This Memo appears on a Tuesday because of yesterday’s sort-of national holiday for a native of Genoa who sailed on behalf of genocidal Spanish monarchs. We are "celebrating" the event and its catastrophic consequences with less and less enthusiasm and it is being supplanted in many places by a day to honor those Indigenous Peoples who survived all this Eurocolonialist behavior, and mourn those who did not, by organizing for real equality in our lives and communities.

This Memo appears on a Tuesday because of yesterday’s sort-of national holiday honoring a self-assured native of the city-state Genoa ("Italy" was a long way in the future) who sailed off in the service of Spanish rulers who had just purified their "nation" by expelling or killing many followers of Islam and Judaism who for gleaming centuries had made that peninsula the "Ornament of the World" artistically and in pursuit of better science. Ferdinand and Isabella's man from Genoa succeeded in bringing the first round of the unfamiliar diseases that killed millions of native peoples in what would become the Americas, inadvertently clearing the way for Europe's colonial future. The sort-of holiday we are celebrating with less and less enthusiasm is being supplanted in many places by a day to honor those Indigenous Peoples who survived all this behavior, and mourn those who did not by organizing for real equality in our lives and communities.

Meanwhile, there’s what we have to do RIGHT NOW – bring real change to Maryland.

STATEWIDE ACTION – CANVASS IN OCTOBER – follow links for complete details

  Sunday, October 14, 2018 at 10:00 AM

TBD

October 14, 2018 Frederick County Canvass

rsvp

  Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 10:00 AM

TBD

October 21, 2018 Frederick County Canvass

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  Sunday, October 21, 2018 at 11:00 AM ·

Driftwood Diner in Shady Side, MD

South County Canvass

Join Take Action Anne Arundel County in Shady Side to support county candidates

rsvp

  Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 10:00 AM

TBD

October 28, 2018 Frederick County Canvass

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  Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 01:00 PM

Ceremony Coffee Roastery in Annapolis, MD

Anne Arundel County Canvass

Join Take Action AAC to canvass for Progressive Maryland endorsed candidates in Annapolis.

rsvp

  Thursday, November 01, 2018 at 06:00 PM

Anne Arundel County Phone Bank

Phone bank for PM endorsed candidates in Anne Arundel County. Join Take Action AAC for an evening of phone banking at a private residence in Annapolis.

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OUR CHAPTERS AROUND THE STATE

Progressive Prince George's

Petition – tell Rushern Baker to fix the inhumane conditions in the Upper Marlboro detention center.

 https://www.change.org/p/rushern-baker-fix-the-inhumane-conditions-in-the-upper-marlboro-detention-center

PMD Montgomery

Frederick County Progressives

Take Action Anne Arundel County

Progressive Howard County

Talbot Rising

Lower Shore Progressive Caucus

PMD Baltimore

Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at 10:00 AM Sunday 10/10 Canvass Baltimore City  rsvp

Thursday, October 11, 2018 at 05:30 PM Thursday October 11 Canvass Baltimore County  rsvp

Saturday, October 13, 2018 at 10:00 AM Saturday 10/13 Canvass Baltimore City  rsvp

Sunday, October 14, 2018 at 10:00 AM Sunday 10/14 Canvass Baltimore City  rsvp

 Baltimore comrades, Check in on Max Obuszewski’s highly useful calendar and tip sheet at http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

It all happens for free… right? Not exactly. Organizing for change in our society and our high-maintenance politics requires both people and money. Keep change moving with a quick, secure impulse-buy contribution here. You know you meant to do it last week and now here you are again...

OUR BLOG POSTS IN THE PAST WEEK

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 blog posts:

October 04, 2018 Democratic leaders must show up for Ben Jealous

As Ben Jealous steadily gains recognition and closes in on the Teflon Guv Larry Hogan, the performance of the Democratic political establishment leaves those regular Dems behind the curve of Marylanders' political preferences. As Jay Hutchins pointedly asks here, "Are [Democratic] leaders concerned ...that having a real progressive on the second floor will be a challenge to existing norms and the power structure in Annapolis?"

If Hogan were to win a second term, with no need to appear centrist, the establishment Dems would find his sudden morphing into Maryland's Trump more threatening to their power than any of the progressive reforms Jealous would bring, to say the least.

October 03, 2018 Inequality needs a two-track solution: a CEO pay ceiling

So the richest man in the world is going to raise (some) of his employees' wages to $15 an hour. So? Amazon's move is obviously positive and a great example, earning praise from Amazon critic Sen. Bernie Sanders. But the disparity between CEO pay and the pay of workers is the persistent scandal of most major US corporations. Sam Pizzigati, at Progressive Breakfast, breaks down the problem and the search for a two-track solution: reducing the gap between CEO pay and that of that corporation's average workers. In Maryland we've had four years of the Hogan administration catering to CEOs at the expense of workers, and the results are clear.

October 02, 2018 Jealous-Turnbull campaign has Prince George's focus this week

The Ben Jealous campaign plans to be very strong in Prince George’s County this week following President Obama’s endorsement Monday (see it here and here). Highlights: the Saturday evening rally with Dave Chappelle at the UMCP campus and Faith Leaders breakfast Thursday morning in Largo with Michael Eric Dyson. But there’s much more – music in Greenbelt, canvassing to end student debt next door in Silver Spring. Read on:

October 01, 2018 Progressive Maryland Weekly Memo for October 1 2018

Turnout is the goal, and voter contact is the path. Most folks are becoming aware that an election is coming up so this is the time to sharpen your community's understanding of how important it is to ELECT BEN JEALOUS governor and send Larry Hogan back to private life. Awareness about all the candidates statewide is critical – a Blue Wave needs to happen to put government at every level back on the side of working families instead of on the side of big business, corporations and uncontrolled development.

>>REMEMBER – these blog posts are expressions of political opinion from our wide-ranging membership and circle of allies. They are not expressions of opinion by Progressive Maryland. Don’t be surprised if they sometimes vary in their political content. You might even disagree with them – a good reason to contribute a blog of your own. Send it to the moderator, Woody Woodruff, at [email protected].

>>Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace from June 2015 through December 2016 are all available with descriptions and links here. You can follow blogs for 2017-18 starting from here