A lot of people say there's no difference between Democrats and Republicans. A lot of people point out the differences on social policy- abortion, gun control, immigration. But when you only look at foreign and economic policy, our country hasn't changed for many decades. 1/8
That's because we live in an empire. We just don't say that part out loud.
Within the empire, it is tolerated to argue about abortion access or #LGBTQ equality, gun control and immigration, because those things don't affect the structure of empire. And when someone DOES ... 2/8
talk about changing the structure of empire, they are smeared as "Putin's puppet" or "Russian bot". One MSNBC host insinuated that Bernie Sanders would execute people in Central Park, if elected.
The empire propagandists on mainstream media report international stories... 3/8
through a lens of empire that assumes the US military is an international police force that holds other countries accountable for daring to go against US interests, and millions of people are fooled into believing that it's normal for the US military to be fighting against... 4/8
other counties' rebellions, overthrowing other countries' leaders or punishing countries for shipping goods to places the US has sanctioned.
I am not okay with my government killing people in Iraq for lower oil prices. I cannot tolerate my government trying to coup... 5/8
leaders of other countries so those countries elect leadership that is friendly to US interests. I am not fine with my government supporting the use of slavery, in prisons and in third world nations, to harvest minerals used in cell phones & computers, or cacao beans or to... 6/8
sew Levi's or Nike's. I cannot accept my country starving people with sanctions to cause civil unrest.
This is why there's such a HUGE difference between a liberal, who wants to use the system to get people more, and an actual leftist, who wants to change the whole system. 7/8
We can have a system that works for everybody, a system based on justice. One that makes sure that no one dies from lack of basic needs. OR we can have a global empire. We cannot have both. 8/8 @ajamubaraka@TulsiGabbard@medeabenjamin
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I ran against @RepThompson twice. He is an anti-socialist and long time opponent of Medicare For All, but he was pressured to co-sponsor it by an activist campaign. As a progressive challenger, I couldn't tell his supporters that he didn't really support Medicare For All, that...
he has always opposed it but was pressured into it. All they saw was that he co-sponsored the bill. If any of them asked him, like I did, he just replied "I co-sponsored the bill." But there's no way he's going to vote for this. He just sent me a letter LAST WEEK saying...
that although he's a co-sponsor, he doesn't know how we pay for it. He's a grifter. And Congress is filled with Reps like this, who co-sponsor legislation like the Green New Deal to silence critics, but then just sit on it, doing nothing. These people need to be exposed to...
Like him or loathe him, @jimmy_dore came up with a pretty great plan to get a vote on #MedicareForAll before the end of the year, by asking members of the Progressive Caucus to withhold their vote for Nancy Pelosi to be Speaker in 2021, as a... 1/5
negotiating tactic, unless she brings Medicare For All up for a vote. Supporters of this plan include the Hill's @krystalball , @BernieSanders former press secretary @briebriejoy and co-founder of the Justice Democrats @KyleKulinski . Please watch...2/5
the video to learn more about the plan, and contact some Progressive Caucus Members, especially if you're a constituent, and ask them to withhold their vote for Pelosi. Here are some members that SHOULD be friendly to Medicare For All: 3/5
Joe Biden had a meeting with some civil rights leaders (and excluded @Blklivesmatter ) a few days ago. As leaked audio reveals, when these leaders asked Joe to use an executive order to create a database of police misconduct, he gets angry and defensive, saying that they... 1/6
shouldn't be disappointed because he's been talking about restoring the soul of the nation, because of Charlottesville, AND that he's the only one whose been talking about Charlottesville.
Let me rephrase what I just said, civil rights leaders, concerned about police... 2/6
violence, asked Joe to create a way to know who abusive officers are before cities hire them and Joe's answer was that saying that racism is bad should be good enough for them. They want systemic change and he wants nothing to fundamentally change.
YouTube has announced it will remove content that claims the 2020 election was fraudulent. Most of us know that Biden won, but that's not the point. I have talked at length about problems with our elections, but that also is not the point.
The point is that social media programs are being allowed to control the narrative, control the way most of us think about certain issues, by censoring those with different views. That's not the American way!
"hate" but only towards protected groups. If you use hate against SOME groups, it's okay with them. And mark my words, one day, the far right WILL start calling progressivism hate speech against the wealthy.
This is Scott Sedgley, #Napa's Mayor elect. As City Council Member, he gained popularity because he was one of the leaders of the Measure C campaign to protect the watershed, which he talked about as a water use issue.
But if you think he's a staunch defender against... 1/4
overdevelopment of vineyards and tourist traps, you might want to take a look at his donor list, which includes oligarch Craig Hall (of wine cave infamy), the Wiseman Company ($5000!), Altamura Enterprises, the Doctor's Company ($8000! Wow!), First & Main (also the Wiseman... 2/4
Company, another $5000!), the Wine Train, Senator Dodd, JBD Consulting, Alfredo Pedroza, Truchard Vineyards, BLT Enterprises (LA based developer), David Phinney, Luna Vineyards, Eagle Eye LLC, Mazotti Holdings, Congressperson Thompson, Sacramento International Jet Center,... 3/4
This is Beth Painter, #Napa City Council Member-elect. Beth works as a professional land use planner, and has worked for many real estate developers. Beth has also spent a number of years as a planning commissioner. Call me crazy, but it sure seems like a conflict of... 1/10
interest for someone who works for developers to serve as a planning commissioner, where they can help sway the system to their colleague's benefit. Maybe as City Council Member she'll get to vote on projects that she passed as Planning Commissioner.
In 2016 she helped... 2/10
one of her contributors, Napa Vault Storage, obtain a permit to build 130 condo storage units in south Napa County over the objections of environmentalists and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife because of loss of foraging habitat for the threatened Swainson’s....3/10