Month: February 2019

MORNING MESSAGE

Sarah Schulz

Immigrants Aren’t the Emergency

Midland, Michigan, where my husband and I are raising our two young children, is a small town surrounded by rural communities. Many of us living here have seen, generation-by-generation, that we’re falling behind. Our anxiety is real, but we wholeheartedly reject attempts by those in power to blame immigrant families who have their own struggles, or to suggest that a made up “national emergency” is any kind of solution. We know better. One of my friends and her husband both work full time and each have separate health insurance through their jobs — but their three children aren’t insured. Their income is too high for the kids to qualify for the MIChild insurance the state offers children of working families. But their income isn’t high enough to allow them buy coverage independently. Her family is falling through the cracks. Like so many Michigan small town and rural families, they’re working hard, doing all the right things, and just barely getting by. Forty percent of our households in Michigan struggle to afford the basic necessities, like housing, food, and health care. Up here, we’re the first to see through the fallacy of walls as we look across our lakes and rivers to Canada. There’s no talk on this border of a permanent concrete wall to stand as a forever monument to xenophobia and the ego of our current leaders. We know at heart there’s only one reason — sheer racism — that we’re asked to believe the need for a wall on our Southern border is an emergency. Powerful people stoke this racism and fear to keep the poor at each other’s throats. That kind of thinking isn’t our way and shouldn’t be welcome in our communities, our state, or our nation.

House Dems Press Resolution To End ‘National Emergency’

House Democrats push ahead with bid to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration. NBC: “House Democrats planned to push ahead Friday with a measure that seeks to terminate President Donald Trump’s emergency declaration that he issued last week in order to circumvent Congress and build his wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, was set to file a joint resolution in the House that would repeal the president’s declaration. The measure was to be filed during the chamber’s pro forma session, since lawmakers are on recess and don’t return to Washington until Monday. As of Wednesday, more than 90 House Democrats had signed onto the legislation as official co-sponsors. In a letter circulated to lawmakers of both parties, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., urged all members to back it, saying the president’s move “undermines the separation of powers and Congress’s power of the purse.’ ‘The House will move swiftly to pass this bill,’ Pelosi said in the letter, specifying that it would be reported out of committee within 15 calendar days and would be considered on the House floor three days after that. ‘The President’s decision to go outside the bounds of the law to try to get what he failed to achieve in the constitutional legislative process violates the Constitution and must be terminated.’”

Science Denier To Lead Trump Climate Panel

Science denier who once compared CO2 to Jews in Nazi Germany will head Trump’s climate panel. Salon: “White House panel charged with determining whether climate change poses a national security threat will be headed by a climate science denier who has said he believes carbon dioxide is actually beneficial for the environment. The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security would be headed by National Security Council senior director William Happer, the Washington Post reported. The panel, which would be established by executive order, will reportedly be charged with trying to refute intelligence agencies’ repeated findings that climate change poses a national security threat. Happer is a physics professor and a former Energy Department staffer under George H.W. Bush but has no training as a climate scientist. He has sat on the boards of several groups that advocate climate change skepticism, and has insisted that carbon dioxide is beneficial and not a pollutant. ‘We’re doing our best to try and counter this myth that CO2 is a dangerous pollutant,’ he said at a 2016 energy and policy summit funded by the conservative Heritage Foundation. ‘It’s not a pollutant at all. . . . We should be telling the scientific truth, that more CO2 is actually a benefit to the earth.’ In a 2014 interview with CNBC, Happer said the ‘demonization of carbon dioxide is just like the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler,’ adding that ‘carbon dioxide is actually a benefit to the world, and so were the Jews.’ Happer is also an opponent of the Paris climate accord. In an interview with E&E News last year, Happer praised President Trump’s decision to pull out of the accord. ‘There is no problem from CO2,’ he said. ‘The world has lots and lots of problems, but increasing CO2 is not one of the problems.’”

Migrant Youth Forced Into Adult Shelters

Migrant youth go from a children’s shelter to adult detention on their 18th birthday. NPR: “When migrant children cross the border without their parents, they’re sent to federal shelters until caseworkers can find them a good home. But everything changes when they turn 18. That’s when, in many cases, they’re handcuffed and locked up in an adult detention facility. The practice is sparking lawsuits and outrage from immigrant advocates. In 2008, Congress enacted a law that instructs ICE to place unaccompanied immigrant children “in the least restrictive setting available” or find them alternatives to detention. Typically, that means finding a sponsor or a group home for them. Then, in 2013, Congress amended the rule to extend the protections to immigrants who turn 18 in U.S. custody. ‘What ICE is doing is not in accordance with congressional intent,’ said Lehner. ICE maintains that it is following the law. The agency says it treats every child who ages out of the system on a case-by-case basis, looking for ‘the least restrictive setting available, after taking into account the alien’s danger to self, danger to the community, or flight risk.’ Once they’re placed in ICE lockups, the teenagers can still get help finding a sponsor from deportation officers. But that process can drag out. Meanwhile, some 18-year-olds are deported, while others give up and accept voluntary departure.”

U.S. May Force Liberian Immigrants Out

End of immigration program gives Liberians in U.S. a choice: Leave their American children or become undocumented. WaPo: “Magdalene Menyongar’s day starts with a 5:30 a.m. conference call with women from her church. They pray together as Menyongar makes breakfast and drives to work, reflecting on everything they are thankful for. But lately, the prayers have turned to matters of politics and immigration. They pray with increasing urgency for Congress or President Trump to act before Menyongar, 48, faces deportation to her native Liberia, where she fled civil war nearly 25 years ago. In less than six weeks, the order that has allowed her and more than 800 other immigrants from the former American colony in West Africa to live in the United States for decades will end, the result of Trump’s decision last year to terminate a program that every other president since George H.W. Bush supported. Come March 31, Menyongar will face a choice: Return to Liberia and leave behind her 17-year-old daughter, an American citizen, or stay in the United States, losing her work authorization and becoming an undocumented immigrant. Menyongar is among thousands of Liberian immigrants who were given temporary permission to stay in the United States in 1999, when President Bill Clinton implemented “deferred enforced departure.” DED was routinely extended by previous administrations but is set to end under Trump’s effort to terminate programs for immigrants without permanent status, which also has endangered Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and temporary protected status for immigrants from 10 other countries. Temporary protected status, or TPS, was established by Congress in 1990 for citizens of countries suffering from war, environmental disaster, health epidemics or other unsafe conditions. They are given temporary permission to work in the United States and travel abroad without fear of deportation.”

‘Trump Country’ Isn’t As Conservative As You Think

Why ‘Trump country’ isn’t as Republican as you think. The Guardian: “hen my grandfather was a child, his stepfather would bring him along as he sold moonshine to poor working men in south-west Virginia coal country. The men adored my grandfather, who was not yet even school age, for his talent for mocking Democrats. He told me this story on a few occasions to explain, I think, the inevitability of his later affiliation with the Republican party. He was a Republican in much the same way that I am a Democrat – voting with little enthusiasm every few years and sometimes not at all.When I consider that story now, I find myself thinking less about my grandfather and more about the men who laughed at his jokes. What were their politics? Not all were the predecessors of today’s Republicans, as we might imagine them to be. In Appalachia, so-called “mountain Republicans” comprised an old vanguard of anti-secessionists, who opposed slavery and the Confederacy. They saw themselves as heirs to the enlightened legacy of Abraham Lincoln, the first Republican president. My grandfather belonged (or at least aspired to belong) to that tradition. His audience might have consisted of Democrats, who enjoyed hearing their abuses repeated in the mouth of a child. But it is more likely that they would describe themselves as without politics, just laughing at the powerful and self-important. For a long time, it did not occur to me there were other possibilities.”

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MORNING MESSAGE

Jock Toles

Chicago’s Homeless Are Freezing and Dying

The polar vortex froze Chicago’s city streets with temperatures as low as minus 23 degrees. It was subzero for 52 hours straight. This was hard on everyone, but it hit the city’s 800,000 homeless the hardest. How do I know? I’m one of them. I had a place to stay, but I saw a lot of people out there – freezing and dying – when they shouldn’t. I was thankful to be safe myself, but I had to sit back and say: This shouldn’t be happening. At all. What was the response of our Mayor, Rahm Emanuel? Too little. The city spent millions on buses and warming centers, and asked hospitals and non-profits to open their doors. This was nice and all, but I thought to myself: Come on now, mister Mayor – and every one of you candidates who want to be our next Mayor – Let’s get these people – my people – housed. That’s what you need to do. We’ll vote for our new Mayor next week, on February 26. So listen up, mister Mayor, and all you Mayor wannabes: What we need now is a homes guarantee: a home for everyone who needs one. We can provide housing for everyone, and we must.

