Newsletter 12.18.18

Hi all!

Here's this week's newsletter. We hope you have a great holiday season, a Merry Christmas (if that's your bag), and a Happy New Year. We'll back in January with new episodes, but in the meantime enjoy our curated list of good-ass content.

- Nima, Sophia, Adam, and Florence

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Deval Patrick, Foreclosure Mogul - Zach Carter, Huffpost (12/4/18)

Before serving two terms as Governor of Massachusetts, Democratic darling (and Obama’s alleged pick for presidential candidate) Deval Patrick had a career marked by shady companies such as Texaco, Coca-Cola, and Ameriquest.

Progressive Marriott union contract could have ripple effects - Katie Johnston, Boston Globe (12/6/18)

As part of the ongoing hotel strikes across the country, Marriott (a large Republican donor) reached a settlement with workers in eight cities, setting a new precedent for service industry benefits nationwide.

Michigan evicted its Republicans. Now they want to vandalize it. - Brian Dickerson, Detroit Free Press (12/6/18)

Outgoing Michigan Republican State Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof and House Speaker Tom Leonard are attempting to transfer oversight of campaign finance from the secretary of state’s office to a new bipartisan panel and prohibit the secretary of state from requiring non-profit groups to identify their owners in political ads, among other damaging measures, in an attempt to limit the power of the incoming Democratic leadership.

Many of the dead in Camp Fire were disabled, elderly. Could they have been saved? - Tony Bizjak & Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks, The Sacramento Bee (12/4/18)

In climate disasters from Camp Fire to Katrina, those who are already the most vulnerable in our society are impacted the hardest. With such crises increasing exponentially, it will take cooperation across communities to demand equal access and protections in emergency situations.

Senators Working to Slip Israel Anti-Boycott Law Through Lame Duck - Ryan Grimm & Alex Emmons, The Intercept (12/4/18)

Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) is trying to push his new version of the ‘Israel Anti-Boycott Act’ through in the last few weeks of this lame duck session, despite widespread criticism of the bill from civil rights groups, most notably the ACLU. (Read the ACLU’s statement here.)

More from the BDS front:

• Marc Lamont Hill Is Not Alone - Dima Khalidi, Jacobin (12/13/18)
• The Pro-Israel Push to Purge US Campus Critics - Katherine Franke, New York Review of Books (12/12/18)
• REVEALED: Secret ADL Memo Slammed Anti-BDS Laws As ‘Harmful’ To Jews - Josh Nathan-Kazis, The Forward (12/13/18)
• A Texas Elementary School Speech Pathologist Refused to Sign a Pro-Israel Oath, Now Mandatory in Many States-so She Lost Her Job - Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept (12/17/18)

US and Israeli Police Are Sharing Violent and Repressive Tactics - Noah Habeeb & Craig Willse, Truthout (12/11/18)

Activists call on the Anti-Defamation League to stop facilitating the exchange of American police officers and other security forces with Israeli police and defense. A self-proclaimed civil rights organization, the ADL has a track record of working against and spying on movements for racial and social justice such as ACT UP, the American Indian Movement, Artists Against Apartheid, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

Workers With Criminal Records Struggle to Find a Place in the Gig Economy - Mia Armstrong, Slate (12/7/18)

Uber, Lyft, and other gig-economy platforms apply company policies regarding criminal records seemingly at random, with some contracted employees suddenly losing their jobs because of prior convictions.

How the Cashless Economy Shuts Out the Poor - Ginia Bellafante, The New York Times (12/6/18)

Around 7% of American households have no one with checking or savings account in them, yet cashless businesses are on the rise. Such businesses claim to increase ease and reduce crime, but in effect they isolate those who are dependent on cash and other forms of money. New York City Councilman Ritchie J. Torres introduced a bill that would forbid businesses from refusing to accept cash, and similar bills have been introduced at the state level.

Employees at Amazon’s New NYC Warehouse Launch Union Push - Josh Eidelson, Bloomberg (12/12/18)

Just weeks after the announcement that Amazon will be coming to Long Island City (and receiving hefty tax breaks), workers at the existing Amazon facility in Staten Island are pushing to unionize. This would be the first Amazon facility to successfully unionize in the US.

We Have to Make Sure the “Green New Deal” Doesn’t Become Green Capitalism - Sarah Lazare, In These Times (12/12/18)

Organizations such as the Climate Justice Alliance have voiced concern about the foundations of the Green New Deal, and the failure of its creators to crowdsource input from communities on the frontlines of climate change. Lazare interviews Kali Akuno, director of Cooperation Jackson, a Mississippi-based group working to build a solidarity economy.

The Dangers of Mothering While Black - Stacia Brown, The Cut (12/12/18)

Last week an NYPD officer arrested 23-year-old Jazmine Headley and took her 1-year-old child away from her after she had been waiting for hours to receive a day-care voucher from a state administrative office in Brooklyn. After spending nearly a week on Rikers Island, Headley has been released, in part due to public pressure following a video of the incident being posted on social media.

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