Nina! Nina! Nina!

Nina! Nina! Nina!

by C.A. Matthews

Nina! Nina! Nina!

The chant is infectious. The roar of the crowd is deafening. To hear Nina Turner speak in person is electrifying. You just know you're going to hear the truth and it will set you free whenever you're in the presence of one of the progressive movement's most gifted orators.

I remember the first time we caught up with the former Ohio state senator on the campaign trail. It was early 2016. Nina Turner was the "opener" to Bernie Sanders at a Sanders rally at Baldwin-Wallace University, just south of Cleveland proper. It was a cold winter's day, but well worth the trip. Still a relative newcomer to the national progressive scene, Nina's straight talk and heartfelt inspiration mobilized the troops for Bernie that day.

We were fortunate to hear Nina introduce Bernie again--and all because we made that first trek in the dark and cold to Cleveland. After the Baldwin-Wallace rally, I was fortunate enough to get down to the floor to shake Nina's hand and chat with her for a minute.

 "Nina, you've gotta get Bernie to come to Toledo for a rally!" I shouted over the noise of the crowd. 

"You're right. We need to support our brothers and sisters in western Ohio," she replied. 

Meeting Nina Turner at Baldwin-Wallace University

Sure enough, within a few weeks' time--and with less than 24 hours notice--a Bernie rally was scheduled to take place in Toledo. Along with Bernie and Nina, we also heard from Congresswomen Tulsi Gabbard and Marcy Kaptur, among others. Sort of a "grand slam" of  political celebrities, you could say. 

Without Nina Turner's ever-present support and superb oratory skills, Bernie probably wouldn't have made it as far as he did before the DNC pulled the rug out from under him in the latter half of the 2016 primary season when their chosen candidate was slipping in the polls. It truly was a crime when the DNC leadership refused to allow Nina on stage to introduce Bernie at the nomination convention in Philadelphia. A knife in the back would have been kinder, in my opinion.

To say I'm a "big Nina Turner fan" is an understatement. Even after Bernie Sanders called it quits in 2016, I still harbored much respect and affection for Nina. I've kept up with her work as the first president of Our Revolution, and secretly hoped she would run for a statewide office (like governor) so I could vote for her. Finally, she's taking the plunge--only she's running for US Congress from Ohio 11th district (eastern side of Cleveland to the Akron area). Alas, I live in Ohio's 9th congressional district across the state. So close and yet so far!

While I'm excited to see Nina Turner running for Congress--as she will be a much needed progressive voice there--I won't lie to you. I'm very disappointed to see her running in the Democratic Party primary. Didn't she learn anything about the dirty Dem's duplicity during her time with Bernie Sanders' two presidential campaigns? The Democratic Party leadership have already provided obvious clues that they've chosen their candidate (Shontel Brown) to replace Rep. Marcia Fudge, who will be stepping down to serve in the Biden administration. And after Nina recently spoke at the virtual (online) convention for the Movement for a People's Party, the DNC isn't going to be happy about her openly siding with a new progressive party.

Oh, Nina! Nina! Nina! I feel like crying out. Why can't you run as an independent, a Green, the first big name under the People's Party banner or a Party for Socialism and Liberation candidate instead? Anything except one of those not-to-be-trusted Dems.

The next couple of months will be decisive. Nina will know for certain who all she'll be up against in the Democratic Party primary before too long. Biden will be installed as the next paid-off puppet of the oligarchy in D.C. on January 20. The People's Party has formed officially and been registered in its first state (Maine) and is working hard to do the same in many others. The Green Party US is mopping up after the bloodbath of ballot banishing in several states (including Ohio) and congratulating the many Greens who beat the odds and were successfully elected to local offices. Progressives and their organizations are in a state of flux presently. All is not lost, but things do need improvement.

By the time the special election to replace Rep. Fudge's vacated seat rolls around this spring, we should know more about the lay of the land. Nina could have changed her mind about running in the Democratic Party primary at that point. We'll see. My fingers are crossed that she'll win whatever primary she enters and then the special election and then be seated in Congress. After all, that's where Senator Bernie Sanders first entered the national stage--and just look how far he's come. 

I hope that one day soon we'll be able to call our favorite truth-teller, "President Nina Turner." And we'll be chanting joyfully together once more: Nina! Nina! Nina!

