[ Reader Comments: Coronavirus Pandemic and GOP Attack on Social
Security, Medicare, CDC; Three-Fourths of Democratic Delegates Still
to be Voted On; Sanders, Biden, Warren; Coronavirus Factsheet in 20
Languages; more resources, announcements;] [[link removed]]

TIDBITS - MAR. 12, 2020 - READER COMMENTS: CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC AND
GOP ATTACK ON SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE, CDC; THREE-FOURTHS OF
DEMOCRATIC DELEGATES STILL TO BE VOTED ON; SANDERS, BIDEN, WARREN;
CORONAVIRUS FACTSHEET IN 20 LANGUAGES; MORE....  
[[link removed]]


 

March 12, 2020
xxxxxx

*
[[link removed]....]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

_ Reader Comments: Coronavirus Pandemic and GOP Attack on Social
Security, Medicare, CDC; Three-Fourths of Democratic Delegates Still
to be Voted On; Sanders, Biden, Warren; Coronavirus Factsheet in 20
Languages; more resources, announcements; _

Tidbits - Reader Comments, Resources, Announcements AND cartoons -
Mar. 12, 2020, xxxxxx

 

Re: Make a Hard-Nosed Assessment, Adjust Strategy, and Fight (Richard
Butsch; Meredith Lee Schafer-Garza; Harry Targ; Nikos Evangelos; Alan
Hart)
Re: Team Warren for Bernie Sanders (Carolyn Toll Oppenheim; Doug
Sertl; Emory Thompson; Susan Vago Webb; James Counts Early; Win
Heimer; Marguerite Horberg; Marta Mangan Lev; Eva Zucker; Raul
Hinojosa)
Four Hoursemen  -- cartoon by Theo Moudakis
Re: Donald Trump Is Using the Coronavirus Crisis to Attack Social
Security (Ralph G. Brown; Justine Medina; Seth Pierson; Rosemary A.
Barbera; Bob DeGuire; Louise Parker; Denise Young)
Re: Nurses Said They Can't Protect Themselves And Hospitals Are
Unprepared For Coronavirus, Survey Reports (Patricia Schneider; Pamy
Amante; Disraelly Gutierrez Jaime)
Re: A Health Emergency Demands Treatment Not Tax Breaks (Gavrielle
Gemma; Velva Spriggs)
Testing Kit -- Cartoon by Rob Rogers
Re: Rainbow Coalition Comes Full Circle as Jesse Jackson Endorses
Bernie Sanders (John Woodford; Paul Buhle)
Re: Why Southern Democrats Saved Biden (Dave Ecklein; Richard
Hutchinson; Christie Turner Hicks; Maria Juanita del Cáñamo; Alex
Wyatt Meseck; William Leffingwell)
Re: The Elizabeth Warren Example (Dave Lerner; Laurel MacDowell; Peter
J. Nickitas; Robert Politzer; Anna Avgerinou)
Elizabeth Warren says the fight’s not over  -- cartoon by Kevin
Siers
Some observations and remarks from a German unionist regarding the
present primaries (Dieter Sauerwald)
Re: Bernie vs. Biden: When Will Unions Show Solidarity With Sanders?
(Marc Auerbach)
Re: Joe Biden Is No Friend of Public Education (Charlie Daniel; Sadie
Spence Price)
Re: The Political Elite vs. Bernie (Robert Knapp)
Re: How Socialism Became Un-American Through the Ad Council’s
Propaganda Campaigns (Stan Nadel; Bruce Smith; Eleanor Roosevelt)
Letters to the NY Times -- Defending Bernie Sanders’s Sister-City
Efforts in the U.S.S.R. (Jack F. Matlock Jr.; Barbara Keys)
Re: Bernie Sanders Was Right About the Cuban Literacy Campaign (Gene
Glickman; Charles Laurence; Miriam Haiman-González; Nelson Morales;
Rosalina Rosario Melendez; Maria Minguela; Bob Feb; Ed Griffin)
Re: “Supreme Inequality”: Author Adam Cohen on the Supreme
Court’s 50-Year Battle Against Justice (Terry Reed)
Tax the Monkey  --  cartoon by Clay Jones
Re: Rudy's Coup at Foggy Bottom (Barb Steiner)
Re: How the UAW Went From a Militant, Trailblazing Union to a Corrupt,
Dealmaking One (Mike Liston)
Re: “The Labor Movement Needs to Learn Its History” (Hollis
Stewart)
Re: Loach’s “Sorry We Missed You” is a Scathing Indictment of
Ultra-Flexible Work Arrangements (Sionna Breasal)
Re: The Labor Strike That Shut Down San Francisco and Kicked Off the
City’s Counterculture (Audra David)

RESOURCES:

Coronavirus Factsheet - in more than 20 languages (NYC Dept of Health
and Mental Hygiene)
New Report - Building a Cross-Racial Working Class Coalition (The
Century Foundation)
New Books on Women's History and Movements (Facing History and
Ourselves)

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) National Briefing
Call - March 19
84th Annual Celebration Honoring the Abraham Lincoln Brigade - New
York - May 17

 

RE: MAKE A HARD-NOSED ASSESSMENT, ADJUST STRATEGY, AND FIGHT
 

Simple: Bernie's platform, in terms recognizable to most Americans is
to Bring Back the New Deal, Plus.

So chuck the words "socialism" and "revolution" into the trunk of the
campaign car. Up front of the campaign put in big bold letters *
"Bring Back the New Deal and Make It Green."* That will bring a
groundswell of support all on its own. Then also put AOC and some
major figures who appeal to blacks to work 24/7 stumping for this.

