The weeks are getting longer, aren’t they? We know you all have a bit more time now so you’re a little better informed on the news than usual. Still, we’re all overwhelmed with 24/7 COVID-19 coverage. You might have missed these stories:
This Muslim Women’s Day, celebrate 10 stereotype smashers from comic books to Congress
By Aysha Qamar
Discrimination against Muslim women occurs across the country each day, taking the form of not only physical hate crimes but verbal abuse and bias in everyday activities. In 2016, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh declared Muslim Women’s Day on March 27. Al-Khatahtbeh is the founder of MuslimGirl.com, a platform for Muslim women to share their voice. She launched the day to celebrate and support Muslim women who are often excluded from mainstream media, Women’s Day celebrations, and feminist movements. "In the current climate, Muslim women are rarely given the space to be heard above all the noise," Al-Khatahtbeh wrote in a tweet.
Celebrating Muslim women one day a year is not enough, but having a day that brings Muslim women together to celebrate one another on- and offline is inspirational. Muslim Women’s day brings the narrative back into our hands—it allows us to amplify our voices and finally be passed the mic. Muslim women are diverse, independent, empowered, and resilient. We should be celebrated. In honor of the fourth annual Muslim Women’s Day on Friday, March 27, Daily Kos has put together a list of unapologetic Muslim-American women.
Sanders campaign was SHOCKED when field narrowed because they really thought 30% would win it
by kos
Some primaries have cleared fields (Al Gore in 2000, Hillary Clinton in 2016), so there’s either no real primary, or a two-candidate field. But every single primary with a large contested field narrows. What would have been unprecedented would’ve been a split fragmented field going all the way to the convention, and then having a contested convention. Every cycle we think, “is this the year it happens?” and then it doesn’t. Because that’s unprecedented in the era of the modern popularly elected primary system. (As opposed to when party insiders decided the nominee in smoke-filled back rooms.)
But fact is, Sanders was running at about half the votes he received in 2016. He wasn’t on the brink of winning. He was just leading a multi-candidate field with a fraction of his previous support. As I wrote previously, “He even managed to lose ground in Mississippi, where he’d only gotten 16.6% of the vote in 2016.”
There’s clearly some CYA going on here, as Tulchin, the pollster, claimed that Sanders was only behind Biden in South Carolina by 4 points (!) according to their internal polling, and that a public poll showing Sanders trailing by 20 was “an outlier.” Biden won by 29.
So we had a campaign operating under the hope that the field will remain fragmented all the way to the convention, using data that was hopelessly wrong. What more could go wrong? Well, having a candidate that wasn’t interested in doing the work it takes to actually build coalitions.
I checked in on Andrew Yang. Here's what he had to say about COVID-19 and universal basic income
By Cara Zelaya
Just turn on CNN on a debate or primary night and you’ll see that former presidential candidate Andrew Yang hasn’t vanished from the public sphere since suspending his campaign in February. The newly minted pundit, whose vocal support for a universal basic income is more relevant to Americans than ever, endorsed presumptive Democratic nominee former Vice President Joe Biden on live television last week. As the White House and Congress work to support the nation through the COVID-19 pandemic’s widespread impact on the economy, Yang has found increased support for his once-unique idea of a $1,000 per month payment for all Americans in some unlikely places, most notably from Utah Sen. Mitt Romney.
On Friday, March 20, Daily Kos caught up with Yang for a quick phone call about the current crisis and how the country can move through and past it … and his own plans for the future.
That’s it for this Sunday, folks! But tell us in the comments: What stories did you read this week that stuck with you? Anything that you think flew under the radar that we might have missed? Looking forward to chatting with y’all below!