Category: Politics

Protests Brace for Four More Years

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by Laura Glesby, Jan, 20, New Haven Independent

Protesters declare support for trans, immigrant, Palestinian rights and more on the Green…

A Statue of Liberty drawn on fire, free toiletries for any who needed, and collective shouts of immigrant, transgender, and Palestinian resistance rang through the frigid cold at two parallel protests downtown.

Protesters declare support for trans, immigrant, Palestinian rights and more on the Green. Photo: Laura Glesby

Their message resounded on Monday afternoon as Donald Trump once again took an oath of office — with a flurry of executive orders cracking down on immigration and cementing anti-trans policies awaiting his signature.

About 75 people clustered at the center of the New Haven Green at a rally organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and a host of other organizations, from Trans Haven to the Semilla Collective to Unhoused Activist Community Team (U ACT).

Meanwhile, another 40 people affiliated with Unidad Latina en Acción (ULA) convened across the street on the steps of City Hall.

While the former protest shined a particular spotlight on Palestinian self-determination and the latter focused especially on the rights of undocumented immigrants, activists at both gatherings stressed a need to collaborate and stand against injustices they view as all interconnected.

“We need to step out of our silos,” said Sun Queen, a poet and activist with Black Lives Matter New Haven and U ACT, on the Green.

Sun Queen quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in honor of the national holiday also on Monday designated for remembering King’s legacy: “There is nothing new about poverty. What is new, however, is that we have the resources to get rid of it.”

At that rally, protesters made clear that while they were gathered to oppose Trump, they were not there to mourn the status quo under Joe Biden — especially when it came to the United States’ relationship to Israel.

[Article can be read in its entirety at https://tinyurl.com/5n6kbd3r]

No-Excuse Absentee Voting Was Approved by CT Voters. What Happens Next?

by Kat Struhar, Nov. 18, CT Mirror

Connecticut voters have approved a proposed amendment to the state constitution that removes restrictions around absentee voting, allowing for universal access.

The amendment passed with around 58% of voters in favor and 42% against, a 16% margin of difference… But its passage doesn’t mean so-called “no-excuse absentee voting” will automatically take effect; rather, it means lawmakers are now free to pass a law allowing for it.

No-excuse absentee voting describes absentee voting that is accessible universally. In other words, one does not need to provide a reason in order to vote by absentee… No-excuse absentee voting does not take effect immediately.

For it to become law, state legislators must take it up during the 2025 legislative session. Because Connecticut voter law is written into the state constitution, it is difficult to amend. Any changes to it must first pass through the House and Senate with three-fourths majority support, or a simple majority in both chambers in two successive legislative terms, and then majority support among voters. Now that those steps have been completed, lawmakers are free to pass a law to enact no-excuse absentee voting statewide.

Though lawmakers could technically opt not to pursue passing a law to permit no-excuse absentee voting further, that is not the plan for [Rep. Matthew] Blumenthal.

If lawmakers approve it, Connecticut will join the more than half of the U.S. states that utilize no-excuse absentee voting.

Source  https://ctmirror.org/2024/11/18/ct-no-excuse-absenteevoting-ballot-question-passed

Activists gathered Oct. 7 Action on Gaza at Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s Office

On Oct. 7, peace and justice activists gathered in front of Rep. DeLauro’s New Haven office at 59 Elm St. for a community reading of the open letter to Pres. Biden and Vice Pres. Harris from American medical professionals who served in Gaza. The letter was then given to her aide Lou Mangini to read to her. The reading was organized by the Greater New Haven Peace Council.

Below are excerpts. The entire letter is online at www.gazahealthcareletters.org/usa-letter-oct-2-2024.

I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, trauma and critical care surgeon, Veterans Affairs general surgeon

I saw so many stillbirths and maternal deaths that could have been easily prevented if the hospitals had been functioning normally. Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, obstetrician and gynecologist

Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many. Dr. Mark Perlmutter, orthopedic and hand surgeon

US Rep. Rosa DeLauro Explains the Proposed CEO Act

Excerpts from Rep. DeLauro’s Response to a PAR Reader

Since 1978, economic productivity has outpaced workers’ wages by more than four times while executive pay has increased by … 18 times as much as productivity growth. In 2022, the average CEO had an income of $25.2 million in salary, bonuses, stock awards, and stock options while in the fourth quarter of 2022, the average full-time worker made about $56,420 in wages. The average CEO would only need to work one day to make what the average worker makes in ten months.

