Poverty is the greatest cause of death and illness globally; it strangles the lives of billions of people, denying the expression of innate potential, condemning men, women and children to live stunted uncreative lives of interminable suffering and drudgery.
WASHINGTON—The New Poor People’s Campaign, the mass movement planned to bring the problems of poverty – and agitate for eradicating them – to the nation’s conscience, will kick off with an anti-war, anti-militarism sermon in D.C. on May 6 by co-chair the Rev. William Barber and a mass rally, with planned civil disobedience, at the U.S. Capitol on May 14.
Political and business leaders have refined the art and science of lying about the economy. From their suites, chauffeur-driven limousines, private yachts and jets, they aren’t too concerned about whether the economy works for everyone, except in speeches and elections. As they tuck into their next fine dining experience, they know that it’s easier and more profitable to mummify the paralysis of spectacular inequality.
You ever wonder what a Martian might think if he happened to land near an emergency room? He’d see an ambulance whizzing in and everybody running out to meet it, tearing the doors open, grabbing up the stretcher, scurrying along with it. ‘Why,’ he’d say, ‘what a helpful planet, what kind and helpful creatures.’ He’d never guess we’re not always that way; that we had to, oh, put aside our natural selves to do it. ‘What a helpful race of beings,’ a Martian would say. Don’t you think so?
― Anne Tyler, The Accidental Tourist, April 2002
Cognitive dissonance in Psychology
The psychological tension that occurs when one holds mutually exclusive beliefs or attitudes and that often motivates people to modify their thoughts or behaviors in order to reduce the tension.
Anxiety that results from simultaneously holding contradictory or incompatible attitudes, beliefs, or the like, as when one likes a person but disapproves of one of his or her habits.
Motivated Ignorance in Politics
LOS ANGELES — California is a state with two faces. One face wears a beaming, optimistic smile — reflecting pride in its sprawling coastline, its natural beauty. Its entertainment industry makes the state a cultural superpower, while its tech sector attracts millennial entrepreneurs and talent from across the world. With its ethnic diversity, liberal urban elites and politicians, this isn’t Trumplandia, USA; this is the Golden State, filled with industrious and creative drivers of American success.
When an airplane is approaching Singapore Changi Airport, it makes the final approach either from the direction of Peninsular Malaysia, or from the Indonesian island of Batam.
Either way, the scope for natural disaster under the wings is of monumental proportions.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Barriers to equality pose threats to democracy in the U.S. as the country remains segregated along racial lines and child poverty worsens, according to study made public Tuesday that examines the nation 50 years after the release of the landmark 1968 Kerner Report.
In December last year, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Professor Philip Alston, issued a statement on his 15-day fact-finding mission of some of the U.S.’s poorest neighborhoods. Alston, the author of the quoted phrase in the excerpt, is an Australian who is a professor of law at New York University. During his mission, he visited Alabama, California, West Virginia, Texas, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.
California: Michael Tubbs, the 26-year old Mayor of Stockton, will provide a universal basic income ($500 per month) to low-income residents. Stockton was the largest city in America to claim bankruptcy during the financial crisis. Critics fear it will create a welfare state. [Stockton already IS a welfare state. We predict that, when the 'experiment' is finished, it will be seen as a colossal failure, but those who are well paid to administer the welfare state will claim that the only reason it failed is that $500 was not enough.
