In November we think about giving thanks, but there are other important days on the calendar. November is election month. Our local election was on the 7th, and Republicans in Virginia took a trouncing. I will give thanks that our governor, now without any legislative support, will not get to track women’s menstrual cycles. Nor will he get his abortion ban. Democrats now control our legislature, and that is a fine thing. Voters across America realize that this election was between the party that wants to take away our rights and the party who wants all citizens to have the right to control their -own lives without governmental interference. Most Americans know that we, the people, should be in charge of what we do with our bodies and who we love, not politicians. Another - often overshadowed by the others - holiday in the November calendar is Veteran’s Day. It used to be called Armistice Day, to celebrate the end of WWI and pay homage to the many who gave their l...
J ust when you think the Republican leadership can’t get any more vile, it does. On July 28 the Senate passed a reconciliation package to make drugs cheaper, plug tax loopholes for corporations and the extremely wealthy, and invest in switching the economy away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy. In other words, a bill that would go a long way toward addressing the systemic inequalities in this country and toward tackling the climate catastrophe caused by fossil fuel corporations. If this bill wins in the House, it’s a Biden Administration victory, and a big win for us, the American people. Shortly after, the Senate passed the CHIPS bill (Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors) which appropriates $280 billion to speed up the manufacturing of semiconductors in the U.S. and to invest in scientific research and development in computers and artificial intelligence. Also a big win for President Joe Biden and a boost to the American industrial sector. However,...