'This Is No Bluff': Sanders Vows to Filibuster Military Budget to Force Senate Vote on $2,000 Checks

'This Is No Bluff': Sanders Vows to Filibuster Military Budget to Force Senate Vote on $2,000 Checks

#NoHoneymoon Launch Video

Immoral Behavior by the Republicans

 

It is immoral that in the midst of a deadly pandemic with over 265,000 dead, corporations get billions in debt relief, while the nearly 140 million poor and low-wealth people in our nation are being left behind. We need a COVID relief bill that is at least $3 trillion, yet Senator Manchin and others are proposing a so-called “compromise” bill that is only $900 billion—more than $2 trillion short of what is needed.  We need a bill that guarantees health care for those impacted by COVID; provides sick leave and protections from evictions; and a bill that does not cut unemployment, which the proposed bill seeks to do. While I admire Sen. Manchin for trying to get something done, it is shameful to call this a “compromise” when the poor people who are dying the most and working the hardest to keep the country running will get the least.  The Republicans who have forced this bill down to $900 billion are sinful and shameful and we must speak out against this. It is immoral that corporations got everything they asked for and more, while one in eight Americans reported going hungry last week! Please add your voice to our moral call on Sen. Manchin and other politicians to stop playing games with people’s lives.  https://action.groundswell-mvmt.org/petitions/the-senate-should-not-compromise-on-the-backs-of-the-poor?just_launched=true We need leaders to stand up for what’s right and call on Congress to pass a COVID-19 relief bill that meets the needs of the most impacted people. Forward, Bishop William J. Barber, II

Democratic Socialists Win Election Campaigns

 https://www.dsanorthstar.org/blog/the-number-of-democratic-socialists-in-the-house-will-soon-double-but-the-movement-scored-its-biggest-victories-down-ballot

Poor People's Campaign

This morning we released  a set of 14 policy and legislative priorities for the first 100 days of the next Congress and the Biden-Harris administration. Our priorities include comprehensive and just COVID-19 relief, health care for all, a federal jobs program and much more.

CLICK HERE TO READ OUR FULL SET OF PRIORITIES

At our Moral Monday Mass Assembly on September 14 Biden said that under his presidency, “ending poverty will not just be an aspiration, it will be a theory of change — to build a new economy that includes everyone, where we reward hard work, we care for the most vulnerable among us, we release the potential of all our children, and protect the planet.” (Watch President-elect Biden’s statement from September 14, 2020 and also his and Vice President-elect Harris statements at the Poor People’s Campaign’s Moral Action Congress in 2019.)   We will continue to organize around the policy priorities of poor, low-income and impacted people to make this a reality. Please share this agenda far and wide, and use it as a tool to build power in your community.

Forward together, not one step back! Rev. Dr. William Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis

 

Election Results 2020: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

The Struggle Continues

Thank you and congratulations.

Because of your efforts, we have won the most important election in the modern history of our country.

As I've said many times, this election was not just about Biden vs. Trump and what their views on the issues were. It went much deeper than that. This was an election about whether we end pathological lying in the White House and retain democracy and the rule of law in our country, and thank God, we have done that.

In the days and weeks to come I'm sure that everyone in the world is going to be taking credit for Biden's victory, and the media and the pundits will have their views. But let me just say this.

In my view, multi-racial, multi-generational progressive grassroots organizations all across this country played an extraordinary role in helping to make this victory possible. We made phone calls, we texted, we registered voters, we did virtual rallies, we distributed literature and we knocked on doors when possible. Knowing the importance of this election we did everything that we could, and more.

Together, we built widespread support for Biden among young people, people of color and the working class. In my view, Biden's success would not have been possible without those extraordinary efforts.

And I just want to thank you all for what you did.

One of the areas where the progressive movement had real success was getting more and more young people into the voting booth and into the political process. The latest estimates that I have seen show that over 53% of young people ages 18 to 29 voted, which not only eclipses 2016's turnout rate, but would be the highest youth turnout rate in American history. And those young people voted overwhelmingly for Biden and other Democrats.

In battlegrounds like Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia young voters very strongly supported Biden and other Democrats. In Georgia, for example, 90% of young black voters and 62% of young white voters chose Biden over Trump. And that made all the difference not only in winning that state for Biden, but forcing two Republican senators into runoff elections that will determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. One of the candidates in that runoff election is Reverend Raphael Warnock, whom we strongly supported.

