I wanted to get this OT done “early” so that on Tuesday I can do one for Wednesday when I won’t be able to do a full OT because of physio and teaching. I hope the world does not blow up over night forcing me to compose again. Anyway, I have not heard anything more about TC’s recovery but no news is good news, right? JD and Nameless?
JigZone Puzzle
Today’s took me 3:52 (average 4:52). To do it, click here. (This link will automatically open to a new page.) How did you do?
AlterNet — … Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is calling on Democrats in Congress to rip a page of out the Georgia Republican’s playbook by creating—and aggressively pushing—a new progressive version of the Contract With America in order to galvanize the nation, offer real solutions to its most urgent problems, and go beyond being simply anti-Trump.
In stark contrast to Gingrich’s original version—”a radical right-wing agenda full of tax breaks for the wealthy, massive cuts to programs vital to working families, and racist and cruel bills to ‘reform’ welfare and our criminal-justice system”—Sanders argues in a Washington Post op-ed on Thursday that Democrats should instead forge a vision that “reflects the needs of working Americans — centered on economic, political, social, racial and environmental justice.” …
… it simply “is not good enough for Democrats to just be the anti-Trump party.” …
Specifically, argues Sanders, the new Democratic majority in the House should spend its first 100 days next year passing an unmistakably bold legislative agenda that includes:
Increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour and indexing it to median wage growth thereafter. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is a starvation wage that must be increased to a living wage — at least $15 an hour. This would give more than 40 million Americans a raise and would generate more than $100 billion in higher wages throughout the country.
A path toward Medicare-for-all. The Medicare-for-all bill widely supported in the Senate has a four-year phase-in period on the way to guaranteeing health care for every man, woman and child. Over the first year, it would lower the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 55, cover dental, hearing and vision care for seniors, provide health care to every young person in the United States and lower the cost of prescription drugs.
Click through for the other 8 points. From Bernie’s op-ed in the Washington Post:
“To a significant degree, the American people rejected President Trump’s agenda benefiting the wealthy and the powerful, as well as his racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and religious bigotry.”
But are the Democrats willing to go to the wall for American middle and working class families? Love Bernie’s comment in the short video within the Washington Post article: “The Republican Party is bankrupt . . . intellectually.” And more! Amen Bernie!!!
CNN — The storm of false information that never stopped throughout 2018 has led Dictionary.com to name “misinformation” its annual “Word of the Year.”
Think Progress — A group of “centrist” donors spent millions to protect some of the most Vulnerable House Republicans in the 2018 election, but now is pushing to dictate the terms of who House Democrats pick to lead their new majority.The No Labels super PAC, an outside group funded heavily by rich Chicago mega-donors, spent more than $2.5 million in the 2018 campaign to buck up vulnerable House Republicans hoping to retain their positions in the face of the blue wave. Several vulnerable GOP incumbents held on, thanks in part to this group’s largess. The biggest beneficiary, Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), narrowly won after the group spent nearly $600,000 to help re-elect him, though six-figure “independent expenditures” for Republican Reps. Carlos Curbelo of Florida ($436,965), Leonard Lance of New Jersey ($420,712), and Mike Coffman of Colorado ($369,935) were not enough to save their seats.
The super PAC reported spending only about half as much (just over $1.25 million) in support of centrist House Democrats.
Now, after impeding the new Democratic majority and helping to limit the size of its majority, No Labels wants to condition which Democrat gets lead the House on a series of House rule changes designed to limit the majority’s power. The group is trying to demand that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) or any other candidate for Speaker of the House agree to a “Break the Gridlock” package being offered by its Congressional arm, the Problem Solvers Caucus.
I had never heard of No Labels until all the kerfuffle about Pelosi’s House Speaker campaign. Slate has an excellent article about Nancy Pelosi’s battle, and the battle for the House. I’ll be clear, I detest the lack of bipartisanship in Congress, but I also detest this kind of move which I think is deceptive. So some of this was in place during the 115th Congress, but guess what . . . Republicans in the House Problem Solvers Caucus did not play by their rules. Surprise! Surprise! Now a big push to limit the majority party, the Democrats. It certainly seems that the Problem Solvers are nothing more than corporate shills. It is clear to me that based on the clearly increasing number to progressives that were elected, a move to the side of corporate interests is not what the electorate voted for.
My Universe
The indignity! I’ll never be able to
show my face in the neighbourhood again!
Posted to Care2 HERE
