Denis Moynihan

Defeats of Andrew Puzder and Michael Flynn reveal power of grassroots movements

rabble staff — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:22:12 +0000

Thursday, February 16, 2017

"When the people lead, the leaders will follow" are the oft-quoted words attributed to Gandhi. This week, massive grassroots organizing helped defeat the nomination of Andrew Puzder, a multimillionaire fast-food CEO, as Donald Trump's secretary of labour. He was widely accused of running companies rife with wage theft and sexual harassment. His personal life was marred by accusations of hiring an undocumented immigrant, tax evasion and domestic violence. The push for his defeat was led by some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in our society, and serves as a lesson in the importance and power of movements.

The engine driving both the ouster of Andrew Puzder and Michael Flynn are movements of thousands upon thousands of people across the U.S., saying "no" to hate, bigotry and injustice.

Silenced twice by U.S. Senate, Coretta Scott King's words live on

rabble staff — Thu, 09 Feb 2017 14:19:29 +0000

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was interrupted while reading the words of Coretta Scott King on the U.S. Senate floor this week. Warren was reading a 1986 letter King wrote in opposition to the confirmation of Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, then a U.S. attorney in Alabama, to a federal district judgeship. In a rare decision, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Sessions. Now, as the Senate debated a new confirmation of Sen. Sessions for the position of U.S. attorney general, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., silenced Warren shortly after she read Coretta Scott King's words, invoking an obscure Senate rule against impugning colleagues. She was told to sit down and was barred from speaking further during the ongoing debate on Sessions.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was interrupted while reading the words of Coretta Scott King on the U.S. Senate floor this week.

Frederick Douglass inspires resistance in the face of Trump oppression

rabble staff — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 13:37:04 +0000

Thursday, February 2, 2017

The good news is that President Donald Trump opened Black History Month by mentioning the renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The bad news is, he doesn't seem to realize he's dead. "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who's done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice," Trump said at his "African-American History Month Listening Session," which he hosted at the White House. Whether it was a misstatement or genuine ignorance of who Frederick Douglass was, or, perhaps, one of Trump's notorious "alternative facts," is not clear. What is clear is that the spirit of resistance for which Frederick Douglass is best remembered is alive and well, and is directed squarely against the Trump administration.

The spirit of resistance for which Frederick Douglass is best remembered is alive and well, and is directed squarely against the Trump administration.

Pipeline resistance grows as Trump revives Keystone XL and Dakota Access megaprojects

rabble staff — Thu, 26 Jan 2017 15:35:24 +0000

Thursday, January 26, 2017

No longer just tweeting, President Donald J. Trump has been issuing a stream of executive orders and memoranda since his inauguration. On Tuesday, his pronouncements involved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines. Both projects were denied or delayed by the Obama administration, each after massive public protests. Now, with the Trump administration's actions, buttressed by a servile Congress under Republican control, fossil-fuel megaprojects are getting the green light.

But it will take more than the stroke of Trump's pen to quash the vigorous resistance to these two pipelines, or the growing global demand for urgent action to combat climate change.

It will take more than the stroke of Trump's pen to quash the vigorous resistance to the Keystone and Dakota Access pipelines, or the growing global demand for urgent action to combat climate change.

After seven years in prison, Chelsea Manning will walk free

rabble staff — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 01:08:41 +0000

Thursday, January 19, 2017

In April 2010, a classified U.S. military video was released through the website Wikleaks, recorded from a camera aboard an Apache helicopter. It shows the massacre of civilians on a street in Baghdad, Iraq. The video, which Wikleaks called "Collateral Murder," documented in graphic, grainy black-and-white detail a helicopter gunship attack on July 12, 2007. The helicopter opens fire with machine guns on a group of men, including Reuters news agency photographer Namir Noor-Eldeen and his driver, Saeed Chmagh. Most of the men are killed instantly. Noor-Eldeen runs away, and the crosshairs follow him, shooting nonstop, until he falls dead.

A worldwide campaign petitioned Barack Obama to grant clemency to Chelsea Manning, the longest-held whistleblower in U.S. history. This week Obama issued his decision to free Manning.