White Supremacist Arrested In Plot To Murder Journalists, Democrats

Coast Guard officer plotted to kill Democrats and journalists, prosecutors say. NYT: “A Coast Guard lieutenant and self-described white nationalist who was arrested in Maryland last week was plotting to kill a long list of prominent journalists and Democratic politicians, as well as professors, judges and what he called “leftists in general,” federal prosecutors said in a court filing on Tuesday. Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, was arrested Friday on gun and drug charges, but prosecutors said in the filing that the charges were just the ‘proverbial tip of the iceberg.’ The filing argued that Lieutenant Hasson should be held until he is tried, describing him as a ‘domestic terrorist’ who intended ‘to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country.’ Prosecutors quoted a letter that he drafted to friends in 2017 and that the authorities found on his computer. In it, Lieutenant Hasson, who works as an acquisitions officer at Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, wrote: “I am dreaming of a way to kill almost every last person on the earth. I think a plague would be most successful but how do I acquire the needed / Spanish flu, botulism, anthrax not sure yet but will find something.” In the last month, prosecutors said, the lieutenant used his work computer to draw up a list of prominent figures he called “traitors” and wanted to kill, including many well-known anchors and hosts on the CNN and MSNBC news networks and a number of Democratic elected officials.”

SCOTUS Rules Against Asset Forfeiture As Punishment

Supreme Court’s new ruling on civil asset forfeiture is pretty huge. ThinkProgress: “States cannot ignore the Constitution when imposing fines or confiscating people’s property in civil or criminal cases, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday. The decision in Timbs v. Indiana means change is on the wind for the widespread and chronically abused law enforcement tactic of civil asset forfeiture. It will also have sweeping implications for other monetary punishments levied by state and local governments, including the grubby spiderweb of municipal court fines whose cumulative effect is to make poverty itself a jailable offense in many jurisdictions. But though the unanimous ruling gives defendants a powerful new tool to combat abusive practices by local cops and fine-happy judges, it is not a self-executing change. There will be no lightswitch moment when people simply stop being victimized by abusive forfeiture actions like the one that led to Tyson Timbs’ $42,000 Land Rover being confiscated by Indiana officials in 2013. ‘It’s not like police practices are going to change tomorrow,’ Institute for Justice attorney Wesley Hottot, who argued the case in court, told ThinkProgress. ‘They’re definitely going to be taking that property just like they would have yesterday. I think as long as police and prosecutors are allowed to keep 100 percent of the assets they take from people, sometimes without even convicting them of a crime, they’re going to maintain that practice.’ Timbs’ case is an example of criminal asset forfeiture, the less common but more legally clear-cut version of police property-seizing where someone has already been convicted of a crime. “

NM House Approves Automatic Voter Registration

New Mexico’s House approves automatic voter registration. The Hill: “The New Mexico House of Representatives has voted in favor of automatic voter registration legislation. Lawmakers late Tuesday night approved a bill that would change that state’s voter registration to be “opt-out” at motor vehicle offices, according to Las Cruces Sun News. Currently, drivers in New Mexico can choose to be registered to vote when they get their driver’s license or ID at a Motor Vehicle Division office through an “opt-in” system, the newspaper noted. If the new legislation passes the state Senate, the registration process would be changed to automatically register people unless they choose to opt out, it added. The measure, which was passed in a 44-22 vote in the House, reportedly faced opposition from Republican lawmakers who said that it could result in ineligible people becoming registered to vote illegally. Democrats argued that the bill included safeguards to prevent that from happening, such as a mandated annual audit of voter rolls by the New Mexico Secretary of State, according to the newspaper. Lawmakers and voters in a number of other states, including Nevada and Massachusetts, have moved in recent months to establish automatic voter registration systems.”

NC GOP Candidate’s Son Says Father Knew About Fraud

Republican candidate’s son shakes up North Carolina hearing with surprise testimony. NBC:“The son of Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris testified before the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Wednesday, saying that he warned his father about the illegal tactics of a political operative that Harris hired and casting doubt on Harris’ insistence that he had no knowledge of fraudulent election activity in last year’s election. In a dramatic surprise appearance that culminated with an emotional plea to fix the political process, John Harris, an assistant U.S. attorney in North Carolina, testified that he told his father he had become concerned about McCrae Dowless’ practices after studying the 2016 congressional primary in the same 9th district. In that race, Dowless’ candidate, Todd Johnson, came in third place in the election even though he won all but four of the 218 absentee ballots cast in Bladen County. Harris was a candidate in that election as well. Harris testified that his father decided to hire Dowless despite his concerns.”

Trump To Puerto Rico: Go Hungry

Trump to Puerto Ricans: Go hungry. American Prospect: “he clock ticks for Puerto Rico’s poor since the Trump administration has announced it won’t support supplemental funding for the storm-ravaged island’s food stamps program. Emergency food aid for an estimated 1.4 million Puerto Ricans will dry up at the start of March if a $600 million appropriation isn’t approved by Congress and the White House. Without the additional funding, about 1.3 million U.S. citizens will face a steep drop in food assistance. Roughly 100,000 will be kicked off program entirely, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). Attempts by congressional Democrats to secure the emergency funding have been blocked by a White House hell bent on building a border wall. The compromise spending bill signed by Trump last week will keep the government open, but does not include any disaster aid for Puerto Rico. Responding to the devastation left by Hurricanes Maria in 2017, the White House and Congress approved $1.27 billion to bolster Puerto Rico’s food stamps program, known as Nutrition Assistance Program (NAP), in addition to the $1.8 billion in yearly funding the program regularly receives from the federal government. The supplementary appropriation was meant to offer the island time to get back on its feet after being ravaged by the storm. But Puerto Rican officials have warned for months that the standard funding is insufficient. The requested $600 million would continue benefits at current levels until September of this year. Unless the supplemental $600 million is approved, NAP benefits will return to pre-hurricane levels in March and eligibility standards for the program will tighten. For a family of four that was already enrolled in the program, that means that the current maximum benefit of $649 a month will drop to $410, according to the CBPP analysis. Some 100,000 Puerto Ricans who joined the program in the wake of the hurricane will lose access altogether.”

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MORNING MESSAGE

Leo Gerard

Standing Together on Trade With China

Chinese trade officials are in Washington, D.C., this week in high-stakes negotiations. U.S. negotiators are trying to curb China’s illegal trade practices. They are talking tough, which is appropriate, since no previous agreement and no previous penalties have even dinged China’s free-market-defying trade regime. The U.S. figures aren’t available yet, but China says the trade deficit in 2018 was $323 billion, as Chinese exports to the U.S. increased 11.8 percent over the 2017 figure. Meanwhile, U.S. exports to China inched up a paltry 0.7 percent. If China’s figure is correct, it’s a 10-year high. What this means is that exploited workers in China are employed making the cameras, clothes, televisions and trinkets that Americans buy. And they’re doing it in Chinese factories that pollute with abandon. It means Americans are not manufacturing those things; Americans no longer have those jobs. The U.S. administration is right in its current negotiations to demand enforcement mechanisms, because China’s promises have proven worthless. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer is right to stand tough in negotiations. The United States could use a partner to gain maximum strength in this effort, and Canada is the obvious choice. Just like the United States, Canada has been weakened by China’s trade cheating. The two countries share many trade problems, including the loss of manufacturing jobs to Mexico. GM, for example, just announced it would cut manufacturing and 14,800 jobs in the United States and Canada, but none in Mexico or China. To get Canada’s cooperation, the United States would have to exempt it from the steel and aluminum tariffs. Canada, a close, free-market trading partner to the United States, never should have been subjected to those tariffs anyway. The United States must end the abusive trade relationship it has with China. Canada, America’s closest ally, could help.

IL Signs $15 Minimum Wage

Illinois workers celebrate ‘Life-Changing’ $15 minimum wage. Common Dreams:“Illinois workers and local Fight for $15 organizers celebrated a win on Tuesday as newly elected Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law that will gradually raise the state’s hourly minimum wage from $8.25 to $15 by 2025. “Fifteen dollars an hour will be life-changing for me. I can barely afford the basic needs for my two sons on my minimum-wage salary. Simple things like whether to buy school supplies for my older boy or formula and diapers for my little one become agonizing choices,” said Fight for $15 member Ieshia Townsend, who works a McDonald’s in Chicago. Pointing out that the new law comes just two years after former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner—who was voted out in November—vetoed similar legislation, Patriotic Millionaires and Illinois residents Michael and Joan Pine said in a statement, “Illinois’ working families will finally get the boost they deserve.” “So long as the federal minimum wage does not keep up with increases in the costs of goods and rising inflation, it will be necessary for states to step in,” the Pines charged. “By Gov. Pritzker making a living wage one of his first priorities, he has shown a commitment to the working class and the businesses that service them.” Reflecting on the past six years of grassroots organizing to raise wages across the state, Townsend shared that “as a single mom and a Black woman on the south side of Chicago, I felt invisible before I joined the Fight for $15 and a union. But by coming togethe and speaking out, our voices have been heard.” While welcoming the victory on Tuesday, she vowed to continue the fight for a union.”

