Saturday, November 21, 2020

The American people suffer, the Iraqi people suffer, who is the US Congress serving?

Ajamu Baraka Tweeted:

The people are standing in line for food, millions without healthcare coverage, millions unemployed and Congress heads home. Where is the street heat demanding the state safeguard the human rights of the people to be able to live with dignity? Both parties are playing games.


Where is the US Congress?  Where's the leadership?  Jimmy Dore rightly noted Nancy Pelosi's ridiculous claim -- her angry snit fit with CNN's Wolf Blitzer -- that "we feed them!"



The only person Nancy Pelosi's helping is that doctor who keeps agreeing with her that more plastic surgery is the option and that she looks 'good.'  


The American people are suffering and the Congress has done nothing.


At least US House Rep Ro Khanna Tweeted the following:


Let’s send every American a $2,000 check, every month, until this crisis is over.



That's more than Nancy can or will do.  Stop pointing at Donald Trump.  He's on the way out.  The Congress has failed the people.  Christmas is around the corner and people are struggling right now to eat, to pay rent and the Congress is doing nothing.  They're failures and they're frauds.  


They are supposed to be serving the American people and they're not doing their damn job.


Since February, the country has been hit by the pandemic.  Some partisans tried to use it against Donald Trump.  Donald did about as good/bad as the majority of the leaders around the world in terms of the executive branch response.  Did you want him to impose martial law?  I thought you said he was a fascist so I don't know why you'd want him to impose martial law.  


The faux 'resistance' doesn't give a damn about the rest of the world.  That's why they ignore the ongoing wars.  But if you pay attention to the world, Donald's response wasn't the worst out there and it wasn't really all that different from what took place in other countries.  The CDC didn't even the same response back then that they have now.  


Maybe it was because there was a mask shortage, but people were being told at the start that masks weren't necessary.  The response changed as it went a long, as people learned more.  


But what was always known?  That the American people were being laid off, that jobs were being lost and that a pandemic wasn't a lotto win so the American people needed assistance.  Congress failed them.  Congress failed them repeatedly.  Krystal Ball pointed that out over a month ago when Nancy wouldn't accept the CARES Act and refused to support a second stimulus.


Krystal Ball: If you actually care about the people who are lining up at food banks, the kids who are going hungry, the families who are about to get their lights and gas shut off heading into the bitter winter months, the restaurant owners whose dreams are all going up in smoke, the airline workers who've been kicked to the curb by the thousands, this is about as good as it's going to get. And Pelosi?  She's just rejected it flight out.  


See the video below.




People are suffering and Nancy Pelosi is failing them.  She's going to continue as Speaker of the House despite that.  There's no accountability.  Once upon a time, the Speaker of the House was a real leader who did things to help the American people.  Tip O'Neill, Sam Rayburn, William B. Bankhead -- they were notable and strong Speakers.  Nancy? She's a failure.  "She's a first!"  Only in gender.  In terms of history, she's another Nicholas Longworth who ruled as Speaker during the Great Depression and attacked the progressive wing of his party (GOP) while arguing for balanced budgets and tax cuts.  He didn't work for the people, not at all.  Longworth died in office April 9, 1931 (a month after he went from Speaker to Minority Leader when his party lost control of the House) -- of pneumonia.  Reading over his UNITED PRESS obituary, written by Foster Eaton, it's easy to see Nancy in it -- someone born into wealth who married into prominence and delivers nothing:



His triumphs were those of a personality which cut through the fact that he was a son-in-law of the dynamic Theodore Roosevelt, the husband of the glamorous Alice Roosevelt, a rich man's son, an epicure, fond of spats, an artist on the violin, piano and pipe organ, in appearance a natty club-man type, in taste almost a dilettante -- the whole load enough to blight the average political career.  

Yet he fought his way up in a man's game where the rough and tumble goes to the strongest and the quickest.  He not only won the speakership, but promptly made it again by force of his personality much the same powerful office it was in the days of Reed and Cannon, although without the aid of the old-time rules which made their czardoms easier.


