U.S. Politics

[Rick Plant]

Truth:

[Rick Plant]

What would an American fascist government look like?
https://www.rawstory.com/what-would-an-american-fascist-government-look-like/

[Rick Plant]

Matthew McConaughey breaks down at the White House talking about murdered children in his hometown Uvalde



Actor Matthew McConaughey appeared at the White House on Tuesday to talk about his hometown of Uvalde, Texas where 21 were killed by a mass shooter who bought assault weapons on his 18th birthday.

He told a story about one of the many children killed last month: Maite Rodriguez. She wore green converse high-tops to show off her love of the Earth and the environment. She drew a heart on the toe of the shoes. Many of the children were so unrecognizable that the only way they could be identified was from a DNA test comparing them to their parents. In the case of Maite, it was her shoes.

McConaughey had someone in the White House press briefing room hold up the shoes as his voice cracked and tears formed in his eyes.

He began his speech by saying that he and his wife spent the last week on the ground in Uvalde with the families of the victims. He wants to have a national discussion about how to make the horrifying deaths of these children matter.

"While we honor and acknowledge the victims, we need to recognize that this time, seems that something is different," he continued. "There's a sense that perhaps there's a viable path forward. Responsible parties in this debate seem to at least be committed to sitting down and having a real conversation about a new and improved path forward. A path that can bring us closer together and make us safer as a country. A path that can actually get something done this time. Camila and I came here to share my stories from my hometown in Uvalde, came here to take meetings with elected officials on both sides of the aisle. We came here to speak to them, to speak with them, and to urge them to speak with each other. To remind and inspire them that the American people will continue to drive forward the mission of keeping our children safe because it's more than our right to do so."

He explained it's the responsibility of all officials to do it. He said he hopes that he can inspire energy, reason and passion and turn it into action.

"We are in a window of opportunity right now that we have not been in before," McConaughey continued. "A window where it seems like real change, real change can happen. Uvalde, Texas, is where I was born. It's where my mom taught Kindergarten less than a mile from Robb Elementary. Uvalde is where I learned to master a Daisy BB gun. I think that took two years before I graduated to a .410 shotgun. Uvalde is where I was taught to revere the power and the capability of the tool that we call a gun. Uvalde is where I learned responsible gun ownership. And Uvalde called me on May 24th when I learned the news of this devastating tragedy."

He said that when he heard the news of what happened he began driving home to hold his children and talk to his wife about what they would do to help.

"We loaded up the truck and drove to Uvalde. When we arrived, a few hours later, I got to tell you, even from the inside of our vehicle, you could feel the shock in the town. You could feel the pain, the denial, the disillusion, anger, blame, sadness, loss of lives, dreams halted. We saw ministries. We saw first responders, counselors, cooks, and families trying to grieve without it being on the front page news. We met with the local funeral director and countless morticians who hadn't slept since the massacre the day before, because they had been working 24/7, trying to handle so many bodies at once. So, many little innocent bodies who had their entire lives still yet to live."

He broke down describing the families who told him about their lost children. One father recalled his love of spoiling his daughter. There were promises of taking her to Sea World that McConaughey said would never happen.

He closed by saying that there is a chance "to reach for and to grasp a higher ground above our political affiliations, a chance to make a choice that does more than protecting your party, a chance to make a choice that protects our country now and for the next generation."

He urged everyone to take a sober, humble and honest look into the mirror and ask what is truly of value in our society.

"We got to get some real courage and honor our immortal obligations instead of our party affiliations," he said. "Enough with the counterpunching. Enough of the invalidation of the other side. Come to the common table that represents the American people. Find a middle ground, the place where most of us Americans live anyway. Especially on this issue, because I promise you, America, you and me, we are not as divided as we are being told we are. No. How about we get inspired? Give ourselves just cause to revere our future again. Maybe set an example for our children, give us reason to tell them, hey, listen, and watch these men and women."

He called on lawmakers to lead with humility and uphold values inherent to the world.

"So, where do we start? We start by making the right choices on the issue that is in front of us today," said McConaughey. "We start by making laws that save innocent lives and don't infringe on our second amendment rights. We start right now by voting to pass policies that can keep us from having as many columbines, Sandy Hooks, Parklands, Las Vegases, Buffalos, and Uvaldes from here on. We start by giving Alithia a chance to be spoiled by her dad. We start by giving Maite a chance to become a marine biologist. We start by giving Ellie a chance to read her Bible verse at the Wednesday night service. We start by giving Irma and Joe a chance to finish painting their house, maybe retire, and get that food truck. We start by giving McKenna, Layla, Eliahana, Annabell, Jackie, Eva, Amerie and Lexi — start by giving all of them our promise that their dreams are not going to be forgotten. We start by making the loss of these lives matter. Thank you, thank you."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

President Biden @POTUS

Tune in as I sign nine bipartisan bills into law that honor and improve care for veterans.

Watch: https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1534252791207800833

[Rick Plant]

The simple fact is, gas prices are high all over the world due to Big Oil Price Gouging and Putin's war.

Putin's war is spiking global oil prices.

A gallon of gas in the U.S. is up $1.51 since Putin started amassing troops.

But this is a tough, GLOBAL issue:

Germany: gas is $8.88/gal, up $2.16/gallon

EU: gas is $8.15/gal, up $1.74/gallon

Canada: gas is $6.23/gal, up $1.93/gallon

So, other major industrialized countries are paying MORE for a gallon of gasoline than Americans are here in the United States because of Putin and Big Oil Price Gouging.

The right wing media, Republican politicians, and the mainstream media wants to pretend that Joe Biden set these gas prices and made them high only in the United States because of his "policies".

