Thieves in the Temple.

Action: concerning monopolies, labor, Russia, bank fees, COVID vaccines, and Fox News.

Long story short: tell our government to pause bank mergers, tell local governments to stop cracking down on striking workers, tell the International Satellite Laser Ranging Service to stop helping Russia, tell our Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stop "junk fees," tell big pharma corporations to share their vaccines so fewer people die, and tell corporations to stop advertising on Fox News. Use the email/petition tools in the following paragraphs to communicate your will.

Americans for Financial Reform helps you tell federal regulators to stop allowing banks to merge until our government can institute merger guidelines that better protect good Americans. And if our government decides that mergers do, in fact, injure good Americans -- a conclusion they appear to have already made! -- well, big banksters who want to merge and become even bigger will just have to sacrifice for the common good. Everyone in America has made immense sacrifices during this pandemic, except for big corporate executives, who, oddly enough, have just gotten richer while the rest of us ran to stand still. Does that sound like America? No, it does not -- unless one has a very cynical view of America. Cynicism is easy; civilization takes work.

More Perfect Union helps you tell local governments to stop putting corporate interests ahead of everyone else's when dealing with striking workers. Police will squash strikes and escort scabs to jobs, while judges will set absurd limits on how many striking workers can picket and (even) where they can stand. Does that sound like free speech to you? Governments profess to be concerned with "inconveniencing" other people, but if striking workers risk alienating passers-by when they picket, why do we need to limit their picketing so severely? And those who would complain about them blocking workplace entries had better not be the same folks who cheered on the convoys in Canada, for they surely alienated plenty of passers-by, and were far noisier than any group of picketers.

Change.org helps you tell the International Satellite Laser Ranging Service to stop providing data to Russia, so that Russia won't be able to make its GPS service work. Then, if they want to figure out where they're going next in Ukraine, they'll have to read the street signs just like we did in the old days! And I've heard that good Ukrainians have already figured out what to do about that. Seriously, we are doing the right thing in shaming and shunning Russia -- though of course the many Russians who don't support the war, and risk life and livelihood protesting it, deserve our support -- but there's no reason to make it easier for Russia to invade Ukraine. Keeping the data that helps run Russian geo-location efforts away from them won't affect too many Russians too badly. Just, you know, the ones at war.

More Perfect Union helps you tell our Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (or CFPB) to go after bank "junk fees." A "junk fee" might be an overdraft fee or an insufficient funds fee, the kind of thing a bank hits you with not because you really cost them $15 or $20 with your mistake, but just because they can. After all, it's a pain to move your money to another bank (or credit union hint hint), and your new bank probably won't be much better about the junk fees. And junk fees tend to slam the poorest among us, who aren't "bad at managing money" but merely don't have enough money to manage it effectively! Our CFPB apparently feels like we do, but we still need communicate our will, so they can better fight the banksters' inevitable frivolous lawsuit.

Amnesty International helps you tell big pharma corporations to share their COVID vaccines with the billions of world citizens who can't get them now. I usually argue pragmatically about this matter -- the more citizens worldwide get vaccinated, the less these new COVID variants can fester and bite us in the ass. But it's also the compassionate thing to do. Big pharma CEOs don't agree, because they only see money, though of course they don't put it like that: they have a litany of excuses, involving "the shareholders" and "the future" and such. But these are the concerns of small minds! Having money, cultivating the appearance of having money, the next awful thing you have to do to secure both of these to avoid shame -- we've got to do better than all of that. Big pharma CEOs can do better by getting COVID vaccines to everyone on Earth.

Finally, Daily Kos helps you tell big corporations to stop advertising on Fox News already. "That's where all the eyeballs are" is no excuse -- we have an obligation, as a civilization, to make sure eyeballs get somewhere useful, and Fox News isn't useful, unless you consider "trapping people in a death-spiral of masturbatory rage" useful. (Spoiler alert: it is not useful.) You can pick whichever recent asinine utterance by a Fox News "personality" you like, but it may be enough at this moment in our world's history that the Kremlin has told Russian media that they should share as much of Tucker Carlson's bloviation as possible, as if he speaks for anyone but the masturbatory-rage crowd. These may be the proverbial emptiest wagon of our discourse, but we outnumber them.

Around the table: why Republicans suck and why Democrats lose, part 328.

