Perhaps the World Ends Here
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THANKSGIVING |
Perhaps the World Ends Here
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live.
The gifts of earth are brought and prepared, set on the table. So it has been since creation, and it will go on.
We chase chickens or dogs away from it. Babies teethe at the corners. They scrape their knees under it.
It is here that children are given instructions on what it means to be human. We make men at it, we make women.
At this table we gossip, recall enemies and the ghosts of lovers.
Our dreams drink coffee with us as they put their arms around our children. They laugh with us at our poor falling-down selves and as we put ourselves back together once again at the table.
This table has been a house in the rain, an umbrella in the sun.
Wars have begun and ended at this table. It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory.
We have given birth on this table, and have prepared our parents for burial here.
At this table we sing with joy, with sorrow. We pray of suffering and remorse. We give thanks.
Perhaps the world will end at the kitchen table, while we are laughing and crying, eating of the last sweet bite.
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DEPARTMENT
OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES (HHS)
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DEPARTMENT
OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS)
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ZINKE HIRES FORMER NAVY SEALS TO KEY ROLES: Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has hired former Navy
Seal Mike Argo as deputy chief of staff and former SEAL Captain Rick May to
head up the agency's focus on increasing recreation opportunities on public
land. Speaking at a webcast honoring veterans event in Interior's Washington
headquarters, Zinke, who is himself a former SEAL, said "we're bringing
recreation back." [POLITICO's Morning Energy, November 8, 2017]
ZINKE DENIES IMPROPRIETY IN WHITEFISH
DEALINGS: During an interview with Fox News late
Thursday, Zinke denied playing any role in his son landing a job with
controversial Whitefish Energy - "he got a job by himself" - and said
he had no role in the Montana-based company getting a now-cancelled contract to
repair Puerto Rico's electric grid. "I didn't have any influence, didn't
have any knowledge of the contract. Puerto Rico is not under Interior. And
those elitists that would think from being a small town somehow is a crime,
shame on ya," he said. [POLITICO's Morning Energy, November 10, 2017]
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DEPARTMENT OF
“JUST US” (DOJ)
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EDUCATION |
TRUMP ADMIN SIGNALS OPPOSITION TO BANNING MANDATORY
ARBITRATION: The Trump administration has signaled to members of an Education
Department rulemaking panel that the administration opposes a complete ban on
colleges' use of mandatory arbitration agreements. The department's
negotiated-rulemaking committee is slated to meet next week for the
first time to begin hammering out the Trump administration's replacement for an
Obama-era regulatory package known as borrower defense to repayment.
- One component of the 2016 regulations would have prohibited
colleges that receive federal aid from requiring students to resolve complaints
against them through arbitration proceedings rather than in
court. The rule also barred institutions from having their students sign away
their right to bring a class-action lawsuit against the college. DeVos has
halted those regulations as her department prepares to write new ones.
- Department officials this week suggested that completely
banning arbitration agreements is off the table for the negotiations over the
new rules. The committee, they wrote in an "issue paper ," should consider
potential regulatory changes "[a]part from an outright prohibition on the
use of pre-dispute arbitration agreements and class action waivers." The
department argued that banning mandatory arbitration agreements and
class-action waivers violates the Federal Arbitration Act and suggested that
the Higher Education Act doesn't empower the government to create such a ban.
Officials also pointed to a resolution Trump signed last week that overturned the Consumer Finance Protection
Bureau's mandatory arbitration rule. [POLITICO's
Morning Education, November 9, 2017]
Last night, fifteen diverse
DSA members across the country won their elections. They dealt a major
ideological blow to the billionaire class, who thought that status-quo
capitalist politics would allow them to coast to victory. Thanks to all of you,
we proved them wrong. Fifteen
victories. And a dozen more incredible races where our members campaigned
earnestly, honestly, and ran on an unapologetic democratic-socialist platform.
That’s what the political revolution is all about. I quickly want to congratulate Lee Carter
(VA), Vanessa Agudelo (NY), Charles Decker (CT), Scott Alberts (PA), Ben
Ewen-Campen (MA), Kara Gloe (MN), Ross Grooters (IA), Denise Joy (MT), Kristin
LaLonde (MI), Brian Nowak (NY), Anita Prizio (PA), Tristan Rader (OH), Carlina
Rivera (NY), JT Scott (MA), Seema Singh Perez (TN), and many more on their
victories last night. I also want to
acknowledge all the other amazing DSA members who put together amazing,
issues-driven campaigns. Regardless of the outcome, your effort is proof that
our movement is growing. [Maria Svart, Democratic Socialists of America]
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FOREIGN
POLICY
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HEALTHCARE |
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| INFRASTRUCTURE |
The White House invited members of the infrastructure
working group of the Congressional Problem Solvers Caucus over Thursday,
following a meeting the group had with Gary Cohn last
week. According to one of the attendees, lawmakers renewed their call to
combine an infrastructure package with a tax overhaul, even in the face of
administration resistance. Rep. Elizabeth Esty (D-Conn.) said she still
thinks it could happen - and that it could help turn the tax package from a
partisan food fight into a unifying cause with overwhelming support.
