Lela Chism

Good night 🌙 and….

French Hill’s CLARITY: Banking on your next bailout In 1999, Congress repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era safeguard that had kept commercial banking separate from speculative finance for over 60 years. What followed was predictable: a d...

Follow the Money: French Hill Banked $180K From Crypto Before Selling Us the CLARITY Act

#FrenchHill #CryptoWatch #ArkansasPolitics

192 journalists have been killed in Gaza so far. 5 were killed when Israel BOMBED Nasser hospital TODAY. Striking once & then doubling back to get rescuers assisting after the first strike. Called a double tap & frequently done in Gaza. One journalist was a freelancer for the Associated Press.

#FreePalestine #Arkansas

OPINION: Bonds for bombs, not bread In Gaza, mothers are boiling weeds to feed their children. Refugee camps are rubble, hospitals are destroyed, and more than 61,000 people — many of them children — are dead.

I support a permanent ceasefire because every bomb that falls lands on someone’s home, school, or child. And I oppose Arkansas’s decision to tie our public funds to a government that blocks food, bombs civilians, and calls it security.
#FreePalestine #Gaza

Boeing defense union goes on strike Boeing defense union announces strike after machinists in Missouri and Illinois voted to reject the latest contract offer.

Thousands of machinists who build fighter jets and munitions at Boeing’s defense hub went on strike at midnight Monday for the first time since the mid-1990s.

@theleelurship.bsky.social #GoodTroubleLivesOn #arpx #arbluedots

We have a dangerously weak labor market and Trump fired Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and accuse them of manipulating the recent jobs report data. They're talking about the 70s all over again - stagflation.

OPINION: Welcome to Benton: Where you can eat a taco, just don’t fly the flag Nothing says “freedom” quite like a racist billboard in a Walmart parking lot.

Latest OP-ED

"The U.S. has never been some tidy Anglo experiment. It’s stolen land, built by enslaved Africans, expanded by Chinese railroad workers, grown by Mexican farm laborers, and staffed every day by underpaid immigrants who get treated like intruders while holding up entire industries."

Remember how repealing Glass-Steagall in the ’90s helped trigger the 2008 financial crisis? Well, Rep. French Hill is trying to top that with his so-called “CLARITY” Act. that guts SEC oversight, hands crypto regulation to the underpowered CFTC, and sets the stage for the next financial meltdown.

A chalkboard sign on a sidewalk reads: "✓ ICE in my cocktails" above a drawing of a cocktail, and "✗ I.C.E. in my neighborhood" with "ICE" and "I.C.E." written in blue chalk.

I saw this on the street today. It's at a store named Vino. Shop there! vinosite.com

This ain’t about abortion, it’s about punishing folks who can’t afford private care and women who dare to demand control over their own bodies.

Shutting down clinics means more undiagnosed cancer, more untreated STIs, and more folks left out here with nowhere to turn.

Experts question the legality of deploying National Guard officials as immigration judges "The use of military courts to hear civilian cases is the essential component of martial law."

If ICE has so much money, “why do they need the military?…My speculation is because it plays better on TV.”

Microsoft shareholders demand report into the company's 'human rights due diligence' over allegations of war crime complicity in Gaza A group of more than 60 Microsoft shareholders has filed a proposal that will be voted on at the company's next Annual General Meeting.

Group of Microsoft shareholders is demanding a report of the company's complicity in the genocide happening in Palestine 🇵🇸

Future uncertain for mobile clinics that fill gaps for SW Arkansas moms | Arkansas Advocate The program is expected to end next year, but the director said she hopes to receive an extension because she plans to have excess funds.

Only in Arkansas do we celebrate a 70% bump in Medicaid pay for maternity care after six rural delivery wards have already closed. Pregnant people are driving an hour for a checkup in a mobile van, because hospitals can’t stay open on the pennies we pay.

OPINION: You must be this poor to qualify: The War on the Working Class Let’s not sugarcoat it: Congress just voted to rob working people blind and funnel even more power and wealth to the billionaire class that already treats this country like their

Latest Op-Ed in the Saline Courier:

Bootstraps don’t work when they’re tied around your neck.

www.bentoncourier.com/news/opinion...

