Tag Archives: Social Justice

Keystone XL job gains: A sick joke

News,

From The New York Times:

It should come as no surprise that the very first move of the new Republican Senate is an attempt to push President Obama into approving the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canadian tar sands. After all, debts must be paid, and the oil and gas industry — which gave 87 percent of its 2014 campaign contributions to the G.O.P. — expects to be rewarded for its support.

But why is this environmentally troubling project an urgent priority in a time of plunging world oil prices? Well, the party line, from people like Mitch McConnell, the new Senate majority leader, is that it’s all about jobs.

Read the full article.

Legal analysis: Nebraska and Oklahoma take Colorado to the Supreme Court over legalized marijuana

News,

From Patients for Medical Cannabis:

Earlier this month, the Attorneys General of Nebraska and Oklahoma filed a lawsuit on behalf of their respective states, naming the state of Colorado as the defendant. Nebraska and Oklahoma allege that Colorado’s legalization of marijuana undermines their ability to maintain their own prohibitions of marijuana because Colorado takes inadequate measures to prevent legal intrastate marijuana from crossing state borders, where it enters the illegal market. Taking advantage of a provision of the Constitution covering cases “in which a State shall be Party,” Nebraska and Oklahoma filed their complaint in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Nebraska and Oklahoma v. Colorado raises a number of important procedural and substantive questions, including these: Does Colorado’s marijuana legalization violate federal law or does it merely fail to enforce federal law? And given the essential role that the federal marijuana prohibition plays in the plaintiff states’ case, should the lawsuit be dismissed on the ground that their real complaint lies with the federal government, not Colorado?

Read full analysis.

Bridging Communities of Color at UNO Nov. 7

Events,

There will be a gathering of people interested in working at the grassroots level to reduce racial disparities in the four key areas of Poverty, Child Welfare, Education, and Justice. We will meet Friday, November 7, at the Community Engagement Center, UNO Campus, from 6 to 8 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

This Omaha-area project is the result of ongoing conversations between Black Men United, Policy Research & Innovations, Nebraska Appleseed, Nebraskans for Peace, Nebraska Family Collaborative, the Malcolm X Memorial Foundation, Voices for Children, and the University of Nebraska Omaha. We believe that change begins at the local level with a mobilized public; we will ask participants to help bring about positive change in the four areas mentioned above.

Vote to raise the minimum wage

News,

From the Lincoln Journal Star:

The viewpoint of small business owners deserves respect. But the positive impact of raising the minimum wage in Nebraska must also be weighed by voters.

The working poor in Nebraska need some help. The economic system currently is imbalanced in favor of those at the top end of the income and wealth scale. The top 1 percent of Americans hold about 40 percent of the nation’s wealth and haul in about a quarter of the country’s income.

Read the full editorial.

Help end the death penalty in Nebraska: Sept. 30

Events,

 From Nebraskans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty:

NADP is excited to partner with local favorite Zipline Brewery for an evening with NADP! This is a chance to learn more about our work, help us raise funds to end the death penalty in Nebraska, and spend time with other wonderful NADP supporters. The event will take place on Tuesday, September 30, from 7 to 9 pm in Lincoln. Purchase tickets here or RSVP via Facebook.

Also, plans are well underway for our Annual Reception and Silent Auction. This year’s event will take place Monday, November 10, in the Harper Center at Creighton University from 7 to 8:30 pm and will feature keynote speaker Frank Thompson, former superintendent of Oregon’s death row, who oversaw two executions during his tenure. Register online here.

Finally, don’t forget to put March 4, 2015, on your calendar for the first-ever NADP Lobby Day. On that day, you’ll have the opportunity to come together with other abolition supporters from all over the state and tell your state senators that you want them to repeal the death penalty in 2015.

In Neligh Sept. 27: Neil Young and Willie Nelson

Events,

From BOLD Nebraska:

Two music legends — Neil Young and Willie Nelson — will perform a benefit concert on Sept. 27 on a farm near Neligh, Nebraska, that is on the route of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline and also crosses the historic Ponca Tribe “Trail of Tears.”

