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Time's Up: 'Women Are Scared; Women Are Angry' |
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Monday, 08 January 2018 14:18 |
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Milano writes: "We have to put in place protocols for industries that are universal. We need an umbrella code of conduct of how you need to behave in your work environment as well as protocol to help people feel that they can come forward and file a complaint and not be silenced."
Actress and activist Alyssa Milano explains why she joined Time's Up, a new anti-sexual misconduct initiative. (photo: Alex J. Berliner/AP)
Time's Up: 'Women Are Scared; Women Are Angry'
By Alyssa Milano, Rolling Stone
08 January 17
"I have a platform that I will continue to use to amplify those who don't have a voice," writes actress and activist
 ast October, in the wake of multiple women accusing Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct, actress and activist Alyssa Milano asked her Twitter followers to tweet "Me too" if they'd ever been sexually harassed. It was a phrase that social activist Tarana Burke had begun using on MySpace in 2006, and in the wake of so many women coming forward with stories about Weinstein, #MeToo became a rallying cry.
Now Milano is supporting Time's Up, a new initiative aiming to fight sexual assault, harassment and inequality in the workplace with creative strategies ranging from establishing a legal defense fund to aid working-class women to lobbying for legislation that would punish companies that foster environments for harassment. The Time's Up organizers announced their plans, which had been in the works since last fall, with an open letter on January 1st. More than 300 women working in the entertainment industry, including Milano, endorsed it.
In an exclusive essay for Rolling Stone, Milano explains how she's working to ensure that Time's Up will have a positive effect for women both inside Hollywood and in the world at large.
Shortly after #MeToo broke and we realized that this was a powerful movement, I started getting phone calls from the Time's Up organizers. The most important thing to me was that Time's Up wouldn't just represent the voice of my industry but it needed to represent every woman's voice because that's what #MeToo has always been about. My initial tweet was about solidarity and understanding the magnitude of the numbers of people who've experienced sexual misconduct. Only once we were able to understand the magnitude of these numbers were we able to give each other the strength and support to fix the societal issues of the sexual misconduct spectrum.
Every fiber of who I am on a cellular level has been changed since I sent that tweet. It would be impossible not to be affected or impacted by the stories that people have shared with me. It is powerful when a woman uses her voice. But to hear it over the last three months and have it be such a sadly common phenomenon has changed me. I can only applaud in total awe the work of community leaders like Tarana Burke who have dedicated their entire lives to supporting victims.
So in this hubbub of actors and entertainment industry leaders uniting and coming together to create Time's Up, I want us to be mindful of supporting the victims in the workplace or the victims in Ethiopia who are afraid to use their voice. We must address the systemic inequality and injustices in the workplace at large that have kept underrepresented groups silent. We will succeed if we are the voice for the voiceless. If we can use whatever power we have as influencers to represent every single woman — we will heal.
The big question we need to ask ourselves is, how do we heal? Not only as a society with major systemic problems, but how do we heal from this personally? How is everything from this point forward not a trigger? How do we heal as women?
When I think of healing, I think that we have to put in place protocols for industries that are universal. We need an umbrella code of conduct of how you need to behave in your work environment as well as protocol to help people feel that they can come forward and file a complaint and not be silenced.
The most important component of the healing process is legislation. We need laws in place that protect us. Laws that demand publicly traded companies are transparent with cover-up money. Knowing that our future generations won't have to face these issues will help us heal. And there's a lot of legislation that could set the foundation where people can say, "You know what? Not only is this never going to happen to me again, this is not going to happen to my daughter ever."
I have not told my #MeToo stories, but I will say I dealt with one assault case in the industry and one not in the industry. And I don't know a week that has gone by in my 35-year career that I haven't dealt with harassment and gender inequality in some capacity. So I literally pray. I pray every single night that my daughter does not have to go through what I went through in life. In order to heal, we have to know that things are in place that won't allow for this anymore.
And men! We need you. We need you to be part of the solution, too. I think shifting the male perspective goes back to locker-room talk and behavior, as well as education. We're teaching these lessons of equality much too late. If you think about how college works, for instance, you have your fraternities and sororities and there are things that go on there that would be unacceptable in the workplace or anywhere else. Then these wonder kids are plucked out of these sexually charged environments and put into somewhat powerful positions within corporations. So there's no real bridge as to, "Oh, that is totally unacceptable behavior."
So to me, we have to start these lessons earlier – way earlier. Within Time's Up, I'm working towards lobbying for legislation — with education being a big focus.