Further, the strong economic agenda that the progressive movement fought for helped bring out low-income working people to vote for Biden. National exit polls show that voters with an annual family income under $50,000 voted against Trump by a 15-point margin.

Needless to say, my campaign staff and I were deeply involved in this campaign. Over the last few months we hosted more than 20 virtual rallies, viewed by millions of people, in battleground states as well as special events with young people, rural voters, the Latino community and the Muslim community.

Starting in October, we re-launched some of our very effective organizing work to reach out directly to voters in key battleground states. A dedicated group of staff and volunteers had one-on-one conversations with voters to get them the information they needed to cast their votes in this election. Further, we ended up sending 4.6 million texts across 14 states thanks to the efforts of more than 800 texting volunteers who helped mobilize our movement in support of 75 down-ballot candidates and propositions.

We also played an active role in supporting down-ballot progressive candidates, because we understand that real change comes from the bottom on up. In total, we endorsed more than 200 candidates running for local and state positions. Of those races that have been called, two-thirds of our endorsed candidates won.

It is also worth mentioning that many progressive ballot initiatives passed across the country. In Florida, voters chose to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. Colorado voters passed an initiative to provide 12 weeks of paid family leave. The people of Arizona voted to increase taxes on those making over $250,000 to increase funding for public education.

But now, as we celebrate our victories, we understand that our struggle is not over. It has just begun. We have accomplished step one by defeating Trump. Much more needs to be done.

Not only do we have to win the two Senate runoff elections in Georgia coming up in January so that we can have Democratic control over the U.S. Senate, but we're going to have to do everything possible to make sure that Congress and the new president move rapidly and aggressively to address the enormous crises facing our country.

In the next several months I will present to the Senate an agenda that I would like to see passed in the first 100 days of the new Congress. This is an agenda that, among many other proposals, will include a strong COVID-19 relief package that protects the unemployed and small businesses.

It is an agenda that will end starvation wages in America, make it easier for workers to join unions and provide equal pay for equal work.

It is an agenda that will create millions of good-paying jobs as we rebuild our crumbling infrastructure.

It is an agenda that makes health care a human right as we move toward a Medicare for All single-payer system, and an agenda that substantially lowers the outrageously high cost of prescription drugs in this country.

It is an agenda that will make it possible for all working class young people to gain a college education without going into debt, and will radically improve our dysfunctional childcare system.

It is an agenda that will create millions of good-paying jobs as we lead the world in combating climate change and transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel.

It is an agenda that demands that the wealthy and powerful start paying their fair share of taxes.

It is an agenda that will take on the systemic racism that prevails throughout our country and our broken and racist criminal justice system.

It is an agenda that will lead to comprehensive immigration reform and a path towards citizenship for the undocumented.

Sisters and brothers, we have come a long way in the last five years. But the truth is that we still have an incredible amount of work ahead of us, and the path forward will not be easy.

Let us continue going forward together. Let us continue our struggle to transform this country and create a government based on the principles of justice.

Thank you for all you've done, and will do, for our movement.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

A Memo to the GOP, Wall Street, Joe Biden, and All Democrats: 'No, Mitch McConnell Is Not the 46th President'

A Memo to the GOP, Wall Street, Joe Biden, and All Democrats: 'No, Mitch McConnell Is Not the 46th President'

Undoing Prop 13

Undoing Prop 13: California’s 1978 ballot measure ushered in the era of inadequate government and kicked off the state’s decline. Voters may finally be ready to repeal it.

CTA TV Ad "Time" | Prop 15

What Is Prop 15?

Key Facts About Proposition 15, California’s Commercial Property Taxes, and Revenue for Schools and Local Communities 

Local tax revenue reflects a community’s shared effort to support vital public services that all Californians need to thrive in our cities and counties. This ranges from education for students in K-12 schools and community colleges to access to housing, health care, public parks, and libraries. These vital public services are supported by tax revenues from commercial and industrial properties – many of which are still taxed based on purchase prices that are more than four decades old. California voters will be asked in fall 2020 to vote on a measure known as Proposition 15. 

