Tidbits - Oct. 14, 2021 - Reader Comments: $3.5 Trillion Reconciliation Bill; USPS Postal Banking; Democrats in Congress; Covid Restrictions Still Needed; China; New Films: Young Lords; Harold Washington; more resources; ...
Re: $3.5T Isn't That Expensive. It's a Drop in the Bucket. (Felice Sage)
Re: Three Ways to Cut $1 Trillion from the Pentagon (Daniel Millstone)
Re: Cutting the Reconciliation Bill to $1.5 Trillion Would Support Nearly 2 Million Fewer Jobs per Year (Mark Binder)
In 1492, Columbus brought the Euro Flu -- cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
Re: USPS Begins Postal Banking Pilot Program (Caryl Esteves)
Re: The Democrats as the ‘Un-Republican’ Party (Jay Mazur)
Re: What’s Wrong With Kyrsten Sinema? (Eleanor Roosevelt)
Re: Krysten Sinema: The Epitome of Political Corruption (Emmett Pittman)
Re: No, Progressive Challengers Are Not 'Far Left' (Cher Lunn)
Supply Chain Issues -- cartoon by Mike Luckovich
Re: Why Easing Covid Restrictions Could Prompt a Fierce Flu Rebound (Laura Owen)
Re: Facebook Outage Bolsters Calls to Break Up Big Tech (Truman Grandy)
Re: Hope for Labor at the End of History (Paul Buhle; Peniel Joseph; Harry Targ)
Re: Is America Experiencing an Unofficial General Strike? (Randolph Shannon)
Re: China’s Market Reformers (Karl Stand)
Re: The Tricky Trans Politics of FX’s Y: The Last Man (Arlene Halfon)
That Was Then -- Tax Rate Under GOP President Eisenhower
Resources:
Top 5 Reasons to Pass the Reconciliation Bill (Economic Policy Institute)
Watch for FREE the new documentary film TAKEOVER - The Young Lords and their fight for healthcare justice
The Radical Songbook
New Film: Punch 9 for Harold Washington - Chicago - October 19 (Chicago International Film Festival)
Award-winning Palestinian films coming to Netflix: five titles not to miss
Announcements:
Leading Climate Scientist Explains the Latest Warnings from the United Nations' IPCC Climate Report - October 15 (Trade Unions for Energy Democracy)
Re: $3.5T Isn't That Expensive. It's a Drop in the Bucket.
And these aren't costs. They are investments with proven capacity for big economic returns.
Felice Sage
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Three Ways to Cut $1 Trillion from the Pentagon
Can the military budget be cut? Yes, of course. But where and how? Here via Portside are some overall ideas about how to reduce military spending by $1 trillion over ten years. The result would be a reduction of about $100 billion per year. For those of us opposed to our massively wasteful military budget, this essay gives us some practical starting points.
Daniel Millstone
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
he solution is simple: making the bill just 5 years, at half the $3.5 bil price, brings it to where the blockers are. then, after seeing how the program works, renew it for another 5
Mark Binder
In 1492, Columbus brought the Euro Flu -- cartoon by Lalo Alcaraz
Lalo Alcaraz
October 11, 2021
La Cucaracha - Pocho.com
Re: USPS Begins Postal Banking Pilot Program
It's about time! How is this happening with the current wretched leadership of USPS?
Caryl Esteves
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Democrats as the ‘Un-Republican’ Party
At the electoral level the Democratic party is just a ballot line. Many of my Dominican neighbors think they are voting for a social Democratic party. Many of my prosperous neighbors are anti Republican "radicalism". People in the arts who live in the neighborhood are social issue - cultural Democrats. Someone once told me his father in law said "no matter how much money you make don't become a Republican. While Washington Heights isn't the world I wonder if this diversity of views isn't what keeps the Democratic party in business.
Jay Mazur
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: What’s Wrong With Kyrsten Sinema?
This woman stands for nothing other than her own self-aggrandizement. She is no ally of anyone but her own banker.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Krysten Sinema: The Epitome of Political Corruption
Rethuglican moles, put in place precisely to keep things from ever really changing. That is their function, and they are rewarded handsomely by our 1% Economic Fascist Oligarch Masters
Emmett Pittman
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: No, Progressive Challengers Are Not 'Far Left'
Those old corporate dems need to go! They have no idea of how to be progressive and are still holding the cookie while their hand is stuck in the jar. Time to move on to new ideas, for the people. It must be like trying to make an original Mac run like an Xbox!
Cher Lunn
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Supply Chain Issues -- cartoon by Mike Luckovich
Mike Luckovich
October 14, 2021
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Re: Why Easing Covid Restrictions Could Prompt a Fierce Flu Rebound
Keep wearing a good mask, no matter what. All the time when your outside, especially inside, grocery stores , pharmacies, any closed space. Get your flu, pneumonia shot if eligible. Keep those masks on!!! Get your booster Covid shots! But the mask has really been the protector, even before the COVID-19 shot was available. Mask, mask, mask!!!
