Showing posts with label #AngelaWalker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #AngelaWalker. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

What Will Happen Next?

 

What Will Happen Next?
by Coast Watcher

It's a valid question given today’s political climate. Currently the so-called Democratic Party’s supporters are indulging in an orgy of vote-shaming to an extraordinarily high degree, far higher than that many experienced in the 2016 election. Anyone on social media who professes to have reservations concerning Joe Biden's qualifications is immediately set upon by trolls who moan, "But you’ve got to support Biden or you’ll get Trump!" 

Green Party voters are told either that they’re wasting their vote, their party is irrelevant, or "This isn’t the time for third party politics." (It never is. Funny, that). Some voters are acting so scared of the prospect of a second Trump term in office they’re practically wetting themselves.

So, what’s going on here?

The Democratic Party is either playing a game of brinkmanship by refusing to countenance any shift to the political left, relying upon dislike of/hatred for Trump to carry them to a victory, or they have no intention of winning. It’s pretty obvious that if the Democrats wanted to win by a landslide they’d have nominated Senator Bernie Sanders for president. Instead the Dem leadership spits in the face of Sanders and his millions of supporters for a second time—then expects the Berners to all fall in behind their Corporate-Owned Anointed One, Joe Biden.

What will happen next? Well, I suspect that we’re seeing the seeds of a bait and switch operation.

Let’s assume the Democrats want to win and that they succeed in putting Biden in the Oval Office by whatever margin of victory. Given his obvious health issues (about which the Democrats are being extraordinarily close-lipped) I don’t think Biden will last more than two years in office, tops. His mental health is a cause for speculation, especially after the debacle of the solitary debate with Trump. At some point Biden will become too unwell to continue his duties and will step down under the terms of the 25th Amendment. Kamala "The Cop" Harris will become president for the remainder of the term then stand under her own candidature in 2024.


Should Harris become president then, she’ll be in office for another four years, and again be legally able to stand for president in 2028. That means in effect Kamala Harris could be in the White House for something approaching twelve years. Given her punitive record on "law and order" in the state of California, that’s a pretty frightening prospect.

Of course we can’t ignore what might happen to the so-called Democratic Party party in the next few years. By obviously sidelining and then ejecting progressives from their ranks, the party is sliding further to the political right. It already occupies much the same ideological ground as the Republican Party did during the 1950s. The fact Biden is attracting so many endorsements from  moderate GOP politicians is telling. The Republicans in 2020 occupy much the same ideological ground as the fascist movements of the 1920s and 30s. 

I can see the Democratic Party hemorrhaging support to such a degree after this election because of their blatant dishonesty of what they truly stand for (their corporate donors). They’ll become an irrelevance on the political landscape and will eventually merge with the Republican Party into one mega-corporate-owned-and-operated political faction. For the remainder of the time until that happens, the Dems will continue to claim erroneously the "right" to any and all votes from voters on the actual political left.

Even if things don’t pan out the way I describe, a potential eight years of a Biden presidency is nothing to look forward to given his forty year plus record of voting for war and creating harsh law and order bills. He has already promised the corporate world that "Nothing will change" for them. But neither is another four years of Trump a pleasant outlook. The man’s record resembles that of a mad bull with a sledgehammer tied to its tail, running amok in a china shop.

This isn’t the time for third party politics? I beg to differ. Here’s another prediction: With the so-called Democrats becoming increasingly irrelevant on the American political scene, third parties will step up to represent the vast majority of Americans. After all, someone has to pick up the torch dropped by Sanders. 
Of all the parties in this strange time we’re living in, only the Green Party with its nominee, Howie Hawkins, champions the cause of Medicare for All, a living wage, environmental protections, paid vacation and maternity leave, and healthier workplaces. In short, they aim to bring the United States into the twenty-first century and join the rest of those countries with a First World economy. 

With even a modicum of luck and the imminent implosion of the so-called "major" political parties, the Greens will have their place in the sun some day soon.

Learn more about Kamala Harris' track record in California at https://ccinamon.wordpress.com/2019/01/22/kamala-harris-resource-list/

Related pieces written by Coast Watcher: 

Kamala The Cop https://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2020/08/kamala-cop.html

Biden: My Time?  http://bernie2016.blogspot.com/2019/04/biden-my-time.html

BIO: Coast Watcher doesn't have a crystal ball to gaze into to peer into the future, but the greed of the oligarchs and the mindlessness of their political puppets doesn't make it difficult to predict what will happen next. His advice to voters is "Don't fall for these con-artists. Vote your conscience. Support the causes you want and need for you and your family's future. Now is not the time for moderation and centrism. Now is the time to build the future to believe in."

