a disturbing report from the Southern Poverty Law Center http://tfthinkspeak.blogspot.com
White Supremacy & Extremism
28 Sunday Apr 2019
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28 Sunday Apr 2019
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a disturbing report from the Southern Poverty Law Center http://tfthinkspeak.blogspot.com
28 Sunday Apr 2019
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Two New Books Dramatically Capture the Climate Change Crisis
The New York Times – April 12, 2019 – John Lanchester
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/12/books/review/david-wallace-wells-uninhabitable-earth-nathaniel-rich-losing-earth.html
The demand climate change makes on us is to feel empathy for the unborn poor of the global south, and change our economies to act on the basis of their needs. That’s something humanity has never done before… To avoid the most terrible possible versions of our future, we have to stay positive; it’s the only moral response to this crisis. And there are grounds to do so, as David Wallace-Wells argues in his brilliant new book, “The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming”… Nathaniel Rich observes in “Losing Earth: A Recent History” that “nearly every conversation we have in 2019 about climate change was being held in 1979.” His gripping, depressing, revelatory book is an expanded version of a whole-issue article that appeared in The New York Times Magazine last year. It is an account of what went wrong — of how it was that a moment of growing awareness of climate change, and an apparent willingness to act on the knowledge, was allowed to dissipate into stasis and inaction.
The media are complacent while the world burns
Columbia Journalism Review – April 22, 2019 – Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/climate-change-media.php?utm_source=CJR+Daily+News
At a time when civilization is accelerating toward disaster, climate silence continues to reign across the bulk of the US news media. Especially on television, where most Americans still get their news, the brutal demands of ratings and money work against adequate coverage of the biggest story of our time… Judging by the climate coverage to date, most of the US news media still don’t get grasp the seriousness of this issue. There is a runaway train racing toward us, and its name is climate change. That is not alarmism; it is scientific fact. We as a civilization urgently need to slow that train down and help as many people off the tracks as possible… If American journalism doesn’t get the climate story right—and soon—no other story will matter.
Three Earth Day Lessons for Green New Deal Activists
The Los Angeles Times – April 22, 2019 – Rhea Suh
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-suh-earth-day-lessons-for-climate-change-activism-20190422-story.html
First, national movements are born of local concerns… Second, national solutions flow from local opportunities… Earth Day’s final lesson is connected to environmental justice. The effort Earth Day kicked off relied on grassroots citizen activism forged in the 1960s movements for civil rights, women’s rights and opposition to the Vietnam War. It was about empowering people who’d not been heard to stand up, speak out and work for change. A half-century later, we must listen again to the voices that have been silenced too long, from people of color, low-income communities, indigenous people and others who often pay the highest price for environmental hazard and harm.
To Stop Global Catastrophe, We Must Believe in Humans Again
The Guardian – April 23, 2019 – Bill McKibben
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/23/stop-global-catastrophe-believe-humans-again-geoengineering
The reason we don’t have a solution to climate change has less to do with the greed of the great, unengineered unwashed than with the greed of the almost unbelievably small percentage of people at the top of the energy heap. That is to say, the Koch brothers and the Exxon execs have never been willing to take a 15% slice off their profits, not when they could spend a much smaller share of their winnings corrupting the political debate with rolls of cash. If you wanted to “morally enhance” anyone, that’s where you’d start – if there are Grinches in need of hearts, it’s pretty obvious who should be at the front of the line. But let’s not win that way. Let’s operate on the assumption that human beings are not grossly defective. That we’re capable of acting together to do remarkable things.
‘You did not act in time’: Greta Thunberg’s full speech to MPs
The Guardian – April 23, 2019 – Greta Thunberg
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/23/greta-thunberg-full-speech-to-mps-you-did-not-act-in-time
My name is Greta Thunberg. I am 16 years old. I come from Sweden. And I speak on behalf of future generations… We probably don’t even have a future any more. Because that future was sold so that a small number of people could make unimaginable amounts of money. It was stolen from us every time you said that the sky was the limit, and that you only live once… You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to. And the saddest thing is that most children are not even aware of the fate that awaits us. We will not understand it until it’s too late. And yet we are the lucky ones. Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences. But their voices are not heard… We children are doing this to wake the adults up. We children are doing this for you to put your differences aside and start acting as you would in a crisis. We children are doing this because we want our hopes and dreams back.
Pentagon Spending Set to Hit Near-Record Levels, But ‘Establishment Says We Can’t Afford’ Progressive Policies
Common Dreams – April 19, 2019 – Jake Johnson
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/19/pentagon-spending-set-hit-near-record-levels-establishment-says-we-cant-afford
Democratic leaders such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and DCCC chair Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) have both raised alarm about Medicare for All’s supposedly high “price tag”—but neither have raised similar alarm about soaring military spending.
Congress considers making college more accessible to people in prison
NPR – WHYY – Spril 22, 2019 – Elissa Nadworny
https://whyy.org/npr_story_post/congress-considers-making-college-more-accessible-to-people-in-prison/
“When we give people in prison an opportunity to earn an education, our communities are safer, taxpayers save money, and we can end the cycle of recidivism,” U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, a sponsor of the bill, said in a statement. The bill would “give people a real chance to rebuild their lives,” Schatz said… All this comes as policymakers shift from the “tough on crime” era that facilitated the 1994 ban on Pell to a more holistic approach to criminal justice, aptly named “smart on crime.”
Allowing People in Prison to Vote Shouldn’t Be Controversial
Truth Out – April 25, 2019 – Maya Schenwar
https://truthout.org/articles/allowing-people-in-prison-to-vote-shouldnt-be-controversial/
The mass disenfranchisement of incarcerated people has a racist past and a racist present, and has been used in particular as a tool to suppress the Black vote. And since police and the criminal legal system disproportionately target Black, Native, Latinx, trans, poor and disabled people, the denial of the vote to people behind bars takes a sharp toll on many marginalized communities, subjecting them to what many call “civil death” — depriving a person of all legal rights.