This  amendment to the state Constitution  would change how commercial and industrial properties are taxed and provide more revenue for schools and local communities to support services Californians rely upon. This report outlines key facts about how Prop. 15 would change taxes for commercial and industrial properties and increase revenue for local communities. 

 

Ten Key Facts about Proposition 15. 

https://calbudgetcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/CA_Budget_Center_Key-Facts-Prop-15.pdf

 

 

https://calbudgetcenter.org/resources/understanding-proposition-15-inequitable-taxes/

 

Prop 15.  Overturning Austerity 101 

 

https://www.labornotes.org/2020/08/overturning-austerity-101-californias-prop-15-will-tax-rich

 

Glass. 

 

Key Facts About Proposition 15

Choosing Democracy: Key Facts About Proposition 15: Key Facts About Proposition 15, California’s Commercial Property Taxes, and Revenue for Schools and Local Communities   Local tax revenue re...

Go From There | Joe Biden For President 2020

The Case Against Donald Trump

The Case Against Donald Trump

End Our National Crisis 

by Editorial Board, New York Times, Oct.18,2020

 

Lies

Anger

Corruption

Incompetence

Chaos

Decay

 

End Our National Crisis 

 

A Man Unworthy of the Office He Holds

Donald Trump can’t solve the nation’s most pressing problems

Because he is the nation’s most pressing problem. 

 

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/10/16/opinion/donald-trump-worst-president.html?

 

TOTALLY UNDER CONTROL Trailer HD

Voting Power Unleashed

Sacramento Poor People's Campaign

Visit: https://www.facebook.com/SactoPPC

 

News, Updates & Action Alerts

October 17, 2020

 

 

 

A California Statewide Webinar: Voting is Power Unleashed! With Special guest: Rev. William Barber II. Sunday, Oct. 18 at 2-4PM PT. Please register at: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lLrUzuApRQOAxfhCeUdr2w. 

For more info contact: contact:california@poorpeoplescampaign.org.

 

  

With 170+ 'Protect the Results' Events Planned for Nov. 4, Pro-Democracy Groups Vow to 'Ensure Voters Have the Last Word'

With 170+ 'Protect the Results' Events Planned for Nov. 4, Pro-Democracy Groups Vow to 'Ensure Voters Have the Last Word'

The Sacramento Bee Misinforms About School Budgets

Choosing Democracy: The Sacramento Bee Misinforms About School Budgets:  Marcos Bretón today in the BEE,  describes what he thinks are the facts of   the SCUSD budget. Most of the data  are cut and paste from pri...

To Stop an Electoral Coup

To Stop an Electoral Coup, Study What Went Wrong in the 2000 Florida Recount 

 

https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/10/trump-coup-florida-https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/10/trump-coup-florida-2000-recount 2000-recount 

Transfer Of Power _ Trump

Covita: Donald Trump

The Scary S Word

 

THE BIG SCARY "S" WORD - TRAILER from Socialism Documentary on Vimeo.

'What an Anti-Everybody Agenda Looks Like': AOC Excoriates Trump for Walking Away From Covid-19 Relief Talks

'What an Anti-Everybody Agenda Looks Like': AOC Excoriates Trump for Walking Away From Covid-19 Relief Talks

Gov. Whitmer issues scathing rebuke to Trump

What Is Prop 15? DSA Explainer

Our fight

Trump Not Tested Before He Entered the Debate !

Heather Cox Richardson

 

17 hrs  · 

October 2, 2020 (Friday)

Today’s media was consumed with news of the spread of coronavirus to the president and First Lady, as well as concern over the degree to which it has spread to other people associated with the White House. A number of those who attended the Rose Garden announcement of Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court have tested positive. That number includes the Trumps, Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC), Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), and Fr. John Jenkins, president of Notre Dame. Also infected are Ronna McDaniel, the chair of the Republican National Committee, and at least three journalists who have attended White House events in the past week.

And tonight, presidential adviser Kellyanne Conway reported that she, too, has tested positive.

As I write this, just before midnight, Trump’s campaign manager Bill Stepien has just announced he, too, has tested positive for the coronavirus.

Five minutes after midnight (sorry for breaking the midnight rule again), we learned that 11 staffers from the Cleveland debate also tested positive.

