I love Bernie Sanders Bernie Sanders, but the politician that completely awes me is Elizabeth Warren. These progressives both speak powerful truths that America needs to hear, so maybe it’s a style thing – Warren is a bit more polished than Sanders – or, maybe it’s Warren being a woman. All I can tell you is that this lady has become very special to me. And I have a dream … that this outspoken advocate who believes in and champions decent values, dignity and living wages for working Americans, honesty and integrity in the business community; truth in politics and the media and students not being forced into a lifetime of debt in order to get college educated and protection of social security and other social safety nets … will run for president in the 2016 Election and win.
Wisconsin may be 1st US state to completely end justice
Monied interests in Wisconsin have been systematically working to eradicate justice in their courts in order to make it legal for court decisions to be bought by the mighty and the monied. By pushing through a change in this spring’s election to the way the state’s Supreme Court Chief Justice is selected, Wisconsin conservatives may have finally reached the tipping point they’ve been working towards for several years.
They’ve made it legal for money to buy court decisions and for court oversight to be removed – accomplishments they were able to make law because America is not voting, and we don’t seem to know what democracy means.
Democratic citizens have obligations, not just rights
I don’t know why this important US Department of State document is housed on a Taiwanese website. but I like how it lays out the Citizen Responsibilities in a Democracy. Some of the juicier exerpts are:
Citizenship in a democracy requires participation, civility, and even patience.
Democratic citizens recognize that they not only have rights, they have responsibilities. They recognize that democracy requires an investment of time and hard work — a government of the people demands constant vigilance and support by the people.
White House & famous actors take stand against sexual assault (1 min video)
The White House just released a very well-done video with major actors, President Obama and Vice-Prez Biden taking a stand against sexual assault. They say men need to be part of the solution to stop it from ever happening, “Because 1 is 2 many.”
Mic.com reports, “Vice President Biden introduced the PSA during the official release of “The First Report of the White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault” Tuesday afternoon in Washington.” Biden tells us, “This is about respect. It’s about responsibility.”
NJ Court rules insurance co must pay PSEG for Sandy’s damage
New Jersey property insurance holders were fortunate that Superstorm Sandy was downgraded by the National Weather Service to the classification of a post-tropical tornado shortly before it made landfall. Had Sandy been classified as a more severe weather event, insurance companies might have been relieved of much of their obligation to pay on the damage claims that were filed. Courts have made it clear to insurers that they must pay those claims.
But, it has taken until now for the question of whether PSEG’s insurance company must pay for the $500 million damages the energy utility incurred as a result of the storm. The insurer wanted to cap payout at $100 million but on March 23 legal judgement was emphatically entered in favor of the utility:
Politico’s attempt to make fun of Baraka is an utter #fail
Matt Bonamo tried pretty hard to discredit Ras Baraka in his March 19 Politico Magazine article. He failed, because Ras is good at being good – but not for lack of trying.
First, look at the photo Mark chose as his lead: why is Baraka’s face contorted, and his finger laid alongside his nose? Only one logical answer: the photo is meant to be demeaning. In the article’s wrap-up, Bonamo quotes Ras using syntactically regional language. Again, why? Why list every one of Booker’s impressive educational credentials and then contrast that with a quote showing Baraka being loose with his grammar? Again, the reason is clear: Bonamo obviously meant to discredit Mayor Baraka.
Much more about Christie than he wants you to know
WNYC Radio is keeping an eye on Christie. If you’d like to know if the governor is in New Jersey or the latest and greatest update on Bridgate (that rhymes), head over to their Christie Tracker project and find out.
Of particular interest to anyone who wants to see Christie go down, is all the juicy information just posted in the WNYC article on March 12 Bridgegate Fall Guy Was Inside Man.
Laws making it illegal to feed homeless in 33 cities must be reversed
On HuffPo, Rabbi Shmuly Yanklowitz writes about the 90 year old man arrested for feeding the homeless: “Arnold Abbott in Fort Lauderdale was arrested twice for publicly helping feed the vulnerable in his community.” And adds:
Astonishingly, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless, 33 American cities passed new restrictions on feeding the homeless between January 2013-April 2014.
Jews are commanded against following these laws, since we are obligated to feed and tend to the most vulnerable in our midst. The Shulchan Aruch writes:
America’s war on compassion – and cellphone charging?
Add this story to the growing evidence that a war is being waged in America to make compassion a crime and to deny the most basic services to our #neighborswithnoaddress – the vast US homeless population of over half a million people. Which by the way ‘but for the Grace of God‘ could be you or me. Emily Green of Street Roots News reports on the plight of “Jackie”, whom police arrested for theft for charging her cellphone in an outside receptacle located in a planter box in Old Town, Portland. This story was reported by Street Roots, a Portland newspaper that serves the poor and homeless.
Wyndham, don’t persecute the homeless
My statement to Wyndham Hotels on their Facebook page:
Your ambiguous statement about the homeless couple you threw out into 9º weather altho a benefactor had paid for the room for them is just meaningless lip service. You need to do better with a policy change. You also refused to refund the room fee the benefactor paid. That’s plain nasty.
The generous benefactors paid for three nights for the homeless couple and did give it back, but only after 110,000 people signed a Care2 Petition condemning Wyndham’s actions.
Are Grammys trying to set value for black musicians?
HuffPost reviewer Kim Lute hated Beyonce’s grammy performance of “Take My Hand, Precious Lord” so much I had to see for myself what the hullabaloo was all about. She writes:
…Beyoncé (as well as her much talked about cast of put-upon black men) fumble(d) and falter(ed) her way through Mahalia Jackson’s classic, “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”
@KimLute‘s criticism of Beyoncé’s performance is a bit extreme, but it’s completely clear that Beyoncé is no gospel singer. She lacks both range and the vocal ability to extend a note. In light of recent observations about racism permeating the Grammys, Lute’s next comment seems spot-on:
Only people outside of New Jersey could like Christie
My friend Dee Dameron frames Christie’s betrayal of New Jersey residents so well:
What have you done for New Jerseyans lately? Absolutely nothing. There are 15,000 Hurricane Sandy families who remain without a home, 624 bridges that need to be repaired, property taxes are the highest in the nation, unemployment is still on the rise, education for children has been put to sleep, Bridgegate is still pending. These are just a few issues and concerns. there are countless. Yes, its time for you to come home and do your job which you were elected to do and put the people first…not your fantasy to become president.
Disturbing inequity of the School-to-Prison-Pipeline (short video)
Unhappy facts about the school to prison pipeline, which Brave New Films describes as “..another way the United States incarcerates more people than any other country on earth.*”
* From NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet: Combining the number of people in prison and jail with those under parole or probation supervision, 1 in every 31 adults, or 3.2% of the (USA) population is under some form of correctional control.
Spoken word artist stops show with ‘The Average Black Girl’
Ernestine Johnson is glorious in her spoken word performance of ‘The Average Black Girl’ on the Arsenio Hall Show.
Ernestine recounts when boyfriend’s mother told her she was acceptable because she’s not ‘The Average Black Girl’ … and she’s told she’s not ‘The Average Black Girl’ because “When I speak, I pronounce every syllable.” But Ms. Johnson interprets this label in a very different way.
Giving up our fantasy addiction is how we will make life good
This 8 minute film shows us the value of being alive at a time when communication is possible on a scale never before experienced. Yet, while the world is being destroyed and monetized we pay more attention to our screens than everything else around us.
But, we are not in a movie where everything is decided in advance. In real life, WE write the script. Let’s give up our addiction to fantasies that are being fed us and script our own … beautiful future … together. All power to the people!