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6/19 Juneteenth and Open Thread Weekend

The Progressive Wing Posted on June 19, 2021 by BennyJune 19, 2021

1st annual Juneteenth holiday in the US. Of course, post office will be delivering mail, but next year, they will get a day off…along with the bankers.

https://www.texastribune.org/2020/06/19/juneteenth-texas-emancipation-day/

Setting the pace for Fort Worth’s Juneteenth caravan on Friday is 93-year-old Opal Lee. The activist and educator will lead her community on foot for two and a half miles — a distance that represents the number of additional years it took before enslaved people in Texas were informed of their freedom after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Lee has pushed for Juneteenth — celebrated every year on June 19 — to be recognized as a national holiday for more than 20 years. She’s too persistent to give up now, and this year in particular, she has the wind at her back as people across the country echo her calls.

“I have persistence in my DNA. There’s absolutely nothing that I start that I don’t want to finish. I gotta finish this,” said Lee, who added that she wishes she was young enough to be out there protesting in the streets against the police brutality that has taken the lives of so many black Americans. “I just gotta see it be a national holiday.”

Opal Lee in February during the Las Vegas leg of her walk from her Fort Worth home to Washington, D.C. The months-long walk …
Opal Lee in February during the Las Vegas leg of her walk from her Fort Worth home to Washington, D.C. The months-long walk was an effort to get Juneteenth named a national holiday. Credit: Courtesy of Opals Walk 2 DC Team

Juneteenth, also known as “Black Independence Day” and “Texas Emancipation Day,” has taken on additional meaning this year as Texans head into almost a month of protests against police violence and racial injustice following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson and Mike Ramos at the hands of police.

The fight to make Juneteenth a national holiday has gained additional momentum this year from the corporate world. Some businesses have decided to give employees the day off, while prominent employers from Twitter to the National Football League have declared Juneteenth a permanent company holiday.

On Thursday U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, Texas’ senior Republican senator, announced that he will introduce bipartisan legislation to make Juneteenth a federal holiday. But he’s not the first Texas lawmaker to propose commemorating the emancipation of enslaved people in Texas.

On Monday, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat, introduced a resolution — as she has for the past eight years — with the same goal. With 202 cosponsors, the bills’ supporters quadrupled this year compared to previous years. While Jackson Lee has been one of Juneteenth’s fiercest congressional advocates in recent years, similar legislative attempts date back to at least 1996.

In 1980, Texas became the first state to adopt Juneteenth as a state holiday. Today, it’s officially recognized in all but three states: Hawaii, North Dakota and South Dakota.


More tweets, videos, songs, news, etc in the comments. See you there.

Posted in Activism, grassroots, News, Open Thread, Video | Tagged Juneteenth, Richie Havens

5/20 Sanders Calls for Immediate Cease Fire in Gaza: News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 20, 2021 by BennyMay 20, 2021

Bernie Sanders gave an impassioned speech on the Senate floor yesterday, demanding what most of the US (who care about foreign relations) want: a cease fire in Gaza and a recognition of Palestinian people as humans.

In the comments, more news, tweets, and videos, including Bernie’s guest appearance on Seth Meyers’ show.

Posted in Bernie Sanders, News, Open Thread, Video | Tagged Gaza, GOP, Israel, Palestinians, Seth Meyers

5/7 Jobs Recovery Continues to be Sluggish; Open Thread & News Round Up

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 7, 2021 by BennyMay 7, 2021

https://www.wmur.com/article/jobs-unemployment-april/36363825

America’s economy added only 266,000 jobs in April at the anniversary of the worst job loss for any month on record. This was far less than forecasts of economists, who had predicted America would add 1 million jobs last month.

The unemployment rate rose to 6.1% in April, up from 6% a month earlier.

It was the slowest improvement for jobs since January. Experts predicted that the vaccine rollout and the reopening of the economy would jolt hiring. But the April jobs number show that the road to recovery from the pandemic remains bumpy.

The job market isn’t just snapping back to what it was before COVID-19. The dislocations across different industries and worker demographics has been too big to recover from while COVID-19 continues to infect tens of thousands of people every day.

Lower-income earners, women, Hispanic and Black workers bore the brunt of the pandemic layoffs and millions remain out of work. Yet some industries can’t find workers. That may seem contradictory, but the job market is changing, leaving many workers permanently out of a job.