Richard Butsch
Professor Emeritus of Sociology, American Studies and Media Studies
For my publications, find me through Google Scholar

     =====

Some of this is good. I would have liked a more nuanced analysis than
the excerpt below of the black vote. The stats about black voters
being more progressive are only true when you look nationally. I don't
believe that southern voters in Virginia, the Carolinas, Arkansas,
Alabama, and Texas are as progressive as black voters in the midwest,
CA, etc. This is not to say that voters should be blamed, but this was
a big factor in 2016 and it is not easy to change. But also, we don't
really know what progressive means, and it's likely they are like many
voters conservative on some issues and not on others. But it seems to
me that if they are not voting based on platforms that will matter in
the general, but voting for some kind of safe choice that has tacit
Obama backing, then the degree to which they are progressive might not
matter. But I think it does for the younger black voters.

"African Americans are the most consistently progressive sector of the
U.S. electorate. Recent polls show 51% of Americans have a
“somewhat” or “very” positive view of socialism, it is 42% of
whites and a whopping 81% of Blacks (Stark partisan divisions in
Americans’ views of ‘socialism,’ ‘capitalism’
[[link removed]])
Blacks have been a key component of both the big-D and small-d
democratic coalitions in this country going back to the New Deal.
Black voters anchored the coalitions that brought us the most
progressive elected leaders and administrations in modern U.S. history
from Maxine Waters to Ron Dellums to Harold Washington to John Conyers
to Barbara Lee. So there should be no questioning of Black people’s
progressive bona fides."

Meredith Lee Schafer-Garza
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

I have the uncomfortable feeling that 1)left commentaries always end
up sounding self-serving and 2)not enough attention was paid over the
last several months to building a progressive coalition. I am reminded
of a friend who was head of our AFT local who jokingly proclaimed one
day: "Follow me. I am ready to lead."

Harry Targ
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Be it known that while these comments are useful, the results of
Tuesday aren't even in yet.

Nikos Evangelos
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Some good news from Pittsburgh: Our great progressive champion
(despite facing opposition to her re-election from the Democratic
county committee and the central labor council) has endorsed Bernie.

State Rep. Lee says she will endorse Bernie Sanders
[[link removed]]

Alan Hart
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: TEAM WARREN FOR BERNIE SANDERS
 

A day late and a dollar short.

Carolyn Toll Oppenheim
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Nooo, get a grip and support Biden...

Doug Sertl
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

We lost. It's heartbreaking. I hope Biden picks Warren as VP.

Emory Thompson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi voters have blown Bernie out of the
running. It's time for Bernie and supporters to bow out graciously and
focus on unifying Democrats, independents and moderates to accomplish
the main and urgent goal (literally life or death) of defeating Trump
and Republicans in November. I say this as an ex Warren supporter.

Susan Vago Webb
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

“Unifying Democrats” is not the goal of the presidential election.
Nor is electing Sanders or Biden the individual. Defeating Trump and
advancing a progressive as possible agenda is. Don’t overlook the
intra-Democratic struggle against progressive policy and candidates. A
principled policy unity can and will be achieved to defeat Trump
around a progressive policy compromise, but not to unify-pave over the
real policy splits in the Establishment corporate Democratic Party. I
will vote against Trump realistically “using” available candidate
means but not with the articulation “for Biden”.

James Counts Early
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

As a Bernie supporter I say that if in fact it is over for him (which
I don't believe it is since he'll stay into the convention) it should
be up to Biden people to reach out to Bernie supporters to unify the
party...

Win Heimer
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

I still care about voter suppression and theft. One polling place in
Fargo? Hours to vote in college towns/ exit polls not jibing w vote
counts in SD - not good

Staying Bernie till end

Marguerite Horberg
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

What was really a shortcoming was Sanders deciding to run against
Warren in the 1st place instead of supporting her.

Marta Mangan Lev
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Would so appreciate your forwarding my comments to those workers from
Elizabeth Warren's former campaign who will now work for the Sanders
campaign:

👍THANK YOU!  THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING TO FIGHT FOR THE
 REALIZATION OF A TRULY BOLD PROGRESSIVE AGENDA IN THE U.S. BY MOVING
YOUR NEEDED SUPPORT AND OFFERING YOUR MANY TALENTS TO THE BERNIE
SANDERS CAMPAIGN!

THANK YOU!👏

Eva Zucker
One of the 99%

     =====

Yes Folks, keep your eyes on the prize! Bernie and Biden voters and
issues together Crush Trump!

Raul Hinojosa
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

FOUR HOURSEMEN  -- CARTOON BY THEO MOUDAKIS
 

Theo Moudakis
March 11, 2020
Toronto Star
[[link removed]]

 

RE: DONALD TRUMP IS USING THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS TO ATTACK SOCIAL
SECURITY
 

'...there might be something to this...

Ralph G. Brown
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

“The proposal to cut the payroll contribution rate would either
undermine Social Security’s financing or employ general revenue,
both of which would set the stage for future demands to cut Social
Security. And it likely would not be temporary.”

Justine Medina
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

I’m sure Democrats will stand very strongly against this attempt to
cut Social Security, since they have *never* supported those cuts
before or several times in the past few decades!

Seth Pierson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

#ShockDoctrine [[link removed]]

Rosemary A. Barbera
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Yep, that’s what the payroll tax reduction is all about. He’s
using this pandemic to achieve his goal of reducing or eliminating
social security.

Bob DeGuire
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

"The proposal is a Trojan horse. It appears to be a gift, in the form
of middle-class tax relief, but would, in the long run, lead to the
destruction of working Americans’ fundamental economic security.
While the goal of the proposal is stated in terms of fiscal stimulus,
its most important impact, if not its intent, is to do what opponents
of Social Security have been unable to do—end Social Security as we
know it.”

