, the first method which presents itself is execution… Its value in keeping up the standard of the race should not be underestimated." Applied Eugenics also devoted a chapter to "Lethal Selection," which operated "through the destruction of the individual by some adverse feature of the environment, such as excessive cold, or bacteria, or by bodily deficiency."
Eugenic breeders believed American society was not ready to implement an organized lethal solution. But many mental institutions and doctors practiced improvised medical lethality and passive euthanasia on their own. One institution in Lincoln, Illinois fed its incoming patients milk from tubercular cows believing a eugenically strong individual would be immune. Thirty to forty percent annual death rates resulted at Lincoln. Some doctors practiced passive eugenicide one newborn infant at a time. Other doctors at mental institutions engaged in lethal neglect.
Nonetheless, with eugenicide marginalized, the main solution for eugenicists was the rapid expansion of forced segregation and sterilization, as well as more marriage restrictions. California led the nation, performing nearly all sterilization procedures with little or no due process. In its first twenty-five years of eugenic legislation, California sterilized 9,782 individuals, mostly women. Many were classified as "bad girls," diagnosed as "passionate," "oversexed" or "sexually wayward." At Sonoma, some women were sterilized because of what was deemed an abnormally large clitoris or labia.
In 1933 alone, at least 1,278 coercive sterilizations were performed, 700 of which were on women. The state's two leading sterilization mills in 1933 were Sonoma State Home with 388 operations and Patton State Hospital with 363 operations. Other sterilization centers included Agnews, Mendocino, Napa, Norwalk, Stockton and Pacific Colony state hospitals.
Even the United States Supreme Court endorsed aspects of eugenics. In its infamous 1927 decision, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote, "It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind…. Three generations of imbeciles are enough." This decision opened the floodgates for thousands to be coercively sterilized or otherwise persecuted as subhuman. Years later, the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials quoted Holmes's words in their own defense.
Only after eugenics became entrenched in the United States was the campaign transplanted into Germany, in no small measure through the efforts of California eugenicists, who published booklets idealizing sterilization and circulated them to German officials and scientists.
Hitler studied American eugenics laws. He tried to legitimize his anti-Semitism by medicalizing it, and wrapping it in the more palatable pseudoscientific facade of eugenics. Hitler was able to recruit more followers among reasonable Germans by claiming that science was on his side. While Hitler's race hatred sprung from his own mind, the intellectual outlines of the eugenics Hitler adopted in 1924 were made in America.
During the '20s, Carnegie Institution eugenic scientists cultivated deep personal and professional relationships with Germany's fascist eugenicists. In Mein Kampf, published in 1924, Hitler quoted American eugenic ideology and openly displayed a thorough knowledge of American eugenics. "There is today one state," wrote Hitler, "in which at least weak beginnings toward a better conception [of immigration] are noticeable. Of course, it is not our model German Republic, but the United States."
Hitler proudly told his comrades just how closely he followed the progress of the American eugenics movement. "I have studied with great interest," he told a fellow Nazi, "the laws of several American states concerning prevention of reproduction by people whose progeny would, in all probability, be of no value or be injurious to the racial stock."
Hitler even wrote a fan letter to American eugenic leader Madison Grant calling his race-based eugenics book, The Passing of the Great Race his "bible."
Hitler's struggle for a superior race would be a mad crusade for a Master Race. Now, the American term "Nordic" was freely exchanged with "Germanic" or "Aryan." Race science, racial purity and racial dominance became the driving force behind Hitler's Nazism. Nazi eugenics would ultimately dictate who would be persecuted in a Reich-dominated Europe, how people would live, and how they would die. Nazi doctors would become the unseen generals in Hitler's war against the Jews and other Europeans deemed inferior. Doctors would create the science, devise the eugenic formulas, and even hand-select the victims for sterilization, euthanasia and mass extermination.
During the Reich's early years, eugenicists across America welcomed Hitler's plans as the logical fulfillment of their own decades of research and effort. California eugenicists republished Nazi propaganda for American consumption. They also arranged for Nazi scientific exhibits, such as an August 1934 display at the L.A. County Museum, for the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association.
In 1934, as Germany's sterilizations were accelerating beyond 5,000 per month, the California eugenics leader C. M. Goethe upon returning from Germany ebulliently bragged to a key colleague, "You will be interested to know, that your work has played a powerful part in shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind Hitler in this epoch-making program. Everywhere I sensed that their opinions have been tremendously stimulated by American thought.…I want you, my dear friend, to carry this thought with you for the rest of your life, that you have really jolted into action a great government of 60 million people."
That same year, ten years after Virginia passed its sterilization act, Joseph DeJarnette, superintendent of Virginia's Western State Hospital, observed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, "The Germans are beating us at our own game."
More than just providing the scientific roadmap, America funded Germany's eugenic institutions. By 1926, Rockefeller had donated some $410,000 -- almost $4 million in 21st-Century money -- to hundreds of German researchers. In May 1926, Rockefeller awarded $250,000 to the German Psychiatric Institute of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute, later to become the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Psychiatry. Among the leading psychiatrists at the German Psychiatric Institute was Ernst Rüdin, who became director and eventually an architect of Hitler's systematic medical repression.
