Reform

“Break The Grip Of The Two-Party System” Conference

November 25, 2019 Staff, Lcipcampaign.org Organize! Electoral Politics, Reform

The people of the United States deserve better than what two-party politics has delivered on the important issues — jobs, healthcare, equal justice, peace and the environment. In fact, large numbers of people are ready to move toward independent politics. According to a recent Gallup poll, 57% of the people see the need for a third major political party. Virtually three-quarters of independents (72%) “support a third major political party.” We may not get too many more chances to give an organized expression to this quest for independent, working class politics.

$44,000 For An Ambulance, Hour-Long Drives To An ER: The Impossible Cost Of Healthcare In Appalachia

November 25, 2019 Mason Adams, Inthesetimes.com Educate! Appalachia, Health Care, Reform

WHEN HEATHER EDWARDS’ CONTRACTIONS BEGAN THREE MONTHS EARLY, in March, she worried about the long drive to the hospital from her home nestled in the Appalachian Mountains in Jonesville, Va., a town of fewer than 1,000 people. Edwards, 32, was carrying quadruplets and hers was considered a high-risk pregnancy. The nearest hospital with a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) was an hour away in Kingsport, Tenn., Holston Valley Medical Center. A decade ago she could have found an emergency room, if not a NICU, 10 minutes up the road at Lee County Regional Medical Center in Pennington Gap, Va.,...

Democrats Sneak Patriot Act Extension In Through Bill To Fund Government

November 22, 2019 India McKinney, Eff.org Educate! Reform, Surveillance

With federal agencies set to run out of money this week, House lawmakers today passed a short-term funding bill that contained a nasty surprise. Tucked into the end of this must-pass legislation, in a section titled “Other Matters,” is language reauthorizing three Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) authorities currently set to expire on December 15, 2019. The new expiration date would be March 15, 2020. The extension of these surveillance authorities, even for three months, is bad enough.

Over 10 Percent Of People In US Know Someone Who Died Due To Lack Of Healthcare

November 20, 2019 Dan Witters, News.gallup.com Educate! Health Care, Medicare, Reform

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- More than 13% of American adults -- or about 34 million people -- report knowing of at least one friend or family member in the past five years who died after not receiving needed medical treatment because they were unable to pay for it, based on a new study by Gallup and West Health. Nonwhites, those in lower-income households, those younger than 45, and political independents and Democrats are all more likely to know someone who has died under these circumstances.

How To Save The Planet And Ourselves

November 19, 2019 By Chris Hedges, Truthdig.com Strategize! Climate Change, Environment, Reform

If you read only one book this year, it should be Roger Hallam’s “Common Sense for the 21st Century: Only Nonviolent Rebellion Can Now Stop Climate Breakdown and Social Collapse.” Hallam’s lucid and concise book, which echoes Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” says what many of us now know to be true but do not say: If we do not replace the ruling elites soon we are finished as a species. It is a cogent, well-argued case for global rebellion—the only form of resistance that can save us from ecosystem collapse and human-induced genocide.

The Just Transition, Economic Democracy, And The Green New Deal

November 18, 2019 By Evan Casper-Futterman and Jason Spicer, Metropolitiques.eu Create! Climate Change, Green New Deal, Reform

Earlier this year, US Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez introduced a Congressional resolution for a Green New Deal (GND), an idea since supported by a number of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The resolution calls for “transparent and inclusive consultation, collaboration, and partnership with frontline and vulnerable communities, labor unions, worker cooperatives, civil-society groups, academia, and businesses.” To some, the reference to worker cooperatives might seem accidental or even strange—how are they central to solving the climate crisis?

Extinction Rebellion Members Blockade Private Jet Terminal Used By Wealthy Elites In Geneva

November 18, 2019 By Jon Queally, Commondreams.org Resist! Climate Change, Extinction Rebellion, Reform

"We want to denounce this completely absurd means of transport since a private jet emits twenty times more CO2 per passenger than a conventional airplane." Targeting ultra-wealthy passengers and owners of private jets, campaigners with Extinction Rebellion in Geneva on Saturday shut down a terminal that caters to luxury jets at the main airport in Geneva, Switzerland. "We want to denounce this completely absurd means of transport since a private jet emits twenty times more CO2 per passenger than a conventional airplane," Micaël Metry, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson, said in a statement.

Philadelphia Domestic Workers Win A New Bill Of Rights

November 16, 2019 By Cynthia Drayton, Inequality.org Create! Domestic Workers, New Economy, Philadelphia, Reform

I’ve been a domestic worker my whole life. I work in other people’s homes, mostly as a nanny, but I’ve also been a homecare worker, taking care of people who are elderly and need assistance, and have chosen to stay in their homes as they age. I’m a cook, preparing meals. I’m a teacher, reading stories to their children. I’m a nurse, monitoring medication. And I’m a companion, keeping someone company when it is too difficult for them to leave their home.

