Monthly Archives: November 2020

46 Under 46

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Well, Biden is going to be our 46th President. In honor of that, I thought I’d come up with a list of 46 things I’d like to see happen under his administration. Some of these are probably more doable on a local or state level, but they’re at least things I’d like to see his administration support. 

This is not an exhaustive list. But I think it’s a pretty good list. 

Get ready. It’s a long list.

Food, Water, and Shelter

  1. Extend unemployment through the course of the pandemic and make payments retroactive.
  2. Restore food safety inspections
  3. Increase eligibility for and reduce requirements for food subsidy programs (eg, WIC)
  4. Create other programs to increase food security
  5. Eliminate hookworm in Georgia
  6. Adopt and Promote Housing-first approaches to homelessness
  7. Ensure that all Americans have access to clean water, including: access to running water for Native American communities; remediation in areas with fracking; restoring access to clean water in Flint

Voting Rights

  1. Restore the voting rights act
  2. Eliminate ID requirements for voters
  3. DC and Puerto Rico statehood

The Internet

  1. Restore Net Neutrality
  2. Ensure all Americans have access to electricity—especially in Native American communities
  3. Increase Broadband availability in rural areas
  4. Regulate Broadband like a Utility so that it’s affordable in both urban and rural areas
Keep going.

The Post Office

  1. Restore all Postal Sorting machines and service capabilities
  2. Remove the requirement for the post office to prepay pensions
  3. Implement Post Office Banking as a way to help for the underbanked

Healthcare

  1. Protect insurance coverage for birth control
  2. Eliminate the tampon tax
  3. Increase access to evidence-based addiction treatment and stop paying for non-evidence based programs
  4. Require healthcare cost transparency: what procedures costs, what is covered by insurance, etc.
  5. Eliminate ‘surprise’ healthcare bills
  6. Pass legislation that requires/implement subsidies that assist hospitals in such a way that all Americans are able to have physical access to healthcare
  7. Prioritize reducing maternal mortality in the US
Halfway there.

Physical Safety

  1. Ban assault rifles
  2. Go after white nationalist terrorists using the same tools used for international terrorists
  3. Prosecute mass shooters as terrorists
  4. Investigate all instances of police brutality
  5. Get rid of ICE and eliminate detention camps for immigrants 
  6. Ban use of rubber bullets and tear gas

Money Matters

  1. Redesign US currency so that blind people can identify the denomination of each bill
  2. Legalize and tax weed.
  3. Increase the prosecution of white collar crime
  4. Increase IRS audits of high net worth individuals
  5. Stop audits of EITC recipients, which disproportionately affects Black Americans
  6. Increase anti-trust investigations and enforcement, particularly in the tech sector
  7. Increase capital gains taxes
Just a little further.

Education 

  1. Create and subsidize a system of free city and state universities
  2. Student loan forgiveness
  3. Equiity funding for K-12 public schools to alleviate disparities based on local funding availability

The Environment

  1. Implement policies that reduce single use plastics
  2. Climate taxes on corporations
  3. Restore all pre-existing EPA protections
  4. Ban drilling and fossil fuel extraction from federally owned areas
  5. Phase out use of fossil fuels, including natural gas
  6. Improve municipal and national public transport systems
You made it!

November in the Garden

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It’s November, but no one seems to have told my plants that. This does not seem normal. At this rate, I”m wondering if some of these plants will skip dormancy altogether.

I’ve been letting things go a bit, but I will try to harvest and dry some of the oregano soon.

Leo enjoying the cat grass and ignoring the catnip. The only plant with yellow leaves now is the phlox.
Mint and painted lady runner bans.
I only have one bean pod on the scarlet runner beans.
The herbs are doing well, and annual salvia still has flowers.
At least asters are supposed to be autumn flowers.
Nira, the other garden inspector.

Policing in Philly

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A marshy area at Heinz Nature Preserve.
A marshy area at Heinz Nature Preserve: something soothing before we get to the serious stuff.

Before I get into the local policing information, I wanted to say that I’m really pleased that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election. I also hope that we repudiate and address systemic racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, graft, and cruelty of all kinds—and that demands justice from those who have put their own well-being ahead of the lives and welfare of those who live here.

Ballot Questions on Policing

In addition to the national and state level candidates on Philly’s ballots, there were 2 ballot questions on policing in Philadelphia. One was to “constitutionally ban stop and frisk” and the other was to create a police oversight panel. Both passed. (Yay, Philly!) WHYY has some additional details on these ballot questions.

Additional Measures and Next Steps

Prior to the election, the City Council passed a ban on tear gas and rubber bullets. However, this still needs to be signed into law by Mayor Kenney. I’ve included an email I wrote to Mayor Kenney below, if you’d like something to work from.

james.kenney@phila.gov
(215) 686-2181
Twitter @PhillyMayor

Ban police use of “less than lethal” force

Dear Mayor Kenney,

I am writing to ask you to sign into law the ban on police use of “less than lethal” force that was passed by the Philadelphia City Council on October 29th. The citizens of Philadelphia should not be treated as the enemy when they are exercising their rights.

Thank you.

Of note: 3 Councilmembers (David Oh (R, at large), Brian J. O’Neill (R, 10th district), and Bobby Henon (D, 6th district)) voted against the bill.

Another Police Shooting

About two weeks ago, a mentally-ill Black man named Walter Wallace was shot 14 times. According to WHYY, body camera footage shows Wallace was not rushing officers and didn’t have a knife raised at the time they opened fire. There’s a petition calling on the city to to fire the officers who shot Wallace, to ban police from answering mental health calls, and to not provide additional funding to the police (for acquiring tasers).

Finally, here’s a list of resources that are alternatives to calling the police in Philadelphia.