by Jeff Bryant | Oct 11, 2018 | Blog
News about wealthy folks giving millions to education draw both praise and criticism. But two new reports by public education advocacy groups reveal the real impact rich people have on schools and how they've chosen to leverage their money to influence the system....
by People's Action | Oct 10, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Lifts Ethanol Restrictions Trump seeks new ethanol policy to help Republicans in the midterms. WaPo: "So less than a month before Election Day, Trump traveled to southwest Iowa on Tuesday to try and bolster his and his party's fortunes there in November and...
by Amy Halsted | Oct 10, 2018 | Blog
Many Mainers, especially women newly engaged around the recent Supreme Court fight, are asking me what’s next, now that Brett Kavanaugh has been seated on the Supreme Court. My answer? Building power at the state level matters now more than ever. We’re four weeks away...
by People's Action | Oct 9, 2018 | Breakfast
Organize, Don't Agonize 'Own October': Pelosi tells colleagues to organize, not agonize after Kavanaugh confirmation. The Hill: "'We must not agonize, we must organize. People must vote,' Pelosi said Sunday in an open letter to colleagues. 'To achieve this, we must...
by Daniel Karon | Oct 9, 2018 | Blog
Is there anything left in GOP politics that doesn’t involve sex? If you ask Lindsey Graham, the “single, white male from South Carolina [who] will not shut up,” or Orrin Hatch, the tone-deaf octogenarian who knows an “attractive” and “pleasing” victim of sex abuse...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 9, 2018 | Blog
What if some communities no longer have public schools? That question, once unthinkable in America, may now be something policy leaders and lawmakers in at least one state may want to consider. In Michigan – home state to U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos whose...
by People's Action | Oct 8, 2018 | Breakfast
More U.S. Cities Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day Across the US, more cities ditch Columbus Day to honor those who really discovered America. CNN: "By now, you probably know Christopher Columbus didn't discover America. He wasn't even the first European to do it....
by Josie Mooney | Oct 8, 2018 | Blog
The fight over Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court revealed truths that often stay unspoken in American life. The first is how many of us are touched by sexual violence. A second is the deep fear that a loss of privilege strikes in the hearts of some....
by Miles Mogulescu | Oct 8, 2018 | Blog
RED ALERT! Georgia has purged nearly ten percent of its registered voters – nearly 750,000 people -from the voting rolls without their ever knowing. Now these voters have just one more day to reregister. IF YOU VOTE IN GEORGIA, OR KNOW ANYONE WHO DOES, BE SURE TO...
by People's Action | Oct 5, 2018 | Breakfast
Protesters Rally To Stop Kavanaugh 'We Believe Survivors': Demonstrators Throng Capitol Hill To Protest Kavanaugh. NPR: "With Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination speeding toward a Senate confirmation vote, demonstrators descended on Washington, D.C., to...
by Gary Zuckett | Oct 5, 2018 | Blog
It was 5:00 a.m. when West Virginia Citizen Action members and coalition activists boarded a bus to cross the Allegheny Mountains as we headed towards Washington, D.C. We had one goal in mind: keep Brett Kavanaugh off the Supreme Court. Along the way, we stopped in...
by People's Action | Oct 4, 2018 | Breakfast
GOP Senate Pushes Kavanaugh Vote Senators prepare to review FBI report on Kavanaugh after early morning arrival. WaPo: "Senators prepared to view the FBI’s completed report on Supreme Court nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh, which the Judiciary Committee announced it had...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 4, 2018 | Blog
After years of credible reporting on the rampant corruption in the charter school industry, the schools are now drawing more scrutiny from state lawmakers and regulators, and political candidates are making negative stories about charters a contentious issue in the...
by People's Action | Oct 3, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Broke Tax Laws To Shield Dad's Millions Trump engaged in suspect tax schemes as he reaped riches from his father. NYT: "President Trump participated in dubious tax schemes during the 1990s, including instances of outright fraud, that greatly increased the...
by Tony Pierce | Oct 3, 2018 | Blog
My name is Reverend Tony Pierce, and I am co-senior pastor of Heaven’s View Christian Fellowship in Peoria, Illinois and Board President of Illinois People’s Action. On Monday, together with forty grassroots leaders from across Illinois, we shut down the morning...
by People's Action | Oct 2, 2018 | Breakfast
U.S., Canada, Mexico Agree to 'NAFTA 2.0' Revised Nafta sets up a showdown with China. NYT: "A jubilant Mr. Trump celebrated the new Nafta agreement as the fulfillment of a bedrock campaign promise. He claimed it was a vindication of his aggressive use of tariffs and...
by Sam Pizzigati | Oct 2, 2018 | Blog
In the United States, back during the Great Depression, three simple words animated a grassroots upsurge that would help make this nation the world’s first mass middle-class society: Share the wealth! And the nation did. By the end of the 1960s, the top one percent’s...
by People's Action | Oct 1, 2018 | Breakfast
House Passes More Tax Cuts House passes tax-cut bills despite unlikely Senate action. CNBC: "A three-bill legislative package known as Tax Reform 2.0 cleared the GOP-dominated House during votes on Thursday and Friday. While the legislation is expected to be dead on...
by Jeff Bryant | Oct 1, 2018 | Blog
A new wave of education voters may well make Dr. David Garcia the next governor of Arizona, where the professor, school administrator and Democratic nominee is taking on GOP incumbent Doug Ducey. "Democrats see education as Ducey's greatest vulnerability," according...
by Miles Mogulescu | Oct 1, 2018 | Blog
If you want to discover the truth instead of cover it up, would you appoint the accused’s lawyer to supervise and control the investigation of the charges against him? That’s exactly what the Trump White House and Senate Republicans are doing with the one-week FBI...