That's an absolute lie, as gas prices are high globally (higher than the United States) and world leaders are trying to deal with the Putin price hike.     

If it wasn't for President Biden tapping into the Strategic Oil Reserve we would be paying $10 for a gallon of gas.

House Democrats put a bill on the floor that will lower gas prices. "The Big Oil And Gas Price Gouging Bill" will stop Big Oil from gouging consumers at the pump for profits like they are currently doing. Every single Republican in the House voted against lowering gas prices for you. They don't care about lowering gas prices for you. All they want to do is keep gas prices high so they can continue to attack President Biden hoping to score political points. All the Republicans had to do was vote "Yes" to lower gas prices but they voted "NO" instead. So, these hypocrites have no reason to be complaining when THEY refused to lower gas prices.

This bill passed in the House only because Democrats control the House and Democrats passed the bill to lower gas prices for you.

The bill is now sitting in the Senate currently being blocked by Republicans who refuse to vote on the bill for debate. Senate Republicans don't want this bill passed to lower gas prices because then they can't attack President Biden for high gas prices when this bill will immediately lower gas prices. They would lose their main political talking point. So, Republicans are blocking a bill to lower gas prices and are making you pay more for gas because they think it will help then politically in November. That's why these all these corrupt right wingers need to be voted out. We have the bill to lower gas prices but Republicans won't allow it to go through to pass. They know if this bill went to the Senate floor it would easily pass and they don't want it to. Republicans are playing politics with your finances.

Here is a screen shot of the "Big Oil And Price Gouging Bill" passed only by Democrats in the House and voted AGAINST by EVERY single Republican. Don't let these Republican liars whine and complain about high gas prices when they ALL voted "NO" to lower it for you!



And here was the final House vote on the "Big Oil and Gas Price Gouging Bill".

EVERY single Republican in the House of Representatives voted NO to lower gas prices for American consumers. The do nothing Republican Congress once again did nothing to help Americans. Senate Republicans are even worse, since they are blocking this bill from becoming law. You can blame Republicans for playing politics with your finances because that's exactly what they are doing. They are blocking this bill from becoming law to lower gas prices because they think if gas prices remain high the rest of the year, you will vote for them in November. Americans know the sadistic game Republicans are playing with their lives. This is the same party that tried to steal the 2020 election with Trump to keep him in power. So, these treasonous Republicans will try to do anything to seize control of power, including purposely blocking legislation to help Americans pay normal gas prices.           

[Rick Plant]

President Biden signed NINE bipartisan bills to honor and improve care for veterans yesterday.

Thank you President Biden for supporting our nation's military!




President Biden @POTUS

I’ve long believed we have a sacred obligation to properly train and equip those we send into harm’s way — and to care for them and their families when they return. Today, I signed nine bipartisan bills into law that will honor that obligation and improve care for our veterans.



https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1534315777167347712

[Rick Plant]

South Dakotans crush GOP effort to preemptively sabotage Medicaid Expansion vote



South Dakotans on Tuesday resoundingly defeated a Republican-authored constitutional amendment that would have raised the threshold for passage of most ballot initiatives from a simple majority to 60%, an effort motivated by GOP lawmakers' desire to head off a Medicaid expansion vote set for November.

Voters rejected the proposal, known as Amendment C, by a margin of 67.4% to 32.6%, dealing a decisive blow to state-level Republicans' latest attempt to weaken the ballot initiative process.

"Amendment C is a political ploy that would empower special interests, lobbyists, and politicians at the expense of South Dakota voters."

"The people of South Dakota have preserved their right to use direct democracy," said Kelly Hall, executive director of the Fairness Project, a national group that worked to defeat the South Dakota amendment. "This victory will benefit tens of thousands of South Dakotans who will choose to use the ballot measure process to increase access to healthcare for their families and neighbors, raise wages, and more policies that improve lives."

"We look forward to what's next in South Dakota: an aggressive campaign to expand Medicaid in the state," Hall added.

If passed, Amendment C would have required a 60% supermajority to approve any voter-initiated referendum that would "increase taxes or fees or that would require the state to appropriate $10 million or more in the first five fiscal years." The proposal was endorsed by South Dakota's Republican Gov. Kristi Noem and the powerful Koch network, which spent big on pro-Amendment C ads and mailers.

"Amendment C is a political ploy that would empower special interests, lobbyists, and politicians at the expense of South Dakota voters," South Dakotans for Fair Elections said ahead of Tuesday's vote. "If you care about secure and fair elections, vote no on C."

Republican sponsors and supporters of the amendment readily admitted that their expedited campaign to get Amendment C on the primary election ballot was fueled at least in part by opposition to the Medicaid referendum, which would make South Dakota the seventh state since 2017 to approve an expansion of the healthcare program through the voter initiative process.

Only Idaho's 2018 Medicaid expansion initiative received more than 60% of the vote, an indication that Amendment C would likely have spelled doom for the South Dakota referendum.

As Daniel Nichanian of Bolts noted late Tuesday, "GOP lawmakers in South Dakota were not able to increase the threshold of passage for initiatives on their own, without consulting voters, since the change would have affected the state constitution."

"And South Dakotans' refusal to go along with this stands out as reaffirming the state's historical legacy," Nichanian observed. "South Dakota was the first in the nation to adopt a process for citizens to initiate ballot measures. In 1898, voters approved a constitutional amendment to that effect that was pushed by local populist leaders—a legacy that voters reaffirmed on Tuesday."

https://www.rawstory.com/south-dakotans-crush-gop-effort-to-preemptively-sabotage-medicaid-expansion-vote/