When the Southern Poverty Law Center published the first version of this report in 2007, we recommended reform or repeal of the H-2 program. Unfortunately, even after the enactment of modest reforms in recent years, guestworker programs today are still inherently abusive and unfair to both U.S. and foreign workers.

In the past several years, the DOL has proposed two sets of regulations to better protect non-agricultural H-2 workers – one related to wage rate guarantees and one more comprehensive set of regulations. These regulations also would better protect the jobs and wages of U.S. workers. Unfortunately for workers, neither set of regulations has gone into effect; employers have filed multiple lawsuits challenging them, and Congress has effectively blocked implementation of the new wage regulations. For workers, then, the abuses continue unabated.

When asked at an Oskaloosa, Iowa, town hall why he supported open borders, the 2020 White House candidate was quick to clarify his stance.

“I’m afraid you may be getting your information wrong," Sanders replied, according to The Washington Post. "I think what we need is comprehensive immigration reform.”

“Oh my god, there’s a lot of poverty in this world, and you’re going to have people from all over the world. And I don’t think that’s something that we can do at this point. Can’t do it,” the Vermont lawmaker continue

“I appreciate his attempt to do better in the future, but to me this is not mainly about whether Joe Biden has adequate respect for personal space. It’s about women deserving equal respect in the workplace."

It was a period of intense partisan realignment, in response to the upheavals of the 1960s and early ’70s, in which the American left was nervously coalescing around the interests and increased liberties of racial minorities and women, the populations who were forming what would be the most reliable part of its base.

The right, meanwhile, was sucking strength from a backlash against disruptive social movements, growing fat and drunk on the language of piety and family values that would undergird its ultraconservative defense of the old power structures, self-righteously fueling up for the Reagan era. Republicans had, for the foreseeable future, won white men — America’s original citizens, the ones around whom our narratives and priorities are calibrated.

Rather than lean into an energetic defense of the values of liberty, equality, and inclusion that might define their role against the racist and anti-feminist backlash of the era, the Democratic Party appeared anxious to distance itself from being the feminized “mommy party,” and shunt to the side — rather than vigorously advocate for — the priorities of women, especially poor women, and people of color.

The party continued to be represented and led by mostly white men. And while officially Democrats remained on the progressive side, supporting reproductive rights, civil rights, and affirmative action, a contingent of Those Guys, Joe Biden notable among them, made folksy rationalizations for abrogating, rather than expanding and more fiercely protecting, new rights and protections. Those Guys soothed; Those Guys were familiar; Those Guys enjoyed their own power and wanted to reassure everyone that it wasn’t really going to be so dramatically reapportioned.

Tarana Burke, founder of the Me Too movement, spoke out Friday in support of the women who have come forward to accuse Joe Biden of inappropriate behavior, calling out the former vice president’s joking response to the scandal as “disrespectful and inexcusable.”

In a Twitter thread, Burke argued that the seven women who say they received unwanted physical contact from Biden were right to speak up and that the likely 2020 contender appears be deeply missing the point they are trying to make.

“It’s about bodily autonomy, it’s about power and leadership,” wrote Burke, who first started using the phrase “Me Too” to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of sexual misconduct in 2006.

Burke’s comments came the same day Biden opened up a speech by making light of the news about his unwanted touches. He said of the man who introduced him onstage, “I just want you to know, I had permission” to hug him.

Former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke became the latest 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful to weigh in on the allegations of unwanted touching and kissing leveled against former Vice President Joe Biden.


O’Rourke, who currently sits third in the polls alongside Sen. Kamala Harris of California and behind Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, praised the “courage” of the women who have come forward to accuse the former vice president of inappropriate behavior.

“We need to listen to those who are raising their stories who have the courage to come forward to share their experience and also to be part of the conversation about either his candidacy or how he fares as a contender for the nomination if he jumps in,” O’Rourke said Wednesday during an appearance at the National Action Network conference.

O’Rourke added: “I think ultimately that will be a decision for him to make but I’m glad people are willing to and have the courage to step up. They must be heard and must be listened to.”

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211844944#post33

Autumn (33,930 posts)

23. The only problem I will have is if Biden doesn't jump in the race.

He and Bernie are a big pluses and both fill a void I don't see the others as yet filling. IMO

Autumn (33,930 posts)

49. That cracked me up. Only Joe.

I want Trump beat and humiliated here and on the world stage. I want him whimpering and crying in the corner of a dirty omelet bar at his shitty golf course.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1251543698#post19
Star Member Autumn (33,930 posts)

19. Biden has every right to run if he chooses to run. That he is having meetings

with donors shows that he is thinking about it. If he want's it to happen it will, no one else is trying to make it happen.

Autumn (33,875 posts)

15. This is why women don't come forward. What should she have done? Slap the 2nd most

powerful man in the world on stage when he was there to campaign for her?

Biden Nabs Big Name Latino Operative

“In the latest sign that Joe Biden will run for president, his team has brought on Cristóbal Alex, the head of the influential Latino Victory Fund,” Politico reports.
“It’s not clear what role Alex would fill in a Biden presidential campaign. He served as Hillary Clinton’s National Deputy Director of Voter Outreach and Mobilization in 2016.”
https://politicalwire.com/2019/03/06/biden-nabs-big-name-latino-operative/

https://www.thecut.com/2019/03/an-awkward-kiss-changed-how-i-saw-joe-biden.html

What's True
Only a fraction of the proposed bills sponsored by Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Bernie Sanders ( D-VT) have been passed by Congress.

What's False
This phenomenon is not unique to these four senators (as only a very small fraction of all proposed legislation ends up being passed), and the statistics included in the meme are outdated.

A text meme supposedly showcasing the legislative records of various 2020 Democratic presidential candidates — Elizabeth Warren (MA), Cory Booker (NJ), Kamala Harris (CA), and Bernie Sanders (VT) — circulated on social media in March 2019 along with comments about how these lawmakers were ineffective at their jobs for their failure to pass more than a scant handful of bills:

FULL story here: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/democratic-senators-pass-bills-rate/