We will not learn of infections among the Secret Service.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has tested negative, as have Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife, Dr. Jill Biden.

This evening, medical professionals transferred the president to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center “out of an abundance of caution.” He walked from the helicopter under his own power, and posted a short video to his Twitter account assuring viewers that he is doing “very well.” He remains in charge; power has not transferred to Vice President Mike Pence.

Aside from the personal implications of the spread of this illness—and let’s remember that there are 46,459 other Americans who have contracted the coronavirus in the last day-- this major news story has huge implications for the upcoming election. It also illustrates how the administration’s secrecy and lies take away our ability to make informed decisions about our own lives, as well as about the nation.

The Trump entourage has refused to wear masks, social distance, or follow the advice of public health experts for reducing the spread of the virus. Now it appears that White House officials deliberately withheld information about their condition, directly endangering other people who acted on the presumption that the Trump people weren’t infected. The Washington Post reported that Secret Service agents, who risk their lives to protect the president, are angry and frustrated: “He’s never cared about us.” The 30-50 Republican donors who met with Trump Thursday night at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, are “freaking out,” one report noted. Tickets had cost up to $250,000, and Trump met privately with about 19 people for 45 minutes. Trump knew his adviser Hope Hicks had tested positive when he left for the club, but he went anyway. He did not wear a mask.

Reporter Chris Wallace of the Fox News Channel, who moderated Tuesday’s debate and so was one of those the Trumps' entourage endangered, revealed today that Trump arrived too late on Tuesday for a COVID-19 test, as the venue required. Instead, there was an “honor system.”  Confirmed. Business Insider.

https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-chris-wallace-presidential-debate-coronavirus-2020-10

Organizers assumed the people associated with the campaigns would not come unless they had tested negative. Trump’s people arrived wearing masks, which they had to have to enter the auditorium, but then removed them shortly after sitting down, and refused to put them back on. During the debate, Trump mocked Biden for his habit of wearing a mask.

The campaign did not tell the Biden camp that Hicks, who attended the debate, had tested positive for coronavirus the day after the event. The Biden organization learned it from the newspapers. The White House did not even tell former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who spent four days in close quarters with Hicks and Trump, helping the president prepare for the debate. He, too, learned the news from the media.

This crisis shows how the administration’s refusal to share information and its insistence on its own version of reality creates confusion that leaves Americans vulnerable and anxious. Its history of secrecy and lies means that few people actually trust anything its spokespeople say. It was striking how many people did not believe the Trumps were actually sick when the news broke; we are so accustomed to Trump’s lies that many people thought he was simply looking for a way out of future debates.

The constant lies—about coronavirus and virtually everything else—destabilize the nation because we cannot know what the truth really is. And if we don’t know what is actually happening, we cannot make good decisions. Today the editorial board of the Washington Post warned that the White House simply must let us know the truth about the president’s health so that we know who is actually running national security, the economy, and the election on our behalf.

That plea did not appear to make much of an impression on the White House: it did not bother to tell Pelosi, who is third in line for the presidency, that Trump was being helicoptered to Walter Reed Hospital.

And so we are facing a pandemic spreading through the upper ranks of the government just before an election with little faith that we will learn the truth about what is happening. That, just as much as the infections in the administration, is a crisis.

To its credit, the Biden campaign has identified this crisis and is doing its best to restore our sense of a shared reality, based in our history and our better principles. Rather than expressing outrage that the Trump camp exposed him and his wife and guests to coronavirus, Biden offered his best wishes for Trump and the First Lady, as did his running mate Kamala Harris. Biden’s campaign pulled all its negative ads out of respect for the president’s illness (the Trump campaign refused to follow suit).

Biden spoke in Michigan today, assuring the audience that “We can get this pandemic under control so we can get our economy working again for everyone.” But, he emphasized, “this cannot be a partisan moment. It must be an American moment. We have to come together as a nation.” He promised to get rid of the toxic partisanship that is keeping us all off balance. “I’m running as a Democrat,” he said, “but I will… govern as an American president. Whether you voted for me or against me, I will represent you... and those who see each other as fellow Americans who just don’t live in red states or blue states but who live in and love the United States of America. That’s who we are.”

