It’s the slack few days between holidays this week, but don’t let 2017 sneak up on you (2017?! What?! Wait, that’s too soon…). Whether your farewell to 2016 is fond or otherwise, the Maryland General Assembly gears up January 11 and a new state-level battle (or battles) begins. Plus early January events and links to this week’s blog posts.

HERE COMES 2017. WAIT FOR IT.

Welcome to the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace Weekly Memo for December 27, 2016 to January 1, 2017.

It’s the slack few days between holidays this week, but don’t let 2017 sneak up on you (2017?! What?! Wait, that’s too soon…). Whether your farewell to 2016 is fond or otherwise, the Maryland General Assembly gears up January 11 and a new state-level battle (or battles) begins. Plus early January events and links to this week’s blog posts.

If you’ve been repressing this realization, time to unlimber and think about what you want the legislators to do for you and people like you (rather than for the people who bankrolled their last election and will be needed to bankroll their next one).

All you need to remember is who the players and payers are in this game and you’ll be ready to fight for what the legislators know they ought to do – the right thing. And between now and January 11 you should be sharing the specifics of what you want out of the 2017 session with us, on our blog page.

And if you want to stay up with progressive projects, agendas and struggles as the three-month session goes on, be sure to sign up here for the Weekly Memo – a calendar of activism for the upcoming period plus links to the most recent blog posts, so you won’t miss any.

This week in the BlogSpace, we’ll be reviewing 2016 blogs thematically with indexes and links

COMING UP IN 2017

>>The Montgomery County Council has scheduled a final vote on the $15 minimum wage bill on Jan. 17.

>>From our friends at Progressive Cheverly: 

Thursday, January 5:  A Wake-Up Call -- Activism in Defense of our Future.  Come together at a Progressive Cheverly Conversation. 

 Progressive Cheverly was founded 12 years ago with a mission statement "to promote economic fairness, social justice, basic human rights, civil liberties, a sustainable environment, a tolerant society and world peace through a more informed political dialogue and active participation in civil society and the democratic political process." Ambitious goals, with a local focus.  Recent events are presenting us with new challenges.  Join and bring your energy and ideas for action.  7 p.m., Hoyer Education Center (cafeteria) 2300 Belleview Ave. Cheverly (Parking Available). Light refreshments will be served.

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Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at [email protected].

We recently published these:

December 22, 2016  "Governor Trump" -- Hogan's methods echo Trump's and media buy same flim-flam

Barry Rascovar unmasked Gov. Larry Hogan’s Trump-like taste for the spectacle as a cover for, um, prevarications (see below). Just because it’s a hoax, though, doesn’t mean some won’t fall for it – and Adam Pagnucco outlines here how many of our august media did just that, swallowing the Guvnah’s “Roadkill Bill” flimflam. A few days later (after Pagnucco’s post was first published) the respected number-crunchers of the Department of Legislative Services put a fork in the Hogan nonsense. We'll be interested to see how many in the media will acknowledge they were had...

December 21, 2016  After 2 years of Hogan, rich get richer but it's still about our jobs

The effects of the 2008 recession still linger in Maryland, even after two years of the business-friendly Gov. Hogan. Where are the jobs? The services? Jerome Dancis has a few ideas about this.

December 20, 2016  Hogan still peddling his "Roadkill Bill" hoax

Commentator Barry Rascovar would probably resist the label "progressive" but no observer has nailed Gov. Hogan's slippery public persona to the wall better. Here he unmasks Hogan's bogus "roadkill bill" non-threat. (Later this week in the BlogSpace, Seventh State columnist Adam Pagnucco details who is falling for this roadkill ruse -- including many reporters.)

December 19, 2016  Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Dec. 19-25

Let's go a-caroling Thursday (Dec. 22) at noontime to Rep. Steny Hoyer's Greenbelt office on behalf of the progress we have made in getting to universal health care. Let him know we're not going back. Plus activism around Montgomery County's Fight for Fifteen, and the week's blog posts.

Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace since June 2015 are all available with descriptions and links here.