The Central Park Five, Criminal Justice, and Donald Trump
The New Yorker – April 19, 2019 – Jelani Cobb
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-central-park-five-criminal-justice-and-donald-trump
Sarah Burns’s excellent 2012 documentary on the case laid bare many of the contradictions and failures that led to the wrongful arrests and prosecutions, and high-profile district attorneys across the country advocate for policies that do not view prison as the default response to every societal ill in America. This progress has been facilitated by the work of activists, legislators, and policy advocates, who have coaxed the public into thinking about issues of criminal justice with more rationality and nuance… The most dire postscript for the Central Park debacle may be that, thirty years later, Trump is no longer simply fearmongering to manipulate public opinion. He now does so to manipulate public policy.
UN waters down rape resolution to appease US’s hardline abortion stance
The Guardian – April 23, 2019 – Liz Ford
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/23/un-resolution-passes-trump-us-veto-threat-abortion-language-removed
In recent months, the Trump administration has taken a hard line, refusing to agree to any UN documents that refer to sexual or reproductive health, on grounds that such language implies support for abortions. It has also opposed the use of the word “gender”, seeing it as a cover for liberal promotion of transgender rights.
Social Security & Medicare are not “going bankrupt,” but do face long-run challenges
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – April 22, 2019 – Kathleen Romig, Matt Broaddus and Aviva Aron-Dine
https://www.cbpp.org/research/social-security/financial-challenges-facing-social-security-and-medicare-largely-unchanged
Trustees’ reports have been projecting impending insolvency for over four decades, but Medicare has always paid the benefits owed because Presidents and Congresses have taken steps to keep spending and resources in balance in the near term. In contrast to Social Security, which has had no major changes in law since 1983, the rapid evolution of the health care system has required frequent adjustments to Medicare, a pattern that is virtually certain to continue.
Stop & Shop agreement seen as a win for workers
The Boston Globe – April 23, 2019 – Katie Johnston
https://www2.bostonglobe.com/business/2019/04/22/stop-shop-agreement-seen-win-for-workers/riq8cmn40UGDp3wylfSdGM/story.html?camp=breakingnews:newsletter
“This is a watershed moment,” said Tom Juravich, a labor studies professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, noting the economic impact the strike had on Stop & Shop, with 75 percent of loyal shoppers staying away, according to an analysis of mobile device location data, and the company losing an estimated $2 million a day. “That kind of leverage is unprecedented since the golden years of auto and steel.”… “Stop & Shop, at the end of the day, miscalculated,” he added, noting the strike’s relatively quick resolution could embolden other workers — and make companies think twice before they engage in a labor dispute.
The case for African American reparations, explained
The Conversation – April 24, 2019 – Joe R. Feagin
http://theconversation.com/the-case-for-african-american-reparations-explained-114124
As a sociologist who has researched systemic racism and reparations for decades, I can explain why this issue appears to be gaining traction…. The growing importance of black, Latino and Asian American voters and leaders reflects the dramatic demographic changes underway in the U.S. Americans of color are now a majority in California, Texas, Hawaii, New Mexico and the District of Columbia. By the 2020s, whites are likely to become a minority in Arizona, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, New York and New Jersey. By the 2040s whites will likely be a minority overall, and soon thereafter most voters will be people of color.
The Public Banking Revolution Is Upon Us
Truth Out – April 23, 2019 – Ellen Brown
https://truthout.org/articles/the-public-banking-revolution-is-upon-us/
A growing public banking movement is picking up momentum across the U.S. Over 25 public bank bills are currently active, and dozens of groups are promoting the idea. Advocates include a highly motivated generation of young millennials, who are only too aware that the old system is not working for them and a new direction is needed… Whichever state wins the race for the next state bank, the implications are huge. A century after the very successful Bank of North Dakota proved the model, the time has finally come to apply it across the country.
More than half of middle-income seniors will lack resources for housing and care, study says
The Boston Globe – April 24, 2019 – Robert Weisman
https://www2.bostonglobe.com/metro/2019/04/24/study-more-than-half-middle-income-seniors-will-lack-resources-for-housing-and-care/nCtXfZYdZARPt0sbFpqoDK/story.html
For more than half of middle-income Americans over 75 years old, senior housing with health care services will be out of reach in the coming decade, a new study warns… The report, published Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs, is the first comprehensive look at a vast and growing demographic group researchers call the “forgotten middle” — people who can’t afford private assisted-living facilities but don’t qualify for subsidized nursing home care unless they spend down the assets they accumulate during their working years. As the ranks of retired baby boomers swell and many live longer than their parents, the study projects that by 2029 about 14.4 million middle-income seniors — nearly double today’s number — will lack the financial resources for housing that offers personal care assistance.
The Fight for $15 Was Never Just About Raising Wages
Portside – Workday Minnesota – April 25, 2019 – Celeste Robinson
https://portside.org/2019-04-25/fight-15-was-never-just-about-raising-wages
The Fight for $15 was never just about raising wages, it was also about building public anger at a system where corporations make billions while workers are paid poverty wages. It is a return to labor’s roots, the refusal to accept exploitation… Many millennials may not have been educated about the value of unions, but the labor movement has so many opportunities to harness the revolutionary energy of young people. The local labor movement did just that in the Fight for $15… Right now, the labor movement has huge opportunities around Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and more. Working successfully with young people like me will be key not only to the success or failure of these campaigns, but the success or failure of the labor movement itself.
The Story of Soil Is the Story of All of Us
Yes! Magazine – April 22, 2019 – Annie Leonard and Tom Newmark
https://www.yesmagazine.org/planet/soil-story-community-earth-annie-leonard-tom-newmark-20190422
Wendell Berry called it “the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all.” Ninety-five percent of our food is grown in it, it stores and filters our water and provides a home for the majority of life on the planet, and yet most of us rarely pay much attention to it. We dump poisonous chemicals on it, inject it with synthetic nutrients, slash it with plows, strip it of its natural diversity, and bury our trash in it… If enough of the planet’s arable acreage were converted to… “regenerative” agriculture, we could draw enough carbon dioxide from the atmosphere [to] mitigate climate change… If we just farmed in a way that optimized photosynthesis and learned to leave carbon in the ground, we could repair damaged water cycles, capture greenhouse gases, and address one of humanity’s biggest challenges… The story of soil is the story of all of us and it spans eons. It tells us to adapt to nature, not to squeeze every last drop of value from it. It reminds us that our fate is inextricably bound to the soil’s, and that ultimately, we’re all in this together.
