Nina! Nina! Nina!

Nina! Nina! Nina!

by C.A. Matthews

Nina! Nina! Nina!

The chant is infectious. The roar of the crowd is deafening. To hear Nina Turner speak in person is electrifying. You just know you're going to hear the truth and it will set you free whenever you're in the presence of one of the progressive movement's most gifted orators.

I remember the first time we caught up with the former Ohio state senator on the campaign trail. It was early 2016. Nina Turner was the "opener" to Bernie Sanders at a Sanders rally at Baldwin-Wallace University, just south of Cleveland proper. It was a cold winter's day, but well worth the trip. Still a relative newcomer to the national progressive scene, Nina's straight talk and heartfelt inspiration mobilized the troops for Bernie that day.

We were fortunate to hear Nina introduce Bernie again--and all because we made that first trek in the dark and cold to Cleveland. After the Baldwin-Wallace rally, I was fortunate enough to get down to the floor to shake Nina's hand and chat with her for a minute.

 "Nina, you've gotta get Bernie to come to Toledo for a rally!" I shouted over the noise of the crowd. 

"You're right. We need to support our brothers and sisters in western Ohio," she replied. 

Meeting Nina Turner at Baldwin-Wallace University

Sure enough, within a few weeks' time--and with less than 24 hours notice--a Bernie rally was scheduled to take place in Toledo. Along with Bernie and Nina, we also heard from Congresswomen Tulsi Gabbard and Marcy Kaptur, among others. Sort of a "grand slam" of  political celebrities, you could say. 

Without Nina Turner's ever-present support and superb oratory skills, Bernie probably wouldn't have made it as far as he did before the DNC pulled the rug out from under him in the latter half of the 2016 primary season when their chosen candidate was slipping in the polls. It truly was a crime when the DNC leadership refused to allow Nina on stage to introduce Bernie at the nomination convention in Philadelphia. A knife in the back would have been kinder, in my opinion.

To say I'm a "big Nina Turner fan" is an understatement. Even after Bernie Sanders called it quits in 2016, I still harbored much respect and affection for Nina. I've kept up with her work as the first president of Our Revolution, and secretly hoped she would run for a statewide office (like governor) so I could vote for her. Finally, she's taking the plunge--only she's running for US Congress from Ohio 11th district (eastern side of Cleveland to the Akron area). Alas, I live in Ohio's 9th congressional district across the state. So close and yet so far!

While I'm excited to see Nina Turner running for Congress--as she will be a much needed progressive voice there--I won't lie to you. I'm very disappointed to see her running in the Democratic Party primary. Didn't she learn anything about the dirty Dem's duplicity during her time with Bernie Sanders' two presidential campaigns? The Democratic Party leadership have already provided obvious clues that they've chosen their candidate (Shontel Brown) to replace Rep. Marcia Fudge, who will be stepping down to serve in the Biden administration. And after Nina recently spoke at the virtual (online) convention for the Movement for a People's Party, the DNC isn't going to be happy about her openly siding with a new progressive party.

Oh, Nina! Nina! Nina! I feel like crying out. Why can't you run as an independent, a Green, the first big name under the People's Party banner or a Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate instead? Anything except one of those not-to-be-trusted Dems.

The next couple of months will be decisive. Nina will know for certain who all she'll be up against in the Democratic Party primary before too long. Biden will be installed as the next paid-off puppet of the oligarchy in D.C. on January 20. The People's Party has formed officially and been registered in its first state (Maine) and is working hard to do the same in many others. The Green Party US is mopping up after the bloodbath of ballot banishing in several states (including Ohio) and congratulating the many Greens who beat the odds and were successfully elected to local offices. Progressives and their organizations are in a state of flux presently. All is not lost, but things do need improvement.

By the time the special election to replace Rep. Fudge's vacated seat rolls around this spring, we should know more about the lay of the land. Nina could have changed her mind about running in the Democratic Party primary at that point. We'll see. My fingers are crossed that she'll win whatever primary she enters and then the special election and then be seated in Congress. After all, that's where Senator Bernie Sanders first entered the national stage--and just look how far he's come. 

I hope that one day soon we'll be able to call our favorite truth-teller, "President Nina Turner." And we'll be chanting joyfully together once more: Nina! Nina! Nina!

