3/9 News Roundup and OT
Progressive Takeover of Nevada Democratic Party Sparks ‘Mass Exodus’ of Staff, Consultants
Shortly after a slate of insurgent progressives endorsed by the Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America pulled off a clean sweep in Nevada State Democratic Party elections over the weekend, the party’s executive director notified newly elected chair Judith Whitmer that the entire staff, as well as every consultant, was quitting.
The “mass exodus” of party staffers following the progressive takeover of the Nevada Democratic Party leadership, as well as the establishment’s funneling of hundreds of thousands of dollars out of party coffers in anticipation of the results, is detailed in new reporting by The Intercept, which described the election outcome as the culmination of a years-long “battle between the insurgent progressive wing of the party and what’s known in Nevada as the Reid machine—a tightly run operation still guided by former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.”
That fight, The Intercept’s Akela Lacy and Ryan Grim explain, “began five years ago, when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders organized support for his 2016 presidential primary run, while Reid was working behind the scenes to help his opponent, Hillary Clinton.”
“Over the next four years, outside organizations like DSA exploded in size and strength,” Lacy and Grim write. “The Sanders campaign focused on organizing tens of thousands of young Latino voters in the state, with the goal of activating people whom the party hadn’t bothered with before. And it worked: In the 2020 cycle, after investing heavily in Nevada, Sanders won a commanding victory in the Nevada caucuses. When the Sanders campaign ended, the organizers behind it were ready to take their project to the next level.”
The years of tireless grassroots organizing has paid off, as evidenced by former Sanders delegate Judith Whitmer’s win in the Nevada Democratic Party’s leadership elections on Saturday. Also emerging victorious were Jacob Allen for first vice chair, Dr. Zaffar Iqbal for second vice chair, Ahmad Adé for party secretary, and Howard Beckerman for treasurer, spurring what one local newspaper described as “a dramatic shakeup of the state party’s power structure.”
In a statement on Saturday, Sanders applauded Whitmer’s election at the hands of the state party’s governing members, saying the new party chair “knows that we must invest in year-round grassroots organizing focused on the principles of economic, social, racial, and environmental justice.”
“If we build a political movement that speaks to working people,” the Vermont senator added, “we will continue to build on our political success in Nevada.”
As the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted, “Whitmer has spent years organizing and encouraging young progressives to serve on the very state central committee that elected her. She was endorsed by the state party’s Left Caucus, which she founded, and the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.”
More news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments.
Fire away…
New York AG names legal team to lead Cuomo probe
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/03/andrew-cuomo-tries-trump-defense/618229/
Cuomo is Trump with better hair and wardrobe.
That’s why I think he will hang on. Not resign. Hey, it’s worked for Bibi is the only thing I can think of that might be some anchor to reality that Trump and Cuomo are latching on to.
(Bibi was defeated and out of power for years and then made a comeback, for anybody who doesn’t know that or has forgotten it. That was the Rabin era which ended with Rabin’s assassination.)
Even if he does hang on after the results of the inquiry, he will be severely weakened.
i hope he doesn’t keep enough power to dirty deal the whistleblowers and opponents.
I recall Bibi pulling that and commented about it several times on here. I also said—so much for the so-called intelligence of the Israeli voters. They sound just like Amuricans. 💩
What Trump wants is Cuomo gone from the election in the hope of electing a repub guv so he can get a pardon for his crimes in NY. No fan of Cuomo, but dem’s better have a solid plan to win the next guv election if they want to pursue Trump.
It will be extremely difficult for any Republican to win in NY at the present. Most New Yorkers hate Trump and that’s whose party is it now.
Debate on the following in the House today:
https://inthesetimes.com/article/amazon-union-alabama-pro-act-union-labor
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/09/us/politics/amazon-union-alabama-biden.html
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/biden-administration-omb-support-pro-act-passage
Right to Work, snort, snort, Right to SERF is more like it! 😡
The Labor victories during and after the Great Depression were anything but overnight. They were full on battles with Big Biz, and were violent and bloody. The workers didn’t quit nor give up. Patient persistence will win. 👊
I truly hope Amazon workers are finally fed up with Borg Bezos’ serfing tactics!