Laura Owen
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Facebook Outage Bolsters Calls to Break Up Big Tech
When Adam Smith's 'Invisible Hand' makes a fist…
[The Invisible Hand is an economic concept that describes the unintended greater social benefits and public good brought about by individuals acting in their own self-interests. The concept was first introduced by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments, written in 1759. Wikipedia]
Truman Grandy
Re: Hope for Labor at the End of History
The odd thing here is that Richard Rorty was a dyed in the wool sentimentalist of the Cold War and George Meany. Columbia students booed him and with good reason.
Paul Buhle
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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I attended this event! First time I met the brilliant Robin D. G. Kelley who was so kind to me and is still one of my heroes. Manning Marable was my personal superhero, who I first meet at SUNY Stony Brook in February 1993, a few months before I started graduate school. This picture brings back so many memories. Cornel West paid for my lunch in NYC! So much acts of personal kindness and generous mentoring on display. And I remember Rorty being booed!
Peniel Joseph
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
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After a quick skimming of this article I came away with the sense that the 1996 conference and the narrative historically about labor and intellectuals was all about New York. In the 1980s and 1990s grassroots labor organizing was going on all around the country (I am most familiar with the Midwest), there were vibrant Labor Studies Programs in many states (for sure my home state of Indiana), and in general a revitalized left and labor movement must not begin and end with the two coasts. Just as an aside, my home town of Chicago since 1886 at least was the center of labor and left militancy. In the end, rebuilding our mass movements requires revisiting our history and building our movements on a continental basis (and of course internationally as well).
Harry Targ
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: Is America Experiencing an Unofficial General Strike?
(posting on Portside Labor)
That article is not worthy of Portside. It trivializes the actual strikes and eviscerates the meaning of a general strike. US workers have carried out several general strikes when unions and support for unions was strong. Currently there are several strikes underway or planned the left should examine those concretely and find ways to support them economically socially and politically. The point is to win the real strikes not to fantasize about some idea of strikes.
Randolph Shannon
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
(posting on Portside Culture)
Hate articles like this . while impeccably researched it shows a dogmatic perspective on how communism should unfold a perspective nearly always uttered by western leftists out of touch with the struggles and successes yes successes of other societies path towards socialism. The evolution of a society is obviously uncertain and decided by ebbs and flows however this article paints a picture with broad strokes. and frankly only ppl who buy this also are ppl who think that their can be only one type of socialism and that it must agree with themselves or otherwise it's not real
Karl Stand
Posted on Portside's Facebook page
Re: The Tricky Trans Politics of FX’s Y: The Last Man
(posting on Portside Culture)
Reading this made me think of a book I read in the 1950s, "The Disappearance" by Philip Wylie. Of course, back then there was no such thing a "binary" or "trans." Everyone was M or F. Wylie had been accused of being whatever the word was then for "misogynist" or "woman hater" because of some other things he wrote and, at the time, were misunderstood.
But I was a HS kid and "The Disappearance" made a real impression. For all the males in the world, the females suddenly disappeared and for all the females, the males disappeared. The world remained exactly the same physically but not socially. There were some women who could see/dream of what was happening in the man's world but not vice-versa. The ultimate resolution was that this was the end result of what had been happening all along--men and women lived in different worlds but since many women lived in a man's world, they could visualize it.
For the times, it was fascinating and a real precursor to the Women's Movement of the 1960s.
Arlene Halfon
That Was Then -- Tax Rate Under GOP President Eisenhower
Top 5 Reasons to Pass the Reconciliation Bill (Economic Policy Institute)
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How much would a compromise cost the U.S. economy?
Cutting the reconciliation bill to $1.5 trillion would support nearly 2 million fewer jobs per year, EPI’s Adam Hersh finds. Scaling back Build Back Better also severely compromises the package’s value as macroeconomic insurance against recovery waning in the coming years. Read the blog post
Economic Policy Institute
1225 Eye St. NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-775-8810 • epi@epi.org
On July 14, 1970, members of the Young Lords took over Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. Among their demands? Accessible, quality health care for all.
Takeover
By Emma Francis-Snyder
October 12, 2021
New York Times
TAKEOVER a feature film based on the prize-winning short documentary film by Emma Francis-Snyder and produced by Tony Gerber. The adaptation will be produced by Gerber and Lynn Nottage for Sister with writer Jose Rivera writing the screenplay. Francis-Snyder is a Consulting Producer and Luis Miranda Jr., an Executive Producer.
TAKEOVER is a heist film set in a hospital where the stakes are not money in a vault but rather affordable community healthcare. The feature will bring to life the personal struggles and revolutionary ideals of a group of young radicals—their struggles and their triumphs—using strategy and street smarts to fight against a racist system of oppression in 1970 New York City. Our film will explore the twelve historic hours on July 14, 1970, in which fifty members of the Young Lords Party stormed the dilapidated Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx, drove out their administrative staff, barricaded entrances and windows, and made their cries for decent healthcare known to the world. They raised the Puerto Rican flag atop the building, as well as a banner reading “The People’s Hospital” – a nom de guerre still used today.