His obituary ran on the front page of newspapers, on the second page, they noted the death of Margaret Frances Beery -- mother of actors Noah and Wallace Beery.  That's about what Nancy can expect when she passes away.  Remembered one page ahead of some celebrity's mother and then quickly forgotten because she did nothing for the people.  Remembered today?  It should be for being a powerful member of Congress who, during Prohibition, formed the 'Board of Education' with other members of Congress -- a drinking club that violated the very law Congress passed.  (Yes, Prohibition was the 18th Amendment -- it was an amendment aided by several Congressional measures -- most notably, the Volstead Act.  Or maybe he's remembered for his war on progressives in his party and how that led to the GOP losing House seats in the 1930 election?  Nance can relate.


Nancy's done nothing, Nicholas did nothing.  The more things change, the more they stay the same.


Speaking of losers,  this 2012 Tweet of Barack Obama's is being noted:


VP Biden on Afghanistan: "We are leaving in 2014. Period."



Sarah Abdallah noted the Tweet earlier this week:


This didn’t age well. Obama and Biden promised to end the US wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Instead, they expanded Bush’s wars from 2 to 7, and increased drone strikes ten fold.


Sarah's right.  So many idiots are wrong -- or lying.  They've lied for years to pretend that Barack ended the Iraq War.  He didn't.  Now partisans on both sides lie.


Note this from Infidel Angela:


Why isn’t anyone talking about the fact that President Trump ended the Iraq and Afghanistan war??



Trump hasn't ended the Iraq or Afghanistan wars.  Quit lying -- or are you so stupid that you think a drawdown is a withdrawal?  It wasn't in 2011 and it's not today.


Let's talk e-mails to the public account where 45 people insist that Donald Trump ended the Iraq War.  And then they add that I celebrated the drawdown Barack did.


Are you insane or just liars?  I didn't just call out Barack's drawdown when it happened, I have called it out every year -- over and over every year -- since it took place.  This site is only still posting -- years after I wanted it ended -- because the Iraq War did not end.  


No, I did not praise Donald Trump this week.   Had he announced a withdrawal from Iraq, I would have.  I was afraid I was going to have to.  Donald's not anyone I like.  But I was prepared to offer him praise.  And it would have been deserved praise if he'd ended the Iraq War.  But removing 500 US troops from Iraq is not a withdrawal, it's a drawdown.


I won't praise that and pretend it's a withdrawal.  Other than the Pentagon in 2011 and 2012, no one used the term "drawdown" more than we did here.  Everyone else -- certainly our 'brave' (lying) media didn't use it, it was all about withdrawal! withdrawal! -- lied.  I didn't lie for Barack and there are some who will never forgive me for it.  I marvel over BUZZFLASH repeatedly sending me things they want posted here.  When Barack was president, they flat out ignored me.  When Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House, Buzz and Buzz's Mark e-mailed constantly.  They even highlighted and linked to this site.  I lost that for telling the truth about Barack.


Guess what?  I'm okay with that.  I'm the one who refused to go along with bullying children and asked child bullier ALTERNET to remove this site from the permanent links.


But don't show up in 2020 and tell me that I was easy on Barack and that I pretended his drawdown was a withdrawal.


The Iraqi people and their suffering matter more to me than any partisan bulls**t in this country.  More and more, I feel like I'll be dead before the Iraq War ends -- both because there's no end in sight and because I'm on chemo these days -- but if I'm alive, I feel I'm doomed to forever cover this forever war.


ALJAZEERA notes:


Some 50 prisoners in Iraq face possible execution on Monday following conviction on terrorism-related crimes in unfair trials, according to the United Nations human rights experts.

In a joint statement released on Friday, UN experts urged the Baghdad government to immediately halt all mass executions, noting that 21 prisoners had been executed in October, followed by a further 21 last week in Nasiriya Central Prison, also known as Al Hoot.


That's the government that the US put in place.  That's the government that the US keeps US troops on the ground in Iraq to prop up.  It doesn't serve the Iraqi people.  It never has.