Related Links:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/09/nina-turner-files-run-congress-ohio

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/henrygomez/nina-turner-congress-ohio-11

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/12/national-democratic-party-complicated-iowas-caucus-efforts-dnc/6509514002/

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Tell Congress NOT to cut endometriosis funding!

Sign now with a click

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Chairman Shelby, Vice Chairman Leahy, Chairwoman Lowey, and Ranking Member Granger: As advocacy organizations and individuals that understand firsthand the pain and hardship endured by those living with endometriosis, we urge you to support the requests led by Representatives Finkenauer and González-Colón along with Senators Romney and Warren to prioritize funding for endometriosis research in the upcoming fiscal year. Specifically, we ask that you increase funding for the National Institute of Health National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to at least the levels included in the House-passed bill as well as include report language that lists endometriosis as an eligible condition under the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). Endometriosis affects about one in ten women, can cause intense pain, and is a leading cause of infertility. Despite its prevalence and health impacts, too little funding has been dedicated toward better understanding, diagnosing, and treating this condition. Many women who live with endometriosis go for years, seeing multiple doctors and even spending thousands of dollars, before they can get a diagnosis and treatment. Women with endometriosis lose an average of six hours of productivity per week at work and the condition is estimated to cost over $78 billion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity. Medical research is the key to finding better ways to diagnose and treat this common and life-altering condition. Specifically, we request: Inclusion of endometriosis as eligible for funding under the DOD PRMRP in FY 2021. We are concerned by the report put forth by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which does not include endometriosis among the condition eligible under the PRMRP. Endometriosis was included in both FY 2018 and FY 2020, and this opportunity for investment in endometriosis research through the PRMRP must remain available. When research funding is low or inconsistent for a medical condition, it is difficult to attract researchers to specialize in that condition or apply for related research grants and we respectfully ask that you reinstate endometriosis as an eligible condition for FY 2021. The highest possible funding level for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in final FY2021 appropriations legislation to ensure that resources are available to double funding for endometriosis research from the FY 2019 level and increase funding for endometriosis for $26 million. We appreciate efforts in both the House and Senate to increase funding for NICHD in FY2021 and ask that the highest possible increase be preserved in the final legislation. Over 6 million people in the United States are living with endometriosis and our members know firsthand how endometriosis affects the lives of these women and their loved ones. The critical issues that face women with endometriosis need to be addressed and require quick, decisive action to increase research and awareness. As such, we ask that you provide increased funding better to diagnose and treat this condition.

Sign now with a click

Visit petition page

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In a stunning recently-leaked video, Joe Biden is heard telling civil rights leaders that they should be satisfied with his rhetorical acknowledgment and expect nothing more. Biden screams at them saying that he will not be using his executive powers to stand up for the Black community that worked hard to elect him — or any other working-class community. This is a huge development because progressives had rested what little hope they had for Biden on the possibility of executive orders — hopes that Biden just smashed as he said he would only be undoing Trump orders. Adding insult to injury, Biden nominated dairy industry lobbyist and former Obama Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, to head the department again. "Vilsack is a rerun of pro-corporate policies that continue to drive rural communities away from the Democratic Party," said The Intercept. Biden and Harris are determined to convince you that their cabinet of lobbyists "looks like America." The first Latino Secretary of Health and Human Services, the first woman to run the Treasury, the first all-female communications team, the youngest national security advisor in decades. But what difference does it make if your family's poverty, hunger and homelessness are imposed by a Black, Latino or White person? We already have a Republican Party. What actually is the point of the Democratic Party?

Donate to power our movement

If confirmed, Vilsack will face one of the worst American hunger crises since the Great Depression, with a surge in food prices, COVID-19 cases, unemployment, and food lines running for miles. Instead of using his Obama-era experience to help minority-owned or small farms, Vilsack has used the intervening years to lobby for the corporate American Farm Bureau Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, where he is currently the CEO. The USDA has been almost exclusively led by white men and has systematically discriminated against Black farmers by giving them less federal aid than White farmers.

Vilsack's nomination also risks the loss of one or both of the Senate seats in Georgia's special runoff election because of depressed turnout. He is loathed by progressives in the state for his ouster of civil rights leader Shirley Sherrod while heading Georgia's USDA department of rural development. Vilsack fired her after a deceptively-edited video on Breitbart said she was racist.

