Welcome once again to a $27-group / The Political Revolution open thread — a weekly place where you can sit back, relax, enjoy some inspiring quotes and good music, and (most importantly) spend time gazing at a picture or two of foresterbob’s cat Noble Fur.
I needed to be away from home quite a bit of this past week so I’m still running way behind on lots of stuff, including $27 Quotes. There were lots of good quotes again this week, though, so let’s see how many I can fit in...
I was tempted to use this quote from Elizabeth Warren for tonight’s title quote:
We don’t get what we don’t fight for.
~ Elizabeth Warren
But instead I decided to use this quote from film-maker Ava DuVerna:.
I’m actually not the first woman capable of doing these things. I didn’t just come off of a star or a moonbeam to all of a sudden be the first black woman who could do this. It’s the time we’re in that created the space for us. But even though we’re first, the goal is to make sure that we’re not the last…
~ Ava DuVernay
That’s from a very good interview she did recently with Ilhan Omar. Here’s a link to the interview (Ilhan Omar Tells Ava DuVernay About the (Good) Trouble She’s Making in Congress) so that you can read the whole thing. And here’s a quick quote from the interview to get you started:
We’re not fighting for the limelight. We’re not fighting for acknowledgment. What we’re fighting for is for our people.
~ Ilhan Omar
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Here are a few other things I liked a lot which Ilhan Omar has said recently:
How do we explain to a family that they are on a waiting list for housing vouchers because we prioritize Pentagon spending?
How do we explain to the hungry child that we cannot afford to feed them in schools?
We must prioritize the hurt of working families; not military contracts.
~ Ilhan Omar
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I plan to vote no on the budget caps bill because our spending priorities should reflect our values. It is not moral that we continue to spend more money on a wasteful Pentagon budget than we do on priorities like education, health care, and housing combined.
Our defense budget continues to fund endless wars that damage our reputation in the world and do not make us any safer in the U.S. We need to reduce our military budget, which totals more than the next seven countries combined.
And we need to cut the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO), which is used as a slush fund for Pentagon spending.
It’s time we spent less on war and spent more on housing and educating people at home.
~ Ilhan Omar
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Like so many before me, I probably would not have survived if America didn’t open its arms to refugees.
At a time when climate change is making droughts and famines worse, resources scarcer, and refugees crises more dire, we should be admitting more, not fewer, refugees.
~ Ilhan Omar
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Omar is not the only member of the house saying inspiring things this week.
The 25th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide reminds us how important it is to call out hate, oppression, and violence wherever it appears.
Let’s use this anniversary to keep pushing for justice for survivors and to renew our commitment to ensuring human rights around the globe are respected and protected, regardless race, religion, gender, or politics. Today’s the day to fight for a better world for all of us.
~ Rashida Tlaib
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Croissants at LaGuardia are going for seven dollars apiece.
Yet some people think getting a whole hour of personal, dedicated human labor for fifteen dollars is too expensive??
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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Public policy that doesn’t address surging inequality and historic injustice is unsustainable.
That’s why the Green New Deal views social and economic proposals (such as healthcare, just transitions for frontline communities and dignified jobs) as part of tackling environmental issues and climate change.
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
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And even a couple of senators found time to say some inspiring things:
Housing costs are a real obstacle to families in Massachusetts and across the country, and we can’t fix it by nibbling at the edges. That’s why I’ve got an affordable housing bill to build 3 million new housing units, reduce rents by 10%, and create 1.5 million jobs. We can do this.
~ Elizabeth Warren
For years, the US has been enabling Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. I was an early co-sponsor of legislation to end our support, which has now passed the House and the Senate. Our complicity must end.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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It’s been 10 years since the financial crash cost millions of people their homes, jobs, and savings. But not one big bank CEO has gone to jail. It’s time to reform our laws to make sure that corporate executives face jail time for overseeing massive scams.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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When big Wall Street banks and giant corporations cheat their customers and break the law, they pay a fine, consider it a cost of doing business, and go back to life as normal. Nothing changes. The system stays rigged for the rich and powerful.
Today I’m introducing the Corporate Executive Accountability Act, which would hold executives of giant corporations criminally responsible when their companies commit crimes, harm large numbers of Americans through civil violations, or repeatedly break the law.
I’m also reintroducing the Ending Too Big to Jail Act to hold big bank executives accountable when the banks they lead break the law. If they cheat their customers and crash our economy, Wall Street CEOs should go to jail like everyone else.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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You know the system is rigged when the IRS targets working Americans while dedicating fewer and fewer resources to holding the ultra-wealthy taxpayers accountable.