I'm looking at e-mails in the public account and figured we'd do a talking post.  Today's big topic?  I'm promoting my friend Patty Smyth with the following:


  • Patty Smyth - Ode to Billy Joe (Official Audio Vis...
  • #FallonTonight #PattySmyth #JimmyFallon Patty Smyt...
  • The Warrior (SPIN Magazine Lullaby Session)
  • Goodbye To You (SPIN Magazine Lullaby Session)


  • Patty's not my friend.  I know Tatum O'Neal -- and I love Tatum.  I almost didn't note Patty at all as a result.  (Tatum was John's first wife, among other things.)  But she (Patty) has a new album out and I thought I'd note her for that reason.  I actually like "The Warrior" (Holly Knight co-wrote the song and Holly is someone I consider a friend).  "Goodbye To You" I remember seeing on MTV.  I thought Patty did a pretty solid job with the "Lullaby Sessions" and on Jimmy Fallon and I think she nails "Ode to Billy Joe."  I hope her album is successful.  


    Valerie Simpson is a friend.  When her album came out, I noted it only once.  :(  I wish I'd done more.  We didn't post videos then.  We're doing that because it's the pandemic.  When that's over, we'll drop the amount of postings here.  I try to have new stuff up here during the pandemic in the same way that we never went on vacation.  Christmas came about two months into this site's run.  And people were e-mailing asking if we would have content over the Christmas break?  Never thought about it but said sure, why not.  Turns out a lot of sites went on vacation.  Some people, like Krista, weren't able to go home for the holidays, etc.  So it's a pandemic and we're posting more often as a result.



    The following sites updated:





      

    will the supreme court overrule farmworker union rights?

     

    WILL THE SUPREME COURT OVERRULE FARMWORKER UNION RIGHTS?
    By David Bacon
    Capital & Main, November 20, 2020
    https://capitalandmain.com/will-the-supreme-court-overrule-farmworker-union-rights-1120
    https://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com/2020/11/will-supreme-court-overrule-farmworker.html



    An organizer talks at lunchtime with a D'Arrigo Brothers worker with a union button on her cap.

    All photos by David Bacon.  These photos are housed in the Special Collections of the Green Library at Stanford University.  https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon

    Sidebar below: How a Labor Law Evened the Balance of Power in California's Fields


    Not long before Donald Trump's election in 2016, the Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit against California's farmworker access rule in federal court on behalf of two companies - Cedar Point Nursery in Siskiyou County and the Fowler Packing Company in Fresno. The foundation is a conservative libertarian group that holds property rights sacred and campaigns against racial equity. It fought hard for the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the high court.

    The access regulation, which took effect after the passage of the Agricultural Labor Relations Act in 1975, allows union organizers to come onto a grower's property in the morning before work to talk with workers. According to the labor board's handbook, "The access regulations of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board are meant to insure that farm workers, who often may be contacted only at their work place, have an opportunity to be informed with minimal interruption of working activities."




    Two UFW organizers walk into a D'Arrigo Brothers broccoli field in Salinas, 1994.


    The board requires that the union give notice to the employer before taking access, and that organizers not disrupt work. They can talk only for an hour before and after work and during lunch, and can take access for only a total of 120 days during a year.

    Growers have always hated the access rule, and many at first refused to obey. Former United Farm Workers organizer Fred Ross Jr. remembers being arrested several times in Santa Maria for taking access. "This was all about power and who had it," he says. "Growers had it all, and their workers none. They wanted to dominate. For them, workers didn't even have the right to talk."

    The suit filed by the PLF, Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid, attracted more than the predictable support of the California and American Farm Bureaus. Amicus briefs came from a host of right-wing legal bodies, including the Mountain States and Southeastern Legal Foundations, the Pelican and Cato institutes, and even the Republican attorneys general of Oklahoma, Arizona, Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas. The company brief conjured up visions of "stampedes of third-party organizers" and warned, "If such a rule proliferates, property owners throughout much of the nation will see their rights greatly diminished as governments increasingly sanction invasions of their property."




    During the 2007 UFW campaign to organize grape pickers for the huge VBZ grower in Delano, organizer Yolanda Serna talks to workers eating lunch.