I think there is nothing in our education system about gender equality; about compassion or empathy; about equality in general. We so often teach what we expect from our youth from our history and where we came from. History is a big part of the lesson, but we also need to teach based on ideals of what it means to be a good person and where we hope to be in the future. I have a 6-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl, and I've started teaching them now. Even though my son can read, and my daughter cannot, she still gets to pick the book. "But mom, I'm the one that reads," he says. "It doesn't matter," I say. "What your sister wants matters." Instinctively, they know what is equal. So to me, this is cultivating what is already inside them.
Also, I do not think you can separate this movement from having a President of the United States who has not only bragged about "grabbing pussy" but then was elected and has systematically tried to roll back women's rights throughout his first year as president. Women are scared. Women are angry. And all of that became the perfect storm to allow for the #MeToo movement.
We must hold Trump accountable. If we're asking senators to resign because of sexual misconduct, what message does it send that we are allowing a man who has had 19 women come forward and accuse him of misconduct, to be our president? How are we not holding him accountable for this? It's bigger than collusion with Russia or anything else that we accuse him of doing and being. Our daily vernacular of the #MeToo movement is right there in front of us every day leading our country. How do these criminal abuses of power not apply to him?
This is behavior that I think has stolen generations of women from reaching their potential, and that to me is truly heartbreaking. Just take my industry, for example. These brave women who were blacklisted by Harvey Weinstein and were the first to break the silence are now in their late 40s and 50s. How much work is there for women in their late 40s and 50s? Harvey Weinstein ripped a generation of actresses from society. Think about that. An entire generation of talented, amazing, smart women that did not comply with his horrific demands was erased from the entertainment industry. These setbacks happen to every single woman who has to deal with this in the workplace. Who knows what someone's potential would be if they were truly in a place of equality? Maybe we would have more than 22 women in the U.S. Senate.
It's incredibly important that we see inclusion of all underrepresented groups: women, women of color, the LGBTQ community, people with disabilities. We need to fight for equality. I'm happy to say that I have a first-look deal with CBS Studios and inclusive of whatever I produce, I will be ensuring the entire operation is 50-50. I am incredibly appreciative that CBS Studios is supportive of that. We must all do what we can.
If we lead by example, Time's Up will be incredibly important. What happens in our industry shapes what happens in our state, and what happens in our state shapes what happens in the country, what happens in the country shapes what happens globally. This is a great seed that has been planted and now it's up to each of us to create a positive place for our children to grow up and thrive in.
I have no tolerance for discrimination, harassment, abuse or inequality. I'm done. And anything I can do to set that in motion in my own personal life, I'm going to do and I hope I can inspire others to do that, too. I am a messenger. I have a platform that I will continue to use to amplify those who don't have a voice. The most important thing for me to do is to hand over the bullhorn. Take it. It’s yours.
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We Must March. But We Must Also Organize Locally |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=15153"><span class="small">Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine</span></a>
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Monday, 08 January 2018 14:11 |
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van Gelder writes: "Marches, and elections, are important. But as we mobilize, we also need to create new, powerful local infrastructure, or strengthen groups that are already on the ground."
Between 4 million and 5 million people turned out in over 650 marches across the U.S. on Jan. 21, 2017. (photo: Unsplash)
We Must March. But We Must Also Organize Locally
By Sarah van Gelder, YES! Magazine
08 January 17
The next women’s march is in the works. Although big mobilizations are important, they’re just one tactic.
ast year at this time, a giant women’s march was in the planning stages. It turned out to be among the largest in U.S. history, according to the Washington Post. Between 4 million and 5 million people turned out in over 650 marches across the U.S. on Jan. 21, 2017, ranging from 200 in Abilene, Texas, to five who bravely marched in their hospital cancer ward, to between half a million and a million each in Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and New York. In spite of Trump administration sputtering, the D.C. women’s march alone dwarfed the size of the official inauguration.
The pink-hatted marchers conveyed an unmistakable message of fury at the prospect of a Trump presidency. But they did so much more: They rebuilt spirits crushed by the 2016 election and energized the resistance. Many came home from the march realizing that they could no longer outsource their activism to political parties or centralized advocacy groups. They realized they needed to bring their activism home, and organizations like Indivisible and MoveOn blossomed.
Fast forward one disastrous year, and another women’s march is in the works, this one to be centered in Las Vegas.
Marches, and elections, are important. But as we mobilize, we also need to create new, powerful local infrastructure, or strengthen groups that are already on the ground. Sustained local power means we can stand up year-round for people who are targeted, resist policies that will harm our communities, reimagine the world we want together with others in our communities, and then make that reimagined world a reality.
Marches are powerful organizing tools, especially when people are angry. And today there are many reasons to be angry:
- The newly adopted tax bill will cost billions that will go straight into the pockets of the ultra-rich while hitting low-income and middle-class people and children especially hard—and the elderly too, if Paul Ryan succeeds in pushing through cuts in Social Security and Medicare.