23 Tuesday Apr 2019
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Protection, v.2 (ten demos a bit beyond acoustic) surreal with political inserts https://thinkspeak.bandcamp.com/
21 Sunday Apr 2019
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Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds
The New Yorker – February 19, 2017 – Elizabeth Kolbert
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds
As everyone who’s followed the research—or even occasionally picked up a copy of Psychology Today—knows, any graduate student with a clipboard can demonstrate that reasonable-seeming people are often totally irrational. Rarely has this insight seemed more relevant than it does right now. Still, an essential puzzle remains: How did we come to be this way?… In a new book, “The Enigma of Reason” (Harvard), the cognitive scientists Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber take a stab at answering this question.
The Trump Administration Has Thrown Out Protections for Migratory Birds
Truth Out – April 14, 2019 – Elizabeth Shogren, The Center for Investigative Reporting
https://truthout.org/articles/the-trump-administration-has-thrown-out-protections-for-migratory-birds/
Scientists caution that weakening the Migratory Bird Treaty Act imperils many types of birds that are endangered or declining in numbers, and it also eliminates an important source of wetlands restoration funding: penalties paid by violators… Compare the Trump administration’s reinterpretation to removing all the speed limits and troopers on highways: “For birds, their highways became a lot more unsafe because there’s no deterrent for bad actors.”
Only Rebellion Will Prevent an Ecological Apocalypse
Common Dreams – April 1, 2019 – George Monbiot
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/15/only-rebellion-will-prevent-ecological-apocalypse
As the environmental crisis accelerates, and as protest movements like YouthStrike4Climate and Extinction Rebellion make it harder not to see what we face, people discover more inventive means of shutting their eyes and shedding responsibility. Underlying these excuses is a deep-rooted belief that if we really are in trouble, someone somewhere will come to our rescue: “they” won’t let it happen. But there is no they, just us… Our system – characterised by perpetual economic growth on a planet that is not growing – will inevitably implode. The only question is whether the transformation is planned or unplanned. Our task is to ensure it is planned, and fast.
Our Zero Emission Future
Common Dreams – April 15, 2019 – Jeffrey D. Sachs
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/15/our-zero-emission-future
A low-cost shift to clean energy is now feasible for every region of the world, owing to the plummeting costs of solar and wind power, and breakthroughs in energy storage. The total system costs of renewable energy, including transmission and storage, are now roughly on par with fossil fuels… The solution to human-induced climate change is finally in clear view. Thanks to rapid advances in zero-carbon energy technologies, and in sustainable food systems, the world can realistically end greenhouse-gas emissions by mid-century at little or no incremental cost, and with decisive benefits for safety and health. The main obstacle is inertia: politicians continue to favor the fossil-fuel industry and traditional agriculture mainly because they don’t know better or are on the take.
Sanders’ Courage
Reader Supported News – April 16, 2019 – Pete Buttigieg, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/56063-focus-sanders-courage
The essay [here] was the 2000 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest winner, authored by then 17 year old Indiana high school student Pete Buttigieg… Above all, I commend Bernie Sanders for giving me an answer to those who say American young people see politics as a cesspool of corruption, beyond redemption. I have heard that no sensible young person today would want to give his or her life to public service. I can personally assure you this is untrue.
On the Universalism of Notre Dame, from Muslim Arches to the Goddess of Reason
Informed Comment – April 16, 2019 – Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/2019/04/universalism-muslim-goddess.html
The Notre Dame is not narrow, not a symbol only of Paris, or France, or the Roman Catholic Church. It is a world-historical edifice, reflecting the light mysticism of Plato and the pointed arches of Zoroastrian Iran and Abbasid Baghdad, and at one stage of its long existence it symbolized universal Reason and political Liberty, a Reason and Liberty that knew no nation or race and which aimed at emancipating persons of color along with everyone else.
The billionaires’ donations will turn Notre Dame into a monument to hypocrisy
The Guardian – April 18, 2019 – Aditya Chakrabortty
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/18/billionaires-donations-notre-dame-france-inequality
If the ultra-rich can chuck in so many millions of euros for a building, then what stops them ending hunger and poverty?… Not least among this litany of ironies is that it takes a Catholic cathedral to remind us that we have barely advanced an inch from the medieval buying of indulgences, when the rich could amass their fortunes in as filthy a fashion as they liked – and then donate to the Church to launder their reputations and ensure their salvation. What was it that old Friar Tetzel used to say? “As soon as gold in the coffer rings, the rescued soul to heaven springs.”
A New Framework for Boosting Worker Ownership
Democracy Collaborative – Next System Project – April 16, 2019 – Peter Gowan
https://thenextsystem.org/rto?mc_cid=cc36846824&mc_eid=11bc9783d9
By creating a right-to-own mechanism, report author Peter Gowan argues, workers have a chance to take over these businesses, which would not only save jobs but build equity wealth for the employees. These new worker-owners would also be more prone to keep the businesses rooted in and supportive of the communities where they operate.
How We Did DIY Abortions Before Roe v. Wade: A History
Allure – April 11, 2019 – Dayna Trois i
https://www.allure.com/story/history-diy-abortion-roe-wade-reproductive-rights
Safe, legal abortion access is a constitutional right, but it hasn’t always been that way — an unfortunate reality that led many people to turn to self-induced abortions before Roe v. Wade.