NJ Signs Paid Family Leave

Big changes coming for paid family leave in N.J. as Murphy signs law. NJ.com: “Gov. Phil Murphy signed into law Tuesday an extensive expansion of New Jersey’s 10-year-old paid family leave program, allowing workers in the state to take off more time to care for a newborn or sick relative and to collect a larger piece of their pay while on leave. The program’s overhaul was sought after by progressive advocates who said its payouts were too low and many low- and middle-income families still could not afford to take time away from their jobs. Murphy said the ‘temporary loss of a paycheck because of the need to care for a loved one can be a daunting and stress-inducing hurdle’ for those families. ‘But paid family leave can be vital in allowing them to focus their attention on where it is most needed: on their family,’ the Democratic governor said before signing the law at JFK Library in Piscataway.”

Lobbyists Run Amok At Interior Dept.

Ethics complaint shows ex-lobbyists cozy up with former employers. The Intercept: “short weeks after President Donald Trump nominated David Bernhardt, a former oil and agriculture industry lobbyist, to run the Interior Department, the agency is facing a slew of new allegations that top officials violated federal ethics rules by keeping cozy ties to their former employers. A lengthy ethics complaint filed Wednesday by the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington, D.C.-based watchdog group, outlines “a disturbing pattern of misconduct” at the scandal-plagued Interior Department, including meetings that violate the White House’s own ethical pledge and good governance standards. The Campaign Legal Center used public records, some of which were first obtained by The Intercept, to lodge the complaint against six top Interior Department officials, including Benjamin Cassidy, a top official at the department’s external affairs office and former National Rifle Association lobbyist; Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Douglas Domenech; White House liaison Lori Mashburn, a former Heritage Foundation staffer; and others. The officials are among a little-known but powerful group of Department of Interior political appointees — many of whom joined the agency after careers with fossil fuel groups or conservative lobbying organizations. Amid an environment of persistent ethics issues at the Interior Department, these officials are responsible for the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign to roll back environmental protections and open public lands to extractive industry interests. Among other allegations, the Campaign Legal Center contends that some of these officials have apparently used their government positions to provide their former private employers with access and insight into the Interior Department’s activities. Under the White House’s own ethics pledge, executive branch officials are explicitly prohibited for a period of two years from the date of their appointment from meeting or communicating with previous employers to discuss specific policy matters.”

Trump Tries To Sabotage Investigations

Intimidation, pressure and humiliation: inside Trump’s two-wear war on the investigations encircling him. NYT: “As federal prosecutors in Manhattan gathered evidence late last year about President Trump’s role in silencing women with hush payments during the 2016 campaign, Mr. Trump called Matthew G. Whitaker, his newly installed attorney general, with a question. He asked whether Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Trump ally, could be put in charge of the widening investigation, according to several American officials with direct knowledge of the call. Mr. Whitaker, who had privately told associates that part of his role at the Justice Department was to ‘jump on a grenade’ for the president, knew he could not put Mr. Berman in charge because Mr. Berman had already recused himself from the investigation. The president soon soured on Mr. Whitaker, as he often does with his aides, and complained about his inability to pull levers at the Justice Department that could make the president’s many legal problems go away. Trying to install a perceived loyalist atop a widening inquiry is a familiar tactic for Mr. Trump, who has been struggling to beat back the investigations that have consumed his presidency. His efforts have exposed him to accusations of obstruction of justice as Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel, finishes his work investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Trump’s public war on the inquiry has gone on long enough that it is no longer shocking. An examination by The New York Times reveals the extent of an even more sustained, more secretive assault by Mr. Trump on the machinery of federal law enforcement. Interviews with dozens of current and former government officials and others close to Mr. Trump, as well as a review of confidential White House documents, reveal numerous unreported episodes in a two-year drama.

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MORNING MESSAGE

Adrienne Evans

This Is How Democracy Breaks; This Is How We Fix It

This President’s Day, I stood with two hundred and fifty Idahoans on the steps of our State Capitol in Boise to protest our president’s demand to build a wall between the United States and the the world. This is a #FakeTrumpEmergency – the latest sideshow in the Big Trump Circus. Indeed, this would all be laughable, if it didn’t reveal the deep, dark vein that runs through his administration. This is a power grab, and the very foundations of our democracy are at stake. Let’s not put lipstick on a pig. What Trump and his cronies want in this country is white supremacy. 250 people may not sound like a lot, but we are proud that for each one of us, there was a gathering in a different city, in each of the 48 states that answered the call from People’s Action and MoveOn, where people of good faith who feel the same as we do gathered to say so. Together, we are millions, and we are strong. We are from every marginalized group, and we represent the full scope of the this country that is trying to be silenced. We are people of color, we are women, we are the poor and working class, and we are LGBTQIA. We are people with disabilities, we are young and we are aging. We are people of every faith and tradition. We are Native. We are all Asylum seekers and Immigrants. We are every one of us. So whoever you are, whatever you love, and especially if you love the promise of America, this is your time. This is the moment where you decide who will you be in it. What will you do? What will you give? How will you make a difference?

States Sue To Stop Trump’s Border Wall

16 states sue to stop Trump’s use of emergency powers to build border wall. NYT: “A coalition of 16 states, including California and New York, on Monday challenged President Trump in court over his plan to use emergency powers to spend billions of dollars on his border wall. The lawsuit is part of a constitutional confrontation that Mr. Trump set off on Friday when he declared that he would spend billions of dollars more on border barriers than Congress had granted him. The clash raises questions over congressional control of spending, the scope of emergency powers granted to the president, and how far the courts are willing to go to settle such a dispute. The suit, filed in Federal District Court in San Francisco, argues that the president does not have the power to divert funds for constructing a wall along the Mexican border because it is Congress that controls spending. Xavier Becerra, the attorney general of California, said in an interview that the president himself had undercut his argument that there was an emergency on the border. ‘Probably the best evidence is the president’s own words,’ he said, referring to Mr. Trump’s speech on Feb. 15 announcing his plan: ‘I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.’”

WV, Oakland Teachers To Strike

V. teachers go on strike over state education bill. NPR: “West Virginia public school teachers are striking over a new bill that paves the way for charter schools and private school vouchers in a state that relies primarily on public education. In anticipation of the strike, almost all of the state’s 55 public school systems have canceled classes for Tuesday. The state’s House of Delegates and Senate have been going back and forth on different versions of a bill that would overhaul West Virginia’s educational system. According to the Charleston Gazette Mail, the education bill raises pay for teachers and increases funding for public schools, but also permits the creation of charter schools in the state, which currently has none. The bill also funnels public money into a voucher system, called educational savings accounts, that could be used for private and online schooling. The new proposals are unacceptable to the state’s teachers unions, which called for the strike to begin Tuesday. ‘We are left with no other choice,”‘ said Fred Albert, president of the American Federation of Teachers’ West Virginia chapter, according to The Associated Press. In Oakland, Calif., 3,000 teachers plan to walk off the job Thursday over teacher pay, class size and lack of support staff.”

Sen. Sanders Enters 2020 Race

Sanders launches second presidential campaign. CNN: “After months of deliberation, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders announced Tuesday that he is running for president again in 2020. It will be Sanders’ second consecutive bid for the Democratic nomination after losing to Hillary Clinton in 2016. ‘I am asking you to join me today as part of an unprecedented and historic grassroots campaign that will begin with at least a million people from across the country,’ he wrote in an email to supporters following an interview on Vermont Public Radio. Sanders enters the 2020 race as one of the frontrunners — a remarkable turn for the democratic socialist who, three years ago, was viewed as a protest candidate from the political fringe. Today, Sanders is one of the most popular politicians among Democratic voters and his policy agenda — a suite of progressive proposals to expand health care, broaden the social safety net and make higher education free — has been embraced by many of the Democratic party’s leading figures. ‘I can tell you very happily, and I think any objective observer would confirm what I’m saying, is that in the last year and half or so, the Democratic party has moved in a far more progressive direction than they were before I ran for president,’ he said in an interview with CNN last year. But in the run-up to his announcement, Sanders and top aides insisted the decision would ultimately turn on a much simpler question: whether he was the best candidate to defeat President Donald Trump next year.”