Video of Bernie on CNN
https://www.newsweek.com/bernie-sanders-minimum-wage-cnn-anderson-cooper-pass-bill-1574720
It’s done. Until there are more progressive senators and House members, and a change in parliamentarians, $15 won’t see the light of day under Biden. Bernie made a mistake by doing a separate vote on it. He could have just introduced it at 4am when less people were awake.
Bernie knows you shouldn’t offer a half of bread to start negotiations. He failed. We need to admit there are no more battles that can be won on the Fight for $15 . Someone else, not Bernie, would have to be willing to take it up again, and no one will, at least until 2024, when the campaign promises will emerge.
Hopefully, more unions will be formed, which is what Biden is sort of advocating.
Bernie’s consolation prize was not having to work with Neera Tanden. That’s all he got for his efforts. I have no idea why he keeps going on TV to tout this bill except to do his job as Outreach. He might as well join the
corruptDemocratic Party.Your disappointment has a solid foundation.
However, I continue to believe—admittedly, without evidence—-that there will be something done on the minimum wage before the midterms.
We will see.
Bernie gets to appear on CNN and the other networks because he continues to kowtow.
I can’t watch these clips. If he persists with this strategy after 100 days, I will be
mightily disappointed. On the other hand, he turns 80 this year. He’s earned the
opportunity to enjoy retirement with good health. I wouldn’t begrudge him that.
20+ year old quotes:
“I know that there are people, good and honorable people, people who are friends
of mine, who believe that the Democratic Party can be turned around. I don’t.”
“It is absolutely imperative that the progressive movement raise the issues and
the analyses which will educate the people of our nation to begin to understand
what the hell is going on.”
“And I honestly don’t believe that that can take place within the Democratic Party.”
The Progressives are beginning to make inroads at the state and US House levels. Bernie’s 2016 campaign was a major catalyst for it. It would not bother me one iota if the Democraptic Party goes extinct as it is the oldest extant Party in the nation. But, I want something to support, and fight against the damned FRightwingnut GOPukes!
That is the good news about Bernie’s campaigns. And that’s why he founded Our Revolution, to push the grassroots on the local and state levels.
These appearances will become stale and benign, I think.
Ms. Benny, the one important thing Bernie can do is keep highlighting the minimum wage fight. He needs more help, but FORCING the craporate media into publicizing the issue is imperative. BTW, big shakeup in the FL so-called Democraptic Party. A bunch of progressives won major committee seats. The DNCrapers are quitting. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Geezus, a for-real opposition party here? Time will tell.😊
He needs to pass the torch to someone else and focus on other issues, rather than continue to get air time over an issue he can’t win. It’s been 6 years, Dems control everything, and he failed. Why can’t we accept that?
As someone mentioned recently, live to fight another day. He needs to conserve his energy for a green economy, pun intended.
This $15 wage fight is similar to Force The Vote, although I thought the minimum wage increase was going to happen. It made politicians choose a side for everyone to see and now we have to figure out what they will do with this information. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), Angus King (I-Maine.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) sided with the GOP along with a weak or no effort from Biden to twist arms.
There will likely be a minimum wage increase before 2022. It will likely not be $15 though
McCoy was often right.
I’m a doctor, not a bricklayer.
this is great. curious, though, does this include corpses that got money, like the $48 billion to health insurers?
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/542197-frustrated-progressives-on-relief-pacakge-well-take-the-win
AOC has been relatively quiet since last Friday. I’m thinking she doesn’t wish to lose the funeral benefit she and Schumer introduced last month in the bill and did not get stripped out. That’s her trade off, along with expanded one time child care and child credits in the bill.
Man, wait until Ms. Nina gets elected and joins the Squad. 😊👏👍👊
So the house “progressives” are folding too? Got it.
Until we have an elected official with as much conviction as Manchin et al, progressives can continue to expect to be left out in the cold with this administration.