Large corporations and the wealthy continue to increase their profits while working families and middle-class Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. From 1979 to 2020, annual wages for the bottom 90 percent of households increased just 26 percent, while average incomes for the wealthiest one percent increased more than 160 percent. The Curtailing Executive Overcompensation (CEO) Act would
apply an excise tax on publicly traded and private companies with over $100 million in gross receipts … and $10 million in payroll – for companies which have at least a 50 to one CEO-to-median-worker pay disparity. In 2022, it is estimated that the CEO Act would have raised an estimated $10.1 billion in revenue from Fortune 100 top U.S. companies.

Should this legislation come to the House floor for a vote, you can be sure I will keep your thoughts in mind. In Congress, I will continue fighting to prioritize the middle and working class over big corporations by taking a more equitable approach to the challenges we face as a nation and make sure billionaires and tax cheats can no longer escape paying taxes. It is crucial we reform our broken tax system to cut taxes for the middle class and encourage job creation here at home. That is why I remain a strong supporter of the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax Act which would require households worth over $100 million to pay at least a 20 percent tax rate on their full income, including unrealized gains. Simply put, it will ensure billionaires do not pay a lower tax rate than working families by preventing tax avoidance. …

Charter Revision Will Be on the Ballot for New Haven Voters on Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023 Newhavenvotes.org

The Question on the ballot: “Shall Charter changes as recommended by the Charter Revision Commission and adopted by the Board of Alders be approved and adopted?”
What the charter revision recommendations would do:

  • Four-year terms for mayor, alder, and city clerk,
  • Increase annual stipend for Alders from $2000 to $5000,
  • Explicitly clarify that alders must approve all city contracts of at least $100,000,
  • Extend the window for alders’ approval of appointees to city boards and commissions from 60 to 90 days,
  • Move most requirements for department heads out of the Charter and into the Code of Ordinances, making them easier to change.
  • Make language in the charter gender-neutral.

    The Registrar of Voters confirmed that the referendum question will be placed on the far right-hand side of the ballot, as they have typically been in the past. We need to work hard reminding voters: “Look to the right-hand side—because on charter revision you decide!” Learn more: www.newhavenvotes.org. New Haven Votes Coalition, PO Box 207063, New Haven.

Latest Legislative News from CTNewsJunkie.com

Gov. Ned Lamont Pressures Lawmakers to Include Debt Cancellation Provision in Budget by Hugh McQuaid
Lamont wants funding in the budget to help people by canceling their medical debt. Connecticut would be the first state in the country to do that. His budget proposal called for using $20 million in pandemic relief in a plan that … could eliminate $1 billion in medical debt.

Coalition Presses for Early Voting Funding For Municipalities by Hugh McQuaid
A coalition of advocates and Connecticut mayors called Thursday on the legislature to provide adequate funding for towns and cities to implement the early voting policy that lawmakers expect to approve in the coming weeks.

House Votes in Favor of Decriminalizing Psilocybin
By Hugh McQuaid
Possession of small amounts of psilocybin would become a ticketable infraction in Connecticut rather than a crime carrying potential prison time under a bill passed Wednesday on a divided vote of the House.

State Senate Passes Financial Literacy Bill By Julie Banks
The state Senate on Tuesday night passed a bill that will make financial literacy education a graduation requirement for all Connecticut high schools.

Inventory Crisis Creates Housing Shortage By Mike Savino
As families took advantage of remote work and flocked to the suburbs during the height of the pandemic, CT’s housing market was one of the big winners. But that momentum came to a halt last year, with the state’s population growing by only 2,850, or 0.08%, according to the U.S. Census Bureau

Group Home Workers Strike For Higher Wages by Christine Stuart
Over 1,700 group home and day program workers who provide care for individuals with disabilities in Medicaid-funded agencies across Connecticut launched an indefinite strike Wednesday. They are demanding higher wages, affordable healthcare, adequate retirement funding and … a pathway to a minimum wage of $25 per hour, a significant increase from their current entry-level wages of $17.25 per hour.