    Had the political atmosphere in the country not changed in the 40 years since the regulation has been in effect, the suit might never have been filed at all. Agribusiness challenged the access rule from its inception and went all the way to the California Supreme Court, where the growers lost in 1976. In the last decade, however, visions of a liberal U.S. Supreme Court evaporated in the final years of the Obama administration, and Trump's election led to the appointment of three right-wing justices, giving the court a 6-3 conservative majority.


    [. . .]






     
    Imaging Unprecedented Times - Protest, Pandemic & Essential Workers
     
    An outdoor exhibit by social movement photographers of the unprecedented events of 2020, featuring photographs by:
    Abraham Menor, Andrés Alvarez, Antonio Nava, Brooke Anderson, David Bacon, Edward Ramirez, Eric Nomburg, Glenda Drew, Jesse Drew, Leopoldo Peña, Najib Joe Hakim, Sharat Lin, Sheila Pinkel, Slobodan Dimitrov and Susana Barron
     
    Silicon Valley De-Bug
    701 Lenzen Avenue, San José
    Braid It Up storefront
    Santa Clara Street at 10th Street, San José
     



    WORK AND SOCIAL JUSTICE:
    The David Bacon Archive exhibition at Stanford Libraries

    On exhibit through May 9, 2021 in the Cecil H. Green Library at Stanford. Access to campus libraries is currently limited to Stanford ID cardholders due to COVID-19; however, the online exhibition (https://exhibits.stanford.edu/bacon), which includes additional content not included in the physical show, is accessible to everyone, and is part of an accessible digital spotlight collection that includes significant images from this body of work. For a catalog: (https://web.stanford.edu/dept/spec_coll/NonVendorPubOrderform2017.pdf)

     
    An In-Conversation with David Bacon, Kevin De León, and Ignacio Ornelas Rodriguez on October 29, 2020. 
     
     

    IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH
    Online Exhibit, May 29 to August 2, 2020
    Los Altos History Museum

    https://www.losaltoshistory.org/exhibits/in-the-fields-of-the-north/

     

    TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE EXHIBITION - IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH
    at the History Museum of Tijuana

    HAGA UN RECORRIDO VIRTUAL DE LA EXPOSICIÓN - EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE
    en el Museo de Historia de Tijuana


    https://www.facebook.com/542258639265202/videos/659536991515786
     

    TARTINE HARDSHIP FUND
    Newly organized Tartine Bakery workers in the Bay Area need your help and assistance!  This fund, supported by the International Longhsore and Warehouse Union, will help hose workers unable to collect unemployment insurance.
     

    The exhibitions in the following list were scheduled before the current COVID-19 crisis.  Public gatherings are not now taking place and these exhibitions have now been postponed or rescheduled.

    Stay healthy!


    IN THE FIELDS OF THE NORTH / EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE

    March 21, 2021 - May 23, 2021
    Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock


    MORE THAN A WALL - THE SOCIAL MOVEMENTS OF THE BORDER

    Spring, 2021
    San Francisco Public Library


    DEPORTATIONS

    Rescheduled for a date when the gallery reopens
    Uri-Eichen Gallery, Chicago
     


    In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte
    Photographs and text by David Bacon
    University of California Press / Colegio de la Frontera Norte

    302 photographs, 450pp, 9”x9”
    paperback, $34.95 (in the U.S.)

    order the book on the UC Press website:
    ucpress.edu/9780520296077
    use source code  16M4197  at checkoutreceive a 30% discount

    En Mexico se puede pedir el libro en el sitio de COLEF:

    https://www.colef.mx

    Los Angeles Times reviews In the Fields of the North / En los Campos del Norte - click here
     


     "The Criminalization of Migration: A Socialist Perspective" with David Bacon and Rafael Pizarro.
    http://ouleft.org/wp-content/uploads/David-Bacon-The-Criminalization-of-migration.mp4 


    A video about the Social Justice Photography of David Bacon:
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/14TvAj5nS08ENzWhw3Oxra4LMNKJCLF4z/view
     

