"Rank-and-file members have overthrown corrupt leadership in the Teamsters and the United Auto Workers. Grocery workers and letter carriers have rebelled against subpar contracts, and building trades workers are turning around their locals."
In December, Portland city councilors pitched a plan to quickly spend $20.5 million of unallocated city money on renter protections. Three months later, that spending plan has now nearly tripled in scope after councilors learned of other unspent housing funds.
Jared Ball lays out George Jackson's three parts of revolution:
1) Underground Army ("I'm not doin' that. Don't know about it.")
2) Alternative Political Party
3) Underground Press
The worst possible reaction Democrats could have to this news would be to suggest austerity. The working class is out of belt notches to tighten.
"My worst nightmare when we talk about the Green New Deal is for the label to be hijacked by people who want to kill the program eventually, and we start spending a little bit left and right and say 'Look! We've done quite a bit of spending"—Biden-type spending—but we do nothing about the abusive 1/
One of the dumbest things about war is that it yields worse outcomes for everyone involved compared with negotiated settlements. Cross-border water conflicts are a great example.
The idea that all spending comes from taxes is itself an artificial barrier to big structural change. There's a pay-go mentality that bounds investing in the common good.
"In the one moment the democracy gives you to be recorded, to not express yourself accurately makes you a politician, not a voter."
— Lawrence O'Donnell, advocating for third party voters
youtu.be/szBugsr7bls?...
So much free research has been done for—and ignored by—the Democratic Party 🙄
"The message is clear: economic populism must be the core of progressive appeals to workers."
BREAKING: BOOTS ON THE GROUND. The pentagon is sending a Marine Expeditionary Unit of up to 2,500 to Iran. 1/ www.wsj.com/livecoverage...
DHS and ICE are trying to expand their existing detention network, eyeing large warehouses that can detain up to 10,000 people each.
This guide from @detentionwatchnetwork.org outlines how communities can fight back against the sinister plan:
Annelle Sheline's clear-eyed analysis of foreign policy under both Ds & Rs is a breath of fresh air.
In a PSU Energy & Society class a few years ago, we were told that a lot of the vehicles & heavy equipment that would be needed after an earthquake are stored under highways that would likely collapse.
It's been ten years since that CSZ article "The Really Big One" & we're still nowhere near ready.
*learned
Just learn that the Black Socialists in America platform has dissolved. I really appreciated their Dual Power Map that tracked mutual aid, strikes, tenant unions, and the like.
Thanks to everyone working on the reforms needed for a truly representative multiparty democracy. Like voting method reform.
Something I think about a lot is how different our world would look if we took the $100billion+ we've invested in autonomous vehicle development alone and put into street safety infrastructure in our cities instead. And the subsidies don't stop with R&D.
So this is a wild story but more common than it should be because of lax rules around dark money, experts tell me. Please read it! And if you know anything about Democracy Unmuted, holler at me! www.ms.now/news/kat-abu...
"Learn more about the closed primary system in Oregon and how it excludes 44% of our voters who are registered as non-affiliated voters. Learn about the work being done to get a ballot initiative to create an open primary in Oregon so that all registered voters can participate."
Thanks to everyone braving the slings and arrows that come with building dual power outside of Ds & Rs.
Public records obtained by OPB suggest the scope of the Blazers’ campaign for public funds to pay for Moda renovations.
From a staff trip to North Carolina, to implicit threats to relocate the team, to nudging from Nike’s CEO, the documents pull back the curtain on months of private talks:
