THE AGENDA PROGECT WEEKLY ROUNDUP 14AUG14

 

NORTH CAROLINA VOTING BLOCK…TEAM COCO H20…A YEAR OF ACTION…WITH LIBERTY TO MONITOR ALL…ECONOMIC GROWTH, FROM THE MIDDLE OUT…PROTECT WHISTLEBLOWERS…Jamie Dimon’s $13 Billion Secret…A Feminist Take On Piketty…Commemorating Freedom Summer…

Week of August 14, 2014 2:29 PM , by Hannah Hendler

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NORTH CAROLINA VOTING BLOCK — Rock the Vote, Demos, The Brennan Center for Justice, USAction, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, UltraViolet, Color of Change, Demos, Advancement Project, and over 40 other organizations launched a petition to #ProtectVoting in the wake of a North Carolina Federal Judge’s ruling that upheld the state’s highly restrictive voting law. The law reduces early voting from seventeen to ten days, eliminates same-day registration during the early voting period, and prohibits counting provisional ballots cast in the wrong precinct. The Nation Magazine Contributing Writer Ari Berman: “North Carolina is the perfect case study for what happened after the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act.”
READ “The Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014: A Constitutional Response to Shelby County” over at the American Constitution Society and SIGN Demos and MoveOn.Org’s petition to Congress to enhance and pass the Voting Rights Amendment Act HERE.
TEAM COCO H20 — Comedian and talk show host Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter teamed up with the NRDC and Save Our Water–California’s drought awareness program–for a series of comedic PSAs highlighting water conservation amidst the state’s historic drought. WATCH the PSAs and FIND OUT if you are as water smart as Conan O’Brien HERE.
A YEAR OF ACTION — 7 million workers will benefit from wage increases in the 13 states and the District of Columbia that have raised the minimum wage since early 2013, according to the new progress report on raising the minimum wage released by the White House. Meanwhile, women in female-dominated industries are fighting back against wage theft, unfair schedules, and other unjust practices: Cheerleaders from three NFL teams are taking a stand against wage theft and demeaning requests, hotel workers are are seeing the benefits of their fight against illegally low wages, and domestic workers are taking back their rights in California, Massachusetts, and New York.
READ: “5 Things That Have Changed Since the Federal Minimum Wage Was Last Increased” over at AFL-CIO.
WITH LIBERTY TO MONITOR ALL — Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the ACLU published a new report exposing the increasingly dangerous impact that large-scale surveillance has on journalism, law, and democracy. HRW and ACLU Aryeh Neier Fellow and report author Alex Sinha: “The work of journalists and lawyers is central to our democracy. When their work suffers, so do we.” READ: “With Liberty to Monitor All.”
ECONOMIC GROWTH, FROM THE MIDDLE OUT – Center for American Progress Policy Analyst Brendan Duke argues that overtime reform would help grow the economy from the middle out. Guaranteed overtime rights would help solve three critical economic problems: low consumer demand, slow hiring of the long-term unemployed, and stagnating human capital growth. READ more HERE.
PROTECT WHISTLEBLOWERS — The Other 98% launched a petition urging the SEC to create new rules in order to protect corporate whistleblowers before another financial crisis. SIGN HERE.
PP MUST READ: “Jamie Dimon’s $13 Billion Secret: The Inside Story of JPMorgan Chase’s Landmark Mortgage Settlement” over at The Nation.
A FEMINIST TAKE ON PIKETTY — Roosevelt Institute Campus Network Director Joelle Gamble joined Center for American Progress Chief Economist and Top Wonk Heather Boushey and other feminist and economic thinkers to examine Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the 21st Century in the latest installment of The Curve. READ the full column HERE.
COMMEMORATING FREEDOM SUMMER — Advancement Project will be hosting a screening for Stanley Nelson’s new documentary Freedom Summer on August 21st at BusBoys and Poets in Washington, DC. The event will also feature a panel discussion with Advancement Project Co-Director and Top Wonk Penda D. Hair, as well as other civil rights activists and leaders. REGISTER HERE.
FROM THE WONK WIRE …
… A PRECARIOUS NEW POPULISM: Campaign for America’s Future Co-Director and Top Wonk Robert Borosage warns that powerful moneyed interests threaten the stability of the alleged victorious new populism.
… BIG COAL’S AMNESIA: NRDC Policy Director and Top Wonk David Doniger exposes the false history propagated by coal giant Peabody Energy.
… DON’T BLAME THE MARKET: CEPR Co-Director and Top Wonk Dean Baker explains that the wealth of most of the financial sector is the result of deliberate policy decisions rather than a product of market forces.
Find out more at www.TopWonks.org.
… ON OUR AGENDA … PP is back from hiatus with WEEKLY ISSUES! Check back every Thursday at 10:30am (EST) … Visit our twitter @PractProgress!

