Salem-News.com Politics articles

Inflation Reduction Act of 2022: The Path to Passage in a Nutshell

This bill tackles inflation by lowering the deficit and lowering costs for regular families.

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA.) - In the past, both Sens. Joe Manchin (D.WV) and Kysten Sinema D.AZ have blocked much of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

Now, Sen. Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D.NY) have agreed to the "Inflation Reduction Act of 2022," which includes $790 billion for the climate and healthcare financed by a tax increase on the rich and big corporations.

Mercenaries today: The Wagner Group

The outsourcing of a military project to the Wagner Group provided two major advantages to the Russian government.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - For many years, substantial military operations have been conducted by mercenaries, ranging from professional soldiers hired to fight wars for European potentates in the 14th century to the combat forces of Blackwater, a private company employed by the U.S. government to undertake violent activities in the “War on Terror” of the early 21st century.

Today, the Wagner Group, a shadowy Russian company engaged in the thriving mercenary business.

Is Lasting Peace Possible?

We can reduce the stress humanity suffers under.

(OLDENBURG, Germany) - Our society, though, has a deeply entrenched assumption that stress is essential to life. Many of our social and economic structures are based on conflict. Capitalism’s need for continually expanding profits generates stress in all of us.

We’ve been indoctrinated to think this is normal and natural, but it’s really pathological.

War is the Greatest Evil (Statement on the War in Ukraine)

Resist the war machine as best we can.

(POULSB0, Wash.) - War turns young men and women into murderers, when life has no meaning, when our political “leaders” and media outlets beat the drums of war.

Any war, proxy war, or increased hostilities between nuclear-armed nations greatly increases the chances of a nuclear war.

Report from Germany: Refugees Welcome Sometimes

Many of the refugees will stay and contribute to society in their new home.

(OLDENBURG, Germany) - Posted on streetlamps all over Germany are stickers showing fleeing silhouettes with the caption, “Refugees welcome – bring your families”.
Some have been blacked out with felt markers or ripped partially away.

The Germans have mixed feelings about refugees.

Delusional

“Man can be destroyed but not defeated.” ~Hemingway

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - One adjective often, and correctly, used for Putin’s invasion is “delusional.” Even if he manages to pound Ukraine into scorched rubble, he’ll still be further than when he began from anything resembling victory.

He rationalizes that he is destroying Nazis while behaving like a Nazi himself.

On Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson`s Confirmation Hearings

History cannot be taught without the history of racism and the civil rights movement.

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA.) - The confirmation hearings for U.S. Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson concluded on March 24. A vote by the Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled for April 4. Then it goes to the full Senate for a vote.

The Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee did Trump “proud" in their badgering of Judge Jackson.

Gas Prices and For- Profit Oil

Desperate times call for deliberate measures.

(Cleveland, OHIO) - What is the difference between what a public non-profit utility company provides and what a private for-profit oil company provides?

The difference is that natural gas and electricity are sold in the form of a public good whereas oil is sold in the form of a private good.

United National Antiwar Coalition Statement on Ukraine

The military industrial complex gets billions of dollars while the people’s needs go unmet.

(DELMAR, NY) - The people of Ukraine are now suffering in a war zone because of the actions of the United States, beginning with the 2014 coup which violently ousted an elected president.

The goal then as now was to use Ukraine as a weapon to target Russia militarily.

Trump, An American Quisling

Is it any wonder that Trump cheered Putin’s invasion?

(SAN FRANCISCO, CA.) - Remember, Vidlum Quisling, the despicable World War II Norwegian political leader. "Quisling" entered the English language because of him. His name is now a noun meaning "traitor" and "collaborator" in English.

Trump is our American Quisling.