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 Seen on Facebook:

I would never under any circumstances vote for this!
Joe Biden wrote the 1994 Crime Bill and still defends it. He wrote the Omnibus Counterterrorism Act, later became the Patriot Act.
In 1996 he voted against gay marriage.
In 1999 he repealed Glass Steagall Act.
In 2001 he voted for the Patriot Act.
In 2002 he voted for the Iraq invasion.
In 2005 he voted to end bankruptcy protections for students.
Biden advocated for social security cuts for forty years and tried to cut it FOUR times, 1985, 1994, 2007, and during the Obama years; supported cutting medicare, medicaid and veterans benefits, FOUR times, you can access videos of him bragging about it.
He supported raising the retirement age.
He supported the Kline-Miller Pension Act, a bill that cuts union pensions.
He has a rating of D- by Greenpeace due to his support of fracking, oil and gas extraction and the building of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
He held fundraisers with union busting lawyer, Steven Cozen.
He took $200,000 speaker fee to help elect Republican candidate, Fred Upton.
He voted for the Telecommunications Act of 1996, deregulation of media industry,
He voted to repeal Glass Steagall, leading to financial crisis.
He voted against expanding a child care tax credit.
He voted in favor of a 700 mile long border wall with Mexico.
He voted for NAFTA.
He voted for the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).
He voted to let states overturn Roe v. Wade.
He supports the Hyde Amendment.
He worked to undermine the ACA coverage of contraception,
He pushed for the job killing China Trade bill.
He backed the TPP.
He opposes cannabis legalization.
He supported extending Bush tax breaks for the 1%.
He promoted the war on drugs.
He plagiarized part of his “climate plan” from fossil groups.
"Nothing will fundamentally change,” were Biden's words to his rich donors if he is elected (6/19).
Voted with Clinton to end welfare.
Opposed measures to allow consumers to sue for price fixing.
Opposes universal health care/Medicare For All.
He didn't just compromise with segregationists, he fought for their cause in schools. Joe is a racist to the core, always has been. He repeatedly lied about marching in the civil rights movement.
He repeatedly lied about being arrested in apartheid South Africa. He flip flops on his long held support for the death penalty now that he's running for president.
He won't commit to reducing the prison population, and he’s a paid hack for the credit card industry.
So there you have the facts about Joe Biden.~ Bibi Bowmen

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These times are tough, but we're tougher!

Still, we have to pay for internet and keep the lights on. If you're financially able, please consider making a small donation to keep The Revolution Continues going. You can do so via the Paypal address below. Thank you, fellow revolutionaries, and keep fighting! http://paypal.me/camatthews


***
Food & Water Action

Recently introduced legislation would open federally-controlled waters to large-scale open ocean aquaculture, putting our oceans and food supply at risk.

Open ocean aquaculture may sound harmless, but it’s really just another term for dangerous, industrialized, large-scale factory fish farms. These facilities damage wild ecosystems, threaten coastal economies and rob local fishing communities of their livelihoods.

That’s why Food & Water Action is calling Congress out and demanding they protect local communities by stopping corporations from taking over our oceans for their own profit.

Send a message to your Members of Congress asking them to reject factory fish farms.

In May, Trump issued an executive order aimed at slashing regulatory protections and environmental reviews of factory fish farms. For years, federal agencies have been pushing factory fish farms in federal waters, even though they know the harm those facilities will cause. In fact, we had to file a federal lawsuit and get a U.S. Court of Appeals to declare that it was unlawful for the government to give industrial fish farms everyday permits. Now some members of Congress want to give fish farmers a pass.

Open ocean fish farms wreak havoc on everything around them:

  • They pollute. Waste, excess food, antibiotics and other chemicals pollute ocean water, promoting algae growth that leads to habitat loss and the destruction of sea life.
  • They spread disease. Outbreaks of diseases and parasites can spread to wild fish populations, killing them or making them unsafe for consumption.
  • The fish escape. Approximately three million fish escape every year from fish farms, pushing non-native species into the ecosystem and disrupting Indigenous fisheries.
  • They harm fishing communities. Factory fish farms eliminate fishing jobs by undercutting wild fish prices. This means lost jobs in coastal communities.
Send Your Message

Despite the hype from agribusinesses and industrial fish companies, it’s clear that factory fish farms solve zero problems and create a whole lot of new ones. Allowing open ocean aquaculture in U.S. waters would make our food less safe and damage our oceans.

The wild-capture fishing industry, Indigenous nations and local communities are already speaking out against this bill. Let’s stand with them. We can't let this threat to our oceans and food system move forward.

Take action now to tell your Members of Congress to protect our oceans and fishing communities.

