WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

 

Baltimore Police Systematically Abuse Black Residents' Civil Rights

When Baltimore erupted in an uprising last year following the violent death of Freddie Gray in police custody, angry protesters, most of them black youth, were widely denounced as criminals and thugs. Maryland's governor deployed the national guard as riot police poured in from across the state and residents faced a city-wide curfew… Yet, as in Ferguson, Missouri, it was the sustained mobilization to Baltimore's streets that forced the world to see the systemic racism of the city's police department, and forced Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to ask the Department of Justice to launch an investigation. Poor black residents of the deeply segregated city described a police department that behaved like an occupying force, brutalizing and disproportionately targeting them with unnecessary stops and deadly force… Now, the Department of Justice has released the findings of its investigation in a damning report that confirms police systematically abuse the civil rights of residents, disproportionately targeting African Americans with unjustified stops, searches, arrests and violent force, and committing horrific acts of degradation.   More

 

 

The Staggering Racial Wealth Divide

Most media coverage of racial injustice has understandably focused on our country’s unfair policing and criminal justice system. But to fully understand the current reality of racial inequality in America, we also need to take an honest look at our nation’s shocking wealth disparities.

Wealth — the total assets a family owns after the bills are paid — is the safety net we all need to help us get through the tough times and invest in our futures. And its polarization along racial lines is striking.  The average wealth for white households is $656,000. For Latinos it’s $98,000, and for black households it’s just $85,000. The average wealth of black and Latinos combined still doesn’t come close to half of white wealth.  And while white wealth continues to grow substantially, any gains in black and Latino wealth pale in comparison. Current estimates show that if nothing changes, the racial wealth divide will grow to $1 million by 2043…  Generations of racial discrimination in programs like housing and government benefits are now reflected in dismal bank statements and paltry retirement funds for blacks and Latinos.       More

 

A National Grassroots Network Goes All In To Defeat Trump

A newly formed national network of grassroots organizations with affiliates in 30 states that represent more then 1 million people has agreed to throw its weight behind an all-out effort to defeat Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 elections and to build support for a progressive economic and social justice agenda.  About 100 leaders of People’s Action, the organization formed out of an alliance between National People’s Action, Alliance for a Just Society, USAction and Campaign for America’s Future, voted on the “defeat Trump” resolution at its first-ever People’s Assembly, a governing body comprised of affiliate leaders. The resolution is not an endorsement of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, although it calls for the organization to “reinforce and strengthen Hillary Clinton’s (and the support of down-ballot candidates) for our key issues in order to move our agenda after the election.”   More

 

Trump's economic plan:

No 'death tax', less business tax, and fewer regulations

In addition, Trump said he would lower corporate tax rates from 40% to 15% – a rate he said punished “companies for making products in America”… Trump also said he would eliminate the estate tax, which currently applies to estates larger than $5.45m for individuals, or $10.9m for married couples… The specifications of the economic plan appeared to mimic proposals offered last fall by his campaign and later highlighted on his campaign’s website. In March, the group Citizens for Tax Justice said his plan would cost more than $12tn. Trump also reiterated his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and his plan to ask TransCanada to renew the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. The newest proposals included a temporary moratorium on regulations from federal agencies.   More

 

The Millions of Americans Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton Barely Mention: The Poor

Increasing affordable housing was until recently a standard campaign pledge for presidential candidates of both parties. President Bill Clinton created a “National Home Ownership Strategy.” President George W. Bush announced early in his first term a target of creating 5.5 million new minority homeowners by 2010, alongside measures to encourage the construction of rental housing.  But Mrs. Clinton did not mention housing in her Philadelphia acceptance speech. Her campaign website highlights 37 issues, but housing is not among them, although the campaign issued some proposals in February…   The silence is particularly striking because the problem is growing. There is not a single state where a full-time worker earning the minimum wage can rent a market-rate one-bedroom apartment for 30 percent or less of their income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. And more than 11 million households spend more than half of their income on rent.   More

 

CLASS AND IDENTIFY POLITICS IN THIS ELECTION

Once a class-based coalition, the party has become an alliance between upscale well-educated whites and, importantly, ethnic and racial minorities, many of them low income. “The voice of the left — especially the old social democratic left — has lost force in recent years,” Ian Buruma, a professor of democracy, human rights, and journalism at Bard College, wrote me in an email. This is partly because leftwing parties since the 1960s began to switch their attention from working class struggle to identity politics…  If liberal public policy intellectuals are unable develop “a clear program to refashion capitalism and globalization for the twenty-first century,” Rodrik warns, “the field will be left wide open for populists and far-right groups who will lead the world – as they always have – to deeper division and more frequent conflict.”