Big Corn And Big Oil Fight For EPA’s Love

Oil, ag lobbies square off over EPA’s Wheeler. The Intercept: “The Republican Party’s biggest corporate allies — agribusiness and the fossil fuel industry — are waging an epic, if obscure, battle in the halls of Congress. And Big Oil, through its proxies in the Senate, has taken a hostage: Acting Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler. After the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee advanced Wheeler’s nomination for permanent EPA chief on a party-line vote, a group of five senators issued a veiled threat to the nominee: Promise to rewrite regulations on renewable fuels that are more favorable to oil refineries, or forget about being confirmed. It’s a fight without a decent resolution for any human being needing to breathe clean air or inhabit a sustainable planet. The prodigious amount of energy used in producing corn-based biofuels is not much cleaner than the energy from burning oil-heavy gasoline. The fight is more over who will get to earn more money in the final, dying days of dirty energy dominance. It’s also a preview of the kind of battles that the advocates of a Green New Deal will have as they take on entrenched incumbent industries who have been spending heavily, for years, to generate government favors they are loathe to see disappear. The regulation at issue is called the renewable fuel standard, or RFS, which requires all gasoline sold in America to contain a minimum volume of renewable sources — which are dominated by corn-based ethanol. Big Ag wants the standard to be higher; Big Oil wants to be free from the corn burden.”

Coal Miners Stripped Of Benefits

Who else might like Medicare for All? Retired coal miners who just had their health benefits ripped away. Common Dreams: “On Friday, a ruling by a federal bankruptcy judge in Texas showed why retired coal miners led to believe their health benefits would be with them for life were wrong and at least one advocate for Medicare for All noted that this is just one more reason why a healthcare system that includes everyone and excludes nobody would be a lifeline for workers which capitalism has pulled the rug out from under. As the Casper Star-Tribune in Wyoming reported over the weekend, retired union members who worked at the local Kemmerer coal mine in Lincoln Country, Wyoming ‘likely lost their company health benefits’ after Judge David R. Jones of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston ruled that the Westmoreland Coal Co.—now up for auction under bankruptcy proceedings—could eliminate retirement health care and a union contract in order to sell the mine. According to the Star-Tribune, In order to sell the Kemmerer mine to new operators, Westmoreland has argued that it must eliminate union agreements that affect the nearly 300 employees of the western Wyoming mine as well as obligations to retired miners and dependents, many of whom still reside in the region. United Mine Workers of America had argued that responsibilities to employees and former miners of Kemmerer are protected in binding contracts between the miners and owners of the mine. That argument now becomes one for a Virginia billionaire to hear instead of the judge. That billionaire is Virginia businessman Tom Clarke, who said that while he recognizes the nullification of the coal miners’ health package and union contract is “painful,” it’s necessary for the sale to be worthwhile to an investor like him.”

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MORNING MESSAGE

Alexis Pleus

We Can Save Lives If We Confront Our Opioid Crisis

As a New York State Trooper handcuffed me at our State Capitol, I told him, “I lost my son. This is for him.” Jeff was an amazing kid, a chef, who was 28 when he died of a heroin overdose. I was willing to face arrest because our elected officials know what they can do to save lives like his – but they don’t. When Jeff was alive, no one told us how hard it is to beat an opioid addiction. No one offered us Suboxone or other proven treatments. No one told us about Naloxone, which can reverse an overdose. Doctors prescribe unlimited amounts of opioid pills for pain, but few of them understand the addiction this creates, nor offer help for it. Our governor, Andrew Cuomo, could take real action to save lives: He could open safer consumption sites, increase harm reduction funding and access to the medicines that treat addiction. Small steps are not enough. Overdose deaths continue to rise, as elected officials try to sway public perception and say things are getting better. It’s not better. We know what we can do to save lives, and we must do it – even if it is controversial. The lives of our friends and family come first. We cannot back down, even if the message is uncomfortable: we must move forward with courage.

Trump To Declare National Emergency

Trump evokes executive powers, to dismay of Congress. CNN: “Republicans might be resorting a lot more often to prayer — the new strategy several senators have adopted for dealing with their capricious President — because of the forces unleashed by the latest fraught moment of the Trump era. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did manage to avert the political disaster of a new government shutdown by securing a pledge Thursday that President Donald Trump will sign a federal funding bill that lacks money for his wall. But he may be paying the price for years to come. That’s because the President’s response to a futile effort to squeeze lawmakers for wall funding is to obliterate a constitutional guardrail in a way that could fundamentally alter the power balance between the presidency and Congress. Trump will appear in the White House Rose Garden at 10 am ET to sign the compromise funding bill and announce a slate of executive actions, a White House official said. The plan is expected to include a declaration of national emergency, which he will use to reallocate $8 billion in government money to fund the wall. A declaration of a national emergency to bypass Congress and reprogram funds already allocated by lawmakers would represent Trump’s most striking assault yet on the system of constitutional order that he is sworn to preserve, protect and defend.”

Budget Deal May Increase Detentions

Immigration spending pact has more than a border wall. AP: ” A compromise on border and immigration enforcement cleared the Senate on Thursday, giving President Donald Trump just a sliver of the money he wanted for his border wall. The White House said Trump would sign the bill and then declare a national emergency to try to shift money to wall-building from elsewhere in the federal budget. The bill, which averts another government shutdown, includes many other provisions. The pact provides $30 million for a new Customs and Border Protection holding center in El Paso, Texas, and $33.5 million to upgrade the agency’s holding center in McAllen, Texas. It prohibits “chain-link fence-type enclosures” that have been used in McAllen. Critics call them “cages.” It also requires “appropriate temperature controls,” a response to widespread complaints that the facilities are almost unbearably cold. And it urges the use of better blankets. The recent deaths of two young children in Customs and Border Protection custody led Congress to deliver $192.7 million for medical professionals, supplies such as food, infant formula and diapers, and better transportation between holding facilities. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will receive money to house an average daily population of 40,520 people, mostly single adults but also families. That’s unchanged from the 2018 budget. The agency often houses more than it is budgeted for. There are currently 48,747 detainees. Crucially, the bill does not prevent the agency from moving money around in its budget to fund more detention beds, and it does not place a cap on detentions. Initially, Democrats wanted to slash the number of beds, a move that was eventually rejected. Immigrants in the U.S. illegally can be detained. Those who have violated the terms of their visas can be deported, usually after a criminal conviction. Immigrant detention is at the highest levels ever, as the Trump administration pushes hardline policies.”

EPA Releases Lax Rules On Water Carcinogens

EPA’s nationwide PFAS action plan fails communities. EarthJustice: “the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled its delayed Nationwide Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Action Plan. The plan is too little, too late, and falls short of what is needed to protect communities from a class of chemicals that are polluting drinking water and air, while exposing families, particularly children, to a myriad of health risks, including cancer. EPA’s Action Plan does not include a commitment to set a drinking water standard even for PFOA and PFOS, two of the original PFAS that even manufacturers agree are dangerous. In turn, it favors corporate coffers over human health, and postpones concrete actions. The plan states that so-called short-term actions are expected to be completed within two years, even though people are being poisoned now. “This is an action plan with no action,” said Earthjustice attorney Suzanne Novak. “Interim Administrator Wheeler just released a long list of initiating steps that EPA should have been doing for the past few years, but no concrete actions. Meanwhile, PFAS are linked to chronic health issues, even death, and are highly unregulated despite a national emergency affecting entire towns. The EPA’s mission is to protect public health and the environment. This plan fails that mission.”

TVA Overrules Trump To Close Coal Power Plant

Trump’s intervention fails to save coal-fired power plant. ThinkProgress: “The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) board of directors voted Thursday to close the last remaining unit at its Paradise coal-fired power plant in western Kentucky, ignoring calls from President Donald Trump to keep the unit open. The board also approved the closure of its Bull Run coal plant in eastern Tennessee. The proposed closures had drawn extra scrutiny because TVA, a regional utility owned by the federal government, buys coal to fuel the Paradise plant from Murray Energy Corp. The company is headed by Robert Murray, a Trump donor and a major political ally of the president. Closing the Paradise unit “isn’t about coal, this is about economics,” TVA CEO Bill Johnson said during the board meeting. The unit can be retired with “no impact” on reliability or resilience, he said.” The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy also welcomed Thursday’s vote. “We applaud TVA for making the right decision and for ignoring President Trump’s Tweet and misguided support for dirty, uneconomical coal,” Stephen Smith, executive director, said in a statement. “This closure is an economic and environmental win-win; it is a good move for bill payers and for the environment.” Smith hopes TVA continues moving in the same direction, away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy. “There is an opportunity to continue the progress started today, and bolster communities that have relied on coal, by investing in a clean energy future and moving forward with additional coal retirements,” he said.”

Why We Need ‘Medicare For All’

To be crystal clear: ‘Medicare for All’ does not mean ‘Medicare for Some’. Common Dreams:“As the health care debate heats up, it’s time to be clear about what Medicare for All is and what it is not. Medicare for All does not mean giving people the option to “buy in” to Medicare under our current health insurance system—what might be called Medicare for Some. Members of Congress who support bringing everyone in America under one federally administered health insurance program are proposing Medicare for All. Members of Congress who support opening up Medicare to people as an additional insurance option are proposing a Medicare buy-in or Medicare for Some. Predictably, some members of Congress support both. While Medicare for Some appeals to our instinctive craving for more “choices,” it does not address the unsustainable cost increases keeping our commercial health care system from being as fair and effective as Medicare itself or the health care systems in place in other developed countries. Only Medicare for All will bring down national health spending and guarantee health care as a human right for every American. By eliminating trillions of dollars in excess health care costs, Medicare for All can include all Americans, broaden benefits and reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses for the vast majority of Americans.”