Another in the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute's eugenic complex of institutions was the Institute for Brain Research. Since 1915, it had operated out of a single room. Everything changed when Rockefeller money arrived in 1929. A grant of $317,000 allowed the Institute to construct a major building and take center stage in German race biology. The Institute received additional grants from the Rockefeller Foundation during the next several years. Leading the Institute, once again, was Hitler's medical henchman Ernst Rüdin. Rüdin's organization became a prime director and recipient of the murderous experimentation and research conducted on Jews, Gypsies and others.
Beginning in 1940, thousands of Germans taken from old age homes, mental institutions and other custodial facilities were systematically gassed. Between 50,000 and 100,000 were eventually killed.
Leon Whitney, executive secretary of the American Eugenics Society declared of Nazism, "While we were pussy-footing around…the Germans were calling a spade a spade."
A special recipient of Rockefeller funding was the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics in Berlin. For decades, American eugenicists had craved twins to advance their research into heredity. The Institute was now prepared to undertake such research on an unprecedented level. On May 13, 1932, the Rockefeller Foundation in New York dispatched a radiogram to its Paris office: JUNE MEETING EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE NINE THOUSAND DOLLARS OVER THREE YEAR PERIOD TO KWG INSTITUTE ANTHROPOLOGY FOR RESEARCH ON TWINS AND EFFECTS ON LATER GENERATIONS OF SUBSTANCES TOXIC FOR GERM PLASM.
At the time of Rockefeller's endowment, Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, a hero in American eugenics circles, functioned as a head of the Institute for Anthropology, Human Heredity and Eugenics. Rockefeller funding of that Institute continued both directly and through other research conduits during Verschuer's early tenure. In 1935, Verschuer left the Institute to form a rival eugenics facility in Frankfurt that was much heralded in the American eugenic press. Research on twins in the Third Reich exploded, backed up by government decrees. Verschuer wrote in Der Erbarzt, a eugenic doctor's journal he edited, that Germany's war would yield a "total solution to the Jewish problem."
Verschuer had a long-time assistant. His name was Josef Mengele. On May 30, 1943, Mengele arrived at Auschwitz. Verschuer notified the German Research Society, "My assistant, Dr. Josef Mengele (M.D., Ph.D.) joined me in this branch of research. He is presently employed as Hauptsturmführer [captain] and camp physician in the Auschwitz concentration camp. Anthropological testing of the most diverse racial groups in this concentration camp is being carried out with permission of the SS Reichsführer [Himmler]."
Mengele began searching the boxcar arrivals for twins. When he found them, he performed beastly experiments, scrupulously wrote up the reports and sent the paperwork back to Verschuer's institute for evaluation. Often, cadavers, eyes and other body parts were also dispatched to Berlin's eugenic institutes.
Rockefeller executives never knew of Mengele. With few exceptions, the foundation had ceased all eugenic studies in Nazi-occupied Europe before the war erupted in 1939. But by that time the die had been cast. The talented men Rockefeller and Carnegie financed, the institutions they helped found, and the science it helped create took on a scientific momentum of their own.
After the war, eugenics was declared a crime against humanity--an act of genocide. Germans were tried and they cited the California statutes in their defense. To no avail. They were found guilty.
However, Mengele's boss Verschuer escaped prosecution. Verschuer re-established his connections with California eugenicists who had gone underground and renamed their crusade "human genetics." Typical was an exchange July 25, 1946 when Popenoe wrote Verschuer, "It was indeed a pleasure to hear from you again. I have been very anxious about my colleagues in Germany…. I suppose sterilization has been discontinued in Germany?" Popenoe offered tidbits about various American eugenic luminaries and then sent various eugenic publications. In a separate package, Popenoe sent some cocoa, coffee and other goodies.
Verschuer wrote back, "Your very friendly letter of 7/25 gave me a great deal of pleasure and you have my heartfelt thanks for it. The letter builds another bridge between your and my scientific work; I hope that this bridge will never again collapse but rather make possible valuable mutual enrichment and stimulation."
Soon, Verschuer once again became a respected scientist in Germany and around the world. In 1949, he became a corresponding member of the newly formed American Society of Human Genetics, organized by American eugenicists and geneticists.
In the fall of 1950, the University of Münster offered Verschuer a position at its new Institute of Human Genetics, where he later became a dean. In the early and mid-1950s, Verschuer became an honorary member of numerous prestigious societies, including the Italian Society of Genetics, the Anthropological Society of Vienna, and the Japanese Society for Human Genetics.
Human genetics' genocidal roots in eugenics were ignored by a victorious generation that refused to link itself to the crimes of Nazism and by succeeding generations that never knew the truth of the years leading up to war. Now governors of five states, including California have issued public apologies to their citizens, past and present, for sterilization and other abuses spawned by the eugenics movement.
Human genetics became an enlightened endeavor in the late twentieth century. Hard-working, devoted scientists finally cracked the human code through the Human Genome Project. Now, every individual can be biologically identified and classified by trait and ancestry. Yet even now, some leading voices in the genetic world are calling for a cleansing of the unwanted among us, and even a master human species.
There is understandable wariness about more ordinary forms of abuse, for example, in denying insurance or employment based on genetic tests. On October 14, America's first genetic anti-discrimination legislation passed the Senate by unanimous vote. Yet because genetics research is global, no single nation's law can stop the threats.
Edwin Black is the author of "IBM and the Holocaust" and "War Against the Weak: Eugenics and America's Campaign to Create a Master Race," from which the following article is drawn.