The 5 Most Persistent Anti-Choice Lies–and Why They’re Wrong
The Daily Kos – April 18, 2019
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/18/1851233/-The-5-Most-Persistent-Anti-Choice-Lies-and-Why-They-re-Wrong
It’s hard to argue with people who manufacture their own facts and who ignore scientific research. It’s even harder to win those arguments. We may not be able to convince strident anti-choicers, but we can convince people who are on the fence. And we can absolutely reclaim the moral high ground. It’s time for the left to talk about how anti-choicers want to kill women, leave babies in impoverished homes, and increase the suffering of women across the globe.
Pentagon Press Briefings Have Stopped. That’s a Big Concern
Time Magazine – April 16, 2019 – James Stavridis
http://time.com/5571643/pentagon-press-briefings/
Government officials need to know that they will have to face the media on a regular basis. That reality will cause them to be cautious and judicious in wielding the tremendous power they hold. Media engagement can be painful at times, and it will create some missteps and miscommunications. But the benefits outweigh the costs. We need to see our civilian Secretaries, Admirals, Generals and senior intelligence professionals at the podium again — now and often.
Jimmy Carter: US ‘Most Warlike Nation in History of the World’
Common Dreams – April 18, 2019 – Brett Wilkins
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/18/jimmy-carter-us-most-warlike-nation-history-world
Carter said of US war spending: “China has not wasted a single penny on war, and that’s why they’re ahead of us. In almost every way.”
Climate change: Sir David Attenborough warns of ‘catastrophe’
BBC – April 18, 2019 – Matt McGrath
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-47976184
In the BBC programme Climate Change – The Facts, the veteran broadcaster outlined the scale of the crisis facing the planet. Sir David said we face “irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies”. But there is still hope, he said, if
dramatic action to limit the effects is taken over the next decade.
The bodies in the brush
The New York Times – Crossing the Border newsletter – April 18, 2019 – Manny Fernandez
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/us/mexico-border-deaths.html
Since January 2009, the bodies or skeletal remains of 642 migrants have been discovered in Brooks County. They die from the cold in the winter and die from the heat in the summer. They die of dehydration, heat stroke, hypothermia. They die alone…. It is pure poverty. That’s why people migrate to the United States without knowing what awaits them.
The Horrors of Israeli Occupation Have Been Laid Bare
Common Dreams – April 19, 2019 – Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan
https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/04/19/horrors-israeli-occupation-have-been-laid-bare
Justice and security for Palestinians will only enhance security for Israel. Stifling speech, blocking travel, and violating human rights won’t bring peace. A negotiated settlement will.
It’s Not the Collusion, It’s the Corruption
The New York Times – April 18, 2019 – David Brooks
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/18/opinion/mueller-report-corruption.html
Trump doesn’t seem to have any notion of loyalty to an office. All power in his eye is personal power, and the government is there to serve his Sun God self. He’ll continue to trample the proper systems of government. It’s easy to recognize when you are
attacked head-on. But the U.S. is being attacked from below, at the level of the foundations we take for granted.
William Barr Misled Everyone About the Mueller Report
The Intercept – April 19, 2019 – James Risen
https://theintercept.com/2019/04/19/william-barr-mueller-report/
The Mueller report’s findings on contacts between the Trump circle and Russia are extensive and damning. The report does not exonerate Trump or his campaign; instead, Mueller says he didn’t have enough evidence to bring criminal charges for conspiring with the Russians… Perhaps the most haunting moment recounted in the report occurred late on the night of the 2016 election, just after Trump had been declared the winner. Krill Dmitriev, who runs Russia’s sovereign wealth fund and is close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, received an email from someone whose name is redacted in the report. The email to Dmitriev said, simply, “Putin has won.”
A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
The Intercept – April 17, 2019 – Naomi Klein
https://theintercept.com/2019/04/17/green-new-deal-short-film-alexandria-ocasio-cortez/
Today, we launch the final result: a seven-minute postcard from the future. It’s about how, in the nick of time, a critical mass of humanity in the largest economy on earth came to believe that we were actually worth saving. Because, as Ocasio-Cortez says in the film, our future has not been written yet and “we can be whatever we have the courage to see.”
200+ Progressive Leaders: Members of Congress Must Denounce Trump’s Attacks on Ilhan Omar
Common Dreams – April 15, 2019 – Andrea Germanos
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/15/200-progressive-leaders-members-congress-must-denounce-trumps-attacks-ilhan-omar
It’s because of her strident leadership of progressive values, as well as her identity as the first Black Muslim woman in Congress, that she is a target of constant racist and bigoted attacks from Donald Trump, right-wing media and extremists, Republican leaders, and even, at times, Democratic colleagues. Moreover, the attacks serve a purpose—”to divide and distract us, while Trump and the GOP undermine our democracy and enrich themselves and their friends.”
Why Hannah Arendt is the Philosopher for Now
Portside – New Statesman America – April 10, 2019 – Lyndsey Stonebridge
https://portside.org/2019-04-10/why-hannah-arendt-philosopher-now
The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), by Hannah Arendt, has much to teach us in our troubled times. In this essay, Lyndsey Stonebridge offers a fine overview of Arendt’s life and times, and puts her classic study in its proper context… Only a political organisation without nationalism, or one that would at least put nationalism in its place, could guarantee the “right” of everybody to “have rights” – to speak and be recognised as part of a community. Her own statelessness taught Arendt that we make our own humanity, together, through friendship, talk, action and, above all, politics. “We humanise what is going on in the world and in ourselves only by speaking of it, and in the course of speaking of it we learn to be human,” she later said… Arendt left us with an important message: expect and prepare for the worst, but think and act for something better. The impossible is always possible.
14 Sunday Apr 2019
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A Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products
Natural Resources Defense Council – March 12, 2019 – Patrick Rogers
https://www.nrdc.org/stories/shoppers-guide-home-tissue-products
Consumers can create the demand for recycled content, but really it’s up to major companies with large R&D budgets to innovate and figure out how to make a product that is appealing to shoppers and doesn’t destroy our forests.