The liberated Radical Songbook podcast has launched. Go to www.theradicalsongbook.com and bookmark it for easy listening.
You can tune in whenever you want. All shows will be archived.
"Songs of Social Significance" is the longest of the segments, featuring some great music by progressive and radical musicians from around the country. Laura Love's new CD "Uppity" is featured in this first podcast. A playlist is included so you can access more music by these artists.
"Something to Talk About" will feature interviews and conversations with community and national activists. Bend La Pine School Board President Melissa Barnes-Dholakia and Board Vice President Marcus LeGrand are guests in podcast #1. (We are correcting typos...apologies to Marcus LeGrand for the misspelling on the webpage. That will get fixed later today.)
"Cooking with the Wood Sisters" carries on the tradition that Kathryn and Sally Wood forged on Kathryn's Kitchen. Recipes will be posted.
"Fishing with Jeff" offers information and advice from Jeff Perin, who has flyfished Central Oregon for decades and writes the best fishing report in the state.
"News and Rants" will feature up-to-date information, primarily what's happening in Central Oregon, and occasional commentary. A link to the recent press conference by local BILAPOC activists is featured in this podcast.
Under the "More" heading you can find a contact form. Please use it to let me know what you think, to suggest improvements and to turn me on to musicians I can reach out to for future podcasts.
I plan to set up an alert system that will let you sign up to get a very brief email when new pieces are posted. In the meantime, use the contact form if you want to receive alerts and I'll do my best to make sure it happens.
Finally, A HUGE THANK YOU to my friend Leah Chatterjee, who designed theradicalsongbook.com website and put the whole thing together. Without her you would not be reading this email.
This podcast is a work in progress, so expect tweaks and changes along the way.
In the meantime, please tune in and enjoy. Many thanks for your support. Power to the People!
Peace, Justice, Solidarity,
Michael Funke
Bend, Oregon
New Film: Punch 9 for Harold Washington - Chicago - October 19 (Chicago International Film Festival)
In this epic story of American politics, race, and triumph against all odds, director Joe Winston chronicles the captivating rise, surprising reign, and enduring legacy of Chicago’s first African American Mayor, Harold Washington. Steeped in archival footage capturing a 1980s Chicago rife with corruption and discrimination, Punch 9 features candid interviews with Jessie Jackson, Vice Mayor Richard Mell, and others on the frontlines and in the backrooms of power as it follows the charismatic politician’s shrewd maneuverings, stinging betrayals, and unlikely victories. Inspiring and compelling, Washington’s journey continues to resonate for a city and nation confronting the same enduring social issues.
Directed by: Joe Winston
Tue, Oct 19 @ 3:00pm CDT
at AMC River East, Screen 11
Award-winning Palestinian films coming to Netflix: five titles not to miss
Qorks by award-winning Palestinian filmmakers including Elia Suleiman, Annemarie Jacir and Basil Khalil are scheduled for release on Netflix this October under a new collection called Palestinian Stories.
Starting Thursday, Khalil's 2015 Oscar-nominated short Ave Maria, Jacir's Salt of this Sea and Suleiman's Divine Intervention will be available on the streaming platform, among other titles.
Five titles by Palestinian documentary filmmaker Mahdi Fleifel will be available: A Man Returned (2016), A Drowning Man (2017), 3 Logical Exits (2020), Xenos (2014)and A World Not Ours (2012). Fleifel, who won the Black Pearl Award for A World Not Ours at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 2012, focuses his work on the refugee experience.
Leading Climate Scientist Explains the Latest Warnings from the United Nations' IPCC Climate Report
Friday, October 15, 2021 * 8:00am - 9:30am ET
Join a global community of unions at this Friday's TUED Global Forum, in preparation for the U.N. Climate Change Conference / COP26 in Glasgow.
Friday's featured speaker will be Dr. Natassa Romanou, a research oceanographer and reviewer of the latest IPCC climate report.
Click here to join Friday's Zoom event
As unions and their allies look towards COP26 in Glasgow in early November, the latest report from the UN-appointed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) — released in August as the first part of the IPCC's full "Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) — raised the alarm that global warming will accelerate over the coming decade at a pace unparalleled in human history, all but ensuring an increase beyond 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The IPCC's report was released during a summer (for the global North) that was marked by extreme weather events, unprecedented in their frequency and severity. If economies and communities across the globe are already reeling at just a 1.1°C increase, then what will 1.5°C mean? And what does the report mean in terms of defining a global response?
This TUED Global Forum will focus on the main findings of the report. We will hear from Dr. Natassa Romanou, who served as a reviewer of the report. A research oceanographer at Columbia University, Dr. Romanou also co-authored the 4th U.S. National Climate Assessment 2018, which examined the science of climate change and its impacts across the United States.
Interpretation will be available for English, French and Spanish.
Click here to register and join Friday's discussion
CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies * slu.cuny.edu
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