alternet--2020-12-12--John Lennon still lives among us

John Lennon still lives among us

Forty years ago , headlines screamed , `` John Lennon Gunned Down by Stranger . ''
Yet , for assassin Mark David Chapman , John Lennon was no stranger .
Although he had never come within a hundred miles of the former Beatle until that winter , Chapman knew John Lennon very well ; so well , in fact , he often believed that he was John Lennon .
The teenage Chapman wore his hair like Lennon 's , learned to play guitar , and joined a rock group .
He sang Lennon 's songs over and over .
Like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ woman .
As a security guard at a Honolulu condominium , he even taped Lennon 's name over his own on his ID tag .
On the day he quit , Chapman signed out as `` John Lennon , '' crossing the name out with the final stroke of his pen .
The murder he was about to commit was a partial suicide .
`` Although decades have passed since Lennon was murdered , my emotions remain raw . ''
John Lennon was killed by the sinister side of the same force that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and other dead media icons : a sense of personal connection to selected strangers fostered by media that simulate the sights and sounds of face-to-face interactions .
As with real-life friends , we feel bound to our `` media friends , '' not simply because of what they have accomplished and can do but based on a more personal set of feelings about who they are — how their very `` presence '' in our lives affects us .
The natural mental space for a hero is at a distance on some pedestal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ friend is at our sides — hanging out at home , walking down a street , riding in a car .
The more we see and hear them , the more musicians , actors , sports figures , newscasters , political figures , and talk-show hosts become part of our extended network of social ties .
They provide a sense of intimacy , but one without any risk of embarrassment or physical harm .
Some of them are there to say , `` Good morning ; '' others to say , `` Good @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ears as we jog .
They hover near us even in the most private scenes of our lives .
We follow the personal and public dimensions of media friends , and their life stages often become key signposts we use to mark and recall periods in our own lives .
Conversations among real-life friends often refer to shared media friends .
Ironically , relationships with media friends often outlast our relationships with many of our actual friends , neighbors , co-workers , lovers , even spouses .
When a widely shared media friend @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' the unusual nature of the relationship explodes in the public sphere .
To banish the demons of grief and helplessness , thousands of people spontaneously gather in streets or parks , or hold vigils near the media friend 's home or place of death .
That 's what happened when John Lennon was gunned down .
Strangers embraced and wept .
Crowds stood in silent witness or chanted the dead hero 's words or songs .
Such pain is paradoxical — it feels personal yet is strengthened by the extent to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Ironically , but appropriately , the media that give birth to these relationships also provide the most ritualized settings for mourning a media friend 's death .
Radio and television present specials , retrospectives , and commentaries .
`` Never before seen '' photos and videos are a kind of cultural séance , extending the connection past the grave .
The final irony , then , is that in many ways , the media friend never dies .
The only means through which most people came to know him or her — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forever .
When a media friend dies , the relationship is embalmed rather than destroyed .
Nevertheless , the sense of loss is profound .
John Lennon was fearless in speaking about peace and justice and asking us to imagine a better world .
You still can feel and hear both his presence and his painful absence at every antiwar rally , environmental action , and police brutality protest over the last forty years .
Indeed , his songs are often part of the soundtracks for progressive political action .
Of course , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fabricated .
And yet , these relationships are still very human , very caring .
No analysis of these unreal , but real relationships can explain away or weaken their emotional power .
We may never have seen them in the flesh , and they would never have taken note of our own deaths , but when our media friends die or are killed , we feel pain .
We worry about their widowed spouses and fret over the children who have lost a parent .
We dwell on ways the tragedy could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even feel partly responsible , as if we could have saved or warned them .
I understand the absurdity of many aspects of the relationships with media friends , yet I have also felt all these things .
Although decades have passed since Lennon was murdered , my emotions remain raw .
Yes , I never really knew him .
Yes , he was not even aware of my existence .
Yet I found my political voice with his help , and he has inspired millions around the world not to be silent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The simple truth is , I still feel him marching beside me now — and I still miss him .

Forty years ago, headlines screamed, "John Lennon Gunned Down by Stranger." Yet, for assassin Mark David Chapman, John Lennon was no stranger. Although he had never come within a hundred miles of the former Beatle until that winter, Chapman knew John Lennon very well; so well, in fact, he often believed that he was John Lennon.
The teenage Chapman wore his hair like Lennon's, learned to play guitar, and joined a rock group. He sang Lennon's songs over and over. Like Lennon, Chapman married an older Japanese woman. As a security guard at a Honolulu condominium, he even taped Lennon's name over his own on his ID tag. On the day he quit, Chapman signed out as "John Lennon," crossing the name out with the final stroke of his pen. The murder he was about to commit was a partial suicide.
"Although decades have passed since Lennon was murdered, my emotions remain raw."
John Lennon was killed by the sinister side of the same force that makes millions of people still mourn him and other dead media icons: a sense of personal connection to selected strangers fostered by media that simulate the sights and sounds of face-to-face interactions.
As with real-life friends, we feel bound to our "media friends," not simply because of what they have accomplished and can do but based on a more personal set of feelings about who they are — how their very "presence" in our lives affects us. The natural mental space for a hero is at a distance on some pedestal. The imagined space for a media friend is at our sides — hanging out at home, walking down a street, riding in a car.
The more we see and hear them, the more musicians, actors, sports figures, newscasters, political figures, and talk-show hosts become part of our extended network of social ties. They provide a sense of intimacy, but one without any risk of embarrassment or physical harm. Some of them are there to say, "Good morning;" others to say, "Good night." They sing in our ears as we jog. They hover near us even in the most private scenes of our lives.
We follow the personal and public dimensions of media friends, and their life stages often become key signposts we use to mark and recall periods in our own lives. Conversations among real-life friends often refer to shared media friends. Ironically, relationships with media friends often outlast our relationships with many of our actual friends, neighbors, co-workers, lovers, even spouses.
When a widely shared media friend dies unexpectedly and "before their time," the unusual nature of the relationship explodes in the public sphere. To banish the demons of grief and helplessness, thousands of people spontaneously gather in streets or parks, or hold vigils near the media friend's home or place of death.
That's what happened when John Lennon was gunned down. Strangers embraced and wept. Crowds stood in silent witness or chanted the dead hero's words or songs. Such pain is paradoxical — it feels personal yet is strengthened by the extent to which it is shared with the crowd.
Ironically, but appropriately, the media that give birth to these relationships also provide the most ritualized settings for mourning a media friend's death. Radio and television present specials, retrospectives, and commentaries. "Never before seen" photos and videos are a kind of cultural séance, extending the connection past the grave.
The final irony, then, is that in many ways, the media friend never dies. The only means through which most people came to know him or her — media images and sounds — remain available forever. When a media friend dies, the relationship is embalmed rather than destroyed. Nevertheless, the sense of loss is profound.
John Lennon was fearless in speaking about peace and justice and asking us to imagine a better world. You still can feel and hear both his presence and his painful absence at every antiwar rally, environmental action, and police brutality protest over the last forty years. Indeed, his songs are often part of the soundtracks for progressive political action.
Of course, ties to media friends are often commercially fabricated. And yet, these relationships are still very human, very caring. No analysis of these unreal, but real relationships can explain away or weaken their emotional power. We may never have seen them in the flesh, and they would never have taken note of our own deaths, but when our media friends die or are killed, we feel pain. We worry about their widowed spouses and fret over the children who have lost a parent. We dwell on ways the tragedy could have been avoided. Sometimes, we even feel partly responsible, as if we could have saved or warned them.
I understand the absurdity of many aspects of the relationships with media friends, yet I have also felt all these things. Although decades have passed since Lennon was murdered, my emotions remain raw. Yes, I never really knew him. Yes, he was not even aware of my existence. Yet I found my political voice with his help, and he has inspired millions around the world not to be silent in the face of militarism and injustice. The simple truth is, I still feel him marching beside me now — and I still miss him.