Union Opponents Of Medicare For All Don’t Speak For Labor’s Most Vulnerable Members

November 15, 2019 Alexandra Early, Beyondchron.org Create! Health Care, Insurance, Medicare, Reform

As popular support grows for replacing private insurance plans with Medicare for All, critics of the single-payer approach have been playing up the fact that some top union officials, and their political allies, don’t want to do away with job-based medical coverage. “There’s no question that ultimately we need to establish a single payer system,” says national AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka. “But there has to be a role for those hard-fought-for, high-quality plans that we’ve negotiated.”

Jane Fonda Leads Climate Protests At US Capitol For Fifth Week In A Row

November 14, 2019 By Ruth Milka, Nationofchange.org Resist! Climate Change, Protests, Reform

Jane Fonda was joined by hundreds of others in Washington D.C. for her fifth “Fire Drill Friday’ to urge the need for climate activism. Leading the charge out from the U.S. Capitol, Fonda urged adults to join in the fight for climate action. “We cannot leave it to young people to fight this fight for their future by themselves,” Fonda said. This is the fifth consecutive week that Fonda has participated in climate change protest in Washington. Although the Academy Award winner pledged to get arrested 14 consecutive Fridays in a row, and did her best to block an entrance to the White House grounds, she evaded arrest this week.

The First Step To Averting Climate Catastrophe

November 11, 2019 By Jodie Evans, Truthdig.com Educate! Climate Change, Green New Deal, Pentagon, Reform, Social Movements, US military

Here we are, a full three decades after NASA scientist James Hansen raised the specter of a looming climate crisis with Congress, looking at the first generation of severely impacted youth and telling them they’re right: We have completely squandered their future. For too long, our dominant culture has practiced unsustainable growth and consumption, ushering in the end of a habitable planet and with it civilization as we know it. Those most impacted are the communities who have contributed the least to climate change, a direct extension of the settler colonization project that has unfolded across the globe over hundreds of years.

Love And Rage In Extinction Rebellion

November 11, 2019 By Greg Frey, Opendemocracy.net Strategize! Climate Change, Environment, Extinction Rebellion, Reform

It took less than three hours for the police to cut the bike lock from around my neck and drag me away from the only structure left standing on Westminster Bridge - the base of a 16-meter lighthouse made entirely of bamboo that I and other XR protestors were trying to put up on the 7th of October 2019. It was to be both a warning light and a guide. After weeks of building, I was more than just physically attached. When the police released me at 5am the next morning, I learnt that they had cleared us from the rest of the bridge just a few hours earlier.

Intersectional Strategies For Rebellion

November 11, 2019 Payal Parekh and Asad Rehman, Theecologist.org Strategize! Climate Change, Environment, Extinction Rebellion, Reform

Extinction Rebellion (XR) has achieved an amazing feat. Its multiple and large-scale actions have pushed the climate crisis to the fore and pressured decision makers to take drastic action to work to secure a better future for all species. XR has been able to motivate ordinary people to participate in peaceful civil disobedience and to break from business as usual by building on the work of past social and environmental movements, as well as the renewed urgency created by the release of the 1.5 IPCC report approximately one year ago.

Rochester Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Police Accountability Board

November 8, 2019 Staff, Rochestercitynewspaper.com Create! Electoral Politics, New York (NY), Police, Reform

City of Rochester voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved the creation of Police Accountability Board, setting the stage for a legal challenge from the union representing city police. Whether to create such a board was put to voters in the form of a referendum that, with about 50 percent of election districts reporting, passed by a vote of 76 to 23 percent. The board would have the power to review accusations of officer misconduct and to require the police chief to punish officers when the allegations are sustained. Under current law, only the police chief has the power to discipline officers.

Dammed Good Question About The Green New Deal

November 8, 2019 Don Fitz, Greensocialthought.org Educate! Climate Change, Green New Deal, Reform

Hydroelectric power from dams might be the thorniest question that proponents of the Green New Deal (GND) have to grapple with. Providing more energy than solar and wind combined, dams could well become the backup for energy if it proves impossible to get off of fossil fuels fast enough. An August 2019 forum on the GND included representatives from the Sunrise Movement, Renew Missouri and three of us in the Green Party. Rev. Elston McCowan asked, “What does the Green New Deal say about rivers and dams?” I said “That’s a dammed good question” and went into some of the issues below.

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