U.S. Senate should reject Jeff Sessions again, 30 years later

rabble staff — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 20:57:29 +0000

Thursday, January 12, 2017

The arc of U.S. history is on full display as the peaceful transition of power takes place from the administration of President Barack Obama to that of incoming president-elect Donald Trump. The first African-American president is about to hand the reins of power to the very man who led the racist "birther" campaign to delegitimize his presidency. As Trump continues to shock the world with his middle-of-the-night tweets, the flurry of Senate confirmation hearings exposed the hollow rhetoric of Trump's pledge to "drain the swamp." Among the controversial and divisive cabinet nominees is his pick for attorney general: Jeff Sessions, the junior senator from Alabama.

Sen. Sessions has been consistent throughout his career. The Senate Judiciary Committee should be equally consistent and reject Sessions as attorney general.

Obama has the power to protect undocumented immigrants from Trump's mass deportations

rabble staff — Thu, 05 Jan 2017 15:24:32 +0000

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Donald Trump will soon sweep into the office of the U.S. presidency, buttressed by both houses of Congress firmly in Republican control. A wave of regressive executive orders and legislation are already being prepared to ensure that Trump's first 100 days effectively erase the Obama presidency. Where Trump was once the most prominent "birther," attempting to deny President Barack Obama's legitimacy with a racist campaign accusing him of being born in Kenya, Trump now will wield a pen to legally undermine Obama's legacy. But Barack Obama is still the president of the United States until Jan. 20, and retains the enormous executive powers that the office bestows.

President Obama can use his immense power of the presidential pardon to de-escalate the war on immigrants, which otherwise, under Trump, threatens to get immeasurably worse.

Donald Trump may have started a new arms race

rabble staff — Sat, 31 Dec 2016 07:30:27 +0000

Friday, December 30, 2016

President-elect Donald Trump exploded a half-century of U.S. nuclear-arms policy in a single tweet last week: "The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes." With that one vague message, Donald Trump, who hasn't even taken office yet, may have started a new arms race.

Trump's statement set off alarms around the world, necessitating a cadre of his inner circle to flood the airwaves with now-routine attempts to explain what their boss "really meant." On MSNBC, Rachel Maddow confronted former Trump campaign manager and newly appointed Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway about the shocking tweet:

Maddow: "He's saying we're going to expand our nuclear capability."

The President-elect's vague tweet set off alarms around the world, necessitating a cadre of his inner circle to flood the airwaves with now-routine attempts to explain what their boss "really meant."

North Carolina Republicans provoke political firestorm with attacks on democracy

rabble staff — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 13:59:19 +0000

Friday, December 23, 2016

North Carolina Republicans have provoked a political firestorm. First, Gov. Pat McCrory refused to concede his loss for close to a month. Then, under the guise of providing Hurricane Matthew relief money, they convened several back-to-back special sessions, all geared at stripping power from Democratic Gov.-elect Roy Cooper before he takes office. The North Carolina General Assembly has seen mass protests and civil disobedience in defiance of the assembly's middle-of-the-night proceedings. Whereas President Barack Obama is honouring the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, a fundamental pillar of American democracy, North Carolina Republicans are taking a different path.

Whereas President Barack Obama is honouring the tradition of the peaceful transfer of power, North Carolina Republicans are taking a different path.

Electoral College may be last salvation to block Trump from taking office

rabble staff — Thu, 15 Dec 2016 13:12:43 +0000

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Donald Trump continues to shock the world as he endlessly fires off derogatory, lie-laden tweets and nominates generals and fossil-fuel zealots to his cabinet posts. Hillary Clinton's lead in the popular vote has climbed to 2.8 million votes, yet Trump retains his lead in electoral votes with 306 to Clinton's 232. The disparity has many questioning the existence of the Electoral College, just as Trump did on election night in 2012, when he mistakenly thought Mitt Romney was winning the popular vote but losing to Barack Obama in the electoral vote count. Trump tweeted, "The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy." Oddly, now, many among those who reject Trump's victory see the Electoral College as the last salvation to block Donald Trump from taking office.

The Electoral College meets Dec. 19, when its 538 members cast their votes. The hope of many Trump opponents is that at least 37 Republican electors will vote for someone else.

