As you know by now, on Friday House Democrats (+ Long Island Republican Pete King) passed a $3 trillion HEROES relief bill that is now being assessed by the Republican leaders in the Senate. But what you might not know is that the bill includes provisions for cannabis banking.
During times of crisis we need our leaders to show up and fight for us. Not for corporations. Not for the powerful. For us, the people. Right now we are in the midst of a crisis far greater than any other we have seen in our lifetimes. Where are our leaders that are fighting for us?A number of governors and mayors are stepping up to the task to fill the void that the vacuum of federal leadership has left us. What do they all have in common?
Our political leadership-- and not just Trump-- has failed us... dismally so. Even blue state governors like Andrew Cuomo (New York), Phil Murphy (New Jersey) and Gavin Newsom (California) have been taking ineffective baby steps that have already been proven to only make the pandemic worse. Like Trump, they are more afraid to be blamed for an economic turn-down than to watch thousands and perhaps millions of Americans die.
Hole-in-One by Nancy OhanianDuring the 2016 election, a putative Democrat from the South Bronx, Rubén Díaz, Sr., backed Ted Cruz for president and invited him to speak in his district. It didn't do Cruz much good. In the Republican primary, Cruz came in third-- with just 1,022 votes, in New York's bluest county.
The stock market continues to soar. My financial advisor ignores me when I wring my hands and tell her to change my asset allocation so that I have less stock. By ignoring me, she's brought me a lot more money. But I would just feel so much safer in more bonds and real estate and less sticks. Because, everyone knows this asshole is going to crash the market at some point.
Socialism-- of the Scandinavian variety-- was once very popular in Montana, particularly among miners. Montanans were voting for the Socialist Party candidate for president, Eugene Debs, almost doubt the rate of the U.S. in general and in 1917 Butte elected a Socialist Party mayor. That all eroded with the infamous Anaconda Road Massacre-- a corporate/fascist response to the Industrial Workers of the World and the Metal Mine Workers Industrial Union strike in 1920.
A little less than 2 weeks ago, the House passed H.R. 1230, Bobby Scott's Protecting Older Workers Against Discrimination Act. Every single Democrat plus 34Republicans voted for it. Who could possibly be against protecting older workers from discrimination.
Yesterday, on the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court's badly decided Citizens United case, Blue America-endorsed candidates Andrew Romanoff, Brianna Wu and Kara Eastman joined Cenk Uygur for an online rally against the the disastrous decision.Cenk told his supporters that "No other ruling has had such a major impact on campaign finance-- allowing unlimited election spending by corporations and fueling the rise of Super PACs. It also emboldened the Supreme Court to subsequently strike down other regulations that stood in the way of corporations buying our elections.
There's a red hot 2020 race for Montana's one at-large congressional district to replace pugilistic multimillionaire Greg Gianforte. Last October we met up with Tom Winter, the progressive in the race.
