Posted on March 4, 2016
VIDEO: Nobel Prize winner fact checks the president on TPP
The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will hurt millions of Americans by eviscerating broad swaths of regulations that protect consumers, workers, the environment and our financial system. Yet due to a nearly-complete blackout of coverage of this trade deal in the traditional corporate media, you wouldn’t know it.
The lack of proper media scrutiny has enabled TPP’s supporters in the Obama administration and their corporate allies to spread lies and misinformation about this giant trade deal without any pushback. Even worse, the President himself has told some of these falsehoods about this corporate power grab.
If the media won’t do its job, we need to do it for them. That’s why CREDO turned to Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and the head of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Lori Wallach, to fact check President Obama’s statements on the TPP in this short video.
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With the text of the deal now public, some key Republicans who supported Fast Track authority for approving the TPP are now saying they cannot support the trade deal as it stands. That means the president currently does not have the votes to pass the TPP. We need to keep it that way and thwart any momentum toward passage of the TPP in this Congress.
Posted on March 3, 2016
Your voice in action
The voices of CREDO members have played a huge part from the beginning of the campaign against Republican obstruction. Numerous media outlets have followed your efforts.
In late February CREDO joined with progressive organizations including MoveOn.org, Democracy for America, People For the American Way, Color of Change, Every Voice, Daily Kos, Demand Progress, Common Cause, PCCC, UltraViolet and NextGen Climate to deliver more than 1.3 million petitions to Capitol Hill demanding that Senate Republicans “do their jobs” and stop obstructing President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee.
Posted on March 3, 2016
5 Things Worth Celebrating This International Women’s Day
When we celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8, we’ll be reminded that the fight for women’s equality is far from over. American women still earn only 78 cents for every dollar that men earn. And worldwide, the picture is far more bleak. The World Economic Forum reports that it will take 81 years to close this gender gap at the current rate of change.
Clearly, there is more work to be done. And at CREDO, we’re doing it. We promote women’s equality by directing much-needed donations to progressive nonprofit groups working hard every day for women’s rights. In 2015 alone, we gave over $350,000 to five amazing women’s rights groups.
These donations are generated by CREDO members when they use our services like CREDO Mobile. They cost our members nothing extra, but they mean everything to the groups that receive them—groups like Planned Parenthood, fighting on the frontlines to defend women’s reproductive rights. Since 1985, we’ve donated over $3 million to Planned Parenthood and we’re proud to be the organization’s largest corporate sponsor.
We’ll never stop pushing for equality in the years ahead. But, on this International Women’s Day, we’ll also celebrate the amazing progress we’ve made for women’s rights.
Five things to celebrate this International Women’s Day
1. More women are getting an education. Worldwide, girls now enroll in primary school at almost the same rate as boys. And national constitutions adopted since 1995 are more likely to ensure equality in education for girls than those adopted before. Further, two-thirds of constitutions adopted after 1995 guarantee free primary education, compared with just half before 1995.
Posted on February 27, 2016
Watch Sen. Al Franken dismantle the “absurdity” of Republican Supreme Court obstruction
At a March hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Minnesota Senator and comedian Al Franken perfectly deconstructed and exposed the twisted, backward, and contradictory logic used by Senate Republicans in refusing to do their jobs and give President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee a vote.
Watch Sen. Franken shred the “absurdity” of Republican obstruction:
Posted on February 26, 2016
Celebrating One Year Since the Historic Net Neutrality Victory
Most politicians thought we couldn’t win this fight. Some Democrats joined Republicans on the wrong side. Others expressed support but were simply too timid to speak out on behalf of the strongest rules.
But thanks to fierce activism, millions spoke out for the only solution that would make strong rules on Net Neutrality possible: the awkwardly named “Title II reclassification.” The president joined you in this call and on February 26, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to adopt historic Net Neutrality rules under the legal framework we had demanded for years.
Posted on February 22, 2016
Get Ready for the New Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge
Samsung just announced the long-awaited details of their new twin 2016 flagship devices, the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. If you loved your previous Galaxy, you’ll quickly fall for these new devices as they build upon what’s already great about the line.
The S7 and S7 edge are physically very similar to their S6 versions. The S7 is 5.1” and the edge, 5.5”. Both have Quad HD Super AMOLED displays, which means they have broad color gamuts with great contrast. Every type of content will shine on these displays. Each features a faster processor as well as improved cameras with faster focusing and better low-light performance.
Posted on February 22, 2016
How CREDO is fighting for voting rights
Thanks to the Supreme Court’s disastrous 2013 Shelby County vs. Holder decision, which gutted the Voting Rights Act by rendering Section 5 inoperable, 2016 will be the first presidential election in more than 50 years in which voters don’t have the full protections of the Voting Rights Act.
Restoring the Voting Rights Act would only require a simple fix from Congress, but Republicans have refused to hold hearings or allow any votes on either of the currently pending bills that would protect Americans from discriminatory voter suppression laws.
CREDO has been fighting for years to protect and expand voting rights. We’ve donated more than $4.6 million to groups that work to defend voting rights over the years, and millions more to groups that work to encourage civic participation.
Here are just a few of our current voting rights campaigns:
Posted on February 18, 2016
Republican Doublespeak: Supreme Court edition
Immediately following news of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing, Senate Republican leaders wasted no time in declaring their refusal to carry out their constitutional duty to consider a nominee from President Obama to fill the vacancy.
Republican leaders, including Senators Mitch McConnell, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, and Jeff Sessions, attempted to cloak their nakedly partisan and ideological obstructionism with logic-defying reasoning: That since President Obama has just a year left in office, and with the country in the midst of an election year, only a new President should be able to nominate the next Supreme Court justice.
Aside from the fact that President Obama was re-elected in 2012 to a full four-year term, and that he has the constitutional power under Article II to nominate a new Supreme Court justice, our research shows that these Republican leaders haven’t exactly been consistent with this line of logic.
In fact, Senators McConnell, Hatch, and Grassley themselves voted to confirm Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in an election year.
Posted on February 12, 2016
Repeal immunity for the gun industry
It’s appalling. Gun manufacturers and gun dealers are the only industries in America that are protected from lawsuits when their products lead to violence and death.
That’s not by accident. The NRA promoted, and Congress passed, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), in 2005. The bill gives legal immunity to the gun industry by preventing lawsuits against gun manufacturers or dealers for negligence that leads to gun-related violence and death.
That kind of one-sided gift to an entire industry could never have been passed if Congress weren’t deeply in the pockets of the NRA. Fortunately, two members of Congress — Rep. Adam Schiff and Sen. Richard Blumenthal — have introduced a bill, the Equal Access to Justice for Victims of Gun Violence Act, that would repeal this horrible law and allow victims of gun violence to hold gun manufacturers and dealers accountable when their negligence leads to death. We need to do everything in our power to get this law passed.
Posted on February 11, 2016
Small providers top Consumer Reports survey
The annual Consumer Reports ranking of wireless providers is out, and we really love the headline: “Small Providers Top the Big Four in New Consumer Reports Survey.” You can see the full ranking here.
We care deeply about our members at CREDO, and we are proud to be joining other smaller wireless providers in changing the all-too-common assumption in the mobile phone industry that customer service can be an afterthought. We’ve made significant enhancements in 2015 to make the CREDO Mobile member experience even better, and we have even bigger plans for 2016.
Just after the new survey was released, I talked with Natalie Beckerman, our Vice President for Customer Service, to learn a bit more about what we’ve been working on and what’s in store for the new year…
