Category: Liberal / Progressive / Democrat

Some good election news here:

Wisconsin voters reject GOP-written ballot measures, US Senate race set with Hovde’s primary win

By  SCOTT BAUER Updated 5:49 AM CDT, August 14, 2024

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin voters on Tuesday rejected Republican-authored ballot questions that would have limited the governor’s power to spend federal money that comes to the state for such things as disaster relief, a big win for Democrats who mobilized against them.

In Wisconsin’s closely watched U.S. Senate race, Republican businessman Eric Hovde, who was endorsed by Donald Trump, easily won the primary. He advances to face Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin in a race that could determine majority control of the chamber.

And in two competitive congressional primaries, Trump-backed Republican Tony Wied defeated a current and former state lawmaker in northeast Wisconsin, and Democrat Rebecca Cooke beat a state lawmaker in western Wisconsin.

Wied will face Democrat Kristin Lyerly, a doctor who sued to protect abortion rights, in the race for the open 8th Congressional District seat. Cooke will try to knock off incumbent Rep. Derrick Van Orden, a former Navy SEAL who is one of Trump’s loudest backers, in the 3rd District. (snip)

Rejection of the ballot measures was a huge win for liberals.

Democrats, including Gov. Tony Evers, and a host of liberal groups and others organized against the amendments. They had argued adopting them would slow down the distribution of money when it needs to be spent quickly.

“This was a referendum on our administration’s work and the future for Wisconsin we’ve been working hard to build together, and the answer is reflected in the people’s vote tonight,” Evers said in a statement.

https://apnews.com/article/wisconsin-election-primary-amendment-hovde-baldwin-fe7b7aa8ffa75b171d109f416b3f312b

Kamalanomics (2)

by Robert Reich Go Kamala! Read on Substack

Friends,

On Tuesday, I noted that food prices remain high because there’s little to no competition across the entire food supply chain, which has allowed big corporations to engage in a price gouging free-for-all. https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/kamalaconomics

Four companies control most food industries, allowing them to coordinate prices instead of compete on the basis of lower prices. I offered this graph to illustrate the problem:

I urged that Harris announce that as president she’ll bust up food monopolies.

Well, I have it on good authority that on Friday she’ll announce a plan to prevent corporations in the food and grocery industries from unfairly jacking up prices on consumers.

She’ll call for the first-ever federal ban on corporate price-gouging in these industries.

Go Kamala!

US Rep. Ilhan Omar, a member of the progressive ‘Squad,’ wins Democratic primary in Minnesota

I’m happy for, and proud of her. She does good work for her constituents.

By  STEVE KARNOWSKI Updated 8:32 AM CDT, August 14, 2024

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of the progressive House members known as the “Squad” and a sharp critic of how Israel has conducted the war in Gaza, has won her primary race in Minnesota.

Omar successfully defended her Minneapolis-area 5th District seat against a repeat challenge from former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a more centrist liberal whom she only narrowly defeated in the 2022 primary.

Speaking to supporters in Minneapolis, Omar echoed some of the themes of the Harris-Walz presidential campaign.

“We run the politics of joy,” she said. “Because we know it is joyful to fight for your neighbors. … We know it is joyful to make sure housing is a human right. We know it is joyful to fight for health care to be a human right. We know it is joyful to want to live in a peaceful and equitable world.”

Omar avoided the fate of two fellow Squad members. Rep. Cori Bush lost the Democratic nomination in her Missouri district last week, and Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary in June. Both faced well-funded challengers and millions of dollars in spending by the United Democracy Project, a super political action committee affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which appeared to sit out the Minnesota race. (snip)

Omar will face Republican Dalia Al-Aqidi, an Iraqi American journalist and self-described secular Muslim who calls Omar pro-Hamas. (snip-More)

https://apnews.com/article/minnesota-election-ilhan-omar-e8b62d80a4952efeb1e40d5a857a2b4f

Peace & Justice History for 8/14

It’s a busy date, but 3 cheers for Social Security!