alternet--2020-12-12--I finally talked to my sister -- who voted for Trump

I had to call her for other reasons .
Our conversation started out okay , she said she was staying safe , wearing her mask , not going out unless it was absolutely necessary .
I said that is great , i am glad she is staying safe because so many people think the virus is a hoax , they dont wear masks , etc , so far so good , then she said , `` you do know that around 200,000 people die from the flu each year , right ? ''
And then It all went to hell @ @ @ @ @ @ @ am not proud of it .
Here are the main things she had to say , as far as I can remember .
* China is behind the release of the virus , they are trying to take over the world .
* The mainstream news outlets can not be trusted , they are biased against trump , and republicans .
* Facts presented in the mainstream media can not be believed because the secret cabal is controlling everything .
( This goes for science too ) * Nothing you read or see @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for her sources of news , whatever they are , she would not tell me where she is getting her information ) * There is a secret cabal running the world .
( Which includes George Soros , and assorted socialists ) * Trump started space force because he is in contact with aliens , and is going to save the world .
Our father served for four years overseas in Japan .
I asked her if she knew Trump had called service men and women , people who had died for this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' I reminded her that this includes OUR FATHER .
She had nothing to say about that .
She just said that she `` knows a lot of things . ''
`` She gets information from many sources . ''
Sure , okay .
At this point i told her that if we were going to have a relationship moving forward , we would be unable to talk about politics or any of this stuff , ever again .
To tell you the truth , I do not know if this is even @ @ @ @ @ @ @ feel so overwhelmed .
Anyway , in the heat of the moment , this was the only thing I could think of , to try and salvage our relationship .
She said she was n't sure if she could do that and started going off on another tangent .
I interrupted her and said that I had had enough , that I was unable to talk about this stuff anymore .
She said she did n't understand why I was so angry , we just have different opinions about politics !
This really @ @ @ @ @ @ @ forever Democrat like me and our parents .
She voted for Hillary Clinton , is a lesbian , is on disability , and is in remission from stage four ovarian cancer , for fuck 's sake !
I am really struggling with this .
This is way too much for me to process right now .
She was acting like I was out of bounds and had no reason at all to be upset .
She was really puzzled , she could not grasp my despair and made it seem like I was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So in the end , we have no kind of resolution , it is just left hanging in the air .
This is a picture of our father , in Japan .
A huge part of my anger stems from Trump 's vile denigration of our troops .
I asked my sister repeatedly about our father , and what trump said about men and women who served and died .
She never had an answer .
The house she is living in right now was made possible because of the GI bill .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that help , which in turn was sold to buy our home in Napa , and then in Fallon , when they retired .
What was left over from my parent 's estate after my father died , enabled my sister to buy her own home .
I do n't begrudge her the home she now has because of this , i just want her to understand that she voted for and is supporting an evil man , who cares for no one , including her , and men like our father .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ think I am done for the time being .
For once , I am going to concentrate on myself , and what I need .

I had to call her for other reasons. Our conversation started out okay, she said she was staying safe, wearing her mask, not going out unless it was absolutely necessary. I said that is great, i am glad she is staying safe because so many people think the virus is a hoax, they dont wear masks, etc, so far so good, then she said, "you do know that around 200,000 people die from the flu each year, right?" And then It all went to hell. I lost my temper. I am not proud of it. Here are the main things she had to say, as far as I can remember.
* China is behind the release of the virus, they are trying to take over the world.
* The mainstream news outlets cannot be trusted, they are biased against trump, and republicans.
* Facts presented in the mainstream media cannot be believed because the secret cabal is controlling everything. (This goes for science too)
* Nothing you read or see anywhere can be trusted. (except for her sources of news, whatever they are, she would not tell me where she is getting her information)
* There is a secret cabal running the world. (Which includes George Soros, and assorted socialists)
* Trump is blameless concerning Covid
* Trump started space force because he is in contact with aliens, and is going to save the world.
**************************************************************************************
Our father served for four years overseas in Japan. I asked her if she knew Trump had called service men and women, people who had died for this country, "suckers and losers." I reminded her that this includes OUR FATHER. She had nothing to say about that. She just said that she "knows a lot of things." "She gets information from many sources." Sure, okay. At this point i told her that if we were going to have a relationship moving forward, we would be unable to talk about politics or any of this stuff, ever again. To tell you the truth, I do not know if this is even possible for me to do, i feel so overwhelmed. Anyway, in the heat of the moment, this was the only thing I could think of, to try and salvage our relationship. She said she wasn't sure if she could do that and started going off on another tangent. I interrupted her and said that I had had enough, that I was unable to talk about this stuff anymore. She said she didn't understand why I was so angry, we just have different opinions about politics! This really blows my mind, she was a forever Democrat like me and our parents. She voted for Hillary Clinton, is a lesbian, is on disability, and is in remission from stage four ovarian cancer, for fuck's sake! I am really struggling with this. This is way too much for me to process right now. She was acting like I was out of bounds and had no reason at all to be upset. She was really puzzled, she could not grasp my despair and made it seem like I was the one who was being unreasonable. So in the end, we have no kind of resolution, it is just left hanging in the air.
This is a picture of our father, in Japan.
A huge part of my anger stems from Trump's vile denigration of our troops. I asked my sister repeatedly about our father, and what trump said about men and women who served and died. She never had an answer. The house she is living in right now was made possible because of the GI bill. My parents bought our first house with that help, which in turn was sold to buy our home in Napa, and then in Fallon, when they retired. What was left over from my parent's estate after my father died, enabled my sister to buy her own home. I don't begrudge her the home she now has because of this, i just want her to understand that she voted for and is supporting an evil man, who cares for no one, including her, and men like our father. She is 57 years old, I think I am done for the time being. For once, I am going to concentrate on myself, and what I need.


alternet--2020-12-12--How the Trump-stricken GOP is headed down a dark path that could last for decades to come