#southernpolitics #progressivesouth #arnews #apolitics

Slashed 74% of Oceanic & Atmospheric Research budget

Suspended weather balloon launches in several states

Defunded storm centers and regional hubs, lowering public safety

3/3

What DOGE did to NOAA:

Laid off 10% of staff (~1,300), with cuts rumored up to 50%

Closed offices in MD, OK, and CA (Eureka, Arcata, Santa Barbara)

Ended 189 contracts worth $117M; saved $35M

Cut $2M in drone support, $3.45M cloud data, $4.37M weather ops (lost $3.35M)

2/3

Just a reminder: DOGE gutted NOAA — fired scientists, closed forecasting offices, and cut vital tools. After the Texas floods, Republicans blame the National Weather Service for “not warning” and “being wrong.” The same agency they defunded.

They broke it — now blame it for the mess.

1/3

OPINION: Why direct democracy in Arkansas is worth saving Last summer, I spent countless hours collecting signatures across Arkansas for six statewide ballot initiatives — everything from expanding medical marijuana and removing the sales tax on period produ...

If you'd like to sign up to volunteer, donate toward printing, or stay updated on signing locations, check out www.saveardemocracy.org

#ARPolitics #grassroots

#nokingsmarch #Arkansas

This has always been the GOP's strategy:

1) Cut taxes for the wealthy & corporations by claiming they'll pay for themselves.

2) Explode the deficit.

3) Demand cuts to vital programs that help millions.

4) Repeat.

They're trying to get away with it again.

Opinion: Buc-ee’s, bankers, and more: French Hill’s greatest hits tour Congressional recess is typically a time for representatives to return home and reconnect with the people they serve. Unless, of course, you’re French Hill—who seems to think “public service” means

New op-ed in the Saline Courier:

While French Hill plays PR games with ribbon cuttings and gas stations, Arkansans are still waiting for a real town hall. Buc-ee’s ain’t policy, and photo ops aren’t public service.

#ArkansasPolitics #ARPX #ARNews #FrenchHill #ProgressiveSouth #SouthernPolitics

Opinion: Thou shalt not indoctrinate: Our latest culture war clown show Once again, the Arkansas legislature and Governor Sanders have made it painfully clear where their loyalties lie—not with students, not with educators, and certainly not with the Constitution, but wit...

I'm tired of seeing religion weaponized by politicians who don't actually care about faith, freedom, or our kids' education.

#ChristianNationalism #ArkansasPolitics #FirstAmendment #arleg #ArkansasEducation

Passed the House committee and is up for vote this afternoon around 1 pm April 16th.

Call your house representative to vote YES on SB585

(501)682-6211

#arleg #Arkansaspolitics

When everything gets overwhelming, I make a point to seek out the natural world.

The trees and mountains stand witness to the fact that every despot and petty tyrant is nothing to the grandness of it all.

It truly is healing to me.

Blue Mountain - Missoula, Montana

SB585 PASSED THE SENATE!
Now it's headed to the House Public Health, Welfare, & Labor Committee on Tuesday, April 15.

Call the House Reps on the committee and urge them to support this bill!
(501) 682-6211

Committee:
arkleg.state.ar.us/Committees/D...

#SB585 #ARLeg #ArkansasPolitics #CallToAction

Major budget cuts proposed for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The agency forecasts weather, manages fisheries, and researches the world's oceans, atmosphere, and climate. The proposed budget cuts would slash the climate work entirely.

The agency forecasts weather, manages fisheries, and researches the world's oceans, atmosphere, and climate. The proposed budget cuts would slash the climate work entirely.

OPINION: A special session for a billion dollar prison? Arkansas doesn’t need another prison.

While Arkansas faces a doctor shortage, crumbling infrastructure, and underfunded schools, our Governor wants to drop $1 billion on a prison Franklin County doesn’t even want.

I wrote in the Courier about why we should kill this plan—for good.

#arpx #NoNewPrisons #arleg #arnews #MassIncarceration