When I hear that a not-insignificant number of Americans aren't getting a COVID vaccine because they're afraid they'll get a surprise bill for it -- even though Congress has actually passed legislation making the vaccines free and few folks have reported getting such bills -- my first thought is why haven't Republicans exploited this fear? I mean, it's one of the more reasonable fears one encounters when trying to get wary folks vaccinated. But the question may answer itself: Republican politicians are a lot more comfortable exploiting completely absurd fears.

Our Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (or CFPB) mulls enacting a rule (authorized by the Dodd-Frank Act, so why has it taken so long?) that would give banking customers more access to their own financial data -- which could help those customers migrate to smaller, more local banks. Where they still exist, that is, though you've probably got some credit unions near you and their membership requirements probably aren't as onerous as you've heard. Naturally a poll finds that 75% of Americans would support a rule that'd make "switch(ing) between banks and other financial institutions" easier, which of course they do if you put it that way. So why don't Democratic politicians generally put it that way? We know it's not because they're stupid.

When I hear that rural Californians still await access to clean water after almost a decade of promises from the state, all I can say is that this is the reason Republicans continue to win in rural areas. They won't build out clean water infrastructure up better than Democrats do, obviously -- in fact, I'd say it's not at all going out on a limb to say they'll do it much worse -- but at least Republicans offer rage and fear, which always gives them the advantage whenever Democrats offer nothing, which is, sadly, all too often.

Former National Security Advisor/admitted felon Michael Flynn says America should have a coup just like Myanmar did. And you can see why: Myanmar's military is a bunch of diaper-loaded brats with guns, and they deposed the just-democratically-elected government there after claiming "election fraud" with no evidence whatsoever; why, I bet Mr. Flynn's Personal Lord and Savior Donald Trump watched that unfold with considerable jealousy. Anyway, Mr. Flynn tried to walk it back in truly comic fashion -- well, it would be comic if I found irredeemable assholes funny.

Speaking of which, a Nashville hat shop has been offering a Star-of-David patch that says "not vaccinated" on it, and all I can say is waaaaaaaaaah. Being persuaded to get a vaccine, or being shamed into getting a vaccine, is nothing like having your home and business burned down, being banned from entire towns, being herded into concentration camps, being executed via gas chamber, or being turned into soap. How disgusting, that I still have to explain that to anyone.

Finally, when I hear that almost two out of every three Americans don't want Donald Trump to run for President in 2024, I feel the need to caution everyone that this means more than one out of every three Americans does, even after all the drama and incompetence he put on display for four years, and that it's far too easy to imagine at least one in eight Americans "holding their nose" and voting for him again, even though they're all perfectly capable of sending a message to their party to fucking do better. So let's file that under "Don't Get Complacent."

Around the table: vampire elites fear sunlight, and other truths.

Theo Anderson at In These Times suggests, and I hope he's right, that economic populist candidates on the left "don't need the establishment anymore." Admittedly, similarly rosy assessments drew on a rather narrower body of information (a city council race here, a special state election there) than the Virginia and Alabama elections have since furnished. And I rather suspect that anyone who adapts the small donor model can either outraise corporate-funded candidates or fool corporations into wasting even more money on candidates no one really likes.

Ho hum, Durham County (NC) aims to require 48 hours' notice before "spontaneous" protests. In a sane and moral society, proposing such a thing would end the career of whomever proposed it -- how "spontaneous" can you be if you give two days' warning, after all? -- but in this sick, immoral, and decadent society, it may take a few days for good Americans to say what do you have to fear/ and you really want your Confederate statues so badly you're willing to urinate all over the First Amendment? before county officials back down.

Good Iranian citizens take to the streets to protest their country's government -- at great risk to themselves, I should add! -- but our "liberal" media uses the event as an excuse to talk to the same morons who always want America to drop a crapload of bombs to "liberate" other countries. These "experts" don't indulge in a whole lot of let the Iranian people decide their own fate, I notice! Think that might be a way of suggesting they're "incapable" of doing so? I suppose I am a bit amused that Our Glorious Elites didn't see these protests coming, just like they didn't see the 1979 revolution coming.