Louise Parker
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Keep Naomi Klein’s “Shock Doctrine” thèmes running through your
mind as these things unfold. That’s while fighting back, of course.

Denise Young
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: NURSES SAID THEY CAN'T PROTECT THEMSELVES AND HOSPITALS ARE
UNPREPARED FOR CORONAVIRUS, SURVEY REPORTS

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

One of the first to succumb was the Chinese doctor who blew the
whistle. Healthcare workers are most vulnerable.

Patricia Schneider
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

"Meanwhile, another nurse who is sick and in quarantine after treating
a patient with COVID-19 at a hospital in Northern California said in
an anonymous statement provided by the union that the CDC has not
approved requests from her doctor and county health officials to test
her for the virus.

'"They said they would not test me because if I were wearing the
recommended protective equipment, then I wouldn’t have the
coronavirus,' she said. 'What kind of science-based answer is that?'

"The nurse said she volunteered to care for a patient who tested
positive because she had all the recommended protective gear and
training to do so.

"The last she heard from the CDC was that it needs an "identifier
number" to initiate her testing and that it was prioritizing testing
for people with more severe illness. Only so many samples can be
tested each day, the nurse said she was told.

Pamy Amante
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

A survey conducted by the National Nurses United reports that nurses
can't protect themselves and hospitals from coronavirus. "When nurses
are not protected, the community is not protected," one California
nurse said.

Disraelly Gutierrez Jaime
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: A HEALTH EMERGENCY DEMANDS TREATMENT NOT TAX BREAKS
 

the New Orleans Hospitality Workers Alliance is fighting for the
following

In the Interest of Public Health

The city and state government has said if we are sick to stay home.
 But without providing emergency measures it will be impossible..
Therefore not to take these measure s is negligence by officials to
the public health, workers, families and communities.

The city and state have broad  powers to declare an emergency to do
the following

1.  Set up a registration for all workers staying home due to illness
or their child or elder being sick

2.  Order that no workers be fired for staying home.

3.  Issue immediate food stamp cards to those registered or increase
amount.

4.  Order that employers pay sick pay and if not  order the
expansion of unemployment insurance enough to sustain a family.

5.  Order a halt to evictions, water or electric cut off for those
registered

6.  Waive citizenship requirements for these to ensure all workers
can stay home.

7.  Suspend the city charter giving $180 million in tourists taxes to
private companies, suspend the $300 million dollars in public funds to
building  private convention center hotel and use the money for the
emergency.

The rich will be protected and able to stay home.  We workers, cannot
allow ourselves to be treated as if our lives are unimportant.

All these measures are absolutely doable.  But we will have to fight
for them.  Join us in the movement.

Gavrielle Gemma

     =====

I understand Cuba has a vaccine (interferon) which does not cure the
illness, but is effective in strengthening the immune system so that
the host can endure treatment and improve. America evidently wants
nothing from Cuba, even if it serves to save American lives - Katrina
repeated all over again. I recall that Fidel Castro offered to send
doctors and other health personnel to assist Katrina victims and the
US refused their help.  China, on the other hand, is accepting Cuba's
assistance with the coronavirus. That might explain why the numbers of
the dying are beginning slowly to decrease.  Please check this out.!

Velva Spriggs

 

TESTING KIT -- CARTOON BY ROB ROGERS
 

Rob Rogers
March 11, 2020
robrogers.com [[link removed]]

 

RE: RAINBOW COALITION COMES FULL CIRCLE AS JESSE JACKSON ENDORSES
BERNIE SANDERS
 

Jesse Jackson is from South Carolina. Why not discuss why he would
wait till after the South Carolina primary to make his endorsement????

John Woodford

    =====

We historians will find this of lasting interest, no matter what
happens in the next several weeks.....Gene Debs, Bob La Follette,
Henry Wallace, George McGovern and Jesse Jackson were all lambasted as
Bernie is today. Sad to say, the mainstream of the Democratic Party
did more than a little of the lambasting. In 2020, the Dems are likely
to promise.....to bail out Wall Street! and make the rest of us pay
for it. A great plan to lose an election but...they never learn.

Paul Buhle
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: WHY SOUTHERN DEMOCRATS SAVED BIDEN
 

Typical of the NY Times, like the rest of the corporate media, to
promote Biden.  While relating some known history of US racism, the
article correctly reports that the African American community is
alarmed about Trump, and like others who favor Biden, believe he is
the best choice to beat Trump in 2020. Including, evidently, the
belief advanced by the writer of this pro-Biden screed.  Another NYT
left-handed Biden promotion is the way Derrick Bryson Taylor reports
Mayor de Blasio's remarks:
[link removed]…
[[link removed]]
- de Blasio had endorsed Sanders.  There is an effort in these
articles to treat this minority community as unified around the idea
that anyone gets a pass who served with Barack Obama, not always true
among the younger, less conservative set - as primary experience
outside the South has subsequently indicated.

Dave Ecklein

    =====

I understand, but I don't think Biden is "more electable." I fear what
will happen in November if he is the Democratic candidate.

Richard Hutchinson
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

I think Biden is the best Democratic candidate for nominee. Trump is
certainly concerned about him which is what caused his impeachment. If
Sanders wins the nomination Democrats are doomed for sure. Great
article!!

Christie Turner Hicks
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

So they backup a segregationist to escape segregationism?

Maria Juanita del Cáñamo
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

The shadow of segregation, yet vote for the candidate who compromised
his beliefs for segregationists and racists throughout history.