Can Dems Rebuild The Midwest Blue Wall?

How Does the “Blue Wall” Look for 2020? Cook Political Report: “There’s something of a consensus forming that the ‘easiest’ or least risky electoral path for the Democratic nominee in 2020 is to reconstruct the so-called “Blue Wall” in the industrial midwest. If the Democratic nominee wins every state Hillary Clinton carried in 2016, plus Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan, that Democrat would win 278 electoral votes — eight more than the 270 needed to win. Just as important, it means that Democrats wouldn’t need to sweat Ohio or Florida. They can lose those big, electoral-vote-rich states, and still have enough to win the White House. This Blue Wall path also means Democrats wouldn’t have to win in Iowa either. Which, is good news if you are a Democrat looking at the latest polling from the Hawkeye State. Taken January 30-February 2 (a year out from the 2020 Caucuses), the Emerson College poll (a combined IVR/online survey) finds that despite the president’s middling job approval ratings — 46 percent approve to 48 percent disapprove — Trump beats almost every potential 2020 Democrat with between 50 and 55 percent of the vote. In 2016, Trump carried Iowa with 51 percent. Up against the better-known Democrats, Trump bests Elizabeth Warren 52 percent to 48 percent, nudges past Sanders 51-49 percent, but narrowly trails Joe Biden 49 percent to 51 percent. But, if Iowa looks tough for Democrats, Michigan is looking pretty good. Trump carried the Wolverine state in 2016 by less than 11,000 votes. But, a recent WDIV/Detroit News poll finds Trump’s job approval in the state a bleak 38 percent favorable to 53 percent unfavorable. The Detroit Free Press’ Todd Spangler also highlights a key point: “General Motors has laid off thousands of employees counter to what Trump promised when he won in 2016.. and [h]e’s also running into trouble in terms of getting congressional approval for a new North American trade agreement to replace NAFTA, another key campaign promise that helped energize a base of white, working-class voters in Michigan at a time when Democratic enthusiasm seemed at a low point.”

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Miles Mogulescu

Bezos Confronts Pecker, But Is Still a Greedy Di*k

Jeff Bezos deserves props for standing up to blackmail by The National Enquirer’s publisher, David Pecker, who threatened to print sexually explicit pictures and texts of the Amazon founder if he refused to issue a false statement that The Enquirer doesn’t have a pro-Trump political agenda. But that doesn’t earn Bezos a pass for the ways he accumulates and defends his dynastic wealth. Bezos is the world’s richest man, and like others in the ultra-elite, he mostly seeks to protect his wealth by not paying taxes. He ignores that taxes are necessary to support vital government services like education, healthcare and infrastructure. Current subsidies to Amazon for locating facilities exceed $1.6 billion, and they’re soon to get billions more Who pays for the roads to bring Amazon employees to work, schools to educate their children, and all the other government services necessary to operate a business? Taxpayers. Bezos and his shareholders feel they are entitled to enrich themselves while the rest of us pick up the tab. So while it’s nice to see Bezos stand up, he’s still a greedy di*k whose monopolist practices make him astonishingly rich while undermining average workers’ wages and the health of the economy as a whole.

Congress Races To Avert Shutdown

Congress rushes to avert shutdown amid hopeful signs from Trump. Politico: “Congressional negotiators finalized a massive funding package just before midnight Wednesday, confident they’ll have enough support to deliver it to President Trump’s desk in time to avert a shutdown. The Senate plans to move quickly to approve the funding accord Thursday, sending it to the House, where it’s also expected to have large bipartisan backing. The bill will then be sent to Trump, where even top lawmakers are still holding their breath that he’ll sign it and avert a second shutdown. The 1,100-page funding deal would fund one-quarter of the government, including the contentious homeland security budget. Notably, though, Republican and Democratic leaders failed to reach a deal to reauthorize a landmark set of protections for domestic violence survivors, the Violence Against Women Act. That program is now set to expire Friday, though some lawmakers and aides say funding likely won’t be affected until March.”

Parkland Survivors Urge End To Gun Violence

A year after the school shooting that was supposed to change everything. NYT: “The name “Parkland” has become a shorthand for the tragedy that many hoped would mark the beginning of the end of school massacres. But ask the survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in more quiet moments about the awful year since last Feb. 14, and they tell you a different, more personal story. About innocence lost. Dreams undone. Grief delayed. And there are the famous faces, the students everyone thinks they know, who on a recent morning stood at a nearby elementary school where a local charity quietly unveiled a mural, the last of 17 community service projects created to honor each of the victims. David Hogg, the one who went on CNN and dared adults to act like one, lay on a basketball court and painted in a hibiscus flower. Emma González, the one who “called B.S.” on politicians who weren’t serious about gun control, crouched barefoot before the wall, cut out a paper stencil and sang along to the Beatles’ song, ‘Here Comes The Sun.’ To think of them, and of this upscale suburban high school, as mere symbols of tragedy ignores the complicated tapestry of sadness, fear and defiance that is now forever part of it — and will be long after the last of these students graduate.”

Congress Rebukes Trump On Yemen War

Dems force Trump to show his hand on Saudi policy. Salon: “bill that would end U.S. support for Saudi Arabia’s war against Yemen could force President Donald Trump to exercise the first veto of his presidency — and, in the process, raise questions about his willingness to place American interests over those of a foreign government. The bill passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday before moving on to the Senate, where it is also likely to pass, according to Politico. The bill’s success was largely due to the efforts of Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., who has long been an outspoken opponent of America’s support for Saudi Arabia in its bloody and controversial campaign against Yemen. ‘No one was willing to do it because they don’t want to be Dennis Kucinich, introducing these things that are not going anywhere,’ Khanna told Politico, referring to the famously anti-war Ohio congressman and former presidential candidate. One big unanswered question is whether Trump is willing to sign will the bill. The president has continued to support the Saudi government even after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence agencies believe was ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump’s son-in-law and close adviser Jared Kushner is reported to have a close relationship with the prince. ‘I also am hopeful the president may sign it. I know it’s uphill still,’ Khanna told The Hill. ‘You can’t be for withdrawal in Afghanistan and withdrawal in Syria and then say we need to escalate the war in Yemen. It just doesn’t make sense.’”

Omar Grills Abrams Over Central America Crimes

Rep. Ilhan Omar applauded for grilling Elliott Abrams over Role in US-backed massacres in Central America. Common Dreams: “During a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on Wednesday, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) fiercely grilled President Donald Trump’s Venezuela envoy Elliott Abrams over his support for U.S.-backed massacres and genocide in Latin America throughout the 1980s, as well as his role in the Iran-Contra scandal. ‘I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.’ ‘In 1991, you pleaded guilty to two counts of withholding information from Congress regarding your involvement in the Iran-Contra affair, for which you were later pardoned by President George H.W. Bush,’ Omar stated at the beginning of her remarks. ‘I fail to understand why members of this committee or the American people should find any testimony that you give today to be truthful.’ When Abrams attempted to respond to what he called an ‘attack,’ Omar stated simply, ‘It wasn’t a question.’ The Minnesota congresswoman went on to recount the horrific details of the El Mozote massacre, in which U.S.-trained Salvadoran soldiers raped and murdered more than 800 civilians, including many women and young children. ‘You later said that the U.S. policy in El Salvador was a ‘fabulous achievement,” Omar said. ‘Yes or no: Do you still think so?’ After Abrams claimed that El Salvador became a “democracy” after the U.S. intervened, Omar pressed on, asking, ‘Yes or no, do you think that massacre was a ‘fabulous achievement’?’”

Millionaires Avoid Paying Into Social Security

A late Valentine? Millionaires stop paying into Social Security on February 18th. Common Dreams: “By February 18th, someone making $1,000,000 in 2019 will have stopped paying into Social Security for the year. Social Security, which provides retirement, disability, and survivor benefits to countless Americans every year, only taxes the first $132,900 of a salary (up from $128,400 in 2018). If you make more than this cap, that income is not subject to the tax. Most people in the United States make less than $132,900 per year, so they will pay the 6.2 percent payroll tax every time they get a paycheck in 2019. Those who make over $132,900 get a break on any income above that amount. If a person made $50,000 in 2019, for example, they’d pay taxes until December 31st — and have an effective tax rate of 6.2 percent. But someone making $1,000,000 in 2019 would stop paying Social Security taxes on February 18th and see a bump in their pay afterwards. This person’s effective tax rate would be just 0.8 percent. The burden of Social Security taxes falls more heavily on those who make less. Social Security’s finances also depend on the tax cap. Social Security is projected to have a shortfall in the medium term and many argue that the program, despite its importance, needs to be cut today. Part of this shortfall is because more money has been shifted above the $132,900 cap over the last few decades: in 1983, 10 percent of wage income was over the cap; in 2016, over 17 percent was. This change represents a large share of the shortfall. Scrapping the payroll tax cap entirely and making everyone pay the same tax rate, together with modest changes to the program (or a shift in perspective from deficit politics), could eliminate the shortfall entirely and allow for expanding benefits, which are as necessary as ever.”

