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Biden
President Biden, marking 100 days in office made an unprecedented speech to a joint session of Congress last night reshaping the role of Government in America. The price tag of more Government in expanding family leave, child care, health care, preschool and college education for millions of people to be financed with increased taxes on the wealthiest earners.
But, the numbers are staggering as together with Covid relief Biden is spending close to 6 trillion dollars and is a risky gamble in a country already polarized and the Democrats have a razor thin majority to push an agenda the Republicans will struggle to block.
Biden also makes the case the theme in his Presidency and in America is whether Democracy can survive the challenges of autocracies, like those in China and Russia.
President Biden heralded his aim for the United States to “win the 21st century.” He spoke of a country that had “stared into an abyss of autocracy and insurrection, pandemic and pain,” but now was already on the way to renewal and uplift.
America has fought to preserve its own democracy over an autocratic ex President Trump who denied the election, and his own party grasped for power over real election results and at all costs to American voting rights. Trump became like the very autocrats America has struggled against for generations and many Americans embraced autocracy without seeing through the mirage. Cable news helped peddled the big lie of the election that Republicans still claim was stolen.
But the theft in progress was America democracy, and today the Republican party is changing electoral laws and restricting voting for the next round. Democracy is on the ropes and we will be writing about this for decades as a moment of change and a historic challenge to American ideals.
“The question of whether our democracy will long endure is both ancient and urgent” Biden said. And he is wrapping his ideals into the American families plan calling for $1.8 trillion investments in education, providing free schooling from pre-kindergarten through to community college. There would be funding for childcare, and paid family leave, and more money to fight poverty. He would enforce existing tax laws raising $700 billion and increase top tax rates from 37% to 39.6% as is was under President Bush.
Critics will say too much; too much Government, too much tax, too much interference in their ideals of a free market with little regard for government social safety nets and what they equate with socialism. But remember, you judge a system based on the poorest member of society and their access to education and housing and healthcare and even food, not on the richest. And walking the streets of a rich nation like America I am always struck by the level of poverty the system hasn’t addressed.
Trumps Mr. Fix It
Rudy Giuliani’s home and office were the subjects of search warrants by Federal Investigators Wednesday looking into Giuliani’s work for Trump in Ukraine. Executing a search warrant on a lawyer for a former President is an extraordinary measure, and Giuliani’s legal representative called it “legal thuggery”.
But it is also a clear sign the investigation is gaining momentum and involves allegations Giuliani may have lobbied the Trump Administration on behalf of Ukrainian officials in return for stirring up dirt on Trumps rivals including President Biden.
Fox News called it a use of the law by Biden to punish his political opponents and political appointees in Trump’s Department of Justice had blocked such a warrant in the past, but Attorney General Merrick Garland lifted the block probably because the argument the search would turn up evidence of a crime was so convincing the warrants couldn’t be refused.
Think about where this leads, because Lev Parnas, the Guiliani associate has said Trump knew exactly what he was doing in Ukraine as they tried to pressure for dirt on Trumps political rivals including suspending aid for military equipment which led to impeachment proceedings against Trump. This raid and ongoing investigation is an extremely serious matter that can bring the investigation back to the actions and knowledge of former President Trump.
Seaspiracy and Stop Eating Fish?
Seaspiracy is a new movie that has caused a major debate over fishing practices and the future of our Oceans and Lakes.
On this Back Story host Dana Lewis explores what Seaspiracy got right/wrong with Dr. Bryce Stewart, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Environment and Geography, at The UK's University of York.
And for Canada, sport fisherman Jake Danson with 'Rapala' on how the Great Lakes are struggling from over fishing and what can be done to save species of fish.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/8420546
India Covid
The incredible fact is most deaths are being under reported in India, and yet the official toll hit 202,000 fatalities from Covid19, and projections suggest a million will die. The worst is yet to come. There are over 345,000 daily cases of infections.
Whats happening? Is it because the Government allowed social mixing? Part of the problem is the lifting of restrictions, but there is also a new Indian variant which is reducing the effectiveness of vaccines, but not described as an escape variant, meaning the vaccines will still work.
We should all care - because the more Covid runs rampant, the more variants mutate, and the larger the risk sooner or later the vaccines will be neutralized. In the UK scientists say we will all need boosters at some point, and likely this winter. We really are just in the early phases of this daunting pandemic, and how it goes will very much depend on our ability to get vaccines to all countries, and in the meantime keep social distancing and wearing masks.
Boris Johnson’s Apartment Scandal
It’s not about the pillows and drapes, but who originally paid for a major renovation for the British P.M.’s apartment and whether that represented a potential political favour Johnson then owed the donor/lender? Johnson won’t come clean yet on who paid, except to say in the end he paid for it, with no detail on when he paid and whether that was a repaying of a loan.
"We are now satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to suspect that an offence or offences may have occurred," the Electoral Commission said of the financing of the apartment above Number 11 Downing Street where Johnson resides.
Could this lead to Johnson having to resign?
The Forgotten Astronaut, Remembered
Michael Collins has died at age 90 from cancer. "As pilot of the Apollo 11 command module -- some called him 'the loneliest man in history' -- while his colleagues walked on the Moon for the first time, he helped America achieve a defining milestone. He also distinguished himself in the Gemini Program and as an Air Force pilot.
While Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong separated from Columbia in the lunar lander, the Eagle, to land on the moon, Collins kept circling the moon. Once Armstrong and Aldrin were finished, he would rendezvous and dock with the Eagle after it left the lunar surface. What a great life and an amazing adventure for a former fighter pilot.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/28/us/nasa-astronaut-michael-collins-obit-scn/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/28/nyregion/rudy-giuliani-trump-ukraine-warrant.html
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/a-horror-story-india-covid-deaths-pass-200-000/ar-BB1g9s8t?ocid=uxbndlbing
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/apr/28/how-much-trouble-is-boris-johnson-in-maybe-quite-a-lot
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/28/us/nasa-astronaut-michael-collins-obit-scn/index.html