This administration is shaping up to be a mash-up of the Obama, Geroge W. Bush, and Clinton administrations. The only difference is they've all had more time to deepen their corruption as corporate lobbyists in the private sector. If it sounds like the country is moving backward, it's because it is. And the Peoples Party is going to turn that around.

Join our National Call this Thursday at 8:30 pm ET with special guest Thomas Frank, the author of Listen, Liberal and The People, No. We will also be joined by Scientists for a People's Party Coordinator, Johanna Heureaux-Torres, who will discuss actions to support Steven Donziger, the lawyer who helped win a historic Amazon clean-up deal against Chevron and now faces six months in jail. It will be our last National Call of the year and we will ring in the holidays with a celebration of everything our movement has accomplished this year! 

In Solidarity,

Carol Ehrle
Media and Messaging Coordinator
Movement for a People's Party

Stepping Into Our Power

Stepping Into Our Power

by C.A. Matthews

A headline screams: "Racists' Rally Cry: Send Them Home!" Embolden by a xenophobic leader, those who grasp tightly their hate-filled agendas fear no shame or ridicule. It becomes stylish to be narrow-minded. As like attracts like, so does hate attract hate.

There's got to be a better way dealing with the problems of dispossessed people than labeling them "animals" and locking them in cages. There's got to be a better way of conversing with others who hold a different worldview than yelling at them "Go home!" in a thinly disguised racist taunt. But nowadays it's all the rage--blind rage--to act like a Klansman. It's an eye for an eye making the whole world blind with hatred. There's nothing "great" about this behavior, so why bother to embroider it onto a red cap?

Rep. Ilhan Omar is correct in saying it's time we step into our power. We the People have always had the power to speak and act out against the injustices visited upon others because of their skin color or country of origin, but we seldom use it. We wait until things become so unsustainable, so unimaginably horrible that we can no longer put off considering change. Concentration camps along our border and Nazi-styled rallies are beyond horror. We must seize and wield our power now. 

We can't afford to hold back until some perfect time occurs or a charismatic leader in the manner of Martin Luther King Jr. arrives on the scene. The time will never be right. He's not coming. Armageddon is coming if we don't act decisively and soon. We must face facts and lead ourselves.

Fifty years ago, Americans came together and worked toward the common goal of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade. If we had the knowledge, skills and ability to cooperate to bring a dream to life then, what's holding us back now? 

Fighting to end the irrational hatred of others with all our hearts and souls and minds… That's one small step for man--one giant leap for mankind.

Related Articles:
https://theintercept.com/2019/06/29/concentration-camps-border-detention/

https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/57742-in-trumps-vision-of-a-white-america-immigrants-should-be-grateful-and-servile 

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/shanephipps/2019/07/19/7-signs-donald-trump-and-his-supporters-hate-america/
 

This coming week we're on the road to the Green Party National Meeting in Salem, Massachusetts. Next week's blog could be slightly delayed because of the trip. However, it should be filled with lots of interesting photos and insights as we'll get to mingle with American Greens and learn more about eco-socialism. In the meantime, here's an uplifting message from an environmental activist and former Green Party senatorial candidate followed by an update on the struggle to protect Lake Erie and the drinking water supply of millions from both the polluters and their enablers, i.e., the state of Ohio.

Earthrise
by Joe DeMare

July 20 is the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing. Even though I was only seven at the time, that experience deeply moved me, as it did everyone living on Earth. I knew all the acronyms that NASA used, like LEM (Lunar Excursion Module). I also knew all the complicated steps and stages of the flight, and was able to follow along through the whole journey. 

It's difficult to convey to this generation just what a miraculous and wonderful experience the moon landing was for the entire human race. Yes, it was a product of the Cold War. There was an ideological battle being played out all over the globe to prove that elected democracy was a better way of governing ourselves than communist dictatorship. But, when we actually won the race, when we actually got to the moon, it was the entire human race that shared in that success. Everyone, everywhere was transfixed by the sight of two men matter-of-factly achieving what had only been the most outlandish fantasy for tens of thousands of years.

From the Apollo missions came the "Earthrise" photos. These were the photos that showed us that we are all living together on a beautiful, tiny little sphere, spinning all alone together in an unimaginably large universe. From the moon the Earth looks incredibly fragile and delicate with its wispy cloud systems and precarious mix of land and sea. We now know that it is. Traveling to the moon taught us how difficult it is to create and maintain the narrow range of conditions humans need to survive. Temperature, the mixture gasses in the air, water, food--having to create the systems that provided these things to the astronauts, even for a few days, required the combined expertise of tens of thousands of people and incredible amounts of resources. It's no coincidence that the Environmental Protection Agency was created a few years later.

