For the most part, I can be calm about the stacked deck we call elections in the state of Illinois. It's constantly angering, yes, but I can control that anger; I can speak calmly and with dispassion on this issue about which I am so passionate. Today I am having a hard time with that control. Continue reading

It's time to evict the slumlords taking up residence in the Trump White House There are many ways to get federal housing assistance. A person can apply to live in public housing or they can receive a rent subsidy for living in private accomodations. Public housing—of which there are approximately 1.3 million units across the United States—is managed by regional housing authorities. According to the United States Housing Market Conditions Summary, nearly all the people in this housing are old, disabled or have young children. In fact, it might surprise you that more than half of all public housing is occupied by extremely low income elderly individuals or the severely disabled. Most of these folks have an income of less than ten grand each year. If you’ve been paying attention to current events, that means that a publicly housed elderly or infirm guy’s three year income still totals less than the cost of the dining set HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, blames his wife for ordering for his office. Continue reading

Do working people have any reliable friends on the political field? We're long past the point where Democrats can claim to be the party of workers. Republicans have never been sympathetic, except in their most mendacious flights of campaign rhetoric. The spectacular victory of the public school teachers' strike in West Virginia, in which they won all their demands, occurred without major-party support. The West Virginia Mountain Party, affiliated with the Green Party, endorsed it on February 18. Continue reading

Green Women Rising Statement on International Women’s Day In this era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, International Women’s Day 2018 follows a movement that has arisen from the voices of people globally for the rights of women and equality and justice. The public is demanding change as an outcry against sexual harassment, violence, gender gap in wages, and discrimination against women. The time is now. #PressforProgress. Continue reading

Recently I was hurled across the existential divide that separates the millions of people around the world who have experienced a life-threatening extreme weather event from those who have not. In December 2017 unseasonal Santa Ana winds roared off a California desert across two drought-parched counties, not for the usual 48 hours but for more than a week, blowing a brush fire across 440 square miles. It was named the Thomas fire, the largest in California history. Continue reading

Everyone is pointing fingers left and right. However, nobody is calling out the Broward School Board and the Superintendent for their lack of action on ensuring school safety for the past decade. As a candidate for the school board and a friend of Stoneman Douglas students, I've called for the resignation of the Superintendent. Someone has to take responsibility for this lack of action. With white supremacy plaguing communities of color, we can not back down from defeating this monster. The monster of gun culture, which is rooted in white supremacy and toxic masculinity. We must stand with with the youth of Stonemam Douglas and of the country, who are demanding radical change. Continue reading

Over a year after the historic effort to recount the 2016 vote, our legal team is still at work in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania fighting for an election system that is accurate, secure and just – and free from interference by any intruders, whether foreign or domestic! Towards that end, we now have the exciting opportunity to examine the secret voting machine "source code" – a crucial piece of voting machine software which controls the actual counting and tallying of the votes. Continue reading

One of the most ingenious propaganda weapons ever developed is that the powerful nations of the West—led by the United States—have a moral responsibility to use military force to protect the rights of people being repressed by their governments. This "responsibility to protect" (R2P) always had a dubious legal standing, but its moral justification also required a psychological and historical disengagement from the bloody reality of the 500-hundred-year history of U.S. and European colonialism, slavery, genocide and torture that created the "West." Continue reading

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said last September that a state single-payer public health plan would be a "good idea." But he said nothing about it in his State of the State and budget messages. A state "Medicare for All" system would save $2.7 billion to insure state employees, which would take a big bite out of the $4.4 billion deficit the state faces. Continue reading

International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Bi-Phobia Today the world celebrates International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia (IDAHOT). This “global celebration of sexual and gender diversities,” provides us a space to recognize the struggle against violence and discrimination of LGBTI persons worldwide. I take that opportunity to reflect on the contributions that the Green Party has made to LGBTI persons and call upon my party to challenge itself in helping advance justice for this community. Continue reading