The Electoral College vote is just days away yet Trump and his Republican minions are still attempting to achieve the impossible despite more than 50 post-election losses in court over the last six weeks .
Throughout Trump 's presidency , his colleagues have often remained mum on critical issues refusing to push back against him for fear of retaliation but the latest coup has gone much further than it should have .
An editorial published by The Daily Beast offers a measured assessment of Republicans ' abandonment of Constitutional greatness to embrace polarization and divisiveness .
The quixotic Texas lawsuit @ @ @ @ @ @ @ just have far Republicans are really willing to go in the name of Trumpism .
While the publication outlines that such behavior would be expected from a minuscule fragment of the U.S. population which consists of `` Trumpists , evangelicals , deranged Christian dominionists who believe they are preparing the way for the Second Coming '' and `` a whole lot of angry white people '' who `` feel like their country is being taken away from them , '' it raises concerns about the absence of `` responsible Republicans '' throughout this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ supposed to keep these people in check , sublimating their base instincts into patriotism that still waves the flag but does n't vulgarize everything , literally demonize the other side , and cast any notions of truth or civility to the wind .
In just a matter of four years , it appears the entire foundation of the Republican Party has eroded and the divide is much deeper than just a difference in opinion on governing .
Deep character flaws and a lacking moral compass are two components now guiding the Republican Party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a simple transfer of power .
The writer implored Republicans to consider their actions instead of just `` driving the United States of America off a cliff . ''
In so many words , he asked where the line is drawn .
Do n't Republicans , in public office or in the studios of Fox News , see how dangerous this is ?
Do n't they care ?
Is there any issue—abortion , immigration , religion , regulation , personal liberty—that could possibly justify driving the United States of America off a cliff @ @ @ @ @ @ @ power ( as President Obama says in his new memoir ) or , God forbid , ratings and ad dollars ?
Do they really , actually not give a s**t about our country ?
At this point , if the Electoral College vote on Dec. 14 or the Georgia runoff on Jan. 5 does not lead Republicans to consider the error of their ways , perhaps they never will .

The Electoral College vote is just days away yet Trump and his Republican minions are still attempting to achieve the impossible despite more than 50 post-election losses in court over the last six weeks. Throughout Trump's presidency, his colleagues have often remained mum on critical issues refusing to push back against him for fear of retaliation but the latest coup has gone much further than it should have.
An editorial published by The Daily Beast offers a measured assessment of Republicans' abandonment of Constitutional greatness to embrace polarization and divisiveness. The quixotic Texas lawsuit rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court proves just have far Republicans are really willing to go in the name of Trumpism.
While the publication outlines that such behavior would be expected from a minuscule fragment of the U.S. population which consists of "Trumpists, evangelicals, deranged Christian dominionists who believe they are preparing the way for the Second Coming" and "a whole lot of angry white people" who "feel like their country is being taken away from them," it raises concerns about the absence of "responsible Republicans" throughout this daunting legal fight.
Responsible Republicans are supposed to keep these people in check, sublimating their base instincts into patriotism that still waves the flag but doesn't vulgarize everything, literally demonize the other side, and cast any notions of truth or civility to the wind.
In just a matter of four years, it appears the entire foundation of the Republican Party has eroded and the divide is much deeper than just a difference in opinion on governing. Deep character flaws and a lacking moral compass are two components now guiding the Republican Party and that likely will not change with a simple transfer of power.
The writer implored Republicans to consider their actions instead of just "driving the United States of America off a cliff." In so many words, he asked where the line is drawn.
Don't Republicans, in public office or in the studios of Fox News, see how dangerous this is? Don't they care? Is there any issue—abortion, immigration, religion, regulation, personal liberty—that could possibly justify driving the United States of America off a cliff? Is it just a matter of power (as President Obama says in his new memoir) or, God forbid, ratings and ad dollars? Do they really, actually not give a s**t about our country?
At this point, if the Electoral College vote on Dec. 14 or the Georgia runoff on Jan. 5 does not lead Republicans to consider the error of their ways, perhaps they never will.


alternet--2020-12-12--Here's how 'Trump could end up in jail' over 'intensified' Manhattan investigation

Discussing a report in the New York Times that the office of Manhattan District attorney Cyrus Vance has intensified their investigation into Donald Trump 's relationship with Deutsche Bank , CNN 's John Harwood speculated the president might see some jail time .
According to NYT report , `` Employees of Deutsche Bank and Aon , two corporate giants , could be important witnesses .
As two of Mr. Trump 's oldest allies — and some of the only mainstream companies willing to do regular business with him — they might offer investigators a rich vein of information about the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the president 's other legal woes that can come into play once he leaves office after January 20th , the CNN White House correspondent admitted that details about what is being discussed are sketchy , but what is known to date indicates investigators have a good idea what they 're looking for due to previous conversations with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen .
`` We do n't know a lot of detail about this , but we 've gotten outlines of what it may be about from Michael Cohen in his public testimony @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , `` in which he has said before Congress that President Trump had a pattern of lying about the value of his assets , inflating them , in order to either get good publicity or impress lenders , but lying on the downside , deflating them for the purpose of avoiding taxes and this appears to be what Cy Vance is investigating . ''
`` Cy Vance , remember , a state and local prosecution is beyond the reach of a presidential pardon , so even if the president decides that he is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which is a legally dubious step , never been tried , he could not pardon himself from a state charge , '' Harwood added .
`` This is in addition to the civil investigation that 's underway by the New York Attorney General Letitia James .
All of this -- again , we do know not if Cy Vance is ultimately going to bring charges -- but I think this is one reason why all the talk about Trump potentially running in 2024 has gotten a little ahead of itself . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ overweight 74-year-old man , '' he added .
`` There is also a chance that he could be facing criminal prosecution after he leaves office and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that he could end up in jail . ''

