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Ryan Greenwood

How You Can Make 2020 The Year The People Win

At People’s Action, we believe in the power of extraordinary everyday people. We also believe this power belongs in government – including in the highest office of the land. That’s why our movement politics program elevates the voices of the multi-racial working class, so we rise above the barriers of concentrated wealth and racism that seek to silence us in society. Elections are the greatest public conversation in the United States over who we are as a nation. We don’t want to beg those in power for crumbs. We want our values to have a voice. And we want real people to run the table. At our People's Forums, real people ask this cycle's leading presidential candidates specific and hard policy questions. But we also ask about candidates’ life experiences and mindset, which includes asking about a time they felt powerless, and what they learned from that experience. That’s the People’s Action difference: real people, real experiences, and a real seat at the table. Our forums are truly a #NoStumpZone, where candidates hear stories and are asked hard questions by the extraordinary everyday people of the multi-racial working class, not by celebrity moderators. Our next People’s Forum is this Saturday, October 26th from noon to 4 p.m. PST in Las Vegas, hosted by PLAN Action of Nevada at the East Las Vegas Community Center. Tickets are free, or you can watch the livestream and join the conversation at CrowdCast. Will you join us at our next People's Forum to help make 2020 the year the people win? We hope so!

Elijah Cummings Lies In State At U.S. Capitol

Elijah Cummings to lie in state at Capitol. Politico: "Congress on Thursday will bid goodbye to Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the son of sharecroppers who rose to become one of the Democratic Party’s most influential figures at a tumultuous time in American politics. The late Oversight Committee chairman — who represented his majority-black Baltimore district in the House for two decades — will become the first African American lawmaker to lie in state in the Capitol, an honor bestowed to only a few dozen statesmen, presidents and military leaders throughout U.S. history. Earlier in the day, Cumming’s casket will lie in state about 75 feet away from a statute of another civil rights icon, Rosa Parks, and just steps away from the bust of the former Confederate president Jefferson Davis — a reminder of Washington’s troubled history on race relations, which Cummings himself battled throughout his life. The ceremony in the Capitol will feature remarks from the highest-ranking members of Congress: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, as well as close friends in the House."

GOP Lawmakers Disrupt Impeachment Hearings

Why did Republicans storm the Capitol? They’re running out of options. NYT: "Around 10 a.m. Wednesday, a gaggle of conservative House members on Capitol Hill staged a 'protest,' barging into the secure room — called a SCIF — where members of three House committees were preparing to hear testimony from Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary of defense. Shepherding the demonstrators was Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida, one of President Trump’s fiercest apologists, whose account live-tweeted the stunt. This was not a fringe move. Representative Steve Scalise, the minority whip, was among the sea of dark-blue suits that surged into the hearing room. Chaos ensued. There were shouting matches. Some of the invading members brought along their cellphones, though they are prohibited inside the secure room. Ms. Cooper’s testimony was delayed, and Democrats called in the sergeant-at-arms for help restoring order. The entire spectacle was a circus — which was the point. This was a publicity stunt aimed at delegitimizing the impeachment investigation that Mr. Trump and his defenders have portrayed as a partisan inquisition. If a few rules and national security precautions got violated along the way, so be it. Mr. Gaetz & Co. were happy to oblige a president who has demanded to be protected at all costs. In fact, Mr. Trump is said to have given them a thumbs-up the day before. Why wouldn’t he? As more and more testimony is disclosed, it becomes clearer that the president’s only defense against impeachment is to distract from the facts and complain about how unfairly he’s being treated."

Building A Wall Through Colorado?

Trump says wall being built through state that doesn't border Mexico. The Hill: "Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) mocked President Trump after he said during a recent speech that the U.S. is building a border wall in Colorado. 'Well this is awkward...Colorado doesn’t border Mexico,' Polis wrote on Facebook after the apparent misstatement by Trump. 'Good thing Colorado now offers free full day kindergarten so our kids can learn basic geography,' he added. During a speech in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, Trump said,'"We’re building a wall in Colorado.' 'We’re building a beautiful wall, a big one that really works that you can’t get over, you can’t get under,' he continued, adding, 'And we’re building a wall in Texas. And we’re not building a wall in Kansas, but they get the benefit of the walls we just mentioned. And Louisiana’s incredible.' Trump in a tweet early Thursday said the remark was made 'kiddingly.'"

Trump Wants Logging In Alaska's Tongass Forest

Trump wants to exempt Tongass National Forest from roadless rule. NPR: "The Trump administration wants to reverse a nearly two decade rule to allow more logging in Alaska's Tongass National Forest. Environmentalists and tribal governments oppose the move. The Trump administration is seeking to lift federal protections on the Tongass National Forest in Alaska, paving the way for possible timber harvests and road construction in the largest national forest in the U.S. The rule has long prohibited development on 9.2 million acres of inventoried roadless areas in the Tongass. The Forest Service's proposal, if approved by the Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, would eliminate that rule for the Tongass and convert 165,000 acres of old-growth and 20,000 acres of young-growth to suitable timber lands."

Saving Family Farms Through Soil Regeneration

The key to saving family farms is in the soil. Common Dreams: "Would it sound too good to be true if I was to say that there was a simple, profitable and underused agricultural method to help feed everybody, cool the planet, and revitalize rural America? I used to think so, until I started visiting farmers who are restoring fertility to their land, stashing a lot of carbon in their soil, and returning healthy profitability to family farms. Now I’ve come to see how restoring soil health would prove as good for farmers and rural economies as it would for the environment. Over the past several years, I drove through small towns from Ohio to the Dakotas visiting farmers to research Growing A Revolution, my book about restoring soil fertility through regenerative farming practices. Along the way, I saw a microcosm of the national economy in which run-down farms and hollowed-out towns stood in stark contrast to farms and communities thriving with renewed vitality. These revitalized farms came in all sizes—hand-worked three-acre vegetable farms to horizon-spanning ranches where enormous remote-controlled contraptions seemingly cast out of Star Wars seeded and harvested fields with GPS-guided precision. Yet it was not size or technology that distinguished these places, but how they worked the land.
How did those farmers do it? The successful regenerative farmers I visited all combined three unconventional practices that cultivate beneficial soil life: They parked their plows, planted cover crops, and grew complex crop rotations. Some also reintroduced livestock to their fields, employing a shifting mosaic of single-wire electric fences to frequently move cattle and implement regenerative grazing methods. These farmers were rethinking how they saw and treated their land."