Onward together,

Wenonah Hauter
Founder and Executive Director
Food & Water Action and Food & Water Watch

P.S. Learn more about Open Ocean Aquaculture.

 

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Greens Gone Digital


Greens Gone Digital
by C.A. Matthews


In a history-making effort, the Green Party US has become the first American political party to host an entirely digital Presidential Nominating Convention this past weekend. During the three day online gathering, Greens chose Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker to be their president/vice president candidates. The convention originally had been slated to take place in Detroit, but the pandemic put a halt to those plans as the party leadership felt it was unwise to risk their members' health and safety by meeting in person. In a few short months, the Greens  pulled together a relatively smooth running digital meeting using a variety of platforms such as Zoom, Loomio, You Tube and Facebook live-streaming.
The opening two days of the convention were filled with press conferences and workshops like a typical in-person gathering, but this time the presenters spoke to a sea of webcam faces instead of a room full of live bodies. Nevertheless, chat and voice questions where asked and answered, discussions ensued, and many participants expressed gratitude for the recordings of the presentations and Powerpoints to share and re-watch at leisure. (Link to the workshop videos below.) Better yet, there was no cut off to the number of people allowed to be in a Zoom two dimensional room like there would be in a 3-D room, and the numbers at the workshops swelled throughout the convention. 

Workshop topics included an in-depth look at the current administration's acceleration of the nuclear arms race; ways to handle the ongoing financial crisis and growing national debt; and re-branding the Green Party US as  eco-socialists to reach a wider membership with independent voters. Many presenters emphasized how the Greens are the original creators of the Green New Deal, support shrinking the military and demilitarizing the police, and are the only American political party to enthusiastically support Medicare For All as part of their platform.

There were special guest speakers as well through out the day Saturday interspersed between delegate votes. Well known Greens like 2012 and 2016 presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein and her running mate, peace activist Ajamu Baraka, gave stirring speeches. Lisa Savage, currently running for the US Senate (with a good chance of winning under Maine's ranked choice voting system), also addressed the convention along with other Greens who have served proudly in both party and publicly elected positions.

At a little after 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon the tally for the presidential nominee was declared official.  Howie Hawkins, a founder of the Green Party US and the original GND candidate when he ran for governor of New York, was overwhelmingly chosen as the 2020 presidential candidate with Angela Walker as his running mate. Dario Hunter/Darlene Elias came in second in the vote tally with less than half the votes of Hawkins/Walker. A smattering of votes were given to other candidates, and a few delegates simply voted "non-committed." Former governor of Minnesota Jesse Ventura did receive seven delegate votes. Perhaps he will feel encouraged to run in another four years, as Jesse seems to be a favorite of Young Ecosocialists Caucus members.
My view of the GP Presidential Nominating Convention

This was my first Presidential Nominating Convention, and I was proud to attend as a voting delegate from Ohio. I'd attended the 2019 Annual Meeting in Salem, Massachusetts. I found it fascinating to meet Greens from all over the country and exchange information and ideas with them. I was looking forward to attending the convention in Detroit--less than an hour away from my home--but the virus outbreak crushed those dreams of sitting with my state's delegation and shouting out our support of our favorite candidates during the delegate roll call. Oh, well, there's been a lot of disappointments during these  months of COVID-19 lock down, nothing new there. I look forward to the future when perhaps I can serve as a delegate again and enjoy the excitement in person.



Related links:

Hawkins/Walker Campaign Website
http://howiehawkins.us


C-Span Interview with Howie Hawkins (video)
https://www.c-span.org/video/?473680-3/washington-journal-howie-hawkins-discusses-green-party-platform&live=&vod=&fbclid=IwAR2DMQXP5Dn_Gqzubv07wL3WuMOYmA-NGZaavgCCs13FKZeFFcQ8A43DsZs

Green Party US videos--most of the workshops were recorded and can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/user/GreenPartyVideos/videos


***
LeftNet

Just six weeks before many international students start their fall terms, ICE has implemented a rule change that would force thousands out of the country.
Under the new student visa regulations, international students must enroll into in-person classes at their institution to remain in the United States. ICE waited until many colleges and universities had already finalized their class schedules or made decisions about being entirely online for the term to announce these changes.
ICE’s goal here is transparent: Force as many foreign students out of the United States as possible, in the middle of a global pandemic. Remember – the cruelty is the point.
There’s hope. MIT and Harvard have launched lawsuits to block the Trump administration’s sabotage. Across the country, students and teachers are making last-minute 1 credit courses to help international students stay here. It’s inspiring to see.
But it shouldn’t be the burden of college undergraduates and TAs to block Trump’s inhumane policy agenda. Our leaders have to act against a transparently xenophobic rule change that was kept hidden until the very last moment.
Shockingly, it gets worse. Many experts suspect that the Trump administration’s real motivation was to force colleges and universities to reopen in-person classes this fall – even if it was unsafe. As the second wave of COVID crashes upon numerous states, it is unthinkable that our federal government would force schools to choose between deporting students or risking their lives.
Thanks for your help,
LeftNet
***

Fight for $15
Monday, July 20: Strike for Black Lives  
RSVP for a strike or protest >>



I live in Florida, where coronavirus cases are spiking, and I've had to fight at my job at Checkers just to get masks and gloves to be safe.