Ryan Cooper
https://theweek.com/articles/970841/how-democrats-learned-stop-worrying-hand-fat-stacks-cash
The CTC won’t become permanent, I don’t think. The GOP will see to that. The margins are too slim. Thus, it will be relief for one year, and progressives can plant a flag for a short time.
Elections next year and quite a few GOPuke senators are “retiring.”
It’s very hard to take away benefits that people are receiving. They will be popular and there would be a backlash. That’s why Republicans fight so hard to stop them in the first place
I’m glad you are optimistic as I am not for the short term. Long term, I hope you are right.
I agree with Benny. Republicans won’t hesitate to pull the plug when given a chance, and do you think the electorate will be forgiving re: the scaled back relief and broken promises re: the minimum wage? Democrats will pay the price for their cruelty soon enough.
Organize, educate and inform, and get out and vote! Rashida knows it, too.
https://nypost.com/2021/03/09/andrew-yang-tops-democratic-candidates-for-nyc-mayor-poll/
The NY daily News covers this story also.
Less than 100 days to go and Yang at 32%.
Eric Adams at 19%.
Maya Wiley at 9%
Scott Stringer at 6%
The 2 big money corporate candidates are somewhere below 5%. They are both running endless TV ads boring NYC to tears.
For NYCVG. I saw recently that Jamaal Bowman had endorsed Stringer a while ago.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-nyc-mayoral-race-andrew-yang-poll-20210309-446dgqg2kjcqfc5ahhjopcsy54-story.html
endorsements are sometimes determinative, but usually not.
Stringer has the best longterm Progressive credentials of any of the candidates. I expect many, if not most NYC progressives to back him.
I suspect that Stringer endorsed Bowman for Congress
probably
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/03/09/scoop-biden-taps-another-big-tech-trustbuster-492042
Aren’t there some monopoly types in the Treasury? Nonetheless, it appears there could be some movement to slow the growth of monopolies.
Have to see some concrete results before belief.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/biden-scraps-trump-migratory-bird-legal-opinion_n_60463e28c5b6020855607f51?utm_campaign=Hot+News&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=114919869&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9OUOEvKTXxL6qIM1DWvyb75zVqrL7NJRcrWcVgQ9TW9H9aASVt6KhsXWW8Md57Bch1kroWvBJN4d3ZDHMH0293qNBuPw
some democracy you’ve got there, DCCC. smdh
nina may be running behind expectations re fundraising. i know i don’t have as much as i did for Bernie.
While the DCCC is likely in Shontel’s corner, there isn’t an incumbent now, so if Nina gets in, she too would be protected next year. Just my 2 cents.
Ms. Nina has one very important ace up her sleeve: name recognition.
Let them if they are that stupid.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/08/opinion/biden-economy-stagnation.html#click=https://t.co/RXTN8hoTNT
if i thought Biden and co. would go all out on a GND jobs program and actually work against the fossil fuel corpses, i might be all in for ending the filibuster.
There will be an infrastructure bill, a few bandaids for GND. It will be a more traditional infrastructure bill, I predict. But bridges need to be fixed.
More than just bridges. Roads nationwide are a disaster.
Most of our infrastructure is antiquated, just been patched here and thier
They will do this through reconciliation also. They get two this year because last year there was none. Next year one more before the election
Manchin has already said he will fight against reconciliation in the future. He’s given the other Hateful Eighters cover.
He said that he wants to include Republicans in the negotiations. He also said he wants to pay for infrastructure through taxes aimed at high earners. Republicans are never never ever ever going to be agree to that so try again are going to be left out and reconciliation will have to be used.
I guess it will depend on what his donors want.
Here’s the info again. In better form.
I wonder why these polls don’t do top 4 RCV
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/03/09/jim-crow-suit-and-tie-georgia-senate-approves-massive-assault-voting-rights
That is heading for the courts.
Big endorsement!!!
That’s my girl! I sure wish she was running down here. I would be right in the middle of her campaign. Instead I’m stuck with Stephanie Murphy. Bah humbug!🤮