Trump administration sabotages major conservation effort, defying Congress
The Guardian – April 8, 2019 – Mallory Pickett
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/08/trump-administration-sabotages-major-conservation-effort-defying-congress
Unique in scale and ambition, the program comprises 22 research centers that tackle big-picture issues affecting huge swaths of the US, such as climate change, flooding and species extinction. They are known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives – or were, because 16 of them are now on indefinite hiatus or have dissolved… “I’d say there could be five to six years [of work] down the drain.”
Wendy’s Owner Gives Big to Trump While Refusing Farmworkers’ Demands
Truth Out – April 4, 2019 – Derek Seidman
https://truthout.org/articles/wendys-owner-gives-big-to-trump-while-refusing-farmworkers-demands/
Since January 2013, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has been mounting an effort to pressure Wendy’s to participate in its Fair Food Program, which ensures better wages and safer working conditions for Florida’s tomato pickers… The CIW is now “raising pressure on one of the most prominent holdouts — Wendy’s — which it sees as an obstacle to expansion.”… The real power behind Wendy’s is a prominent hedge fund run by a well-known Trump donor who owns a $123.1 million Palm Beach estate that sits next to one of Trump’s former properties… The CIW’s effort to pressure Wendy’s to participate in the Fair Food Program is not just a battle between farmworkers and a major fast food chain. It is a battle that pits Florida’s tomato pickers against the Wall Street firm that oversees Wendy’s, which is run by a billionaire who has piles of cash to give to politicians like Donald Trump but who refuses to pay an extra penny per pound of tomatoes so that farm laborers can have better wages, safer working conditions, and more dignity at work.
Drinks bottles now biggest plastic menace for waterways – report
The Guardian – April 7, 2019 – Fiona Harvey
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/08/drinks-bottles-now-biggest-plastic-menace-for-waterways-report
Plastic bags were found to make up only 1% of plastic rubbish in freshwater, reflecting years of efforts to reduce their use, including charges on them in the UK and many other European countries… Our discarded plastic enters rivers from litter generated by our on-the-go lifestyle and items we flush down toilets. This throwaway approach is having much more serious consequences and the report shows really simple ways to avoid this problem and stop plastic pollution.
Science says, “Work Requirements Don’t Work”
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – Maerch 2019 – Harrison Neuert, Eleni Fischer, Matthew Darling and Anthony Barrows
http://www.ideas42.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ideas42-Work-Requirements-Paper.pdf
Proposals to take away medical, food, housing and income assistance from people who do not meet a work requirement have become a centerpiece of the conservative policy agenda, often justified with the claim that the threat of cutting benefits will encourage work. This ignores the growing body of scientific evidence that these policies are misguided and will make it harder for individuals to maintain or find employment.
The progressive base is more pragmatic than you might think
Vox – March 25, 2019 – Lara Putnam
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2019/3/25/18275868/2020-presidential-election-midterms-democrats-candidate-progressive-base
Nothing builds pragmatic knowledge of the American electorate like trying to win votes face to face… When political volunteers are knocking on doors, they’re not hawking a bag of issues. They are representing a human being, to voters who want people in power who understand people like them… The actually-door-knocking Democratic base knows better. Unlike the political hobbyists burning up the internet with hot takes, they have a hard-won and deeply pragmatic understanding of the regional electorates around them, in all their messy contradictions.
Will Digital Ballot Images Help Protect the 2020 Election?
Reader Supported News – April 9, 2019 – Harvey Wasserman
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/55935-rsn-will-digital-ballot-images-help-protect-the-2020-election
Trump’s GOP wants to strip from census and registration rolls millions of citizens of color, non-billionaires, and others who may be inclined to vote NO on a new dictatorship. The assault will target ways to (again) win the Electoral College while (as widely expected) losing the popular vote. Al Gore, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton all rolled over in races they legitimately won. Our survival now demands candidates willing to join Georgia’s Stacey Abrams in refusing to concede stolen elections… In this century, with the likes of Donald Trump in the White House, Thomas Jefferson’s warning that preserving democracy requires “eternal vigilance” remains an epic understatement.
Thinking Outside the Plastic Box- Going Plastic Free in Rural America
The Daily Kos – April 8, 2019
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/4/8/1848735/-Thinking-Outside-the-Plastic-Box-Going-Plastic-Free-in-Rural-America
We don’t live in big cities. We don’t live on a coast. But we are powerful, smart, resourceful people whose ancestors built these parts of the country that we love. Many of us have our roots deep into our local areas. Lets protect our roots, both figuratively and literally by protecting our soils and waterways.
How Americans are experiencing racism
Axios – April 9, 2019 – Stef W. Kight
https://www.axios.com/racism-in-america-pew-research-aaa8002d-736f-4203-8139-5119da845a44.html
Three-quarters of black and Asian Americans, as well as 58% of Hispanics, said they have experienced bias or discrimination — unjust or prejudicial treatment because of their race or ethnicity. Just a third of white people said the same. Black people were consistently most likely to report experiencing various kinds of discrimination and bias… White Americans are not only the least likely to experience discrimination, but they also most often miss the impact of racial discrimination and bias on others. [see Pew Research Center report – https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2019/04/09/race-in-america-2019/ ]
Rapidly Blossoming Authoritarian State Is Headed to Another Level
Esquire Magazine – April 9. 2019 – Charles P. Pierce
https://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/55945-our-rapidly-blossoming-authoritarian-state-is-headed-to-another-level
Once again, an entirely new cast of characters will discover what it’s like to work for a petulant would-be authoritarian whose empathy for other human beings stops at what he sees in the mirror, and whose idea of whimsy is to mock the disabled and to accuse the victims of natural disasters of ingratitude while they’re trying to avoid starvation and cholera. He will be done with them soon enough. After all, apparently part of what set off the current tantrum was a reluctance of DHS officials to break the law on his command… There is nothing that can possibly go wrong in this scenario, which is scaring the daylights out of people who do not scare easily.