Biden’s Budget Proposal a Reminder of the Democrats’ Failure

by Party for Socialism and Liberation, March 9, 2023

Today’s [March 9] budget proposal that the Biden administration is attempting to present as a bold vision for social change is in fact, little more than a bitter reminder of the Democrats’ failure over the last two years to implement their own agenda of progressive reform. Despite having a clear popular mandate, when it was actually possible to enact the measures included in Biden’s draft budget, the Democratic Party leadership came up woefully short.

To become law, a budget must pass both houses of Congress, and there is no prospect that the Republican-controlled House of Representatives will vote in favor of these proposals. Up until the midterm election, however, the Democrats were in the relatively rare position of controlling the White House, the House of Representatives, and the Senate. Their failure in these critical years to pass major reforms has reduced their current proposals to little more than rhetorical statements of principles.

Much of what is in Biden’s budget proposal would indeed bring some welcome relief to working people. The draft includes provisions to restore the enhanced child tax credit that sends monthly checks to parents, reduce drug prices, increase subsidies to cover the cost of college tuition, and establish universal pre-K. It would also fund an expansion in the number of children who receive free school meals, and mandate paid family and medical leave up to 12 weeks.

It should also be noted that there are highly reactionary, anti-worker parts of Biden’s proposal as well. The draft allocates a record $835 billion for the Pentagon, reflecting the administration’s commitment to its new Cold War policy that is bringing the world to the edge of catastrophe. The White House also brags in a press release that it “includes funding to put 100,000 additional police officers on the street.”

But the aspects of the Biden administration’s agenda that are positive – which are rooted not in genuine concern for the people but fear that capitalist rule would be destabilized in the absence of concessions – can all be vetoed by the Republican majority in the House. This is a ridiculous state of affairs considering that most of these proposals are recycled from the “Build Back Better” social program expansion that Biden spent much of his presidency up to this point pushing.

Because they were unwilling to eliminate the anti-democratic “filibuster” rule in the Senate, Biden had to stake everything on a single bill passed as part of a budget procedure that is immune to the filibuster’s 60-vote requirement. But in order to succeed, he needed to force Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, the two most right-wing Democratic Senators, to go along with it. Rather than bringing to bear the pressure that can be generated by the most powerful political office on the planet, President Biden simply offered concessions and praised Manchin in public, emphasizing what great friends they had been for many years.

This, unsurprisingly, amounted to nothing, and Manchin humiliated Biden by announcing on Fox News that he was withdrawing from negotiations with the White House.

[Article can be read in its entirety at liberationnews.org/psl-editorial-bidens-budget-proposal-a-reminder-of-the-democrats-failure. To contact the Party of Socialism and Liberation in CT, email [email protected].]

Community-Unity Page — Our Readers’ Voices — Ron DeSantis / Florida’s Mussolini Clone

by Frank C. Rohrig, Milford, CT

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to prove on a daily basis that he is more aligned with dictators, autocrats, fascists and oligarchic thugs just like Mussolini, and totally opposed to our secular republic democracy. He substantiates these facts daily that he’s ignorant of the nation’s benefits of diversity and a multicultural nation. His actions against other human beings seeking refuge and sanctuary amongst us have caused them to suffer enormously via his ignorant immorality. The surprising factor is that Florida’s religious entities of multiple denominations have been virtually publicly silent in chastising and condemning his immoral and inhumane actions to those who were seeking asylum from the countries they were fleeing because of various persecutions. Ron DeSantis’ “divide and conquer” mentality defies the urgent necessity for a divided nation of “red and blue” states to seek collaboration for our very salvation, as our human race is at the precipice of violent outcomes leading to world annihilation if caring and compassionate intervention is not expeditiously enacted throughout our entire nation.