by Robert Borosage | Aug 17, 2018 | Blog
Mainstream media has settled into conventional themes about this year's primary elections. After Tuesday’s voting in Wisconsin, Iowa, Vermont and Connecticut, the press trotted out the expected conclusions: “Democrats go for diversity; Republicans pick pro Trump...
by People's Action | Aug 16, 2018 | Breakfast
Coast-To-Coast Editorials Rebuke Trump Hundreds of newspapers denounce Trump's attacks on media in coordinated editorials. NPR: "More than 300 news publications across the country are joining together to defend the role of a free press and denounce President Trump's...
by Miles Mogulescu | Aug 16, 2018 | Blog
Millions of Americans sit helplessly by as an unfit, narcissistic, ignorant, pathologically lying, misogynistic, racist, xenophobic President allies himself with Russia and Putin against our government. He does nothing to protect American elections against continued...
by People's Action | Aug 15, 2018 | Breakfast
Diversity Wins In Tuesday's Primaries Diverse candidates rule the night and other takeaways from Tuesday's primaries. CNN: "The nation's first transgender governor, its first Somali-American woman in Congress and its first black woman in Connecticut's congressional...
by Robert Kraig | Aug 15, 2018 | Blog
Mandela Barnes, Marisabel Cabrera, Jeff Smith and Sarah Godlewski: remember these names. These four members of Citizen Action Wisconsin, who all won primary races Tuesday night by wide margins, are proof the blue wave Democrats hope will crest in November continues to...
by People's Action | Aug 14, 2018 | Breakfast
Primary Votes In Four States What To Watch In Tuesday's primaries: WI, MN, CT, VT. NPR: "Primary voters in four more states — Connecticut, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Vermont — go to the polls on Tuesday. This year's been dominated by talk of Democratic gains, but today...
by Adrienne Evans | Aug 14, 2018 | Blog
A lot is at stake when we go to vote this year. It’s about restoring our faith in our leaders, but more than that, it’s about restoring our faith in one another. How did we get here? Let’s step back to November, two years ago. For some, that was a vote of privilege –...
by People's Action | Aug 13, 2018 | Breakfast
Midwest Primary Voters At Crossroads WI faces a political crossroads Tuesday. Which way will it go? NYT: "Wisconsin’s urgent struggle to define — or redefine — its political direction is part of a larger identity crisis that has rippled across the Upper Midwest since...
by Jeff Bryant | Aug 13, 2018 | Blog
Tony Evers leads in polls among the slew of Democratic candidates vying to take on Scott Walker to become Wisconsin's next governor. But is he pro-public school enough to win? U.S. Air Force/Kathleen D. Bryant Support for public education and public school teachers...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 10, 2018 | Uncategorized
Judge Halts Deportation, Threatens Sessions With Contempt Judge halts deportation of mother and daughter, threatens to hold Sessions in contempt. WaPo: "A federal judge in Washington halted a deportation in progress Thursday and threatened to hold Attorney General...
by Negin Owliaei | Aug 10, 2018 | Blog
What’s the best way to push profit-seeking corporations out of the public sphere? Don’t let them take over in the first place. Residents of Lancaster County, Penn. were thrilled to learn this lesson with their recent victory against Geo Group, a giant of the private...
by People's Action | Aug 9, 2018 | Breakfast
GOP NY Rep. Collins Arrested For Corruption GOP Rep. Chris Collins charged with securities fraud. Politico: "Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), the first member of Congress to back President Donald Trump before the 2016 election, was indicted Wednesday by federal...
by Erik Shelley | Aug 9, 2018 | Blog
Voters in Michigan’s 19th district will have an alternative to the career politicians they are used to seeing on ballot in November. Microbiologist Laurie Pohutsky won the Democratic nomination in the Tuesday primary election. She was one of 5 aspiring state...
by Robert Borosage | Aug 9, 2018 | Blog
Voters turned out in primary elections across Ohio, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Washington on Tuesday. Any conclusions drawn from primaries three months out from a midterm vote are written in the wind. That does not stop the press from naming “winners and losers,”...
by People's Action | Aug 8, 2018 | Breakfast
MO Blocks Right-To-Work Law Missouri blocks right-to-work law. NPR: "Voters in Missouri have overwhelmingly rejected a right-to-work law passed by the state's Republican-controlled legislature that would have banned compulsory union fees — a resounding victory for...
by Jake Jacobs | Aug 8, 2018 | Blog
On a recent trip to New York City, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos visited two schools—not the public schools her agency is charged with overseeing, but two Orthodox Jewish yeshivas. Photo credit: Shutterstock / cc DeVos used the opportunity to advocate for...
by People's Action | Aug 7, 2018 | Breakfast
Five States Head To Polls GOP Fears Ohio upset; Trump And Ocasio-Cortez back challengers. NPR: "A critical House special election on Tuesday could provide some of the biggest clues yet about how much trouble Republicans could be in this November. In Ohio, the last...
by Tim Wilkins | Aug 7, 2018 | Blog
All across America, residents of rural communities and small towns are stepping up to stand in solidarity with immigrant families and refuse the intimidation and fear the Trump administration wants to use to keep them apart. “It’s really concerning that in America, we...
by People's Action | Aug 6, 2018 | Breakfast
Federal Judge Orders WH To Restart DACA Federal judge orders Trump sdministration to restart DACA in full. NYM: "A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to fully restart the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the fourth district court ruling...
by Jeff Bryant | Aug 4, 2018 | Blog
Remember when Democrats, at the urging of their progressive base, defeated an attempt to privatize Social Security by President George W. Bush in 2005? As Bush barnstormed the country to sell his plan to let workers place a portion of their payroll taxes in personal...