The hospitality, leisure and travel industries are still rebuilding after shuttering completely last year. Meanwhile, factories and manufacturers have trouble finding specialized and even entry-level workers as employees worry that those jobs could be sent overseas or replaced by robots.

"The Chamber of Commerce calls for an end to $300 federal unemployment benefits after April's lackluster jobs report"

"The business lobby group argues the state is "paying people not to work,"
https://t.co/1bCFN5lLB0

— Brent Cutburth (@brentcutburth) May 7, 2021

Check out the salary of the people whining about a $300/Pandemic UI.
Nice work @USChamber https://t.co/ndWEwnd1W3 pic.twitter.com/UmifCdIFVa

— melissa “cancel student debt” byrne (@mcbyrne) May 7, 2021

More tweets, news, perspectives, etc in the comments. Benny’s Bar will be open later today for happy hours.

Posted in News, Open Thread, Video | Tagged Unemployment

5/4 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on May 4, 2021 by BennyMay 4, 2021

Here’s Bernie’s interview on All In With Chris Hayes last night to get the thread started.

More perspectives, tweets, news, etc in the comments. There’s also a special b-day for one of the birdies !

Posted in Bernie Sanders, News, Open Thread, Video

4/29 News Roundup and Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on April 29, 2021 by BennyApril 29, 2021

Let’s start the day with Bernie’s appearance on The Late Show after POTUS Joint Address:

(Beginning of the interview)

(part 2)

More videos, tweets, perspectives, news, etc in the comments. See you there!

Posted in Bernie Sanders, News, Video | Tagged Joe Biden

4/21 News Roundup and Open Thread

The Progressive Wing Posted on April 21, 2021 by BennyApril 21, 2021

I would not call today’s verdict justice because justice implies restoration. But it is accountability, which is the first step toward justice.

Now, the cause of justice is in your hands.https://t.co/2PW2RTvTHE

— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) April 21, 2021

The sound doesn’t work unfortunately until the 9 1/2 minute mark, but it’s a great speech about the courage of the witnesses. Keith deserves a lot of credit.

More news, tweets, videos in the comments section.

Posted in Activism, News, Open Thread, Video | Tagged George Floyd, Police Brutality

4/15 News Roundup and OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on April 15, 2021 by BennyApril 15, 2021

Good Mornin’ birdies! Let’s get started with an interview of Charles Booker on Medhi Hassan’s show.

More news, videos, tweets, etc in the comments. Sure happy it’s Thursday!

Posted in News, Open Thread, Video | Tagged Charles Booker, Progressives

4/13 News Roundup & OT

The Progressive Wing Posted on April 13, 2021 by BennyApril 13, 2021

Biden Wants to Spend More Than Trump to Maintain a Bloated Defense Budget

Robert Reich knows a thing or two about federal budgets, and the economist who has served in three presidential administrations says there is something wrong with Joe Biden’s plan to increase Pentagon spending above the levels proposed by former President Trump.

“The Pentagon already spends: $740,000,000,000 every year, $2,000,000,000 every day, $1,000,000 every minute,” says the former secretary of labor. “The last thing we need is a bigger military budget.”

Unfortunately, that’s what the president is seeking. This has led Reich to announce that he is “frankly disappointed that Biden’s proposing $715 billion for the Pentagon—an increase over Trump’s $704 billion defense budget—instead of moving back toward Obama-Biden era levels of defense spending, or less.”

How Antidiscrimination Law Fails Black Mothers
“Or less” is the right direction, especially at a moment when Republican deficit hawks are circling in preparation for attacks on domestic spending that is essential for working families who have been battered by the coronavirus pandemic.

Biden’s $1.5 trillion budget plan has much to recommend it. The president is seeking significant increases in funding for education and proposing to invest in criminal justice and police reform, combating gun violence, and other worthy efforts. “However, despite the positive investments in these programs,” says Representative Barbara Lee, “I was incredibly disappointed at the significant increase in Pentagon spending to even higher levels than the Trump administration. With so many people across the country struggling to make ends meet, the last thing we need to do is increase investment in wasteful Pentagon spending.” Noting that “this budget adds twelve billion new dollars for weapons of war,” the longtime critic of endless wars asks us to “just think how that same amount could be used to invest in jobs, health care and fighting inequality—especially as we fight back a once in a century public health and economic crisis.”

