I thought this was an interesting article considering all the press that “income inequality” has been getting this election cycle. It seems that “wealth inequality” may be more pronounced and detrimental to minority groups in the U.S.
Category Archives: U.S. History
Our Revolution
I read an article on the formation of a new group by the Bernie Sanders campaign. This group will continue “to activate, educate and recruit for the issues that built the campaign.” I have included a link to just one of the articles on found online about “Our Revolution.” The email I received stating why the organization is being formed has been posted below. It includes info about a live stream address from Bernie Sanders on August 24th.
Common Dreams Article on “Our Revolution”
michael:
Political pundits and the billionaire class are watching very closely to see what Bernie supporters do next. Some of them might be tempted to believe our political revolution is toast.
They want our extraordinary phone banking, door knocking, and grassroots organizing efforts to stop. They want us to get discouraged. They want to vanquish our movement once and for all.
We aren’t going to let that happen.
That’s why, on the evening of August 24, we will kick off a new organization called Our Revolution with a major live stream address where Bernie will talk about the specifics of what we can do as organizers going forward to fight for every single issue that drove this campaign. In order to get as many people watching as possible, we need to set up grassroots watch parties all over the country.
The most important thing you can do today to move the political revolution forward: Sign up to host one of these events on August 24 at 9pm ET /6pm PT.
Bernie’s said from the very beginning that no one person can alone accomplish what must be done to turn our country around. We all must do our part.
I hope to see your event listed on our website. It’s an honor to be with you in this movement.
In solidarity,
Claire Sandberg
Our Revolution
The Nation Student Writing Contest
I recently received this email from The Nation regarding their Student Writing Contest. All of the links will open in new tab. You can also access their website by clicking on the link above. Interested students can email me at [email protected].
Dear Michael,
We’re hoping you’ll know somebody who might want to submit an essay in The Nation‘s Student Writing Contest.
We’re asking students to answer this question in essays not exceeding 800 words: It’s clear that the political system in the United States isn’t working for many young people. What do you think is the central issue for your generation in Election 2016?
We’ll select 10 finalists and two winners total—six from college students, six from those in high school. Winners will be awarded a $1,000 cash prize and a lifetime Nation subscription. Finalists receive $250. The winning essays will be published in The Nation magazine and at thenation.com.
We’d be grateful if you could help spread the word. Many thanks for your help. Entries will be accepted through Monday, September 19, 2016 at 11:59 pm Pacific Standard Time. The contest is open to all high-school students and undergraduates at US schools, colleges, and universities, as well as those receiving high-school or college degrees in calendar year 2016. More info here. Submissions and questions can be e-mailed to [email protected].
We’d be grateful if you could help spread the word. Many thanks for your help.
Thanks for your support,
Peter Rothberg
Hiroshima/Nagasaki Commemoration Event — Sunday, August 7th @ 5pm
Where is Mike Pence’s Faith?
I thought this was an interesting article on Trump’s Vice-Presidential pick. I was also recently watching one of CNN’s “discussions” on Pence. They talked of the positive and negatives of this pick, but ultimately came to the conclusion that “no one votes for the vice-president.” They also pointed out that there will be only one vice presidential debate. So, you will have to be diligent in your own research of who these candidates are and what they believe in. I hope this article can be a starting point that will begin your education in the upcoming election.
As a side note: This blog has also provided a link to local Maui candidates in the November elections.
Be sure to check that you are a registered voter and know your polling place. And remember that “Democracy is not a spectator sport!”
“Know Your 2016 Maui County Election Candidate” Maui Time
The Maui Time has begun to provide its readers with short interviews of the candidates running in the upcoming election. I urge all my students to read these so they will be informed of where each candidate stands. Spread the word among your friends and get them interested in this important election and the future of their island community. You will be the leaders of tomorrow so be sure that the leaders of today are doing their jobs!! And remember that “Democracy is not a Spectator Sport”!!
The interviews can be found throughout the “politics” section of Maui Time. I have provided a link below to get you there…now you just have to read!!
Maui County Candidate Interviews
Voter Turnout in U.S. Presidential Elections
Here are some interesting numbers regarding voter turnout. Hopefully we can get more people to make their voice heard!!
