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 @WrathfulChoughNewsmoneyCaliforniahistory2024 PresidentialDaily DiscussionNorthernLawmakersBudget•••8mos ago

California Budgets $12 Million For Reparations

Last year, a California task force issued a seminal report urging reparations for Black residents that could add up to hundreds of billions of dollars. But the state’s new $298 billion budget, signed Saturday after a woeful run for California finances, is offering a much more modest beginning: $12 million.

The budget does not call for immediate cash payments for Californians whose lives were shaped by injustices. Instead, it promises some state money if lawmakers agree on proposals that supporters see as early steps to repair the consequences of California’s past.

The state’s approach has drawn criticism as offering far too little in the face of a sprawling, methodical report that laid bare a troubling history and offered recommendations on how to make up for it. Some lawmakers, though, have nevertheless welcomed the money as a start after the state scrambled to close a $47 billion shortfall.

“I thought it was a win,” Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson, a Democrat who chairs the Legislative Black Caucus and represents a Northern California district, said in an interview on Saturday. “To see it in the budget means that we were listened to.”

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 @ISIDEWITHasked…8mos8MO

Is $12 million enough to start the process of reparations, or does it feel like a symbolic gesture that falls short of meaningful change?

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@WrathfulChough

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…4mos4MO

Trump's Deportation Storm: America Braces for Mass Exodus of Immigrants

For months, immigration advocates have been planning for the possibility of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Now, their worst fears have arrived.Immigrants’ rights groups have spent the last year preparing for a second Trump term and an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system, analyzing Trump’s proposals, drafting legal briefs, coordinating messaging and organizing aid for immigrants and asylum seekers. They responded to Trump’s victory with alarm and vowed to put up a fight, setting the stage for four more years of contentious court battles with his administration.Some are already preparing to push current leadership at the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to stymie the incoming Trump team, particularly on immigrant detention and the use of AI in enforcement.“We should expect to see the devastation of immigrant communities all over the country. We should expect to see family separation,” said Kica Matos, the president of the National Immigration Law Center. “It is entirely possible that he will try to use the military to carry out deportations, so that means that Americans all over the country will see the military engaging in enforcement against civilian populations, which is horrifying.”Trump, after winning a historic victory on a platform of turbo-charged immigration enforcement, has said he will conduct mass deportations at a scale never before seen. Immigrant advocates have warned this would be expensive and inhumane, separating families and wrecking communities. The president-elect has also vowed to build huge detention camps, hire thousands more border agents, funnel military spending toward border security and invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expel suspected members of drug cartels and criminal gangs without court hearings.He has also said he would end “catch-and-release” — allowing migrants to remain free, often with monitoring, while they await immigration court hearings — and restore a policy from his first term requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their cases are processed. And he has dodged questions about whether he would try to bring back family separation.

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 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2 days2D

Bernie Sanders Charges Ahead As Democrats Stall Out

Bernie Sanders launched a tour in red states like Iowa and Nebraska to rally opposition to Donald Trump’s agenda, drawing massive crowds—thousands in Omaha and overflow audiences in Iowa City.Unlike the Democratic Party’s muted response to Trump’s election, Sanders is actively challenging the administration’s plutocratic policies, focusing on billionaire influence and federal deregulation.In Iowa City, Sanders spoke to packed venues, delivering back-to-back speeches to accommodate attendees, a first in his political career, highlighting his enduring appeal.He criticized Trump’s inner circle, including billionaires Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Mark Zuckerberg, who attended the inauguration, and warned of their control over federal agencies.Sanders galvanized the crowd with historical references—suffrage, slavery, independence—urging grassroots action to counter Trump’s planned $1 trillion tax cuts for the rich and cuts to programs like Medicaid.Attendees expressed frustration with Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries, calling their opposition to Trump weak or nonexistent, while praising Sanders for providing direction.Sanders highlighted the slim Republican House majority (three seats), suggesting constituent pressure could sway vulnerable GOP members to block Trump’s reconciliation bill.Early signs show GOP walkbacks—like Trump’s false claim Medicaid won’t be cut—after outrage over federal grant pauses disrupted services, proving grassroots impact.The crowd, mostly liberal, cheered Sanders’ defense of reproductive rights and jeered Trump’s USAID cuts and Zelensky attacks, though some noted a shift in his base—younger Trump supporters absent.Sanders ended with Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, framing the fight as a timeless struggle against billionaire rule, inspiring attendees like Audrey to re-engage and Erin to find hope in solidarity.

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