Working Families Tax Relief Act Would Raise Incomes of 46 Million Households, Reduce Child Poverty
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities – April 10, 2019 – Chuck Marr, Brendan Duke, Yixuan Huang, Jennifer Beltrán, Vincent Palacios and Arloc Sherman
https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/working-families-tax-relief-act-would-raise-incomes-of-46-million-households
Senators Sherrod Brown, Michael Bennet, Richard Durbin, and Ron Wyden introduced legislation today that would substantially expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC). Based on an analysis of Census data, the proposal, known as the Working Families Tax Relief Act, would improve the economic well-being of 46 million low- and moderate-income households with 114 million people.
The Sanders Medicare Bill Includes an Exceptionally Generous Benefit Package
Vox – April 10, 2019 – Sarah Kliff
https://www.vox.com/2019/4/10/18304448/bernie-sanders-medicare-for-all
The Sanders plan envisions a future in which all Americans have health coverage and pay nothing out of pocket when they visit the doctor. His plan, the Medicare for All Act, describes a benefit package that is more generous than what other single-payer countries, like Canada, currently offer their residents and includes new income taxes on both employees and employers… One of Sanders’s main arguments in favor of his health care bill is that American health spending is out of control and single-payer would rein it in… Who pays how much more is a key question this Sanders bill doesn’t answer yet. Until there is a version that does, we can’t know whether the health system the Vermont senator envisions could actually become reality.
Death sentence for abortion? The hypocrisy of US ‘pro-lifers’ is plain to see
The Guardian – Apil 11, 2019 – Jill Filipovic
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/11/death-sentence-abortion-hypocrisy-pro-life
The Texas state legislature is debating a provision that wouldn’t just outlaw abortion, but legally qualify it as homicide. The repercussions are chilling… When abortion is outlawed, women suffer. We are forced to have children we cannot support. We are injured and sometimes killed by clandestine procedures. We go to jail. And if some legislators in Texas had their way, we would be executed by the very people who claim to defend life.
Decriminalizing the Drug War: The Damage done by a Century of Drug Prohibition
Informed Comment – April 10, 2019 – Alfred W. McCoy
https://www.juancole.com/2019/04/decriminalizing-century-prohibition.html
In ways that few seem to understand, illicit drugs have had a profound influence on modern America, shaping our international politics, national elections, and domestic social relations. Yet a feeling that illicit drugs belong to a marginalized demimonde has made U.S. drug policy the sole property of law enforcement and not health care, education, or urban development… Hit by a surge of heroin abuse during the 1980s, Portugal’s government first reacted with repression that, as everywhere else on the planet, did little to stanch rising drug abuse, crime, and infection. Gradually, a network of medical professionals across the country adopted harm-reduction measures that would provide a striking record of proven success.
International Sex Strikes!!! America needs one now!!!
Justice Initiative – April 11, 2019 – Heather Gray
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/International-Sex-Strikes—-America-needs-one-now—-.html?soid=1109359583686&aid=YcgKDO1ljuk
All these American problematic “sex” issues are coupled with a lack of adequate sex education in US schools for both females and males which further exacerbates the problem… As demonstrated in the article below, all over the world women have created peace, justice and policies that threatened their welfare, and the welfare of the community overall, by engaging in “sex strikes”!
Julian Assange Was Arrested. Journalists Must Defend Him
The Atlantic Magazine – April 11, 2019 – James Ball
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/04/julian-assange-arrested-journalists-defend/586936/
The combination of an ideologically (rather than financially) motivated whistle-blower with firsthand knowledge of the material alongside the editorial judgment of major outlets forms the bedrock of public-interest journalism. Any attempt to swing the needle against that, or to criminalize it by tying it to hacking on a technicality, threatens quality journalism and threatens the free media.
Julian Assange’s Legal Proceedings Will Do Profound Damage to the Institutions of the Free Press
Esquire Magazine – April 11, 2019 – Charles Pierce
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a27112746/julian-assange-wikileaks-arrested/
As Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas wrote in New York Times Co. v. United States, the landmark case in which the Court allowed the publication of the Pentagon Papers which, you may recall, the Nixon Administration argued were obtained illegally… The dominant purpose of the First Amendment was to prohibit the widespread practice of governmental suppression of embarrassing information. It is common knowledge that the First Amendment was adopted against the widespread use of the common law of seditious libel to punish the dissemination of material that is embarrassing to the powers-that-be.
The Assange arrest is a warning from history
Global Research – April 12, 2019 – John Pilger
https://www.globalresearch.ca/assange-arrest-warning-history/5674239
Even if journalists who published WikiLeaks’ leaks are not summoned by an American grand jury, the intimidation of Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning will be enough. Real journalism is being criminalised by thugs in plain sight. Dissent has become an indulgence.
A Grim Take on the State of the News Business
Portside – USA Today – April 11, 2019 – Maria Puente
https://portside.org/2019-04-11/grim-take-state-news-business
A look at the state of investigative reporting and long form journalism, a former New York Times editor details threats to an informed public coming from the decline of newspapers and the rise of social media gimmicks that beggar fact-based writing. [review of book “Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts” by Jill Abramson.]
This Is How Human Extinction Could Play Out
Rolling Stone – April 12, 2019 – Bill McKibben
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/bill-mckibben-falter-climate-change-817310/
Food-system collapse, sea-level rise, disease. In his new book “Falter,” Bill McKibben asks, “Is it Too Late?”… There are many ways to be poorer, and we’re going to find out all of them… Excerpted from “FALTER: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?” by Bill McKibben.
Pace of Bering Sea changes startles scientists
Yahoo News – Associated Press – April 14, 2019 – Dan Joling
https://news.yahoo.com/bering-sea-changes-startle-scientists-worry-residents-160703816.html
The Bering Sea last winter saw record-low sea ice. Climate models predicted less ice, but not this soon, said Seth Danielson, a physical oceanographer at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. “The projections were saying we would’ve hit situations similar to what we saw last year, but not for another 40 or 50 years,” Danielson said… Scientists say figuring out the ocean physics is far less of a challenge than projecting the biological ramifications. “We sort of opened up this whole Pandora’s box of not really knowing how the ecosystem as a whole is going to adjust to that,” Danielson said.
