Danny Goldberg And Pramila Jayapal Talk Nirvana

I asked my old friend and colleague, Danny Goldberg, who donated the Nirvana gold record we're giving away, to write a few lines about our contest. And he did:

To have been one of the managers of Nirvana when Nevermind was released was one of the highlights of my career and I treasure the gold record plaques I got for it. It was the album that includes the songs "Smells Like Teen Spirit," "Come As You Are," and "In Bloom" and it changed the course of rock and roll and established Kurt Cobain, (who wrote the songs, played lead guitar and sang them), as one of the great geniuses in the history of American music. I can't imagine a better use for this memento of the international success of Nevermind than to help Pramila Jayapal in her re-election campaign. Her district includes most of Seattle and she embodies the unambiguous progressive idealism that I associate with Nirvana. The fact that Donald Trump just singled her out for an insult in a tweet underlines her effectiveness.

That Pramila is a relentless advocate for humane immigration policies and is leading the Congressional Progressive Caucus towards Medicare-for-All, the new and improved version of which she wrote, and towards dealing effectively and urgently with the Climate Crisis, are reasons she deserves all of our support. Just last week, she was taking on House leadership in the battle over prescription drug prices.

Howie told me today that he asked the world's foremost appraiser of rock'n'roll memorabilia the value of the Nevermind gold award. We were both surprised when he said it was well into the thousands of dollars. I suppose that makes sense because the record quickly went platinum and eventually diamond so that ended the manufacture of gold record awards. This one is very collectible. Blue America is going to randomly select one winner from among the people who contribute to Pramila's reelection campaign here or by clicking on the ActBlue thermometer on the right. This contest ends on Saturday evening so don't let this opportunity pass you by. Someone just suggested that I tell Howie to take down the thermometer because it has so few contributors and that it's harder to get people to contribute when the number is small. But in this case, a small number of contributors means a lot better chance to win a random drawing than if there were thousands of people entering.

Yesterday Pramila sent a note to her supporters talking about what Nirvana meant to her as a fan of Nirvana's music. "I always felt their music reflected passion, skill and creativity; and that the band members genuinely loved music. That is why I’m so honored and thrilled that former Nirvana manager Danny Goldberg has allowed us to give away a gold Nevermind record to one lucky donor to my campaign."

Pramila continued, "Kurt Cobain’s voice was raw, desperate, and sometimes heartbreaking always drawing you in and making you want to listen. But his and Nirvana’s power went beyond their music. They stood up for women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community at a time when it wasn’t easy to do so-- going so far as to call out racism, sexism, and queerphobia in the liner notes of one of their albums. Every day, I try to do the same in Congress-- to call out injustice and fight for bold, progressive change."

Nirvana Contest-- Pramila Jayapal

Our two favorite things about Seattle: grunge rock pioneers Nirvana and congressional progressive champion Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. So, when former Nirvana manager Danny Goldberg offered Blue America a super-rare 1991 Nevermind Canadian gold record as a way to raise campaign funds for Pramila, we jumped at the chance.

Pramila is probably best known as the co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and as the author of the 2019 Medicare-For-All bill and as a relentless advocate for humane immigration policies.

She's been very different than most candidates in that she uses her campaign funds to help elect other progressives in difficult districts.

"I run a year-round organizing team, with campaign manager and organizers on staff, to help push both progressive issues (like Medicare for All) and also to train and keep busy our over 1,000 active volunteers. They get trained and then we put them to work knocking on doors in OTHER important districts and making phone calls for other candidates. Last year, we worked for Kara Eastman, Andrew Gillum, Stacey Abrams, Katie Porter and many others. And we worked, successfully, to flip the 8th congressional district in Washington state, with my volunteers going into that district and knocking on doors. Overall, we knocked on 35,000 doors and made over 150,000 phone calls on behalf of other candidates. Not to mention, I was the first Member of Congress to support and endorse progressive candidates like Rashida and Ilhan."

Recently, she asked her supporters to "imagine telling a person in 2004 that in the next fifteen years:

• Marriage equality would be legalized nationwide
• The largest expansion of health care since Medicare and Medicaid would pass and survive dozens of legislative and judicial challenges
• Renewable energy production in the United States would double

Under this lawless president, it’s easy to focus on the negative. And make no mistake: It’s imperative that we all stay vigilant as Trump violates our civil and political rights at every turn. But progressive movements once thought to have impossible goals have won incredible victories. And with your help, we can win many more."

So how do you win the gold record? We're going to pick one person randomly. Just contribute-- any amount-- to Pramila Jayapal's campaign account here between now and Saturday, December 14 at 9pm (PT). If you're keen on reading pages and pages of FEC contest rules... here you go. And, if you want the award but find yourself a little short of cash, just send us a postcard-- Pramila Contest, Blue America, P.O. Box 27201, Los Angeles, CA 90027-- and you'll have as much a chance to win as anyone else. Not a Nirvana fan? I bet there's someone on your Christmas gift list who is. So remember... this page.