  

Our Moment

Trump's False Statements

Donald Trump ‘s repeated and unfounded attacks on election integrity date back to at least 2012.

 

Sept. 29, 2020. Asked if he would urge calm if the election were not decisive: “ I am urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully , because that’s what has happened. I am urging them to do it.”

 

Asked to explain: “ I’ll tell you what it means-it means you have a fraudulent election”

 

Sept 24, to reporters. “ We want to make certain that the election is honest, and I am not certain it can be.”

 

Sept 17, In a Tweet. “Because of the new and unprecedented massive amount of unsolicited ballots, which will be sent to “voters” or whatever, this year. The Nov 3^rd Election result may NEVER BE ACCURATELY DETERMINED,  which is what some want. Another election disaster yesterday.  Stop Ballot Madness.”

 

… Nov 8, 2016, IN AN ELECTION DAY INTERVIEW WITH FOX NEWS.  “There are reports that, when people vote for Republicans, the entire ticket switches over to Democrats- you’ve seen that- its happening in various places today, its been reported. “

 

Nov 12, 2012.  IN A TWEET AFTER PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ELECTION VICTORY.

“We can’t let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided !”

 Fact-Checking Falsehoods on Mail-In Voting

 

See more. https://www.nytimes.com/article/fact-checking-mail-in-voting.html?

 

Defend the Vote: Defend the Election

A knee-jerk protest won’t stop a Trump power grab. It’s going to take several clear, do-able strategies that together enable us to win.
George Lakey September 10, 2020

Embed from Getty Images


How would you like a strategy that does all of the following?

Enables you and your friends to act close to home.

Gives you some “wins” on the way to the big goal of defeating a power grab.

Is easy to explain to your friends.

Allows any number of people to participate because it will all add up.

Reduces the risk of violent confrontations.

Can be calibrated to the amount of risk of arrest that you can handle.

Can be done in-person in a way that keeps the pandemic at bay.

Targets a set of people who especially have a personal stake in the elective process.

Takes on the politically powerful who are hesitating to commit, pressuring them to do the right thing.

Draws on the strengths that already exist in our political system.

Puts us on the offensive instead of merely protesting.

Invites the 30 percent of Trump supporters polled who fear that Trump won’t obey the law and leave if he loses the election.

Doesn’t add to the polarization that already has our country in overload.

Maximizes the number of people who participate in the movement.

Doesn’t have to be the only strategy being carried out in order to be successful.

OK, here’s the idea: Go to people who hold elective political power near you, in your town, county, city, state. Urge them to “Join us in demanding every vote be counted.”
PREVIOUS COVERAGE

Mass direct action might be the only way to stop Trump from stealing the election

Wait for them to join our demand, then issue a press release telling how they did so. Wait in their office, in the corridor outside, on the sidewalk, at their place of worship, at their child’s school, at their home, at a meeting where they plan to speak. Share the results with ChooseDemocracy.us — a new website founded by Daniel Hunter, me and others that offers a unity-building pledge, strategy development and training. We’ll publicize the actions and keep track of the “wins.”

Don’t assume that Democratic office-holders already agree. Some might be ready to compromise. Insist they find ways to beat their own drum louder.

You have options. Your team can be there 24/7. You can barge in and refuse to leave. You can sing, dance and bring your brass band. You can bring your children and your aged relatives. You can sell crafts and goodies to eat. You can rotate kinds of people who do the action: one day youths, then workers, then religious leaders, then elders, then Rotarians.

You’re not protesting. Protest may make sense when someone does something wrong and you know that, if you protest, they’ll change and fix it. Trump will not change his mind because we protest! Actually, he’ll double down.


The way to meet a possible disaster with strength and confidence is to have a plan.

Instead of protesting something the elected official is doing wrong, you’re insisting they do something right. Something that is as American as the flag. If they refuse, they’re the ones trying to justify an impossible position. Instead of complaining, moaning or otherwise creating the drama of exasperation, all you need to do is insist (boldly, nonviolently, firmly) that they do the right thing, the fair thing. (If you’re OK to put it this way, “the American thing.”) Your tone is full expectation that they’ll figure out sooner or later that it’s wise for their future as politicians to say yes.

Notice this is not about opinions on Trump’s politics — pro-Trump politicians can agree that every vote should be counted, that the election should be concluded fairly.

