Tag Archives: republicans

In this week’s address, the Vice President wished Americans a Happy New Year, and asked that as we make resolutions to get healthier in 2015, we take the time to sign up for health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Millions of people have already signed up for quality, affordable health care under the law, and there is still time to secure the peace of mind that comes with getting covered.

From now until February 15, you can sign up by logging on to HealthCare.gov; by speaking to someone on the phone through the 24/7 call center at 1-800-318-2596, where you can get assistance in 150 languages; or by going in person to an enrollment event in your community.

Watch the Vice President’s Weekly Address here.

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West Wing Week: “That Zingy Sting”

At the end of each “West Wing Week” episode, the White House videographers insert a funny snippet of content — which they call a “sting.” To ring in 2015, they put together an entertaining compilation of stings, for those of you who might not have made it to the very end of each episode last year.

Applications are now being accepted for the Summer 2015 White House Internship Program. Deepankar Gagneja, a former intern who worked in the Office of Management and Administration in the fall of 2014, recently wrote about his own internship experience.

To recap our last year on Tumblr, we tallied up the number of notes — the Tumblr equivalent of “likes” — on each of the GIFs we created in 2014. Here, in order, are the top 10 GIF moments on our Tumblr in 2014, decided by Tumblr users themselves.

I served my country for more than 26 years. Now I won’t even get a flag for my coffin

01/13/2015 Nativegrl77

Secretary of the Army John McHugh: Review an innocent soldier’s wrongful conviction

Kenneth Pinkela
Otisville, New York

Sign Kenneth’s petition

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Signature missing: Racism in YOUR House

01/12/2015 Nativegrl77

Arisha Michelle Hatch, ColorOfChange.org

Rep Steve Scalise thinks if he stops talking about it, people will forget that in 2002 he went to a white supremacist conference to pander for votes.

In a press conference with House GOP leadership yesterday, Scalise simply referred reporters back to his previous statement saying, “I think that’s where the story ends.” Unfortunately, that’s not true. In it he claims to have shown up to speak about a tax plan that didn’t even have its first committee hearing until 10 days after the conference.¹

Speaker Boehner is continuing to make excuses for Scalise rather than stand up to racism in his own caucus, hoping the story will just go away. With your voice, we can keep the story alive and demand that the GOP confront hatred in their ranks.

YES-I demand Republicans disavow white supremacy and strip Steve Scalise of his leadership position.

Thanks,

Arisha

1. “How I busted Steve Scalise: Inside a GOP political scandal — and its ongoing coverup” Salon, 1-6-14
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/4526?t=3&akid=4029.1174326.hYbNXr

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The #3 Republican in the House has admitted to associating with white supremacists.

Demand Speaker John Boehner disavow white supremacy and strip Majority Whip Steve Scalise of his leadership position.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

the World must participate ~~ a better life, jobs, eduction, wages …

01/11/2015 Nativegrl77

Weekly Address: America Is Leading the World In this week’s address, the President reiterated the forceful and optimistic message of American leadership that he delivered in his speech before the United Nations General Assembly earlier this week. America is leading the world against the most pressing challenges, including the fight to degrade and destroy ISIL, the effort to stop the Ebola epidemic, and the movement to confront the threat from climate change.

The world looks to America and its commitment to freedom in the face of uncertainty, and as the President said, it will continue to do so for generations to come.

Click here to watch this week’s Weekly Address.

Top Stories

President Obama on Climate Change: “We Have to Answer the Call”On Tuesday, at the U.N. Climate Summit, the President highlighted the ambitious clean energy investments and carbon emission reductions the United States has made. And while we’ve stepped up to act on climate change, President Obama made it clear that it’s time for our global partners to stand up too, because “no nation is immune to climate change.”

We have to answer the call. We know what we have to do to avoid irreparable harm. We have to cut carbon pollution in our own countries to prevent the worst effects of climate change. We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid. And we have to work together as a global community to tackle this global threat before it is too late.

Check out the chart below and see why we can’t wait to act on climate change:

READ MORE

“We Choose Hope Over Fear”

On Wednesday, the President addressed the United Nations General Assembly in New York City to discuss matters that demand the urgent attention of our global partners.

