Thursday, September 24, 2020
Choose Democracy- Oppose Authoritarianisn
Choose Democracy: We can stop an undemocratic power grab, but only if we prepare and together, choose democracy.
Wednesday, September 23, 2020
Monday, September 21, 2020
Sunday, September 20, 2020
Saturday, September 19, 2020
Wednesday, September 16, 2020
Monday, September 14, 2020
Silence of the Dems: Why Aren’t There More Prop. 15 Endorsements?
Silence of the Dems: Why Aren’t There More Prop. 15 Endorsements?: Many progressive electeds have ignored an initiative that would revise California’s constitution to assess commercial property at higher rates.
Sunday, September 13, 2020
Biden Error !
Biden pick creates furor, underscoring bitterness over Obama immigration policy
BY RAFAEL BERNAL - 09/09/20 06:00 AM EDT 1,296
Dime con quién andas !
Immigration advocates are livid over the Biden transition team’s addition of Cecilia Muñoz, a former Obama administration official who was the public face of that administration’s immigration policy.
Muñoz, who once served as the head of former President Obama’s White House Domestic Policy Council, was named by the Biden campaign Friday as part of a group of eight new senior transition advisers.
The pick was quickly criticized by immigration reform advocates, a reaction that exhibited both ideological divides within the Democratic Party and a lingering resentment felt by many immigration advocates over the actions of the Obama administration, particularly in its first term.
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“Huge mistake. Huge. Huge mistake. Worst part? We have no other option. I guess we gotta pick our opponent. That’s what it has come down to,” wrote Erika Andiola, an immigrant rights activist and advocacy director for The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.
Muñoz, a policy expert who cut her teeth at UnidosUS, then known as the National Council of La Raza, before joining the Obama administration, became a lightning rod for criticism of Obama’s immigration policy.
“If Biden wins, no one from the Obama administration should be allowed to touch the immigration policy portfolio,” said Pablo Manríquez, a former Democratic National Committee spokesman who’s been overtly critical of Obama on immigration.
“Cecilia Muñoz is the one person besides [Trump White House aide] Stephen Miller who has spent years of her public service dedicated to the smooth execution of mass deportation policy at the West Wing level,” said Manríquez.
The criticism reflects in part the view that Muñoz did not advocate enough for immigration rights during internal discussions in the Obama White House. Instead, advocates say she too often defended policies that led to the deportation of more than 2 million people.
“She was the person in the White House who shielded Obama from all the flak,” said Amy Maldonado, an immigration lawyer whose clients include minors in detention.
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“The whole reason she was in that room was to give a perspective they weren’t hearing, and instead she covered for them,” added Maldonado.
The criticism comes as Biden continues to underperform with Latino voters, a fact that is alarming to many Democrats.
An NBC News-Marist poll released Tuesday found Biden trailing Trump among Latino voters in Florida, 50 percent to 46 percent. In 2016, by contrast, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton beat Trump among Florida Latinos by 25 points, according to exit polls.
Biden has slowly but surely distanced himself from Obama’s more aggressive immigration policies, and Maldonado said there was no question for her about backing Biden over Trump, even if Biden brought back all of the Obama-era policies.
“Between Trump and Biden there is no choice. Children literally die in detention under this administration,” she said.
Other voices defended the Obama administration, saying it changed in the second term.
“Immigration policy under the Obama-Biden administration was not a singular thing, it evolved over time for a lot of reasons,” said Tom Jawetz, vice president of immigration at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
“While there were some bumps in the road, they showed some growth,” said Jawetz.
Muñoz has both White House experience and immigration expertise, which makes her a natural fit for Biden’s team. In 2000, she won a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” for her work on immigration policy.
A former Capitol Hill staffer with deep knowledge of immigration deliberations during the Obama administration lauded Muñoz, saying “she was advocating for immigration reform and the president leaning in to immigration in a positive way.”
Muñoz remained publicly loyal to Obama when the then-president was referred to by some as the deporter in chief, something perceived by some in the immigration space as a betrayal.
“There were lots of moments when people thought she should resign in protest and she didn’t. She stuck with it and it earned her a lot of enemies on the pro-immigrant left,” said the former staffer.
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But immigration advocates see Muñoz as a policy expert who will likely depend on the political leadership of Biden and his core team to mark a direction on immigration for the Democratic nominee.
“Cecilia Muñoz is one of several experienced advisors leading teams focused on establishing strong infrastructure for federal agencies dealing with domestic and economic policy. The transition team’s focus is ensuring there is a strong policy apparatus across government that can support the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies on day one,” said a Biden transition official.
Along with Muñoz’s appointment, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham(D) was announced as one of four co-chairs for the transition team, a hierarchical step above Muñoz.
Lujan Grisham led the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in the first two years of the Trump administration and was a vocal defender of immigrant rights and proponent of immigration reform.
Winning over Latino voters, in any event, is likely to come down to Biden himself.
Saturday, September 12, 2020
Friday, September 11, 2020
Voting Power
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is non-partisan but deeply committed to moral politics and public policy. For years we’ve demanded nothing less than a reconstruction of society around the needs of the poor and dispossessed. To do this, we must bring the agenda of poor and low-income people front and center in this election cycle and beyond.
Join us on Monday, September 14th at 7pm ET / 4pm PT for a National Moral Monday Mass Assembly and Teach-In: Voting is Power Unleashed,* a massive online event bringing together poor and low-income people and allies who will learn about voter power, engagement, registration and protection and how to organize our communities to defend the vote.
Poor and low-income people hold the power to change the political calculus across the nation. The attacks on voting rights, voter suppression and in-person voter intimidation will only escalate in the weeks to come. That’s why we need to pull the movement family together for this massive teach-in to spread the tools people need to defend our democracy. Leading civil rights attorneys Caitlin Swain and Sherrilyn Ifill from Forward Justice and NAACP Legal Defense Fund will lead a powerful session on what grassroots leaders need to know as we enter the voting season. Organizers will lead us through the urgent voter engagement programs of the Poor People's Campaign.
RSVP to Join Us for this Historic Event During a Critical Election Season
We will be joined by PPC coordinating committees in 43 states and other civic, religious and social justice organizations and cultural activists Erika Alexander, Mark Ruffalo, Jane Fonda, D.L. Hughley and Charlamagne tha God. In addition, presidential candidate Joe Biden has accepted our invitation to directly address our agenda and the priorities of poor and low-income people. President Trump was invited to join us, but has not responded.
Imperfect, fragile as it is, our democracy is worth fighting for.
Forward together, not one step back!
Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis
Co-Chairs, Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
*This event will be fully closed-captioned and translated into ASL and Spanish.
Thursday, September 10, 2020
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Choosing Democracy: Why Can't They Just Get Along ? Union Teachers v...
Choosing Democracy: Why Can't They Just Get Along ? Union Teachers v...: Many in Sacramento are frustrated and angry about the continuing conflict between the Sacramento City Teachers Assoc, and the SCUSD Superi...
Tuesday, September 8, 2020
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