Voter Turnout in Presidential Elections: 1828 – 2012
• V.A.P. = Voting Age Population
1) from 1972 includes citizens 18 years of age; 2) V.A.P. includes those ineligible to vote such as felons. Because of this, V.A.P. figures are naturally lower than if the Voting Eligible Population (V.E.P.) is used as the denominator.
• REG = Registered to Vote
| Total V.A.P. | Total REG* | % REG of V.A.P * | Turnout | ||
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| Total V.A.P. | Total REG* | % REG of V.A.P * | Turnout | ||
| 109,672,000 | 63,854,789 * | 58.22% | 68,838,204 | ||
| 114,090,000 | 73,715,818 * | 64.61% | 70,644,592 | ||
| 120,328,186 | 81,658,180 * | 67.86% | 73,211,875 | ||
| 140,776,000 | 97,283,541 * | 69.11% | 77,718,554 | ||
| 152,309,190 | 105,024,916 * | 68.96% | 81,555,789 | ||
| 164,597,000 | 113,036,958 * | 68.67% | 86,515,221 | ||
| 173,936,000 | 124,184,647 * | 71.18% | 92,652,842 | ||
| 182,628,000 | 126,381,202 * | 69.20% | 91,594,809 | ||
| 189,044,000 | 133,821,178 * | 70.79% | 104,426,659 | ||
| 196,498,000 | 146,211,960 * | 74.40% | 96,277,634 | ||
| 205,815,000 | 156,421,311 * | 76.00% | 105,405,100 | ||
| 2004 | 215,694,000 | 174,800,000 * | 79.00% | 122,295,345 | 56.70% |
| 2008 | 225,499,000 | TBD | TBD | 131,313,820 | 58.23% |
| 2012 | 235,248,000 | TBD | TBD | 129,085,403 | 54.87% |
*Note: Total REG data is incomplete or unavailable in some states, making it appear in some years as though more people voted than were registered to vote. From 1976 through 2004, this is due to the fact that North Dakota does not have voter registration, and in Wisconsin eligible voters may register to vote at the polls.
Democracy Spring
Here is an article from Fair.org covering “Democracy Spring.”
Protests Against Money in Politics Hold Little Interest for Beltway’s ‘Political Junkies’
Democracy Now!‘s coverage (4/12/16) of the Democracy Spring protests against money in politics.
More than 400 people were arrested in a non-violent sit-in on Capitol Hill April 11, many having marched 150 miles from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. The protest, calledDemocracy Spring, is about ending the influence of big money in politics and ensuring free, fair elections through things like restoring the Voting Rights Act. The next day, another 85 mostly elderly people were arrested, many chanting, “Democracy is not for sale, [we’re] not too old to go to jail.”
Seems like a story. And wait, yes, there it was in the Washington Post—in the Metro section, page B3…in the brief items…after the one about the 10-year-old boy hit by a car riding his bike, after the one about the man who got two years for tax evasion….
Yes, there: 150 or so words on the arrests, with the Post saying the organizing group seeks to prevent “what it called ‘voter suppression.’”
As of April 14, the New York Times had yet to report in print on the demonstrations and mass arrests in the nation’s capital. Research by The Intercept (4/12/16) noted that cable news, with all that time to fill, also took a pass. As of April 12, CNN had done nothing, MSNBC mentioned the protests for approximately 12 seconds, while Fox Newsgave them about 17 seconds. Later CNN (4/12/16) put a short item on its website.
On Democracy Now! (4/12/16), organizer Kai Newkirk said the protests posed a challenge for anyone running for office: “Are you going to stand on the side of democracy and on the side of the people, or on the side of big money and corruption?”
One has to wonder why Beltway reporters, self-proclaimed political junkies, have such a profound lack of interest in following that line of inquiry.
FAIR.org – Media watchdog group highlights possible bias from Washington Post
Washington Post Ran 16 Negative Stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 Hours
Fifteen of the 16 negative stories on the Bernie Sanders campaign that the Washington Postran over a 16-hour period.