Water protectors celebrate a major victory at Standing Rock

rabble staff — Fri, 09 Dec 2016 13:51:27 +0000

Friday, December 9, 2016

The Dakota Access pipeline has been stopped, at least for now. The Standing Rock Sioux Nation and thousands of native and non-native allies won a remarkable and unexpected victory Sunday. Word came down that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had denied a permit for the pipeline owner, Energy Transfer Partners, to drill underneath the Missouri River, and that a full environmental-impact study would be launched. Grassroots organizing, nonviolent direct action and leadership from frontline Indigenous people succeeded in stopping the $3.8 billion, 1,200-mile pipeline in its tracks. As water protectors celebrated in the frozen camps, one question loomed: What will happen when Donald Trump takes over the presidency in six short weeks?

Grassroots organizing, nonviolent direct action and leadership from frontline Indigenous people succeeded in stopping the Dakota Access Pipeline in its tracks.

How corporate media failed democracy in the U.S. presidential election

rabble staff — Fri, 02 Dec 2016 14:47:41 +0000

Friday, December 2, 2016

We hadn't seen Bernie Sanders in Philadelphia since last July, when he watched his primary opponent, Hillary Clinton, win the Democratic Party's nomination. Sanders joined the Democracy Now! news hour this week at the historic Philadelphia Free Library for a wide-ranging discussion. "I am deeply concerned about the future of American democracy," Sanders told the enthusiastic standing-room-only crowd. Millions of Americans voted for Sanders in the primaries. He transformed the 2016 U.S.

The U.S. media effectively iced out a major-party candidate who consistently held the largest rallies, even without a media megaphone, while giving blanket coverage to candidate Donald Trump.

Sahrawis face brutal repression in their nonviolent struggle for self-determination

rabble staff — Fri, 25 Nov 2016 15:22:22 +0000

Friday, November 25, 2016

Sultana Khaya's eyes don't match perfectly. One of them is artificial. In 2005, a Moroccan police officer rammed his baton into her eye socket while she was peacefully protesting with fellow college students. He then gouged her eye out with his hand.

Sultana is Sahrawi (Sah-ha-RAH-wee), the Indigenous population native to Western Sahara. Occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco since 1975, Western Sahara is commonly referred to as Africa's last colony. The Sahrawis are in a protracted struggle for self-determination, and face terrible repression by Morocco.

Occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco since 1975, Western Sahara is commonly referred to as Africa's last colony. The Sahrawis are in a protracted struggle for independence.

Trump casts shadow over COP 22 as nations discuss climate action

rabble staff — Fri, 18 Nov 2016 00:10:27 +0000

Thursday, November 17, 2016

The world is reeling from Donald Trump's election. With each passing day, news of his potential Cabinet and other senior appointments emerges, defining a far-right-wing administration that few could have imagined possible just weeks ago. Protests across the United States continue, day after day, night after night, and have spread internationally. School administrators are making counsellors available to deal with the confusion overwhelming their students, especially immigrant children who fear they or their parents may well be targeted as part of Trump's promised roundup and deportation of 3 million undocumented people.

Nowhere is the immediate and potentially devastating impact of Donald Trump's capture of the presidency felt more clearly than at the United Nations climate change summit here in Marrakech.

The fight against Trump's dangerous agenda has just begun

rabble staff — Fri, 11 Nov 2016 02:28:29 +0000

Thursday, November 10, 2016

From Barack Obama, the first African-American president, the pendulum has ominously swung to the Ku Klux Klan's choice, Donald Trump. Just elected the 45th president of the United States, Trump opened his campaign calling Mexicans "rapists," and promised to build a wall along the border with Mexico (and to make Mexico pay for it). He vowed to ban Muslims from entering the country, insulted people with disabilities, bragged about committing sexual assault, denied climate change and said he would jail his opponent, Hillary Clinton. With the House of Representatives and the Senate remaining in Republican control, Trump's power could be almost entirely unchecked.

In the aftermath of this bitterly fought, often crude, vastly expensive and punishingly long election, two questions dominate: How did this happen, and where do we go from here?