MORNING MESSAGE
Adrienne Evans
Boise Rejects White Nationalism. Do You?
People’s Action is making waves: We’re turning back the tide of hate. In Boise, my hometown, United Vision for Idaho worked hard to unanimously pass a city ordinance denouncing white supremacy and White Nationalism, and in Des Moines, we just held candidates to account at the first Iowa People’s Presidential Forum. We’re taking back democracy, state by state. The reason is simple: The very promise of a pluralistic democracy in America is at risk. From the Oval Office and the president’s inner circle and court appointees to Idaho’s state Legislature and even our Lieutenant Governor’s office, White Nationalism has its hands on the levers of power. In Idaho and other western states, the pace at which civil rights, social, economic and environmental justice policies have been steadily eroded and dismantled is in plain view. These trends have created both a moral and political crisis in and create an existential threat to our democracy. Trump uses the bully pulpit of his presidency to exploit the pain of poor and working-class rural folks, blaming people of color, immigrants, and foreign nations when the fact is corporate interests have largely created these conditions. His abuses of power are many, this is by far the worst. The good news is that our government is still of the people, for the people and by the people, despite all of the far right’s efforts to undermine it. And when people organize, we have the power to revision and remake our government. That’s what People’s Action, and United Vision for Idaho, are doing. With this victory, Boise is now slated to become the third city in the Pacific Northwest to pass a city ordinance denouncing White Nationalism and white supremacy. United Vision for Idaho is proud to have played a role in making this happen.
Trump Impeachment Inquiry Begins
Trump impeachment inquiry opens as call transcript is released. NYT: "As the House begins a formal impeachment inquiry, the White House releases the transcript of President Trump’s call with Ukraine’s leader. A transcript shows President Trump urged Ukraine’s leader to contact Attorney General William Barr about opening an inquiry tied to Joe Biden. Two intelligence officials referred Mr. Trump’s activity to the Justice Dept. for a possible criminal inquiry. It declined to open one. President Trump released the transcript on Wednesday of a July 25 call he had with Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, in which he encouraged his Ukrainian counterpart to contact Attorney General William P. Barr about investigating a political rival. Mr. Trump has defiantly denied saying anything inappropriate on the call, but the transcript shows he clearly referred by name to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, and encouraged Mr. Zelensky to reach out to Mr. Barr."
Trump Offered U.S. Assistance For Biden Probe
Transcript of Trump’s call with Ukrainian president shows him offering U.S. assistance for Biden investigation. WaPo: "President Trump told his Ukrainian counterpart to work with the U.S. attorney general to investigate the conduct of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and offered to meet with the foreign leader at the White House after he promised to conduct such an inquiry, according to a newly-released transcript of the call. Those statements and others in a July 25 phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were so concerning that the intelligence community inspector general thought them a possible violation of campaign finance law. In late August, intelligence officials referred the matter to the Justice Department as a possible crime, but prosecutors concluded last week that the conduct was not criminal, according to senior Justice Department officials. The administration’s disclosures underscore how the president’s phone call has consumed the federal government in recent days, and how the White House is now scrambling to defuse the situation by offering more details of what the president said."
How The Democrats Embraced Impeachment
Why the House democratic caucus was able to move towards impeachment. The Intercept: "On September 18, as Democrats prepped for a series of private meetings, it was clear that nerves had been frayed. August had been a challenge for the party’s rank-and-file, as activists and angry citizens back home browbeat them at town halls, grocery stores, and local events for the party’s unwillingness to impeach President Donald Trump. “We spent all summer getting the shit kicked out of us back home,” said one Democrat who received such treatment. The day before, former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski had made a mockery of the Judiciary Committee’s interview of him, betraying open contempt for the process and the people running it. Swing district freshmen Democrats known as frontliners, meanwhile, had spent the last few weeks vocally decrying the pressure on them to call for impeachment, claiming it was putting them in a political jam. Democrats were debating publicly whether the hearings Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., was running at his Judiciary Committee were or were not in fact the launch of impeachment proceedings. Standing athwart the tide of impeachment, yelling stop, was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. It wasn’t her fault that the process had become a fiasco, Pelosi told her colleagues in one meeting. In her opinion, Nadler should have held Lewandowski in contempt 'right then and there.'"
Trump's Economy Leaves Working People Behind
Trump's economy leaves working people behind. Here are the receipts. Common Dreams: "Donald Trump and his enablers are hoping that a strong economy will help the American people look past the damage they are doing to the country. That’s why Trump is constantly crowing about job numbers and the stock market in order to paint a rosy picture of the economy. But when you look closer, the numbers reveal a very different story about Trump’s economy. One: Wages are still stuck. The median annual earnings of full-time wage and salaried workers in 1979, in today’s dollars, was $43,680. The median earnings in 2018 was $45,708. So much for the $4,000 pay raise Trump and Republicans in Congress promised when they cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations. Two: The percent of people with jobs is low. While the unemployment rate is low, employment is not nearly as good as it may look when you consider how many people have given up looking for jobs. The labor-force participation rate – the percent of working-age Americans with jobs – is the lowest it’s been since the late 1970s, when wives and mothers first began streaming into paid work to prop up family incomes. Three: Many people are working part-time jobs. Nearly 4 million Americans are stuck in part-time jobs, unable to find full-time jobs. Many of these part-time gigs are either freelance or contract, offering fewer rights and benefits. In turn, this has increased economic insecurity for millions of families."