- The #MeToo moment has focused the nation’s attention as never before on sexual harassment and reminded everyone that a man who bragged about sexual assault remains in the White House.
- Evidence of Russian influence over our election, media, and politics is bad enough, but the possible entanglement of Trump enterprises, family, and perhaps the president himself makes this a dangerous moment in American history.
- The dreams of DACA youth have been crushed.
- A white supremacist movement is reemerging with the support of the president.
- The Paris climate deal has been abandoned.
- The Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments have been eviscerated by the Trump administration.
- Protections for net neutrality, health, and the environment, and even respect for “evidence-based” science, have been targeted by the current administration.
So march we must!
But mobilizing marches around the country will have much more impact if we also build sustained, local movements. The work of resisting Trumpism and the rogue Republican state will last for years, and building a different sort of world—beyond corporate power and beyond white supremacy and patriarchy—will take years and generations. Big mobilizations are important, but just one tactic. We can only win if we build sustainable networks and increase organization, from the bottom up.
The midterm elections: distraction or the whole point?
The organizers of the women’s march are looking ahead to the midterm elections, as they should be. With Trump’s historically low approval ratings, this could be the year when the new breed of Republican extremists loses big. Progressive candidates did extremely well at the polls in 2017; according to The Nation, there are now 100 elected officials who took office supported by Our Revolution, the political movement that emerged from the Bernie Sanders campaign.
All the work that goes into mobilizing young and old voters, people of color, women, and others to go to the polls will have much more impact, though, if it also builds sustained, local power.
Every four years, the big national parties raise millions of dollars, buy ads, and sweep into communities with outside organizers. But rarely does all this spending and mobilizing build the long-term power base that supports real change. Instead, two or four years later, they start all over again with their big lists, corporate money, and top-down mobilization.
It’s time for a different approach. Instead of organizing for a one-off event—like a march or an election—we need to organize sustained, locally rooted, empowered, and connected groups.
Members of these independent, locally rooted groups may choose to leap into the midterm elections—there are good reasons to do so! But the groups that build local infrastructure at the same time can do so much more. They can build a pipeline to recruit and encourage truly progressive candidates of all races and backgrounds, men, women, LGBTQ. They can distinguish between those with an authentic concern for the common good and opportunists. They can hold their representatives accountable.
And local groups can build power beyond elections. Because we have a lot of work to do to reinvent our broken systems and reweave the fabric of our communities. Local groups are our best hope for undoing the damage and building anew.
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FOCUS: The US Donor Relief Act of 2017 |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=8461"><span class="small">Joseph E. Stiglitz, Project Syndicate</span></a>
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Monday, 08 January 2018 12:03 |
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Stiglitz writes: "There is nothing about the GOP's recently-passed tax package that lives up to its proponents' promises; it is neither a reform effort nor an equitable tax cut. Rather, the bill embodies all that is wrong with the Republican Party, and to some extent, the debased state of American democracy."
Joseph Stiglitz. (photo: Virginia Mayo/AP)
The US Donor Relief Act of 2017
By Joseph E. Stiglitz, Project Syndicate
08 January 18
There is nothing about the GOP’s recently-passed tax package that lives up to its proponents’ promises; it is neither a reform effort nor an equitable tax cut. Rather, the bill embodies all that is wrong with the Republican Party, and to some extent, the debased state of American democracy.
 ever has a piece of legislation labeled as both a tax cut and a reform been received with as much disapproval and derision as the bill passed by the US Congress and signed into law by President Donald Trump just before Christmas. The Republicans who voted for the bill (no Democrats did) claim that their gift will come to be appreciated later, as Americans see their take-home pay go up. They are almost certainly wrong. Rather, the bill wraps into one package all that is wrong with the Republican Party, and to some extent, the debased state of American democracy.
The legislation is not “tax reform” by even the most elastic reading. Reform entails closing distortionary loopholes and increasing the fairness of the tax code. Central to fairness is the ability to pay. But this tax legislation reduces taxes by tens of thousands of dollars, on average, for those most able to pay (the top quintile). And, when fully implemented (in 2027), it will increase taxes on a majority of Americans in the middle (the second, third, and fourth quintiles).
The US tax code was already regressive long before Trump’s presidency. Indeed, the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in the world, famously complained that it was wrong that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary. The new legislation makes America’s tax system even more regressive.
It is now universally recognized that growing inequality is a key economic problem in the United States, with those at the top capturing almost all the gains in GDP over the past quarter-century. The new legislation adds insult to injury: rather than offsetting this disturbing trend, the Republicans’ “reform” gives even more to the top.