Related Links:

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/12/09/nina-turner-files-run-congress-ohio

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/henrygomez/nina-turner-congress-ohio-11

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/2020/12/12/national-democratic-party-complicated-iowas-caucus-efforts-dnc/6509514002/

***

Tell Congress NOT to cut endometriosis funding!

Sign now with a click

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, Chairman Shelby, Vice Chairman Leahy, Chairwoman Lowey, and Ranking Member Granger: As advocacy organizations and individuals that understand firsthand the pain and hardship endured by those living with endometriosis, we urge you to support the requests led by Representatives Finkenauer and González-Colón along with Senators Romney and Warren to prioritize funding for endometriosis research in the upcoming fiscal year. Specifically, we ask that you increase funding for the National Institute of Health National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) to at least the levels included in the House-passed bill as well as include report language that lists endometriosis as an eligible condition under the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). Endometriosis affects about one in ten women, can cause intense pain, and is a leading cause of infertility. Despite its prevalence and health impacts, too little funding has been dedicated toward better understanding, diagnosing, and treating this condition. Many women who live with endometriosis go for years, seeing multiple doctors and even spending thousands of dollars, before they can get a diagnosis and treatment. Women with endometriosis lose an average of six hours of productivity per week at work and the condition is estimated to cost over $78 billion annually in healthcare expenditures and lost productivity. Medical research is the key to finding better ways to diagnose and treat this common and life-altering condition. Specifically, we request: Inclusion of endometriosis as eligible for funding under the DOD PRMRP in FY 2021. We are concerned by the report put forth by the Senate Appropriations Committee, which does not include endometriosis among the condition eligible under the PRMRP. Endometriosis was included in both FY 2018 and FY 2020, and this opportunity for investment in endometriosis research through the PRMRP must remain available. When research funding is low or inconsistent for a medical condition, it is difficult to attract researchers to specialize in that condition or apply for related research grants and we respectfully ask that you reinstate endometriosis as an eligible condition for FY 2021. The highest possible funding level for the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in final FY2021 appropriations legislation to ensure that resources are available to double funding for endometriosis research from the FY 2019 level and increase funding for endometriosis for $26 million. We appreciate efforts in both the House and Senate to increase funding for NICHD in FY2021 and ask that the highest possible increase be preserved in the final legislation. Over 6 million people in the United States are living with endometriosis and our members know firsthand how endometriosis affects the lives of these women and their loved ones. The critical issues that face women with endometriosis need to be addressed and require quick, decisive action to increase research and awareness. As such, we ask that you provide increased funding better to diagnose and treat this condition.

Sign now with a click

Visit petition page

***

 

In a stunning recently-leaked video, Joe Biden is heard telling civil rights leaders that they should be satisfied with his rhetorical acknowledgment and expect nothing more. Biden screams at them saying that he will not be using his executive powers to stand up for the Black community that worked hard to elect him — or any other working-class community. This is a huge development because progressives had rested what little hope they had for Biden on the possibility of executive orders — hopes that Biden just smashed as he said he would only be undoing Trump orders. Adding insult to injury, Biden nominated dairy industry lobbyist and former Obama Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, to head the department again. "Vilsack is a rerun of pro-corporate policies that continue to drive rural communities away from the Democratic Party," said The Intercept. Biden and Harris are determined to convince you that their cabinet of lobbyists "looks like America." The first Latino Secretary of Health and Human Services, the first woman to run the Treasury, the first all-female communications team, the youngest national security advisor in decades. But what difference does it make if your family's poverty, hunger and homelessness are imposed by a Black, Latino or White person? We already have a Republican Party. What actually is the point of the Democratic Party?

Donate to power our movement

If confirmed, Vilsack will face one of the worst American hunger crises since the Great Depression, with a surge in food prices, COVID-19 cases, unemployment, and food lines running for miles. Instead of using his Obama-era experience to help minority-owned or small farms, Vilsack has used the intervening years to lobby for the corporate American Farm Bureau Federation and the U.S. Dairy Export Council, where he is currently the CEO. The USDA has been almost exclusively led by white men and has systematically discriminated against Black farmers by giving them less federal aid than White farmers.

Vilsack's nomination also risks the loss of one or both of the Senate seats in Georgia's special runoff election because of depressed turnout. He is loathed by progressives in the state for his ouster of civil rights leader Shirley Sherrod while heading Georgia's USDA department of rural development. Vilsack fired her after a deceptively-edited video on Breitbart said she was racist.

