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Warren accelerates ’20 Democrats campaign finance disarmament

Elizabeth Warren says she's no longer going to do fundraising the old-fashioned way – with a ceaseless cycle of receptions and dinners punctuated by telephone solicitations.

"My presidential primary campaign will be run on the principle of equal access for anybody who joins it," the Massachusetts senator said in a message to supporters of her campaign, promising that she won't sell any sort of additional access – not even a grip-and-grin photograph – based on the generosity of a donor.


"No fancy receptions or big money fundraisers only with people who can write the big checks. And when I thank the people giving to my campaign, it will not be based on the size of their donation. It means that wealthy donors won't be able to purchase better seats or one-on-one time with me at our events. And it means I won't be doing 'call time,' which is when candidates take hours to call wealthy donors to ask for their support."

Her decision is an attempt to up the rectitude ante in a campaign finance disarmament race with her rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, most of whom have already promised to eschew donations from corporate political action committees. It also means she's doubling down on a reliance on small-donor donations that has characterized the field so far – a tactic in which she's so far lagged behind several others including her principal rival among the unambiguously progressive aspirants: Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who took in $6 million in small gifts in the first day after announcing his candidacy.


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‘I Can’t Keep Up’: Many Single Moms Were Struggling To Get By. Then Gas Prices Shot Up.

Luna Rosado, a single mom of three in Connecticut, said she is paying about $40 more a week on gas, cutting into her budget for groceries and other essentials.

Courtesy of Luna Rosado; Emily Scherer for The 19th

‘I Can’t Keep Up’: Many Single Moms Were Struggling To Get By. Then Gas Prices Shot Up.

The rise in gas prices happened so quickly, single mom Luna Rosado has barely had time to adjust.

Rosado fills her tank twice a week to commute to her two health care jobs and shuttle her three kids to school, basketball and soccer practice.

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African American elementary student and his friends studying over computers during a class in the classroom.

A 20-year education veteran examines the decline of student performance in America, highlighting the impact of screen time, overreliance on technology, weak fundamentals, and unequal school funding—and calls for urgent education reform.

Getty Images, StockPlanets

The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste - What To Do

The motto of the United Negro College Fund can today be applied to all children in our school systems—not just the socially disadvantaged, or poor, or intellectually challenged, but all children regardless of SES characteristics or intelligence. I say this based on 20 years of working as a volunteer tutor or staff in elementary and middle schools in various parts of the country.

The problem has several components. The first is the pervasive negative impact on children's minds of their compulsive use of screens, social media, and the internet. There is no shortage of articles that have been written, both scientific and anecdotal, about the various aspects of this negative impact. Research shows that the compulsive use of screen devices leads to a variety of social interaction and psychological problems.

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Canceled and Silenced: From Instagram Ban to Fears of Censorship

A civil rights attorney reflects on being banned from Instagram, rising censorship, and her parents’ escape from Cuba—drawing chilling parallels between past authoritarian regimes and growing threats to free speech in America.

Getty Images, filo

Canceled and Silenced: From Instagram Ban to Fears of Censorship

I have often discussed my parents' fleeing Cuba, in part, for free speech.

The Washington Post just purged one third of their team, including reporters who are stationed in Ukraine and the middle east, reporting on critical international affairs.

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Immigration Crackdowns Are Breaking the Food System

Man standing with "Law Enforcement" sign on his vest

Photo provided by WALatinoNews

Immigration Crackdowns Are Breaking the Food System

In using immigration to target Farm and food chain workers, as well as other essential industries like carework, cleaning, and food chains, our federal government is committing us to a food system in danger.

A food system where Farmworkers, meat packers, and other food chain workers are threatened with violence is not a system that will keep families healthy and fed. It is not a system that the soils and waterways of our planet can sustain, and it is not a system that will support us in surviving climate change. We each have a role to take in moving toward a food system free of exploitation.

The threat of immigration enforcement, which has always been hand in hand with racism, makes all workers vulnerable. This form of abuse from employers, landlords, and law enforcement is used to threaten and remove workers who organize against their exploitation. This is true even in places like Washington State, where laws like the Keep Washington Working Act which prohibits local law enforcement agencies from giving any non public information to Federal Immigration officers for the purpose of civil immigration enforcement , and the recently passed HB 2165 banning mask use by law enforcement offer some kind of protection.

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