Berniecrat Mark Ruffalo wove an impassioned GOTV plea into his acceptance speech at the Emmys last night.
I particularly enjoyed the emotions his wife displayed as the win was not expected.
Programming note for Wednesday, for those interested:
This Wednesday I am proud to join Public Citizen, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, Ady Barkan and many more leaders of the movement…
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Monday, September 21, 2020
More news, tweets, videos in the comments. Fly high birdies!
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court Justice and trailblazer for women’s legal rights.
1933 – 2020
We got the news today, oh boy.
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/416004-supreme-court-justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-dies
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the liberal leader of the Supreme Court and a trailblazing champion of women’s rights, died Friday. She was 87 years old.
The Supreme Court said in a statement that Ginsburg died “surrounded by her family at her home in Washington, D.C., due to complications of metastatic pancreas cancer.”
Seen as a moderate when President Bill Clinton nominated her to the bench in 1993, Ginsburg went on to leave a lasting mark in the realm of gender equality, civil liberties and pay equity, and grew to achieve improbable late-in-life recognition as a pop culture icon and hero of the progressive movement.
Her first major opinion as a justice came in 1996 when she wrote the majority decision in United States v. Virginia. The ruling struck down the Virginia Military Institute’s 157-year-old policy of male-only admissions as unconstitutional, and set a stricter legal standard for government action that treats men and women differently.
“Women seeking and fit for a VMI-quality education cannot be offered anything less under the state’s obligation to afford them genuinely equal protection,” Ginsburg wrote in the 7-1 decision.
Ginsburg also gained renown for her cogent and sharply worded dissents.
According to Linda Greenhouse, a longtime Supreme Court reporter and analyst for The New York Times, it was through Ginsburg’s dissenting opinions during the mid-2000s that she “found her voice, and used it.”
One such dissent came in 2007 after the court ruled 5-4 on procedural grounds to bar a pay discrimination claim brought by former Goodyear Tire employee Lilly Ledbetter.
Ginsburg took the relatively rare step of reading her dissent from the bench to signal the intensity of her disagreement, with the 5-foot-1-inch tall justice donning a gold-embroidered black jabot for the occasion. It would not be the final word on the case, however.
In 2009, President Obama signed his first official legislation with the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which effectively overturned the Supreme Court’s decision by making it easier to file pay discrimination suits. Ginsburg kept a framed copy of the bill, signed by Obama, in her chambers.
Though Ginsburg became the high court’s leading liberal, she was best friends with its leading conservative. The late Justice Antonin Scalia and Ginsburg were an unusual pair — he a gregarious conservative, she a soft-spoken, self-described “flaming feminist litigator” — but they bonded over their love of the opera.
Scalia considered Ginsburg the Thurgood Marshall of women’s rights, a reference to the legendary civil rights lawyer who helped end racial segregation before becoming the nation’s first African American Supreme Court justice.
Similarly, Ginsburg spent the early part of her career as a legal pioneer in her own right, embarking on a ground-shifting legal crusade in the 1970s for gender equality under the law as an attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union that included successfully arguing several cases before the Supreme Court.
At the tail end of her career, the octogenarian Ginsburg became a pop culture sensation. She captivated millennials, who affectionately dubbed her the “Notorious R.B.G,” a nickname inspired loosely by the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.
Ginsburg was the subject of a documentary, a feature film starring actor Felicity Jones, memes, merchandise and several books, including one on her exercise routine at age 85: pushups, planks and squats.
At speaking engagements, Ginsburg was often asked how she balanced her judicial career with her family. That was when she spoke fondly about her husband.
“He’s the only boy I’ve ever known who cared I had a brain,” she said while speaking at Georgetown Law in 2018.
Her husband, the late Marty Ginsburg, died from cancer in 2010.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was one of the great justices in modern American history and her passing is a tremendous loss to our country. She will be remembered as an extraordinary champion of justice and equal rights.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) September 19, 2020
May her memory be a blessing. May her legacy be a banner going forth.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) September 19, 2020
We will miss her. Discuss. This is also an open thread for this pivotal evening regarding the election 2020 campaign season. What will McConnell and Trump do?
Bernie Sanders | FULL EPISODE 9.11.20 | Firing Line with Margaret Hoover | PBS https://t.co/7MD5AEE77c — Benny🌹 (@Benny06) September 12, 2020 More news, tweets, videos in the comments. See you there!
Continue reading →Interesting that on 9/11, Bernie Sanders will be the guest on Firing Line.