This administration is shaping up to be a mash-up of the Obama, Geroge W. Bush, and Clinton administrations. The only difference is they've all had more time to deepen their corruption as corporate lobbyists in the private sector. If it sounds like the country is moving backward, it's because it is. And the Peoples Party is going to turn that around.

Join our National Call this Thursday at 8:30 pm ET with special guest Thomas Frank, the author of Listen, Liberal and The People, No. We will also be joined by Scientists for a People's Party Coordinator, Johanna Heureaux-Torres, who will discuss actions to support Steven Donziger, the lawyer who helped win a historic Amazon clean-up deal against Chevron and now faces six months in jail. It will be our last National Call of the year and we will ring in the holidays with a celebration of everything our movement has accomplished this year! 

In Solidarity,

Carol Ehrle
Media and Messaging Coordinator
Movement for a People's Party

The Disease (And The Cure?)

 

 The Disease (And The Cure?)

A blog post told entirely in memes

Related Links:

The Rich Gain Billions While Workers Are At Food Banks https://youtu.be/seJ_xh5sEXU 

The Trump/Biden Effect and the Fascist Tide https://www.hamptonthink.org/read/marxs-immiseration-thesis-the-trump-biden-effect-and-the-fascist-tide

Pelosi Now Backs Stimulus Deal Half the Size of What the White House Offered Before Election  https://www.newsweek.com/pelosi-now-backs-stimulus-deal-half-size-what-white-house-offered-before-election-1551890

One Third of Biden's Pentagon Transition Team Hails from Organizations Financed by the Weapons Industry https://inthesetimes.com/article/joe-biden-department-of-defense-pentagon-transition-team-weapons-industry-military

How Biden Helped Create The Student Debt Problem He Now Promises to Fix https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/02/joe-biden-student-loan-debt-2005-act-2020

***

Don't Let Them Silence Us! Make It Matter!

If you agree that we can't just sit back, fall asleep, and let the neolibs/neocons destroy our country, our lives, and the planet, then please consider making a donation to keep The Revolution Continues going.  Donate at the Paypal.me link below. Thank you and Power to the People!

http://paypal.me/camatthews 

***

 

From March For Our Lives:

Thanks to BIPOC organizers, activists on the ground, and supporters like you, we helped drive the largest youth voter turnout in HISTORY. 

During the 2020 Gun Safety Forum, Kamala Harris' advice for us was to not ask for permission to lead -- so we won't. We've more than earned our seat at the table, and now it's time for the Biden-Harris administration to follow through on their promises to center the voices of survivors and advocates.

We just made our first set of demands public and want to share our plans with you. We're calling on President-elect Biden to create two new positions that will respond to the urgent needs of the young people who got them elected.

• A National Director of Gun Violence Prevention, who will report directly to the President and will lead a committee tasked with recommending survivor-centered reforms that reflect what gun violence has become in this country -- a public health crisis that disproportionately affects our most vulnerable populations. The Director should be tasked with empowering federal agencies that have been weakened by the NRA and the gun lobby -- like the ATF, CDC, and more. And they should oversee a $1B investment in funding for research and community-based gun violence prevention programming.
• A Director of Youth Engagement, preferably a member of Gen-Z, who will sit on the Domestic Policy Council and advise the President and senior officials on issues that are affecting young folks across the country.

Our voices make the difference, and we deserve to have a direct hand in the policies that affect us. You can read more about our positions in CNN.

This is just the beginning. With the right people in place, we can enact life-saving policies. Our goal has always been to end gun violence in this country. We said that we would hold the new administration accountable, and that's exactly what we plan to do. 

It's time to get to work. 

Thanks for all your support,

Eve Levenson
Policy & Government Affairs Manager
March For Our Lives

 

Brunch Has Been Suspended Indefinitely

The Vicar of Dibley schools David on how much of a socialist Jesus was.

Brunch Has Been Suspended Indefinitely

By C.A. Matthews

I have always hated Black Friday. It's morally bankrupt America's ultimate expression of a capitalistic Bacchanalia. Why should we waste valuable time, money and resources on buying material items we can neither afford, nor need, nor ultimately want? Why force said worthless trinkets onto our friends and family members in order to demonstrate our high regard for them? Is going into debt merely for creating massive profits for Big Business worth it?