10 Wednesday Apr 2019
Posted Uncategorized
in≈ Comments Off on free workshop, Better Angels 4/27
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/atlanta-better-angels-skills-workshop-tickets-58883237348
There’s a lot of stress these days among family members and friends who are divided politically, and the current polarized public conversation doesn’t help. Please join us for a Better Angels Skills Workshop to learn skills for having respectful conversations that clarify differences, search for common ground, and affirm the importance of the relationship.
After a presentation, you will have an opportunity to practice listening and speaking skills. You will practice in a pair with someone of your same political persuasion—red or blue. “Reds” lean conservative and tend to vote Republican. “Blues” lean liberal and tend to vote Democratic. If you fall somewhere in the middle, you can choose a side for purposes of practicing the skills.
Who can come? Anyone interested in having better conversations with people on the other side of the political aisle.
07 Sunday Apr 2019
Posted Uncategorized
in≈ Comments Off on Volume XXVII – Number 14
75% of Scotland’s Electricity Now Green; and All Cars Electric by 2032
Informed Comment – March 30, 2019 – Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/scotlands-electricity-electric.html
People who talk about our finding future solutions to the climate emergency are just out of date. The solutions exist, it is just a matter of implementing them, of political will.
I went undercover to expose the US, Australia gun lobby
Al Jazeera – March 25, 2019 – Rodger Muller
https://www.aljazeera.com/blogs/americas/2019/03/undercover-expose-australia-gun-lobby-190325120818734.html
Al Jazeera reporter goes undercover in a three-year investigation of the US’ powerful gun lobby’s strategies to promote firearms ownership.
Myles Horton and The Highlander Folk School
Justice Initiative – April 1, 2019 – Heather Gray
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/Myles-Horton—Highlander.html?soid=1109359583686&aid=WZ7hyE3ne2M
This article is about the background of the Highlander Folk School founder, Myles Horton, and his philosophy of organizing & learning from and with the people. Prior to founding the Highlander Center, he spent time in Denmark learning about the folk schools there and about the folk school philosophy. While in Denmark, Horton wisely learned and noted, “You can go to school all your life and you’ll never figure it out because you’re trying to get an answer that can only come from the people in the life situation” – and it was this philosophy that he applied at Highlander.
Boeing Crashes Highlight the High Costs of Cheap Government
New York Magazine – March 31, 2019 – Eric Levitz
http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/03/boeing-737-max-crashes-highlight-the-high-costs-of-cheap-government.html
The FAA is as well responible for the crashes.
“Massive Win for the Environment”: New York State Bans Single-Use Plastic Bags
Common Dreams – April 1, 2019 – Jessica Corbett
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/01/massive-win-environment-new-york-state-bans-single-use-plastic-bags
New York is the third state to outlaw plastic bags. California voters ratified a state law in 2016, and all of Hawaii’s counties have enacted similar regulations, effectively banning plastic bags statewide… New York’s bag ban comes as study after study warns that plastic pollution poses a mounting threat to both human health and the environment. Under pressure from environmental campaigners, the European Parliament last week approved sweeping legislation to ban various single-use plastics—including cotton buds, cutlery, and straws—across the continent by 2021.
The Supreme Court’s Math Problem
Slate – March 29, 2019 – Jordan Ellenberg
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/03/scotus-gerrymandering-case-mathematicians-brief-elena-kagan.html
This case is about voting, and the constitutional rights of free association and equal protection, and the balance of power between parties and voters. But it is also about math, because both gerrymandering and anti-gerrymandering measures have become deeply quantitative. That’s why this case included a “mathematicians’ brief” that was, as far as I know, the first such ever submitted to the Supreme Court. (Along with 10 other mathematicians, I signed onto this brief.)… The people suing North Carolina aren’t asking the courts to require states to hew to an abstract norm of proportional representation; they’re asking that they throw out the outliers, the freakiest of freaky gerrymanders, leaving state lawmakers the rest of the vast universe of maps to choose from with a free hand.
Republican Health Care Lying Syndrome
New York Times – April 1, 2019 – Paul Krugman
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/01/opinion/republicans-health-care.html
Republicans just keep telling the same lies, over and over. Again and again they have promised to maintain coverage and protect pre-existing conditions — then offered plans that would cause tens of millions to lose health insurance, with the worst impact on those already suffering from health problems… public opinion here is clear: Americans want everyone to have access to health care. There isn’t even that much of a partisan divide: An overwhelming majority of Republicans don’t believe insurance companies should be allowed to deny coverage or charge more to those with pre-existing conditions. This public near-unanimity is one reason Medicare is so popular. Getting older — and thus joining a group with much higher average health costs than the rest of the population — is, after all, the ultimate pre-existing condition.
Cities and states are modeling what a Green New Deal could look like
Think Progress – April 2, 2019 – E.A. Crunden
https://thinkprogress.org/cities-states-green-new-deal-ocasio-cortez-b87147b4b47d/
City and state-level efforts remain different from federal action in that they are much smaller scale and thus easier to implement. However, virtually every official who spoke to ThinkProgress indicated that assistance from Congress and the White House would help, either with funding or with general guidance. But the polarized nature of Washington is proving challenging in that regard, as is evident by the Green New Deal’s failure to gain bipartisan support. Webber, of Santa Fe, sees an opening there. “I think particularly with the federal government frozen in so many ways, the level of engagement is shifting to the cities and the states,” he said.
FDA Investigating Reports of Seizures After Vaping
Medscape – April 3, 2019 – Megan Brooks
https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/911298?nlid=129167_3901&src=wnl_newsalrt_190403_MSCPEDIT&uac=140360BT&impID=1926949&faf=1
The United States has seen an increase of “epidemic level” in the use of e-cigarettes among young people, a trend that is “threatening the commitment we’ve made to reduce tobacco use among our nation’s children.”