    En los campos del Norte documenta la vida de trabajadores agrícolas en Estados Unidos -
    Entrevista con el Instituto Nacional de la Antropologia y Historia
    http://www.inah.gob.mx/es/boletines/6863-en-los-campos-del-norte-documenta-la-vida-de-trabajadores-agricolas-en-estados-unidos

    Entrevista en la television de UNAM

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdSaBKZ_k0o

    David Bacon comparte su mirada del trabajo agrícola de migrantes mexicanos en el Museo Archivo de la Fotografia
    http://www.cultura.cdmx.gob.mx/comunicacion/nota/0038-18


    Trabajo agrícola, migración y resistencia cultural: el mosaico de los “Campos del Norte”
    Entrevista de David Bacon por Iván Gutiérrez / A los 4 Vientos
    http://www.4vientos.net/2017/10/04/trabajo-agricola-migracion-y-resistencia-cultural-el-mosaico-de-los-campos-del-norte/

    "Los fotógrafos tomamos partido"
    Entrevista por Melina Balcázar Moreno - Milenio.com Laberinto
    http://www.milenio.com/cultura/laberinto/david_baconm-fotografia-melina_balcazar-laberinto-milenio_0_959904035.html

    Die Apfel-Pflücker aus dem Yakima-Tal
    http://www.nrhz.de/flyer/beitrag.php?id=23990

    EN LOS CAMPOS DEL NORTE:  Farm worker photographs on the U.S./Mexico border wall
    http://us7.campaign-archive2.com/?u=fc67a76dbb9c31aaee896aff7&id=0644c65ae5&e=dde0321ee7
    Entrevista sobre la exhibicion con Alfonso Caraveo (Español)
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJeE1NO4c_M&feature=youtu.be
     

    THE REALITY CHECK - David Bacon blog
    http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com


    Books by David Bacon

    The Right to Stay Home:  How US Policy Drives Mexican Migration  (Beacon Press, 2013)

    http://www.beacon.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2328

    Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants  (Beacon Press, 2008)
    Recipient: C.L.R. James Award, best book of 2007-2008

    http://www.beacon.org/Illegal-People-P780.aspx

    Communities Without Borders (Cornell University/ILR Press, 2006)
    http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/?GCOI=80140100558350

    The Children of NAFTA, Labor Wars on the U.S./Mexico Border (University of California, 2004)
    http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520244726

    En Español:  

    EL DERECHO A QUEDARSE EN CASA  (Critica - Planeta de Libros)

    http://www.planetadelibros.com.mx/el-derecho-a-quedarse-en-casa-libro-205607.html

    HIJOS DE LIBRE COMERCIA (El Viejo Topo)
    http://www.tienda.elviejotopo.com/prestashop/capitalismo/1080-hijos-del-libre-comercio-deslocalizaciones-y-precariedad-9788496356368.html?search_query=david+bacon&results=1

    For more articles and images, see  http://dbacon.igc.org and http://davidbaconrealitycheck.blogspot.com
    and https://www.flickr.com/photos/56646659@N05/albums

    Copyright © 2020 David Bacon Photographs and Stories, All rights reserved.
    you're on this list because of your interest in david bacon's photographs and stories
    Our mailing address is:
    David Bacon Photographs and Stories
    address on request
    OaklandCa 94601




    Patty Smyth - Ode to Billy Joe (Official Audio Visualizer)

     

    "Ode to Billy Joe" is off my NEW ALBUM, It's About Time, out now via BMG: https://pattysmyth.lnk.to/ItsAboutTime Follow me on: Website: https://pattysmythandscandal.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pattysmythmusic Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pattysmyth Twitter: https://twitter.com/PattySmyth 


     

    Biden’s First Priority: Undo the Damage Done by Trump | Joe Biden Owes His Victory to the Left, No Matter What the Democratic Party Says

    21 November 2020

    TOP STORIES

    Biden’s First Priority: Undo the Damage Done by Trump

    President Biden can make progressive appointments and executive actions—no matter who controls the Senate.

    BY RICK PERLSTEIN

    Joe Biden Owes His Victory to the Left, No Matter What the Democratic Party Says

    Organizers, not consultants, delivered key states like Pennsylvania, Arizona and Georgia. Democrats ignore this reality at their peril.

