by Tim Wilkins | Oct 22, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Sam Pizzigati America’s Rich Just Scored A Triple Jackpot In 2008 America’s 400 richest households paid taxes at a lower rate than any other income cohort in the nation - the first time that’s happened since the modern federal income tax went into...
by Sam Pizzigati | Oct 22, 2019 | Economy, Featured, Inequality
At racetracks all across America, lucky bettors every so often rake in small fortunes when the horses they pick to finish one, two, three — a trifecta — just happen to finish in that order. Last spring at the Kentucky Derby, for instance, a $1 trifecta bet returned a...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 21, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Alyssa Aguilera, Jeremy Saunders Our Fight For Freedom Is Far From Over New York’s City Council has voted to allow the construction of four new jails as part of a plan to close Rikers Island, where thousands of New Yorkers are jailed. The vast majority...
by Alyssa Aguilera, Jeremy Saunders | Oct 21, 2019 | Blog, Criminal Justice, Featured, Protest
New York’s City Council has voted to allow the construction of four new jails as part of a plan to close Rikers Island, where thousands of New Yorkers are jailed. The vast majority are there without convictions because they can’t afford bail, or locked up when their...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 18, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Isaac Grimm Shining A Light On New Hampshire’s Housing Crisis Spotlights hit New Hampshire every four years, when presidential candidates roll into town. For months, we trip over them everywhere – at diners, supermarkets, town halls, and on small-town...
by Isaac Grimm | Oct 18, 2019 | #PeoplesWave, Blog, Democracy, Election, Featured, Housing
Spotlights hit New Hampshire every four years, when presidential candidates roll into town. For months, we trip over them everywhere - at diners, supermarkets, town halls, and on small-town street corners. Every candidate is hoping we, as first-in-the-nation primary...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 17, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Joy Blackwood Is Speaking Up For Medicare For All A Crime? As a longtime D.C.-area advocate, I’ve visited Capitol Hill and Members of Congress many times. But never before have I felt I might face arrest for exercising my constitutional rights! On...
by Joy Blackwood | Oct 17, 2019 | Blog, Democracy, Featured, Health
As a longtime D.C.-area advocate, I’ve visited Capitol Hill and Members of Congress many times. But never before have I felt I might face arrest for exercising my constitutional rights! Capitol Police are actively stopping us from delivering #MedicareForAll petitions...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 16, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE James Mumm Shutting Things Down To Open Things Up Have you heard about the life-affirming, healing power of direct action? You might need it. You may think direct action — the kind of protest that directly confronts power and shifts it from the hands...
by James Mumm | Oct 16, 2019 | Blog, Climate, Democracy, Featured, Protest
Have you heard about the life-affirming, healing power of direct action? You might need it. You may think direct action — the kind of protest that directly confronts power and shifts it from the hands of the few to those of the many — is something you do when...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 15, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Conway American Democracy is Not A Charity Case America’s very democracy is dying because billionaires amass ever more wealth—and thus ever more political power—while everyone else struggles with less. Less money. But, just as importantly, less...
by Tom Conway | Oct 15, 2019 | Blog, Economy, Featured
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, America’s fourth-richest person, finally admitted that no one deserves to accumulate as much wealth as he has. But hey, he says, at least he plans to give a lot of his $69.6 billion net worth to charity. That’s nice. But it’s not enough...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 14, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Judith LeBlanc Tribal Sovereignty And The Struggle For Democracy In 2020 In Indian Country, we are concerned about the future. From an indigenous point of view, we link our ancestors and the past with the future by how we walk in the present, how we...
by Judith LeBlanc | Oct 14, 2019 | Blog, Democracy, Election, Featured
Judith LeBlanc, Director of the Native Organizers Alliance (NOA), helped organize the recent Frank LaMere Native American Presidential Forum in Sioux, City, Iowa. This was the first-ever presidential forum convened by Native communities. She sat down with Organizing...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 11, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Negin Owliaei No One Should Have to Bargain For Health Care Nearly 50,000 members of the United Auto Workers are on strike, demanding that General Motors pay them their fair share of the billions in profits the company raked in last year. The response...
by Negin Owliaei | Oct 11, 2019 | Breakfast, Featured, Health, Jobs and Growth
Nearly 50,000 members of the United Auto Workers are on strike, demanding that General Motors pay them their fair share of the billions in profits the company raked in last year. The response from General Motors was shocking. The automaker, which accepted billions in...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 10, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Theo Wuest Don’t Leave Equality To The Supreme Court Are you a woman? Imagine if you were fired for wearing a skirt to work. Are you a man? Imagine getting fired for not wearing a skirt to work. This sounds ridiculous, right? It sounds unfair. But for...
by Theo Wuest | Oct 10, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Gender Justice
Are you a woman? Imagine if you were fired for wearing a skirt to work. Are you a man? Imagine getting fired for not wearing a skirt to work. This sounds ridiculous, right? It sounds unfair. But for many Americans, it’s a reality we must face every day. Take the case...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 9, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Laura Martin To Win Big, We Must Dream First November 2018’s blue wave handed Nevada Democrats full control over our state government for the first time in 27 years, and prompted some observers to imagine that we’re now “the state that liberal dreams...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 8, 2019 | Blog, Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Conway Why Workers Like Victoria Need The PRO Act Now Those bundles of joy cost bundles of money, so Victoria Whipple, a quality control worker at Kumho Tire in Macon, Ga., had been working overtime to get ready for her new arrival. She also got...
