Friday Politics Roundup | January 6 hearings; AFL-CIO minimal organizing goals; bye-bye retirement; gun deal dead?; new leadership for Bucks County Dems; Mastriano signals; Elon Musk sucks; D&D

January 6th hearings are doing an exceptional job making it abundantly clear that Trump and those close to him were consciously planning a coup. And yet, the hearings also seem to have a side project of rehabilitating the Republican Party. Maybe Nancy Pelosi will get her wish of an even stronger GOP after all. 

Key takeaways Day 2 and Day 3

AFL-CIO sets a goal of organizing a million new workers over the next 10 years. However, as Hamilton Nolan explains in In These Times, that’s a nice soundbite but it sets the stage for further decline in union density. 

The Labor Notes Conference gets underway in Chicago today.The Labor Notes Conference is the biggest gathering out there of grassroots union activists, worker center leaders, and all-around troublemakers.

The recent stock market nose-dive has wiped out more than $3 trillion in retirement savings this year. One more example of the consequences of leaving retirement up to a glorified casino. The House always wins. 

And remember that big bipartisan deal on new federal gun reform? Yeah, well, the big GOP “partner” on the talks, John Cornyn from Texas just walked away from negotiation and put any potential deal in question. Their self-imposed deadline was yesterday, before Senators went on vacation. But, vacation comes first. 

The Wolf Administration is still trying to get $2000 checks out to Pennsylvanian, but state Republicans don’t want you to have them. 

State Senator Steve Santisiero becomes the new chair of the Bucks County Democrats. Can his leadership help right the ship? 

Doug Mastriano introduced a bill in the State Senate Government Committee that would make it  law that "the liberty of a parent to direct the upbringing, education, care & welfare" of their child is "a fundamental right."

PA legislature punts bills on gun reform. Gov. Wolf calling the move “shameful.” Democrats are trying to use a procedural motion to get a vote. 

PASSHE Chancellor Greenstein announced a new funding scheme for remaining universities, but no one really seems to understand what the consequences will be. Par for the course, I guess. Space X employees draft letter criticizing Elon Musk. Musk goes ahead and fires at least five of them. 

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover spots trash on the Red Planet, reminding us all that wherever we go, we trash it up. 

Launch of first D&D campaign - Lost Mine of Phandelver!

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