bloom
bloom's JournalOne thing about Pete & Bernie is they are both going after Trump voters
Are any of the other candidates doing that?
in Finland - openly running on a platform to slow down efforts to mitigate global warming
"HELSINKI (AP) — Riding a wave of populism across Europe and campaigning to slow down Finland’s efforts to fight climate change, the euroskeptic Finns Party came within 6,800 votes of winning the country’s parliamentary election — a result that smashed even the party’s own predictions..."
https://apnews.com/e8b1c22c9ef9475f9b6a86e87b93b6c0
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I suppose once (US) Republicans finally admit to human-caused climate change, they will more openly fight doing anything to stop it. They fight against renewables, now; they fight against immigrants fleeing droughts; they fight for ignorance - but if they are openly fighting against saving humanity and other life on the planet, I haven't noticed.
If you have, please post. Thanks.
The 2020 Endorsement Primary from 538
I don't know how much influence party leaders have - but I thought this was interesting to know, anyway:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-endorsements/democratic-primary/?ex_cid=rrpromo
Cory Booker 57 points
Kamala Harris 55
Amy Klobuchar 44
Bernie Sanders 21
Joe Biden 18
Elizabeth Warren 17
Beto O'Rourke 14
Julian Castro 12
John Delaney 6
Pete Buttigieg 5
Jay Inslee 5
Kirsten Gillibrand 3
John Hickenlooper 3
JUAN COLE "What does the World look like from Somalia? ...."
"What does the World look like from Somalia? Explaining why Ilhan Omar Scares the Horses in DC"
"...In neither case has the US Congress been used to hearing from the colonized.
The voice of former and present colonies has been heard, however, since last November, in the persons of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib, and Ilhan Omar. They are all Americans, but of Puerto Rican, Palestinian and Somali heritage, respectively.
...European “civilization” doesn’t look like something to be celebrated so effusively from the vantage point of Mogadishu, an ancient site of East African civilization likely founded by Iranian merchants, and a key node in medieval world maritime trade. Racist hierarchies and segregation, crushing wars of conquest, the disruption and displacement of entire regions, and then the debilitating intrigues of the Cold War and the “War on Terror,” along with the naked exploitation of Somali fisheries and the creeping deserts of global heating– these are the legacies of “civilization.”
When the victims of this European Fascism and its less explicit successors speak from Congress, they do not forget. They do not forget the refugees and the displaced, whether Somali or Palestinian. They do not forget the powerless and subjected and forgotten, whether Somali or Palestinian or Puerto Rican. They do not forget the civilian victims of the “war on terror,” or the US coddling of the Saudis, who have sometimes inspired hard line movements to attack tolerant Muslim traditionalism...."
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/somalia-explaining-scares.html
From Juan Cole - Criticizing Israel Isn't Anti-Semitic. Here's What Is
From Juan Cole
Criticizing Israel Isn’t Anti-Semitic. Here’s What Is
...Omar has criticized the U.S. government’s support for Israeli actions that break international law. And she’s spoken out against the role money in politics plays in shoring up that support.
Neither is anti-semitic.
What is anti-semitic is the cacophony of mainstream media and politicians saying that criticizing U.S. policy toward the state of Israel is the same as attacking Jewish people.
Like most American Jewish youth, I grew up knowing Israel....
https://www.juancole.com/2019/03/criticizing-israel-semitic.html
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Ilhan Omar in Her Own Words: I Know What Hate Feels Like (DemocracyNow!)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/ilhan_omar_in_her_own_words" Ilhan Omar in her own words, speaking last week at Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. While the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. This is a part of what she said.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: It’s almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that is supposed to be about foreign policy, our engagement, our advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get to be labeled in something, and that ends the discussion, because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with Palestine.
So, for me, I want to talk about—I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask: Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy? Right?
I want to ask the question—I want to ask the question of why is it OK for you to push, for you to be—there are so many people. I mean, most of us are new, but many members of Congress have been there forever. Some of them have been there before we were born. So I know many of them, many of them, were fighting—were fighting for people to be freed, for people to live in dignity in South Africa. I know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity, to have self-determination. So I know—I know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, “Here is a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have,” we get to be called names, and we get to be labeled as hateful?"
... snipped
Ilhan Omar in Her Own Words: I Know What Hate Feels Like (Democracy Now!)
https://www.democracynow.org/2019/3/8/ilhan_omar_in_her_own_words" Ilhan Omar in her own words, speaking last week at Busboys and Poets restaurant in Washington, D.C. While the media has largely focused on a single sentence in her remarks, few have heard her broader comments. This is a part of what she said.
REP. ILHAN OMAR: It’s almost as if every single time we say something, regardless of what it is we say, that is supposed to be about foreign policy, our engagement, our advocacy about ending oppression or the freeing of every human life and wanting dignity, we get to be labeled in something, and that ends the discussion, because we end up defending that, and nobody ever gets to have the broader debate of what is happening with Palestine.