Alex Wyatt Meseck
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

We need to keep this in mind. It’s fine to go boldly forward when
starting from a solid if deficient base, but Trump has eroded the base
of relative safety and must be restored first.

William Leffingwell
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE ELIZABETH WARREN EXAMPLE
 

My apologies for not sharing articles supporting her campaign before
it was too late.

Dave Lerner
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

It is a shame Warren is out of the race. Clearly Americans are not
willing to elect a woman for President, even a brilliant, committed,
activist woman like Warren. It is a loss. It would be nice to think
the eventual male contender would ask her to run as Vice President but
that seems unlikely. I looked forward to seeing Warren debating Trump,
showing up his lies, lack of knowledge and punching holes in his
vanity. It doesn't really matter who she endorses or if she endorses.
She is out now and that is a loss for everyone, especially women and
girls.

It is amazing that in the early 21st century women are not treated
equally in the most technologically advanced society in the world. It
is pathetic that in that same society universal health care would be
seen as "socialist" when every other western industrial nation has
adopted such a system for over 60 years as a right of citizenship.

It is troubling that the inequities among Americans increase. All of
these issues troubled Warren and her approach was to deal with them.

I hope Bernie wins because he has built a movement. Biden hasn't and
is very status quo.

If Trump is re elected he will corrupt the government completely.   A
sad tale.

Laurel MacDowell

     =====

I find it insulting that the author disrespected Rep. Tulsi Gabbard by
intentional omission.

Rep. Gabbard stands as a veteran, unlike the female candidates who
folded.

Rep. Gabbard supports Medicare for All, enforcement of antitrust law,
and tax policy that curbs oligarchy.  Sen. Warren concurred.  Sens.
Klobuchar and Harris disagreed; they received considerably more media
attention than Rep. Gabbard before they folded.

Rep. Gabbard stands as the only remaining anti-imperialist candidate.
 Her principled consistency has induced Sen. Sanders to detail
military spending cuts to make reality of the democratic socialist
program of whose movements he is only one member.  Her principled,
anti-imperialist consistency challenged the entire imperialist
oligarchy.

She is the only candidate— and that includes every failed female
candidate to raise such a challenge.  And for that, Rep. Gabbard
suffers the same isolation as Rep. Kucinich, Sen. Gravel, and Sen.
Fulbright before her. 

She could have put her military decorations on her sleeve, “played
ball,” and attained worldly fame and fortune beyond the failed women
candidates.  She chooses principle over expediency, and values over
money.

Sen. Sanders is one in a democratic socialist movement that will
change the nation.  So is Rep. Gabbard—a non-interventionist,
anti-imperialist movement that has a longer journey—and one with
much in common with democratic socialists’ projects.

Peter J. Nickitas

     =====

I love her. She is so damn smart and compassionate and savvy. She
absolutely must play a major role in the next Dem Administration.

Robert Politzer
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

author of beautifully written but totally tone deaf article has not
listened to one sanders speech....for him its-progressive fabulous
warren and.....2 old doddering white men. which we know, tho he
doesn't seem to know or care--one of which would never adopt warrens
platform and one whose platform she basically co-opted and slightly
adapted. this is an op ed not journalism. oh yes, and she's a woman.
another inaugural January without a woman prez. ---- as women take
leads (which we fought for for years and amazingly enough are STILL
fighting for) WHICH THEY ARE DOING NOW-- that will soon be a thing of
the past.---- HOPEFULLY with a progressive female not a Thatcher. i
fought with my liberal political friends in my politically active
youth that women's rights were part of our struggle--(''after, we will
deal with that after") now i fight with the opposite end. glass
ceiling woman prez etc 

the best woman man or freeking aardvark gets my tattered little vote.
and yes i like much about warren-just not as much as sanders. not
nearly enough. he compromises to get things done. in my op she doesn't
have a very clear line of demarcation between compromise and being
compromised- dangerous when supposedly pushing progressive policies
and changes. i'm sorry she's out of the running tho her running was
too good for the DNC's fear of sanders....which translates into divide
thereby conquering progressives--but i don't think she would have been
able to get the numbers needed to beat cheetolini.

Anna Avgerinou
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

ELIZABETH WARREN SAYS THE FIGHT’S NOT OVER  -- CARTOON BY KEVIN
SIERS
 

Kevin Siers
March 5, 2020
The Charlotte Observer
[[link removed]] (NC)

 

SOME OBSERVATIONS AND REMARKS FROM A GERMAN UNIONIST REGARDING THE
PRESENT PRIMARIES
 

Dear friends,

Since many years I'm a German unionist and nearly of the age like
Bernie Sanders. And I should like to share some observations and
remarks regarding the current primaries and the politics connected
with them. Maybe some of you think: What the heck has this German guy
to do with us here in the USA? First: I think solidarity is
international - or it isn't at all. And second believe me: When you
would comment some important political issues about Germany - I would
be eager to read it. Sometimes a look from a distant place can be
useful to understand things nearby.

And now to the issues:

1) I think it wouldn't have been so difficult for those folks who
support Biden to come along with the social and political project of
Bernie and his supporters (except the establishment - to that I come
later): You know the list better than me. (Medicare for All, Tax for
the rich, free college, raising minimum wage etc. etc.)

But it is nearly impossible for Sander's supporters to come along with
the world of Wall-Street-backed establishment. Therefore, it is quite
understandable that their anger is big and that hundreds of thousands
of them will not vote for a Democratic Wall-Street-backed
establishment candidate when it comes to the final shootout with
Trump.