by Tom Conway | Oct 8, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Future of Work, Jobs and Growth
Those bundles of joy cost bundles of money, so Victoria Whipple, a quality control worker at Kumho Tire in Macon, Ga., had been working overtime to get ready for her new arrival. She also got involved in union organizing at the plant, and management decided to teach...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 7, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Colleen Kennedy Pennsylvania Is Ready For A Just, Clean-Energy Future Ever since 1859, when Edwin Drake ushered in the modern era’s addiction to fossil fuels when he struck “rock oil” in Titusville, Pennsylvania has been at the front lines of the...
by Colleen Kennedy | Oct 7, 2019 | Climate, Economy, Featured
Pennsylvania is ready for a just, clean-energy future. Ever since 1859, when Edwin Drake ushered in the modern era’s addiction to fossil fuels when he struck “rock oil” in Titusville, our state has been at the front lines of the extraction industry’s booms and busts....
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 4, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Larry Stafford Why Justice for Botham Jean Is Impossible I’ve been thinking about Amber Guyger's conviction for the murder of Botham Jean, and seeing different perspectives on the timeline. Lately, I’ve been seeking to understand more about what some...
by Larry Stafford | Oct 4, 2019 | Blog, Criminal Justice, Featured, Race
Photo credit: KENS-TV screenshot / YouTube I’ve been thinking about this Amber Guyger verdict, and seeing different perspectives on the timeline. Lately, I’ve been seeking to understand more about what some call an abolitionist framework around the criminal legal...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 3, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Daniel Aldana Cohen A Successful Climate Plan Must Also Tackle The Housing Crisis One truly radical and intersectional approach to connecting the dots between the climate crisis and the crises of economic and racial inequality that afflict us every...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 2, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Sasha Abramsky HUD Is Planning a Bureaucratic Pogrom Against Public Housing Tenants Donald Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development is proposing rule changes that would upset decades of settled policy. Under the proposed new rules, if a...
by Tim Wilkins | Oct 1, 2019 | Blog
MORNING MESSAGE Tobita Chow How The U.S. Left Should Approach China While Trump's trade war with China threatens to trigger a global recession, Trump is reacting by continuing his economic attacks as well as blaming supposed internal enemies, such as the “fake news...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 30, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Miles Mogulescu Fighting Corruption Must Be Our Focus In 2020 Like pornography, corruption comes in hard-core and soft-core versions. Donald Trump’s record of self-dealing is the very definition of hard-core corruption. If it were porn, it would only...
by Miles Mogulescu | Sep 30, 2019 | Blog, Election, Featured
Like pornography, corruption comes in hard-core and soft-core versions. Donald Trump’s record of self-dealing is the very definition of hard-core corruption. If it were porn, it would only be sold in a brown-paper bag. He should have been impeached long ago for his...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 27, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tom Conway Even the Grim Reaper Favors the Rich Income inequality is a pox on America. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. CEO pay keeps rising while workers’ paychecks have been all but flat for decades. As a result, income...
by Tom Conway | Sep 27, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Inequality
Regular exercise and an apple a day may help to keep the doctor away. But to live a long, healthy life, it helps to be rich. Income inequality is a pox on America. The rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer. CEO pay keeps rising while workers’...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 26, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Sam Pizzigati The GM Strike: A Century of Context Wars end with treaties. In the middle of the 20th century, the “class war” that finished off America’s original plutocracy ended with the “Treaty of Detroit.” In exchange for labor peace, GM guaranteed...
by Sam Pizzigati | Sep 26, 2019 | Blog, Featured, Future of Work, Inequality
Wars end with treaties. In the middle of the 20th century, the “class war” that finished off America’s original plutocracy ended with the “Treaty of Detroit.” Fortune, the business magazine, came up with that catchy turn of phrase back in 1950 to describe the landmark...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 25, 2019 | Breakfast
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...
by Adrienne Evans | Sep 25, 2019 | Featured, Organizing, Race, White Nationalism
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...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 24, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Jeff Bryant How Private Search Firms Skim Millions From Public Schools The education world was rocked in 2015 when Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett was convicted and sentenced to prison for accepting kickbacks from SUPES, a private...
by Jeff Bryant | Sep 24, 2019 | Blog, Education, Featured
Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett. Photo credit: City Club of Chicago / cc In July 2013, the education world was rocked when a breaking story by Chicago independent journalist Sarah Karp reported that district CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett had pushed...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 23, 2019 | Breakfast
MORNING MESSAGE Tim Wilkins The People’s Forum: Presidential Candidates Fresh, Not Fried “We are a force that our land and our people desperately need.” With these words, Barb Kalbach – registered nurse, fourth-generation family farmer and board chair of Iowa CCI...
by Tim Wilkins | Sep 23, 2019 | Blog, Democracy, Election, Featured
"We are a force that our land and our people desperately need.” With these words, Barb Kalbach – registered nurse, fourth-generation family farmer and board chair of Iowa CCI Action – opened the Iowa People’s Presidential Forum in Des Moines this Saturday. She was...
