Newsletter 5.21.19

Hi all, 

Here's this week's newsletter. For those wondering if we have a new episode tomorrow all we can say is 

Thanks again for all your support!

--Marco, Nima, Adam and Florence. 

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Media Setting Up Iran as New ‘Threat’ That Must Be Confronted Janine Jackson, FAIR (May 19, 2019)

As the Trump Administration lays the groundwork for an invasion in Iran, the mainstream media is showing that they have failed to learn the lessons from the Iraq War. Reporters are regurgitating administration talking points and using passive language to hide the U.S.’ agency in going to war.

When It Comes to U.S. Militarism, Elizabeth Warren Is No Progressive Sarah Lazare, In These Times (May 17, 2019)

Elizabeth Warren has received been called the intellectual leader of the Democratic primary in some media outlets for a series of domestic policy proposals. Those fawning portraits often ignore her foreign policy record, where the Senator has often taken the establishment position on issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and North Korea negotiations.

The Tenants’ Rights Movement Is Expanding Beyond Big Cities Sophie Kasakove, The New Republic  (May 17, 2019)

The movement for tenants’ rights has often focused mostly on big cities. The election of progressive legislators in states like New York and Oregon have spurred activists from smaller cities and rural areas to organize for more protections. These areas often lack the infrastructure to support tenants’ rights and building that infrastructure is a hurdle activists must overcome.  

Abortion Bans Have No Respect For Life, Fairness, or Equality Laila Lalami, The Nation (May 17, 2019)

The recent fetal heartbeat bills that passed in Georgia and Alabama seek to effectively ban abortion in these states. While these bills are obviously meant to control women’s bodies, they will also disproportionately affect women of color and women below the poverty line.

Bipartisanship: How Congress Came Together To Screw The Poor, Again Zach Carter, Arthur Delaney, HuffPost  (May 19, 2019)

A House bill meant to end predatory debt collection targeting the poor will also codify a tax collection system where companies like Intuit and H&R Block push their for-profit tax-filing software while burying the free software the companies developed with the IRS. Entrenching the tax-filing scam was a bipartisan compromise that angered many in the new progressive block of the Democratic legislators, but no member of the House was willing to mobilize against it.

Please Let’s Never Call Uber “The Future of Work” Ever Again Rebecca Burns In These Times (May 8, 2019) 

Companies that promoted the gig economy, like Uber and Lyft, were once hailed as the future of work by Obama Administration officials and Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. These gig-based jobs are built on denying benefits and job security to employees and tech companies have partnered with right-wing lobbies on advertising campaigns to sell this business model and deregulated markets. The recent rideshare strikes are a hopeful sign that these companies can still be moved by collective action.   

A New Poll Tax Will Suppress Florida’s Voting Reform Katrina vanden Heuvel, The Washington Post (May 14, 2019)

Florida put into place a law that required felons to clear a financial felons before they got the right to vote. The law waters down an amendment that the people of Florida voted for last November and will most likely prevent many felons from getting their right to vote restored. This bill, needless to say, will disproportionately affect Black voters.

Sunrise Movement Calls for Mass Climate Demonstration Outside Democratic Debate in Detroit Rachel M. Cohen, Aída Chávez, The Intercept (May 13, 2019)

The Sunrise Movement ended their tour to promote the Green New Deal with a call for a mass demonstration outside the second Democratic debate in Detroit. The movement hopes this demonstration can show that there is a strong demand for climate action and help to reframe the 2020 election around climate change. The activists will present Democratic contenders with demands to sign the no fossil fuel money pledge, make a Green New Deal a day one priority and pledge to support a presidential climate debate.

The Definitive Guide for Cable Hosts, Bookers, and Editors to the Fraud and Failure that was Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel Curtis Black, The Intercept (May 20, 2019) 

Now that Rahm Emanuel is out of office as mayor of Chicago, he is looking to capitalize on his time as mayor by becoming a media fixture, attempting to spin his legacy as a progressive speaking truth to power. It is important to remember how Emanuel’s austerity measures hurt education, mental health, housing and environmental protections in Chicago while doing working to protect the Chicago Police Department from accountability for abuses of power.    

The Alarming Rise of Civilian Deaths in the War On Terror Phyllis Bennis, In These Times (May 10, 2019

Presidents have used deployed the military into foreign countries under the justification that military action would pave the way for political solutions. However, new studies on civilian death tolls in Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia reveal the human cost of these military interventions.