BATTLE FOR THE NET…ONE MILLION STRONG…MEET THE KOCH SISTERS…NOT A DROP TO DRINK…RESIGN NOW…Fighting For Fair Wages…A Dream Deferred…Wisconsin Voting Rights…The Color of Inequality…Against Austerity Raffle Winners Announced!…
BATTLE FOR THE NET — Yesterday Fight for the Future hosted an Internet Slowdown Day, where top websites including Etsy, Kickstarter, Netflix, Reddit, WordPress, and many others showcased “spinning wheels of death” in support of net neutrality. The day of protest was back by organizations including the ACLU, Common Cause, Color of Change, DailyKos, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Free Press Action Fund, Greenpeace, MoveOn, Presente, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, Progressives United, the Other 98%, and WAM. The next and FINAL comment deadline for the FCC is this Monday, September 15th.SIGN Battle For the Net’s letter to lawmakers HERE and READ “We Have Five Days to Stand Up for Internet Freedom” over at The Nation.
ONE MILLION STRONG — One million individuals and groups have submitted comments to the US Securities and Exchange Commissions (SEC) demanding that the agency enforce requirements that publicly-traded corporations report their political spending to their shareholders. The Sunlight Foundation compiled a database of the latest reported independent expenditures of $1,000 or more … CHECK it out HERE. CREDO Mobile Vice President Becky Bond: “We need to get all corporate money out of politics, period.”
… MEET THE KOCH SISTERS — AFL-CIO unveiled the “Koch Sisters“–”two average women” who want to get money out of politics, though not biologically related, serve as middle-class counterparts to the right-wing billionaire Koch Brothers. WATCH: “Meet the Koch Sisters” and their other videos HERE.
NOT A DROP TO DRINK — A US bankruptcy judge ordered private mediation between the Detroit Water and Sewage Department and activist groups who filed a class action lawsuit to halt dangerous water shutoffs. Groups include Moratorium Now, People’s Water Board, National Action Network, and the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization. The judge will rule on September 17th. READ “The Bankruptcy of Detroit and the Division of America” by Former Secretary of Labor and Top Wonk Robert Reich.
LEARN about the “Cut Hair, Not Water!” campaign, SUPPORT the local efforts of the Detroit Water Brigade, and WATCH a documentary about Detroit’s economic decline.
RESIGN NOW — NOW President Terry O’Neill called for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to resign in the wake of Ray Rice’s highly publicized scandal and the League’s overall failure to act against domestic abuse: “The NFL has lost its way. It doesn’t have a Ray Rice problem; it has a violence against women problem … New leadership must come in with a specific charge to transform the violence against women that pervades the NFL. That’s the only way to restore honor and integrity to the country’s most lucrative and popular pastime.”
FIGHTING FOR FAIR WAGES — The average poverty rate for female tipped workers is 33 percent lower in states that have equal minimum wages for tipped and non-tipped workers, compared to states with a tipped minimum wage of $2.13 per hour, according to new findings by the National Women’s Law Center. Just last Thursday, nearly 500 fast food workers were arrested during strikes in 150 cities across the country, organized by coalitions including Fast Food Forward, Fight for 15, and the Service Employees International Union. The United States currently leads the world in low-wage workers. READ: “Dignity: Fast-food Workers and a New Form of Labor Activism” and “The Fast-Food Strikes Have Been a Stunning Success for Organized Labor.”
A DREAM DEFERRED — Center for American Progress (CAP) President Neera Tanden slammed President Obama’s decision to delay executive action on immigration until after midterm elections: “Given the partisan gridlock, executive action is essential to help our economy and improve the lives of millions of families.” READ: “Administrative Action on Immigration Reform: The Fiscal Benefits of Temporary Work Permits.”
WISCONSIN VOTING RIGHTS — Advancement Project and the State of Wisconsin will give oral arguments tomorrow before a U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel surrounding the State’s challenge to a federal court’s April ruling that struck down the state’s voter ID law as an unconstitutional violation of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Advancement Project is defending the original decision–arguing that the ID requirement unfairly restricts access for low-income and minority voters. Advancement Project Co-Director and Top Wonk Penda D. Hair: “As the leading democracy in the world, it is our responsibility to ensure states do not put in place laws that hinder citizens’ inalienable right to vote. States across the nation have an obligation to ensure that citizens have equal access to the ballot.”
THE COLOR OF INEQUALITY — Demos published a new report finding that the average white household owns eight dollars in wealth for every one dollar owned by African American and Latino households. READ: “The Racial Wealth Audit: Measuring How Policies Shape the Racial Wealth Gap” … Demos also released an Interactive Poverty Calculator that explores how the government defines poverty metrics and how public assistance programs affect poverty statistics. CHECK it out HERE.
PP MUST READ: “Is a Democratic Realignment Afoot In the Middle Class?“
CHECKING IN ON WORKING AMERICA — The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) is holding a teleconference on the US Census Bureau’s 2013 data on income and poverty on Tuesday, September 16th at 12:30pm. Panelists will include EPI President and Top Wonk Lawrence Mishel, EPI Research and Policy Director Josh Bivens, and EPI Race, Ethnicity, and Economy Director Valerie Wilson. RSVP HERE.
FROM THE WONK WIRE …
… FAIR PAY FOR MANAGERS: Department of Labor Chief Economist and Top Wonk Heidi Shierholz argues that the threshold for automatic overtime protection should be increased to benefit lower-paid white-collar workers like supervisors and managers.
… UNITED STATES OF AMNESIA: Brennan Center Fellow and Top Wonk Ciara Torres-Spelliscy warns that a lack of transparency in political spending could turn us into a country full of citizens who are uninformed and unaware of their history.
… HELP WITH HEALTHCARE: Roosevelt Institute Fellow and Top Wonk Mike Konczal urges that Americans look at the abandoned health care bill passed in the House in 2009 for suggestions on how to improve the Affordable Care Act.
Find out more at www.TopWonks.org.
… ON OUR AGENDA … PP is happy to announce that Philip McKenzie, Maggie Pfieffer, Jocelyn Arem, Elise Goyette, and Eve Jolly have won copies of Richard Seymour’s book Against Austerity: How We Can Fix the Crisis They Made! The book examines the austerity fervor plaguing political discourse worldwide and supplies strategies for preventing future crises …
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