Blue Mass Group

What do these states have in common? They all rate F for transparency. Here’s the Weekly Dig’s take on this https://digboston.com/mass-house-blocks-pro-transparency-pro-democracy-proposals/ The Globe has some similar coverage, I’m sure.
Rep. Dan Cahill had the funniest quote in the article, opposing a measure that would make committee votes public information,
It went something like “COVID 19,,, mumble mumble. . . overburdened staff . . . mumble mumble. . granular data.” Or as Mel Brooks said “Gentlemen, we have to save our phony-baloney jobs!”

In 2016, a steel worker union official asked President Barack Obama at a June 1 town hall in Elkhart, Indiana, about job losses at a plant run by Carrier, an air conditioning manufacturer that recently announced plans to move jobs from Indiana to Mexico. He replied that some jobs “are just not going to come back,” while others are in flux or rebounding.

In 2021, President Joe Biden said  ‘Does anybody think in the 21st century, with changes taking place in technology and across the board, than 12 years of education is enough to be able to live enough middle class life? I don’t think so,’.

As both presidents throw up their hands as if asked to defy the laws of gravity, neither is willing to admit that the reasons that plants move from Indiana to Mexico and 12 years of education will no longer support a middle class life is because we decided to make it so.  We decide on trade policy.  We decide on labor laws.  It is our government, our laws, that facilitated the exodus of factories, resulted in the loss of bargaining power by labor, and allowed the .01% to accumulate fortunes that ancient kings and pharaohs would envy.

Income for the typical high school graduate dropped by almost 10 percent between the mid-1960s and the mid-2010s, according to Pew Research.  Democrats would like us to believe this drop was caused by natural forces, a storm front, a polar vortex, perhaps the consequences of the Northern Lights.

“If you see a turtle sitting on a fencepost, he had help getting there” is one of President Bill Clinton’s favorite phrases. Yes, and we see plants move from Indiana to Mexico, when we see high school graduate incomes drop over 50 years, someone helped that all happen.

One thing I’ve learned in life is that to discover who is in control of any economy, from a small business to a nation, follow the money.  In the USA, it’s painfully clear that the working class, even in the Democratic Party, has virtually no control of the economy.  Even our Democratic presidents admit it when they call for defeat before even trying to help the working class  and in a cowardly act, blame the workers for their plight – refusing to point a finger at the system, and those in control of the system, perhaps because many are big donors?

Geoff Diehl running for the GOP nomination to the right of Charlie Baker. While I think Baker is a strong candidate for re-election, I think he is a weak candidate for re-nomination, precisely because his brand of Never Trump moderation turns off the party faithful who always put Trump First. This move could put pressure on Baker to announce his attentions earlier than he planned.

Mark McGlone

Baltimore, Maryland

July 5, 2021

Dear Ladies and Gentleman,

Good afternoon, my name is Mark McGlone, a volunteer with the office of Congressman Seth Moulton, and I am writing to you to urge your support for the bill which Congressman Moulton recently brought again before the House of Representatives, the American High Speed Rail Act.

This legislation would help to address multiple challenges facing the nation, and indeed the world, including access to transportation for both lower-income residents and others, global warming, and job creation.

It would do so by facilitating the construction of high-speed rail networks around the country, akin to those already flourishing in other areas of the world, which could among other things compete with longer-haul bus options to provide affordable long-distance transportation for those without access to a car, in a manner much more friendly to the environment than either these bus routes or the airline flights which other train passengers would otherwise take.

In their construction and operation, these networks would also provide employment opportunities in a variety of fields to all sorts of people with varying skill sets, from construction workers and engineers to conductors and computer technicians.

At a time when the nation’s need for infrastructure is once again in the headlines, it is hard to imagine many infrastructure projects more worthy than this, so I urge you to read the details of the bill on Congressman Moulton’s web site at https://moulton.house.gov/press-releases/moulton-boyle-and-delbene-introduce-the-american-high-speed-rail-act, and to lend their voice in support of it to the rest of Massachusetts’ congressional delegation, to President Biden, and to any other national and local leaders who could assist in this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Mark McGlone