All this buying just seems pointless and ultimately destructive to our planet. In the end, the purchasing and gifting of mass-produced consumer products does nothing to show our true compassion toward others. Issuing a simple card with a statement to our significant others along the lines of, "I truly care about you and want you to know it," would serve as well, if not better. We should give up this whole Black Friday charade once and for all.

"Ah, but that's not how our world works," I've been told several million times. I get it. Really, I do. Capitalism isn't about showing love and gratitude toward others. Sure, we've created "Giving Tuesday" several days after Black Friday in order to assuage our guilt for blowing large sums of cash (or credit) buying worthless things, but what does it really mean? That we are only expected to be generous with our monetary resources once a year? All we need do is to write one big (electronic) check to charity and then chill out, congratulating ourselves on our generosity?

Sorry to say, this is how Giving Tuesday comes across to me. All the whining emails I've received from various non-profits haven't changed my mind, either.

To be truly generous, our giving should be year round and as natural as breathing. This is where Giving Tuesday--and the whole ideology of neoliberalism that embraces it--starts to wear thin. Neoliberals may talk a good head game, but, in the end, they're nothing if not shallow. I find no heart behind their well-manicured words.

The ultimate testimony to neoliberal superficiality comes when neolibs attempt to demonstrate their compassion toward their fellow human beings. This is especially evident when it comes to how they show compassion those who are suffering immensely under the burdens of capitalism. Perhaps the best example of what I mean came in early 2017 in the form of a simple protest sign from the Women's March:

"We'd be having brunch now if Hillary won," the sign declared.  

"Yeah, I'm positive you would be at brunch now if that was the case," was my first impression of that sign. It hasn't changed since.

Politics to neoliberals is apparently all about elevating rich, white, establishment-loving war hawks who look, dress and think like them to high office. (Gender/race are sometimes--and sometimes not--important to their identity politics.) Certainly their politics have little to nothing to do with helping the poor or people of color who have suffered from former Senator Biden's Crime Bill and soon-to-be-former Senator Harris's  tactics to keep the poor/POC locked up as long as possible in California for use as slave labor. These unfortunate people and their less-than-edifying issues rarely appear on the neolibs' radars, except when the issue might possibly create a viral sound bite for mainstream media outlets. And like mayflies, these feel good sound bites live for a day before disappearing into the obscuring mists of pro-capitalist propaganda.

Neoliberals seem to think serving the public is all about enjoying celebratory champagne brunches with their pals from the Country Club (or local Democratic Women's group) after a successful run for office. They'll brunch and then pat themselves on the back and drive their latest model gas-guzzlers back to their suburban McMansions, far from the crumbling infrastructure of the inner city where the struggling still exist, many lying sick and homeless on the streets. Neoliberals tend to never look back. It's too much rain on their brunch parade, I suppose.

(It's almost as if American neoliberals hoped to make massive profits from cheap prison labor and private health care businesses, if such a thing were possible...)

In the past four years, the word "brunch" has taken on a sinister meaning in much the same way Black Friday has. It signifies nothing worthy of note and everything unworthy of praise. The true Left must force neoliberals to concentrate their time, talents and resources on dealing with the issues of those who aren't--and have never been--invited to their brunch.

First off, we should stop glorifying Giving Tuesday. Financially sound Americans need to give of our resources every day by doing everything they can to alleviate hunger. This past week, millions of Americans stood in lines and waited in traffic jams to pick up a Thanksgiving meal. Millions more Americans will be standing in even longer lines and waiting in even larger traffic jams to get a free meal come Christmas and New Year's Day, too. The coronavirus pandemic has destroyed the last of the social safety net. The working classes struggle constantly to put food on the table and secure health insurance to cover medical expenses. Many full-time workers are forced to be on federal aid in order to survive already.

How long do we allow this tragedy to continue? Until seventy-five percent of the US population is living below the poverty line? Ninety percent? Ninety-nine percent?

The fact that anyone can even consider putting a number on their fellow human beings who are allowed to go hungry or go without health care speaks volumes about the morality of American society. Yet neoliberal politicians have stated repeatedly that they are not interested in  implementing Medicare For All and a universal basic income (UBI) that could keep millions in their homes.

Are neolibs really okay with those who aren't invited to their brunch dying en masse? They certainly act like the idea of their working class neighbors going hungry or freezing on the streets this winter isn't a big deal.