A more distorted economy is not a healthy economy. The International Monetary Fund has emphasized that a more unequal society worsens economic performance – and the new tax legislation will lead inexorably to a more unequal society.
Much of the complexity and distortion in the US tax code arises from different types of income being taxed at different rates. Such differential treatment leads not only to the (correct) perception that the tax code is unfair, but also to inefficiencies: resources move to favored sectors, and are wasted as firms try to convert their incomes and activities into the more favored forms. The worst provisions of the old tax code – such as the carried-interest loophole, which allows job-destroying private-equity firms to pay taxes at low rates – have been retained, and new categories of favored income (earned by so-called pass-through entities) have been created.
The hoped-for spur to economic growth is unlikely to materialize, for several reasons. First, the economy is already at or near full employment. If the US Federal Reserve comes to view that to be the case, it will raise interest rates at the first sign of a significant increase in aggregate demand. And higher interest rates mean that investment, and thus growth, will slow, even if the consumption of the very rich increases.
Moreover, squeezing the “blue” (Democratic) states, including California and New York, by including provisions in the tax bill aimed specifically at them, not only further widens America’s political divide; it’s also bad economics. No sane government would undermine the most dynamic parts of its economy, and yet that is what the Trump administration is doing. Special tax breaks for the real-estate sector may help Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, but it does not make America great or competitive. And limiting the deductibility of state income tax and property tax will almost surely reduce investment in education and infrastructure – again, not a sound strategy for increasing American competitiveness. Other new provisions will also hurt the US economy.
Because the fiscal deficit will increase – the only question is by how much, with my bet being that it will be far larger than current estimates of $1-1.5 trillion – the trade deficit will increase as well, regardless of whether Trump pursues more nativist/protectionist policies. Lower exports and higher imports will further undermine US manufacturing. Once again (as he has done with health care and the tax cuts), Trump is betraying his core supporters.
But the Republican Party is cynical. Its leaders are stuffing themselves at the trough – Trump, Kushner, and many others in his administration are among the biggest winners – thinking that this may be their last chance at such a feast. And no Republican believes the party can get away with it more firmly than Trump does.
That is why the legislation is structured to give individuals temporary tax cuts, with corporations getting a permanent reduction in their tax rate. The Republicans seem confident that voters will not see beyond the next paycheck. But voters are not so easily manipulated: they have seen through the trick, and are rightly convinced by the numerous studies, from sources in and out of government, showing that the lion’s share of the tax cut goes to corporations and the very rich.
Trump’s tax legislation also attests to many Republicans’ belief that dollars are more important than voters. All that matters is pleasing their corporate sponsors, who will reward the party with contributions, which will be used to buy votes, thereby ensuring the perpetuation of a corporate-driven political agenda.
Let’s hope that Americans really are smarter than the greedy corporate CEOs and their cynical Republican servants believe. With midterm congressional elections coming in November, they will have ample opportunity to prove it.
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FOCUS: Agenda Items for Camp David Retreat |
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Written by <a href="index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=35918"><span class="small">Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page</span></a>
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Monday, 08 January 2018 11:45 |
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Moore writes: "Trump, Pence, top White House officials, key Cabinet members and top Republican leaders in Congress are at a retreat together this weekend at Camp David."
Filmmaker Michael Moore. (photo: Rolling Stone)
Agenda Items for Camp David Retreat
By Michael Moore, Michael Moore's Facebook Page
08 January 18
 rump, Pence, top White House officials, key Cabinet members and top Republican leaders in Congress are at a retreat together this weekend at Camp David.
AGENDA ITEMS:
1. Opening Prayer for more money, less gays.
2. Pledge of Allegiance to the Republican Party (“PARTY OVER COUNTRY!”).
3. Sing National Anthem https://youtu.be/AOAtz8xWM0w
4. Another prayer, this one for more guns in every home.
5. Decide what part of North Korea to drop A-bomb on (look for a more desolate area; too many dead & burned civilians = bad PR).
6. Grant honorary party membership for Harvey Weinstein and all men currently under attack.
7. Pence power point presentation on gay conversion.
8. White Lives Matter guest speaker Gov. Rick Snyder.
9. Dinner: KFC, McDonald’s Quarter Pounders w/ cheese, Papa John’s meat-lovers pizza.
10. Entertainment: Steve Mnuchin prints REAL money LIVE; plus Fox & Friends perform in a Toby Keith Tribute Band
11. After Dinner Meeting (after Trump goes to bed with the leftover cheeseburgers): Invoke the 25th Amendment, then the men in the white jackets arrive and remove Trump to take him to Bethesda hospital for “observation” — but then for some reason, no one can find Pence! Some question if he ever existed! Ryan then installed until Nov 2018 election when the majority party will take over.
12. One last prayer for less gay fetuses.
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