Politics

Dems Still Steamed Over Labor’s Trade Attacks

Published

10 years ago

June 18, 2015

President Obama hugs Chris Harris, Vice President of United Steel Workers Local 2-209, after being introduced at Laborfest 2014 at Henry Maier Festival Park Monday, Sept. 1, 2014, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

(Politico) – Labor won big on trade last week, but Democrats are still seething over the scorched-earth tactics that unions employed en route to their dramatic, if perhaps short-lived victory on the House floor.

The ill will — even among lawmakers who typically consider themselves friends of labor — is unlikely to subside soon, interviews with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and aides indicate.

The AFL-CIO pummeled some pro-trade Democrats with scathing TV ads and threats of primary challengers. In the end, most House Democrats voted to derail President Barack Obama’s bid for expanded powers to negotiate trade deals, though Republicans are trying to chart a new legislative path around the Democratic objectors.

“I didn’t like what I was reading and seeing in the public from the [union] presidents in terms of trying to single members out and pick on members,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who voted against fast-track. “I’m one of those guys that really protects my friends, and the Democrats are my friends and I didn’t like the fact that [labor was] doing that.”

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Remembering George Floyd

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing.

Published

7 days ago

June 2, 2025

Oakland Post

Mural showing the portrait of George Floyd in Mauerpark in Berlin. To the left of the portrait the lettering "I can't Breathe" was added, on the right side the three hashtags #GeorgeFloyd, #Icantbreathe and #Sayhisname. The mural was completed by Eme Street Art (facebook name) / Eme Free Thinker (signature) on 29 May 2020. (Wikimedia Commons)

By April Ryan
BlackPressUSA Newswire

“The president’s been very clear he has no intentions of pardoning Derek Chauvin, and it’s not a request that we’re looking at,” confirms a senior staffer at the Trump White House. That White House response results from public hope, including from a close Trump ally, Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The timing of Greene’s hopes coincides with the Justice Department’s recent decision to end oversight of local police accused of abuse. It also falls on the fifth anniversary of the police-involved death of George Floyd on May 25th. The death sparked national and worldwide outrage and became a transitional moment politically and culturally, although the outcry for laws on police accountability failed.

The death forced then-Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to focus on deadly police force and accountability. His efforts while president to pass the George Floyd Justice in policing act failed. The death of George Floyd also put a spotlight on the Black community, forcing then-candidate Biden to choose a Black woman running mate. Kamala Harris ultimately became vice president of the United States alongside Joe Biden. Minnesota State Attorney General Keith Ellison prosecuted the cases against the officers involved in the death of Floyd. He remembers,” Trump was in office when George Floyd was killed, and I would blame Trump for creating a negative environment for police-community relations. Remember, it was him who said when the looting starts, the shooting starts, it was him who got rid of all the consent decrees that were in place by the Obama administration.”

In 2025, Police-involved civilian deaths are up by “about 100 to about 11 hundred,” according to Ellison. Ellison acknowledges that the Floyd case five years ago involved a situation in which due process was denied, and five years later, the president is currently dismissing “due process. “The Minnesota Atty General also says, “Trump is trying to attack constitutional rule, attacking congressional authority and judicial decision-making.” George Floyd was an African-American man killed by police who knocked on his neck and on his back, preventing him from breathing. During those minutes on the ground, Floyd cried out for his late mother several times. Police subdued Floyd for an alleged counterfeit $20 bill.