IS THERE SOMETHING IN THAT BIG BLACK BAG FOR ME? The
GOP tax overhaul plan introduced Thursday would remove a key incentive for
employers to offer commuter tax benefits. While employers would still be
allowed to either give employees untaxed transportation money as a fringe
benefit or to deduct it as pre-tax income from their paychecks, the businesses
themselves would not be able to write off the expense. The cap for the transit
and parking subsidies (or pre-tax contributions) would still each be $260 per
month for 2018. Several well-positioned urban Republicans, including
Reps. Pete King of New York,Barbara Comstock of Virginia and Mike Bishop of Michigan, worked hard to keep
the benefit. And... The legislation
would also nix private activity bonds. That provision is likely to irk
localities that use them for infrastructure upgrades. (POLITICO's
Morning Transportation, November 3, 2017)
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READ |
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ISIS
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JUDICIARY
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MARIJUANA
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UNIONS
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BOSTON COLLEGE ADMIN WON'T BACK DOWN: Boston
College administrators refused to drop an appeal to the NLRB over a graduate
student employee election held last month, after more than 400 students on
Thursday delivered a petition that urged them to back down. "Our position remains that our graduate
students are best characterized as students - not employees - and that the
collegial relationship that exists between our faculty and students would be
irreparably altered through graduate student unionization," university
spokesman Jack Dunn said in a statement to Morning Shift. "In addition, as
a faith-based institution, we assert that Boston College should be exempt from
the jurisdiction of the NLRB in accordance with the 1979 Supreme Court
decision NLRB v. Catholic Bishop of Chicago."
In the petition, the students accused
administrators of seeking to retry the case before the new conservative-majority
NLRB - which could result in the board overturning the 2016 Columbia University decision
that ruled graduate students could join unions. "We are deeply
disappointed that, instead of following those examples and instead of honoring
the long and rich history of Catholic social teachings advocating for workers
and the right to bargain collectively, your administration has asked Trump NLRB
appointees to reverse the very rights of graduate student workers to
unionize," the students wrote. (POLITICO's Morning Shift, October 27,2017)
Donald Trump is a known bigot and bully who will use every power available to him to
threaten and harm everyone who protests his
oppressive agenda. He's built his political career from scapegoating,
criminalizing and attacking our communities, and it’s horrifying to think about Trump having
far-reaching powers to spy on Americans. But we can stop
him. The House of Representatives just
introduced a bill to extend Trump’s
power to spy on Americans’ phone calls and emails for 6 years –
without needed reforms to prevent abuse. Your members of Congress need to hear
from you that this is not okay. Right
now, loopholes in a legal authority known as Section 702 give Trump and the NSA
the power to spy on Americans without a warrant.1 This law expires at the end of 2017,
but the House recently introduced a bill called the USA Liberty Act that would
extend Section 702 for 6 more years – and lacks needed reforms to prevent abuse of this far-reaching
surveillance power.
We’re joining with 17 progressive organizations and calling on
Congress to fundamentally fix, or discontinue, the USA Liberty Act. It needs strong reforms to rein in Trump and
the NSA. Without congressional action,
Section 702 will expire at the end of the year. The Trump
administration is demanding a permanent reauthorization of its spying powers,
but a growing bipartisan block of Congress is insisting on reforms.2 It’s up to us to make sure Congress passes real
reforms that will actually prevent warrantless spying on Americans.
Here’s why the USA Liberty Act needs to be fundamentally fixed.
It currently:
- Doesn’t stop backdoor
searches,
which is when the government searches through the hundreds of millions of
communications it collects yearly for information on Americans and people
on U.S. soil – all without a warrant. Instead, the bill okays accessing
and sharing this information for foreign intelligence purposes, a loophole
big enough to drive a truck through.
- Fails to permanently end
"about" collection, an illegal practice the NSA says
they've stopped that allows for warrantless spying on Americans’
communications that merely mention an intelligence target. Collections
should be limited to communications that are "to" or
"from" a target.
- Doesn’t prevent the
government from secretly using surveillance information in court against
defendants. Despite
tens of thousands of searches by the government of Section 702 data, only
a handful of defendants have ever received notice of it – and only after
the Department of Justice was caught misleading the Supreme Court about
its practices.
Thank
you for all you do and ¡adelante!
– Matt, Favianna, Erick, Reetu, Oscar, Erica and the
Presente.org team.
NOTE: The news sources here vary. Not all sources have the same credibility, but in an effort to share some different perspectives, they are included here. This compendium itself cannot claim to be unbiased. Please take into consideration where these different perspectives originate in assessing their value. Thank you
NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as a "community service" announcement. These again are shared for their varying perspectives.
Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post. Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse. They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended
NOTE: I have no official connection to any organization from which information is shared.. Occasionally, I post informational material and/or an opportunity to donate or join as a "community service" announcement. These again are shared for their varying perspectives.
Any books listed are random or topic-related to something else in the post. Think of these as a "library bookshelf" to browse. They are shared for informational or entertainment value only, not as being recommended
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