Increase in productivity since 1979: 87%
Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32%
Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.
As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.
I got kicked out of the fight against the bullshit Medicaid paperwork reporting requirements but I can’t stop pointing out how ALMOST EVERYONE enrolled in Medicaid is already working or disabled or CHILDREN or in nursing homes
Friends, I’m running for Oklahoma AFL-CIO President.
Now more than ever, Oklahomans need the kinds of policies that unions fight for. I’ve worked alongside Oklahoma’s unions during my time as a state representative, and I hope to work for them soon.
Let’s get to work!
This is terrifying in America. ICE agents are showing up masked—these abductions must stop. If you’re going to detain someone, show your face, present a warrant, and proper ID. Disappearing people from their families without evidence or accountability isn’t law enforcement—it’s state-sponsored fear.
Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.
They are just disappearing people off the street. Having a hard time thinking about literally anything else.
I unironically use my local library a lot. Ebooks, audio books, physical books, the seed exchange, the meeting spaces?? Passport services?? Citizenship and English classes? I grew up in the teen hangout area as a housing insecure youth with a bad parent. Libraries are important, I'm pissed
The institutional Democratic Party is guided by an almost pathological level of conflict avoidance in almost every direction. “What can we do to make the least number of people mad?” is just a bankrupt way to operate.
Please read this to understand how the most vulnerable Americans are taking it on the chin so that the wealthiest can get wealthier under the Musk/Trump regime: www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...
Common-sense, compassionate and progressive: sounds like Oklahoma House Democrats and @forrest-bennett.bsky.social:
TGIFMF (thank god it’s five minute Friday)
At 8:30am over on instant graham, I’ll be live to discuss what happened this week at the state house. Join if you want! Don’t if you don’t! It’s your Friday; do what you want with it.
Medicaid is not for sale.
NASA is not for sale.
The Post Office is not for sale.
America is not for sale.
We have an obligation to resist kings. We outnumber them. And they can be overwhelmed.
I know things are bleak and scary right now. But I promise you that you - yes YOU - can get through this.
You don't have to fight all of this on your own. Find one person you can help, and help them. Make the life of one person better every day.
Hold onto your joy.
That's how we win.
Friday mornings during the legislative session, I go live on Instagram and talk about what I observed from that week at the statehouse. That’s happening this morning at 8:30 on Instagram where my handle is @ForrestBennett. Join if you want!
The battle of our day is no longer about Democrats versus Republicans or left versus right.
The choice right now is democracy or dictatorship. And we're sliding faster than I ever thought possible into the latter.
Everyone must choose which side they’re on. Now.
And as a Department of Education employee told me this week, "people have no idea how much that the federal government does actually touches their lives every day, but they'll notice it when it's gone"
UPDATE:
The strike is over, with King Soopers agreeing to return to the bargaining table and make a better offer, no lockouts and no worker losing health care for April over the ULP strike.
I think a cool thing national media could do in this day and age, to cultivate meaningful and productive discussions around our collective situation, is to simply not have this absolute chaos vampire on as a guest of any program ever again, ever.
IUPAT Twitter post: There are nearly 3 million immigrants in the construction industry, and they deserve the same rights as all other workers. Our union stands with our immigrant members and all working people in this country — an injury to one is an injury to all.
Every union should be echoing this statement.
"I expect you will eventually find someone who is enough of a fool, or enough of a coward, to file your motion. But it was never going to be me."
is metal as hell.
Would JD Vance come after these two in the succession plan? Or would it go Putin first, and then Vance?
(my high school civics class covered traditional government processes, not oligarchical ones, so wasn’t sure how different it is)
That’s…not at all accurate.
The supreme law of the land is the Constitution.
There are three *CO-EQUAL* branches of government.
The Courts (judicial branch) determine constitutionality, though a middle schooler could tell you that most of what the Musk/Trump admin are doing isn’t constitutional.
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they have none.
-Alice Walker
“Oh, did a sportsball happen?” I whisper smugly from my vantage point on a distant cliff, the sounds of celebration in the village far below just barely audible over the lonely wind whipping my tattered cloak
Not understanding why a government program or funding mechanism works, why it’s necessary or helpful, and/or the accountable steps that were taken to get it in place — is not the same as corruption.
Everything seems suspicious if you don’t know how things work. Educate yourself.
Literal centuries of work by organized labor stands to be severely set back by the guy who was never on the side of the working class in the first place. Now’s the time to join a union if you’re able.
Exaaaaactly. Had some delicious pizza for lunch yesterday and had to be pumped with caffeine two hours later to stay conscious
In that vein—would you agree that pizza for dinner is better than pizza for lunch?
