“Grassroots Pressure” Propels Single Payer
The endorsement of Bernie Sanders Medicare For All bill by 15 Democratic senators is “the result of direct, grassroots pressures,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Health Over Profits. Flowers said Sanders’ bill is strong on women’s reproductive rights but weaker on issue of long term care.
North Korea Stands Firm
“The U.S. is threatening nuclear annihilation of North Korea, day-in and day-out,” said Sara Flounders, of the United National Anti-War Movement. However, North Korea refuses to give up its nukes, knowing that “the very countries that agreed to disarm” under U.S. threats “ended up in ruins,” said Flounders, “like Libya.”
Paul Street on Ta-Nehesi Coates’ “Bullshit”
Ta-Nehesi Coates, the Black writer for the neoliberal Atlantic magazine, accuses what he calls “the left” of subordinating race to class. “Bullshit,” said historian and author Paul Street, in the title of his Counterpunch article. “Coates doesn’t seem to know a lot about ‘movement’ leftists,” most of whom see race and class as inseparable, said Street. He said Coates lives in the bourgeois world of Democratic politics.
Parents Oppose Excessive Testing
A poll commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers shows 61 percent of public school parents think too much emphasis is placed on testing, and what schools need most is more funding. Only 11 percent say there is not enough “choice” in the pubic schools. Dr. Monty Neill, of Fair Test, said most parents don’t agree with the “testing ideology” promoted by big business and media.
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
Margaret Kimberley gave the keynote address at the Chicago Area Peace Action Peace Summit.
The Black Alliance for Peace Zone of Peace campaign launch event took place in Washington DC.
Ajamu Baraka discusses the Zone of Peace campaign.
If democrats were smart, Donald Trump would be a disgraced former president, forgotten by all but his most ardent admirers. But they aren't smart and they may have given him a political resurrection.
Vincent Harding’s reflections on the expansion of Black Studies in the 1960s offers an ominous warning on the hiring of Black faculty and administrators today.
