Eat the Rich

[Vrede too]

Bernie Sanders, Shawn Fain draw thousands at Michigan rally (with 2" video)

UAW leaders joined Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) Saturday in Warren, Michigan, for the "Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here" tour.

More than 6,000 people packed three different auditoriums to hear from Sanders and UAW President Shawn Fain.

CBS News Detroit's Jack Springgate spoke with two cancer survivors who attended the rally.

"They're cutting children's cancer research and the NIH and also interfering with grant funding rules for medical research," said rally attendee Elliot Stephens. "I have a daughter with cancer, and that for me is unforgivable."

Stephens and his brother are also cancer survivors. They say potential healthcare cuts could have fatal consequences.

"If they cut Medicaid, that's going to hurt a lot of people," Elliot Stephens said. "Senior citizens, disabled people, single moms, children who rely on Medicaid, it's going to hurt them. People are going to die from that."

Sanders says he's visiting congressional districts that were narrowly won by President Trump in 2024 to urge those representatives to vote against a bill that could bring cuts to Medicaid, housing, education, nutrition and other social programs.

He's asking those constituents to do the same.

... A House vote on this bill is expected to happen on Tuesday as Democrats look to flip just two Republican votes to stop it from passing....

Take note of Fain's t-shirt.

I never looked up the origin of the phrase before:

Eat the rich

"Eat the rich" is a political slogan associated with anti-capitalism and left-wing politics, as well as sometimes anarchist violent extremism. It may variously be used as a metaphor for class conflict or a demand for wealth redistribution. The phrase is commonly attributed to political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778), from a quote first popularized during the French Revolution: "When the people shall have nothing more to eat, they will eat the rich".

Cool! Though the attribution to Rousseau may be dubious, not many phrases survive and thrive for 250 years. I've got historical roots!

[Vrede too]

The oligarchy marches on:

Jeff Bezos Announces That Washington Post Opinions Will Now Exclusively Celebrate the Glories of Capitalism

Fuck Jeff Bezos!

The oligarchy marches on:

Billionaire Commerce Secretary Says Seniors Wouldn't Mind Missing Social Security Checks
Only a "fraudster" would complain if they missed a check, Howard Lutnick proclaimed.

... He suggested that halting Social Security checks might be a good way to root out people trying to defraud the system.

“A fraudster always makes the loudest noise, screaming, yelling and complaining,” he said.

“The easiest way to find the fraudster is to stop payments and listen, because whoever screams is the one stealing,” he claimed. “Because my mother-in-law is not calling me. Come on, your mother ― 80-year-olds, 90-year-olds ― they trust the government.”

That makes no sense.

... A Bankrate survey from November found that 77% of current retirees rely on Social Security checks to cover necessary expenses, while only 15% say they are not at all reliant on them....

Fuck Howard Lutnick!

[O Really]

That's ridiculous. Nevermind that whether it's "necessary" or not, it's money that is legally owed. Past that, doesn't that fool realize that a lot those geezers voted to put his boss's sorry ass in office?