So, for me, I want to talk about—I want to talk about the political influence in this country that says it is OK for people to push for allegiance to a foreign country. I want to ask: Why is it OK for me to talk about the influence of the NRA, of fossil fuel industries or Big Pharma, and not talk about a powerful lobbying group that is influencing policy? Right?
I want to ask the question—I want to ask the question of why is it OK for you to push, for you to be—there are so many people. I mean, most of us are new, but many members of Congress have been there forever. Some of them have been there before we were born. So I know many of them, many of them, were fighting—were fighting for people to be freed, for people to live in dignity in South Africa. I know many of them fight for people around the world to have dignity, to have self-determination. So I know—I know that they care about these things. But now that you have two Muslims who are saying, “Here is a group of people that we want to make sure they have the dignity that you want everybody else to have,” we get to be called names, and we get to be labeled as hateful?"
... snipped
The N.R.A. Lobbyist Behind Floridas Pro-Gun Policies
I saw where Emma Gonzalez posted this article on twitter:
"Hammer is the National Rifle Association’s Florida lobbyist. At seventy-eight years old, she is nearing four decades as the most influential gun lobbyist in the United States. Her policies have elevated Florida’s gun owners to a uniquely privileged status, and made the public carrying of firearms a fact of daily life in the state. Daley was referring to a law that Hammer worked to enact in 2011, during Governor Rick Scott’s first year in office. The statute punishes local officials who attempt to establish gun regulations stricter than those imposed at the state level. Officials can be fined thousands of dollars and removed from office...."
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/the-nra-lobbyist-behind-floridas-pro-gun-policies
"Male Supremacy Organizations are Now on SPLCs List of Hate Groups" (MS. Mag)
This is a welcome classification.
"The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization that, among other things, tracks the activities of hate groups across the country, has added two male supremacy organizations to its list.
SPLC will now monitor A Voice for Men, a group based in Houston, and Return of Kings, a group based in Washington, D.C., as part of its Hatewatch program. This is the first time SPLC has included so-called men’s rights activists in the ongoing project and designated their organizations as hate groups, although SPLC first began tracking men’s rights groups in 2012. “The vilification of women by these groups,” SPLC declared in an announcement, “makes them no different than other groups that demean entire populations, such as the LGBT community, Muslims or Jews, based on their inherent characteristics.”
SPLC’s decision arose from the striking similarities their researchers noted between these groups and white nationalist groups, which have been re-invigorated since President Trump’s election. “It became clear that they treat women the same way that white nationalist groups treat minorities—by demeaning them and describing all women as a group as lesser beings,” intelligence project director Heidi Beirich said. “Often, the language is just awful, calling all women bitches and worse. So this year, in the two cases where what we were tracking functioned as groups, we added them to the list.”
Men’s rights communities often overlap with other hateful communities, such as neo-Nazi groups and white nationalists. They were also at the forefront of the #GamerGate attacks on prominent women in gaming and media, including Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian and developer Zoe Quinn. In 2014, a mass shooting in Isla Vista was carried out by a man who espoused male supremacist talking points." ...
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2018/02/26/southern-poverty-law-center-will-track-male-supremacy-groups/
"Male Supremacy Organizations are Now on SPLCs List of Hate Groups"
I Love this.
"The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), an organization that, among other things, tracks the activities of hate groups across the country, has added two male supremacy organizations to its list.
SPLC will now monitor A Voice for Men, a group based in Houston, and Return of Kings, a group based in Washington, D.C., as part of its Hatewatch program. This is the first time SPLC has included so-called men’s rights activists in the ongoing project and designated their organizations as hate groups, although SPLC first began tracking men’s rights groups in 2012. “The vilification of women by these groups,” SPLC declared in an announcement, “makes them no different than other groups that demean entire populations, such as the LGBT community, Muslims or Jews, based on their inherent characteristics.”
SPLC’s decision arose from the striking similarities their researchers noted between these groups and white nationalist groups, which have been re-invigorated since President Trump’s election. “It became clear that they treat women the same way that white nationalist groups treat minorities—by demeaning them and describing all women as a group as lesser beings,” intelligence project director Heidi Beirich said. “Often, the language is just awful, calling all women bitches and worse. So this year, in the two cases where what we were tracking functioned as groups, we added them to the list.”
Men’s rights communities often overlap with other hateful communities, such as neo-Nazi groups and white nationalists. They were also at the forefront of the #GamerGate attacks on prominent women in gaming and media, including Feminist Frequency’s Anita Sarkeesian and developer Zoe Quinn. In 2014, a mass shooting in Isla Vista was carried out by a man who espoused male supremacist talking points." ...
http://msmagazine.com/blog/2018/02/26/southern-poverty-law-center-will-track-male-supremacy-groups/
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