Our bosses don't care about us – they don't care whether we live or we die – as long as they make money.

Police beat us and kill us – they don't give Black lives the dignity we deserve as human beings. It ain't right.


I've had enough. I believe that we've ALL had enough.

That's why I'm walking off my job on July 20 as part of the Strike for Black Lives.


July 20th: Join the Strike for Black Lives.

Don't see an event near you on the map? Sign up to host your own event.

We demand:

  • Justice for Black communities. That means higher wages, better jobs, and unions for all so we can build real economic power. It means healthcare for all, action on climate change, better education opportunities, criminal justice reform, and most of all – listening to Black workers and leaders.
  • Elected officials and candidates use their authority to rewrite the rules so that Black communities can thrive. We need safe and fair voting so all of us can participate in our democracy.
  • Corporations take immediate action to dismantle racism, white supremacy and economic exploitation wherever it exists, including in our workplaces. Employers like Checkers and McDonald's need to pay higher wages and give us sick leave, we need personal protective equipment (PPE) and hazard pay during the pandemic. We need to disrupt the cycle of poverty that has existed for generations.
  • Every worker has the opportunity to form a union, no matter where they work. People of color need a seat at the table to be able to fight for our families and communities.

We won't win because politicians or companies decide out of the goodness of their hearts to give us what we demand. We will win only because we join together with ONE voice to force politicians and companies to give us what we've always deserved.




Together in justice,

Alex Harris
Checkers Worker
Tampa, FL
Fight for $15


P.S. The Strike for Black Lives will be happening during a worsening pandemic. If you plan to attend an event in person, take a look at our Coronavirus Safety guide.

*** 
From Fight for the Future:

Senator Brian Schatz (D–HI) has introduce an amendment that will prevent local police forces from getting tear gas,1 drones,2 armored vehicles,3 and high-caliber weapons of war4 from the military. This important amendment — in addition to initiatives to defund police departments and hold police officers accountable for committing crimes against the public — will help combat systemic police brutality in the U.S. 

Contact Congress TODAY to stop police departments from buying military weapons.
 
Arming police forces with military weapons doesn’t reduce crime or protect law enforcement officers from violence.5 In fact, police forces that are equipped with these weapons are more likely to kill civilians.6 Even worse, militarized police forces often target Black and minority-majority communities, where getting killed by the police is among the leading causes of death.7
 
Local law enforcement agencies have bought billions of dollars worth of guns, explosives, helicopters, and more from the military.8 Senator Brian Schatz (D–HI) wants to end this practice by passing an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act.9 This important amendment will prevent the transfer of military equipment to local law enforcement agencies, but only if more members of Congress support it. 

Contact your Senators and Representatives now and tell them to support the Schatz amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. 
 
Regards,
Dayton 

P.S. Stopping this one program is an important step. But the fight to end police violence can’t end there. Please learn from, support, and donate to organizations like Movement for Black Lives, Black Visions Minnesota, MediaJustice, and Stop LAPD Spying who are leading this work.


[1] USA Today
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protests-updates-news-minneapolis-response-overnight/5288818002/
[2] Ars Technica
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2020/05/border-patrol-drone-used-in-anti-terror-ops-flies-over-minneapolis-protestors/
[3] CNN
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/george-floyd-protest-updates-05-28-20/h_fe6c7f3a71a8b7ec2d4468d883f162af
[4] Courthouse News
https://www.courthousenews.com/minneapolis-police-aggressively-enforces-curfew-against-protesters/
[5] PBS
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/police-militarization-fails-to-protect-officers-and-targets-black-communities-study-finds
[6] CATO Institute
https://www.cato.org/blog/militarization-makes-police-more-violent
[7] LA Times
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2019-08-15/police-shootings-are-a-leading-cause-of-death-for-black-men
[8] Newsweek
https://www.newsweek.com/how-americas-police-became-army-1033-program-264537
[9] Sen. Brian Schatz on Twitter
https://twitter.com/brianschatz/status/1267187603737964544