In what has to be some kind of record, the Washington Post ran 16 negative stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 hours, between roughly 10:20 PM EST Sunday, March 6, to 3:54 PM ESTMonday, March 7—a window that includes the crucial Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, and the next morning’s spin:
- March 6, 10:20 PM: Bernie Sanders Pledges the US Won’t Be No. 1 in Incarceration. He’ll Need to Release Lots of Criminals
- March 7, 12:39 AM: Clinton Is Running for President. Sanders Is Doing Something Else
- March 7, 4:04 AM: This Is Huge: Trump, Sanders Both Using Same Catchphrase
- March 7, 4:49 AM: Mental Health Patients to Bernie Sanders: Don’t Compare Us to the GOP Candidates
- March 7, 6:00 AM: ‘Excuse Me, I’m Talking’: Bernie Sanders Shuts Down Hillary Clinton, Repeatedly
- March 7, 9:24 AM: Bernie Sanders’s Two Big Lies About the Global Economy
- March 7, 8:25 AM: Five Reasons Bernie Sanders Lost Last Night’s Democratic Debate
- March 7, 8:44 AM: An Awkward Reality for Bernie Sanders: A Strategy Focused on Whiter States
- March 7, 8:44 AM: Bernie Sanders Says White People Don’t Know What It’s Like to Live in a ‘Ghetto.’ About That…
- March 7, 11:49 AM: The NRA Just Praised Bernie Sanders — and Did Him No Favors in Doing So
- March 7, 12:55 PM: Even Bernie Sanders Can Beat Donald Trump
- March 7, 1:08 PM: What Bernie Sanders Still Doesn’t Get About Arguing With Hillary Clinton
- March 7, 1:44 PM: Why Obama Says Bank Reform Is a Success but Bernie Sanders Says It’s a Failure
- March 7, 2:16 PM: Here’s Something Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders Have in Common: And the Piece of the Argument That Bernie Doesn’t Get Quite Right.
- March 7, 3:31 PM: ‘Excuse Me!’: Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Know How to Talk About Black People
- March 7, 3:54 PM: And the Most Partisan Senator of 2015 Is … Bernie Sanders!
All of these posts paint his candidacy in a negative light, mainly by advancing the narrative that he’s a clueless white man incapable of winning over people of color or speaking to women. Even the one article about Sanders beating Trump implies this is somehow a surprise—despite the fact that Sanders consistently out-polls Hillary Clinton against the New York businessman.
There were two posts in this time frame that one could consider neutral: “These Academics Say Bernie Sanders’ College Plan Will Be a Boon for African-American Students, Will It?” and “Democratic Debate: Clinton, Sanders Spar Over Fracking, Gun Control, Trade and Jobs.” None could be read as positive.
While the headlines don’t necessarily reflect all the nuances of the text, as I’ve noted before,only 40 percent of the public reads past the headlines, so how a story is labeled is just as important, if not more so, than the substance of the story itself.
The Washington Post was sold in 2013 to libertarian Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who is worthapproximately $49.8 billion.
Despite being ideologically opposed to the Democratic Party (at least in principle), Bezos has enjoyed friendly ties with both the Obama administration and the CIA. As Michael Oman-Reagan notes, Amazon was awarded a $16.5 million contract with the State Department the last year Clinton ran it. Amazon also has over $600 million in contracts with the Central Intelligence Agency, an organization Sanders said he wanted to abolish in 1974, and still says he “had a lot of problems with.” FAIR has previously criticized the Washington Post for failing to disclose, when reporting on tech giant Uber, that Bezos also owns more than $1 billion in Uber stock.
The Washington Post’s editorial stance has been staunchly anti-Sanders, though the paper contends that its editorial board is entirely independent of both Bezos and the paper’s news reporting.
Special Committee on County Governance – Thurs. March 10th 5 pm
An evening meeting of the Special Committee on County Governance will be held to take public testimony on Thursday March 10th at 5pm UH Maui College Pilina Multi-Purpose Room, the student lounge/old cafeteria.
This is the opportunity to share your opinion on a change to professional, merit-based administration for the Departments of Maui County Government. Strong support from the community would make it more likely for the Committee to recommend that the issue be placed on the ballot for the voters to decide.
A likely scenario would be for a change to a Council/Mayor/County Manager form of governance, where the Council and Mayor (who would be part of the Council) would set policy and budget that the County Manager would administer, using clear goals & objectives for the Manager and all Departments, that would be evaluated annually in the public eye