Discussing a report in the New York Times that the office of Manhattan District attorney Cyrus Vance has intensified their investigation into Donald Trump's relationship with Deutsche Bank, CNN's John Harwood speculated the president might see some jail time.
According to NYT report, "Employees of Deutsche Bank and Aon, two corporate giants, could be important witnesses. As two of Mr. Trump's oldest allies — and some of the only mainstream companies willing to do regular business with him — they might offer investigators a rich vein of information about the Trump Organization."
Adding that to the president's other legal woes that can come into play once he leaves office after January 20th, the CNN White House correspondent admitted that details about what is being discussed are sketchy, but what is known to date indicates investigators have a good idea what they're looking for due to previous conversations with former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.
"We don't know a lot of detail about this, but we've gotten outlines of what it may be about from Michael Cohen in his public testimony," Harwood told host John Berman, "in which he has said before Congress that President Trump had a pattern of lying about the value of his assets, inflating them, in order to either get good publicity or impress lenders, but lying on the downside, deflating them for the purpose of avoiding taxes and this appears to be what Cy Vance is investigating."
"Cy Vance, remember, a state and local prosecution is beyond the reach of a presidential pardon, so even if the president decides that he is going to pardon himself before leaving office, which is a legally dubious step, never been tried, he could not pardon himself from a state charge," Harwood added. "This is in addition to the civil investigation that's underway by the New York Attorney General Letitia James. All of this -- again, we do know not if Cy Vance is ultimately going to bring charges -- but I think this is one reason why all the talk about Trump potentially running in 2024 has gotten a little ahead of itself."
"Set aside that he is an overweight 74-year-old man," he added. "There is also a chance that he could be facing criminal prosecution after he leaves office and it is not beyond the realm of possibility that he could end up in jail."
Watch below:


alternet--2020-12-12--The Mason-Dixon line is psychological this time in the GOP's new civil war

They did n't bother with writing articles of secession this time .
No , Ken Paxton , the disgraced attorney general of the state of Texas , did that for them when he filed a lawsuit directly with the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the presidential election .
On Wednesday , Missouri and 16 other states filed a brief with the court seeking to join the Texas lawsuit , which alleges that the four decisive swing states of Pennsylvania , Michigan , Wisconsin and Georgia violated the Constitution by allowing mail-in voting in the November election .
On Thursday , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the House , 126 members of Congress , signed on to the lawsuit along with the instigator in chief , Donald Trump .
Twenty-five states and territories signed a brief opposing the Texas lawsuit .
Friday evening , the Supreme Court rejected the suit out of hand .
The 18 states and 126 members of Congress , including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise , are seceding from democracy .
It amounts to nothing less than an act of sedition by the entire Republican Party , 70 percent of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was illegitimate , according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Thursday .
In contrast , 98 percent of Democrats think Biden 's victory was legitimate , along with 62 percent of independents .
The last time anything like this happened was in 1860 , when the election of Abraham Lincoln led almost immediately to declarations of secession by seven states between Dec. 20 , 1860 and Feb. 1 , 1861 .
Two months later , on April 12 , the bombardment of Fort Sumter began , and the Civil War was underway .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ yet — but Texas did n't just file a lawsuit this week , it set a match to the Constitution of the United States .
It is n't just that these Republicans do n't recognize Joe Biden as our next president .
They do n't want to be part of the democracy that this country was founded on .
They do n't respect the votes of their fellow citizens .
They do n't want what more than 80 million people wanted when they cast their votes in this election .
They want what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's not the whole country .
The Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of registered voters think that Biden 's victory was legitimate .
But it was n't the whole country in 1860 , either .
It was only after the election of Lincoln that the Southern states seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery .
This time there is n't a single issue , there 's a single man : Donald Trump .
In this way , what 's happening right now in this country is eerily similar to what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1930s with Adolf Hitler 's rise to power .
Trump has identified and used the same sort of mass hysteria Hitler did — a sense of resentment among his supporters that somehow they have been left behind and misunderstood and humiliated , and that only he , Trump , understands them and is willing to stand up for them and will bring back their rightful way of life .
So far , Trump has only played around with the kind of violence that Hitler made use of to achieve power and then consolidate @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the chants of `` Lock her up '' that energized supporters at his rallies in 2016 and throughout the campaign of 2020 .
By staying silent this year when armed protesters occupied the State Capitol in Michigan , Trump implied his support , and his exhortations to `` liberate '' states that were mandating lockdowns to fight COVID were taken by many as invitations to violence .
Now armed protesters have gathered outside the home of the Michigan secretary of state , and Georgia election officials report that they are receiving death threats @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Party of Arizona has retweeted exhortations from those who say , `` I 'm willing to give up my life for this fight , '' suggesting it 's time to `` die for something . ''
The New York Times that the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission has said that `` people on Twitter have posted photographs of my house . ''
Another tweet mentioned her children and threatened `` I 've heard you 'll have quite a crowd of patriots showing up at your door . ''
The conservative website The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ addresses and other personal information about Republican elected officials in Georgia , superimposing target crosshairs over images of their faces .
Right-wing Republicans are in full cheerleader mode trying to turn Kyle Rittenhouse , who is accused of murdering two people and wounding another at a Kenosha , Wisconsin , protest , into a hero of the Trump cause .
A Democratic state representative in Pennsylvania told the New York Times that `` we 've been getting emails all the time , all hours of the day and night , '' and that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and a lot of calls are saying we wo n't be forgetting . ''
This kind of stuff is not a joke .
The fantastic lie that has gripped the Republican Party started out with everyone going along with Trump 's fantasy and kind of humoring him .
But now it 's taken a deadly turn .
Trump has been calling Republican state representatives on the phone and pressuring them to go along with his demands that they ignore the votes that have taken place in swing states and appoint electors that will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out of line , they 're branded as traitors , cowards , RINOs .
He 's doing this kind of stuff to his own people , to loyal Republicans who have voted the party line since they were in short pants .
When you add in what 's been happening in red states with COVID , it 's jaw-dropping .
Governors and Republican-controlled state legislatures are so intimidated that they wo n't pass mask mandates and bar closures , not to mention rules against mass gatherings .
COVID cases and hospitalizations in red @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are lining up refrigerated trucks outside hospitals in states like North and South Dakota .
Republicans are killing their own people in craven attempts to keep Donald Trump from attacking them on Twitter .
God only knows what 's going to happen in those states when the COVID vaccines become widely available , although we 're getting some idea with reports of people standing up at meetings of county commissioners pledging not only that they wo n't wear masks , they 'll also refuse to be vaccinated .
The Mason-Dixon line is psychological @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their minds .
They have seceded from sanity and reason .
This Civil War is n't being fought with rifles and pistols .
It 's a war fought with lies and delusions .
This week it passed the number of Americans killed in World War II , and its victims are just as dead as the bodies buried at Anzio and Normandy .
Americans are dying every time Mitch McConnell stands up and blocks a COVID relief bill .
They are dying every time a Republican senator like Ron Johnson presents testimony from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sane person instead of an outright idiot .
They 're dying by the thousands with their mask-less hubris .
They 're dying for Donald Trump , but at least for now , our democracy has not died with them .

