Trump, Biden and COVID. Welcome to your newsletter
This morning we have several columns for you to read at your leisure. We'll start with a look at all of the revelations coming out from former President Donald Trump's time in the White House. Then it's COVID and a call to fight for justice.
Trump's abuse of power can't be new normal
Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., is a member of the House Intelligence, Judiciary and Homeland Security committees. Today he's writing about Trump.
"The revelation that Trump’s Justice Department secretly seized phone and email data from his critics, his perceived political enemies and people whose loyalty he doubted – including me – fits a bigger pattern of abusing the rule of law for personal gain. Trump systematically eroded nonpartisan safeguards designed to prevent abuses of power.
In Trump’s mind, there’s nothing worse than being a loser. But he’s the biggest loser who ever sat in the Oval Office, not because he lost the election in a landslide, but because he tried so hard to undermine our democracy and rule of law. Luckily, our democracy and system of laws were too strong for him – this time."
Biden must stop methane pipelines
Four years of President Donald Trump have cost America dearly. We lost our global leadership on addressing climate change and saw the struggle for environmental justice thwarted here at home. President Joe Biden has defined both of these objectives as cornerstones of his legacy, but a huge interstate methane gas pipeline now being rammed through the Appalachian Mountains threatens to undermine the progress his administration has promised.
The 42-inch diameter Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) would run 303 miles from West Virginia to Virginia, and it is one of the biggest U.S. gas pipelines in process. The pipeline's climate impact is estimated to be equivalent to about 23 typical coal plants, or more than 19 million passenger vehicles. That does not include a proposed 74-mile extension of the pipeline into North Carolina.
Today's editorial cartoon
- The drought watering ban patrol: Today's Toon
Pediatrician on joy amid a pandemic
Dr. Daniel Summers is a pediatrician in North Andover, Massachusetts.
"I have seen how my patients have done their best to thrive without being in schools, without sports and graduations and birthday parties. I have heard from parents about the challenges of juggling jobs, keeping their kids on task in Zoom classrooms and meeting the everyday needs of existence. I have done my best to address the struggles with mental health that have emerged for so many of my patients.
It has been so hard for many of them, as it has been so hard for so many of the rest of us."
GirlsDoPorn case doesn't end fight for justice
Ruben Andre Garcia was sentenced last week to 20 years in prison for participating in a sex trafficking scheme called GirlsDoPorn.
GirlsDoPorn filmed more than 100 women, many who had their lives destroyed by Garcia and his cohorts. The women were lied to, Garcia recruited some when they were still underage, and all of them were lured to California through an intricate web of deception.
For those of us who care about the injustice of sexual crime and desire to stand in real solidarity with its victims, our activism must include holding to account all individuals and corporations that participate in exploitation.
This newsletter was compiled by Louie Villalobos.