Proceeds from the “Harvest the Hope” concert will go to Bold Nebraska, the Indigenous Environmental Network and the Cowboy & Indian Alliance, to fund the ongoing fight against the Keystone XL pipeline, as well as a number of small, community-based clean energy projects on farms and tribal land. The afternoon concert will take place in a field on a farm owned by a family who are part of a strong collective of Nebraska landowners refusing to sell their land to TransCanada for the Keystone XL (KXL) pipeline, and a sacred tribal ceremony will be included in the day’s events.

Also performing will be Native American hip-hop artist Frank Waln, Lukas Nelson (son of Willie!) and the “Stopping the Pipeline Rocks All-Stars,” some of the local Nebraska artists who recorded a benefit album in the solar-powered barn built inside the path of the Keystone XL pipeline last summer.

Read more and purchase tickets.

COINTELPRO expert to speak at Malcolm X Center July 21

Events,

From Progressive Omaha:

Please try to attend this important presentation on behalf of 43-years-incarcerated Edward Poindexter and Mondo we Langa (formerly David Rice.)  We are continuing to educate the community to the travesty of justice involved with this case. In particular, the role played by the FBI’s infamous COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence Program) that manipulated evidence and enabled numerous law enforcement agencies to frame and prosecute black activists in the 1960s and 1970s for crimes they didn’t commit.

Michael Richardson is a nationally-recognized research expert on the COINTELPRO and he is coming to Omaha:

The Malcolm X Center
3448 Evans Street, Omaha
July 21, 7 to 9 p.m.

We will open with a spoken-word performance by the great With Love, Felicia (Felicia Webster).  We will pass the hat at the end of the program, and any donations will be given to the Nebraskans for Justice organization, the primary group that has been fighting for the release of Poindexter and we Langa.

Don’t forget these brothers. After 43 years in prison, they are still on the clock. Hope you can attend.  Bring somebody with you.

Thank you,

Walter Brooks

Read more about Progressive Omaha.

NSA spying: A handy review

News

From Vox:

Over the last year, through the revelations of Ed Snowden and independent reporting by others, we’ve learned more and more about the National Security Agency’s spying programs. Indeed, there have now been so many revelations that it can be hard to keep them straight. So here’s a handy guide to the most significant ways the NSA spies on people in the United States and around the world.

Read more.

The American oligarchy study, explained

News,

From Vox:

Who really matters in our democracy — the general public, or wealthy elites? That’s the topic of a new study by political scientists Martin Gilens of Princeton and Benjamin Page of Northwestern. The study’s been getting lots of attention, because the authors conclude, basically, that the U.S. is a corrupt oligarchy where ordinary voters barely matter. Or as they put it, “economic elites and organized interest groups play a substantial part in affecting public policy, but the general public has little or no independent influence.”

Read an explainer of the study from Vox.

Read the full-text study from Princeton.

 

USGP on the McCutcheon v. FEC Decision

News,

From the Green Party of the United States:

This morning the Supreme Court released its decision in the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission case, striking down current limits on the amount an individual donor may contribute to a political campaign.

The majority of the justices decided that the right to free speech includes the right to spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns.

Although reasonable campaign finance rules had already been gutted by the 2010 Citizens United decision, today’s decision reinforces the idea that money is speech and the richest 1% of Americans should have the right to buy and sell limitless political influence.

In contrast, the Green Party continues to work for a truly democratic electoral system including public financing of federal, state, and local elections. We support a Constitutional amendment delaring that corporations are NOT persons and money is NOT speech. Finally, it is important to have a vigorous, well-funded government watchdog empowered to enforce federal campaign laws.

The Green Party is working to overturn the new regime of corporate elections. Citizens United allowed unlimited spending on independent campaigning, and now McCutcheon will allow unlimited contributions to candidates and elected officials.

Read more about Grassroots Democracy, one of the Green Party’s 10 Key Values.