They didn't bother with writing articles of secession this time. No, Ken Paxton, the disgraced attorney general of the state of Texas, did that for them when he filed a lawsuit directly with the Supreme Court seeking to overturn the presidential election. On Wednesday, Missouri and 16 other states filed a brief with the court seeking to join the Texas lawsuit, which alleges that the four decisive swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia violated the Constitution by allowing mail-in voting in the November election. On Thursday, a majority of the Republican caucus in the House, 126 members of Congress, signed on to the lawsuit along with the instigator in chief, Donald Trump. Twenty-five states and territories signed a brief opposing the Texas lawsuit. Friday evening, the Supreme Court rejected the suit out of hand.
The 18 states and 126 members of Congress, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise, are seceding from democracy. It amounts to nothing less than an act of sedition by the entire Republican Party, 70 percent of whom believe that Joe Biden's election was illegitimate, according to a Quinnipiac poll released on Thursday. In contrast, 98 percent of Democrats think Biden's victory was legitimate, along with 62 percent of independents.
The last time anything like this happened was in 1860, when the election of Abraham Lincoln led almost immediately to declarations of secession by seven states between Dec. 20, 1860 and Feb. 1, 1861. Two months later, on April 12, the bombardment of Fort Sumter began, and the Civil War was underway.
It's not a shooting war — yet — but Texas didn't just file a lawsuit this week, it set a match to the Constitution of the United States. It isn't just that these Republicans don't recognize Joe Biden as our next president. They don't want to be part of the democracy that this country was founded on. They don't respect the votes of their fellow citizens. They don't want what more than 80 million people wanted when they cast their votes in this election. They want what Donald Trump wants.
Thankfully, it's not the whole country. The Quinnipiac poll found that 60 percent of registered voters think that Biden's victory was legitimate. But it wasn't the whole country in 1860, either. It was only after the election of Lincoln that the Southern states seceded from the Union over the issue of slavery.
This time there isn't a single issue, there's a single man: Donald Trump. In this way, what's happening right now in this country is eerily similar to what happened in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s with Adolf Hitler's rise to power. Trump has identified and used the same sort of mass hysteria Hitler did — a sense of resentment among his supporters that somehow they have been left behind and misunderstood and humiliated, and that only he, Trump, understands them and is willing to stand up for them and will bring back their rightful way of life.
So far, Trump has only played around with the kind of violence that Hitler made use of to achieve power and then consolidate it. Trump used implied violence in the chants of "Lock her up" that energized supporters at his rallies in 2016 and throughout the campaign of 2020. By staying silent this year when armed protesters occupied the State Capitol in Michigan, Trump implied his support, and his exhortations to "liberate" states that were mandating lockdowns to fight COVID were taken by many as invitations to violence.
Now armed protesters have gathered outside the home of the Michigan secretary of state, and Georgia election officials report that they are receiving death threats and racist voice mails. The Republican Party of Arizona has retweeted exhortations from those who say, "I'm willing to give up my life for this fight," suggesting it's time to "die for something." The New York Times reported this week that the chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission has said that "people on Twitter have posted photographs of my house." Another tweet mentioned her children and threatened "I've heard you'll have quite a crowd of patriots showing up at your door."
The conservative website The Bulwark reported this week that far-right websites have been posting addresses and other personal information about Republican elected officials in Georgia, superimposing target crosshairs over images of their faces. Right-wing Republicans are in full cheerleader mode trying to turn Kyle Rittenhouse, who is accused of murdering two people and wounding another at a Kenosha, Wisconsin, protest, into a hero of the Trump cause. A Democratic state representative in Pennsylvania told the New York Times that "we've been getting emails all the time, all hours of the day and night," and that "they're getting more angry, and a lot of calls are saying we won't be forgetting."
This kind of stuff is not a joke. The fantastic lie that has gripped the Republican Party started out with everyone going along with Trump's fantasy and kind of humoring him. But now it's taken a deadly turn. Trump has been calling Republican state representatives on the phone and pressuring them to go along with his demands that they ignore the votes that have taken place in swing states and appoint electors that will vote for him. If they step out of line, they're branded as traitors, cowards, RINOs. He's doing this kind of stuff to his own people, to loyal Republicans who have voted the party line since they were in short pants.
When you add in what's been happening in red states with COVID, it's jaw-dropping. Governors and Republican-controlled state legislatures are so intimidated that they won't pass mask mandates and bar closures, not to mention rules against mass gatherings. COVID cases and hospitalizations in red states are off the charts. They are lining up refrigerated trucks outside hospitals in states like North and South Dakota. Republicans are killing their own people in craven attempts to keep Donald Trump from attacking them on Twitter. God only knows what's going to happen in those states when the COVID vaccines become widely available, although we're getting some idea with reports of people standing up at meetings of county commissioners pledging not only that they won't wear masks, they'll also refuse to be vaccinated.
The Mason-Dixon line is psychological this time. These people have lost their minds. They have seceded from sanity and reason. This Civil War isn't being fought with rifles and pistols. It's a war fought with lies and delusions. This week it passed the number of Americans killed in World War II, and its victims are just as dead as the bodies buried at Anzio and Normandy. Americans are dying every time Mitch McConnell stands up and blocks a COVID relief bill. They are dying every time a Republican senator like Ron Johnson presents testimony from an anti-vaxxer as if it were a sane person instead of an outright idiot. They're dying by the thousands with their mask-less hubris. They're dying for Donald Trump, but at least for now, our democracy has not died with them.


