Monthly Archives: April 2017

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

a message from rep patrick murphy

 

What’s going on in Washington regarding the investigation into Trump’s Russia ties is unprecedented — and should be concerning for all Americans. 
I shared my thoughts with the Miami Herald’s opinion page over the weekend. Here’s what I had to say:
The sense of comity and duty that characterizes the House Intelligence Committee, on which I was honored to serve during my time in Congress, crumbled this week after Chairman Devin Nunes took several harmful actions.
The news that he canceled this week’s hearings — preventing former acting attorney general Sally Yates from testifying in the Trump-Russia matter — makes it clear he can no longer impartially chair the committee.
Following testimony by FBI Director James Comey and NSA Director Mike Rogers confirming they were looking into the Trump campaign’s ties to Russia, Nunes took an abrupt meeting with sources at the White House who informed him that Trump staffers may have had their communications incidentally collected. Instead of bringing this information to the ranking member and full committee, he brought it to the President alone before alerting other members.
Nunes is clearly still wearing the hat of Trump surrogate and transition team member, not chairman of one of the House’s most prestigious committees. Further, Trump now feels “vindicated” in his completely baseless claim that President Obama wiretapped Trump Tower.
The cancellation of this week’s meetings is terrible for national security. Our adversaries will not take a break while Nunes and the White House get their stories straight. The committee’s current slate is long and urgent: North Korean nukes; radicalization efforts by ISIS; worldwide cyber threats.
The integrity of the committee and the agencies it funds is of utmost importance, but partisan politics has stopped its serious work.
It is time for an independent investigator to take over the inquiry of ties between Russia and the Trump campaign. And for the sake of national security, it is time for Chairman Nunes to go.
Thank you for standing with me as we fight, together, for answers and accountability in Congress.
— Patrick
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

BossFeed Briefing from Working Washington


We are Working Washington

BossFeed Briefing for April 3, 2017. The Washington State House introduced a budget proposal last Monday which included start-up funding for paid family leave. In Washington, DC, a Senate committee voted on Thursday to advance the nomination of Alexander Acosta to be the next Secretary of Labor. And tomorrow marks the anniversary of the assassination of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Not a real person 

Luddites
PHOTO: Tom Morgan / Mary Evans Picture Library, via Smithsonian Magazine

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Three things to know this week:

bank The two richest people in the world both live in Washington State. After some recent financial transactions, Jeff Bezos of Amazon moved up to number two with $75.6 billion, passing Warren Buffett but about $10 billion short of Bill Gates.

snowman Ads are running in several key states highlighting the notorious “Frozen Trucker” opinion issued by Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch. In that case, which has no relationship to the Disney movie, Gorsuch held that a trucking company had the right to fire a driver who left an unsafe trailer in order to find warmth and avoid hypothermia after several hours in subzero temperatures.

phone Portable benefits continue to make progress. A work session was held last Monday in the Washington State legislature on a bill which would establish a statewide system of portable benefits for contracted workers. A bill which would establish portable benefits is expected to be introduced in the U.S. Senate as well.

 

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Two things to ask:

rolling eyes Would more income mean less poverty? That’s one of the hypotheses researchers hope to explore in an upcoming pilot project to provide a Universal Basic Income in a few communities in Ontario, Canada. Somehow it’s not considered a rhetorical question.

fingers Did anyone ask if she was crossing her fingers? During her election campaign, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh promised that she would sign a $15 minimum wage into law. When she then vetoed the $15 bill which came before her, she explained that she hadn’t sworn on the Bible when making the promise.

 

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And one thing that’s worth a closer look:

hammer & wrench While “Luddite” has come to mean “technophobe,” the first Luddites were in fact skilled machine operators, and their real life history of organizing, protest, and smashing-stuff-up is quite a bit more complex than you might think. It turns out that the their namesake Ned Ludd was not a real person; that tensions between work, skill, technology, and automation go back at least a few hundred years; and that history may be a better tool to understand the future of work than science fiction or venture capital.

 

Read this far?

tophat Consider yourself briefed, boss.

 

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Lonnie G. Bunch III, Founding Director of the NMAAHC ~ April is Membership Month


April is Membership Month!
APRIL IS MEMBERSHIP MONTH!
Help us reach our goal of 500 new members!

I am excited to announce that April is Membership Month at the brand new National Museum of African American History and Culture and we’ve set an exciting goal.

Between now and April 30 we are trying to inspire 500 friends to join as Charter Members.