2) The establishment representatives - Biden, Bloomberg, the Clintons
and others - can't be blamed generally for what they are doing to stop
Bernie: They would lose power, influence and money. Therefore, they
fight like hell to keep their privileges. But in several cases, it is
even more than the expected class-fight: What the Clintons for example
said about a decent, honest and friendly person like Bernie Sanders -
that was simply a shame!

3) The least understandable of all the basic groups that support Biden
for me is the Black vote of the middle-aged and older people. They
would have been biggest winners of new policies and social changes
wanted and planned by Bernie Sanders and his supporters. I would
understand their hesitation in supporting Sanders if Sanders would
have been a newcomer - and nobody knows how he really is. But Bernie
is well known since a long time as such a trustworthy guy. The black
vote of the older ones is a riddle for me.

4) Elizabeth Warren is a tragic figure in this big game. On the one
hand she stands for good positions. On the other hand, what happened
when she saw that she wouldn't be the preferred candidate? First, she
played the gender card claiming Sanders was a sexist and then - when
it had been clear that even in her home state, she had no chance to
win - she had not enough character to step back and support Sanders.
Loyalty to her own world of ideas would have imposed it. Amy Klobuchar
of the corporate part of the Democrats did it - Warren didn't. This
kind of egocentric behaviour is a character fault.

5) Many times, there have been openly discussed all the reasons why
Trump should be removed from office. And all those arguments are true.
But there is a big argument too why a Wall-Street-backed Democrat
shouldn't win the presidential office as well: That establishment has
to learn the hard way that they can't win without changing their
positions towards social justice as there are represented by Bernie
and his supporters. True, the latter ones have to learn something too:
Such a great change like intended can't be done in one step. Maybe in
the future it would be possible to find a compromise candidate as an
intermediate step that can be accepted by both sides: the
Bernie-oriented and the basic groups that favour Biden. I say "basic
groups" - and that means of course excluding the greatest part of all
those Wall-Street-establishment people.

6) When one goes always on the same tracks then one will normally end
in the same stations. Why not try new ways? Examples:

- When this time Sanders would have done this: To choose a woman of
colour as a running mate before the race in February had started. Of
course, someone who could convince the public that she should and
could be his successor in the presidentship. In my opinion it would
have drastically improved his chances.

- When both parts of the party would agree on a few very good
candidates before the primaries and then the people's vote is coming.
That present wild race in this year in big numbers led only to that:
Deep wounds in the files of the Democratic party and Trump as a
possible winner.

Maybe you will smile now and say: But this isn't our way. Maybe - but
when one goes always on the same tracks then.

7) I think that probably Trump will be the next president too. But if
- against the odds like I see them - Biden should win there might come
an offer to Bernie Sanders to take part in Biden's team somehow.
Bernie refuse to do so! You will be obliged then to loyalty to
decision you basically disagree to. Bernie: You will be needed as an
ikon in your big movement. Your mission is to help this movement to
become stronger and stronger. Then others will take the torch and
carry it on. One is already there: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Others
will come - and hopefully work together in solidarity.

8) For now: Don't give up and fight for every delegate. Every delegate
more is a little step to a better future!

Yours,

Dieter Sauerwald

 

RE: BERNIE VS. BIDEN: WHEN WILL UNIONS SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH SANDERS?

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

We won't reduce inequality without strong unions.

Bernie has a great labor policy, and he also has a lifelong record of
standing with workers.

Biden talks a lot and then takes $$ from union-busters.

Marc Auerbach
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: JOE BIDEN IS NO FRIEND OF PUBLIC EDUCATION
 

Let's get real. The prize is to bet Donald Trump. There is no evidence
that Joe Biden does not support public education, especially since he
is a product of public schools. We need to keep our eyes on the prize
and defeat Donald Trump and then, only then, can we make inroads to
better America for all.

Charlie Daniel

     =====

You know Trump is terrible for public education. Vote for the best
candidates for the Senate and House to support public education.

Sadie Spence Price
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE POLITICAL ELITE VS. BERNIE
 

To say that today’s corporate power equals that of the past is
shortsighted. To say voters today blindly follow the
“establishment” is insulting. I will support the Democratic
nominee, whether it’s Sanders or Biden, but I deplore the types of
attacks that will make Trump’s job easier in November.

Robert Knapp
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HOW SOCIALISM BECAME UN-AMERICAN THROUGH THE AD COUNCIL’S
PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS
 

This is true enough as far as it goes, but it doesn't go far enough.
Large scale well funded anti-socialist campaigns date back to the last
third of the 19th century, going back at least to the anti labor, anti
8 hour day, anti socialist campaigns of the 1870s.

Stan Nadel

     =====

Speaking to a group of graduate students in the fall of 1966, Norman
Thomas told us that after FDRs first election he called Dr. Thomas
into see him in the While house. There President Roosevelt thanked
Thomas and the socialists for ideas like Social Security which
Roosevelt was proud that his administration could get passed into
law.

Bruce Smith
Retired Teacher
Wooidbridge, Virginia

     =====

Capitalism, with uncontrolled concentration of wealth in the hands of
the few, millions without affordable healthcare, a military deployed
as an instrument of global imperialism, an environmental policy that's
destroying the planet, and a system of government that's an utterly
corrupted parody of democracy, stabs its fat finger in the air and
calls socialism a failure.

Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

LETTERS TO THE NY TIMES -- DEFENDING BERNIE SANDERS’S SISTER-CITY
EFFORTS IN THE U.S.S.R.
 

DEFENDING BERNIE SANDERS’S SISTER-CITY EFFORTS IN THE U.S.S.R.
[[link removed]]
A former U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union notes that sister-city
programs were strongly supported by the U.S. government.

