Tag: Cory Booker

Ongoing corrupt and genocidal USDA policies, denials of land, wealth and constitutional rights for California Black farmers is being scrutinized by the California Reparations Task Force.

Gov. Gavin Newsom again has his feet to the fire to make the right choice, with predictable, understandable and for some, given the state of the country, no-brainer pressure to “Keep the Seat” by appointing a Black woman to the Senate seat soon-to-be-vacated by Vice President Elect Kamala Harris.

We call on you to immediately use your executive clemency and emergency powers to grant release of adults aged 50 and older, medically vulnerable populations with underlying conditions such as HIV/AIDS, diabetes, asthma, and heart disease, pregnant individuals, juveniles, and individuals with less than one year left on their sentence, irrespective of the offense and who don’t pose a reasonable risk to public safety.

Washington, D.C. – The Congressional Black Caucus released the following statement following the Feb. 26 House passage of the Emmett Till Antilynching Act, legislation that would make lynching a crime under federal law.

“How I Lost by Hillary Clinton” is a collection of the DNC and Podesta emails published by Wikileaks in 2016, introduced and annotated by Consortium News Editor Joe Lauria, with a foreword by political prisoner Julian Assange. I had a hard time putting “How I Lost By Hillary Clinton” down until I was done. Like most Wikileaks releases, it drew me into the minds of those who decide who will live, who will die, who will be impoverished and who enriched.

On Dec. 19, the United States Senate voted 87-12 in favor of watered-down legislation that will roll back a few of the most draconian provisions of the federal criminal justice system. The “First Step Act,” short for the “Formerly Incarcerated Reenter Society Transformed Safely Transitioning Every Person Act,” goes back to the House of Representatives, which passed a slightly stronger version last May by a vote of 360 to 59. When it comes to locking people up, the United States stands on top of the heap.

War, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Edwin Star sang those lyrics in 1970 on his album War & Peace. The song “War” was No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 15 weeks. In 1970, the U.S. was deeply involved in the Vietnam war. I was 19, prime age for feeding the war machine. The lyrics have influenced my life ever since. Massive spending on our military hasn’t resulted in peace. Instead, we have more war and terrorism. Funding peace-building and peace-keeping should be a top priority of every member of Congress.

My column last month reported on the vote in the U.S. House of Representatives to support HR 2810, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2018. The vote was 344 Yes and 81 No. Seventy-nine percent of our elected representatives in the House voted for “nearly $30 billion more for core Pentagon operations than President Trump requested,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle, July 15, 2017.

The first major survey of Bernie Sanders delegates reveals big concerns about Hillary Clinton’s pending choice of a vice presidential candidate, with many delegates expressing their willingness to publicly denounce prospective running mates and even protest on the convention floor. I spoke to Jeff Cohen of RootsAction after they released the survey results.