Notice also that this strategy need not wait until November, though it can be highly effective if started then. Hardy Merriman, author of the new handbook “Hold the Line: A Guide to Defending Democracy,” points out that starting to implement it early might get media attention — especially the more dramatic tactics — and encourage others to do likewise.

It’s a big country. As the strategy spreads in October, it could influence the DNA of the mass November upsurge that happens if Trump makes a power grab. That would be good because this strategy minimizes violent attack on us. After all, who would invade the office of a town council member to beat us up? Yet, were that to actually happen, the positive value of a beating would be maximized. As Merriman says, “The messaging, tone, levels of organization — all of that may be noticed by the wider movement.”

The thinking behind this approach

This is not the only strategy needed. Others can also be used, even simultaneously. Hopefully those strategies will also be clear, coherent, with specific objectives. This proposal has the following strategic objectives:
PREVIOUS COVERAGE

We  need a plan to prevent a Trump takeover — and this anti-coup research shows the way

1. To maximize participation, throughout the country. Anti-coup research suggests it helps to have size — participation “beyond the choir.” A recent example is the participation by small-town America in this spring’s Black Lives Matter movement, generating responses even by NASCAR and the National Football League! Obviously, having a target that is geographically within reach of nearly everyone is an easy way to maximize participation.

2. To step aside from the polarized Trump mania, which will only increase in the fall, with its accompanying violence. We like safety not only to maximize participation but also for its own sake: Haven’t we had enough injury and death in this country in 2020?

3. To encourage tactics that include a range of risk while harmonizing for maximum impact.

4. To disperse the places where the actions can happen(office, outside, the office-holder’s home, religious place, golf course where they play, etc.) That reduces the chance of violence, which would confuse the message we’re sending.

5. To invite creativity and life affirmation, one of the American strengths that goes overlooked in too many earnest activist initiatives, and again changes the subject from the toxic shame-and-blame cloud that pollutes our political discourse.

6. To present as soon as possible to nervous Americans a strong, do-able strategy that gives them a vivid, clear sense of how they can make a difference if that moment comes. The way to meet a possible disaster with strength and confidence is to have a plan. Don’t worry that no plan is ever complete. When we have a plan, we can move into a challenging situation with the presence of mind needed to deal additionally with the unexpected.

And perhaps most importantly…

7. To exert maximum pressure on the political center that would rather not commit during chaotic polarization, to commit to fair play. We know, again from coup research, that the outcome of an attempted power grab is often decided by whether the center commits and, if so, which way it commits. This strategy is dedicated to influence this crucial variable.

Why say this proposal is only one strategy among several?

A broad struggle often needs more than one strategy. During the American Revolution, Bostonians were prepared for British invasion: “One if by land; two if by sea.” An analogous strategy to this proposal might be developed targeting the financial and economic elite, who have a vested interest in an outcome that promises stability so they can make money. We leave it to people in that world to develop a strategy for that.


This may be the big chance for activists to enter the wonderful world of strategy. Gamers, this is your moment!

While this strategy pointedly ignores Washington, D.C. — in favor of the many advantages that come with reaching this country’s somewhat decentralized political structure — a strategy also needs to be proposed for the federal level.

The advantages of getting strategy proposals out in September include anxiety-reduction, helping people “wrap their minds around” the practical needs for possible action, and stimulating other strategy-creation.

The worst thing that could happen would be for activists to continue in knee-jerk “protest mode” — therefore easily manipulated by Trump and even contributing toward a situation verging on civil war.

The election threat is nothing that can be handled by protest. Period. Therefore this may be the big chance for activists to enter the wonderful world of strategy. Gamers, this is your moment!


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Choose Democracy- Oppose Authoritarianisn

Choose Democracy: We can stop an undemocratic power grab, but only if we prepare and together, choose democracy.

Prop 15: The Schools & Communities First Funding Act Explained

Mitch McConnell

 

Trump Lied - 200,000 Died, Trump Blames Blue States For Covid Death Rate While Bill Barr Compares L...

Trump Eviscerates Trump | The Daily Social Distancing Show

What Is To Be Done ?

Old Man Fibber - a parody of "Ol' Man River"

Schools and Communities First 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.

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.