by People's Action | Sep 28, 2018 | Breakfast
If You Believe Dr. Blasey, You Vote NO An emotional hearing, with the Supreme Court at stake. NYT: "Christine Blasey Ford, the first accuser to come forward and accuse Judge Kavanaugh of grave sexual misconduct, says that he assaulted her when they were teenagers,...
by Josie Mooney | Sep 28, 2018 | Blog
We’re all so busy these days that I can barely remember what I did yesterday. I may forget that paper I promised to send, or where I left my keys. Like all of you, I work hard, so it’s easy to get distracted. In sharp contrast, I remember every unwanted and aggressive...
by People's Action | Sep 27, 2018 | Breakfast
Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh Testify A day that will resonate in history. CNN: "When Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh and his original accuser Christine Blasey Ford deliver dueling testimony on Thursday, they will conjure drama of an intensity unusual even in the Trump...
by Jessica Juarez Scruggs | Sep 27, 2018 | Blog
“It was years ago - can’t she just let it go? Let the man be!” That’s what a West Virginian shouted to me before he slammed his phone down. I was an hour into a phone bank, calling voters in the state, asking them to contact Senator Joe Manchin and tell him to vote NO...
by People's Action | Sep 26, 2018 | Breakfast
Kavanaugh, Ford Testify Thursday Democrats in the dark on eve of historic Kavanaugh hearing. Politico: "Tens of millions of people will be watching Christine Blasey Ford when she appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a potentially history-shaping hearing...
by Leo Gerard | Sep 26, 2018 | Blog
Democracy is tough for one-percenters. They’ve got all that money but, hypothetically, no more voting power than their chauffeur or yacht captain or nanny. In this one-person, one-vote democracy, though, they’ve got a plan to fix all that for themselves. They’re...
by People's Action | Sep 25, 2018 | Breakfast
Sexual Violence Survivors Flood Capitol Hill Dozens arrested as survivors flood Capitol Hill to share trauma of sexual assault, demand Senate reject Kavanaugh. Common Dreams: "Ahead of a 1pm national walkout on Monday to support Dr. Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 25, 2018 | Blog
Long-time Republican Party political strategists are having fits. If only we could get average Americans to focus in on the economy instead of The Donald, they’re telling all comers, the GOP would do just fine in the upcoming November midterm elections. Those...
by People's Action | Sep 24, 2018 | Breakfast
Kavanaugh Faces New Allegations, Dems Demand Delay Senate Judiciary panel’s top Democrat calls for delay in Kavanaugh hearing after new allegation. WaPo: "Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, called late Sunday for a delay in...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 24, 2018 | Blog
The Democratic party has vowed to brand Republicans as the party of corruption in political campaigns for the upcoming midterm elections in November. Given the slew of scandal-ridden people that surround President Trump and the alleged crimes committed by...
by People's Action | Sep 21, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Cuts Head Start, Cancer Research To Pay for Child Jails Cuts to cancer research, Head Start, and women's shelters among $226 Million diverted to pay for dhild detention. Common Dreams: "Along with tens of thousands of children and families, cancer patients,...
by Miles Mogulescu | Sep 21, 2018 | Blog
The biggest reason Republicans are frantically trying to rush Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation through, despite credible charges of sexual harassment and perjury, is that his confirmation would complete a slow-moving coup by their oligarchic donor class to...
by People's Action | Sep 20, 2018 | Breakfast
McCaskill To Vote NO On Kavanaugh Sen. Claire McCaskill: 'I will vote No on Judge Kavanaugh'. NPR: "Sen. Claire McCaskill says she will vote against Brett Kavanaugh's nomination to the Supreme Court, but the Missouri Democrat, who is facing re-election in November,...
by Laurel Wales | Sep 20, 2018 | Blog, Democracy, Election, Leigh Friedman, Politics
Laurel Wales, People’s Action Deputy Director of Movement Politics, sat down with Our Future's Leigh Friedman to talk about the outlook for grassroots candidates in November's general election and beyond. This is part two of a two-part interview. OF: As all eyes turn...
by People's Action | Sep 19, 2018 | Breakfast
Kavanaugh Accuser Calls For FBI Investigation After Threats Christine Blasey Ford wants F.B.I. to investigate Kavanaugh before she testifies. NYT: "The woman who has accused President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee of sexual assault all but ruled out appearing at an...
by Isaac Grimm | Sep 19, 2018 | Blog
New Hampshire is ready to flip from Red to Blue. Donald Trump likes to boast of his support in the Granite State, but the record turnout in Democratic primaries - more than 120,000, fifty thousand more than the last record - proves the bloom is now fully off the rose....
by People's Action | Sep 18, 2018 | Breakfast
Kavanaugh To Face Sex Assault Accusation Kavanaugh allegations set stage for Anita Hill sequel. The Hill: "Brett Kavanaugh, a Supreme Court nominee who last week appeared to be cruising toward confirmation, has suddenly found himself in the sequel to the Clarence...
by Julia Solow | Sep 18, 2018 | Blog
It was decision time in Westchester County. After three years of debate and a contentious four-hour hearing, the village council in Ossining - a quiet town sandwiched between the Trump National Golf Course and Sing Sing prison - voted to approve the Emergency Tenant...
by People's Action | Sep 17, 2018 | Breakfast
Kavanaugh Nomination Stalls After Allegations Flake calls for no Kavanaugh vote until accuser is heard. MarketWatch: "A vote on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation was thrown into doubt Sunday after Sen. Jeff Flake said he’s currently “not comfortable...
by Robert Borosage | Sep 17, 2018 | Blog
The insurgent progressive movement has good reasons to celebrate as primary season comes to an end, much to the dismay of the corporate wing of the Democratic party. The victories of young, fresh insurgents get the most attention, but equally important is the...