The moon landing brought us together in a way nothing ever had before. The United States did not claim the moon as its territory. It was incredibly important that Neil Armstrong stated that we had come in peace, "for mankind," and not for the benefit of any one group of us. Even though we were then, as now, embroiled in wars and many other kinds of conflicts, for that moment we realized that we were all one race. That awareness was reinforced during the Apollo 13 mission when we were united again in praying for the safe return of the astronauts in danger of dying in space.

So, I grew up blessed and cursed with the knowledge that we, as a race, can do almost anything we set our minds to. We can provide food, shelter, and education to everyone on Earth. We can prevent the destruction of the planet and the death of our beautiful biosphere. Humans can colonize the Moon and Mars. We have the intelligence, technology, and determination. Let's do it.

BIO: Joe hosts the "For A Green Future"  environmental activism radio show on WSPD-FM. The show is also available online at You Tube and in podcast form. Check out the For A Green Future Facebook page for more info: https://www.facebook.com/For-A-Green-Future-640958893006838/

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Ohio Legislature Attacks Rights of Nature, Protects Polluters in Budget Bill

Toledo, OH: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has signed a 2500+ page state budget bill which not only includes provisions attempting to abolish Rights of Nature law in the state of Ohio, but also contains hidden language to enhance protections for industrial agricultural operations, including animal factories and water privatization corporations. 

The Ohio legislature and Governor have opted to protect industry and the ‘rights’ of corporate constituents to pollute while simultaneously stripping the people of their rights to pass local laws and protect the rights of ecosystems that sustain their community. The budget bill also includes statutory provisions that permit and legalize the theft of a community water supply in the interest of corporate profit. 

The budget bill states: 

Nature or any ecosystem does not have standing to participate in or bring an action in any court of common pleas;

No person, on behalf of or representing nature or an ecosystem, shall bring an action in any court of common pleas;

In a civil action for nuisances involving agricultural activities, it is a complete defense if: 

The agricultural activities were conducted within an (...) agricultural district or on land devoted exclusively to agricultural use (...); 

The agricultural activities were established within the agricultural district prior to the plaintiff’s activities or interest on which the action is based; 

The plaintiff was not involved in agricultural production; and 

The agricultural activities were not in conflict with federal, state, and local laws and rules relating to the alleged nuisances or were conducted in accordance with generally accepted agriculture practices

Markie Miller of TSW stated, “this sneaky and seemingly innocent language values, above everything, corporate 'rights' to destroy the natural life sources we all depend on, for immediate profit, the consequences be damned."

In addition, the General Assembly has quietly installed significant new statutory powers in the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources to issue permits legalizing the theft of aquifer water, which when combined with the destruction of the rights of nature, seriously cripples a community’s only avenue to exert any control or protection over the privatization of their water source.

“Do legislators and the governor understand what they’re doing by siding with corporations and making it illegal for people to protect the systems that support all life? The so-called 'right to farm' part of this bill has nothing to do with farming and everything to do with letting animal factories continue using Lake Erie as a free toilet. The stakes are high and we will defend the only Earth we have” said Mike Ferner of Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie. 

These legislative actions demonstrate the recent pattern in Ohio of revoking the democratic rights of citizens while legalizing destructive corporate harms. 

Hilary Tore of TSW commented, “this budget bill is a clear violation of Ohio’s single-subject law, yet the legislature continues to cherry-pick which laws they want to follow. A government is created by the people to protect the people and their rights. We don’t create government to harm us, yet that is what we have.”

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Tell evil corporation Palantir: "Stop profiting from the suffering of migrants and asylum-seekers. Drop your contracts with ICE." ADD YOUR NAME

CIA-funded tech giant Palantir is one of the biggest cogs in ICE's deportation machine.

Their shadowy collaboration needs to be dragged out into the light, and Palantir needs to be shamed into dropping their contracts with ICE.

Tech workers, immigrants and immigrant rights activists are demanding that the company break ties with ICE. We must add our voices to their call now before the crisis at the border and in our communities gets worse. Exposing and putting pressure on Palantir to end its ICE contracts is critical to blocking Donald Trump's racist agenda and protecting our communities. Our friends at CREDO are organizing a mobilization against Palantir. Join us!

