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REDLANDS >> Progressives here are speaking out.

Local residents inspired to stay politically active following the Nov. 8 election have formed Redlands for Progressive Change, an organization they say is focused on making positive, progressive change in the community and beyond.

I think whats really unique about Redlands for Progressive Change is that we came together after the election as this group of people really mourning the election and devastated about the outcome, but also really wanted to be proactive in moving forward and making progressive changes where we can, together, said Denise Davis, founder and facilitator.

The group, which meets monthly at the University of Redlands, was formed by local Hillary Clinton supporters following her loss to President Donald Trump in November.

At that time, Davis said, some group members made it clear they wanted to keep going, so they are.

The group has since reached more than 300 members on its Facebook page and has been involved in several local issues, most recently the citys district-based elections map drawing process.

Members also have written letters and made phone calls to state and national representatives on health care legislation, and participated in the Womens March and the March for Science.

Locally, the group plans voter-outreach initiatives to get residents registered to vote.

We are definitely advocating for womens rights, for the environment, for undocumented immigrants, for workers rights and for a living wage all of those things, said Kris Goodfellow, communications lead for the group. But on a local level there are some other practical things we want to do to foster community and a better Redlands.

While the group gives a voice to progressive causes, members also are working with conservatives in town in an effort to reach common ground on some issues.

The group is partnering with the Redlands Republican Womens Club, Federated, to host a forum in June on health care. The forum will highlight not only the perspectives on both sides of the aisle, but also where they align, Davis said.

I think its something that is not happening widely enough across the country right now, Davis said. If it goes well this could be a good model for community conversations that people could replicate in other communities.

After forming the group, Davis said she was wonderfully surprised at the diversity of its members, which include Clinton supporters, Bernie Sanders supporters and independent voters.

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Our biggest meetings were around 50 to 55 people, Davis said. Thats pretty good for a community group that started in such a grass-roots way.

Redlands for Progressive Change will meet 4 to 5:30 p.m. June 11 at the University of Redlands, Larsen Hall, Room 127. For more information, email redlandsforprogressivechange@gmail.com.

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Redlands progressives band together in response to November election - Redlands Daily Facts

Elections produce winners and losers. There are no bonus points for participation. Democrats have been frustrated by losses in high-profile congressional races Rob Quist bested by Greg Gianforte in Montana and James Thompson falling short to Ron Estes in deep-red Kansas. In both elections, the Democratic nominees outperformed previous Democratic showings but came up short. In the nationally publicized special election in Georgia to fill the seat of Republican Tom Price, the Democratic candidate, Jon Ossoff, is still locked in a dead heat. This leads pundits and many Democrats to wonder: Is the resistance to President Donald Trump a dud at the polling booth?

Before the garment-rending and hand-wringing go too far, Democrats and pundits would do well to focus their eyes a little lower on the ballot. In special elections for state and local offices, progressive insurgents arent just coming close they are winning and sending a message to the establishment of both parties.

In the 9th state assembly district of Long Island, Christine Pellegrino a schoolteacher, union activist, Bernie Sanders delegate and Working Families Party Democrat dispatched her Republican opponent by a stunning 58 percent to 42 percent. As Newsday reported, this is usually a district where Democrats hardly compete. Trump swamped Hillary Clinton here by 23 percentage points. The veteran Republican state legislator who held the seat was re-elected by a 37-point margin over a Democratic challenger. But when he stepped down, Pellegrino a first-time candidate swept to victory.

In New Hampshire, Edith DesMarais pulled a similar upset in a state legislative race. Republicans should absolutely be concerned, William F.B. OReilly, a Republican partner in the November Team, a political consulting firm, told The New York Times. Two Republican canaries died in the coal mine yesterday.

Progressive candidates are rising in Democratic primaries in Democratic areas as well. In the primary for Philadelphia district attorney, civil rights attorney Larry Krasner, who has defended Occupy Philadelphia and Black Lives Matter protesters, won on a platform calling for an end to mass incarceration, police reform and more. Supported by Sanders and a range of progressive groups, his candidacy was also bolstered by the money of George Soros. This changes the game across the country, William Cobb of the American Civil Liberties Union told Philadelphia Magazine.

In the Democratic primary for mayor in Jackson, Miss., victory went to Chokwe Antar Lumumba, running on a bold program calling for a peoples administration that would feature police reform and a locally grounded, cooperative strategy for economic development. Lumumba marched in solidarity with black auto-plant workers at the March on Mississippi with Sanders and the UAW and helped to found the Mississippi Human Rights Collective that led efforts to remove the Confederate insignia from the states flag. His victory was one of many for progressives in Democratic primaries.

