PROGRESSIVE POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Tear It Down: Why Every Person at the DNC Should Be Fired” / Common Dreams / Cenk Uygur ☮

dnc-houseVoters couldn’t have been clearer in this election—they can’t stand the establishment.

There is a common stereotype that Democrats are by their nature weak and feckless. There was nothing weak about FDR. There was nothing weak about the New Deal or his audacious plan to pack the court. Ralph Nader wasn’t weak when he got Nixon to establish the EPA and OSHA. There was a time when liberals roared like lions.

So, what happened in the meanwhile that turned them into the perpetual losers they are today? Money in politics.

Now, a lot of people know that the Republican Party has been corrupted by their donors and that’s why they defend such outlandish positions as money being speech and corporations having inalienable human rights. But not a lot of people recognize what the money funded on the Democratic side—a political party meant to lose, built to lose.

Continue reading . . .

h/t: truthdig

POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Who Should Lead the DNC Now?” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur ☮

The DNC is an abject failure in every way and needs a complete overhaul. Many progressives, including Bernie Sanders, want Rep. Keith Ellison to lead it going forward. Cenk Uygur, host of The Young Turks, breaks it down.

POLITICAL COMMENTARY: “Racists Emboldened by Trump Victory” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur, and John Iadarola ☮

The racists are coming out of the woodwork. Cenk Uygur and John Iadarola, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down.

“Students at a western New York college are alarmed after they found a black doll hung in effigy on campus — and they wondered whether racial harassment will grow worse with the election of Donald Trump.

The doll hanging from a noose was discovered Wednesday in an elevator at Canisius College in Buffalo, where the student government has promised to address the incident, reported WKBW-TV.

A black student-athlete told the TV station he was considering leaving the campus, saying he’d experienced similar racist bullying since enrolling at Canisius, where 71.9 percent of students are white and 6.9 percent are black.”

PROFIT OVER PEOPLE: “Susan Sarandon: Dakota Access Pipeline” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur ☮

Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) interviews Academy Award winning actress, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and longtime progressive activist Susan Sarandon. Susan recently returned from North Dakota where she joined with native groups, as well as TYT Politics host Jordan Chariton, to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline.

CANNABIS: “‘Fuck it, I Quit’ Marijuana Advocate Faces Decades in Prison” / The Young Turks / Ana Kasparian, Grace Baldridge, and Maz Jobrani ☮

In 2014, Charlo Green made headlines when she quit her job as a news reporter on air. Greene ended her segment on marijuana by revealing she was a proponent of legalization and the owner of the Alaska Cannabis Club, the subject of her report.

CANNABIS: “Legal Marijuana Causing Fewer Opioid Deaths, and Big Pharma is Mad” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz, Ana Kasparian, and Jimmy Dore ☮

Marijuana is literally saving lives, and the companies that make and sell opiates are not happy about it.

CANNABIS: “Court Upholds Ban on Guns for Pot Smokers” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian ☮

“A federal appeals court has ruled that an existing federal ban on the sale of guns to holders of medical marijuana cards does not violate the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits infringement of the right to keep and bear arms. The ruling pertains to the nine states under the jurisdiction of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Of those nine, only Idaho hasn’t legalized medical marijuana, which, as far as the federal government is concerned, remains illegal everywhere in the U.S. regardless of state laws.

The specific case was a lawsuit brought by a Nevada plaintiff, S. Rowan Wilson, who said a gun store refused to sell her a weapon after she obtained a medical marijuana card in 2011. At issue was the assumption that possession of such a card is reasonable cause to presume that the holder actually uses the drug (Wilson claims she doesn’t). The appeals court ruled that it is, in fact, an “eminently reasonable” assumption.

CONSERVATIVE CHRISTIAN BIGOTRY: “Florida Residents Refuse to Vote in New Polling Place” / The Young Turks / Cenk Uygur, and Ana Kasparian ☮

Residents of Boca Raton are outraged by a new polling place in their town. Cenk Uygur and Ana Kasparian, hosts of The Young Turks, break it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

“When told his Islamic Center of Boca Raton would no longer be allowed to be a polling place, President Bassem Alhalabi says he was saddened. “We were very happy to serve the community.”

He says he was especially stunned because of where he votes himself.

“Personally me and my wife and all the kids, we vote at a church. And we made friends there,” Alhalabi says

Alhalabi says Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher called him personally because of the role the Islamic Center already plays in the community.

The mosque also functions as a hurricane shelter, feeds the homeless and even works with the juvenile justice department.”