Category: Uncategorized

I have seen some folks on Facebook with a fairly large following making utterly wrong and irresponsible claims about the No Kings protests. They are wrong. Our country, our future, our kids,  need you to come out tomorrow.  Find an event here. 1. I don’t there is much danger to attending the protests. I see absolutely no evidence that Trump intends to invoke the insurrection act and send either national guard units or federal troops anywhere that are not already there. The federal government can’t do this quickly and without warning. As far as I know,  federal government does not have Star Trek style transporters than can move thousands  of troops into a city without there being obvious movements that we and the press will see. As long as the protests are peaceful, I don’t think either the police in most places let alone federal forces will interfere with them.… Continue reading

Income and wealth are highly concentrated at the top in Pennsylvania, a situation that has worsened greatly in recent decades. Pennsylvania voters rightly believe that corporations and wealthy individuals aren’t paying their fair share to fund the government services and infrastructure we all depend on. In November and December of 2022, Data for Progress conducted a survey of registered voters nationally to gauge voter support towards state action to ensure that profitable corporations and the wealthy are paying their fair share of taxes. The national survey was then used to estimate opinion at the state level for Pennsylvania, using a machine learning model trained on nationally representative survey responses linked to a commercial voter file. There is no question that Pennsylvania’s voters are supportive of statewide policies that require those at the top to pay their fair share. Voters are looking to Pennsylvania’s elected leaders to hold corporations accountable and create… Continue reading

The state of Pennsylvania does not allow local governments—whether counties or municipalities—to set a higher minimum wage than that set by the state. It should do so. The reason it should is obvious: Pennsylvania is a large, diverse state in which local economies differ from one county and city to another. Some of our counties have a much higher cost of living than others, which means that the single statewide minimum is less valuable to working people in some counties than others. Some of our counties have much higher average wages than others, which means that they can support a higher minimum wage without any job loss. (And it’s pretty clear that, under current economic conditions, it would take a much higher minimum wage to cause job loss than anything being discussed in the General Assembly.) Some of our counties have lower unemployment or more employers looking to hire people… Continue reading

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