Category: Power to the People

What I did on my trip to California

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

You may be surprised to know that I was working on and advocating actual things while I was away.

1. A fairly effective strategy to ruin the hold the Tea Party has on the Republican party.
2. A program to help Progressive Caucus members be better on the issues.
3. A bargaining tactic to help the teachers unions and battle corruption.0
4. A tool to help poor parents stay more involved in their children’s education.

Once I get to the point where they’re ready to roll, I’ll tell you all about it.

Go Texas

~ susie

Way to make it happen! The bill is stopped for now:

Texas lawmakers are currently rushing an omnibus anti-abortion bill through a special session, after each of its provisions failed to advance separately during the regular legislative session. But not without being met with a fight. Over 700 Texans traveled to Austin on Thursday to testify against the anti-abortion measure before it could come to a vote in the House — and their “people’s filibuster” successfully prevented the legislation from advancing.

Howard Dean in 2016?

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

He told CNN at Netroots Nation last night that he’s open to running:

San Jose, California (CNN) – Howard Dean, the former Vermont governor who electrified anti-war liberals during the 2004 presidential race, said Thursday he would consider another run for the White House – a statement that will surely be met with mixed reaction in the Democratic Party.

Dean, whose underdog presidential campaign officially launched 10 years ago this weekend, said he has “mixed feelings” about running for office again but added he would consider another bid for the Democratic presidential nomination if he doesn’t think the other candidates are adequately addressing progressive issues that are dear to his heart.

“I am not driven by my own ambition,” Dean told CNN in an interview at the Netroots Nation conference, an annual gathering of left-leaning political activists. “What I am driven by is pushing the country in a direction that it desperately needs to be pushed; pushing other politicians who aren’t quite as frank as I am who need to be more candid with the American people about what needs to happen. I am not trying to hedge, it’s a hard job running. It’s really tough. I am doing a lot of things I really enjoy. But you should never say never in this business.”

Continue reading “Howard Dean in 2016?” →

‘We can all rest easier’ now that protesters will go to jail for wearing masks

~ susie ~ 7 Comments

guyfawkes

Are they putting something in the water up there? In case they didn’t notice, things are so bad, rioters probably won’t even bother with the Guy Fawkes mask soon:

A bill that bans the wearing of masks during a riot or unlawful assembly and carries a maximum 10-year prison sentence with a conviction of the offence became law today.

Bill C-309, a private member’s bill introduced by Conservative MP Blake Richards in 2011, passed third reading in the Senate on May 23 and was proclaimed law during a royal assent ceremony in the Senate this afternoon.

Richards, MP for Wild Rose, Alta., said the bill is meant to give police an added tool to prevent lawful protests from becoming violent riots, and that it will help police identify people who engage in vandalism or other illegal acts. The bill is something that police, municipal authorities and businesses hit hard by riots in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal and other cities in recent years, were asking for, according to Richards.

“The provisions of my bill are effective immediately, which means police officers across Canada now have access to these tools to protect the public from masked rioters,” Richards said in a statement being released today.

The bill creates a new Criminal Code offence that makes it illegal to wear a mask or otherwise conceal your identity during a riot or unlawful assembly. Exceptions can be made if someone can prove they have a “lawful excuse” for covering their face such as religious or medical reasons.

The bill originally proposed a penalty of up to five years, but the House of Commons justice committee amended it and doubled the penalty to up to 10 years in prison for committing the offence.

Richards noted in his statement how rare it is for a private member’s bill to become law and said that its final passage is the culmination of two years of work and a lot of consultation with police and business owners.

“We can all rest easier tonight knowing our communities have been made safer with its passage,” said Richards.

Thanks to DUI attorney Karin Porter.

Juneteenth

~ susie ~ 1 Comment

Read it:

“The people of Texas are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired labor. The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their present homes and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.” –General Orders, Number 3; Headquarters District of Texas, Galveston, June 19, 1865

When Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger issued the above order, he had no idea that, in establishing the Union Army’s authority over the people of Texas, he was also establishing the basis for a holiday, “Juneteenth” (“June” plus “nineteenth”), today the most popular annual celebration of emancipation from slavery in the United States. After all, by the time Granger assumed command of the Department of Texas, the Confederate capital in Richmond had fallen; the “Executive” to whom he referred, President Lincoln, was dead; and the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery was well on its way to ratification.

But Granger wasn’t just a few months late. The Emancipation Proclamation itself, ending slavery in the Confederacy (at least on paper), had taken effect two-and-a-half years before, and in the interim, close to 200,000 black men had enlisted in the fight. So, formalities aside, wasn’t it all over, literally, but the shouting?

H/t Kush Arora.

Interesting

~ susie

How can they tell? I mean, lots of producers lie about whether they’re selling GMO products. Will they check? Stay tuned:

Super store giant, Target, has announced they will be adding a new brand to their shelves—one that is made with natural health in mind. Called Simply Balanced, the brand will be on shelves soon and will phase out genetically modified ingredients by the end of 2014.

According to a press release on the Target official website, the initial roll-out will include a selection of foods that are 40% organic and the majority of them will not contain GMOs. GMOs will be completely absent from the ingredients within the next year and a half.

This, they say, is in an effort to align with the “increasing demand for healthy food products at a great price.” The Simply Balanced brand will also exclude other harmful ingredients while striving to provide consumers with a natural and affordable store-brand option.

Via DUI attorney Kush Arora.

Occupy Brazil

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

It sure seems contagious, doesn’t it? Everywhere but here:

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — Protesters showed up by the thousands in Brazil’s largest cities on Monday night in a remarkable display of strength for an agitation that had begun with small protests against bus-fare increases, then evolved into a broader movement by groups and individuals irate over a range of issues including the country’s high cost of living and lavish new stadium projects.

The growing protests rank among the largest and most resonant since the nation’s military dictatorship ended in 1985, with demonstrators numbering into the tens of thousands gathered here in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, and other large protests unfolding in cities like Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Curitiba, Belém and Brasília, the capital, where marchers made their way to the roof of Congress.

Sharing a parallel with the antigovernment protests in Turkey, the demonstrations in Brazil intensified after a harsh police crackdown last week stunned many citizens. In images shared widely on social media, the police here were seen beating unarmed protesters with batons and dispersing crowds by firing rubber bullets and tear gas into their midst.

“The violence has come from the government,” said Mariana Toledo, 27, a graduate student at the University of São Paulo who was among the protesters on Monday. “Such violent acts by the police instill fear, and at the same time the need to keep protesting.”

Moral Mondays

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

The things going on in North Carolina are just awful, but the citizens aren’t taking it lying down:

Moral Monday organizers say they’re expecting more than 1,000 people at this evening’s protest at the state legislative building, marking what could be the largest protest yet.

In the run-up to the weekly Moral Monday demonstration, schoolchildren will wheel red wagons filled with 100 pounds of petitions to Gov. Pat McCrory’s office this afternoon. The petitions, which represent 16,000 signatures, call on McCrory to keep the cap on class sizes and oppose private school vouchers.

Former congressman and state Superintendent Bob Etheridge is expected to be among those joining the schoolchildren in the petitions delivery. The plan is for the petitions to be delivered at 4:15 p.m., followed by a protest on Halifax Mall at 5 p.m.

[…] After last week’s demonstration, McCrory called for an end to the Moral Monday protests, calling them “unlawful.” At his party’s NC GOP convention in Charlotte Saturday, McCrory said he was not intimidated by the protests.

“They should not be blocking the business of North Carolina,” McCrory said Tuesday. “They are allowed to protest, but sometimes I think we congratulate people for blocking things and being unlawful.”