Louise Matsakis at Wired tells us why we should be skeptical of folks squealing ZOMG TEH RUSHINZ WILL DESTROYZ TEH INTERNETZ BY CUTTING TEH UNDERWATER CABULZ!!!!! "One of the estimated 428 undersea cables worldwide is damaged every couple of days," she reminds us. "Nearly all faults aren’t intentional. They’re caused by underwater earthquakes, rock slides, anchors, and boats." Even if someone could cut literally every one of these cables at once (which is what it would take, since cutting one cable merely causes traffic to be re-routed through another one), that still wouldn't affect internet transmissions within nations. Lesson: fight the real enemy -- like, say, Mr. Pai's FCC, which would actually take your internet freedom away from you.

Good news, everyone! Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals strikes down key parts of Idaho's "ag-gag" law as unconstitutional. I'm startled to learn that Idaho passed this law after an undercover operation at a dairy corporation uncovered, among other things, sexual molestation of animals by dairy employees. You'd think legislators wouldn't want to be caught in the position of making it harder to uncover sexual molestation of animals by food processing corporation employees. And you'd think more of them would start to get disgusted with having to serve evil all the time. Sadly, this is a little like turning around a cruise ship.

Finally, we learn that worker-owned cooperatives are making a stand against "platform" monopolies like Uber. (A "platform" monopoly controls data in a particular economic sphere -- i.e., Amazon is a platform monopoly in online sales.) You'll not only be reminded that over a third of America gets its banking services via a credit union and over a tenth gets electricity from a co-op, but you'll also learn about no less than eight co-ops making a difference -- including Ace Hardware, which likely has a store near you, and has actually expanded over the past year, unlike other corporations closing stores as they redistribute worker wealth upward to themselves. Why, it gives one hope!

Around the table: Donald Trump hiding his tax returns, Wells Fargo exploiting our soldiers, and David Duke being a real peach as usual.

The New York Times reports that Donald Trump declared a loss of $916 millionany income taxes for the following 18 years. Apparently this figure was so unbelievable that even Mr. Trump's tax preparer's software choked on it. What you don't get enough of from Democrats, of course, is why it's wrong not to pay your taxes for 20 years -- they ought to describe the diseases that didn't get cured, the solar power infrastructure that didn't get built, the bridges and roads that didn't get fixed, and (most of all) the lost opportunity suffered by good Americans trying to make a better life for themselves and for their nation simply because people like Donald Trump don't pay their fair share.

David Fahrenthold at the Washington Post finds that Donald Trump's charitable foundation never got the certification the state of New York requires for charities. For Donald Trump that's no doubt a stupid piece of paperwork he'll get rid of once he's President, but that certification subjects charities to annual audits and you know how Teh Donald feels about transparency. Plus, only charities soliciting and raising over $25,000 annually from the public have to get this certification, so Mr. Trump won't be able to harrumph about burdens on small businesses in the next debate.

Surprise, surprise, a Nation investigation finds Wisconsin DMVs "systematically" failing to provide free IDs or voting certificates to residents who can't get the legally-mandated photo ID, and thus the state is failing to comply with several court orders. Of course, Scott Walker doesn't care, since his state's "failure" means Donald Trump has a much better chance of winning Wisconsin than he would under ordinary circumstances (hell, Sen. Johnson might even get re-elected!), and by then his "apology" for his government's "incompetence" (if he even offers one!) would be pretty painless. The next Democrat who runs for Governor of Wisconsin had better run on repealing the entire Walker Administration, or that state is screwed for the next generation.

Wells Fargo, already on the ropes thanks to its habit of opening accounts fraudulently for customers, also must pay over $20 million in fines and settlements for violating the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Oh, but brace yourself for how exactly they broke that law: they unlawfully repossessed cars from over 400 American soldiers. You know soldiers don't make a lot of money, right? And you also know they're frequently overseas (i.e., not always able to attend very closely to their bills), right? Then you know that Wells Fargo preyed on these soldiers because they smelled financial weakness, and though Donald Trump might call that "good business," civilized people would call it cruelty. Time to join a credit union, if you haven't already.

The New York Times reports that almost half a million homes don't have adequate showering facilities, a working flushable toilet, or hot and cold running water, even. This sounds like a job for a new public works administration! And if Republicans fight it, all we need do is ask them: why do you hate hot and cold running water?