ADD YOUR NAME: Tell Palantir to stop supercharging mass deportations and mass incarceration.

With Congress approving funding to expand border concentration camps and ICE set to launch mass raids as early as next week, Trump's racist deportation and criminalization nightmare is becoming a reality right before our eyes.

Palantir is an important target. Its technology allows ICE to fine tune its operations by giving its agents the data to rapidly identify, hunt down and imprison immigrants en masse. Through Palantir contracts, ICE has access to:

• A nationwide license plate location database, which it uses to conduct surveillance and reconstruct an individual's private life, threatening the civil liberties and privacy of all drivers.
• A database where ICE agents store information and build profiles of undocumented immigrants, including their home address, work address, children’s school, finances and social media profiles.

When ICE took unaccompanied minors crossing the border into custody last year, agents used Palantir software to build profiles of these children and their families, arresting undocumented people they came across in their investigations. That included people who came forward to claim their children. Arresting these family members significantly increased the number of children ICE and CBP agents threw into camps. This needs to stop now.

For years, Palantir claimed that its contracts with immigration enforcement did not fuel the deportation machine. We now know that the company lied. It's up to us to bring Palantir's dangerous collaboration with ICE out from the shadows and demand that it stop supercharging mass deportations and mass incarceration.

Tell Palantir: Stop supercharging mass deportations and mass incarceration

Thanks for fighting with us.

Mike Phelan
Progress America

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From Credo:

Rep. Rashida Tlaib has a bold and uncompromising anti-poverty plan that respects the ability of low-income people to make their own choices.

Her BOOST Act would give $3,000 in cash annually to every low-income adult and $6,000 to low-income families.¹ But the right wing is already on the attack, with conservative leaders and pundits declaring her plan "deeply immoral" and "disastrous."^2,3

The radical right never misses an opportunity to criticize progressive women of color. We need to show just how many people stand alongside Rep. Tlaib.
Stand with Rep. Rashida Tlaib: Create a cash-based safety net. Click here to sign the petition.

Conservatives want people to live at the mercy of corporate bosses. It is why they insist on strict so-called work requirements that micromanage the lives of the poorest Americans. It is an ideology rooted in often-racist assumptions that people will only work if someone threatens them with poverty. In fact, studies in Alaska ‒ where every resident receives an unconditional cash transfer every year ‒ found no effect on work. More importantly, children, students, caretakers, the elderly and the disabled, who do not work in wage labor, make up about 90% of people in poverty.⁴

Rep. Tlaib's plan is bolder than similar plans from many 2020 candidates. Those proposals are essentially expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit ‒ a great idea, but one that leaves out the more than 2 million Americans with no income and does little for the 10 million with less than $5,000 in annual income. Tlaib's proposal, in contrast, universally helps all low-income Americans.⁵

This plan is a scaled-down version of a "universal basic income": a regular cash transfer sufficient to cover basic subsistence needs. It is an idea that is growing in popularity as more Americans realize that the existing safety net leaves people with little dignity and control over their lives, at the mercy of corporate bosses and at risk of losing jobs to automation.

Just as she did on impeachment, Rep. Tlaib is showing what courageous progressive leadership looks like ‒ and once again, the far right is doing everything it can to demonize a progressive woman of color. Let's raise our voices and make it clear that Americans support bold progressive ideas and bold progressive leaders.

Stand with Rep. Rashida Tlaib: Create a cash-based safety net. Click below to sign the petition:
https://act.credoaction.com/sign/rashida-tlaib-ubi-cash?t=9&akid=33305%2E5711904%2EPaBT2k

Thank you for speaking out,
Heidi Hess, Co-Director CREDO Action from Working Assets

Add your name:

References:

1. Jeff Stein, "Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduces closest plan in Congress to universal basic income," The Washington Post, June 6, 2019.
2. Scott Morefield, "Dan Crenshaw says Rashida Tlaib's ‘deeply immoral’ cash giveaway plan is a basic ‘misunderstanding of economics,'" The Daily Caller, June 10, 2019.
3. Justin Haskins, "Democrat Rashida Tlaib proposes disastrous cash giveaway -- guess who’s going to pay for it?" Fox News, June 9, 2019.
4. Stein, "Rep. Rashida Tlaib introduces closest plan in Congress to universal basic income."
5. Ibid.