August 14, 1935
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law, creating unemployment compensation, old-age benefits and aid to dependent children.“We can never insure one hundred percent of the population against one hundred percent of the hazards and vicissitudes of life, but we have tried to frame a law which will give some measure of protection to the average citizen and to his family against the loss of a job and against poverty-ridden old age.”
President Roosevelt signing Social Security Act of 1935 in the Cabinet Room of the White House.
Library of Congress photo
A comprehensive history: https://www.ssa.gov/history/
August 14, 1941
In the German Nazi concentration camp at Auschwitz, a group of prisoners had been chosen by the camp’s commander for death by starvation. Roman Catholic Fr. Maximilian Maria Kolbe offered himself for death instead of one of the condemned because the man had a family he needed to be alive to support. Fr. Kolbe was put to death on this day by lethal injection following two weeks of starvation.
Pope John Paul II declared him a Saint in 1982.
August 14, 1945
President Harry Truman announced that Japan, one week following the atomic bomb attacks on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II.
August 14, 1959
The U.S.-launched Explorer VI satellite recorded the first photograph of Earth taken from space, at an altitude of 17,000 miles (27,400 km)
.
Read more: https://www.spaceanswers.com/solar-system/the-earth-from-afar-ten-incredible-images-of-our-planet-from-space/
August 14, 1966
Twenty people were arrested for trying to attend services at the white First Baptist Church in Grenada, Mississippi. They were charged with “disturbing divine worship.” Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) field staff member Jim Bulloch was arrested and his car fire-bombed while he was in jail.
August 14, 1968
400 anti-apartheid students occupied the university in Cape Town, South Africa, to protest its refusal to hire a black professor.
August 14, 1976
Majella O’Hare, a young Catholic girl, was shot dead by British soldiers while walking with other children to confession near her home in Ballymoyer, Whitecross, County Armagh.The soldiers, initially denying they had fired any weapons, claimed that the patrol had been fired upon by an unidentified gunman. But there were serious doubts about the army’s claim. Eyewitness reports failed to confirm it and, unofficially, police investigating the case referred to the army’s “phantom gunman.”
The same day 10,000 Northern Irish gathered at a demonstration in Andersontown, organized by the Women’s Peace Movement (later known as Peace People).Majella O’Hare
How it happened from people who were there: https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/events/other/1976/murray76.htm
August 14, 1980

After months of labor turmoil, more than 16,000 Polish workers seized control of the Lenin Shipyards in Gdansk. They helped form Solidarnos´c´ (Solidarity), the first independent labor union anywhere in the Soviet bloc, as the Warsaw Pact nations were known. Under the leadership of Lech Valensa [lek va wen´suh] and others, it helped unite the broad political, social and religious opposition to the Communist government. Long-range look at Solidarity: https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/21746

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryaugust.htm#august141935

Kamala HQ understands the assignment

Found it here: Read on Substack

The Elon Musk ❤ Donald Trump “interview” on X was an embarrassing cringefest, as expected. by Political Humor

And what’s with Trump’s weird lisp? Is that why he’s not campaigning? Is Dementia Donnie having denture problems?

Read on Substack

Childless Cat Ladies

Some nice morning music!

KAMALA HARRIS PICKS VP: TIM WALZ! | Christopher Titus | Armageddon Update

Kamala is gaining support, tRump is losing support.

NYT: Harris +4 In Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin

NYT: The Harris Campaign Is Being “Fueled By Joy”

https://www.joemygod.com/2024/08/poll-shows-harris-2-across-seven-battleground-states/

Poll Shows Harris +2 Across Seven Battleground States

New Nevada Poll Shows Harris +6 Over Trump

https://www.joemygod.com/2024/08/harris-puts-stop-to-lock-him-up-chants-at-rally/

Handicapper: Arizona, Nevada, Georgia Now Toss-Ups
Harris +15 Over Trump In Florida’s Miami-Dade County
WaPo: Trump “Increasingly Upset” Over Surging Harris
Felon Rages About Reporting On Harris’s Crowd Sizes
Trump Busted In Lie About Helicopter Nearly Crashing
Conway Demands Media Stop Covering Harris Rallies
Nazi Leader Declares “Groyper War” On Trump Team
Watters Wails That His Mother Is A Harris “Fanatic”
Trump: Harris Will Cause “1929 Style Great Depression”

The UAW

Saturday Seabreeze …

Ten Bears posted this yesterday, and it’s great. Earlier yesterday, I saw the video linked below, also great. Morning cheer!

This Looks Like News

(Saturday’s post on Sunday. Saturday was National Lazy Day. I actually got my Inbox clean and organized, along with other areas in my actual house. But slowly and peacefully! Some might say lazily? Anyway, maybe that’s why news was slow. Or, could it be, Satan? I mean, the US news media?)

“This clip is the Harris/Walz crowd in Arizona yesterday. It’s big, and these people are turned up to eleven.

“Now, I understand the news media like to cover Donald Trump–if it bleeds, it leads, and there’s probably money riding on his having a big old red-faced aneurism on stage one day or of course, he just spews his usual ‘American carnage’-flavored rant–it’s a lurid carnival where both the observers and the observed are the freak show. 

“But what if there was a thirst for something different and better? Maybe instead of hearing for the hundredth time about low water pressure and whales being driven mad by windmills, insults against journalists, other politicians, immigrants, wide swaths of the American people, and of course, lying about every little thing under the sun and a few beyond it, we could have a conversation about something more constructive than that. 

“I think this is the podium to train the cameras on–not the empty one that stays empty even when a late, sweaty, angry old man finally lumbers behind it. Take a look at this crowd, and what had happened to those poll numbers over the last two-three weeks, and ask yourself ‘What are these people seeing now that they weren’t before?’

“This looks like news to me. What if we just want some good news for a change? What if people are tired of being mad and just want nice things for a change? What if they want some truth? For a change?

“You know, I could go with that. I think a lot of people could.”

https://vixenstrangelymakesuncommonsense.blogspot.com/2024/08/this-looks-like-news.html