Berry Craig: Gilded Age steel tycoon Henry Clay Frick is long gone. But his old union-busting tactic in is play at the Century Aluminum plant in Hawesville, Kentucky.
Jessica Price: We hear news of officers throughout our country speeding, stealing during arrests, and wrongfully arresting people for failure to provide identification, often without repercussion. These reports are, sadly, no longer shocking.
Berry Craig: Gilded Age steel tycoon Henry Clay Frick is long gone. But his old union-busting tactic in is play at the Century Aluminum plant in Hawesville, Kentucky.
Kevin Zeese: Sessions’ action flies in the face of the threats made by the US Trade Representative to prosecute elected officials who tell people what is in the trade agreement.
Derailing Amtrak: Tracking the Latest Disaster in the Infrastructure Crisis
Ellen Brown: There are ways Congress could fund its massive infrastructure bill without raising taxes. But the conservative-controlled Congress seems to have other plans for the nation’s profitable public assets.
Why Do White Supremacist Biker Gangs Get a Media Pass?
David A. Love: If the Texas biker gangs were black, the media would be on this thing like white on rice. Yet even though they were armed, because they were white, they were treated as human beings, with dignity.
Derailing Amtrak: Tracking the Latest Disaster in the Infrastructure Crisis
Ellen Brown: There are ways Congress could fund its massive infrastructure bill without raising taxes. But the conservative-controlled Congress seems to have other plans for the nation’s profitable public assets.
Amy Roe: In 2014, Black people in the U.S. were nearly three times more likely than Whites to be killed by police, according to Mapping Police Violence, a data visualization website.
Michael Haas: If police forces throughout the country were to call upon the Honolulu Police Department for technical assistance, the situation in Ferguson might never have happened.
Janet Phelan: If the President is truly serious about routing out the systemic abusers, his Attorney General has hundreds of reports about guardians abusing their wards
Bernie Sanders' Bold, New Plan May Have Just Locked Down the Millennial VoteBy Scott Bixby
May 19, 2015
Sen. Bernie Sanders wants your votes, millennials — and with the introduction of his latest bill, he may have just clinched them.
On Tuesday, the independent senator from Vermont introduced the College for All Act, which would make attendance of any four-year public college or university free of charge for any American student who can meet admissions standards.
"We live in a highly competitive global economy and, if our economy is to be strong, we need the best educated work force in the world," said Sanders in a statement on Sunday ahead of the bill's introduction. "That will not happen if, every year, hundreds of thousands of bright young people cannot afford to go to college, and if millions more leave school deeply in debt."
The senator, a self-described democratic socialist who announced his candidacy for the White House less than a month ago, reaffirmed previous statements in support of European-style redistribution of wealth to provide for social services. "Countries like Germany, Denmark, Sweden and many more are providing free or inexpensive higher education for their young people," Sanders said Sunday. "They understand how important it is to be investing in their youth. We should be doing the same."
Sanders' bill addresses the root cause of student load debt: the disproportionately high cost of higher education. The legislation, an expansion of a proposal he floated in February that would have cut higher education costs in half, would provide $47 billion in federal funding per year to eliminate undergraduate tuition and fees at public colleges and universities.
"We used to lead the world in the percentage of our people who graduated college," said Sanders. "Today we are in 12th place. We used to have great universities tuition-free. Today they are unaffordable. I want a more educated work force. I want everybody to be able to get a higher education regardless of their income."
The issue hits millennials hard — and their wallets even harder. The cost of higher education has risen by 1,225% since 1978, according to Bloomberg News, a rate of inflation that outpaces increases in the cost of housing, food and even health care. Student loan debt has reached $1.16 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, dwarfing national credit card debt to become the single largest source of non-mortgage debt in America. More than 7 million people are currently in default over student loans, at an average of more than$28,000 per graduate. The class of 2015's average liability is even worse: $35,000per graduate. This trillion-dollar debt load has peaked at a time when the job prospects of millennial graduates are less than promising. Although the labor market for college graduates is improving, according to researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the unemployment rate for workers aged 20 to 24 is still at 9.6%, more than doublethe rate for so-called prime-age workers (ages 25 to 54). According to those same researchers, 44.6% of employed millennial graduates are underemployed, working in jobs that "typically do not require a college degree." Since the Great Recession, the national dialogue around the skyrocketing cost of higher education has been one about "worth," i.e., whether a degree in art history is "worth" going into tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Everyone from Ivy-educated "thought leaders" to the president of the United States have expressed this utilitarian view of postsecondary education, criticizing the decision by college students to follow their passions instead of simply major in engineering. (Honestly, Mr. President, we get enough of that from our moms.)
It's one of Sanders' biggest issues — and smartest bets. Sanders may be best known for his self-described socialism, rather than for being a realistic contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, but his passion and experience for student-loan reform is beyond reproach. A 24-year veteran of Congress, Sanders has sponsored the Student Loan Affordability Act, a bill which would extend subsidized federal student loan rates, as well as making employee educational assistance tax-deductible. He's also sponsored legislation that would make employee educational assistance tax-deductible for employers. In May 2014, surrounded by indebted Vermont college students and graduates, Sanders announced that he was introducing legislation to help students earn college credits in high school in order to cut the amount of time they spend paying tuition costs. Sanders' bill could make debt-free college the new 2016 litmus test for millennial voters. Lowering the cost of higher education was the single most important issue that would have increased turnout among Democrats in the 2014 elections, according to polling conducted by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. An ideal bill, according to a paper by the PCCC and the think tank Demos, would feature federal aid to states to lower the cost of college tuition, need-based aid to qualified students and other cost-cutting efforts like standardizing transfer credits and eliminating physical textbooks.
