Hogan's mega-highway roads plan drives over public-private cliff

"There’s nothing in Hogan’s transportation vision that helps people at the lower end of the economy," says Barry Rascovar. "No expansion of commuter buses, no shuttles connecting workers to spread-out job sites, no future mass transit such as a desperately needed east-west line through Baltimore.

"Hogan’s highway proposal creates a windfall for the well-to-do and transportation businesses."

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There are some things people in public life shouldn't waffle on. Like Nazis.

"It is a shame that when people allow their emotions to push them into their own political corners they, from time to time, might say things that they may not really mean if they were to take the time to think about it," Lower Shore activist Jared Schablein reflects.  "Nazism is not an acceptable political belief, in this or any other country."

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Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for Sept. 25-Oct. 2

Still another Health Care Home Stretch Week, with US Senators busily engaged in bribing their fellow senators with home-state sweeteners to have them hold their noses and vote for the Graham-Cassidy version of Obamacare/ACA repeal. There is no room for complacency here; we have to let them know they can’t get away with it.

Lots more action below, regional and chapter-based, plus blog posts from the previous week.

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Progressives bring vision, factual analysis to $15 wage hearing Tuesday

As the Montgomery County Council enters the next phase in the battle to raise the minimum wage, Progressive Montgomery has been huddling up to fine-tune its own strategy in the Fight for $15. On Tuesday, a public hearing on the bill to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour will be held at the County Council in Rockville. Progressive Montgomery’s outreach efforts are set on engaging business owners, employees, and residents as a whole in a constructive dialogue that humanizes this policy. Next Tuesday’s hearing in Rockville is the place to start.

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Training helped me discern that power is in our hands

Progressive Maryland organizer Michael Feldman recounts how his recent training experience focused his understanding: "How do we harness this energy that’s clearly in the streets and push it into the halls of power? No one builds power by accident. We have to understand what power is, why we should want to attain it, and the training to focus ourselves and our fellow progressives into the leaders who can and will change this country."

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Sanders's "Medicare for All" Bill Feels Like New Level of Progress, Activism

 The introduction of "Medicare for All" in the Senate Sept. 13 feels like a new stage, a new plateau, in the quest for single payer in this country, says activist Sydney Jacobs. "People are really waking up to the awful realities of our current system and coming around to the fact that SP is the ONLY sustainable way we can do healthcare in this country.  The press, mainstream politicians, and the insurance/Big Pharma goons can no longer ignore SP in conversations about healthcare - our representatives, such as Van Hollen and Cardin, can no longer NOT talk about Medicare for All."

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Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for September 18-24

Let’s cut to the chase – a full calendar ahead of actions, get-togethers and learning opportunities. Plus the most recent blogs.

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In MoCo, Exec vs. Council in next round on Fight for $15

Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, a persistent critic of the long struggle for a living wage in Montgomery County and water-carrier for business interests, is still trying to chip away at the latest effort by Council members to help working families in a county of great wealth and significant inequality.

Progressive Maryland yesterday joined a coalition of progressive organizations pushing back against Leggett’s latest effort – a letter promising a veto of the new legislation without major pro-business concessions.

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Medicare For All Can Reshape the "Art of the Possible"

The [co-sponsoring] senators who shared a podium with [Sen. Bernie] Sanders understand this [Medicare For All] bill won’t pass in today’s Republican-dominated Congress. They signed on because it’s a good idea, and because they recognize that by doing so they can both reflect and reshape a shifting political landscape.

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Meet Progressive Maryland's New Prince George's County Organizers

Prince George's County, one of if not the most affluent majority-black county in the US, has particular strengths and weaknesses -- both of which can be tackled as they should be by a more aware community and a more responsive elected leadership unencumbered by big-money campaign contributors. Progressive Maryland's organizers, Seanniece Bamiro and Charles Smith, are focused on those issues. See here how they can help your community in Prince George's.

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