.@SenSanders of Vermont joins @FiringLineShow to discuss why he’s supporting Joe Biden’s presidential bid despite their policy differences and his warning that President Trump may refuse to leave office if he loses. Plus he talks about what’s next for the progressive agenda. pic.twitter.com/i1aRmeRFo8
— Firing Line with Margaret Hoover (@FiringLineShow) September 10, 2020
More tweets, news, videos in the comments. This serves as an open thread.
Happy birthday @SenSanders pic.twitter.com/6FwHoLr6aA
— Movement for a People’s Party (@4aPeoplesParty) September 8, 2020
It’s also Star Trek Day:
Celebrate #StarTrekDay with @CBSAllAccess by streaming a FREE marathon of Star Trek episodes plus a 3+ hour panel with Patrick Stewart, George Takei, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula and more.
Stream it all at https://t.co/CtCnyjKVvu. pic.twitter.com/g5WKCqo1Sj— Star Trek on CBS All Access (@startrekcbs) September 4, 2020
More tweets, news, videos in the comments section. This serves as an open thread.
Update from Bernie’s Birthday Bash on TYT:
.@cenkuygur to @ninaturner: "Are you thinking about 2024?"
Nina Turner: "I am." #tytlive pic.twitter.com/PFnXfChdvG
— The Young Turks (@TheYoungTurks) September 9, 2020
Bernie or bust: a centrist Democrat is still as bad as Trump for some on left
“I’m not banning fracking. No matter how many times Donald Trump lies about me,” the Democratic presidential nominee said at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, where much of the nearby industry relies on the controversial technique for extracting natural gas.
Could western Pennsylvania win Trump a second term?
Read more
It was a move meant to clarify his position and extend an olive branch to workers who rely on the fossil fuel industry after he reiterated his commitment to combating climate change in recent weeks.But for a different section of voters, it was another nail in the coffin.
“I don’t want to vote for Joe Biden and I don’t want to vote for Trump,” said Jason Kishineff, who is running for city council in American Canyon, California. “I think either choice is going to lead to human extinction.”
Kishineff is part of a progressive, far-left group of voters who say they will not vote for Biden, even if it means a Trump victory, largely because of the candidate’s failure to adopt a progressive agenda on healthcare, mass incarceration, the environment and policing.
In 2016, this group was part of the estimated 5 million Americans who voted for third-party candidates, including hundreds of thousands of voters in swing states like Florida and Michigan.
But two months ahead of the presidential election – and after fours years of Trump – experts say the group is less of a factor for Democrats than it was in 2016. That shrinking power could serve either to further alienate progressive voters, or coax them into an eventual vote for Biden, especially if he chooses to adopt more leftist policies.
“That group is smaller,” said Rashawn Ray, a political sociologist and fellow at the Brookings Institution. “There have been deliberate decisions made with people saying ‘we cannot make this mistake’ again, knowing they played a role – even if it’s a small role – in Trump getting elected.”
Nick Cruse, a 29-year-old in Kansas City, Missouri, said it wasn’t that simple for him. “There’s no one who has done more damage to the Black community in the last 40 years than Biden,” he said.
Cruse, who is Black, cited Biden’s authorship of the 1994 crime bill, which contributed to mass incarceration rates, and his 2005 bankruptcy bill, which made it more difficult for people with limited income to pay off their debts. While Cruse is staunchly against Trump and the Republican party, he said Biden represents many of the same ideals as the current president when it comes to corporate politics.
Angelica Whipple agreed that avoiding a Trump re-election was not enough reason to vote for Biden.
The 29-year-old moved from Puerto Rico to Massachusetts as a child and has been a resident there since. A few years ago she left her job of 11 years as a personal care assistant for the elderly because of a disability. But trying to get disability benefits was difficult, she said, and she went months without health insurance, delaying surgery for ovarian cysts in the interim.
Whipple had voted for Barack Obama in previous elections but said that her political views changed in 2016, when Sanders ran for president. The Medicare for All platform, and legalization of marijuana, became non-negotiable to her. Biden has not committed to either of those policies, though he supports a public option health plan.
“He’s very steadfast in not doing anything for progressives,” Whipple said. “I don’t see how he’s that much better than Trump. At least with Trump we see it out front.”
Both Cruse and Whipple said that Biden’s vice-presidential pick, Kamala Harris, was another drawback for progressives, mostly due to her past role as a prosecutor. That has become an even more pointed issue during the past months of police brutality protests, since neither Biden nor Harris has explicitly condemned far-right agitators, or committed to defunding police departments.