Clearly the populist energy generated by the Sanders campaign and the Trump resistance has electoral power. Democrats particularly the so-called Obama Coalition have been notorious no-shows in by-elections and special elections. Now they are turning out in larger numbers, while Republican turnout is at question. As Republican consultant OReilly put it: Special elections are a great measure of voter intensity. These are low-turnout affairs where the most motivated voters turn out. Trump voters and other Republicans simply didnt show up, and voters from the left did. In the high-visibility races with national attention, Republican and Democratic money floods in, turning the elections into high-stakes showdowns. Special elections outside that spotlight may well be a more accurate gauge of voter intensity.

Also notable in these victories is the growing infrastructure of progressive groups engaged in supporting transformative candidates. Our Revolution, an offshoot of the Sanders campaign, isnt alone in the field. Working Families Party, MoveOn.org and many other groups all raise money, volunteers and attention for progressive champions.

These candidates are not your standard Democrats. Like Sanders, they are campaigning for bold change. They pledge an end to corruption. They support aggressive public action for working people $15 minimum wage, investment in infrastructure, renewal of public education and making public college tuition free. This is now increasingly reflected at the national level as well, with Democratic legislators coming out for a $15 minimum wage, a major infrastructure jobs agenda and progressive tax reform.

To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the insurgencys death are premature. In reality, it has just begun to build. Activists continue to flood Republican town meetings. GOP health care and budget plans generate ever-greater opposition. Democrats victories at the state and local level may well augur what is yet to come.

Democrats start from a very deep hole, having lost more than 900 state legislative seats over the past eight years, leaving Republicans in complete control of 23 states. With Trump in the White House and the right dominating Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, capital-D and small-d democrats have every reason to despair. The Democratic Party apparatus still seems hidebound and timid. But the resistance is real. And the demand for fundamental change sparked by the Sanders insurgency is still building inside and outside the Democratic Party. Republicans are entrenched, backed by big money and a sophisticated right-wing infrastructure. But progressives are mobilized and just may be turning from protest to power.

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher of the Nation magazine, writes a weekly online column for The Washington Post.

2017, The Washington Post

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Katrina vanden Heuvel column: Progressives have not yet begun to fight - Richmond.com

I have no tolerance for bullies, no matter what side of the political fence theyre on.

Photo courtesy of the Krasner campaign.

Now that Philadelphias district attorney race has been set and we know that its going to be a battle between Republican Beth Grossman and Democrat Larry Krasner, I have a confession to make.

I dont care if I never hear the word progressive again.

Seriously.

In fact, Im so tired of that word right now, if Flo the Progressive Insurance lady walked up to me, she might catch these hands.

A few weeks ago, in anticipation of writing this column, I asked folks on my Facebook page their definition of progressive. Most of them said that it meant some form of moving forward, of not staying put.

But to me, thanks to the last two election cycles, progressive has come to mean person that Im eventually going to have to block on Twitter because Im tired of being called names for explaining how government actually works to them.

Now, I know that every progressive who read that last sentence has already decided that Im an evil Trump supporter/sellout/hater/idiot/shape-shifter (yes, Ive been called that; no, I dont know how Mystique from the X-Men fits in here), so let me clarify.

I have no problem with progressive ideas. In fact, I think that progressive ideas make the world a better place.

Medicaid for all? Yep. Sign me up.

The Childrens Health Insurance Program? Hell yeah!

Making sure that the air and water arent rendered unfit to drink? Let me grab my Chuck Taylors so that we can take to the streets.

And #BlackLivesMatter all day, every day!

Like I said, I have nothing but love for progressive ideas.

Progressives? Not so much.

Thats because I have no tolerance for bullies, no matter what side of the political fence theyre on.

From the disrespectful (and, in some cases, racist) attacks leveled at Rep. John Lewis by Bernie Sanders supporters during the 2016 presidential primaries to the recent primary where and Im not kidding I saw one Black man call another Black man a Uncle Tom for not supporting Krasner, progressives have made themselves look like a left-wing version of the Tea Party.

And in case youre wondering, I dont mean that as a compliment. Especially since some of you sound so ridiculous that I get headaches from rolling my eyes so hard.