The notion of debt-free college has already been on the periphery of the 2016 Democratic primaries. In an email to supporters, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley declared that the party's "ultimate goal should be simple: Every student should be able to go to college debt-free." Robby Mook, Hillary Clinton's campaign manager, hashighlighted the issue as one that needs to be taken up by "a champion for everyday people."
With the introduction of Sanders' bill, the pressure is only going to increase on frontrunner Clinton to detail an educational plan of her own. Last month, when Clinton spokesman Jesse Ferguson was asked about debt-free college, he said that the former secretary of state's student-loan plan would be rolled out "in the months ahead." As Sanders' bill gains political traction with voters (if not with the Senate's Republican majority), the Clinton camp may be compelled to take tuition-free college off the back burner. Although Republicans have stayed generally silent on the issue of student-loan debt (beyond blocking consideration of Sen. Elizabeth Warren's bill allowing the refinancing of student loans), the response to Sanders' bill will likely feature cries of "socialism!" and "Scandinavia!" But for millennial voters, the "s-word" may not be the poison pill it once was: A recent Pew poll showed that 49% of of 18- to 29-year-olds view socialism in a positive light.
Scott Bixby Scott is a Senior Editor at Mic. Scott's writing has appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek, Esquire, GQ, The Daily Beast, and in a secret diary that he keeps under his mattress.
I’m still lit up from the amazing People Power that was on display at the “Paddle in Seattle” this weekend. I’m also bursting with pride at how Team O98 represented.
On Saturday, over 500 kayaks took to the waters of Elliott Bay to say “ShellNo” to the massive Polar Pioneer, one of Shell’s Arctic oil exploration platforms. Other98’s “Mosquito Fleet” was out in force to keep folks safe and out of harm’s way.
In the center of this massive “kayak-tivist” armada was the People’s Platform, a 4,000 square foot solar powered barge that Other98 built (with the help of dozens of friends) to help lift up the voices of folks from all over the world who have a beef with Shell’s Arctic drilling.
We now have a crack team of media-makers living aboard the People’s Platform (anchored just 1000 yards away from Shell’s drill rig). Our stated objective is to light up the night and give Shell hell until they attempt to leave the Puget Sound.
Other98 worked with a coalition that included Coast Salish canoe families, Greenpeace, 350Seattle, RisingTide, Bayan, and the Raging Grannies to pull off an epic day in the fight for Climate Justice.
Our action is now reverberating across the planet and still spawning media stories in outlets of all sizes, from personal blogs to the world’s biggest newspapers. Here are a few highlights: • This piece from the Associated Press was picked up by the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, the Houston Chronicle, and many more major newspapers • Grist.org assembled a collection of incredible images that you should definitely see • The Guardian, a UK outlet, wrote a truly excellent piece with some great interviews, including a profile of yours truly. If you only read one piece, make it this one. • Seattle’s Pulitzer Prize-winning alt weekly, The Stranger, wrote a piece highlighting the leadership of indigenous people throughout #ShellNo: Why Descendants of Chief Seattle Led the Protest Against Shell on Saturday.
We also published our own roundup of favorite moments at other98.com.
We were stoked to see so many stories mention the People’s Platform. It really does take a spectacle to get the eyes of the world on you. If you donate, you’d be directly boosting the efficacy of this action, which is pretty cool! Just click here to chip in.
After this weekend, more than a few kayak-tivists may consider paddling out to stop Shell from heading up to the Arctic. Stay tuned...
Thanks again for everything you do. I hope you’re as proud of this action as we are, because you made this happen too. Thank you.
Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to sell its liquefied petroleum gas subsidiary in France for more about $520 million as the Dutch energy supermajor continues its efforts to sell off its LPG businesses worldwide.
Shell, which is increasingly focusing on oil and liquefied natural gas with its planned acquisition of BG Group, said it is in exclusive talks to sell its subsidiary, France-based Butagaz LPG, to Ireland-based DCC Group, which largely focuses on LPG distribution throughout Europe.
Shell said it has a binding offer of 464 euros, or roughly $520 million, and that the detail should be finalized this year.
Shell vows to explore Arctic despite Seattle protests
BY RON BOUSSO: Tue May 19, 2015
Royal Dutch Shell will press on with a campaign to explore the Arctic for oil this summer despite protests in the port city of Seattle, chief executive officer Ben van Beurden said on Tuesday.
Hundreds of environmental activists have fanned out across the Seattle Bay in recent days to disrupt the Anglo-Dutch company’s rigs from entering the port en route to the Chukchi Sea off Alaska, saying drilling in the remote Arctic waters could lead to an ecological catastrophe.
Van Beurden however dismissed claims that Shell’s was using Seattle’s port illegally.
SEE BELOW FOR THE 1001STTIME THE REITERATION OF DEMAND PAYMENT OF RETIREMENT PAY WHICH SHELL REFUSED TO HONOR IN THE PRESENCE AND DEEMED APPROVAL OF THE HONORABLE MAGISTRATES OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE PHILIPPINES
Shell agrees to sell its French LPG business
Shell vows to explore Arctic despite Seattle protests