During his address, he called on the U.N. to join the United States and reject the cancer of violent extremism. Here’s what the President asked of the international community:

Degrade and ultimately destroy the terrorist group known as ISIL.
We must bring the world together, especially the Muslim community, to reject the ideologies of terrorists, intolerance, and extremism.
We must address the cycle of conflict that creates the conditions terrorist prey upon.
We must ensure that Arab and Muslim Nations focus on the extraordinary potential of their people.

“We choose hope over fear,” the President said. “We see the future not as something out of our control, but as something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort.”

On Thursday afternoon, speaking from the State Dining Room, the President announced that Eric Holder will be resigning from his current position as U.S. Attorney General. He applauded Holder’s passion and commitment to the American justice system and detailed the work he’s accomplished during his six-year tenure.

During his remarks, the President emphasized the superb job that Holder has done:

I chose him to serve as Attorney General because he believes, as I do, that justice is not just an abstract theory. It’s a living and breathing principle. It’s about how our laws interact with our daily lives. It’s about whether we can make an honest living, whether we can provide for our families; whether we feel safe in our own communities and welcomed in our own country; whether the words that the Founders set to paper 238 years ago apply to every single one of us and not just some.

President Barack Obama hugs Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., after statements announcing Holder’s resignation, in the State Dining Room of the White House, Sept. 25, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Holder will continue to serve as Attorney General until the President nominates his successor, and the successor is approved by the Senate.

~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Walmart has bowed to pressure from A Better Balance

01/10/2015 Nativegrl77

” WALMART: SUPERCENTER” by alphageek is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Dear Friend,

Breaking news! Walmart has bowed to pressure from A Better Balance and our allies to improve its policies for pregnant workers! This is a huge development for low-wage working women. As detailed in the Washington Post, “anytime the world’s biggest retailer changes how it treats its workforce–especially women, with whom the company has a fraught history–the rest of the industry tends to take notice.”

The path to this victory began with an email to A Better Balance in 2012. We heard from Brittany,* a 28-weeks-pregnant Walmart worker who was sent home because she needed a modest accommodation on the job in order to stay healthy. Alarmed by this story, we sent a letter to Walmart’s general counsel, outlining the ways in which Walmart’s treatment of pregnant workers violated the law. After further investigation, ABB, joined by the National Women’s Law Center, and Mehri & Skalet, PLLC, filed a class action pregnancy discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against Walmart and its discriminatory policy.

“Three months before my baby was born, Walmart forced me out the door,” said Kathy,* the Walmart sales associate at the center of the EEOC charge who was seven months pregnant when Walmart refused to accommodate her restrictions despite routinely accommodating workers with a wide array of non-pregnancy-related disbailities. “I was doing my job as a sales associate just as I had been for months, but suddenly I lost the paycheck that my family was counting on—simply because I was pregnant.”

What happened to Kathy and Brittany is part of a larger national trend at Walmart, in which pregnant workers are treated like second-class citizens in violation of the federal Pregnancy Discrimination Act.

After we filed our charge with the EEOC and after two Walmart workers proposed a shareholder resolution, with our assistance, demanding changes, Walmart announced its new Accommodation in Employment policy, which now explicitly states that temporary disabilities caused by pregnancy are eligible for the same reasonable accommodations as other disabilities.

Although a major win, this policy change does not go far enough: Walmart can continue to evade its legal obligations and force pregnant workers off the job if they are not considered “disabled” under the policy.

“While we are enthusiastic about this policy change, there is still work to be done,” said Dina Bakst, Co-Founder & Co-President of A Better Balance. “Over and over again, Walmart has failed to accommodate pregnant workers. Many pregnant women without illnesses or complications are advised by their doctors to stay off tall ladders, drink water throughout the day, or take other steps to prevent health problems. Walmart must further update its policy to make clear that it will provide reasonable accommodations for all pregnant workers who need them, regardless of whether they are ‘disabled.’ The Pregnancy Discrimination Act mandates equal treatment, nothing less, and we will continue to fight until Walmart obeys the law in full. No woman should have to choose between her job and a healthy pregnancy.”

We are thrilled that our efforts will assist hundreds of thousands of pregnant Walmart associates across the country, and we will continue pushing for broader reform. Click here to read the Washington Post’s story about our work on this case and please share this story with your friends.

Thank you for all that you do,

Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Risha, Liz, & Rachel