March 6, 2020

TO THE EDITOR:

“Papers Detail Soviet Hopes for Sanders
[[link removed]]”
(front page, March 6) is a distortion of history. The truth is that
Bernie Sanders, then the mayor of Burlington, Vt., opened a
sister-city relationship with Yaroslavl in 1988 with the encouragement
and strong support of the United States government.

The visit was not used as propaganda by the Soviet Union. I know
because I was U.S. ambassador to the U.S.S.R. at the time and gave
strong official support to Mayor Sanders’s effort, along with those
of other American mayors, to establish ties with cities in the Soviet
Union.

Expanding people-to-people ties was one of the important goals of
President Ronald Reagan’s policy toward the U.S.S.R., a policy that
was continued by President George H.W. Bush.

The explanation the Soviets gave to local Communist officials in
Yaroslavl — that sister-city relationships are useful for
“carrying out information-propaganda efforts” — was actually an
effort to justify Mikhail Gorbachev’s new openness to people who had
no contacts with Americans and were trained to see all Americans as
spies.

In fact, the contacts played an important role in opening up Soviet
society and facilitating Mr. Gorbachev’s reforms.

Jack F. Matlock Jr.
Durham, N.C.
_The writer is the author of “Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War
Ended.”_

TO THE EDITOR:

In 1985, three years before Mayor Bernie Sanders of Burlington, Vt.,
visited the Soviet Union to set up a sister city link,_ _The Times
reported
[[link removed]] that
President Ronald Reagan was urging “bold new steps to open the way
for our peoples [Americans and Soviets] to participate in an
unprecedented way in the building of peace.” Sister cities were
among the initiatives he promoted.

This call came despite the fact that, as your article claims, the
Soviet Union was “a country many Americans then still considered an
enemy.” Will you next publish an article about how President Reagan
was the tool of a Soviet propaganda effort?

Barbara Keys
Durham, England
_The writer is a professor of history at Durham University._

RE: BERNIE SANDERS WAS RIGHT ABOUT THE CUBAN LITERACY CAMPAIGN
 

Thank you for reprinting this article. It warmed the cockles of my
heart to read something unalloyedly positive about Cuba.

As the article described, without overstressing it,  the Volunteer
Literacy Program accomplished a great deal more than its stated
purpose. For instance, it played an important role in the liberation
of Cuban women. This occurred both through the negotiations between
female Volunteers and their parents, whose signatures were needed for
them to apply, and also in situations where male Volunteers, whose
very presence in some areas forced discussions between husbands and
wives and between fathers and daughters, when the female members of a
household wanted to study with this male Volunteer to overcome their
illiteracy.

Bravo!

Gene Glickman

     =====

He sure was. And Cuban health care, too. And a far, far, far smaller
proportion of their population descended from the enslaved are held in
prisons! Think about that one.....

Charles Laurence
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

And so beautifully put . "...The movement Sanders has helped to
build—a multiracial, multiethnic movement of working-class women and
men, people of all ages, all faiths, gay, straight, and trans,
veterans and pacifists, teachers, farmers, bus drivers, nurses, and
postal workers coming together to demand justice and redeem the
endlessly deferred promise of America—deserves our enthusiastic
support. Most crucially at this point in the 2020..."

‘The Nation’ Endorses Bernie Sanders and His Movement

We are proud to endorse Sanders, a democratic socialist with a program
both realistic and radical enough to meet the challenges of our time.
By The Nation
[[link removed]]
March 2, 2020

Miriam Haiman-González
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

They fear sanders because they are afraid, that he is going to do what
he says

I'm not going to waste my time reading a statement that sanders made
in 1980..

Nelson Morales
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

We still have a lot to learn from Cuba.

Rosalina Rosario Melendez
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

My next door neighbor in Houston was a wonderful Cuban lady. Her
sister came to visit from Cuba and I was impressed by all the
accomplishments of the Government that she mentioned. The success of
the literacy campaign, or the fact you could get an eye exam and
glasses for the equivalent of $3.00 U.S.dollars.(Back in 1993.)

My interest subsided when she told me $3.00 could also buy a cat in
the black market to supplement the diet that was practically meatless.
The trade off didn't impress me though.

Maria Minguela
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

Knowing a few Cubans through out my years, not all of them are saying
that Bernie was wrong about what he said. The problem is that the MSM
took it to a different level, because they are afraid of Bernie
winning and they could lose their jobs, because the multibillionaire
companies will stop supporting the MSM with commercials.

Bob Feb
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

     =====

I would rather go to Cuba again than go to a Trump rally.

Ed Griffin
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: “SUPREME INEQUALITY”: AUTHOR ADAM COHEN ON THE SUPREME
COURT’S 50-YEAR BATTLE AGAINST JUSTICE
 

The third leg of government that is supposed to insure checks and
balances on the legislative and executive branch is made up of
political appointees from the two party system. The check and balance
it has provided is on us! Check out Adam Cohen's book Supreme
Inequality.

Terry Reed
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

TAX THE MONKEY  --  CARTOON BY CLAY JONES
 

There’s one thing Donald Trump fears more than anything and no,
I’m not talking about stairs, rain, wind, or sharks. He’s afraid
of it more than facts and even more than a pandemic killing his
constituents. He’s even more afraid of it more than a giant gorilla
climbing Trump Tower. The thing Trump fears the most is a recession.

No president wants a recession but it’s especially worse for Donald
Trump because he doesn’t know what he’s doing.

In the modern era, recessions cut short the presidencies of Jimmy
Carter and George H. W. Bush. George W. Bush managed to serve two
terms but a recession helped his party lose the White House.  All
three of these presidents were smarter and better than Donald J.
Trump. Yeah, even George W....