Why Are There So Many Zombies Hanging Around Spokane?

The eastern Washington state congressional district (WA-05) is one of the hottest in the country. The highest ranking Republican woman in the House, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a pure Trump enabler and rubber stamp, is under pressure from former majority leader of the Washington state House and former Washington State University University (Spokane), Lisa Brown. The two candidates have raised $6,170,863 so far, far more than any other race in the state. As of the July 18 FEC reporting deadline, McMorris Rodgers had $1,232,499 left in her campaign account and Lisa Brown had $920,575 in her account.

Paul Ryan's Adelson-funded SuperPAC has set up office in the district and is spending a great deal of money to bolster a weak incumbent. McMorris Rodgers has turned to arch-villains like Devin Nunes, one of Putin's favorite comgressmen to help her raise more money. Although WA-05 backed McCain narrowly against Obama-- 51.2% to 46.3%-- Hillary was just the wrong candidate for that district. Bernie was a big winner in the Democratic primary there. Trump beat her 52.2% to 39.1%. Bernie took the 3 biggest counties by big numbers-- Spokane County 78.1-21.7%; Stevens County 80.8% to 18.4% and in Walla Walla County, 70.8-29.2%. If you'd like to contribute to Lisa's campaign, just click on the thermometer on the right.

The PVI is R+8, a point in the wrong direction from 2015. But there are enough independent voters in the district to give Lisa a great overcome the odds. She's running on a strong, forthright campaign embracing, for example, the idea of an economy that is more equitable for American workers. "True economic growth and jobs," she told us, "come from investing in people (through education) and in infrastructure."



One of the things I like most about Lisa is that she understands how to work across the aisle to find shared interests in order to get good, solid legislation passed. That's the advantage of electing experienced, skilled legislators to Congress, people like Ted Lieu, Pramila Jayapal, Karen Bass, Jamie Raskin, Judy Chu, Katherine Clark, Adriano Espaillat...



All that said, the way I first met Lisa was from Krist Novoselic, former bass player with Nirvana. He persuaded me to talk with her based on his own experiences with her. Lisa has always taken the arts seriously. In fact, in the state House, she sponsored the Washington State Motion Picture Competitiveness Program 10 years ago and just renewed last year. The bill helped lay the foundation for the creative economy in eastern Washington resulting in shows like Z Nation, which is filmed in Spokane. In fact, the show likes her so much that they sent a zombie to her campaign announcement event!

Kurt Cobain: "Republicans Are An Incarnation Of Satan. I Hate Them"

I know they don't teach basic civics in school any longer, but I'm old enough to have learned that we are a country of immigrants and that America was great because it was a melting pot-- even better than Canada which was disparaged as a mosaic in comparison. When Trump unchains his in-house neo-Nazi co-conspirator, Stephen Miller, and allows him to turn his energy (and bigotry) against legal immigrants, the Regime is directly attacking every family in the country. Remember when you read below, that Miller was the brilliant strategist behind family separation and border kidnappings. Yesterday the Jewish Daily Forward warned its readers that Miller's new plan stops citizenship for legal immigrants. The story originates with Julia Ainsley at NBC News, explaining how the Trumpist regime plans to "make it harder for legal immigrants to become citizens or get green cards if they have ever used a range of popular public welfare programs, including Obamacare."

And they plan to institute this newest Miller attack against America without congressional approval. He's drafting a plan that would target "immigrants living legally in the U.S. who have ever used or whose household members have ever used Obamacare, children's health insurance, food stamps and other benefits."

Immigration lawyers and advocates and public health researchers say it would be the biggest change to the legal immigration system in decades and estimate that more than 20 million immigrants could be affected. They say it would fall particularly hard on immigrants working jobs that don't pay enough to support their families.

Many are like Louis Charles, a Haitian green-card holder seeking citizenship who, despite working up to 80 hours a week as a nursing assistant, has had to use public programs to support his disabled adult daughter.

Using some public benefits like Social Security Insurance has already hindered immigrants from obtaining legal status in the past, but the programs included in the recent draft plan could mean that immigrant households earning as much as 250 percent of the poverty level could be rejected.

...Miller, along with several of his former congressional colleagues who now hold prominent positions in the Trump administration, have long sought to decrease the number of immigrants who obtain legal status in the U.S. each year. And even before the rule is in place, the administration has made it more difficult for immigrants to gain green cards and for green-card holders to gain citizenship.

[Note: Miller was never in Congress, although he worked for several Republican racists and xenophobes-- Jeff Sessions, Michele Bachmann, Dave Brat and John Shadegg.]

