New York

Economy, Health Care Reform, New York January 19, 2018

Universal health insurance is answer to improving NY’s business climate

syracuse.com By Howie Hawkins January 18, 2018 Your Jan. 14 editorial (“CNY economy needs workforce training“) cites a CenterState CEO survey of business leaders who said rising employee benefit costs were “the No. 1 pressure point for their businesses in 2017.” But your response seems to be call for state tax and spending cuts. That seems implied by your comment that the “state’s tax climate also matters” and adding that the state faces a $4 billion deficit, plus additional lost revenue from federal changes to health care and tax policy, which is estimated to be over $2 billion. I would…

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Civil Rights, Death Penalty, Green Party, New York, Race, Social Justice November 7, 2017

3 years at Rikers Island pushed his brother to suicide. Now he’s running for mayor to shut it down.

circa By Reed Dunlea November 7, 2017 On June 16, 2015, Akeem Browder lost his younger brother. Kalief Browder was arrested in the Bronx in 2010, when he was 16 years old. He was accused of stealing a backpack that contained cash, a credit card, a camera and an iPod. For the next three years, Kalief was locked up at Rikers Island, a 400-acre jail complex in the East River between Queens and the Bronx. Approximately 10,000 inmates sit on Rikers every day; most have not been convicted of a crime, but are awaiting trial. Kalief was routinely beaten by…

Climate Change, Environment, Fracking, Green Party, New York, Nuclear Power May 31, 2017

On Trump’s Opposition to the Paris Climate Agreement

By Mark Dunlea Green Education and Legal Fund While COP21 is a flawed agreement, the refusal of the Trump administration to abide by even these limited goals locks us into catastrophic climate change. Congress should – but won’t – rise up and take legislative and oversight action to save the planet. It is up to average Americans to force elected officials to take effective and timely action on climate disruption. The path to a safer planet that creates jobs, improves health and strengthens local communities has long existed. The oil and gas barons use their enormous wealth to subvert the…

Climate Change, Environment, Fracking, New York April 20, 2017

The Planet is Under Attack this Earth Day

How NY Can Resist Trump By Mark Dunlea, Green Education and Legal Fund On Earth Day, scientists and their supporters will be marching in DC and throughout the country to counter the anti-science climate change deniers who control the federal government and are gleefully seeking to destroy the EPA and bail out the fossil fuel industry. The need for action by state and local governments – and the leadership of grassroots activists – is more urgent than ever. The question for New Yorkers is “is the state doing enough?” The clear answer, sadly, is no. The state is moving in…

Democratic Party, Green Party, Labor, Marxism, New York, Social Justice, Socialism April 9, 2017

Storefront Socialism: A Roadmap for the Green Party and the Left

By Christopher Casey In a recent article for Truthdig, Chris Hedges reiterated what many of us on the Left have been saying for some time. The Bernie Sanders campaign will NOT bring about any fundamental change, and represents a tragic diversion of social justice energies into the Democratic Party, a place where progressive movements go to die. Hedges also has some very sharp words about the current state of my Green Party, saying it is “crippled by endemic factionalism and dysfunction”. While I think Hedges’ latter comments are inaccurate and hyperbolic, he is correct in suggesting that the Green Party…