Clay Jones
March 11, 2020
Claytoonz.com [[link removed]]

 

RE: RUDY'S COUP AT FOGGY BOTTOM
 

I’m surprised that there are so many, swamp creatures, that are
tools for satan, and either destroy are possessed the people that come
in contact with them , may God keep us safe from their evil way , and
please help the children and humans that this administration have
locked in cages, this evil administration that serve evil , must be
stop . in Jesus name we asked Amen

Barb Steiner
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: HOW THE UAW WENT FROM A MILITANT, TRAILBLAZING UNION TO A CORRUPT,
DEALMAKING ONE

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

There's a fairly simple answer to the UAW's corruption, they kicked
out the Communists who got the whole thing kickstarted; that's what
happens when you murder Mom, Dad, and all your cousins for the sake of
a couple of bucks

Mike Liston

 

RE: “THE LABOR MOVEMENT NEEDS TO LEARN ITS HISTORY”

(Posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Read for our history and about the need for a decent paycheck about
us. My father was a farm worker on a combine crew during the late 20s
and early 30s.

Hollis Stewart
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: LOACH’S “SORRY WE MISSED YOU” IS A SCATHING INDICTMENT OF
ULTRA-FLEXIBLE WORK ARRANGEMENTS

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

So does that line refer to the way managers like to pretend they
aren't abusive assholes, while actually being abusive assholes?

Sionna Breasal
Posted on xxxxxx's Facebook page
[[link removed]]

 

RE: THE LABOR STRIKE THAT SHUT DOWN SAN FRANCISCO AND KICKED OFF THE
CITY’S COUNTERCULTURE

(posting on xxxxxx Labor
[[link removed]])
 

Just for the record, the bohemian culture of San Francisco started
long before this strike. In 1872, Mark Twain and a bunch of "male
artists, writers, actors, lawyers, and journalists, all of means and
interested in arts and culture," founded the Bohemian Club.

Audra David

 

CORONAVIRUS FACTSHEET - IN MORE THAN 20 LANGUAGES (NYC DEPT OF HEALTH
AND MENTAL HYGIENE)
 

The New York City Health Department has info sheets in more than 20
languages:
click here
[[link removed]]
 

Screenshots of what is available (& go to website
[[link removed]],
to obtain these & other resources & information)

[[link removed]]

 

NEW REPORT - BUILDING A CROSS-RACIAL WORKING CLASS COALITION (THE
CENTURY FOUNDATION)
 

RECLAIMING FAITH, FAMILY, AND COUNTRY AS PROGRESSIVE VALUES

What can progressives today learn from Robert F. Kennedy’s
remarkable 1968 presidential campaign? The late senator was able to
build a cross-racial working class coalition by communicating not only
that he would fight for working Americans' interests, but that he
respected and shared their values: faith, family, country, and respect
for the rule of law.

In a new report
[[link removed]],
Simon Greer and TCF senior fellow Richard Kahlenberg bring together
insights from RFK's 1968 campaign and modern-day social justice
organizing to show how progressives can reclaim these deeply-held
American values—values that are too often ceded to conservatives.
 

[Read the Report]
[[link removed]]

The report is accompanied by a foreword from civil rights lawyer John
Brittain
[[link removed]]
and an afterword from Kathleen Kennedy Townsend
[[link removed]],
daughter of Robert Kennedy and attorney and activist. Both Brittain
and Kennedy Townsend reflect on the success that RFK had in connecting
with Americans through values, and urge today's progressives to follow
a similar strategy. 

The Century Foundation [[link removed]]
One Whitehall St, 15th Floor
New York, NY 10004

 

NEW BOOKS ON WOMEN'S HISTORY AND MOVEMENTS (FACING HISTORY AND
OURSELVES)
 

New Books on Women's History and Movements
by Kaitlin Smith
March 11, 2020
Facing History
[[link removed]]

Continue your own learning on women’s history with these five new
books written by scholars and public intellectuals passionate about
the experiences and contributions of women. Below, publishers provide
a sense of what to expect from each title:

We are Feminist: An Infographic History of the Women’s Rights
Movement
[[link removed]]
By Helen Pankhurst

 

“Celebrate the achievements of women and their fight for equality
with this inspirational and insightful infographic history of the
global women’s rights movement, from the mid-nineteenth century to
present day… Honoring women’s collective and individual
achievements, _We Are Feminist_ is an accessible and fully
illustrated book that serves as the perfect overview of modern
feminism for anyone who doesn’t know much about the global women’s
rights movement or wants to know more. Organized into feminist
waves, _We Are Feminist_ tells a visual story through graphically
represented statistics, key dates and events, quotes, and facts about
rights, campaigns, and the women who inspired them.” —Tiller Press
| Simon & Schuster
 

Victory for the Vote: The Fight for Women’s Suffrage and the Century
that Followed
[[link removed]]
By Doris Weatherford

“In her book _Victory for the Vote_, Women’s history expert Doris
Weatherford offers an engaging and detailed narrative history of
women’s seven-decade fight for the vote, and the continuing
current-day struggle for human rights and equality. Victory for the
Vote is an expansion and update of Doris Weatherford’s A History of
the American Suffragist Movement, published in 1998 in honor of the
150th anniversary of the 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, considered to
be the beginning of the women’s rights movement in the United
States.” —Mango Press
 

Our Voices, Our Histories: Asian American and Pacific Islander Women
[[link removed]]
Eds. Shirley Hune and Gail M. Nomura

