Two events that you don't want to miss!

PEG 12th Congressional District

This week’s Conversations with Chuck Newman will feature Alan Levine, one of a trio of pro bono heroes who scored a $26M verdict against Charlottesville rally organizers. Hear the inspiring story of how he spent four weeks in “a bubble of hate and violence” as he cross-examined the white supremacists that organized and led the anti-Semitic and racist violence that resulted in the death of Heather Heyer and the injuring of dozens of others, including seven of the plaintiffs in the suit. This free zoom show will air on Tuesday, February 15 at 7 pm ET.

To register for this event, click here.

Thursday, February 24, Allies Coming Together film and dialogue

Join ADL for an Allies Coming Together online event with filmmaker Matthew A. Cherry to celebrate his Oscar-winning short film Hair Love. Cherry is a writer, director, producer and former NFL wide receiver. This virtual event is designed for 4th–12th graders wanting to build more inclusive space. The event will feature the viewing of Hair Love and a dialogue between students from ADL’s No Place for Hate® coalition and Cherry. No Place for Hate teaches and inspires 1.3 million students each year to fight bias, bullying and bigotry in our schools.

We invite educators to register for this virtual event to broadcast in their classrooms. You and the young people in your life are also invited to join in. Closed captioning and Spanish translation will be provided. An approved No Place for Hate activity will be shared with participating schools after the event to extend and inspire more change-making. Noon EST

Thursday, February 24, 4-week training program: Running for office

Join Michigan People’s Campaign, People’s Action, SEIU Healthcare of Michigan and New American Leaders for a 4-week training program to simplify the process of running for office and learn to be strategic in your campaign. Whether you’re running for office this year, in the future, or want to help local progressives in your area, the Movement Politics Academy will prepare you to create the positive changes our communities need.

Click here to learn more or to apply.

You will walk out of this training with a campaign plan, training, and advice from movement politics experts including current and former elected officials. Apply if you’re thinking about running for office, or if you want to help progressive champions win their elections up and down the ballot in 2022. The course is four weeks long, with two Zoom sessions per week, for a total of eight sessions. Participants are expected to make ALL sessions. Thursdays from 5–9 pm, and Saturdays from 10 am–4 pm. Saturdays will include Grubhub Gift Cards for lunch.

Week 1: Building Your Candidacy

Thursday, February 24
Saturday, February 26

Week 2: Building Your Campaign

Thursday, March 3
Saturday, March 5

Week 3: Bringing it all Together

Thursday, March 9
Saturday, March 12

Week 4: Taking it to the Streets

Thursday, March 17 (Optional)
Saturday, March 19

Friday, February 25. Stress on the public health workforce

Watch the League of Women Voters Lunch & Learn series LIVE on Facebook or register for Zoom at https://bit.ly/3qUy4zY. Stress on the public health workforce shows no sign of decreasing as we enter the pandemic’s third year. Jimena Loveluck, MSW, became Chief Health Officer of Washtenaw County in 2019, five months before the COVID-19 pandemic struck. She has served with distinction and was named United Way Washtenaw County’s Woman of the Year for 2021. Noon–1:30 pm

Visit the PEG website to view the comprehensive listing of Upcoming Events!

With $24 million to spend, which projects should the City of A2 fund?

Let your voice be heard by the Tuesday, February 14 deadline!

Last year President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which provides financial support to local governments to recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The City of Ann Arbor is now in the process of determining how to allocate the onetime $24 million in ARPA funds the city is receiving. City staff have developed a list of 13 projects for consideration by City Council. The choices range from projects providing for basic safety-net needs of vulnerable residents —such as housing, universal basic income and housing —to projects improving infrastructure, such as Gallup Park bridge, City Clerk election center, and solar on city facilities.

Read the full list of projects carefully, watch the videos for the projects (including Q & A sessions) and provide your input by submitting your responses to the City of Ann Arbor’s American Rescue Plan webpage no later than Tuesday, February 14. Don’t forget, you must supply a valid email address.

Whitewashing reality: Calling a travesty legitimate

“Legitimate political discourse” is the rosy term the Republican National Committee used on Friday, February 4 to dismiss the January 6 insurrection with its mayhem, violence against the Capitol Hill police, and destruction of the Capitol itself. Moreover, they censured Congressman Adam Kinzinger and Congresswoman Liz Cheney for their participation in the committee investigating that tragic event. Ronna Romney McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, accused these two of having “crossed a line.”

Despite the consensus the Republican National Committee demonstrated, a few Republican dissenters are emerging from its majority view. Acknowledging that he’d conveyed his views to his niece in private, Senator Mitt Romney went on record on February 7: “To suggest that a violent attack on the seat of democracy is legitimate political discourse is so far from accurate as to … make people wonder what we’re thinking.” Senators Susan Collins and John Cornyn also expressed dismay with the majority view of the Republican party.

On February 8, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came out with the most damning criticism of the Republican National Committee’s whitewashing of the events of January 6 in which seven died or were killed. He called it “a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after a legitimately certified election, from one administration to the next.” McConnell further criticized his party for its condemnation of Kinzinger and Cheney, arguing that “the national party committee should” support all members of our party, regardless of their positions on some issues.”

What happened to little Ruby Bridges?

You might have seen pictures of the brave little girl who integrated an entire school in 1960. Today she is chair of the Ruby Bridges Foundation, which helps to promote the values of tolerance, respect and appreciation of all differences.

The Biden economic boom

In case you want to discuss the economy with your friends, here are a few simple, straightforward way to describe what just happened:

President Biden created more jobs in his first year in office than any other president did during their first year.
President Biden created more jobs in his first year in office than Trump created in 4 years—because the economy lost 2.9 million jobs during Trump’s tenure.
President Biden created more jobs in his first year in office than Trump created his first three years in office (before the pandemic recession).

To be clear, the notion that presidents “create jobs” is a slippery one. But that is how pundits talk about job creation. As long as they choose to do so, let’s make certain that they get the rankings right. Biden outperformed everyone. Period. Full stop.

Read more here. –Robert B. Hubbell’s Today’s Edition newsletter

What folks are saying online

@distillsocial
A quick summary of the Michigan Gop policies on public educations. #michigan #education #publicschool
♬ original sound – Ben Azelart

Distillsocial on TikTok

TikTok video from Distillsocial (@distillsocial): “A quick summary of the Michigan Gop policies on public educations. #michigan #education #publicschool”. Michigan GOP be like: | School shootings | Funding public education | …. original sound.