Charles, the Haitian green-card holder who works as a nursing assistant in a psychiatric hospital near Boston, said he was stunned to learn his application for citizenship had been denied. He had used a fake passport given to him by smugglers when he entered the U.S. from Haiti in 1989, but confessed to border officers and received a waiver from USCIS absolving him of his wrongdoing and allowing him to obtain a green card in 2011.

Now 55, Charles is a homeowner and a taxpayer and thought obtaining citizenship would be a smooth process. "I thought in this country everything was square and fair," Charles said.

But when he went for his citizenship interview in August 2017, the USCIS officers told him they were going to revisit the decision to waive the fake passport incident, meaning he could potentially lose his green card as well.

Then he received a letter in September telling him his request for citizenship had been denied.

He appealed the decision, but as he waits for a final verdict, his lawyer says his green-card status may also now be in question.

In late November, the Trump administration announced they would end temporary protected status for Haitians who came to the U.S. after the deadly 2010 earthquake. Charles's wife was a recipient of that protection and without him becoming a citizen, he would be unable to vouch for her.

But Charles's biggest concern is his daughter. Although she is in her 20s and a U.S. citizen, she has severe disabilities that make it impossible for her to live by herself.

Charles is unaware of Miller's new plan to limit citizenship for immigrants who have used public assistance. But it is likely to affect him because he has used public assistance to help care for his daughter, so she could end up further hurting his chances for citizenship.

Though its effects could be far-reaching, the proposal to limit citizenship to immigrants who have not used public assistance does not appear to need Congressional approval. As the Clinton administration did in 1999, the Trump administration would be redefining the term "public charge," which first emerged in immigration law in the 1800s in order to shield the U.S. from burdening too many immigrants who could not contribute to society.

..."Any policy forcing millions of families to choose between the denial of status and food or health care would exacerbate serious problems such as hunger, unmet health needs, child poverty, and homelessness, with lasting consequences for families' wellbeing and long-term success and community prosperity," said the National Immigration Law Center in a statement.

There's a Kurt Cobain quote-- a fake Kurt Cobain quote, as it turns out-- being circulated on the Internet. I know it's fake because Danny Goldberg, the manager of Cobain's band, Nirvana, decided to write about it this week at The Nation. The fake quote, which was first posted on the Trump Train Facebook page asserted that Cobain predicted "We’ll elect a true outsider. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a business tycoon… Someone like Donald Trump." Danny set the record straight:

I know that the quote is not only made up but it is also a grotesque perversion of Kurt’s beliefs. He often differentiated Nirvana from more overtly political punk bands like Dead Kennedys and Fugazi, but Kurt was unambiguous about where his political sentiments lay and, although he identified with anarchist imagery in some contexts, Kurt had no problem making choices at election time.

I remember the excitement in his voice when he called to tell me that he and Courtney Love had just contributed $100 each to Jerry Brown’s campaign for president in the Democratic primary in 1992. A few months later, Sergio Marchi, an Argentinian journalist, asked Kurt if he planned to vote in the general election, and Kurt answered “Yeah, I’ll vote for Clinton. The Democrats are very conservative but at least they are not as conservative as the Republicans.” Regarding the billionaire businessman third-party candidate Ross Perot, Kurt was equally clear: “The guy sucks. He’s rich; I don’t trust him as president.”

After the election, in an interview for The Advocate, Kurt elaborated: “I was helpless when I was 12 and Reagan was elected and there was nothing I could do about it. But now this generation is growing up and they’re in their mid-20s and they’re not putting up with it. I would rather have had Jerry Brown but I’m definitely happy that Clinton is in…. Chelsea seems like a pretty neat person, a Birkenstock wearing kid,” adding “Amy Carter’s pretty cool too from what I’ve heard. She’s been seen at Butthole Surfers concerts.”

Trump’s misogynistic attitude towards women would have deeply offended Kurt, who detested bullies and sexists. Explaining the lyrics to his song “In Bloom” when Nirvana’s breakthrough album Nevermind was released, Kurt was explicit: “I don’t like rednecks, I don’t like macho men, I don’t like abusive people.”

I suspect that Kurt would also have been appalled by the idea of a reality-TV star becoming president. In his famous chorus to “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Kurt sang, “With the lights out, it’s less dangerous, here we are now, entertain us.” He was not endorsing hypnotic passivity, he was satirizing it. As those who program Trump-supporting bots know, apathy and cynicism help discourage some people from voting, a syndrome that inevitably helps Republicans.

...To make his values clear Kurt wrote in the liner notes of the Nirvana compilation Incesticide, “I have a request for our fans. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us-- leave us the fuck alone! Don’t come to our shows and don’t buy our records.”

No one can know for sure how Kurt would view the coming mid-terms, but he did say in that Argentinian interview that he did just before the 1992 election: “Republicans are an incarnation of Satan. I hate them.”

CONTEST RULES, Nirvana-Pramila Contest

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