_“Our Voices, Our Histories_ brings together thirty-five Asian
American and Pacific Islander authors in a single volume to explore
the historical experiences, perspectives, and actions of Asian
American and Pacific Islander women in the United States and beyond.
This volume is unique in exploring Asian American and Pacific Islander
women’s lives along local, transnational, and global dimensions. The
contributions present new research on diverse aspects of Asian
American and Pacific Islander women’s history, from the politics of
language, to the role of food, to experiences as adoptees, mixed race,
and second generation, while acknowledging shared experiences as women
of color in the United States… Attending to the collective voices of
the women themselves, the volume seeks to transform current
understandings of Asian American and Pacific Islander women’s
histories.” —NYU Press
 

Anonymous Is a Woman: A Global Chronicle of Gender 
[[link removed]]Inequality
[[link removed]]
By Nina Ansary

"Award-winning author and women's rights advocate Dr. Nina Ansary
takes readers on a 4,000-year global and historic journey exposing the
repercussions of centuries of gender inequality...Anonymous Is a
Woman. . .exposes the roots and manifestations of institutionalized
gender discrimination; dismantles centuries of historical bias through
biographical profiles of fifty remarkable, yet forgotten women
innovators; and challenges ingrained stereotypical assumptions to
advance an unconventional argument for equality and
inclusivity.” —Revela Press
 

Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future (20th Anniversary
Edition)
[[link removed]]
By Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards

“In 2000, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy
Richards’s _Manifesta_ set out to chronicle the feminism of their
generation. They brilliantly revealed the snags in various hubs of the
movement...and showed that these snags had not imperiled the feminist
cause. The book went on to inspire a new generation of readers and has
become a classic of contemporary feminist literature. In the decades
since _Manifesta _was published, the world has changed in ways both
promising and terrifying. This twentieth anniversary edition
of _Manifesta_ features an updated bibliography, timeline, and
resources, as well as a new introduction by the authors. Expertly
unpacking both early women’s history and the Third Wave feminism
that seeded the active righteous intersectionality we see
today, _Manifesta_ remains an urgent and necessary tool to make
sense of our past, present, and future.” —Picador | Pan McMillan

 

GLOBAL DAYS OF ACTION ON MILITARY SPENDING (GDAMS) NATIONAL BRIEFING
CALL - MARCH 19
 

Join LINDSAY KOSHGARIAN of the INSTITUTE FOR POLICY STUDIES and BILL
HARTUNG of the CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY for the first of two
national calls on GLOBAL DAYS OF ACTION ON MILITARY SPENDING (GDAMS)
[[link removed]].
 

THURSDAY, MARCH 19, 2020  
8 – 9 PM EDT;  7 – 8 PM CDT;  6 – 7 PM MDT;  5 – 6 PM PDT
 
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
[[link removed]].
 

Lack of preparedness for the COVID-19 epidemic reveals the potentially
grave consequences of slashing social safety net spending while
deluging the military-industrial complex with our tax dollars. Trump
and the Pentagon are pressing yet another massive increase in military
spending. Critics from Washington think tanks working with the Poor
People’s Campaign, reinforced by grassroots activists across the
country are demanding that money be moved from wars and preparations
for wars to addressing our urgent human needs: health, climate,
housing, education and more.

GDAMS 2020 WILL TAKE PLACE FROM APRIL 10 - MAY 9
[[link removed]]. 
We hope that you will consider organizing a local event. To help you
prepare for this year’s GDAMS and for longer term efforts to change
our national spending priorities, we have scheduled an inspiring
briefing call featuring  these two leading authorities on military
spending and alternatives.

LINDSAY KOSHGARIAN: Lindsay's work and commentary on the federal
budget and military spending has appeared on NPR, the BBC, CNN, The
Nation, U.S. News and World Report, and others. Now at the Institute
for Policy Studies, her work is at the intersection of military
and domestic federal spending. She got her start as a clinic worker
and organizer at Planned Parenthood in central and suburban
Philadelphia, and led economic development and affordable housing
studies at the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute prior to
joining the National Priorities Project in 2014

BILL HARTUNG: Bill is director of the Arms and Security Project at the
Center for International Policy. He has also served as a Senior
Research Fellow in the New America Foundation's American Strategy
Program and is former director of the Arms Trade Resource Center at
the World Policy Institute. He specializes in issues of weapons
proliferation, the economics of military spending, and alternative
approaches to national security strategy. Hartung was the director of
the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation. Prior
to that, he served as the director of the Arms Trade Resource Center
at the World Policy Institute. He also worked as a speechwriter and
policy analyst for New York State Attorney General Robert Abrams.
[[link removed]]

Ruth Benn, of the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
and the New York War Resisters League has prepared a fine short peace
announcing this year's Global Days of Action on Military Spending
along with background about this U.S. and international campaign.
Click here to read the article
[[link removed]].

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR THE MARCH 19 BRIEFING CALL
[[link removed]].
 
 

84TH ANNUAL CELEBRATION HONORING THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE - NEW
YORK - MAY 17

Please join us for our 84th Annual Celebration as we commemorate the
courageous volunteers of the Lincoln Brigade and honor the remarkable
humanitarian work of No More Deaths at the southern border in the face
of state repression. ¡No Más Muertes!

The mission of NO MORE DEATHS is to end death and suffering in the
Mexico–US borderlands through civil initiative: people of conscience
working openly and in community to uphold fundamental human rights.

SUNDAY, MAY 17, 2020  --  5:00 PM – 8:00 PM EDT

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street
New York, NY 10017

Click here for tickets
[[link removed]]

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) [[link removed]]
239 West 14th St., Suite 2
New York, NY 10011

*
[[link removed]....]
*
[[link removed]]
*
* [[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web [[link removed]]
Submit via email
Frequently asked questions [[link removed]]
Manage subscription [[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org [[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]