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Deborah Rainey

Now’s The Time For The Health Care We All Deserve

I would love to wake up in the morning and not worry my siblings are having a health crisis. I would like our family to have the peace of mind we all deserve. I have two siblings with debilitating illnesses. One is on disability, the other should be. Neither is free from the fear they might lose everything if they get sick. My brother’s job includes insurance, yet health care costs are a constant strain. My sister wanted to run her own business, but being self-employed is rough when you pay massive amounts for insurance! People like her can’t afford to leave jobs they dislike. How many great ideas never get off the ground in our country because of these expenses? OECD data shows health care spending in countries that offer universal health care, like the U.K., was under $3,800 per person in 2016. Here it was closer to $9,900. We pay nearly three times as much, and 23 million of us have no care at all! That’s why I’m proud to stand with People’s Action and the millions who say it’s time for universal health care in the United States. Medicare for All is a humane and fair way to take care of our population. It’s amazing we can offer comprehensive, accessible and equitable care, and save money in the process. Even better is the peace of mind that will come from knowing that our healthcare system is there for all of us. The time for universal health care is now. Let’s make it happen!

Border Deal At Brink

Is the border wall deal in danger of falling apart? Politico: “Late last night, we started getting text messages that the border security deal was unraveling a bit as senior aides and lawmakers were drafting it. It seems as if the deal was announced a bit too early. They agreed on the big issues in principle, but as they put pen to paper, there were both critical issues and ancillary issues that were not yet solved. It’s unclear how serious these problems are at this point. And, fair warning: These deals oftentimes fall apart a few times before they come back together. These problems might very well be solved. The difference is the government shuts down the day after tomorrow, and the House had wanted to vote on this deal this evening.”

Dems Propose High-Capacity Gun Restictions

Democrats propose high-capacity gun magazine ban. CNN: “After a year without any significant gun legislation passed by Congress since the Marjory Stoneman Douglas shooting in Parkland, Florida, Democrats introduced a bill banning high-capacity gun magazines Tuesday, as the one-year anniversary of the massacre nears. The Democratic legislation, cosponsored by Rep. Ted Deutch of Florida and Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, would ban any magazine that exceeds 10 rounds of ammunition. The legislation, which has been dubbed the “Keep Americans Safe Act,” currently has no Republican cosponsors, one of many obstacles that would stand in the way of it advancing. During a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, the Democratic legislators described the bill as one step in a process of passing individual gun control measures instead of a big comprehensive package. “Guns become doubly and triply deadly in these massacres because of these high-capacity magazines,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat. “And so if we take one simple step in approving this prohibition, we can literally save lives. There is no more simple, straightforward way to save lives from gun violence than to ban these high-capacity magazines.” On an issue that has consistently failed to advance in Congress and that many Democrats from more moderate or conservative districts don’t want to vote on, the proposal marks a significant development.”

AOC, Pressley Protest For TPS Protections

Ocasio-Cortez and Pressley join protest for permanent TPS protections. ThinkProgress: “Hundreds of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders and their allies braved cold, rainy weather to gather in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, to demand that the Trump administration take action on a path to citizenship for members of their community. Chanting “The people united will never be defeated” and “We are immigrants, not criminals,” demonstrators filled Lafayette Park, steps from the White House. Some spoke of their contributions to the country. ‘We don’t ask anything from anybody,’ Jose Palma, a 21-year resident of the United States and TPS holder from El Salvador, told the crowd in Spanish. ‘We are not criminals […]. I work in industrial construction. My hands build tall, important buildings. We just want permanent residency.’ Joining the demonstrators were two progressive members of the congressional freshman class, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA). Both women represent diverse communities and have constituents that could lose the lives they’ve built for themselves over the last few decades if they lose their TPS protections and are forced to leave the country. ‘I will continue to fight so that the people who built this country will stay in this country,’ Ocasio-Cortez told the crowd, wearing a TPS Alliance beanie. ‘From Nepal to Honduras, the United States has made a promise that this country will be a safe haven.’”

Amazon May Give Up Some NY Incentives

An uncertain future for corporate tax breaks. Axios: “n the fall of 2017, Amazon made itself a fêted hero to towns and cities across the United States, celebrated for promising to create 50,000 new jobs paying some $100,000 a year in a lucky place that would host the company’s second headquarters. Today, though, Amazon may be forced to give up at least some of the $3 billion in concessions it was granted in November to create some 25,000 jobs in New York City — or build its HQ2 somewhere else. Amazon is staring down a crisis of reputation: Its HQ2 search, launched in an era of public support verging on adulation, is now caught up in a very different epoch of popular unhappiness with the unchecked power of wealthy companies. Why it matters: The stink against bigness is spreading, with scholars, lawmakers and grassroots organizers decrying the same Big Tech companies that were once considered 21st century champions.”

Trump Wants Socialism For The Rich, Capitalism For The Rest Of Us

Trump wants socialism for the rich, brutal capitalism for the rest of us. Common Dreams: “To the conservative mind, the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable, and no one has to work for what they receive. Yet that’s exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich. “America will never be a socialist country,” Donald Trump declared in his State of the Union address. Someone should alert Trump that America is now a hotbed of socialism. But it is socialism for the rich. Everyone else is treated to harsh capitalism. Trump is promoting socialism for the rich and harsh capitalism for everyone else in other ways. Since he was elected, GM has got more than $600 million in federal contracts plus $500 million in tax breaks. Some of this has gone into the pockets of GM executives. Chairman and CEO Mary Barra raked in almost $22m in total compensation in 2017 alone. But GM employees are subject to harsh capitalism. GM is planning to lay off more than 14,000 workers and close three assembly plants and two component factories in North America by the end of 2019. To the conservative mind, the specter of socialism conjures up a society in which no one is held accountable, and no one has to work for what they receive. Yet that’s exactly the society Trump and the Republicans are promoting for the rich. Meanwhile, most Americans are subject to an increasingly harsh and arbitrary capitalism in which they’re working harder but getting nowhere, and have less security than ever. They need thicker safety nets and deserve a bigger piece of the economic pie. If you want to call this socialism, fine. I call it fair.”

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MORNING MESSAGE

Jeff Bryant

Charters Push Public Schools to the Brink

When striking Los Angeles teachers won their demand to call for a halt to charter school expansions in California, they set off a domino effect, and now teachers in Boston and other other large urban districts are making the same demand. “Boston’s experience with charter schools is part of a growing trend,” says University of Connecticut professor Preston Green. “Researchers have documented the financial strain charter schools have placed on urban schools in California, Michigan, and Chicago. If charter schools are allowed to expand in urban districts without consideration of their impact on their public schools, we will see more instances of urban school systems pressed to the breaking point.”

Lawmakers Sort Of Agree To Avert Shutdown

With shutdown looming, sorder Deal Is Reached ‘in Principle’. NYT: “House and Senate negotiators on Monday night agreed in principle to provide $1.375 billion for fencing and other physical barriers at the Mexican border, part of a broader agreement that would stave off another partial government shutdown without funding President Trump’s wall. The agreement would allow for 55 miles of new bollard fencing, with some restrictions on location based on community and environmental concerns, according to two congressional aides, who requested anonymity to disclose details of the private negotiations. That is a fraction of the more than 200 miles of steel-and-concrete wall that Mr. Trump demanded — and 10 miles less than negotiators agreed on last summer, before Democrats took control of the House. The deal, which must still pass the House and the Senate, and secure Mr. Trump’s signature, came together just before Mr. Trump, framed by banners emblazoned with “Finish the Wall” at an event in El Paso, doubled down on his demands. “We’re building the wall anyway,” he told the crowd, saying that aides had told him that the negotiators had made progress. The funding for 55 miles of new fencing is a figure far lower than the $5.7 billion that Mr. Trump had demanded and marginally less than the $1.6 billion for 65 miles of pedestrian fencing in the bill that the Senate Appropriations Committee had passed last year.”

Trump Upstaged By O’Rourke

Trump show upstaged by Beto O’Rourke and congressional realities. ABC: “President Donald Trump marched into El Paso Monday night, ready to go to battle on the border wall and against an emerging foe. But just moments before Trump took the stage, congressional negotiators cut a deal that cut him out. And the foe whose hometown he was in was leading El Paso as it marched back at an outdoor rally just down the road. “We stand for America, and we stand against walls,” said Beto O’Rourke, who was until six weeks ago a congressman from El Paso. The president’s first campaign rally of 2019 offered potential lessons surrounding the realities of 2020. The crowd chanted “Lock her up,” and Trump railed against the “Green New Deal” and a supposed Democratic abortion plan to “execute the baby.” But his was not the only voice of the evening. Trump mocked O’Rourke as “a young man who’s got very little going for himself,” and said his counter-rally’s attendance “may be the end of his presidential bid.” Of course, O’Rourke may not run at all. But while Trump tries to choose and define his enemies, he won’t be the only show in town.”

