By Jake Johnson/Common Dreams

Infuriated by a scathing United Nations report estimating that more than 18 million Americans are living in “extreme poverty” and accusing the Trump administration of “deliberately” making such destitution worse with its tax cuts for the rich, the White House insisted in its June response to the UN analysis that the United States is overflowing with “prosperity” and that claims of widespread poverty are “exaggerated.”
But internal State Department e-mails and documents obtained by Foreign Policy and the non-profit journalism website Coda Story show that the Trump administration ignored advice of White House economic analysts and knowingly lied to the public about the severity of American poverty, which the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston described as “shocking.”

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Posted on August 7, 2018

‘Let Me Introduce You To Some Of The Fine Citizens That This Amendment Would Admit’

1. Chicago Republican Party press release, Tuesday, July 24th:
On Wednesday evening, the Cook County Republican Central Committee is scheduled to vote on a proposal by Chairman Sean Morrison to admit Democrats into leadership positions in several Republican ward organizations. The proposal would eliminate the provision in the bylaws that say that individuals may not have voted Democrat in the last three cycles to hold the office of Republican ward committeeman.
In 2016, several life-long Democrats, some affiliated with the local alderman, ran for office as Republican ward committeemen and were disqualified by the bylaws. Chairman Morrison has stated that he intends to seat them anyway.

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Posted on August 6, 2018

By Jeff Johnson/Common Dreams

In a move human rights groups are warning could have grave implications for internet freedom across the globe, Google is reportedly preparing to launch a “censored version” of its search engine in China that will automatically blacklist terms and websites related to peaceful dissent, free expression, and democracy.
According to The Intercept’s Ryan Gallagher, who first reported on the tech giant’s plans on Wednesday, “The project – code-named Dragonfly – has been underway since spring of last year, and accelerated following a December 2017 meeting between Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai and a top Chinese government official.”

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Posted on August 2, 2018

By Dr. Elizabeth Lee Vliet

We stand at the crossroads of liberty or despotism. Each day the news brings examples of assaults on life and liberty. These include:

• Hospitals and doctors being pushed into following government and third-party payer algorithms and “guidelines” for medical care, rather than what is best for an individual patient;
• Unions siphoning off Medicaid home care funds to pay union dues of members;
• Pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) deciding what medications will be covered by insurance;
• Trump supporters attacked and beaten for wearing MAGA hats and T-shirts;
• Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters, openly calling for harassment and violence against administration leaders and supporters of President Trump;

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Posted on August 1, 2018

By Sam Pizzigati/Inequality.org

The Trump administration is considering bypassing Congress to grant a $100 billion tax cut mainly to the wealthy, a legally tenuous maneuver that would cut capital gains taxation and fulfill a long-held ambition of many investors and conservatives,” the New York Times reported Monday.
The United States ended the 20th century on a roll – for the rich. Between 1973 and 2000, the nation’s most prosperous 1 percent tripled their incomes, after taking inflation into account.
The even more prosperous top tenth of that 1 percent did quite a bit better. Their incomes more than quintupled between 1973 and 2000, rising an amazing 414.6 percent.
And what about Americans of less exalted means, those stuck in the nation’s bottom 90 percent? Between 1973 and 2000, their incomes rose all of . . . 2.6 percent.
Something, in other words, went horribly wrong over the last quarter of the 20th century. And what has happened so far in century 21? Our decision-makers in Washington have done their best to make things even worse.

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Posted on July 31, 2018

By Andre Perry/The Hechinger Report

We’ve all heard the expression, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,” when it comes to hiring. Looking at the racial disparities among teachers, it’s apparent that black would-be teachers apparently don’t know many hiring managers. Teachers of color comprised about 20 percent of the public schools in the U.S. in 2017, according to data compiled by researchers at the centrist think tank the Brookings Institution (where I am a fellow). Meanwhile, students of color represented slightly more than half of all public school students in the same year.
A 2016 U.S. Department of Education demographic study of principals found that the vast majority of the people doing the hiring are white. While the percentage of white principals declined from 87 percent in 1987-88 to 80 percent in 2011-12, the percentage of black principals did not change significantly. The percentage of Hispanic principals increased by 4 percentage points from 3 percent to 7 percent, but white principals still account for the lion’s share of that population.

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Posted on July 24, 2018

By Aaron Tang/TakeCare

In what is likely the least surprising landmark decision of the term, the U.S. Supreme Court has finally invalidated public sector union “fair share fees,” or fees that all workers in a bargaining unit are required to pay to support the union’s bargaining costs. Labor proponents and progressive commentators have wrung their hands over Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31 in varying degrees of despair, wondering whether the decision portends the death of public sector unions as we know them or instead just a substantial weakening of union influence.
Neither outcome is inevitable. As I explain more fully in a short whitepaper, state lawmakers in the largely progressive states where fair share fees were permitted before Janus have the power to enact a simple legislative fix that would undo Janus altogether. Indeed, the workaround would not only be revenue-neutral for unions and government employers, it would actually increase net take home pay for public sector workers – a significant section of the American middle class.

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Posted on July 23, 2018

By Christina Jewett and Shefali Luthra/Kaiser Health News

The Trump administration has summoned at least 70 infants to immigration court for their own deportation proceedings since Oct. 1, according to Justice Department data provided to Kaiser Health News.
These are children who need frequent touching and bonding with a parent and naps every few hours, and some were of breastfeeding age, medical experts say. They’re unable to speak and still learning when it’s day versus night.
“For babies, the basics are really important. It’s the holding, the proper feeding, proper nurturing,” said Shadi Houshyar, who directs early childhood and child welfare initiatives at the advocacy group Families USA.
The number of infants under age 1 involved has been rising – up threefold from 24 infants in the fiscal year that ended last Sept. 30, and 46 infants the year before.

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Posted on July 20, 2018

Compare And Contrast

ICEE: Delicious fountain drink.
ICE: Puts kids in cages.
ICEE: Adorable bear mascot.
ICE: Puts kids in cages.
ICEE: A variety of tasty flavors.
ICE: Puts kids in cages.
ICEE: At your local convenience store.
ICE: Puts kids in cages.
ICEE: A family treat.
ICE: Puts kids in cages.

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Posted on July 19, 2018

By Jake Johnson/Common Dreams

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has just become the richest man in recorded history – surpassing $150 billion in net worth – thanks to his business model of subjecting employees to low wages, brutal working conditions, and scant benefits. On Tuesday, Amazon workers throughout Europe marked “Prime Day” by walking off the job in massive numbers to call attention to their plight.
In addition to walkouts by an estimated 80 percent of the workers at Amazon’s largest distribution center in Spain – nearly 1,800 workers – employees of the retailer also launched strikes in Germany, France, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom to demand higher wages and denounce Amazon’s union-busting efforts.

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Posted on July 18, 2018