I am back in rural Virginia after spending a week in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and came down to earth very quickly when I returned (I’m not talking about the descending plane I flew in).
Many in Aotearoa were still celebrating the election in October of the Labour Party’s Jacinda Ardern as the country’s third female Prime Minister. The 37-year-old ex-Mormon Ardern, a self-described social democrat, opposes tax cuts for the wealthy and is strengthening the social safety net and labour rights.
Coming back to a country where the direct opposite is being done brought me back down to earth.
The rampant corruption (legalized of course) in American politics is something else that rendered me terrestrial in a jiffy.
The appropriately named Ajit Pai, a former Verizon lawyer, appointed FCC chair by the Orange Swindler, did his master’s bidding and abandoned net neutrality. Ajit is ensuring that all internet users will pay for this utterly rancid decision. Equally ghastly are the Republican politicians who used this particular issue to line their pockets.
Morgan “the Morgue” Griffith, who represents the district I happen to live in, took $198,900 in handouts from the telecommunications industry. The Morgue owes his soubriquet to his unrelenting opposition to any legislation providing adequate healthcare for many of the voters he purports to represent.
Bob Goodlatte, the swamp-dwelling chair of the House Judiciary Committee, who…