Denver Teachers On Strike

Denver teachers go on strike for the first time in 25 years after failing to reach a pay deal. Daily Mail: “Union leaders told reporters they were frustrated with failed talks over the weekend aimed at reaching a deal. Union president Henry Roman said teachers were committed to reaching a deal but said that both sides needed a cooling off period. Another negotiation session is expected Tuesday. ‘They need us. They need our labor, they need our minds, they need our talents to really make it happen,’ lead union negotiator Rob Gould said. The strike for Denver’s more than 4,000 teachers is their first in 25 years. It comes after teachers walked off the job in Arizona and West Virginia last year and Los Angeles teachers went on strike last month. The Los Angeles teachers ended up getting the same 6 percent raise offered early on by the nation’s second-largest school district. However, they also sought and won promises for smaller class sizes and adding more nurses and counselors.”

Fresh Organizing Bolsters Labor Since Janus

Unions see an opportunity in the wake of a decision that was supposed to finish them off. The Intercept: “Labor leaders said the losses from Janus were not as severe as they had feared, citing their proactive organizing efforts as primary reasons. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, for example, lost 100,000 agency-fee payers since Janus, Lee Saunders, president of the union, said at the conference. Yet they also managed to flip 310,000 agency-fee payers into dues-paying members through new organizing. “For every member that we lost, we gained seven,” Saunders said. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, reported similar gains. The AFT lost 84,500 agency-fee payers after Janus, but between November 2017 and November 2018, Weingarten said the union’s membership numbers actually went up by 88,000. (Some experts anticipate unions will eventually feel the financial hit from Janus, especially if the well-funded “opt-out” movement, which targets public-sector workers to disaffiliate with their union, gains traction.) Weingarten said the Supreme Court’s ruling gave unions an opportunity to reflect on what their membership means. “The real challenge becomes six months, eight months, a year after Janus — what is the value of belonging?” she said. “What’s the community you are creating? And what are the values that people connect with — not just what’s the transaction — but what are the values? That’s what we’re learning.”

How AOC Crushes It On Twitter

How Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat everyone at Twitter in nine tweets. The Guardian: “When it comes to Twitter, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress last November, beats every other US politician hands, nose and elbows down. She has built one of the most engaged followings on Capitol Hill in just eight months and was even appointed to teach social media lessons to her colleagues upon her arrival. How does she do it? I spend my days analyzing data for the Guardian and helping run our social media accounts, so I’m used to digging into numbers and figuring out what gets people going. And more often than not, it’s the less obvious things that reveal what’s really happening. Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter account (@AOC) has more than 3.1 million followers. It has gained more than 2.6 million of these in the last eight months. Before she won her primary in June, beating a powerful 10-term Democratic incumbent, she only had 446,000 followers. Even when you look at pure, non-weighted engagement, Ocasio-Cortez still punches well above her weight. For example, Trump has 21 times more followers than her. Yet he generated only 2.5 times as many total interactions as she did in January (43.2m compared to 17.5m). All these numbers are useful for understanding the scale of Ocasio-Cortez’s Twitter popularity, but do little in terms of explaining it. To further understand why they’ve done so well, here’s a brief timeline of her rapid ascent, and the tweets that have defined it.”

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MORNING MESSAGE

Cindy Garcia

Trump Said He Would Protect Families, Then Deported My Husband

A year ago, my husband Jorge was torn from our family and deported to Mexico after living peacefully in the United States for nearly 30 years, working and raising a family with me in suburban Detroit. A year ago, my husband Jorge was torn from our family and deported to Mexico after living peacefully in the United States for nearly 30 years, working and raising a family with me in suburban Detroit. Just a few weeks later, I was invited by my congresswoman to attend President Trump’s State of the Union address and listened carefully to his words as he promised to “protect” Americans from immigrants like my husband. Trump could have offered real solutions that would help struggling families get health care, safe homes, fair wages, and good jobs. Instead, he uses racism and fear to keep people divided and distracted while his billionaire buddies get tax cuts and make bigger profits. He said nothing about the millions of Americans who suffered through the government shutdown when he couldn’t get his way on a wall most Americans don’t want. We’re supposed to be a democracy, but now he’s desperately grabbing power and threatening to declare an illegal and unconstitutional national emergency to force his wall through. Trump’s actions are perfectly clear: He’s not interested in keeping us safe, making families strong, or keeping his promises to Dreamers. He’s only interested in staying in power and lining his friends’ pockets. Well, I’ve got news for him: People aren’t buying these divisive and and hate-filled lies. We know better. We’re demanding solutions that keep families, like mine, together.

New Shutdown Looms Over Immigration Impasse

Talks over border security break down, imperiling effort to prevent shutdown. NYT: “Congressional efforts to reach a border security deal ahead of another government shutdown broke down on Sunday over Democratic demands to limit the detention of undocumented immigrants, as President Trump moved more troops to the border and prepared to rally supporters in Texas on Monday. The 17 House and Senate negotiators had hoped to finalize a border security agreement on Monday, but hours before that deadline, communications had stopped, lawmakers and aides said. Meantime, the Trump administration was moving on its own to fortify the southwestern border with thousands of active-duty military troops. The number of deployed troops on the Mexican border was set to exceed the high of 5,900 reached around the November elections, as about 3,700 active-duty troops were being sent to assist with the Department of Homeland Security’s border patrol efforts. Senior officers are voicing greater worries that the deployed troops are not conducting the training needed for their regular missions, while other military units must now pick up the routine duties on behalf of their deployed colleagues. But efforts to reach a broader, bipartisan deal on border security bogged down, days before much of the government is set to run out of funds at midnight Friday.”

CA To Withdraw National Guard From Border

Gov. Gavin Newsom to pull National Guard from California’s border with Mexico. LA Times:“As a second partial government shutdown looms in Washington over border discussions, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday will order the removal of roughly 360 National Guard members from California’s southern boundary with Mexico, repudiating President Trump’s characterization of a recent influx of Central American refugees and migrants as a national security crisis. The announcement comes just one day before the governor delivers his first State of the State address Tuesday, setting the stage for Newsom to counter Trump’s State of the Union address from last week. In released excerpts of his speech, Newsom says he is giving the National Guard a new mission so that troops would not take part in the White House’s ‘political theater’ and instead “refocus on the real threats facing our state.” The governor said he would sign a general order to redeploy the troops to support wildfire prevention efforts and expand operations to counter drugs and cartels across California, with a group of forces trained in spotting narcotics to be stationed at the state’s international points of entry. ‘The Border ‘emergency’ is a manufactured crisis,’ Newsom is expected to say Tuesday, according to prepared remarks provided by the governor’s office. ‘This is our answer to the White House: No more division, xenophobia or nativism.’ Newsom’s move is an escalation of a long-running battle over immigration between California and the federal government, with the state’s Democratic majorities pledging to serve as a buffer to Trump’s hard-line rhetoric and policies.”

Denver Teachers To Strike

Denver teachers plan to go on strike for the first time in 25 years. HuffPost: “Teachers in Colorado’s capital are planning to strike Monday for the first time in 25 years after failed negotiations with the school district over base pay. The teachers union and Denver Public Schools met Saturday in an attempt to reach a new contract after more than a year of negotiations, but both sides left disappointed. The Denver Classroom Teachers Association released a statement after the meeting saying the district’s proposal lacks transparency and ‘pushes for failed incentives for some over meaningful base salary for all.’ ‘We will strike Monday for our students and for our profession, and perhaps then DPS will get the message and return to the bargaining table with a serious proposal aimed at solving the teacher turnover crisis in Denver,’ said Henry Roman, president of the teachers union.”

Trump, Beto Face Off At Border

Trump, Beto to face off Monday in El Paso in dueling rallies near the border. USA Today: “If American politics has turned into a three-ring circus, this city in West Texas will hoist the Big Top on Monday, with President Donald Trump coming to rally for a border wall, Democratic wunderkind Beto O’Rourke leading a protest march and even the Trump Baby blimp putting in an appearance. The Trump rally at the El Paso County Coliseum will come only four days before the possibility of either another government shutdown or a declaration of a national emergency over what the president deems a national-security crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. O’Rourke, whose skillful use of social media has made him a national figure and prolific fundraiser, plans to join a one-mile march past Trump’s rally on Monday and speak across the street from the president at about the same time Monday evening. ‘He’s offering us a chance to tell our story and we’re going to take that chance, all of us,’ O’Rourke told the El Paso Times. O’Rourke’s camp described Monday’s protest march as an effort to ‘show the country the reality of the border — a vibrant, safe, bi-national community that proudly celebrates its culture, history, diversity and status as a city of immigrants.’ The president triggered local anger by alleging in his State of the Union address that El Paso “used to have extremely high” crime rate before a border fence was constructed and that the rate of crime dropped substantially after it was completed. The statement quickly prompted blowback from local politicians and law-enforcement figures. Even Mayor Dee Margo, a Republican, insisted that El Paso was “never” among the nation’s most dangerous cities.”

