Month: March 2018

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE James Haslam Fighting for Our Health in New Hampshire and Vermont Health, and health care, should be human rights. No one should ever have to choose between their health and their livelihood, or their ability to spend time with a family member who needs their help in an emergency. That’s why we founded Rights & Democracy: we understood health was too important for half measures, so we started organizing in Vermont and New Hampshire to create a comprehensive approach that could win something as big as universal care.

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE Jeff Bryant Democrats Can Win if They Lead on Education Support for education can help drive Democrats to victory in 2018, if the can get the issue right. Grassroots progressives are telling the party’s establishment how it can lead and win on education issues. What’s not clear is if the party’s pundit and policy apparatus is willing to listen.

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE Andy Spears Hunting Payday Sharks in East Nashville In the Paleozoic Era, Tennessee was covered by a warm, shallow sea, filled with sharks. Sharks still linger in our state, ready to sink their teeth into your wallet. Today’s apex predators are “payday lenders,” who make their money lending – legally – to working families who live paycheck to paycheck. We set out on Gallatin Road in East Nashville to find these predators, and we’ll stay on the road until we’ve sent all of our state’s prehistoric loan sharks back where they belong: extinction.

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE Jeff Bryant After Years of Failed ‘Choice,’ Philadelphia Gets Its Schools Back Philadelphia is about to regain local control of schools after 16 years of governance by a state-appointed commission that emphasized cutting expenses and staff, closing neighborhood schools and expanding charters. Despite years of pressure to adopt “school choice,” communities that know firsthand what it’s like to have lots of “options” have found what’s more important is to have a voice in how their schools are governed and operated. That’s why this is a historic event, the fruit of a long campaign of resistance led by Philadelphia citizens.

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE Richard Eskow This Is What Makes John Bolton so Dangerous John Bolton has poor judgement, a mean spirit, and an intellect that’s weaker than he thinks. He spreads ethnic hatred and sends others to fight and die. And if he becomes National Security Advisor to Donald “The Unready” Trump, he is more likely than ever to cause tragedy and death, on a scale we can’t yet imagine.

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE Jeff Bryant Betsy DeVos Wants to Cut Public Education to the Bone It’s hard to imagine a worse secretary of education than Betsy DeVos, who routinely insults public school educators and refuses to answer questions about her plans. But it shouldn’t be forgotten that DeVos and what she stands for are not a strange aberration, but rather representative of a powerful faction in American politics. If you don’t believe that, look at the document she attempted to defend before Congress this week – her 2019 budget. It is straight out of conservative doctrine for stripping government to the bone.

view in browser MORNING MESSAGE Richard Eskow The Resistance Needs Better Heroes A movement without memory is adrift. And a movement that picks the wrong heroes is lost. While I share the hope that Robert Mueller will succeed in bringing Donald Trump to justice, some of the people currently lionized for confronting our 45th president probably acted according to their own moral lights. But theirs aren’t necessarily the morals this country needs; it’s possible to hope they succeed without turning them into heroes.