It’s a big goal, but we can reach it if we have your help.

Join now to help make Membership Month a success.

In its first 6 months, the Museum has already welcomed more than 1 million visitors, thanks to supporters like you. We need to keep up this momentum, and we are counting on people like you to become Charter Members to help.

Become a Charter Member during Membership Month to set the stage for a vibrant and strong future for the Museum.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture is the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African American life, history and culture. We take that role very seriously as we strive to:

  • Provide interactive exhibitions that allow people to explore and revel in African American culture.
  • Share how American values like resiliency, optimism, and spirituality are at the core of the African American experience.
  • Offer educational programs and events to engage new audiences and share the African American story far and wide.

But we cannot do it alone. Member support makes all the difference.

Join before April 30 to help the Museum meet its Membership Month goal.

The National Museum of African American History and Culture has already accomplished more than many people even dreamed it could—but I know that with your support, we can do even more. Please join today.

dd-sustainerlanding-2014-lonnie-bunch.jpg All the best,
DD YE year end 1 signature
Lonnie G. Bunch III
Founding Director
~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Tell Congress to support the Paycheck Fairness Act
 

Brace yourself. Equal Pay Day is coming.

Here we go

#EqualPayDay

Tomorrow is Equal Pay Day, the day that symbolically marks how much longer women typically have to work to be paid what white, non-Hispanic men were paid in the previous year. Broken down by race, there are several additional Equal Pay Days to come throughout the rest of the year, marking how much longer different groups of women of color must work to earn the typical white, non-Hispanic man’s 2016 salary. It’s a gloomy but important observance, in order to keep up the fight for paycheck fairness. Speaking of which…

  • Tell Congress to support the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen fair pay laws and stop employers from retaliating against employees who disclose their salaries to co-workers and from asking applicants about salary history so past pay inequity doesn’t depress future earnings.
  • We’ve broken down how much the lifetime wage gap costs women of different races, state by state. Find out what it means for women in your state.
  • Join us and other equal pay advocates for an #EqualPayDay Twitter storm from 2 to3 p.m. EDT.
  • Equal Pay Day is an especially bad day for mansplaining, and we know you have better things to do with your time than argue with some high school classmate on Facebook about whether the wage gap is real. Just share this takedown of all of their worst arguments, then go about your day with blood pressure intact.

A sneak attack on nondiscrimination provisions of the ACA?

The Trump Administration just tried to stealthily delete language from the Department of Health and Human Services website that relates to enforcing Section 1557, the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act. NWLC worked hard to win that provision to help end pervasive sex discrimination in health care, and we won’t tolerate any erosion of these important protections. We just submitted a FOIA request to assess the full extent of the Administration’s activities around this, because, as our Senior Vice President for Program and President-Elect Fatima Goss Graves said, “If this administration thinks they can silently and inconspicuously remove key language that protects women and LGBTQ individuals in health care, they are wrong. President Trump has acknowledged that the Affordable Care Act remains the law of the land since an attempt at repeal failed, and we are holding him to his word. We will fiercely safeguard the ACA and its crucial anti-discrimination provision that millions of women depend on for their health and economic security.”

#WeObject

Today, Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch was voted out of committee. We remain deeply troubled by Judge Gorsuch’s record on women’s legal rights; a justice who won’t defend our hard-won freedoms or protect us from discrimination doesn’t deserve a lifetime appointment. The Senate is gearing up for a huge showdown over his confirmation vote, but as far as we’re concerned, if a nominee is so problematic that they can’t get 60 votes to confirm, that means the GOP should change their nominee, not the Senate rules for confirming appointees.

Resistance Must-Do’s

  • The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is trying to get the Office of Management and Budget to stop collecting important wage data from corporations. Sign on to stop this sneak attack on equal pay.
  • Members of Congress have until this Thursday, April 6, to make requests for what they want funded in the FY2018 Appropriations Bill. Tell your Reps to fund child care.
  • Psst… Word on the street is a certain resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has been dodging his taxes for a long time. Join us and advocates around the country who will be part of the Tax March this April 15 to demand transparency around Trump’s tax returns and to stand up for tax fairness for all.

Resistance Must-Reads

 

We the Resistance is our fight to protect our rights and freedoms and to defend the most vulnerable among us through powerful collective action. Every conversation you have with a loved one about the issues important to you, every call you make to Congress, every rally you attend is a part of that resistance. Join us—sign on to the We The Resistance manifesto.