Muslims and Jews face a common threat from white supremacists
The Guardian – April 3, 2019 – Jonathan Freedland and Mehdi Hasan
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/apr/03/muslims-jews-white-supremacists
This is how our haters see us: Jews and Muslims connected in a joint enterprise to effect a “white genocide”. It is an unhinged and racist conspiracy theory – and it has both of our communities in its murderous sights. So there can only be one response: Muslims and Jews must stand and fight it together… It’s heartening that Muslim groups raised more than $200,000 for bereaved families at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, and heartening too that the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh is now raising money for the victims of the New Zealand mosque attacks.
A Day of Infamy, 51 Years Ago Today
Justice Initiative – April 4, 2019 – Heather Gray
https://myemail.constantcontact.com/-Wiping-Away-the-Tears—-King-Assassinated-51-Years-Ago.html?soid=1109359583686&aid=VmrNmcfpXMs
In 1968, the tragic events in the first week of April turned the world upside down. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis on Thursday, April 4. He was there to support the sanitation workers who were on strike and later to launch the Poor People’s Campaign in Washington, DC.
The diets cutting one in five lives short every year
BBC – April 4, 2019 – James Gallagher
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-47734296
About 10 million out of the 11 million diet-related deaths were because of cardiovascular disease and that explains why salt is such a problem. Too much salt raises blood pressure and that in turn raises the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Whole grains, fruit and vegetables have the opposite effect – they are “cardioprotective” and lower the risk of heart problems.
‘Asthma alley’: why minorities bear burden of pollution inequity caused by white people
The Guardian – April 4, 2019 – Hazar Kilani
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/apr/04/new-york-south-bronx-minorities-pollution-inequity
Bronx activist-turned-lawmakers Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez went viral last month when she told Congress that the Green New Deal, which aims to tackle economic and racial inequality while also fighting climate change (to which road traffic is a contributor) “is not an elitist issue. This is a quality of life issue. You want to tell people that their concern and their desire for clean air and clean water is elitist? Tell that to the kids in the South Bronx [who are] suffering from the highest rates of childhood asthma in the country.”
Flood of Comments Shows Public ‘Utterly Repulsed’ By Trump Plan to Take Food Stamps From 750,000 People
Common Dreams – April 3, 2019 – Jake Johnson
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/03/flood-comments-shows-public-utterly-repulsed-trump-plan-take-food-stamps-750000
“Millions of adults and families depend on SNAP,” wrote one commenter from Arkansas. “The idea that it should be somehow cut back while we waste billions on our bloated military and entertain the possibility of building that pathetic, soon to be Ozymandian wall is an insult to America’s soul and an embarrassment in the eyes of the civilized world.
Fossil Fuel Trade Associations Spent $1.4 Billion on Ads in Past Decade
The Real News – April 4, 2019 – Kert Davies
https://therealnews.com/stories/fossil-fuel-trade-associations-spent-1-4-billion-on-ads-in-past-decade
Advertising and mass communication on behalf of the fossil fuel industry, the industry most scientists say is a central culprit of climate change. In short, it’s prolific. Fossil fuel and other corporate trade groups paid PR and advertising firms at least 1.4 billion dollars from 2008 to 2017. That’s according to a new report from Climate Investigation Center… API alone is six times the total spending of all the renewable energy associations combined.
Dear Trump: Top 7 Signs Puerto Ricans might be Americans
Informed Comment – April 4, 2019 – Juan Cole
https://www.juancole.com/2019/04/puerto-ricans-americans.html
Puerto Rico has introduced a bill to become a state by 2021. We don’t usually let foreign countries become states.
Climate Change Group Scrapped by Trump Reassembles to Issue Warning
The Guardian – April 4, 2019 – Oliver Milman
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/04/climate-change-trump-advisory-group-report-warning-global-warming
The Trump administration disbanded the 15-person Advisory Committee for the Sustained National Climate Assessment in August 2017… The advisory group has since been resurrected, however, following an invitation from New York’s governor, Andrew Cuomo, and has been financially supported by Columbia University and the American Meteorological Society. It now has 20 expert members… We live in an era of climate change and yet many of our systems, codes and standards have not caught up… Integrating climate science into everyday decisions is not just smart planning, it’s an urgent necessity.
CO2 Levels Are Now at a 3 Million-Year High
EcoWatch – April 5, 2019 – Olivia Rosane
https://www.ecowatch.com/c02-levels-2633711783.html
On the same day that the Science Advances study was released, scientists met at the Royal Meteorological Society in London to discuss what the earth was like the last time carbon dioxide levels were so high. That was 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago during the Pliocene epoch, when beech trees grew in Antarctica, temperatures were three to four degrees Celsius warmer and sea levels were 20 meters (approximately 65.6 feet) higher.
If Prisons Don’t Work, What Will?
The New York Times – April 5, 2019 – Emily Bazelon
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/opinion/mass-incarceration-sentencing-reform.html
Incarceration should be the last resort, not the default. In Brooklyn, District Attorney Eric Gonzalez has said this idea is central to his tenure. His counterpart in Boston, Rachael Rollins, last month instructed prosecutors to ask for jail only “when any other recommendation would compromise” safety.
When Socialism Was Tried in America—and Was a Smashing Success
Portside – The Nation – April 6, 2019 – John Nichols
https://portside.org/2019-04-06/when-socialism-was-tried-america-and-was-smashing-success
For much of the 20th century, Milwaukee was run by socialists—and Time magazine called it “one of the best-run cities in the U.S.”… Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, gets it right when he says that the old Republican strategy of attaching a “socialist” label to every progressive idea is just that: old. “Today, I think a word like that is the beginning of a debate, not the end of the debate… Milwaukee’s Socialists were so fiscally and socially responsible that historians to this day hail them as exemplars of a uniquely American form of democratic socialism. Zeidler once explained to me, “Socialism as we attempted to practice it here believes that people working together for the common good can produce a greater benefit both for society and for the individual than can a society in which everyone is shrewdly seeking their own self-interest.”