    BY REBECCA CHOWDHURY

    The Women Activists Rejecting Biden’s Pro-War “Feminism”

    Why anti-war feminists don’t want hawkish women like Michèle Flournoy in positions of power.

    BY SARAH LAZARE

    Biden Must End the War He Helped Start

    Yemenis call on the president-elect to stop the onslaught.

    BY SHIREEN AL-ADEIMI

    The Message from this Election? Bring the “Ruckus on the Democratic Party.”

    Don’t believe the establishment: The 2020 election results are a vindication of the Left’s inside-outside strategy.

    BY JOEL BLEIFUSS

    Democrats Are Scared to Use Their Best Leverage

    They need to start holding hostage the things that Republicans hold dear

    BY HAMILTON NOLAN

    In a Functioning Democracy, Pelosi and Schumer Would Have Already Been Tossed from Democratic Leadership

    Democratic Party leaders have clung to a failed centrist political strategy. It’s time to move on—by elevating progressives.

    BY ELIAS ALSBERGAS

    Dean Spade on How Mutual Aid Will Help Us Survive Disaster

    We have to fundamentally reimagine community if we want to avoid “intensive, uneven suffering followed by species extinction.”

    BY CLARA LIANG

    The MAGA Army Tries to Drag America to Hell

    Dear Leader Trump’s toy soldiers make one last stand on the streets of Washington, DC.

    BY HAMILTON NOLAN

    My Grueling Search for Asylum From an Undeclared War

    A member of the Honduran resistance movement tells his story.

    BY JOSÉ LÓPEZ

    What You Need to Know About BDS

    On the global, nonviolent movement for Palestinian freedom.

    BY IN THESE TIMES EDITORS

    Republicans Never Wanted a Fair Fight

    Lessons from the tumultuous election in 2000 are still relevant 20 years later.

    BY IN THESE TIMES EDITORS

    WORKING IN THESE TIMES

    Millions of U.S Workers for Walmart, McDonald’s and Other Corporate Giants Rely on Food Stamps and Medicaid

    A new report commissioned by Bernie Sanders shows that corporations are soaking up profits—while paying workers so little they depend on government assistance to survive.

    BY JEFF SCHUHRKE


    As a 501(c)3 nonprofit publication, In These Times does not oppose or endorse candidates for political office. All donations are tax-deductible up to the extent of the law (EIN: 94-2889692). 



    #FallonTonight #PattySmyth #JimmyFallon Patty Smyth: Build a Fire

     

    Musical guest Patty Smyth performs "Build a Fire" for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Stream now on Peacock: https://bit.ly/3gZJaNy Subscribe NOW to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: http://bit.ly/1nwT1aN Watch The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Weeknights 11:35/10:35c Get more The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: https://www.nbc.com/the-tonight-show JIMMY FALLON ON SOCIAL Follow Jimmy: http://Twitter.com/JimmyFallon Like Jimmy: https://Facebook.com/JimmyFallon Follow Jimmy: https://www.instagram.com/jimmyfallon/ THE TONIGHT SHOW ON SOCIAL Follow The Tonight Show: http://Twitter.com/FallonTonight Like The Tonight Show: https://Facebook.com/FallonTonight Follow The Tonight Show: https://www.instagram.com/fallontonight/ Tonight Show Tumblr: http://fallontonight.tumblr.com The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon features hilarious highlights from the show, including comedy sketches, music parodies, celebrity interviews, ridiculous games, and, of course, Jimmy's Thank You Notes and hashtags! You'll also find behind the scenes videos and other great web exclusives. GET MORE NBC NBC YouTube: http://bit.ly/1dM1qBH Like NBC: http://Facebook.com/NBC Follow NBC: http://Twitter.com/NBC NBC Instagram: http://instagram.com/nbc NBC Tumblr: http://nbctv.tumblr.com/ Patty Smyth: Build a Fire http://www.youtube.com/fallontonight #FallonTonight #PattySmyth #JimmyFallon