Finally, David Duke reminds us, for some reason, that "shamefully bias (sic) debate moderator" Lester Holt has a Jewish wife. I do long for the day when people look at a statement like that and wonder why on Earth anyone would bring it up. In the meantime, let me indulge in a much-deserved personal attack: it's biased, not "bias." David Duke should work as hard on his grammar as he did on his face.

Around the table: notes about gun violence and dumb Republican Presidential candidates, plus a positive note about credit unions and small businesses.

Jeb Bush has taken a lot of (absolutely justified!) guff for saying "stuff happens" in response to the Oregon shooting, but his deeper point is worth pondering: "we need to reconnect ourselves with everybody else." He's absolutely right -- but he has no standing to say it, because he's the guy who supports (and would extend) the economic and social policies that have divided us so much in the first place that we now have to "reconnect."

And then Mr. Bush stepped in it further, with his bizarre analogy of our need to do something about gun violence after a mass murder with our need to do something about pool safety after a child drowns in a pool -- but Mr. Bush signed exactly that sort of legislation while Governor of Florida. So that's why it was on his mind -- it was a sort of apology for his record! He is the smart Bush, right?

In a related note, a student/veteran/registered concealed gun carrier says he didn't intervene in the Oregon shooting at least partly because he was afraid he'd be targeted by arriving police. I remain profoundly skeptical that clamping down on or eliminating guns will ever be more than a band-aid solution for what ails us, but I've also come to recognize, over the years, that having a gun isn't the panacea for all security issues that some folks seem to think it is. Also, if the Feds come for you, you're not going to shoot your way out of it.

Ho hum, Factcheck.org slams Ben Carson's outlandish claim that "a lot" of folks crossing the border illegally are from "Iraq, and Somalia and Russia." His source, apparently, was a conversation with a Republican Sheriff in Arizona about three such apprehended immigrants, one from each country. Three! As Neal Gabler would say, three incidents of chicken pox don't constitute an epidemic. What a ghastly mistake I made in lifting this blog's ban on mentioning Ben Carson -- Donald Trump's histrionics are considerably more instructive.

Finally, Abigail Savitch-Lew, writing at Yes! magazine, chronicles the trials and tribulations of credit unions loaning to small businesses serving working families on the Lower East Side of New York City. The Lower East Side People’s FCU profiled therein was, almost 30 years ago, literally the only bank within a hundred square-block area; now it's just about the only bank consistently serving "the low-income and immigrant community of the Lower East Side."

Action: saving credit unions, and paying McDonald's workers decently.

The big banksters want Congress to end credit unions' tax-exempt status. Why? Bankster reason number one: the credit union's tax-exempt status costs our government approximately $2 billion in lost tax revenue annually. That's some cojones, right there, pitching a fit over $2 billion when their bailout totaled $700 billion, and you have to wonder why banksters didn't get their shorts in such a bunch when 300 big corporations got $200 billion in undeserved tax breaks from 2008-2010. Which brings us to bankster reason number two: the larger credit unions are a threat to them now with their tax "advantage." But credit unions, including the "big" ones, still control less than 8 percent of American deposits, leaving over 92 percent to banks -- some threat! -- and, ah, why do credit unions get this tax break in the first place? Because they're non-profit. You can't tax what ain't there. If banks want their customers to come back from credit unions, they should stop whining and, oh, I don't know, do something good for customers. Sum of Us helps you tell the big banksters to end their war on credit unions.

Meanwhile, brave McDonald's workers continue striking for better pay and a better life, and Democracy for America helps you tell McDonald's to pay their workers a living wage. Why tell McDonald's? Partly because Congress won't move on a minimum wage hike, though the only people in America who think it's a bad idea are a) professional liars or b) folks who took that one economic class that one time and who now punctuate their utterings with IT'S ECONOMICS 101!!!!!! But mainly we tell McDonald's because, like most corporations, they hate bad PR, and constantly reminding folks that McDonald's took in $5 billion in profits last year yet still can't pay their workers such that they don't have to choose between rent and food every month is a good way of delivering bad PR. Oh, and McDonald's CEO tripled his salary. He probably still thinks he's not rich! McDonald's isn't immune to bad PR -- for example, they abandoned plastic foam packaging after a massive PR campaign mobilized people. Getting them to pay their workers better will be harder. But we can do it.