We’re writing this email while official Washington and the
entire Democratic Party base are on pins and needles waiting
to see who prevails: Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema,
who want to cut/shrink/reduce the Build Back Better bill, or
the vast majority of Democrats, who want to pass it. This
might be the most consequential week for significantly moving
the national agenda in a more progressive
direction.
Receiving huge amounts of money from
corporate interests, Manchin and Sinema are now understood to
be corrupt obstructionists. Yet they’re getting away with a
lot of destructive shenanigans, because of how much Democrats
depend on their votes to pass anything.
If Build Back
Better passes with climate-provisions stripped out, Congress
will have fast-tracked untold misery for residents of the
United States and every other part of the
world.
Some of Progressive Hub’s Highlighted Stories
in Recent Days:
Chicago
Groups Send Message To U.S. Senate: Reject Rahm
Emanuel Asserting that former Chicago Mayor Rahm
Emanuel’s role in covering up the police murder of Laquan
McDonald disqualifies him from consideration as U.S.
ambassador to Japan, a coalition of activists held a Tuesday
press conference condemning his nomination ahead of a
scheduled Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday—the seventh
anniversary of the Black teen’s death.
#Striketober
Is Bringing Labor Strikes Back Into Popular
Consciousness The list of striking or on-the-verge
of striking workers includes: whiskey makers, coal miners,
steel workers, bus drivers, and grad students. By withholding
their labor power, workers around the country are pressuring
their employees to offer them a better deal for their
work.
ICBMs
Must Be Eliminated, Not 'Modernized' The single
best option for reducing the risk of nuclear war is hidden in
plain sight. News outlets don’t mention it. Pundits ignore it.
Even progressive and peace-oriented members of Congress tiptoe
around it. And yet, for many years, experts have been calling
for this act of sanity that could save humanity: Shutting down
all of the nation’s intercontinental ballistic
missiles.
Did
You Hear About The 655 Climate Protesters Arrested in
DC? A total of 655 people were arrested in
Washington, D.C., last week as they protested fossil fuel
projects and demanded that President Joe Biden declare a
climate emergency. Demonstrators began blocking the fence
outside the White House on Monday, Indigenous Peoples’ Day,
chanting and waving signs. On Thursday, Indigenous leaders sat
on the floor of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, linking arms --
and activists sprayed fake oil on the steps of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, sending pink and blue smoke plumes into
the air. On Friday, youth activists formed a blockade in the
road leading to the Capitol.
Black
Children Were Jailed For A Crime That Doesn't
Exist The police were at Hobgood Elementary School
because of that video. But they hadn’t come for the boys who
threw punches. They were here for the children who looked on.
The police in Murfreesboro, a fast-growing city about 30 miles
southeast of Nashville, had secured juvenile petitions for 10
children in all who were accused of failing to stop the fight.
Officers were now rounding up kids, even though the department
couldn’t identify a single one in the video, which was posted
with a filter that made faces fuzzy.
Cori
Bush Fights Back Against Use of Tear Gas on
Civilians Following a call by Rep. Cori Bush to
investigate the use of tear gas on civilians by law
enforcement, the House Oversight Committee on Thursday
released a memo showing that the federal government has never
determined the unregulated chemical to be safe for use on
humans—despite the fact that manufacturers earn millions of
dollars per year providing tear gas to police departments
across the country.
You can check out all these stories
and more at Progressive
Hub. And remember: on the same page you can
immediately take quick action in response to almost every
article we post. If you see stories that you think we should
cover or amplify -- please tell us by replying to this
email.
Sincerely, The Progressive Hub Team at
RootsAction
www.RootsAction.org
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