by People's Action | Aug 3, 2018 | Breakfast
Big Oil Loves EPA Move To Relax Fuel Standards Big Oil cheers Trump moves to ease auto standards. Bloomberg: "The Trump administration’s plan to relax fuel-economy and vehicle pollution standards could be a boon to U.S. oil producers who’ve quietly lobbied for the...
by Richard Eskow | Aug 3, 2018 | Blog
The House Democratic leadership's obsession with asserting a “centrist” – that is, fiscally conservative - fiscal ideology threatens to put the party at odds with its base. It endangers the party’s chances of retaking the House, and will make it difficult for...
by People's Action | Aug 2, 2018 | Breakfast
Judge Rules For Sanctuary Cities Trump’s order against ‘sanctuary cities’ is unconstitutional. WaPo: "A federal appeals court in California ruled Wednesday that President Trump acted beyond his authority when issuing an executive order attempting to penalize...
by Ashana Bigard | Aug 2, 2018 | Blog
Ashana Bigard speaks on a panel about New Orleans schools after Hurricane Katrina at NetRoots Nation in New Orleans on Thursday, August 2 at 10:30 a.m. OurFuture education columnist Jeff Bryant moderates this panel, and leads one on 2018's teacher uprisings on Friday,...
by Andy Spears | Aug 2, 2018 | Blog
Thursday, August 2, 2018 is Primary Election Day in Tennessee. To find out when and where to vote, click here. Tennessee is a national leader – in a race to the bottom. We lead the nation in hospital closures per capita. We have more people working for the minimum...
by People's Action | Aug 1, 2018 | Breakfast
ICE Says Detention Is Like "Summer Camp" Migrant detention centers are ‘Like a Summer Camp,’ official says at hearing. NYT: "Not until the day it was announced did senior officials from three key agencies learn of the Trump administration’s 'zero tolerance' policy to...
by Leo Gerard | Aug 1, 2018 | Blog
Republicans live in an Alice-in-Wonderland World where they can pass $1.5 trillion in tax cuts that won’t cost anything. They’ll pay for themselves! Just like a worker’s mortgage does every month. Just pays for itself! And then the GOP can propose another $1 trillion...
by Miles Mogulescu | Aug 1, 2018 | Blog
Hey Rudy: back in the day when you were a federal prosecutor, you were a pretty good lawyer. Maybe you’ve gone senile. Or maybe you’re just making stuff up to confuse the public about the possible criminal liability of top Trump campaign officials, or even President...
by People's Action | Jul 31, 2018 | Breakfast
Rural Communities Step Up For Immigrant Families Why it's time to show more compassion for immigrant families. Des Moines Register: "The Trump administration says that ICE is supposed to target criminals and violent offenders. But we’re not seeing violent criminals...
by Justin Vest | Jul 31, 2018 | Blog
Justin Vest and other members of Hometown Action are hosting a #FamiliesBelongTogether Potluck in Athens, AL on August 26, 2018. To attend or host a cookout in your hometown, click here. This summer, people gathered in cities throughout the country to protest our...
by People's Action | Jul 30, 2018 | Breakfast
ICE 'Deletes' Families It Now Can't Reunite ‘Deleted’ families: What went wrong with Trump’s family-separation effort. WaPo: "When a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reunify migrant families separated at the border, the government’s cleanup crews...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 30, 2018 | Blog
Donald Trump has been bragging about the economy a lot lately. He says the United States is now the “economic envy” of the world. Unfortunately, Trump is once again trying to reshape reality to fit his own delusions. Reality is refusing to cooperate. It’s true the...
by People's Action | Jul 27, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Crows Over Growth G.D.P. grew at 4.1% Rate in U.S. in Latest Quarter. Here’s What That Means. NYT: "The Commerce Department released its initial estimate of second-quarter economic growth on Friday, providing the latest snapshot of the American economy. Economic...
by Robert Borosage | Jul 27, 2018 | Blog
When Trump strikes a populist tone, expose him as a fraud - don’t back the corporate stance. Last week on CNBC, President Donald Trump upbraided the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates. “I don’t like all of this work that we’re putting into the economy and then...
by People's Action | Jul 26, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump Claims Trade Truce With EU Why Trump blinked. CNN: "The announcement on trade was dressed up as a huge victory, held in the Rose Garden, the traditional venue for big state announcements, and in front of a group of Republican lawmakers apparently called down...
by Jeff Bryant | Jul 26, 2018 | Blog
A new push by supporters of charter schools to promote their "education reform" agenda and vilify opponents should anger progressives. Those who mention the flaws and failures of charters are now being accused of "classic whataboutism." Specifically, David Leonhardt,...
by People's Action | Jul 25, 2018 | Breakfast
Trump, EU's Juncker Face Off On Trade Trump set for tense trade talks with top EU chief Juncker. CNBC: "The White House will open its doors for the president of the European Commission Wednesday, with relations looking strained amid tariffs and the possibility of an...
by George Goehl | Jul 25, 2018 | Blog
There’s an old Creole proverb, “Tell me who you love, and I’ll tell you who you are.” By standing up for migrant families and children, people from small towns and small cities across the country are telling us who we love and what they stand for. On June 30th,...
by Tim Wilkins | Jul 24, 2018 | Uncategorized
Trump Moves To Silence Critics Trump moves to silence critics. CNN: "President Donald Trump's latest gambit to choke off the flow of information for past spy chiefs who have criticized him is a disturbing move that again exposes an imperious streak out of place in...
by Richard Eskow | Jul 24, 2018 | Blog
One easy way to draw attention to an opinion piece is with a “hot take” or two that change some widely-held belief. This is an especially popular gambit if that belief is held by the left. Financial journalist Roger Lowenstein did that recently in the Washington Post,...