Lee was once a lonely voice on behalf of cutting Pentagon spending. But the California Democrat now has allies in powerful places. “I have serious concerns,” says Senate Budget Committee chair Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), “about the proposed $753 billion budget request for the bloated Pentagon—a $12.3 billion increase compared to the last year of the Trump Administration. At a time when the U.S. already spends more on the military than the next 12 nations combined, it is time for us to take a serious look at the massive cost over-runs, the waste and fraud that currently exists at the Pentagon.”

Congressional Progressive Caucus chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) is blunter: “We’re in the midst of a crisis that has left millions of families unable to afford food, rent, and bills. But at the same time, we’re dumping billions of dollars into a bloated Pentagon budget. Don’t increase defense spending. Cut it—and invest that money into our communities.”

That’s not a radical response. When Data for Progress surveyed voters nationwide last year about budget priorities, 56 percent supported cutting the Pentagon budget by 10 percent to pay for fighting the coronavirus pandemic and funding education, health care, and housing. Sixty-nine percent of Democrats expressed enthusiasm for the proposed cut, which was striking. Even more striking was the 51 percent support it got from Republicans.

When the idea was raised in Congress in July of 2020, 93 members of the House of Representatives voted for a 10 percent cut, as did 23 senators. That wasn’t a win, obviously, but it was a groundbreaking show of support for reduced spending on the military-industrial complex.

Can congressional progressives build on that base of support to alter priorities in the Biden budget? It won’t be easy. Centrist Democrats will be cautious about cuts, and Republicans can be expected to demagogue the issue. But progressive caucus members have had success in pushing the new administration to abandon some of the worst Pentagon initiatives of the Trump years. For instance, a new letter signed by 70 House members commends Biden for “[his] first steps toward ending U.S. support for the war in Yemen, including announcing an end to U.S. military participation in offensive Saudi actions; a review of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia for use in its six-year air war in Yemen; and a revocation of President Trump’s terrorism designation against the Houthis, with the express purpose of averting a hunger crisis.” (The letter urges the president to go further and “use all available U.S. leverage with the Saudi regime to demand an immediate and unconditional end to its blockade, which threatens 16 million malnourished Yemenis living on the brink of famine.”)

One of the key movers in the fight to end US support for the war in Yemen, Representative Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), thinks the time is right to push the administration and Congress for a broader rethink of spending priorities.

“A proposed increase of $13 billion in defense spending is far too much given [the Pentagon budget’s] already rapid growth at a time of relative peace,” says the Wisconsin Democrat who with Lee cochairs the Defense Spending Reduction Caucus. “We cannot best build back better if the Pentagon’s budget is larger than it was under Donald Trump.”

Pocan has ideas for where to make cuts. For instance, he says “we must stop funding for former President Trump’s excessive $1.5 trillion nuclear modernization plan and complete a new nuclear posture review as each of the last three presidents have done. The United States has far more nuclear weapons than are needed for our security, so let’s stop funding the waste.” In addition to arguing for “no new spending on nuclear weapons,” Pocan points to the need to audit Pentagon waste and accountability measures to eliminate slush funds.

That’s a message that will resonate with the American people, says Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who maintains that there is a growing awareness that “it is simply inexcusable to continue to shower weapons manufacturers with hundreds of billions of dollars in Pentagon waste.”

Advocacy groups share the view that this is precisely the right time for members of Congress to make the case for tightening the bloated Pentagon budget. “Following a year of deadly proof that throwing money at the Pentagon does not keep us safe from modern day threats, it is unconscionable to not only extend Trump’s spending spree, but to add to it,” says Win Without War’s Erica Fein. “Deadly pandemics, climate crisis, desperate inequality—the greatest threats to global security do not have military solutions. Yet while we’re repeatedly asked how we will afford to address these truly existential threats, the same question is never asked of adding to the Pentagon’s already-overstuffed coffers. Let’s be clear: continuing to funnel near-limitless resources into the pockets of arms manufacturers while underfunding public goods only undermines the safety of people in the United States and around the world.”

More news, tweets, videos, etc in the comments section.

Posted in Activism, Bernie Sanders, News, Open Thread, Video | Tagged budget, Joe Biden, military

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