I don't know about you, but anyone who is okay with allowing their fellow Americans to starve or die for any reason hasn't earned my respect. Anyone who has the means and the ability to bring an end to the suffering of millions of human beings, and doesn't exercise their abilities for the good of all, doesn't deserve my support at the ballot box or statehouse or in Congress or the White House. 

If the neolibs' affluent lifestyles and self-serving attitudes have become a roadblock  and prevented them from developing empathy, then it's time brunch was suspended-- indefinitely. And it's time for those who brunch to learn what hunger is like firsthand by leaving their comfortable bubbles of suburbia and getting their hands dirty passing out food boxes.

For more on this topic, read Why Are The Rich So Scared of Socialism?

Related Links Revealing the Dangers of Neoliberalism:

Food Banks Are So Overwhelmed That They Are Resorting to Rationing

https://truthout.org/articles/food-banks-are-so-overwhelmed-with-demand-that-they-are-resorting-to-rationing/

According to Feeding America, the largest hunger relief organization in the U.S., more than 50 million people will experience food insecurity by the end of the year. Among U.S. children, the figure rises to one in four. The group, which runs a network of some 200 food banks across the nation, says it distributed over half a billion meals last month alone, a 52% increase from an average pre-pandemic month. 

"It's going to be a billionaire Thanksgiving." Wealth of US Richest Just Hit $1 Trillion Since the Start of the Pandemic

https://www.nationofchange.org/2020/11/26/its-going-to-be-a-billionaire-thanksgiving-wealth-of-us-richest-just-hit-1-trillion-since-the-start-of-the-pandemic/

Potential Biden Officials' Firm Is Promising Big Profits Off Those Connections

https://www.dailyposter.com/p/breaking-potential-biden-officials

"I Lied to Americans to Block Universal Healthcare."  

https://youtu.be/mjHA1h1DeK8 

Biden's Cabinet: War Hawks, Corporate Lap Dogs & Swamp Creatures https://youtu.be/YIDMwaHDHX0 

Biden Taps Neolib Neera Tanden In Slap To Working Class

https://youtu.be/z_wt3x0s2QE

"What Was Your Normal?": Black Activist Goes Viral After Rejecting CNN Commentator's Claim That Things Will Go Back To "Normal" Because Biden Won The Election 

https://atlantablackstar.com/2020/11/10/we-still-have-to-do-the-work-black-activist-challenges-cnn-commentators-claim-that-things-will-go-back-to-normal-because-biden-won-the-election/

Jimmy Dore shows us a way for House Progressives to force a Medicare For All Vote Now. (But will they do it?)

https://youtu.be/iIqw-mTX6ro

 ***

Joe Biden just gave a top environmental job to a man who spent his career helping toxic chemical companies avoid regulation

Sign Now

There exists a poison so powerful, it can't be broken down. Dubbed "the forever chemical," it's present in the blood of nearly every person in the U.S. — it's even found in mothers' wombs and newborn babies. And, on top of everything else, a leading Harvard researcher says this toxin may actually reduce the effectiveness of vaccines against COVID-19, which is terrifying. This chemical is called PFOA and it's produced by mega-corporation DuPont. One of the reasons it's seeped into our waterways with barely any governmental oversight is because of a man named Michael McCabe. Right around the time when DuPont dumped tons of PFOA-laden waste that poisoned the people of West Virginia and resulted in devastating illnesses, it hired McCabe to improve its image. That was decades ago. Now, he's lined up a new job: working for President-Elect Joe Biden as he creates a transition board for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). But as Erin Brockovich, the famed environmental justice lawyer, writes: "It should go without saying that someone who advised DuPont on how to avoid regulations is not someone we want advising this new administration." Tell Joe Biden to dump Michael McCabe and to assemble a team of scientists and true eco-champions instead! Thank you for all that you do,   Miranda B. The Care2 Petitions Team P.S. Joe Biden says he wants to prioritize our health and environment. So why is he hiring an industry insider who helped polluters avoid regulation? Sign the petition!

 ***

 

Let's make certain that we're the ones who make the "cuts" from here on out--starting with cutting "brunch" from the menu.

If you agree that we can't just sit back, fall asleep, and let the neolibs/neocons destroy our country, our lives, and the planet, then please consider making a donation to keep The Revolution Continues going.  Donate at the Paypal.me link below. Thank you and Power to the People!

http://paypal.me/camatthews 

***