“He’s been doing all of these horrendously centrist things and surrendering to the Republican narrative of protesters being rioters,” said Matt Myers, a software engineer in Seattle. “Making the false equivalence … it’s just not acceptable. He’s basically kicking the left in the teeth.”
Even so, several of the progressive voters said they would consider voting for Biden if he were to adopt some of their key platforms, such as Medicare for All, which has widespread support among Democrats. So far, they said, that hasn’t come to fruition. “If Biden is willing to support [those policies] I will sacrifice my own integrity and vote for him,” Kishineff said.
Cruse also said he would vote for Biden if he were to adopt Medicare for All and legalization of marijuana. But, he said, that would still be a “huge compromise”. And Jessica, a voter in Texas that the Guardian spoke to earlier this year said she still plans to vote for the Green party.
Myers is hoping Biden will also reform student debt, which left him bankrupt after he went to college for the first time. While he is already planning to vote for Biden, he continues to be a vocal critic to help try to push the platform left, which he said is not only ideological but a better strategy for Democrats.
“I kind of feel that the Democrats have been throwing easy elections because they keep running boring centrists who don’t excite anyone,” he said. “But my bigger fear is that Biden is going to represent four more years of a weak and useless Democrat party that … just sets up the conditions for someone worse than Trump.”
What’s up in your neck of the woods/prairies?
More news, tweets, videos in the comments. See you there!
I don’t think I would pick up the phone if I were Joe Biden:
Rick Snyder is responsible for poisoning Flint’s residents.
Biden should reject his endorsement.https://t.co/nmab4Hfv2Y
— Jen Perelman (@JENFL23) September 3, 2020
Meantime, too many folks have the COVID economic blues:
The government reported on Thursday that 833,000 workers filed new claims for state unemployment benefits last week, the latest evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is still battering the labor market.
The figure, not seasonally adjusted, represents an increase from 826,000 the previous week. The seasonally adjusted number of new state claims last week was 881,000.
An additional 759,000 new claims were filed last week by unemployed freelancers, part-time workers and others who are receiving federal relief under a separate emergency relief program, up from 608,000 the week before.
There has been progress from the early weeks of the pandemic, when tallies surged past six million. But recent improvements have been more laborious.
“I’m really concerned that the pandemic assistance claims are rising,” said Gregory Daco, chief U.S. economist at the forecasting firm Oxford Economics. “Altogether you’re looking at 1.6 million filing. It’s pretty bad at this stage in the crisis.”
“I feel like this is a very fragile labor market at a critical juncture,” he added.
More than five months into the pandemic, the claims numbers continue to dwarf previous records.
“It could reflect a weakening economy in some of the states worst impacted by the health crisis,” he said, “or it could be that some of the workers that had returned are finding that it’s not possible or sustainable to return to their primary economic activity in the current environment.”
More than nine million laid-off workers have been rehired. And most analysts expect that the monthly jobs report, scheduled for release on Friday, will show a dip in August from double-digit unemployment rates.
There were modest reductions in new weekly claims through most of August, an encouraging trend. But this week, comparisons to previous announcements from the Labor Department need a flashing “WARNING” signal.
That’s because the department has changed the way it adjusts state jobless claims figures for predictable seasonal patterns, like teachers returning to schools in the fall or temporary holiday workers who are laid off in January.
With the pandemic, claims have been anything but predictable. So the department tweaked its calculations to improve accuracy, but the change means that the seasonally adjusted numbers released on Thursday are not comparable with those from previous weeks.
As a result, The Times is emphasizing unadjusted figures.
And yes, it’s looking like the economy, stupid:
(graphic courtesy of Pew Research)
More news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments section. We’ll see you there!
Two big races and some other ones that could possibly affect the progressive agenda post 2020.
In the senate race, so far, but very early:
(graphic: NYT)
In MA-01 House Race:
(graphic: NYT)
Pittsfield, one of the larger towns has not reported any results yet.
Come join us as we watch the results. Feel free to post other news, tweets, videos, etc.
Update:
BREAKING: Joe Kennedy has called Ed Markey to concede the senate race, Kennedy campaign says. Kennedy will address reporters at 10:30 p.m.
— Stephanie Murray (@stephanie_murr) September 2, 2020
Growing up, my father told me, don’t beg for your rights, you organize, and you take them. So, to the young people fighting in this movement for change, here is my charge: march in the streets, protest, run for school committee or city council or the state legislature. And win.
— Ed Markey (@EdMarkey) September 2, 2020