alternet--2020-12-12--Trump's EPA says toxic ash ponds can stay open into 2028

More than 50 of the oldest and dirtiest coal-fired electric power plants in America are asking Trump 's EPA for more time to clean up their unsafe coal ash ponds .
Some want eight more years .
David Tudor , the CEO and general manager of Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. in Springfield , Mo.
, —the owner of two of the worst plants—told the EPA it was the company 's `` intent to complete these projects as expeditiously as possible while maintaining the reliability of the power system . ''
An estimated 523 leaking , unstable or dangerously placed coal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 's ponds at Thomas Hill and New Madrid , were scheduled to stop receiving toxic coal waste on Oct. 31 .
But the Trump EPA pushed that back to April 11 , 2021 , and told plants they could ask for extensions until 2023 , 2024 and even 2028 .
[ caption id= '' attachment_21685 '' align= '' alignright '' width= '' 634 '' ] 'Ashtracker ' satellite view shows pollution sources at the New Madrid , Mo.
, power plant on the west bank of the Mississippi River .
( Environmental Energy @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Trump 's first EPA administrator , Scott Pruitt , in April 2017 when Pruitt and other EPA officials visited the Thomas Hill plant near Clifton Hill , Mo .
Sen. Roy Blunt ( R-Mo . )
and then Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley , now also a Missouri senator , toured the plant with Pruitt .
Groundwater monitoring has found unsafe levels of sulfate , lithium , cobalt and arsenic at Thomas Hill .
Unsafe levels of boron , cobalt , molybdenum , lithium and arsenic are in the groundwater at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Mississippi River near New Madrid , Mo .
Democratic senators asked for an ethics investigation of Elizabeth `` Tate '' Bennett , then an EPA associate administrator , after the meeting at Thomas Hill .
Bennett previously was a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association .
She currently works at Trump 's White House as an agriculture adviser .
Andrew Wheeler , the current EPA administrator and former coal company lobbyist , used decisions in two federal court cases to rewrite federal regulations to benefit utilities .
Power plants can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unlined , leaking coal ash ponds if they claim they ca n't develop more storage space or if they have shut down a coal-fired boiler .
Coal-burning power plants produce about 100 million tons of coal ash a year .
Arsenic , lead and mercury lace the ash .
Companies mixed the ash with water and stored it in unlined pits called coal ash ponds , often near lakes or rivers .
A coal ash rule written under former President Barack Obama allowed power companies to put coal ash in unlined ponds indefinitely @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Federal judges threw that out in a 2018 decision , Utility Solid Waste Activities Group v. EPA .
The Trump EPA estimated that the enforcement delays would save utilities about $ 26.1 million a year .
But the EPA did n't look at the cost of environmental damage or health risks associated with delays in cleaning up the coal ash ponds .
ACTION BOX/What You Can Do About It Tell EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler your thoughts on regulating coal ash .
Call Wheeler at 202-564-4700 or write to him at EPA Headquarters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Pennsylvania Ave. , NW / Mail Code : 1101A / Washington , D.C. 20460 .
The Labadie Environmental Organization , based in Labadie , Mo.
, and eight other environmental organizations sued Wheeler and the EPA in federal court over the new rule .
Isabel Carey and Jason Schwartz at the Institute for Policy Integrity said the EPA 's failure to consider those costs meant the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act , the 1946 law signed by President Harry S Truman that governs how federal agencies write new rules .
About 41 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ dumps is in the Midwest .
Another third is in the southeast , and about 10 % is in the Southwest .

More than 50 of the oldest and dirtiest coal-fired electric power plants in America are asking Trump's EPA for more time to clean up their unsafe coal ash ponds. Some want eight more years.
David Tudor, the CEO and general manager of Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. in Springfield, Mo.,—the owner of two of the worst plants—told the EPA it was the company's "intent to complete these projects as expeditiously as possible while maintaining the reliability of the power system."
An estimated 523 leaking, unstable or dangerously placed coal ash ponds, including the Missouri cooperative's ponds at Thomas Hill and New Madrid, were scheduled to stop receiving toxic coal waste on Oct. 31. But the Trump EPA pushed that back to April 11, 2021, and told plants they could ask for extensions until 2023, 2024 and even 2028.
[caption id="attachment_21685" align="alignright" width="634"]'Ashtracker' satellite view shows pollution sources at the New Madrid, Mo., power plant on the west bank of the Mississippi River. ( Environmental Energy Project )[/caption]
Tudor met with Trump's first EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, in April 2017 when Pruitt and other EPA officials visited the Thomas Hill plant near Clifton Hill, Mo. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) and then Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, now also a Missouri senator, toured the plant with Pruitt.
Groundwater monitoring has found unsafe levels of sulfate, lithium, cobalt and arsenic at Thomas Hill. Unsafe levels of boron, cobalt, molybdenum, lithium and arsenic are in the groundwater at the New Madrid plant along the banks of the Mississippi River near New Madrid, Mo.
Democratic senators asked for an ethics investigation of Elizabeth "Tate" Bennett, then an EPA associate administrator, after the meeting at Thomas Hill. Bennett previously was a lobbyist for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. She currently works at Trump's White House as an agriculture adviser.
Andrew Wheeler, the current EPA administrator and former coal company lobbyist, used decisions in two federal court cases to rewrite federal regulations to benefit utilities. Power plants can now ask for more time to close unlined, leaking coal ash ponds if they claim they can't develop more storage space or if they have shut down a coal-fired boiler.
[caption id="attachment_21684" align="alignright" width="640"]Source: Duke University[/caption]
Coal-burning power plants produce about 100 million tons of coal ash a year. Arsenic, lead and mercury lace the ash. Companies mixed the ash with water and stored it in unlined pits called coal ash ponds, often near lakes or rivers.
A coal ash rule written under former President Barack Obama allowed power companies to put coal ash in unlined ponds indefinitely until their operators determined they were leaking. Federal judges threw that out in a 2018 decision, Utility Solid Waste Activities Group v. EPA.
The Trump EPA estimated that the enforcement delays would save utilities about $26.1 million a year. But the EPA didn't look at the cost of environmental damage or health risks associated with delays in cleaning up the coal ash ponds.
[action]
ACTION BOX/What You Can Do About It
Tell EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler your thoughts on regulating coal ash. Call Wheeler at 202-564-4700 or write to him at EPA Headquarters / William Jefferson Clinton Building / 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW / Mail Code: 1101A / Washington, D.C. 20460.
[/action]
The Labadie Environmental Organization, based in Labadie, Mo., and eight other environmental organizations sued Wheeler and the EPA in federal court over the new rule.
Isabel Carey and Jason Schwartz at the Institute for Policy Integrity said the EPA's failure to consider those costs meant the rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, the 1946 law signed by President Harry S Truman that governs how federal agencies write new rules.
About 41% of power plants with coal ash dumps is in the Midwest. Another third is in the southeast, and about 10% is in the Southwest.