Buttigieg Defends Socialism Debate

Buttigieg: The word ‘socialism’ has lost its meaning. The Hill: “Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (D) on Sunday dismissed President Trump’s efforts to portray Democratic policy pitches as ‘socialism,’ arguing that the term no longer carries negative connotations. ‘I think he’s clinging to a rhetorical strategy that was very powerful when he was coming of age 50 years ago, but it’s just a little bit different right now,’ Buttigieg, the South Bend, Ind., mayor who has launched an exploratory committee to run for president, said on CNN’s ‘State of the Union.’ ‘Today, I think a word like that is the beginning of a debate, not the end of the debate,’ he added. Trump has in recent weeks attempted to tie Democrats and their more progressive ideas to socialism, and pointed to the state of affairs in Venezuela as a potential consequence. During last week’s State of the Union address, he pledged that ‘America will never be a socialist country.’ Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), two leading voices in the Democratic caucus, both identify as democratic socialists. Buttigieg, who is 37, said someone close to his age is unlikely to reject a policy proposal simply because a critic calls it socialist. ‘If someone my age or younger is weighing a policy idea, and somebody comes along and says, you can’t do that, it’s socialist, I think our answer is going to be, OK, is it a good idea or is it not?’ he said. ‘So, I think the word has mostly lost its meaning,’ Buttigieg added. ‘And it’s certainly lost its ability to be used as a kill switch on debate.’”

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MORNING MESSAGE

Leigh Friedman

Get Ready For 100% Just

People’s Action Institute has been organizing to address the climate crisis and put people and planet first since its founding. This spring, our climate organizers will launch the next chapter of our work: the 100% Just Campaign. There is momentum around the push toward 100% renewable energy sources—we want to add energy to that push. We also want to be 100% sure that equity runs through the transition to a renewable energy economy, and that all extractive energy systems are stopped. Our goal is to advance a 100% renewable energy economy with equity baked in from conception to implementation. How, you ask, will we do this? By organizing on the ground to bring this vision into reality. Our plan is to launch campaigns in cities and states and organize around and elevate the Green New Deal in the public debate that will surround the 2020 presidential primary. Here’s how we do it.

DOJ Rolls Back Anti-Discrimination Rules

Trump Justice Dept. reversing Obama-era positions on discrimination policies. CNN: “Recent Trump administration moves on civil rights bring into sharper focus its efforts to reverse the Obama era and curtail decades-old laws designed to shield blacks, Latinos and other racial minorities from discrimination. Last week, the Justice Department retreated from a prior position and said Texas’ record of voter discrimination did not justify requiring prior approval for any new redistricting maps. The Obama administration had argued that a provision of the Voting Rights Act empowering judges to intervene should cover Texas, which has been mired in minority-voter disputes for years. The administration is also apparently considering retrenchment against policies that appear neutral but have the effect of discriminating against minorities. In December, a federal commission convened by the White House recommended the rescission of Obama policy intended to ensure that African-American students are not disproportionately targeted under school discipline rules. The Washington Post reported in January that the administration is considering a “far-reaching” curtailment of such regulations against practices that — although not intentionally discriminatory — have a “disparate impact” on minorities, whether at schools, on the job, or in the pursuit of housing. (The Justice Department would not comment on the report.) At the same time, the administration is also engaged in a lawsuit against Harvard’s affirmative action admissions practices that have traditionally benefited blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans. It is siding with a group that says Asian-American applicants are held to a higher standard for admissions, compared especially to black students.”

Trump Sends More Troops To Border

Pentagon Deploying 3,750 Troops To Southern Border. NPR: “Another 3,750 troops will be sent to the southern border to help install wire barriers and to monitor crossings, officials said. The new deployment will bring the total number of active-duty troops there to around 6,000. In a tweet on Sunday, President Trump said that “STRONG border security” is necessary in the face of “Caravans marching through Mexico and toward our Country.” The announcement of new troops on Sunday comes just days before Trump is expected to discuss border security measures during Tuesday’s State of the Union Address. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Thursday that the troops would be deployed to the border over the next month, NPR’s Tom Bowman reported. They’ll join the 2,300 active-duty troops already there, bringing the total to about the same number as were deployed in the fall. Another 2,100 National Guard troops are also stationed there. “At the Pentagon, people I talk with say, listen: this is a waste of money,” Bowman said. Stringing razor wire is a job better suited to the National Guard, they tell Bowman; “you don’t use active-duty troops for this.” Military troops deployed at the border “are not allowed to apprehend migrants the way border agents do,” NBC News reported.”

NC Prosecutors Target Immigrants

Trump-appointed prosecutor focused on allegations of voting fraud by immigrants amid warnings about separate ballot scheme. WaPo: “20 immigrants — two still in pajamas — were rounded up over several days, many of them handcuffed and shackled, and charged with voting illegally in the 2016 presidential election. The sweep across eastern North Carolina was one of the most aggressive voting-fraud crackdowns by a Trump-appointed prosecutor — and also a deliberate choice that demonstrates where the administration’s priorities stand. At the time of the arrests, an organized ballot-tampering effort that state officials had repeatedly warned about was allegedly gearing up in the same part of North Carolina. The operation burst into public view after Election Day in November when the state elections board, citing irregularities in the mail-in vote, refused to certify the results of the 9th Congressional District race. That seat remains unfilled while state officials investigate. The decision by U.S. Attorney Robert Higdon Jr. to focus his office’s resources on the prosecution of noncitizens rather than the ballot-tampering allegations in Bladen County comes amid a broad push by President Trump and other Republicans to portray illegal voting as a widespread phenomenon that threatens the integrity of American elections. After the August arrests, Higdon issued subpoenas for millions of records of foreign-born voters from state and local agencies — a request North Carolina officials have said will consume an enormous amount of time and costs millions of dollars.”

GOP Throttles TX Voters

Texas Voter-Fraud Claims Don’t Have to Be True to Achieve Their Goal. The Atlantic: “Federal courts struck down Texas’s original voter-ID law, which would have required certain forms of government-issued identification in order to vote, deeming it intentional discrimination against minorities. But GOP officials who lead the state argued that the passage and implementation of the law was necessary to prevent voter fraud, and last year Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accepted the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to uphold a slightly revised version of the law that would allow other forms of identity verification for people who can’t get the proper government-issued documentation. Yet Republicans still don’t think the regulation has done the job. Last week, Texas Secretary of State David Whitley’s office sent an advisory to counties involving a list of people who’d been identified as potential noncitizens with a matching voter-registration record. Activists and media criticized the list as inaccurate and misleading. But that didn’t stop GOP officials from using the list as definitive proof of rampant voter fraud, despite having no evidence that anyone had voted illegally. Their fervor seemed to add to the suspicion that the party has an endgame well beyond “ballot security,” and to the fear that new forms of voter suppression are just on the horizon. On January 25, Whitley sent out letters to counties with a list of 95,000 registered voters who were matched with people flagged by the Texas Department of Public Safety as being noncitizens. Whitley and his office did not provide much in the way of the methodology used in their 11-month-long review of public records, nor did they respond to requests for comment. But Whitley’s spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday that the release was “part of the process of ensuring no eligible voters were impacted by any list maintenance activity.” Ostensibly, the letters were intended to begin a formal citizenship-review process, which would verify any claims of fraudulent ballots and also purge nonrespondents from voter rolls. But from the outset, other forces were at work.”

CA Brings Back Free College

Spending on free community college for Californians would pay off big for the state. LA Times:“A little-noticed gem in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget would return California partway back to its glory days of tuition-free college. It’s a relatively tiny, $40-million item in a $209-billion state budget — and a bargain. It certainly wouldn’t return California all the way back to when my generation — and all those before ours — could go to any public college without paying tuition. That included what we called “junior college,” “state college” (later fancied up to California State University) and the University of California. A college away from home, of course, really wasn’t free. There were housing and book costs. But just about any kid who wanted a college degree could afford one in California. California provided its citizens a tuition-free higher education because it was a sound investment for the state. It helped California achieve greatness by broadening the middle class, offering an opportunity for upward mobility not available in other states and supplying an educated work force for a rapidly expanding economy.”

Progressive Breakfast is a daily morning email highlighting news stories of interest to activists. Progressive Breakfast and OurFuture.org are projects of People’s Action.

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