TELL YOUR SENATORS: Tax Wall Street speculation 14MAR13

IT has been the right time to tax wall street ever since they found the money to increase the already obscene pay/compensation packages for ceo's and corporate board members. The majority of the American people expressed their support for taxing wall street with the reelection of Pres Obama. Now, finally, two Senators, Tom Harkin D IA and Sheldon Whitehouse D RI have introduced the Wall Street Speculation Tax because wall street traders are realizing huge profits on high volume speculative trading while the 99% still struggle with the recession, brought to us by , you guessed it, wall street speculators! Click the link to sign on supporting this tax and e mail your Senators at http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

My e mails to Senators Warner and Kaine at the bottom of this post. From HuffPost.....
Air traffic controllers and pre-school teachers are being furloughed or laid off. Mental health programs, scientific research, Hurricane Sandy relief, and unemployment benefits are being slashed -- all thanks to the sequester.

Meanwhile, Wall Street speculators just had their best week ever. That's right: ever.

Working families shouldn't be forced to shoulder the burden of economic recovery. Wall Street's reckless behavior got us in this mess -- it's time they paid to clean it up and started creating real jobs for American workers.

Tell Congress: Pass the Wall Street Speculation Tax and put Americans back to work.

Here's how: A Wall Street speculation tax -- as small as three pennies on every $100 traded on Wall Street -- would raise $352 billion over 10 years. That's one-third of what the sequester is set to cut, and more than enough to put millions of middle-class Americans back to work right now.

And here's the good news: Sens. Tom Harkin and Sheldon Whitehouse have introduced a bill to do just that.

This isn't a radical idea. A tax on high-volume trading funded millions of jobs during the Great Depression, and set the stage for decades of economic growth. Today, six in 10 Americans support taxing Wall Street to pay for jobs programs. Even George W. Bush's FDIC appointee, Sheila Bair, supports the tax.

The American people and economists agree: it's time to tax Wall Street. Tell Congress to get it done.

Sign the petition to Tax Wall Street Speculation.

Thanks for all that you do.

-ML

Michael Langenmayr, Political Director
Democracy for America

Democracy for America relies on you and the people-power of more than one million members to fund the grassroots organizing and training that delivers progressive change on the issues that matter. Please Contribute Today and support our mission.

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MY E MAIL TO SENATORS MARK WARNER D VA AND TIM KAINE D VA

Senators Tom Harkin and Sheldon Whitehouse have introduced legislation, The Wall Street Speculation Tax, to tax the huge profits Wall Street speculators are realizing from high volume speculative trading. These are the same people who brought is the great recession of 2008, now they are profiting from it while the vast majority in the nation remain mired in the recession, dealing with high unemployment, underemployment, stagnant wages and funding cuts for vital social safety net programs. This isn't a radical idea. A tax on high-volume trading funded millions of jobs during the Great Depression, and set the stage for decades of economic growth. Today, six in 10 Americans support taxing Wall Street to pay for jobs programs. Even George W. Bush's FDIC appointee, Sheila Bair, supports the tax. I expect you to sponsor, support and vote for this legislation.