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Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene 

Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene 

Us Resist News Blog
By Sean Gray
Last week’s vote to remove freshman Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from her committee posts didn’t end the GOP’s problem with her, but underscored it. Many Republicans were no doubt hoping for a return to normalcy after four years of Donald Trump’s chaotic leadership. This was always a pipe dream and the representative from Georgia’s 14th district illustrates that Trump’s presidency may have been unprecedented,  and the political movement he inspired has staying power. Greene has no experience in government. She is a half-hearted businesswoman with more bombast than sense. She gained political recognition through the creation and dissemination of absurd conspiracy theories. Sound familiar? If Donald Trump was a symptom rather than the disease, Greene is a next-gen mutation. She can’t inflict the damage Trump did from the Oval Office. But her presence in Congress is a troubling commentary on the state of American politics. And her Republicans colleagues know it.

New Efforts Seek to Reduce Growing Rates of Child Poverty

New Efforts Seek to Reduce Growing Rates of Child Poverty

Brief #109—Economics
By Rosalind Gottfried
President Biden seeks to raise the child tax credit to $3600 for children under 6 and to$3000 for school age children under 18.  This is up from the current level of $2000 per child.  As part of the stimulus, this change would become effective in July and last for one year though many Democrats would like to see the change made permanent.   The credit would be available to individuals making $75,000 or less and couples making $150,000 or less.  It would be based on income data from 2019 or 2020.  To increase the effectiveness of the tax break, families could receive monthly payments of between $250 and $350 to meet their routine bills.  Researchers at Columbia University estimate that this measure could reduce the child poverty rate by close to 50%.  The proposal gained support with the weak jobs report released last week.  The cost of the program would increase the federal deficit by 120 billion dollars.

General Motors and Wall Street can’t wait to plug into the new economy

General Motors and Wall Street can’t wait to plug into the new economy

Brief #108—Environment
By Todd J Broadman
Soon after President Biden’s election victory, General Motors Corporation (GM) publicly stated their vision: to manufacture vehicles that feature zero carbon emissions. That vision is the leading feature of their “triple zero,” which also includes zero congestion and zero crashes (through advanced safety technologies and self-driving vehicles). Over the next 15 years, GM will completely phase out the production of petroleum powered vehicles and will solely manufacture electric vehicles (EV). There are to be 30 such EV models available by 2025.

Will the US Approach to the Security Council Change with the Biden Administration?

Will the US Approach to the Security Council Change with the Biden Administration?

Brief #106—Foreign Policy
By Will Solomon
The relative weakness of the Security Council can be ascribed to multiple factors: its limited budget, differing interests among members, the veto power of permanent members. With respect to the US, its weakness of late is certainly due in part to the aggressive anti-internationalism of the Trump administration. But the problems in the Security Council have far deeper roots, many of which stem from a long history of US (in particular, but other states’ as well) unilateralism as regards the UN and other international institutions.

Biden Signs Three Executive Orders to Reverse Xenophobic Policies

Biden Signs Three Executive Orders to Reverse Xenophobic Policies

Brief #114—Immigration
By Kathryn Baron
Earlier this week, President Biden signed three Executive Orders to begin the lengthy process of undoing Trump-era immigration policies that have stained American foreign policy and international perception. The Senate had just confirmed Alejandro N. Mayorka as Secretary of Homeland Security – in which all but seven Republican voted no, which accurately depicts the divisions in the US government about American attitudes towards foreigners. Mayorka will be the first Latino-American of his position.

First Lady Jill Biden Highlights Role As First Professor in the White House

First Lady Jill Biden Highlights Role As First Professor in the White House

Brief #54—Education
By Linda F Hersey
Twenty-four hours before Joe Biden was inaugurated as president, First Lady Jill Biden was teaching her English composition class as usual at Northern Virginia Community College. The First Lady’s decision to keep her day job as she settles into the White House is symbolic. She said that she likes her job as a college professor, worked hard for her PhD and is committed to teaching. Having a first professor in the White House energizes calls or free college education, which is available in many European countries, including Norway, Sweden and Germany, which have apprenticeships as well. Her commitment and advocacy raise the status of higher education in the Biden presidency. The First Lady is a long-time member of the National Education Association (NEA), which is the nation’s largest labor union and whose members advocated for the Biden presidency.

The Prosecution  of Alexei Navalny

The Prosecution of Alexei Navalny

Brief #105—Foreign Policy
By Tim Irwin
Alexei Navalny was recently sentenced to three and a half years in prison for violating his probation from a 2014 case in which he was convicted of embezzlement. He violated probation because he was unable to contact his parole officer was because he had been poisoned . The poisoning occurred in Siberia and Navalny was flown to Germany where he was able to recover. Investigative reporters eventually were able to conclude the poisoning, caused by a military nerve agent, was carried out by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Navalny himself says that Vladimir Putin spearheaded the effort.

Status Update on the Prosecution of Capitol Rioters

Status Update on the Prosecution of Capitol Rioters

Brief #8—Social Justice
By Erika Shannon
On January 6th, as Congress was counting electoral votes, a crowd of far-right extremists rioted outside and eventually made their way into the Capitol building. Their actions prompted members of Congress, as well as former vice-president Mike Pence, to go into hiding and leave their session behind. Criminals sat in the offices of congressmen and congresswomen, and in the end lives were lost. Many people view the actions of these extremists as terrorist acts, for they were attempting to interfere with the results of an election that was already deemed fair by the DOJ and FBI. Whether they will be charged as terrorists or not, the Justice Department will be pursuing criminal charges against as many of the protest attendees as possible. It is no secret that the path to a trial is not always speedy here in the U.S., so many of those involved with the January 6th riots have only been charged and have not yet been tried for their crimes.

Upcoming Run-Off Elections

Upcoming Run-Off Elections

Brief #15—Election Campaign News
By William Bourque
As we enter this post-Trump world, we now switch focus to runoff elections being held in the wake of cabinet appointments and other events that have taken place.  Several runoff elections are being held in several districts, such as  LA-02, LA-05, NM-01, and OH-11.
In LA-02, we will be seeing a special election due to the appointment of Cedric Richmond as Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.  The district, which includes parts of Baton Rouge and New Orleans is a strong democratic seat.  Several candidates have already announced their intention to run, with the frontrunners being state senators Karen Carter Peterson and Troy Carter, who will first have to face a primary on March 20, 2021.  Senator Carter Peterson has served 20 years in Louisiana’s Congress, splitting evenly 10 years in the House and 10 in the Senate.  Senator Carter has spent 30 years in public service, ranging from State House of Rep. to New Orleans City council to State Senate.  Needless to say, the primary on March 20 is likely to decide who will ultimately win the seat.

Which Companies are Profiting from the Pandemic?

Which Companies are Profiting from the Pandemic?

Brief #108—Economics
By Rosalind Gottfried
With the roll out of COVID 19 vaccinations, and the Biden administration’s pledges to speed their dissemination, it might be imagined that the drug companies are reaping enormous profits.  This would be, in large part, an incorrect presumption.  Because many of the pharmaceutical companies took money to develop the vaccine, there are limits on how much they can charge for the product.  Pfizer, one of the first to bring a successful vaccine to market, did not take government funds for research and development of the vaccine; they did join Operation Warp Speed, at a cost of $1.95 billion to the government to provide the first batch of 100million free to the public.  They will charge the government $39.99 per two dose protocol.  While the vaccine costs $15 per person to produce, there are also shipping, administration, and distribution costs.  They are expected to sell $14bn orth of vaccine in the first year. 

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