~ Elizabeth Warren
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Today [April 4] we took a clear stand against war and famine and for Congress’ war powers by voting to end our complicity in the war in Yemen.
This is just the beginning of a national debate over when and where we go to war and Congress’ authority over those interventions.
~ Bernie Sanders
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We will no longer tolerate the situation in which the wealthy and large corporations stash billions in tax havens throughout the world. You cannot be an American company only when it is convenient.
~ Bernie Sanders
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We're going to invest in affordable housing, in public education, in rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure — NOT more nuclear weapons and never-ending wars.
~ Bernie Sanders
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: climate change is a threat to our national security. We need a commander in chief who understands that, not one who thinks it is a Chinese hoax.
~ Bernie Sanders
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When we are in the White House, we are going to have a zero-tolerance policy for police brutality.
And we are going to fundamentally reform a criminal justice system that gives bailouts to bankers and jail sentences to non-violent drug offenders.
~ Bernie Sanders
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Please never forget where Dr. King was when he was shot 51 years ago: in Memphis to stand with exploited sanitation workers. He was killed while fighting for a country where every person is able to live a life with dignity. That is the mission we must carry every day.
~ Bernie Sanders
The great political crisis we face is not voter fraud, which is virtually nonexistent. The crisis we face is voter suppression. Our movement is about ending voter suppression, restoring the Voting Rights Act and implementing automatic voter registration.
~ Bernie Sanders
UnitedHealth's CEO was paid more than $83 million in a single year. Now UnitedHealth is throwing 425,000 Iowans off their Medicaid coverage. This is unacceptable.
~ Bernie Sanders
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65 million Americans didn't seek treatment for a health issue last year due to cost.
Nearly half are concerned a major health event would bankrupt them.
If that's not an indictment of our profit-driven health care system then I don't know what is. We need Medicare for All now…
Those who oppose Medicare for All need to explain why our failed current system should be allowed to continue bankrupting the American people.
~ Bernie Sanders
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And it’s not just members of the house and senate who were speaking out plainly and clearly on important issues. Here are some noteworthy quotes from a state governor:
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Today [April 2] marks Equal Pay Day, symbolizing how far into the year women have to work to catch up to the earnings of men from the previous year. And women of color have it worse — nationally they’ll need to work several more weeks or even months to achieve equal pay.
Washington state is ranked the best place to work partly because we have rules to ensure equal pay, accommodations for pregnant workers, sexual harassment protections and laws prohibiting pay secrecy in the workplace. We also have strong unions that raise the bar for all workers.
We’ve started a paid family leave program offering some of the most progressive benefits in the nation to all Washington workers — regardless of their employer. Closing the wage gap is complex, but we're up to the challenge. We have a lot more work to do, but we're doing it.
~ Jay Inslee
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I’m just about to deliver an important message to the U.S. House: Bipartisan governors and mayors from across the country are still all in on climate, but we need Congress to get back in the game if we’re going to beat this threat.
I’m proud of everything we’ve done in WA state — and in states across the country — to start defeating climate change. We're leading the charge to build strong, low-carbon economies. But without leadership from the federal government, we won’t be able to do enough fast enough.
There are more jobs in fighting climate change than denying it. We are growing clean energy jobs by the bucketful, in communities urban, suburban and rural. It’s time for the federal government to embrace those jobs.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration isn’t just failing to act — they are setting the fire. They're rolling back the Clean Power Plan in a massive giveaway to polluters, attacking fuel economy and clean car standards, cutting renewable energy by more than $2 billion and more.
It’s more than just disappointing. It is irresponsible. We need an administration that believes in the science of both gravity and climate change. We need a national mobilization to drive innovation across every sector of our economy.
~ Jay Inslee
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The last time CO2 levels were as high as they are now, Antarctica was a forest, not an ice sheet. That’s where we’re headed if we don’t start treating climate change as the single greatest existential threat that it is.
~ Jay Inslee
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Burning coal causes:
- Respiratory problems
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Climate change
Wind turbines cause:
~ Jay Inslee
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And lastly, a very large thank you to Pramila Jayapal for remembering and reminding us of this next one:
Cowardice asks the question: Is it safe?
Expediency asks the question: Is it politic?
Vanity asks the question: Is it popular?
But conscience asks the question: Is it right?
There comes a time when one must take a position... because one's conscience tells one that it is right.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.