If current trends continue, not only will there be a class inversion among the white supporters of the Democratic Party, but the party will become increasingly dependent on a white upper middle class that has isolated itself from the rest of American society.  Instead of serving as the political arm of working and middle class voters seeking to move up the ladder, the Democratic Party faces the prospect of becoming the party of the winners, in collaboration with many of those in the top 20 percent who are determined to protect and secure their economic and social status.   More

 

The Great White Hype: No One Is Energizing the White Working Class, Not Even Donald Trump

…poll numbers actually show that Trump is now less popular with the white working class than Romney was. In 2012, Romney won 62 percent of noncollege-educated white voters. The latest NBC-Wall Street Journal poll showed that Trump isn’t even winning a clear majority with the group, with just 49 percent backing him. A McClatchy/Marist poll puts him even lower, at 46 percent. This is a reversal from earlier in the summer, when Trump’s support among the group was in the 60s, higher than Romney’s, though not by leaps and bounds.  Much of the analysis of Trump’s support was based on the fact that he did very well indeed among a particular group of white working-class voters early on: those who planned to vote in the GOP primary. Surowiecki, for instance, cited a July 2015 Washington Post/ABC News poll that showed a third of white GOP voters without college degrees had decided to support Trump, more than his rivals in the then-crowded field.  But one third of white working-class voters planning to vote in a GOP primary is not that many people. Just 14 percent of eligible adults took part in the presidential caucuses and primaries, 9 percent of the total American population. White working-class Trump voters were a small subset of that number, not really enough to make much of a difference.   More

 

The Israeli Company That Fenced in Gaza Eyes Trump's Mexico Wall

“Israel is known as a leader in developing anti-intruder systems because of the threats it faces constantly,” said Yiftach Shapir, a senior fellow specializing in military technology at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. He said such barriers “are not impermeable, especially with a very long border like in the southern U.S that needs constant patrolling.”  That’s not stopping Magal from closely following Trump’s controversial proposal to build a barrier to stop undocumented immigrants from slipping across the 2,000 mile-long border between the U.S. and Mexico.  “We would join forces with a major U.S. defense company that has experience with such projects worldwide,” Koursh said. “We’ve done it in the past and we would definitely want to do it.”   More

 

High School Students' Test Results Are Being Sent to Military Recruiters Without Consent

Data released by the Department of Defense on August 1st shows the military administered its 3-hour enlistment exam to nearly 700,000 students in 12,000 high schools during the 2013-14 school year, a 2% increase over the prior year… The data released by the DOD identifies 900 schools that require students to take the test, although the number is actually much larger. For instance, North Little Rock High School tested 680, almost all of its juniors and seniors. All of the data was shipped to recruiters without mom and dad in the loop, while the Pentagon's database reports that the students took the test voluntarily. (70% of the students are economically disadvantaged, and the school is 89% minority.)  Alief Early College High School in Houston tested 500 seniors.  The school is 97% minority. The database says the test was not required.  How do they manage to get 500 teenagers to voluntarily take a military enlistment test? … Once the test is scored, the recruiting command sends recruiters to the schools to meet with students to discuss "career paths."   More

 

A financial transaction tax would help ensure Wall Street works for Main Street

A well-designed financial transaction tax (FTT)—a small levy placed on the sale of stocks, bonds, derivatives, and other investments—would be an efficient and progressive way to generate tax revenues. Gross revenues from a well-designed FTT would likely range from $110 billion to $403 billion…  Regardless of the level of revenues raised, an FTT would be a win-win for the U.S. economy. Higher revenues would result in more funds for social insurance programs and much-needed public investments. Lower revenues would be the result of the FTT crowding out financial transactions of little value to the U.S. economy. This would boost Americans’ incomes through lowering fees on financial services, such as the management of 401(k)s and other accounts.   Why this matters: As the U.S. economy continues to recover from the 2008 financial crisis and the ensuing Great Recession, an FTT would help ensure the financial sector compensates other sectors of the economy (particularly U.S. households) for the damage the sector inflicted. Through generating tax revenues, decreasing the fees Americans pay on their investments, and shrinking unproductive parts of the financial sector, an FTT would help Wall Street work for Main Street.   More