When the perfect becomes the enemy of the good, it leads to people being afraid to question whats being put in front of them for fear of reprisal. When that happens, we wind up electing a whole bunch of people who are more interested in power than governance and whining about it later, when we could have kept this from happening by talking things out and coming to better decisions.

(See Trump, Donald, President )

Now lets return to the subject of Larry Krasner and the folks who hope he becomes the next district attorney.

If what Ive heard on the street is any indication, folks have questions about Krasner. They want to make sure that hes for all of the citys victims, not just the ones hurt by police. They want to know if hell actually lock someone up if its needed.

They want to know hell keep them safe.

Should Krasners progressive supporters throw the epithet shape-shifter at anyone asking these questions, that 7-to-1 voter registration edge that Phillys Democratic Party has might not be enough, especially since no one is confusing Grossman with Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions.

So you might want to try keeping the hostility to a minimum.

Just saying

Denise Clay has been a journalist for more than 25 years, covering politics, education, and everything in between. Her work regularly appears in the Philadelphia Sunday Sun and the Philadelphia Public Record, and has also appeared on the BBC, XO Jane, and Time.com.

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Progressives, I Am Done With You - Philadelphia magazine

Amidst the outrage from leftwing Twitter yesterday afternoon following President Trumps announcement that he plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate accord several progressive groups seized the moment as a chance to harp on the importance of intersectionality.

Intersectionality is, of course, the concept that the oppression of minority groups stems not from discrete instances of bias but rather is the direct result of an amalgam of interwoven social and cultural relationships.

Or, in plain English, its a buzzword that the left uses to amass political power, binding together interest groups that have no business being allies, in order to wield more social influence.

The response to Trumps announcement yesterday was another example of how progressives use the idea of intersectionality to capitalize on anti-Trump momentum and thereby gain influence. For example, here are a few of yesterdays tweets from prominent leftwing organizations:

Meanwhile, the radical activist group Black Lives Matter shared an article from the website Mic entitled 5 ways Trumps Paris Climate accord decision will hurt people of color the most. The piece asserted that factors such as structural inequalities and racially discriminatory housing practices cause climate change injustice to disproportionately harm minority communities.

These far-fetched assertions do little to convince rational people that climate change is somehow an issue of racial justice or gender equity, but they do illustrate an important point. The American Left is increasingly split into tiny subdivisions of minority interest groups, each of which wants particular attention and special treatment from society and the government.

This puts them in direct competition with one another for the title of Americas Biggest Victim, and they cant all be crowned champion. To resolve this tension, progressives attempt to conscript these rival groups into one clumsily assembled clan, allies in the fight for social justice.

The only trouble aside from the fact that this coalition makes little sense, as evident in the gibberish above is that when those interests eventually collide, the coalition will crumble. And when it does, the left will lose the political capital it gained by forcing that coalition together.

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Progressives Tout 'Intersectionality' after Trump's Paris Accord Decision - National Review

U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-Sewickley took a verbal beating at a public meeting Thursday on Main Street in Johnstown.

The congressman was in Johnstown for Showcase for Commerce but was a no-show at the town hall meeting sponsored by the progressive group Indivisible Johnstown.

Where is he? Why isnt he here? said Linda Bishop, of Pittsburgh, a member of PA District 12 Progressives.

Indivisible Johnstown was formed in February after Donald Trump was swept into the White House.

We cried from November through January and decided now we have to do something, said Mary Lou Davis, one of the groups organizers.

We knew we wanted this town hall at the time they had Showcase for Commerce because all of our representatives were in town, she said.

Rothfus and staff members declined the invitation, Davis said.

A spokeswoman for Rothfus did not immediately respond to an email.

Attendees discussed their concerns while standing before an empty gray suit that represented the absent congressman.

Some wore Planned Parenthood and Bernie Sanders T-shirts.

Taxes, abortion, health care and the environment were some of their concerns.

Daniel Kane, retired secretary-treasurer of the United Mine Workers of America, drew applause when he called for a single- payer health care system.

Workers in Canada have no need to negotiate for health care because they have a publicly funded plan, he said.

Im getting tired of telling people in this country that we need single-payer health care, Kane said. They say, Well how are you going to pay for it?

Guess what, were already paying for it, he said. Were already paying more per patient than anywhere else.

Patrick Buchnowski is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at 532-5061. Follow him on Twitter@PatBuchnowskiTD.

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'Where is he?': Progressives chide absent congressman - TribDem.com